New Beginnings
Bible Study Time 1-7-07
Church links:
Bible Study Time 1-7-07
Last week we saw that, in the scriptures, the number eight stands for new beginnings. According to Peter, there were eight souls who survived the flood of Noah’s day, and those eight souls had the opportunity to participate in a new beginning on the earth.
It’s no coincidence that God required the circumcision of all Jewish boys on the eighth day after their birth. This was a sign of God’s covenant with the nation of Israel. This covenant was a covenant which promised a new beginning for the earth. It was a covenant which promised a worldwide kingdom of peace and righteousness.
God, Himself, gave Abraham the sign of circumcision even before the Law of Moses was given. This bloody sign of circumcision was meaningful for a couple of reasons. First, it was the sign of the blood covenant between God and Israel which promised this glorious new beginning for the earth. Just like the eight souls who survived the flood, the nation of Israel was called out from among the nations to be the ruling nation in the glorious kingdom of God.
How the nation of Israel looked forward to the day when they would lead the world in a kingdom which would have none of the evils of our present world. It would have no poverty, no injustice, and no war. Circumcision was the sign that the Jews were God’s chosen people.
God gave the Jews the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession, but the promise involved much more than just the land of Canaan. God’s plan was to rule the whole world through the Jews from the land of Palestine. When Isaac blessed Jacob, he said:
Genesis 27:28-29
28 Therefore may God give you of the dew of heaven, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine.
29 Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren, and let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be those who bless you!"
Later, God, Himself, appeared to Jacob and said:
Genesis 35:11-12 (NKJ)
11 . . . "I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body.
12 "The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you; and to your descendants after you I give this land."
This passage says that a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from Jacob, but the Jamieson, Faussett and Brown Commentary, says that a better translation might be that a nation and a gathering of nations, or even a gatherer of nations, will proceed from Jacob. This would be speaking of the time when the nations gather around Jesus Christ, or it could be speaking of Jesus Christ, Himself, as the gatherer of nations.
When Jacob was on his deathbed, he turned to Judah and said:
Genesis 49:10 (NKJ)
10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people.
Again, the Jamieson, Faussett and Brown Commentary points out that the Hebrew text spells the word Shiloh with a “y” in the middle. It is spelled “S-h-i-y-l-o-h,” and they say that this would actually be referring to the One who has the authority or the One who has the right.
With this in mind then, it’s likely that Jacob actually said:
Genesis 49:10
10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until the One who has the right shall come, and to Him shall be the obedience of the people.
Jesus has already come to the earth once as the baby in a manger who grew up to be the teacher/miracle worker, but the next time that He comes to the earth, He will come with majesty and power. He will come with the right or the authority to rule over all of the nations of the earth.
This is in keeping with the words of Ezekiel when he spoke of the destruction of Babylon and said:
Ezekiel 21:27 (NKJ)
27 Overthrown, overthrown, I will make it overthrown! It shall be no longer, until He comes whose right it is, and I will give it to Him.'
It is also in keeping with the words of the Apostle Paul who said to the Galatians:
Galatians 3:19 (NKJ)
19 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made . . .
In other words, the purpose of the Law ended when the promised Seed came into the world.
With the arrival of the promised Seed, it was time for the earth’s “new beginning.” The letter of the Law was ending and the Spirit of Law had come.
Paul wrote the book of Romans even after he wrote the book of Galatians, and in Romans it’s clear that Paul was still anticipating this new beginning for the earth. In Romans 8, Paul said:
Romans 8:18-20 (NKJ)
18 . . . I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.
20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope;
In other words, the earth itself fell under the curse even as did Adam and Eve and all of us who are the descendants of Adam and Eve. Then Paul said:
Romans 8:21 (NKJ)
21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
So the children of God will be redeemed and set free from the curse, but the earth will also be redeemed from the curse. Then in verse 22, Paul says:
Romans 8:22-23 (NKJ)
22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.
23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
Paul said that the earth is waiting to be set free from the curse just like believers are waiting to be set free from our mortal bodies.
Now it’s interesting that when we get over into Paul’s prison epistles of Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, we no longer find this link between the bodily redemption of believers and the redemption of the earth.
In fact, we find Paul discouraging that kind of thinking when he proclaims that, today, we are citizens of heaven and that as such we are already blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Furthermore, he teaches that as citizens of heaven, we should set our affections on things above and not on the things of the earth.
