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Author
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Topic: Occurrs only 3 times
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epouraniois
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Some of the differences between the church formed during the period covered by the Acts of the Apostles and after. Let us learn to be obedient to the will of God, and ‘try the things that differ’ (Phil. 1:10, margin). We do not further the truth by blending what He has kept apart. This can only cause confusion, and inability to receive the highest and best that God has to give. ‘Things that are excellent’ (Phil. 1:10) can only be
appreciated when the command to test and try the things that differ has been complied with faithfully.
UP TO ACTS 28 AFTER ACTS 28
TITLE
The word ‘mystery’ (or ‘secret’)never used concerning this church.
The mystery made known, which previously had been hid in God (Eph. 3:9; 5:32; Col. 1:26).
This company is linked with Old Testament (Gal. 3:8; Heb. 11).
No connection with Old Testament (Col. 1:26).
TIME
The time period connected with believers is ‘since thefoundation (overthrow) of the
world’ (Matt. 13:35; 25:34).
This church chosen before the foundation (overthrow) of
the world (Eph. 1:4).
This expression only used elsewhere of Christ Himself (John 17:24; 1 Peter 1:20).
PLACE
The New Jerusalem which comes down out of heaven (Rev. 21:2,10).
The right hand of God, ‘far above all’ (Eph. 1:19-21; 4:10).
FIGURE
The Bride, The Lamb’s wife (Rev. 21:2,9,10).
The New Man (Eph. 2:15).
CONSTITUTION
As saved sinners, believers are one in Christ, but
dispensationally are not equal one to another.
The Jew is first. Gentile believers are wild olives grafted
into the true (Israel) - note Romans 11:17,18,22; 15:27. They are warned that they may be ‘cut off’ (Rom. 11:21,22). Doctrinally they are in Christ; dispensationally they are blessed
with faithful Abraham (Gal. 3:9).
Jewish and Gentile believers one in Christ, and on
a perfect equality doctrinally and dispensationally.
They are joint-heirs, jointpartakers,
and a joint-body (Eph. 3:6). Doctrinally they
are in Christ; dispensationally they are blessed with Christ in His ascended glory (Eph. 1:3; 2:6).
Believers are identified with Christ in His burial and resurrection
(Rom. 6:4 R.V.).
Believers not only identified with Him in burial
and resurrection, but have the added blessing of being raised
and seated with Him (Eph. 2:5,6, R.V.).
PRACTICE
A walk that was worthy was also accompanied by evidential
gifts of miracles (Mark 16:17- 20).
The practice of this assembly is on as high a level, but without these evidential
gifts of miracles (Phil. 2:25-30; 2 Tim. 4:20).
Two baptisms; water and spirit
(Acts 1:5; 2:1-4; 8:14-17; 10:44-48).
One baptism (Eph 4:5). The type vanishes, but the great spiritual reality remains. See also Colossians 2:16,17.
PRACTICE
The New Covenant promised to Israel in Jeremiah 31:31-33 in operation
(2 Cor. 3:6).
Israel now lo ammi (not My people), and the covenant connected with Israel as a nation and with their land is not mentioned
(see Jer. 31:31-40; 32:37-44). It is held in
abeyance until the nation of Israel is taken up again by God
(see Rom. 11:26,27).
HOPE
Believers looked to meet the Lord in the air on His way to the earth. This is connected with the
Archangel Michael (1 Thess. 4:16; Dan. 12:1), and the last trumpet (1 Cor. 15:52), and the reigning of Christ over the Gentiles, i.e.
the millennium on the earth (Rom. 15:12,13).
Believers look to be manifested in the glory of
heaven’s holiest of all, where the Lord Jesus is now seated,
and where they are seated with Him, by faith, hope being the realization of this glorious position. Their inheritance is
there ‘in the light’ (Col. 1:12), and they are exhorted to keep their minds and affections
fixed there (Col. 3:1-4).
