First the Question: This present Dispensation of Grace, the Dispensation of the Mystery, began with the twelve apostles on the day of Pentecost. True or False?
Please take a moment to respond at the LLM Question of the Day
And now the answer to the LLM Question of 2-13-2012
Question: All of the prophesied New Covenant of Jeremiah 31:31-37, mentioned in Hebrews 8:9-12, is being literally fulfilled in the present Age and Dispensation of Grace, while the Nation of Israel is set aside, and in the disfavor of God. True or False?
Answer: FALSE! As God, at the time He gave Israel the Old Covenant, called Israel out of Egypt, so God, under the guarantee of the New Covenant, will surely fulfill Jeremiah 32:37-40, and call Israel out of ALL the countries where they now dwell. Not leaving a great majority of them in New York, Florida, and various other areas of the world! And according to the Scriptures, ALL Israel shall know the LORD. (Jeremiah 31:34). (Hebrews 8:9-12). Then, at that time, TRULY Israel will be The New Testament ‘CALLED OUT’, or Church. Out of the 717 responses we received to this question, only 61.5% of you got it right! Therefore, NOW, for further study, let us take a look at,
Facts to Understand the Book of Acts, part 6 of 9
Take a moment and read Romans 11:26-29, along with Jeremiah 31:31-37. As God, at the time He gave Israel the Old Covenant, called Israel out of Egypt, so God, under the guarantee of the New Covenant, will surely fulfill Jeremiah 32:37-40, and call Israel out of ALL the countries where they now dwell. Not leaving a great majority of them in New York and Florida! And according to the Scriptures, all Israel shall know the LORD. (Jeremiah 31:34). (Hebrews 8:9-12). Then, at that time, TRULY Israel will be The New Testament ‘CALLED OUT.’ But they will not be the ONE BODY, the JOINT-BODY of Christ of Romans 12:4-5 and 1 Corinthians 12:13 and Ephesians 4:4-5.
Surely every intelligent, spiritual, steward of the Mysteries of God must see that the joint-Body of Christ is ‘THE CHURCH OF GOD'. HOWEVER, in the Bible, ‘THE CHURCH OF GOD’ is not necessarily ‘THE BODY OF CHRIST’.
When we carefully study the Apostle Paul’s Epistles to the Ephesians and to the Colossians we learn that we have Scriptural right to speak of the ‘ONE BODY,’ the JOINT BODY (Ephesians 3:6), as ‘THE CHURCH OF THE MYSTERY.’ (1 Timothy 3:15-16; Ephesians 1:9; Ephesians 3:9). Therefore, inasmuch as the NEW TESTAMENT was prophesied, and its fulfillment will NOT be the MYSTERY, we should NOT speak of the BODY OF CHRIST, as ‘the New Testament Church,’ without explaining 2 Cor. 3:6-7 and 1 Corinthians 11:25 and Hebrews 12:22-24.
Members of the Body of Christ are brought nigh to God by the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:13), and Christ declared that the blood He shed on the cross was the blood of the New Covenant (Matthew 26:28). Bible teachers who claim that ALL of the prophesied New Covenant of Jeremiah 31:31-37, mentioned in Hebrews 8:9-12, is being literally fulfilled in the Age and Dispensation of Grace, while the Nation of Israel is set aside and in God’s disfavor, do error greatly, not knowing the Scriptures according to 2 Timothy 2:15.
Then, on the other hand, some extremests explain the three Scriptures I mentioned along with Romans 15:27, Acts 26:22, and Acts 28:20, to support their theories that the Church of God of Acts 20:28, or for that matter any Church mentioned in the Book of Acts or in Paul’s Epistles written before he reached Rome at the close of Acts, was not ‘The Church Of The Mystery’; ‘THE ONE BODY’ of Ephesians and Colossians.
They teach that the Church up to the close of the Book of Acts was ‘The Prophesied New Testament Church,’ with a different hope and calling, and because the LORD’s Supper is mentioned in connection with the New Covenant, or Testament, that memorial has no place in the joint-Body of Christ, having passed away with water baptism, tongues and other signs after the Apostle Paul reached Rome and began a new ministry as recorded in his ‘prison’ Epistles. Especially Ephesians, Colossians and 2 Timothy.
According to this extremism, the Kingdom messages and programs proclaimed by the twelve Apostles, and by the Apostle Paul, up to the time of God’s pronouncement in Acts 28:25-28 concerning Israel’s blindness and the salvation of Gentiles, were in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies and have no place in the ‘MYSTERY’ joint-BODY, in the Dispensation of the Grace of God for Gentiles, or in ‘the Dispensation of the Mystery,’ mentioned in Ephesians 3:1-9. (In Parts 7-9, of this series of messages on the Book of Acts, I will address ‘THE HOPE OF ISRAEL’, so no worries, sit tight).
But the answer to this extremism is Romans 16:25; Romans 11:30-31; and Romans 11:15, COMPARED with 2 Cor. 5:16-21, and the ‘THE CHRIST’ of 1 Corinthians 12:12. Surely it should require no profound Bible study to see that the Body of Romans 12:4-5 is the ‘JOINT BODY’ of Ephesians 3:6. The Epistle to the Romans was written before the pronouncement of Acts 28:25-28. The ‘SAME BODY’ of Ephesians 3:6 should read ‘THE JOINT BODY.’
“Believe on the LORD Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” Acts 16:31, while there is still time!
So There You Have it!
Spread this message to everyone you know, far and wide. The time is short
Grace be to you and peace, from God: our Father, and The LORD Jesus Christ.
In The LORD Jesus Christ,
The Lion and Lamb Ministry
Pastor David Picos, D.D.
Minister and Ambassador for Christ in the Ministry of Reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-20)
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