He says that when Christ appears, we will appear with Him in glory and that He will change our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body, but He never associates this event with the redemption of the earth.
This stands in contrast to Paul’s earlier writings. In fact, the contrast between Paul’s prison epistles and his previous epistles is so sharp that some dismiss his prison epistles as being written by an impostor. But if we look closely at the internal evidence of the prison epistles, we find the perfect explanation for the differences. In Ephesians 2, Paul said:
Ephesians 2:14-16
14 For (Christ) Himself is our peace, who has made both (Jews and the Gentiles) one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,
15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,
16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross . . .
During the Acts-period, Paul said that there was no difference between the Jews and the Gentiles in regard to their sin or in regard to their need for salvation through faith in Christ, but he never said that the middle wall of separation had been broken down between the Jew and the Gentile. It is clear that during the Act-period the Jews continued to practice the Law, and Paul went out of His way not to discourage them from practicing the Law.
However, in Ephesians 2, Paul is revealing a new beginning for the believers of our present age. We are not anticipating or waiting for the redemption of the earth. The doctrines that relate to the coming kingdom are glorious and we rejoice in them, but the kingdom is not that for which our hearts are yearning.
Rather, our hearts yearn for the time when Christ shall appear and then we shall appear with Him in glory. We do not long for the restoration of the earth. Hopefully, we can say with Paul:
2 Timothy 4:8 (KJV)
8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
The one new man of which Paul spoke, which is composed of Jews and Gentiles alike, is the Church which is the Body of Christ. In his pre-prison epistles, Paul never specifically referred to the Church which is the Body of Christ, but in the prison epistles, this Church is the major theme.
In Ephesians 1, we read that God has put all things under the feet of Christ, and that God has given Christ to be Head over all things to the Church which is His Body.
In Ephesians 3, Paul says:
Ephesians 5:23 (NKJ)
23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body.
In Colossians 1, Paul says:
Colossians 1:17-18
17 And (Christ) is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
Later in Colossians 1, Paul says:
Colossians 1:24-25 (NKJ)
24 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church,
25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God,
Then he goes on to say that this stewardship concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ is:
Colossians 1:26 (NKJ)
26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.
The Church which is the Body of Christ was a new-beginning for believers, and nobody knew that it was going to come about. God kept this great truth in His mind as a well guarded secret. Even so, in Ephesians 1 we are told that we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. God knew it was going to take place. He just never told anyone about it.
Israel’s program anticipates a new-beginning for this earth, but we are participants in the new-beginning which relates to the Church which is the Body of Christ.
Interestingly enough, there is another new-beginning which is a prerequisite for the participants of both programs, and this new-beginning relates to the death of the flesh. This is actually the spiritual significance of circumcision. Jesus said:
Matthew 16:25 (NKJ)
25 " . . . whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
This is one of those universal principles that applies to believers of all ages. The believers in Rome were anticipating Israel’s earthly kingdom, and Paul said to them:
Romans 6:3-4 (NKJ)
3 . . . do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
But then in Colossians, the Apostle Paul speaks to us as members of the Church which is the Body of Christ, and he says:
Colossians 2:11-13 (NKJ)
11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,
The Jews in the Old Testament who had eternal life were saved through their personal faith in the word of God, and when Christ died on the cross and was raised from the dead, they were right there with Him, identified with Him in a spiritual sense, and then they ascended with Him into the glory of heaven when He ascended.
Believers during the Acts period were given eternal life as a result of their faith in the word of God. They believed what the Apostles taught, that Jesus Christ was the promised Messiah who was crucified on the cross and then raised from the dead.
When Paul revealed the mystery concerning the blood of Christ, that the blood of Christ was the blood of atonement which paid for the sins of the world, one had to believe that in order to be saved. I Corinthians 15 says that this is the gospel by which we are saved, and the prison epistles confirm that we too have to believe that Christ died on the cross for our sins in order to be saved.
At the end of the Acts period, it was clear that Israel was not going to accept Christ as her Messiah, and so, it was at that point, that God called the Apostle Paul to reveal the mystery concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ.
It’s interesting that Paul never says that one has to believe this doctrine in order to be saved. Many Christians know nothing about the Church which is the Body of Christ, but they are still saved.
However, it was Paul’s prayer that the eyes of our understanding would be enlightened so that we might know what is the hope of our calling in Christ. We need to know the code of conduct for us today if we are going to be successful in our walk with the Lord.
