Jim's Footnotes

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Triumphal Entry (3-25-07)

Triumphal Entry
Bible Study Time 3-25-07

Luke, the evangelist, tells us that as Jesus left Jericho heading for His crucifixion in Jerusalem, He sensed that the people thought the kingdom was going to come very soon. They were so excited because, as far as they could see, that which the children of Israel had longed for all through the centuries was about to come to pass.

Luke says that when the Lord sensed what the people were thinking, He told the parable of the ten minas. He said:

Luke 19:12 (NKJ)
12 . . . "A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.

This nobleman was the Lord Jesus. He was a man of noble birth. God the Father spoke from heaven on several occasions, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

The people thought that they could make Jesus the King of Israel. And why not? When David returned to Israel after living with the Philistines, the Bible says that “the men of Judah came to Hebron and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.” In this same way, the Jews of Jesus day thought that they could simply anoint Jesus as their king.

However, the kingdom of the Lord Jesus was not to be just an ordinary kingdom. It was to be the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, the Lord Jesus had to go before the throne of God in heaven so that God, the Father, could anoint Him as the King over all the earth.

The devil pretended that he had the power to give the kingdoms of this earth to Jesus. He showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and said:

Matthew 4:9 (NKJ)
9 . . . "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."

But the devil could not give the kingdom to Jesus and neither could the children of Israel. Only God the Father could give the kingdom to His Son. So, in the parable of the ten minas, Jesus indicated that He would be going away in order to receive the kingdom from His Father.

Then Jesus said that the nobleman who was going away:

Luke 19:13-14 (NKJ)
13 " . . . called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, 'Do business till I come.'
14 "But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We will not have this man to reign over us.'

The leaders of the nation of Israel steadfastly refused to accept Jesus as their king. By plotting His death, they were sending a message to the Father that was loud and clear. It was a message that said, we will not have this man to reign over us.

The Lord Jesus came unto His own, and His own received Him not, but as many as received Him, to them gave He the power to become the sons of God. Therefore, in the parable of the minas, the Lord said that the nobleman gave gifts to His servants before He went away. He gave ten minas each to ten servants and said, do business until I return.

Luke 19:15-27 (NKJ)
15 "And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.
16 "Then came the first, saying, 'Master, your mina has earned ten minas.'
17 "And he said to him, 'Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.'
18 "And the second came, saying, 'Master, your mina has earned five minas.'
19 "Likewise he said to him, 'You also be over five cities.'
20 "Then another came, saying, 'Master, here is your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief.
21 'For I feared you, because you are an austere man. You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.'
22 "And he said to him, 'Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was an austere man, collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow.
23 'Why then did you not put my money in the bank, that at my coming I might have collected it with interest?'
24 "And he said to those who stood by, 'Take the mina from him, and give it to him who has ten minas.'
25 ("But they said to him, 'Master, he has ten minas.')
26 'For I say to you, that to everyone who has will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.

The Lord Jesus was preparing His disciples for the fact that when He went away, they would be given gifts and that they would be held accountable for the way they used those gifts. On the day of Pentecost, the disciples received their gifts when the Holy Spirit came upon them. All of a sudden they started praising God and speaking in tongues. Peter stood up and said that this was the fulfillment of Joel’s prophesy, which said:

Joel 2:28-29 (NKJ)
28 "And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.
29 And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.

On that Day of Pentecost, Peter explained to this Jewish crowd that Jesus was the Lord of glory, but they had crucified Him. But then, Peter declared that God had raised Jesus from the dead and that if they would repent and be baptized, God would forgive them of their sins. On that day 3000 people got saved.

Peter is a great example of the servant who took the gift that Jesus gave him and used that gift to bring honor and glory to the name of Jesus. When Jesus returns, Peter will stand before the Lord, and the Lord will reward Peter by giving him great responsibilities in the kingdom.

However, there will be loss of reward for those who refuse to use their gifts for God’s glory. I say that these people refuse to use their gifts because only God can bless and utilize those gifts. All we have to do is submit to God and yield ourselves as His instruments of righteousness.

In other words, it wasn’t Peter who spoke on the day of Pentecost. It was the Holy Spirit speaking through Peter. That’s why 3000 people got saved. It’s God who blesses us with gifts, and it’s God and God alone who can use those gifts to accomplish His plan and purpose.

Then, according to the parable, the nobleman said:

Luke 19:27 (NKJ)
27 . . . bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me.'"

