Did the recipients of the Jewish epistles, Hebrews through
Revelation, understand that even though
the Jewish epistles were written to them (as Jews in dispersion, the Little Flock),
they were not for them because they were
prophecy and would not be in effect until the future?
‘Jews of the dispersion’ (Jews scattered
among the gentiles) is a misnomer.
Although those books are written to the Hebrew people, the main focus is
the Little Flock that was scattered.
‘Jews of the dispersion’ is just a general term for all Jews in the
Roman Empire who are outside of the nation of Israel.
The books of Hebrews through Revelation
are written to the believing remnant
of Israel. I’ll give you an
example. Paul talks to us, the church, the body of Christ, in his books Romans through Philemon, and we are his
specific audience; but there is a more general audience in this dispensation of
grace which is all gentiles and all Jews.
Paul speaks generally to whosoever will listen.
It was the same with God’s word in time
past. A gentile who was exposed to the
word of God could hear it and believe.
When the Jews were out among the gentiles, the word of God also went
out. There were synagogues throughout
the Roman Empire in the first century.
We see in the book of Acts that Paul would go to the synagogues wherever
he traveled. The word of God was out
there even before the dispensation of grace began. Gentiles had access to the word of God. They had to come to God through the Jew.
The Lord Jesus Christ spoke to all Jews
during his earthly ministry; but the books of Hebrews through Revelation are
written to the believing remnant in Israel.
The Lord Jesus also spoke privately to his disciples.
The Jews of the dispersion had access to
the word of God. They had the old
testament. They had some understanding
of what God was doing through the earthly ministry of Christ and believed on
him, but that doesn’t mean that they each had perfect understanding of all
things. It is the same in the body of
Christ. Most members don’t believe or
understand Paul’s revelation of the mystery (Rom. 16:25)
beyond the cross for salvation. There
are different levels of understanding even among dispensational grace believers.
What did the recipients of the books of
Hebrews through Revelation believe? They
understood that there was a transition period.
They understood that God began to do something different with the
Apostle Paul. The Lord Jesus Christ
ascended around A.D. 30. God gave Israel
one more year to repent (Acts 1 – 7).
Luke 13:6-8
He spake also this
parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and
sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then
said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come
seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it
the ground? And he answering said unto
him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and
dung it:
Then Paul was saved and God started doing a new thing. It is difficult to
nail down all the details. The fall of Israel is in Acts 7 (stoning of
Stephen). The diminishing of Israel is Acts 8 through 28. Actually the diminishing of Israel continued
all the way to A.D. 70 with the destruction of the temple. (Israel stumbled
when they crucified Christ.)
Romans 11:11-12
I say then, Have they
stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall
salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches
of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles;
how much more their fulness?
Paul’s epistles were being written the
same time that Hebrews through Revelation were.
During that time the leaders of the Little Flock (James, Cephas (Peter), and John)…
Galatians 2:9a
And when James,
Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars,
…were also beginning to understand what
God was now doing. This is a time of
transition and no one completely understands every detail; but we can use the
scriptures to see that Hebrews through Revelation were written in the first
century so that God could canonize the scripture. You have to understand prophecy; God wrote
things at a certain point in time, but they were for the future. God did that all the time.
Habakkuk 2:1-3
I will stand upon my
watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto
me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.
And the Lord answered me,
and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables,
[God is telling Habakkuk in his day to write this vision down...]
that he may run that readeth it.
[Someone is going to read it and do what God says.]
For the vision is yet
for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie:
though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
This vision is for...the future!
Daniel 9:24b
and to seal up the
vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
In other words, God is saying: “I’m telling you now Daniel, but it’s for the
end times.” That is not uncommon with
God. He prophesies a lot, particularly
in the prophetic program.
You have to take into account that there
is a transition period happening in the first century. Because it is a transition, things are not
always concrete. Although Israel fell in
Acts 7 and continued to diminish throughout the rest of Acts, God wasn’t operating two programsb per se, but two
programs existed simultaneously. God was diminishing Israel’s prophesy program
while he was increasing the mystery program for the body of Christ.
