…continued
You ask
how Hebrews could have been written 2,000 years ago but not be in effect until
after the rapture? That’s the
mystery! We need to understand why the
books of Hebrews through Revelation were written back then, even though they
won’t be in effect until the future. God
was compiling his book – the scriptures.
1 Corinthians 13:10a
But when that which is perfect is come, [the complete set: all 66 books of the Bible]
No
church council did that; God did. That
was one of the purposes of the prophets, particularly those in the body of
Christ; it was to say, ‘Thus
saith the Lord’ - not just to foretell and forth-tell God’s word, but to
also recognize which epistles were God’s word.
1 Corinthians 14:37
If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him
acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of
the Lord.
The
Bible was compiled by the prophets back then – all 66 books.
2 Timothy 3:16
All scripture is given by inspiration of
God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness:
To have
‘all scripture’ they needed to have all 66 books of the Bible. The reason that Hebrews through Revelation
could be written back then but not be in effect until the future is because of
the doctrine contained in them. They are
not in effect in the present dispensation.
They were written during the time of the Apostle Paul. 2 Peter was written in the late 60’s.
2 Peter 3:15-16
And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our
beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath
written unto you [the Little Flock];
Paul is writing to these
people. They were reading Paul’s letters; why wouldn’t they have believed that
God had changed the program. The
epistles written by Peter, James and the other Hebrew writers were not in
effect at that time and would not be until God picked up the prophetic program
again. Paul had explained to Peter and
James the change by A.D. 34. Paul’s
letters (scripture and non-scripture) explained things and the Little Flock,
undoubtedly, understood that his letters and the Jewish epistles were not
saying the same thing. They had to
rightly divide the word too.
As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in
which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and
unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own
destruction.
Peter understood that Paul had a different revelation from God
regarding the dispensation of grace.
Peter is reminding the Little Flock about the change in God’s
program. He is exhorting them to
continue on and work with the body of Christ in our program; but Peter’s
instructions will be in effect again in the future as well because once this
dispensation ends. At that time, the
doctrine in Hebrews through Revelation will be the issue—faith plus works. [The ‘faith plus no works’ doctrine found in
Paul’s epistles will save no one during the time period between the catching
away of the body of Christ before
Daniel’s Seventieth Week up to the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ after the seven year tribulation period,
when the Kingdom of Heaven is then set up on earth.]
The same could be said about Isaiah or Daniel.
Daniel 9:24-27
Seventy weeks are determined upon thy
people and upon thy holy city, to finish
the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for
iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision
and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the
commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall
be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again,
and the wall, even in troublous times. And
after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself:
and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the
sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the
war desolations are determined. And he
shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week
he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the
overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the
consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
This is prophecy. The last
part is yet to be fulfilled. Daniel
wrote this much more than 2,000 years ago and it will not be in effect until
the future. It is prophecy. Two thousand years is nothing to God.
2 Peter 3:8
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one
thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand
years as one day.
That hasn’t happened yet…
Genesis 3:15
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed
and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
It speaks of Christ destroying the Anti-Christ some 6,000+ years
after God gives this prophecy.
Romans 4:17
(As it is written, I have made thee a
father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who
quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they
were.
We can know that God is God and the Bible is the word of God
because in it he tells us the future before it happens.
Isaiah 42:9
Behold, the former things are come to pass,
and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.
Isaiah 46:9-10
Remember the former things of old: for I
am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning,
and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel
shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
He challenges the Israelites to have their little gods tell them
the future before it happens.
Isaiah 46:5-7
To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like? They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh
silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they
fall down, yea, they worship. They
bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him, and set him in his place, and he
standeth; from his place shall he not remove: yea, one shall cry unto him,
yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.
Only
the God of creation, the God of the Bible, can do that.
Hebrews
through Revelation are part of the prophetic program so they are not in effect
today because the dispensation of grace (Paul’s epistles, Romans through
Philemon) is still in effect. As long as
it is in effect, God cannot operate under the Prophetic program which is based
on a performance-based acceptance system; works; the law (including Hebrews
through Revelation). It is either grace
or works.
Romans 6:14
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for
ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Again, that is rightly dividing.
Galatianism mixes law and
grace. [Paul wrote to the Galatians
instructing them to not mix law and grace!]
We too are not to mix law and grace!
Hebrews through Revelation are prophecy and they won’t be in effect
until the prophecy program resumes in the future.
Paul wrote 13 books – more than any other man in scripture. God is magnifying his office. Moses and John each wrote five. Paul wrote more than both of them
combined.
