Thursday, September 5, 2013

Why James?



Watch how meticulous the Bible is about showing you something.  When Paul addressed the Jerusalem council, look at what he said:

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, and they unto the circumcision.

Did he put Peter first or James?  The headship of [the Jerusalem kingdom church] changed during the diminishing of Israel.  Peter will always be associated with Israel’s rise.  He always will!  Peter’s ministry will be prominent again out in the future when God is finished with the mystery dispensation.

Even the books of your Bible are in a specific order to show you something.  Interesting!  After Paul’s epistles there is the book of Hebrews, written by God who didn’t want to reveal the human author. 

Israel is not in their kingdom glory yet.  (I want you to see how meticulous this is.)  Before Israel gets into their kingdom glory, God has the Hebrew epistles, and they are in the same order that Paul used in Galatians 2:9.  After Hebrews you have James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter and the three epistles of John.  That is consistent with the order that Paul lists the three apostles. 

There will be another transition period right before the kingdom [Hebrews through Revelation], but during the transition period in the book of Acts, there were:

James, Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars [important leaders of the kingdom church], perceived the grace that was given unto me, [that grace has to do with the grace in Ephesians 3:8 and Romans 15:15] they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.

What I want you to see is that the moment Paul was saved, God started to change things.  He even changed the headship of the little flock.  Why?  So that the focus could be off of Peter and move towards Christ.  In other words, God takes the focus off of Peter so that there would be no doubt that he is stopping the kingdom program for the time being.  He allows James, John’s brother, to die.  The reason he kept Peter alive was so that he could write his epistles; but also so he could testify about Paul.

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.

Transcribed excerpt from the Survey of the Book of Acts.


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