Those who refuse to believe in Jesus Christ will also be brought before the Lord on the day of judgment, but they will be sentenced to death. Therefore, we see that the saved and the unsaved will all be called before the Lord to give an account of their lives. As Solomon said in Ecclesiastes:

Ecclesiastes 3:17 (NKJ)
17 . . . "God shall judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work."

As we would expect, however, the Lord Jesus did not reveal any significant time lapse between the judgment of the saved and the judgment of the unsaved. Jesus simply indicated that when He returns to the earth after having received His kingdom, He will reward the saints and then put to death the unsaved.

However, as we read the book of the Revelation, we see that there is actually a thousand year gap between the two events. Revelation 20 says that when the Lord returns, He will bind the devil in the bottomless pit, and then He will reward the saints. John said:

Revelation 20:4 (NKJ)
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

So the saints will be rewarded on the basis of how effectively they used their gifts, but then John says that:

Revelation 20:5-6 (NKJ)
5 . . . the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished . . .

So the first resurrection involves the resurrection of the saints before the thousand year reign of Christ, while the second resurrection will be the resurrection of the unsaved which will occur at the end of the thousand year reign of Christ. John said:

Revelation 20:6
6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

These saints will be resurrected with new glorified bodies so that they can reign with Christ for a thousand years, but the Lord Jesus hinted at the fact that those believers who are alive at the time of this first resurrection will be raptured and given immortal bodies as well. Just before the Lord raised Lazarus from the dead, He told Martha:

John 11:25-26 (KJV)
25 . . . I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

This, of course, is the first resurrection. It says, “though he were dead, yet shall he live.” But then the Lord said:

John 11:26 (KJV)
26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die . . .

In this statement the Lord clearly indicated that there will be some believers who will receive their immortal bodies even though their mortal bodies have never died. This mystery was explained by the Apostle Paul. In I Corinthians 15, Paul said:

1 Corinthians 15:51-53 (NKJ)
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed--
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

Of course, this was not the first time that Paul wrote about the rapture of living saints. Early in his ministry, he wrote to the believers in Thessalonica saying:

1Thessalonians 4:15-17 (NKJ)
15 . . . this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

So there will be a rapture and a resurrection of believers before the thousand year reign of Christ, and then there will be a resurrection of unbelievers at the end of the thousand year reign of Christ.

In the parable of the ten minas, the Lord was challenging the disciples to keep the faith in spite of the fact that He, Himself, was going to be going away in order to be crowned by the Father as King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Then Luke said that as soon as the Lord finished telling this parable, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. . . . He knew exactly what God had called Him to do. He knew exactly what it was going to take to bring salvation to mankind. He knew exactly what it was going to take to bring redemption to mankind and all of creation. All of this would depend upon His willingness to offer His shed blood as the atonement for sin. Philippians, Chapter 2, says that Jesus Christ:

Philippians 2:8-11 (NKJ)
8 . . . humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The Father loved the Son, but the Father was willing to send His only begotten Son into the world to die for our sins. In this we see how much the Father loves us. The Apostle John said:

I John 4:9 (NKJ)
9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.

The Son was willing to do the will of the Father, and it was the will of the Father that all men should be saved. Therefore, Jesus humbled Himself and became obedient unto the death of the cross. But now, God has highly exalted Him and has given Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Now from Paul’s prison epistles, we know that the Church of our present age will have a separate rapture and a separate resurrection which will take place before the tribulation period. It’s obvious that the Apostle John did not see our rapture or our resurrection because he saw the resurrection which will take place at the end of the tribulation period as the first resurrection. But it may be that we will not be called before the Lord to receive our rewards until the time of that resurrection which will occur at the end of the tribulation period, at the event that John called the first resurrection. This would mean that all believers will be rewarded at that time, but our part in that so called first resurrection is still unclear.

But we do know that all those who bow before the Lord Jesus and believe on Him during their lifetime will come before Him to receive their rewards. On the other hand, those who refuse to accept the Lord Jesus during their lifetime will bow before Him at the time of the second resurrection and they will be sentenced to the second death which is the lake of fire. As John said, “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection.”

Well, I see our time is gone for this morning. Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time. It’s been a pleasure studying with you, and I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.

Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com

Church links:

Monday, March 12, 2007

The Mystery of the Church (3-18-07)

The Mystery of the Church
Bible Study Time 3-18-07

Last week we saw that just before Moses died he gave a prophesy concerning Israel’s future rebellion against God and the fact that they would ultimately forsake their covenant with God. Moses said that because of Israel’s sin, God was going to bring great judgment upon Israel and upon the land. Then, when Moses saw the look of astonishment upon the faces of the people, he said:

Deuteronomy 29:29 (NKJ)
29 "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

He was telling them in so many words that this judgment was something that belonged to the future. It was not something with which they would have to be concerned because God had given to them all that they would need to live according to their covenant with God.

What he said was certainly true. This particular generation to whom Moses was talking was the generation which had been raised in the wilderness. The previous generation had come up out of Egypt, but had perished in the wilderness because they had failed to believe in the power of God. They had refused to go into the Promised Land because they were afraid that there were giants in the land. Because they had refused to enter the land by faith, they were sentenced to die in the wilderness, but their children were now ready to go into the land.

Well, certainly, this younger generation did believe in the power of God. They entered into the Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua, and they were so very careful to do all that the Lord had commanded them to do. As a result, they drove out the Canaanites and laid the foundation for the glorious kingdom of David and Solomon.

However, shortly after the kingdom of David and Solomon the children of Israel began to turn away from the Lord. They turned their backs on the Covenant of God, and men like Isaiah came forward to reveal the details of the judgment which Moses had predicted.

Isaiah revealed the fact that it would be the kings of Assyria and Babylon who would bring God’s judgment upon Israel. He said that the children of Israel would be carried away into captivity but that a small remnant of the Jews would return to the land.

As it turned out, a small remnant of the nation did return to Judea but they never again lived as a free and a sovereign nation. They were constantly under the political thumb of the great empires of Persia, Greece and Rome.

Through the years, the prophets predicted that the nation of Israel would rise again to even greater heights of glory than had ever been experienced under the reign of David or Solomon. They said that this great kingdom would come about with the coming of the Messiah.

Naturally, the people all looked forward to the coming of the Messiah. They longed for the day when they would be free from the domination of the Gentile empires, but there were many things about the Messiah which were alluded to in the scriptures but which were very effectively veiled or hidden within the scriptures.

The Jews, in general, did not know that the Messiah would be rejected by His own people even though Isaiah had said:

Isaiah 53:3 (NKJ)
3 He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; he was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

They did not know that the Messiah would be killed for the sins of the world even though David had said:

Psalms 22:16, 18 (NKJ)
16 . . . They pierced My hands and My feet;
18 They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.

Even though Isaiah had said:

Isaiah 53:5 (NKJ)
5 . . . He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

They did not know that the Messiah would be raised from the dead even though David had said:

Psalms 16:10
10 . . . You will not leave my soul in (Hell), nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.

They did not understand that only a small remnant of Israel would be allowed to enter into the Messiah’s kingdom or that the remnant would be defined by those who would believe in the Messiah. They didn’t know this even though Habakkuk had said:

Habakkuk 2:4 (NKJ)
4 "Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith.

Jesus made it clear that only those who were willing to put their faith in Him would be allowed to enter into the kingdom, and He also made it clear that those who refused to accept Him as the Messiah would be destroyed.

Well, all of these things were among the secrets which had belonged only to God up to the time of Christ. These things were hinted at but still hidden within the pages of the Old Testament scriptures.

However, today we are going to talk about the secret of God which was never revealed in any way, shape or form to any of the Old Testament prophets. That secret is the mystery concerning Israel’s rejection of the resurrected Christ and of God’s calling out of the Church which is the Body of Christ.

The Old Testament prophets alluded to the fact that the Messiah would be killed, and they alluded to the fact that the Messiah would be raised from the dead, but they never in any way suggested that the resurrected Christ would be rejected by the nation of Israel.

Daniel said that the Messiah would be cut off or killed 483 years after the Jews returned to Jerusalem from Babylon. And so it was, 483 years after Cyrus allowed the Jews to return, Jesus Christ came riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, ready and willing to accept the death of the cross.

However, Daniel only saw another seven years from the death of Christ to the setting up of the kingdom. In Daniel 9:27, Daniel predicted that the antichrist will confirm a seven-year covenant or treaty with the unbelieving Jews. Daniel then said that after only three and a half years, the antichrist will break his covenant with the Jews. At that point the antichrist will stop the temple sacrifices, and he will make the temple desolate until the consummation, or until the kingdom is established.

