For two weeks I have written about the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven given to Israel... under the dispensation of the Law of Moses. Today it is appropriate for me to post another great revelation that pertains to the mysteries of the Church under the dispensation of Grace we "now" live under in 2010. This document may help to put light on how the Gentiles come into play in the Holy Scriptures.
Another mystery revealed...only this mystery does not apply to the lost sheep of Israel only...but also to the Samaritan and to the Gentile.
Since the Church was never prophesied Israel first had to reject the King and the Kingdom for the Church to be birthed. At the withering of the fig tree Christ's Earthly ministry changed as He began foretelling that He must suffer and then go to the cross. Within that great Prophetic truth holiness would thus be granted to the human soul by the Grace of God and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. This was a new revelation unlike the revelation of the Law of Moses given to Israel. Within this new revelation universal contact between man and God would come through man's personal trust in the death of a Saviour on the cross for the forgiveness of sins. A new mystery is revealed!
God’s predestination concerning the Church, the body of Christ deals with the moral make-up of sinful man in conversion to a moral holiness and purity like Adam had in creation before the fall. The moral holiness of the Church eternally existed in Christ before the foundation of the world. Since the death of a Savior the Church, the body of Christ has been God’s way to manifest His moral holiness back into the heart of fallen man. Moral holiness from God comes through man’s faith in the redemptive work of Christ and cannot be achieved by human works in any manner. The predestinated Church for Jew and Gentile alike came into existence through the blessing of the Grace Covenant which is proclaimed in all the world by th true Gospel message. The Church being the essence of the Grace Covenant was purchased by Christ’s own blood.
• Acts 20:28…feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Fifty days after the crucifixion of Christ (on the day of Pentecost) the promised Holy Spirit set the stage for the Church the Body of Christ to be revealed. God’s plan for man in this beautiful Church Age changed the Old Testament under Law for the Jew only… to the New Testament under Grace for both Jew and Gentile. This also included the Samaritans who alienated from the commonwealth of Israel in the Babylonian captivity.
• Eph 2:13-14…But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
• Heb 10:9-10…Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first that he may establish the second. By which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all…
• Heb 9:15-17…And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.
The Church whose builder is Christ is the pleasure of God’s will… for the redemption of fallen man. The Church in a spiritual sense is the actual body of Christ. The Church physically consists of members who have received the Gospel and the redemptive work of Christ in their hearts for personal Salvation. Through the Gospel message that’s preached by members of the Church, God leads lost men to repentance; and calls the unsaved to receive His moral holiness into the soul by the Divine Grace of God alone. No ritual. no ordinance, no tradition! Only faith in Christ! This is the mystery!
Each member adopted into the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit is a person who has heard and received the truth of the Gospel. All members of the body have trusted in the death of Christ alone for the forgiveness of sins. After the Spirit’s adoption a believer will live with a consciousness to the presence of the Holy Spirit. This believer will also take a conscious stand against sin and disobedience. Why? The believer’s moral make-up is changed by power of a living Christ… to be holy and without blame before Him in love. This was the purposed will of God in Christ, even before the creation of Adam.
• Eph 1:4-5…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: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will…
• Rom 8:15-16…For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
• Col 1:5-6… For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth:
As a part of God's predestinated Church, the ministry of the Holy Spirit reveals Christ to the spirit of man; and allows the penitent to receive a full pardon from all sins of the past through God’s Justification. This was unlike the Law of Moses that revealed sin and unholiness to Israel only. The mystery of the Holy Spirit through the true Gospel message now reveals sin and unholiness to all humanity through conviction, regeneration, sanctification, etc. The omnipresence of Holy Spirit in the Church makes Christ known through the Gospel according to the Prophets that’s preached by holy men of God.
Paul termed the Church as the “mystery of the will of God”. Why? The Church was not prophesied in the Old Testament…it was a mystery revealed in the New Testament. The mystery of the Church was unification for the Jew and Gentile to be brought together into one body through the omnipresence of the Holy Spirit.