Well, I see that our time is gone for this morning. Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time, and I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
It’s no coincidence that God required the circumcision of all Jewish boys on the eighth day after their birth. This was a sign of God’s covenant with the nation of Israel. This covenant was a covenant which promised a new beginning for the earth. It was a covenant which promised a worldwide kingdom of peace and righteousness.
God, Himself, gave Abraham the sign of circumcision even before the Law of Moses was given. This bloody sign of circumcision was meaningful for a couple of reasons. First, it was the sign of the blood covenant between God and Israel which promised this glorious new beginning for the earth. Just like the eight souls who survived the flood, the nation of Israel was called out from among the nations to be the ruling nation in the glorious kingdom of God.
How the nation of Israel looked forward to the day when they would lead the world in a kingdom which would have none of the evils of our present world. It would have no poverty, no injustice, and no war. Circumcision was the sign that the Jews were God’s chosen people.
God gave the Jews the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession, but the promise involved much more than just the land of Canaan. God’s plan was to rule the whole world through the Jews from the land of Palestine. When Isaac blessed Jacob, he said:
Genesis 27:28-29
28 Therefore may God give you of the dew of heaven, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine.
29 Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren, and let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be those who bless you!"
Later, God, Himself, appeared to Jacob and said:
Genesis 35:11-12 (NKJ)
11 . . . "I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body.
12 "The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you; and to your descendants after you I give this land."
This passage says that a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from Jacob, but the Jamieson, Faussett and Brown Commentary, says that a better translation might be that a nation and a gathering of nations, or even a gatherer of nations, will proceed from Jacob. This would be speaking of the time when the nations gather around Jesus Christ, or it could be speaking of Jesus Christ, Himself, as the gatherer of nations.
When Jacob was on his deathbed, he turned to Judah and said:
Genesis 49:10 (NKJ)
10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people.
Again, the Jamieson, Faussett and Brown Commentary points out that the Hebrew text spells the word Shiloh with a “y” in the middle. It is spelled “S-h-i-y-l-o-h,” and they say that this would actually be referring to the One who has the authority or the One who has the right.
With this in mind then, it’s likely that Jacob actually said:
Genesis 49:10
10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until the One who has the right shall come, and to Him shall be the obedience of the people.
Jesus has already come to the earth once as the baby in a manger who grew up to be the teacher/miracle worker, but the next time that He comes to the earth, He will come with majesty and power. He will come with the right or the authority to rule over all of the nations of the earth.
This is in keeping with the words of Ezekiel when he spoke of the destruction of Babylon and said:
Ezekiel 21:27 (NKJ)
27 Overthrown, overthrown, I will make it overthrown! It shall be no longer, until He comes whose right it is, and I will give it to Him.'
It is also in keeping with the words of the Apostle Paul who said to the Galatians:
Galatians 3:19 (NKJ)
19 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made . . .
In other words, the purpose of the Law ended when the promised Seed came into the world.
With the arrival of the promised Seed, it was time for the earth’s “new beginning.” The letter of the Law was ending and the Spirit of Law had come.
Paul wrote the book of Romans even after he wrote the book of Galatians, and in Romans it’s clear that Paul was still anticipating this new beginning for the earth. In Romans 8, Paul said:
Romans 8:18-20 (NKJ)
18 . . . I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.
20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope;
In other words, the earth itself fell under the curse even as did Adam and Eve and all of us who are the descendants of Adam and Eve. Then Paul said:
Romans 8:21 (NKJ)
21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
So the children of God will be redeemed and set free from the curse, but the earth will also be redeemed from the curse. Then in verse 22, Paul says:
Romans 8:22-23 (NKJ)
22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.
23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
Paul said that the earth is waiting to be set free from the curse just like believers are waiting to be set free from our mortal bodies.
Now it’s interesting that when we get over into Paul’s prison epistles of Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, we no longer find this link between the bodily redemption of believers and the redemption of the earth.
In fact, we find Paul discouraging that kind of thinking when he proclaims that, today, we are citizens of heaven and that as such we are already blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Furthermore, he teaches that as citizens of heaven, we should set our affections on things above and not on the things of the earth.
He says that when Christ appears, we will appear with Him in glory and that He will change our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body, but He never associates this event with the redemption of the earth.