Now, as we all know, here we are nearly 2000 years after the death of Christ, and the world is still waiting for the fulfillment of that seven year period time. Obviously, Daniel did not see the fact that the resurrected Christ would be consistently and repeatedly rejected by the nation of Israel during the thirty year period which followed Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. Nor did Daniel see the fact that God was going to call out a whole new church to serve Him on the earth for a period of 2000 years or so. God did not reveal this great mystery to anyone for many years even after the cross.

Some twenty years after the resurrection of Christ, the Apostle Paul wrote to the believers at Thessalonika and warned them about the coming of the antichrist. He said that the Day of the Lord can not come until after the antichrist is revealed.

It seems that in the scriptures, the Day of the Lord is a package deal. It includes the return of the Lord. It includes the resurrection and rapture of the saints. It includes the Lord’s victory over the antichrist in the Battle of Armageddon. And it includes the setting up of the earthly kingdom.

Therefore, Paul was saying that none of these things could happen until after the antichrist comes to power. This indicates that Paul was still anticipating the final seven years of Daniel’s prophesy. He was still anticipating the tribulation period.

However, within ten years Paul found himself under house arrest in Rome. While he was there he sent for the Jews of that great city. He spelled out for them the gospel of Jesus Christ, and what did he use as His textbook? He used the Law of Moses and the prophets. That means that Paul used all of those mysterious passages in the Old Testament which actually predicted the death, burial and resurrection of the Messiah.

Well, how did the Jews respond? They said, Brother Paul, we’ll get back with you on that, and Paul must have sensed that they were really saying, don’t call us, we’ll call you, so he said:

Acts 28:25-28 (NKJ)
25 . . . "The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers,
26 "saying, 'Go to this people and say: "Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you will see, and not perceive;
27 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them." '
28 "Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!"

It was after this that Paul wrote the little epistles of Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, and it was in these little letters that Paul explained why the time table of the Old Testament prophets was not coming to pass.

In these letters Paul revealed the Church which is the Body of Christ, and he said that this is a new program which none of the prophets knew about. Paul said, God has kept this program a secret from the very beginning of time, and then Paul boldly declared that he was the first and only apostle to whom this secret was revealed. In Colossians, Chapter 1, Paul said:

Colossians 1:24
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,

He said, I’m thankful to be able to suffer for the sake of the Church which is the Body of Christ. After all, the Church is the Body of Christ, and it is only logical that as members of Christ’s body, we will be called upon to suffer even as Christ suffered. Then Paul said:

Colossians 1:25
25 . . . I became a minister (of this Church) according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God,

This means that it was Paul’s job to tell people about this new program of God. Paul sensed the gravity of his mission. If God has a new program then people need to know about it, and if you’re the one that God chooses to get the word out, then you definitely want to take that job seriously.

Paul went on to say that this stewardship of truth, this revelation concerning the Church fulfills the word of God. Now, Paul didn’t mean that there would be no writings after this letter which would qualify as the word of God. Even Paul wrote some other letters after this one which are included in the Bible. But what Paul was saying is that this is the final revelation of God concerning His plan and purpose for the ages.

In other words, there is no room for anyone else to come along and say, God has given me a new revelation for the world, and my revelation supersedes the revelation that God gave to Paul concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ.

To be sure, however, this revelation concerning the Church did supersede God’s previous revelation concerning the Old Covenant, and it did supersede God’s previous revelation concerning the New Covenant, but we should give no credence to any person who comes along today and claims that his revelation from God supersedes the revelation which was given to Paul. Paul said that this revelation concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ fulfills the word of God, and it will be God’s final authority for the guidance and direction of the Church until the day that the Church is caught up to be with the Lord at the end of this age, whenever that may be.

But then, Paul says in Colossians 1:26 that this mystery concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ:

Colossians 1:26
26 . . . has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.

It’s no wonder Daniel knew nothing about it. It’s no wonder the Apostles knew nothing about it in during the Acts period. It had been hidden from ages and from generations. This agrees completely with what we read in Ephesians, Chapter 3, where Paul says:

Ephesians 3:1-5, 8-9
1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles--
2 if indeed you have heard of the dispensation (or the stewardship) of the grace of God which was given to me for you,
3 how that by revelation (God) made known to me the mystery . . .
5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets:
8 To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
9 and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;

The truth concerning the Church of our present age was kept secret from all of the prophets of old. They knew nothing about Israel’s rejection of the resurrected Christ. They knew nothing about the fact that God would set aside His program for Israel and bring in His program for us.