2 Timothy 2:7
Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.
Pauline dispensationalism is the only way to interpret the Bible
that makes sense.
The prophets wrote about those things long ago but the glory that
shall be revealed still hasn’t come to pass.
1 Peter 5:1
The elders which are among you I exhort,
who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and
also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
So there is no difference between a book like Isaiah and the book
of Hebrews or Revelation.
Revelation 3:11a; 22:12; 22:20; 1:1a
Behold, I come quickly:
And, behold, I come quickly;
He which testifieth these things saith, Surely
I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God
gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to
pass;
That was written nearly 2,000 years ago. The Spirit of God literally transported John
through time; he saw the future. As far
as God is concerned it has already happened.
That’s why God is God. He sees
past, present and future all together.
Moses wrote about Jesus Christ 1,500 years before his prophesies
were fulfilled.
Deuteronomy 18:15
The Lord
thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy
brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;
Moses wrote about what God said to the serpent back in the Garden
of Eden 4,000 years before Christ came.
And I will put enmity between
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy
head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
It will be 6,000 years before the prophecy is completely fulfilled,
when the Anti-Christ is destroyed and Christ sets up his kingdom. So the writers of Hebrews through Revelation
could easily write down prophecy that would not go into effect until 2,000
years later. God chose not to reveal the
human author of Hebrews.
Hebrews 1:1
God, who at
sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets,
God was the author.
Yes, the Hebrew epistles of Hebrews through Revelation were
delivered to the Jews in the dispersion, but so were Paul’s epistles. Just as all of God’s word is for us to study,
even the prophetic program, Paul’s epistles were distributed to the Little
Flock too.
2 Peter 3:15-16
And account
that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother
Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written
unto you; As also in all his epistles,
speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be
understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the
other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
It is interesting that the Little Flock needed a working knowledge
of what God was doing in the dispensation of grace through Paul. They understood that they were the Little
Flock and not the body of Christ.
Luke 12:32
Fear not, little flock; for it is
your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Peter was telling them that the Kingdom was put on hold, postponed,
and that they needed to listen to Paul to find out more.
Why were Hebrews through Revelation written 2,000 years ago and
delivered to the Jews in the dispersion ‘way back then’, but not addressing any
Jew until some 2,000 years in the future?
Because who is speaking to the Jews today? Who is the spokesman to individual Jews and
gentiles today?
Acts 9:15
But the Lord said unto him [Paul], Go thy way: for he is a chosen
vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings,
and the children of Israel:
Galatians 2:9
And when James, Cephas, and John, who
seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to
me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the
heathen [gentiles
and unsaved Jews], and they
unto the circumcision [the Little Flock of their day].
The man that God has ordained to address Jews during this
dispensation is Paul.
Romans 11:32
For God hath concluded them all [lost Jews and gentiles] in unbelief, that he might have
mercy upon all.
That is why those Jewish epistles were not written directly to the
Little Flock in Paul’s day.
Galatians 3:28
There is neither Jew nor Greek [gentile], there is neither bond nor free,
there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5:16
Wherefore henceforth know we no man
after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now
henceforth know we him no more.
Paul would go to synagogues on his journeys and when he
encountered lost Jews (part of the heathen) he did not send them to Peter; he
gave them the gospel and if they believed they became a part of the body of
Christ.
You said that you didn’t think they would have bought it (that Hebrews through Revelation
would not go into effect until 2,000 years later) back in their day. Well, let’s look at Apollos:
Acts 18:24-25
And a certain Jew named Apollos,
born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came
to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the
way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught
diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.
Acts 18:2
And found a certain Jew named Aquila,
born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla;
(because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came
unto them
Aquila and Priscilla were saved under Paul’s ministry and they
showed Apollos the word of God more perfectly.
Acts 18:26
And he [Apollos] began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila
and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the
way of God more perfectly.
Apollos
‘bought it.’ He understood why the kingdom
hadn’t come yet; it made sense. Apollos
got saved and became a member of the body of Christ.
And the
Little Flock ‘bought it’ as well (unless they were unlearned and unstable, 2 Peter 3:16)
because they knew about Paul. They read
his letters and they understood that there had been a change in the program and
that Hebrews through Revelation were not in effect in their day; they were for
the future when God will again change the program. We study and understand the non-Pauline books
the same way today. We know they are not
in effect today, just as the Little Flock did.
Hopefully this
helps!
†††
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Do you have a question
for Pastor Ron?
No comments:
Post a Comment