This stands in contrast to Paul’s earlier writings. In fact, the contrast between Paul’s prison epistles and his previous epistles is so sharp that some dismiss his prison epistles as being written by an impostor. But if we look closely at the internal evidence of the prison epistles, we find the perfect explanation for the differences. In Ephesians 2, Paul said:
Ephesians 2:14-16
14 For (Christ) Himself is our peace, who has made both (Jews and the Gentiles) one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,
15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,
16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross . . .
During the Acts-period, Paul said that there was no difference between the Jews and the Gentiles in regard to their sin or in regard to their need for salvation through faith in Christ, but he never said that the middle wall of separation had been broken down between the Jew and the Gentile. It is clear that during the Act-period the Jews continued to practice the Law, and Paul went out of His way not to discourage them from practicing the Law.
However, in Ephesians 2, Paul is revealing a new beginning for the believers of our present age. We are not anticipating or waiting for the redemption of the earth. The doctrines that relate to the coming kingdom are glorious and we rejoice in them, but the kingdom is not that for which our hearts are yearning.
Rather, our hearts yearn for the time when Christ shall appear and then we shall appear with Him in glory. We do not long for the restoration of the earth. Hopefully, we can say with Paul:
2 Timothy 4:8 (KJV)
8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
The one new man of which Paul spoke, which is composed of Jews and Gentiles alike, is the Church which is the Body of Christ. In his pre-prison epistles, Paul never specifically referred to the Church which is the Body of Christ, but in the prison epistles, this Church is the major theme.
In Ephesians 1, we read that God has put all things under the feet of Christ, and that God has given Christ to be Head over all things to the Church which is His Body.
In Ephesians 3, Paul says:
Ephesians 5:23 (NKJ)
23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body.
In Colossians 1, Paul says:
Colossians 1:17-18
17 And (Christ) is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
Later in Colossians 1, Paul says:
Colossians 1:24-25 (NKJ)
24 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church,
25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God,
Then he goes on to say that this stewardship concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ is:
Colossians 1:26 (NKJ)
26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.
The Church which is the Body of Christ was a new-beginning for believers, and nobody knew that it was going to come about. God kept this great truth in His mind as a well guarded secret. Even so, in Ephesians 1 we are told that we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. God knew it was going to take place. He just never told anyone about it.
Israel’s program anticipates a new-beginning for this earth, but we are participants in the new-beginning which relates to the Church which is the Body of Christ.
Interestingly enough, there is another new-beginning which is a prerequisite for the participants of both programs, and this new-beginning relates to the death of the flesh. This is actually the spiritual significance of circumcision. Jesus said:
Matthew 16:25 (NKJ)
25 " . . . whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
This is one of those universal principles that applies to believers of all ages. The believers in Rome were anticipating Israel’s earthly kingdom, and Paul said to them:
Romans 6:3-4 (NKJ)
3 . . . do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
But then in Colossians, the Apostle Paul speaks to us as members of the Church which is the Body of Christ, and he says:
Colossians 2:11-13 (NKJ)
11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,
The Jews in the Old Testament who had eternal life were saved through their personal faith in the word of God, and when Christ died on the cross and was raised from the dead, they were right there with Him, identified with Him in a spiritual sense, and then they ascended with Him into the glory of heaven when He ascended.
Believers during the Acts period were given eternal life as a result of their faith in the word of God. They believed what the Apostles taught, that Jesus Christ was the promised Messiah who was crucified on the cross and then raised from the dead.
When Paul revealed the mystery concerning the blood of Christ, that the blood of Christ was the blood of atonement which paid for the sins of the world, one had to believe that in order to be saved. I Corinthians 15 says that this is the gospel by which we are saved, and the prison epistles confirm that we too have to believe that Christ died on the cross for our sins in order to be saved.
At the end of the Acts period, it was clear that Israel was not going to accept Christ as her Messiah, and so, it was at that point, that God called the Apostle Paul to reveal the mystery concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ.
It’s interesting that Paul never says that one has to believe this doctrine in order to be saved. Many Christians know nothing about the Church which is the Body of Christ, but they are still saved.
However, it was Paul’s prayer that the eyes of our understanding would be enlightened so that we might know what is the hope of our calling in Christ. We need to know the code of conduct for us today if we are going to be successful in our walk with the Lord.
Well, I see that our time is gone for this morning. Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time, and I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
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