The words used in relation to this hope are ‘revelation’ (apokalupsis) and ‘coming’
(parousia). These are dated as being after the Great Tribulation
(Matt. 24:29).
The words used for this hope are never apokalupsis or parousia, but epiphaneia (epiphany, appearing, 2 Tim. 4:1,8). No connection with prophetic times or seasons.
Concerning these things believers ‘knew perfectly’
(1 Thess. 4:16; 5:2).
Prayer for enlightenment is necessary that this new hope may be understood
(Eph. 1:18-23).
These are but some manifest differences between the Bride, the Lamb’s wife, and the church of the Mystery, and they relate to time, place, symbols used, constitution, practice, and hope, although both have in common, and find their foundation in, the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ upon Calvary’s Cross.
The nation of Israel in covenant relationship with God is likened to an olive tree (Jer. 11:16). Gentile believers during the Acts were grafted into the tree in the place of the unbelieving branches that had been cut off, in order to provoke the nation to jealousy (Rom. 11:11). That these are individual believers and not Gentile nations is clear from the fact that they stand ‘by faith’ (Rom. 11:20), and are addressed as ‘brethren’ (Rom. 11:25).
The epistle to the Romans was the last that Paul wrote during the period covered by the Acts of the
Apostles, and in it he stated that some of the branches had been broken off (Rom. 11:17). There had been several excisions of the branches (Matt. 13; Acts 13:46; 18:6), but the olive tree still stood when Romans was written. It does not stand today, for the nation of Israel has been ‘plucked up’ and scattered all over the earth.
The tree is cut down, and Israel is lo ammi - not My people. They await the Deliverer, Who shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob, and graft the natural branches back again into the olive tree, or in other words, restore Israel nationally. Then will the olive tree flourish once more (Hos. 14:4-7).
When was this tree cut down? Acts 28 supplies the answer. It was there that Isaiah 6:9,10 was quoted for the last time concerning Israel, giving them blinded eyes, dulled ears, and a nonunderstanding
heart, the very negation of the New Covenant (Note Jer. 31:33, and the reference there to the ‘heart’).
After this time the olive tree is never mentioned again in Paul’s epistles. The cutting down of the olive tree must mean that God is now dealing with His people in a new way; in other words, a new dispensation or administration must now be operating. Hence the ‘Dispensation of the secret’ (Eph. 3:9 R.V.) which follows Acts 28, containing what God now wills to make known to His saints, consequent upon the failure of the olive tree - Israel. This is not the olive tree patched up or improved from the Acts period, but a new revelation and a fresh commencement in God’s purposes.
The church of the Mystery is a new creation (the word ‘make’ in Ephesians 2:15 is the word create’,
and is so translated in the R.V.). Now creation, whether in the material universe or the spiritual realm, means a new beginning (see 2 Cor. 5:17; Rev. 21:1,4, 5), old things pass away, all things become new. Hence in the same verse that speaks of this church being a ‘creation’, it is designated a new man (Eph. 2:15). Thus, the church of the Mystery is not an evolution doctrinally from the church formed during the Acts of the Apostles, but a new creation - a fresh beginning. No evolution can be found here any more than in the material universe of Genesis 1.
Ephesians 4:12 uses the phrase, ‘the perfecting of the saints’, in connection with the practical
outworking of the Mystery. The word translated ‘perfect’ is not the usual word which means ‘to bring to completion or maturity’. lt has behind it the thought of a rupture or breakage, compare ‘mending their nets’ (Matt. 4:21); ‘perfectly joined together’ (1 Cor. 1:10; note the reference in the context to ‘division’); ‘restore’ (Gal. 6:1; because of the separation caused by sin). It is a word therefore that aptly describes this new ministry. The breakage had come at Acts 28 and the saints needed to be ‘mended’ or ‘adjusted’ to the new dispensation of the Mystery.