• Eph 1:9… Having made known unto us the mystery of his will,
• Eph 2:13-16…But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby
The mystery of the Church is where Christ done away with the Law given to Israel only… and gave the blessing of Grace to both Jew and Gentile through His shed blood on the cross at Calvary. The mystery of the Church ushered in the dispensation of Grace and offered the promise of the Holy Spirit to all humanity. Simply put, "Universal contact with God through faith in Christ". The mystery of the Church is now manifested in the saints who are members of the spiritual body of Christ. The mystery of the predestinated Church is now revealed through the truth of the Gospel message according to the Prophets that’s preached today by men that are sent by Christ. All members of the body of Christ are justified freely by the redemptive work of Christ and God’s Grace in the human soul.
• Col 1:26…Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
• Rom 8: 30… Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
• Rom 3:24…Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
The purpose of the Church was to unify holiness, love, and all pure things from heaven between humanity and God through Christ. The unification of both Jew and Gentile becoming “one body” through the Spirit of God came through the counsel of God’s Divine will. This counsel which God purposed in Himself includes: the work of the Father, the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit, the finished work of Christ at Calvary; and Christ’s present tense work from the Throneroom. The work of all three persons of the Godhead within this Grace Dispensation birthed the Church, the body of Christ. That’s why Paul termed this present Grace dispensation as the “fullness of times”.
• Eph 1:9-11…Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Unlike Israel’s yearly sacrificial offerings to a Levite priest (under the Law of Moses), redemption in the Church was predestinated by God (through Christ who suffered once) to deliver all believers from the bondage of sin. In the Church … after believers receive deliverance from the bondage of sin they become a new creature in Christ. A new life of holiness begins. A testimony of holiness becomes the outflow of God’s Grace. It springs from the heart and is confessed from the mouth.
All believers should testify and witness for Christ. Why? Believers testify Christ because they have received a new heart by the Grace of God. Confession is made because believers experience the power of Grace and want to tell the world about what Jesus done for them. Grace gives the believer a divine nature and enables this believer to testify of his own experience in Christ. The unbelieving world only knows Christ through members of the Body. Members of the Body of Christ… who have experienced the work of Divine Grace in their hearts should testify to the unbelieving world. Why? Because of what they received themselves …from a living Christ in the Throneroom.
• Rom 10:10…For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation
The privilege is… members of the body of Christ have a consciousness to Holy Spirit’s presence in their life between the cradle and the grave. The sinful world outside of the Church does not share this same privilege. Remember…sin is not essential in the make-up of members of the body of Christ. In obedience members of the body make Christ known in their spiritual lives… through confession and doing right in the sight of God. Divine Grace in the hearts of members of the body of Christ makes true witnesses for the Lord. A true witness in the Church is never a religious sinner but someone who glorifies God in both spirit and body.
• 1 Cor 6:20-7:1…For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's
The birth of the Church that came through the shed blood of Christ was the pre-planned, pre-purposed and ordained will of God. The Church, God’s Divine plan for both Jew and Gentile is moral holiness, moral righteousness, and purity given to those who accept Christ’s redemptive work into the heart. God’s predestinated plan for the Church was to restore mans moral make-up to the same state as Adam had before the original sin. Adams make-up at creation was perfect in love, holiness, and obedience to God. Now, Christ through His body … restores all believers with the same moral make-up as Adam had before the fall. In the Church “believers” are morally changed by Divine Grace and thus become God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus.
• Eph 2:10…For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them…
There are many misconceptions of what the Church is this day and hour, but God’s Word teaches the Church is more than a building with steeples or place where people worship. The New Testament of the Bible teaches the Church is a place where man’s heart is morally changed through the power of Christ’s enthronement. In the Church a believer has constant recognition of the Holy Spirits presence in his life. In the plan of God, the Church is simply a place where believers live a daily life in Christ… the head of the Church. Simply put, the Church is every believer’s refuge and…the secret to real Christian living.
This is a small glimpse of the mystery of the Church preached today to Jews, Gentiles, and Samaritans...in relation to the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven that was preached in Jesus' day only to the lost sheep of Isreal.
Matt 15:24...But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Matt 10:5-7...These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Here's what Jesus said we (today) are to do...
Matt 28:19...Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Mark 16:15-16...And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Glory!
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