The Church has now been sharing the light of Jesus Christ on the earth for nearly 2000 years, but one of these days, God is going to catch up the Church to be with Him in heaven. Then, once again God will offer the resurrected Christ to the nation of Israel during the tribulation period, and at that time they will accept Christ and Christ will return to the earth to set up the kingdom.

Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time this morning. It’s been a pleasure being with you, and I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.

Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com

Church links:

Thursday, March 08, 2007

The Mysteries of God (3-11-07)

The Mysteries of God
Bible Study Time 3-11-07

Now as we begin our Bible study this morning, I’d like to start with Deuteronomy, Chapter 28, where Moses spelled out the blessings and the curses that were associated with God’s covenant with Israel. He said:

Deuteronomy 28:1-6 (NKJ)
1 "Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth.
2 "And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God:
3 "Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.
4 "Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
5 "Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
6 "Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

Deuteronomy 28:15-19 (NKJ)
15 "But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
16 "Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country.
17 "Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
18 "Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
19 "Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

Moses followed this up in Deuteronomy, Chapter 29, with a sobering prophesy. He said:

Deuteronomy 29:22-28 (NKJ)
22 " . . . the coming generation of your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, would say, when they see the plagues of that land and the sicknesses which the LORD has laid on it:
23 'The whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning; it is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the LORD overthrew in His anger and His wrath.'
24 "All nations would say, 'Why has the LORD done so to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?'
25 "Then people would say: 'Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt;
26 'for they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they did not know and that He had not given to them.
27 'Then the anger of the LORD was aroused against this land, to bring on it every curse that is written in this book.
28 'And the LORD uprooted them from their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.'

Well, Moses must have seen the astonished expressions of the people when they heard this terrible prophesy so he said:

Deuteronomy 29:29 (NKJ)
29 "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Indeed, the nation of Israel was going to forsake their covenant with God, and God was going to bring great judgment upon them, but Moses said that the details of when and how God was going to accomplish this were among the secrets that belong to God.

Certainly, from this we can see that God is a God who can keep a secret. The things which He has determined to keep secret belong only to Him. However, God does reveal to us and to our children those things which we need to know. In the case of the children of Israel, Moses said that God had revealed all that was necessary for them to do all the words of the Law.

As time went on, God did reveal through the prophets that the armies of Assyria and Babylon would be coming to ravage the land and take Israel into captivity. Isaiah said:

Isaiah 7:17 (NKJ)
17 "The LORD will bring the king of Assyria upon you and your people and your father's house-- days that have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah."

Isaiah said, the King of Assyria will pass through the land of Israel like a mighty river which has overflowed its banks. He said:

Isaiah 8:9 (NKJ)
9 "Be shattered, O you peoples, and be broken in pieces! Give ear, all you from far countries. Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces.

This time of judgment was hinted at by Moses, but the details were kept secret until the time of Isaiah, and this is the way it is with many of the secrets of God. He gives hints or clues along the way, but He does not reveal the details until it suits His plan and purpose. This is why we say that the Bible is a progressive revelation. God has given more and more information and revelation to man through the ages of time.

Many of the mysteries or secrets of the Old Testament related to the coming of the Messiah and the establishment of the kingdom. But when Jesus came and was presented as the Messiah, He began to reveal many of the details of the kingdom which had previously been a mystery.

After Jesus gave the parable of the sower, the disciples asked Him why He always spoke to the people in parables. His response:

Matthew 13:11 (NKJ)
11 . . . "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

Jesus was willing to reveal the mysteries of the kingdom to those who were willing to listen and learn. In the parable of the sower, the seed is the word of God, and Jesus revealed the fact that only those who were willing to accept the word of God and believe in Jesus would be accepted into the kingdom.

This seems obvious to us today, but it was not so obvious to the people of that day. In general, the Jews of Jesus’ day thought that when the Messiah came, He would simply deliver Israel from her enemies. Jesus said, no, that is not the case. Only those who receive the word of God and let it take root in their lives will be allowed to enter the kingdom.