These reasons bear the distinctions which seperate the callings and hopes. The word 'adoption' is one which we all need to come to terms with, as it does not mean today what it does Biblically, wherein the adopted has more rights than the firsborn.
Being that there are three adoptions, given each a seperate and disticnt shpere of blessing, it becomes obvious that these three firstbornes by adoption cannot occupy the same sphere of blessing and maintain a firstbornes position.
There is one adoption into the earth, one into the heavenly city, and one in Christ far above all. These are three called out assemblies. They are not the same. They are differnt. Each one will be realized.
What church body then is it that now exists as truth for today?
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epouraniois
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I believe it is aweful hard to undo all the teachings men teach, but that is why
'All Scripture
is given by inspiration of God,
and is profitable
for doctrine,
for reproof,
for correction,
for instruction in righteousness'.
Note the profound order. It is God Breathed, therefore profitable for doctrine, then for reproof, then for correction, then for instruction in righteousness. Of course that is the only correct order.
"Before the foundation of the world"
Occurrs only 3 times in all of Scripture
1. SAID OF CHRIST
Joh 17:24
Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
2. SAID OF CHRIST
1Pe 1:19-20
But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
3. SAID OF THE CHURCH REVEALED AFTER ACTS
Eph 1:4
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
We have just read of a church which is so closely associated with the Lord Christ Jesus that the very things said of Christ, is said of the church which is called 'His body the fulness of Him that filleth all in all'. What a title!!!
Chosen us in him before the foundation of the world
Without spot/without blame.
This is the only body of believers written as chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world -AND- to an heavenly calling -AND- with every blessing that is spiritual that God has to give -AND- SEATED WITH HIM IN HEAVENLY PLACES -AND- ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED -AND- HAS THE INHERITANCE OF THE SAINTS IN LIGHT.
This is not said of any other company of believers, therefore, This can only apply to the church the apostle is speaking of.
It is impossible what is revealed in the prison epistles apply to those before it was pronounced, and the chosing of every other company is since, not before the foundation of the world. That pretty much seperates the groups. Additionally, we are told this church is a new creation, which is distinct from every other calling, just as every other calling is distinct and seperate as well.
If I was in that company of redeemed whose inheritance was on the earth, I should certainly want to know all about it, to study it thoroughly. If the Lord has introduced a new church which came along later, one having a separate and distinct calling from the previous churches, one specifically for the gentiles (I am not Jewish) am I to refuse this great calling and seek that which belongs to another of God's people? I read there is a reward associated with each of God's called and chosen peoples for remaining faithful, but nowhere do I read that anything is by my foreknowledge or my will, or that He will allow any of His children to choose which sphere of blessing they desire to belong to. I believe that it is God who cuts straight, a straight cut which places things that differ in their proper places.
Let's look at Abraham:
Gen 12:1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee:
The thing is, God did not show show Abraham the land until the end of another chapter, why? Was God slacking? No. It was that way because Abraham did not do what God told him to do!
And He will also not force us to acknowledge the 'one hope of your calling' given to the church either. It reads 'one hope', and does not speak of but one hope.
Abraham had faith and it was counted to him for righteousness. Do we really have the faith that it takes to trust God more than the preachers who tell us we are Israel, or that we are somehow still being graphed in?, even after she became 'not my people'? even after the 'but now' is repeatedly revealed by God's chosen apostle for the hope of you nations?
Frankly, it sort of wierds me out that heaven is so heavily preached in the mainstream, and yet so many fellowshiping with them do not believe in going to heaven, at least not the way the Bible speaks about it. Why is it do you all think, that by reading other of God's childrens letters brings the assumption that they are our letters, when we clearly read they are seprate, chosen, called, esp when we are too, and even have our own letters? Seems ashamed to miss out on the glory to follow due to coveting God's other childrens things while dismissing His perfect gift to the church of the one body. How is it that so many ignore the church in the present dispensation and claim either the previous churches or the future churches? Isn't the one God gives us in the time present good enough for us? I don't understand.
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