During that time, God chose to have all
of his word written and completed in the first century (that is, Paul’s
epistles and the Jewish epistles Hebrews through Revelation). He used the prophets in the body of Christ to
canonize the scripture.
Although God wrote Hebrews through
Revelation back in the first century while Paul’s books were in effect, those
Jewish epistles were not in effect
during the dispensation of grace. When
Paul was saved, the information called the mystery of Christ, the dispensation
of grace, was in effect – from the moment Paul was saved until now.
God knew. Paul didn’t know everything. The Little Flock certainly didn’t know
everything. It took time; it was a
transition period. When Paul got saved, the
administration that God was starting up was the dispensation of grace.
1 Corinthians 12:5
And there are differences
of administrations, but the same Lord.
But God had Peter, James, John, Jude and
the author of Hebrews write down the information so that it could be placed
into the scriptures.
I have no doubt that right from the
beginning Paul shared what he knew with Peter.
Paul didn’t know and understand it all and neither did Peter.
Galatians 1:15-19
But when it pleased God, who separated me
from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace [free gift],
He is talking about his salvation on the road to
Damascus (Acts 9). To do what?
To reveal his Son in me, that I might
preach him among the heathen; immediately I
conferred not with flesh and blood [any apostles or councils]: Neither went I
up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia,
and returned again unto Damascus.
The only other time Paul mentions Arabia is Galatians 4:25. Chances are
very good that Paul went to Mt. Sinai in Arabia, the same place Moses went and for
the same length of time (40 days), to receive the first installment of the
gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:24). Christ
didn’t give him a lot of information at that time, but he gave Paul the message that saves. I know some
think that Paul was on Mt. Sinai for three years, but it was 40 days. God would not take Paul away for three years at
the start of the dispensation of grace.
Moses was on Mt. Sinai 40 days when he received the
law (Ex. 24:18). Right after
Christ was anointed for ministry when John the Baptist baptized him and the
Spirit of God came down and anointed Jesus as the prophet of God, he went out
into the wilderness for 40 days (Mark 1:13).
So Paul goes into Arabia and returns to Damascus and
is ready to preach. By Acts 9:31, he is
out preaching the Lord Jesus in the synagogues of Damascus (to mostly Jews but
also gentiles).
Acts 9:31
Then had the churches
rest [because Saul was no longer persecuting
them] throughout all Judaea
and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord,
and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.
[Paul has
some information about who Jesus Christ is and what he came to accomplish at
Calvary.]
Then after three years [three is the number of completion] I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter,
and abode with him fifteen days.
But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's
brother.
So within three years of his salvation, Paul goes to
communicate the first installment of the gospel that he learned from the Lord
Jesus Christ at Mt. Sinai in Arabia. He
goes to see Peter.
Galatians 1:18
Then after three years I
went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.
By A.D. 34 Paul has communicated to Peter and to
James, the Lord’s brother, (two of the writers of Hebrews through Revelation)
that gospel. Paul didn’t have all the information. He continued to have visions and revelations
from the Lord for another 30+ years.
2
Corinthians 12:1
It is not expedient for me doubtless to
glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.
Galatians was the first book that Paul wrote (by A.D.
34). He completed his last epistles,
Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, around A.D. 66.
So he communicated to them the information that he had
at the time. He had the clear preaching
of the gospel of grace and maybe a tad bit more of the mystery, but not much. That is what he shared with Peter and James. Did they keep this revelation to
themselves? No. They in turn shared it with the kingdom
saints.
So when Peter and James later wrote their epistles,
they understood that there had been a change in the program. They had discussed it with Paul and then they
told the people they ministered to, by letter and word of mouth. The apostles/elders in Jerusalem held great
sway over the Little Flock, including those in the dispersion. The word of God that Paul shared with Peter
and James would naturally spread. They
were wondering when the kingdom would come; they wanted to know what God was
doing and why there was a delay.
Peter had the Jerusalem church under his
watch-care. They had sold all they owned
and had run out of money. Peter and
James needed to explain the situation to them.
Another thing to take into account is that Paul wrote
other letters to churches that are not scripture.