It is true that the Old Testament spoke of the remnant of Israel which would enter the kingdom, but the average Jew never equated the remnant with those who would believe in the Messiah. Isaiah said that the remnant would include those who returned to the land and to God after their captivity. He said:

Isaiah 10:20-22 (NKJ)
20 And it shall come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, and such as have escaped of the house of Jacob, will never again depend on (the King of Assyria) who defeated them, but will depend on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
21 The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the Mighty God.
22 For though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them will return . . .

Most of the Jews of Jesus’ day felt that they were part of the remnant. They lived in the land, and they followed the strict rules of the Pharisees. However, the parables of Jesus indicated that the true remnant would be made up of those who put their faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus said:

John 6:29
29 . . . "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom (God has) sent."

As Jesus continued revealing the mysteries of the kingdom, He gave the parable of the weeds. This parable revealed that the unsaved Jews would mix and mingle with the saved Jews until the end, when Christ will separate the saved from the unsaved. At that time the believing remnant will go into the kingdom while the unbelieving Jews will not. This was one of those secrets which had previously belonged to God but was now being revealed.

Of course, it was the Apostle Paul who really spelled out the defining aspects of the remnant. In Romans, Paul said:

Romans 9:1-7 (NKJ)
1 I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,
2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.
3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh,
4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises;
5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.
6 But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel,
7 nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham . . .

Romans 9:27 (NKJ)
27 Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel: "Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant will be saved.

Romans 10:1-4 (NKJ)
1 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved.
2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Romans 10:8-11
8 But what does (the scripture) say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach):
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."

The Jews of Jesus’ day had to believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God in order to qualify as part of the remnant. However, as Paul further defined the remnant, it became clear that the remnant would include only those who believed in the finished work of Christ upon the cross. Paul said that his heart ached for Israel because he knew that if the Lord had returned at that time very few Jews would have been allowed into the kingdom.

As Paul went from place to place preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, he effectively showed that his gospel was something which had been hidden in the scriptures all through the ages. He said:

1 Corinthians 15:1-4 (NKJ)
1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand,
2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you-- unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,

It was no accident that Paul repeated the phrase, according to the scriptures. He wanted people to know that what he was preaching had been predicted by the prophets. Isaiah had said:

Isaiah 53:3-6 (NKJ)
3 He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; he was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

From our vantage point, we can see that Isaiah was talking about Jesus dying for our sins, but back in the Old Testament times the correct interpretation of this passage would have been one of those secrets which belong to God.

Paul had the privilege of revealing this secret. He revealed the fact that Christ was delivered up because of our offenses and raised because of our justification. In other words, it was Jesus Christ who was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities.

The resurrection of Christ was also predicted in the Old Testament. David said:

Psalms 16:10
10 For You will not leave my soul in (hell), nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.

Again, from our vantage point, we can see that David was speaking about the resurrection of Christ and the fact that Jesus would be raised from the dead before His body could decay. We can see this, but it would have been a mystery to the people who lived during the Old Testament times.

I believe that it was this mystery concerning the death, burial and resurrection of Christ that Paul was talking about in Galatians, Chapter 1, when he said:

Galatians 1:11-12 (NKJ)
11 But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man.
12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.

The gospel that Paul was preaching was the gospel of the cross of Jesus Christ, that we are saved by simple faith in the work of Christ upon the cross and that our salvation has nothing to do with the rituals and ceremonies of the Law.

This gospel was a great mystery in the Old Testament, but Paul was given the privilege of revealing the details of this gospel of the grace of God, and I believe that it was this mystery concerning the cross of Christ that Paul was speaking about in Romans, Chapter 16, when he said:

Romans 16:25 (NKJ)
25 Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began

This mystery was the mystery concerning the gospel which Paul was preaching, the good news that salvation is given to all those who put their faith and trust in the work of Christ upon the cross. Paul said that this was a mystery which had been kept secret since the world began, but he never said that this gospel was not hinted at in the Old Testament.

In fact, in the very next verse, Paul went on to say that this gospel:

Romans 16:26
26 . . . has (now) been made manifest . . . by the prophetic Scriptures (and) has been made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith--

This gospel which Paul was preaching had been previously hidden in the prophetic Scriptures but was now being revealed by the prophetic Scriptures. The fact that Christ would be wounded for our transgressions and raised from the dead was all predicted but was well concealed within the Old Testament scriptures.

The Lord willing, next week we will look at the mystery concerning the Church of our present age which was never hinted at in the Old Testament. It’s been a pleasure studying with you this morning, 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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