1 Corinthians 5:9
I wrote unto you in an
epistle not
to company with fornicators:
There were other letters that the apostles wrote which
were not scripture; but they were valuable to the readers. Who is to say that Peter and James did not
write other letters to the Little Flock that explained there was a change in
the program and that God was having them write scripture even though he was
doing something different through Paul.
That’s the thing—we don’t know. It was a time of transition and we weren’t
there. But what we do know is that when
Paul was saved, God began building the church the body of Christ. People then were being saved into the body of
Christ and saints were being edified in the mystery, as God gave them spiritual
gifts; and finally the written word of God through Paul.
Colossians
1:25
Whereof I am made a minister, according to
the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of
God;
I also know that God was compiling the Holy Bible that
we have, so he needed to have Peter, James, John, Jude and the author of
Hebrews write those books so they could be included in scripture; but those
books could not have been in effect in A.D. 31 because Paul was saved and the
program changed. They no doubt
understood that God was completing the scriptures and that their epistles would
not go into effect at that time. And if
they were not in effect when Paul got saved at the start of the dispensation of
grace, which will continue until the body of Christ is raptured, then the place
and purpose for those books is in the future – after the dispensation of grace
ends.
Galatians 1:21-24
Afterwards I came into
the regions of Syria and Cilicia; And was unknown by face unto the churches of
Judaea which were in Christ: But they had heard only, That he
which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he
destroyed. And they glorified God in
me.
The Little Flock knew about Paul and his gospel by
word of mouth. They knew that God was
doing something different through Paul.
Ananias had heard about Saul way up in Damascus.
Acts 9:10, 13
And there was a
certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the
Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. Then Ananias
answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath
done to thy saints at Jerusalem: And
here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on
thy name.
He even knew that Saul had letters from the chief
priests to go after them. Word got
around, but it took time. Paul had to go
to Jerusalem and meet with the council to give further revelation 14 years
after first meeting with Peter and James (Gal. 1). That was 17 years after his salvation and he
had more understanding himself.
2 Peter 3:15-17
And account that the longsuffering
of our Lord [God hasn’t finished
the prophetic kingdom program] is
salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom
given unto him hath written unto you;
[Paul had written to these people to further explain the
change in program. Remember this is the
transition period. The Little Flock had
to rightly divide the word of truth as we do.
Paul’s letters and the Jewish epistles were all circulating. They had to see that they were not saying the
same thing and that only Paul’s epistles were in effect at that time. We need to know all of scripture and so did
they.]
As also in all his epistles,
[Paul wrote epistles that are scripture but he also wrote
letters to them which were not.]
speaking in them
of these things;
[What things? The
change in the program; the postponement of the kingdom; the new doctrine of
grace for gentiles; the new agency – the church the body of Christ.]
in which are some things hard to be understood,
[I bet they were!
Peter makes it clear that for Jews, these things were hard to be
understood. When something is hard to be
understood, will all people ‘buy it’?
Some will; some won’t. God knows.]
which they that are unlearned
and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own
destruction.
[The ones who wouldn’t have understood were the unlearned and
the unstable. That is the problem. They would do it to all the scriptures; they
wouldn’t rightly divide (then or now).]
Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things
before,
[Peter is talking to people who already know about it and he
is reminding them.]
beware lest ye also, being led
away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.
There
were many Jews in the first century who were sharing what they heard from
Peter, James and Paul – saved Jews in the kingdom program (the Little flock),
and Jews who were saved after Paul (members of the body of Christ). The third group of Jews in the Roman Empire
was lost Jews (part of the ‘heathen’).
The
believing Jews were reading all the epistles written by Paul and the Hebrew
writers and they realized they needed some understanding; they needed to
rightly divide the word of truth and understand that the only doctrine that was
in effect was from Paul.
The
book of Acts is a book of transition—and should never be used to get doctrine
from. That is why it is so misused and
misunderstood. You really have to be a
Pauline, dispensational, grace-believing, workman that rightly divides the word
of truth to be able to deal with the book of Acts, and all of scripture. There are transitional things happening in
Galatians, I and 2 Corinthians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians and Romans. Then things begin to change in Paul’s prison
epistles, so you have to rightly divide all of scripture.
Hopefully this helps!
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