Wednesday, December 18, 2024

December 18th - Two Good News Messages

Paul writes…

"…I have been entrusted with the gospel (good news) of the Uncircumcision, according as Peter of the Circumcision (for He Who operates in Peter for the apostleship of the Circumcision operates in me also for the nations.)" (Galatians 2:7-8 CLNT)

There is much good news in the Bible. But there are two good news messages that need to be distinguished. One concerns the promises made to Israel, termed the circumcision, and the other concerns the good news for all nations, termed the uncircumcision.  Both are focused and centered on Jesus, but are different good news messages.

Good News for Israel, the "Circumcision": The good news for them was "entrusted" by Jesus to the Apostle Peter.  It tells Israel what it must do to take part in the future kingdom of Israel which is to come to this Earth and will last 1,000 years. 
They were instructed to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus the Messiah. 

"Thenceforth begins Jesus to be heralding and saying, "Repent! for near is the kingdom of the heavens!" (Matthew 4:17)

"Now Peter is averring to them, Repent and be baptized each of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the pardon of your sins, and you shall be obtaining the gratuity of the holy spirit."  (Acts 2:38)

During the thousand years ISRAEL will be a "royal priesthood" and they will be "reigning" with Christ over this present Earth.

"You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a procured people"
(1 Peter 2:9)

"The Lord God shall be illuminating them. And they shall be reigning..." (Revelation 22:5)

Israel shows their faith in God by being obedient to the works of the law. Their faith and works "confirm" their "calling and choice".

”James...to the twelve tribes in the dispersion…faith, if it should not have works, is dead by itself."  
(James 2:1,17)

"Wherefore, rather, brethren, endeavor through ideal acts to confirm your calling and choice; for, doing these things you should under no circumstances be tripping at any time. For thus will be richly supplied to you the entrance into the eonian Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 2:10-11)

The Jewish followers of Jesus the Messiah were commissioned to make disciples of Jesus among all the nations where the Israelites had been scattered, and teach them to observe what Jesus the Messiah had commanded them.

"Going then, disciple all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to be keeping all, whatever I direct you." (Mathew 28:19-20)

Sadly, at the close of the Acts period, only a few Israelites had become believers in the Messiah Jesus. For 2,000 years most Jews have became callous to the good news about Jesus. Today there is only a "remnant" of the "circumcision" who believe Jesus is the Messiah and they are generally referred to as Messianic Jews. 

So is God through with Israel? No

"I am saying, then, Does not God thrust away His people? May it not be coming to that!...in the current era also, there has come to be a remnant according to the choice of grace" ..."callousness, in part, on Israel has come, until the complement of the nations may be entering. And thus all Israel shall be saved." (Romans 11:1-5;11:25)

Jesus will return to fulfill the promises to Israel and set up the Millennial Kingdom of Israel on this Earth, but the exact time was not revealed directly to Peter and the other disciples.

"Lord, art Thou at this time restoring the Kingdom to Israel? Yet He said to them, Not yours is it to know times or eras which the Father placed in His own jurisdiction...Jesus Who is being taken up from you into heaven shall come thus, in the manner in which you gaze at Him going into heaven." (Acts 1:6-7, 11)

Good News for the Uncircumcision:  This good news of the grace of God was entrusted to the Apostle Paul and I summarize it as follows:

1. Jesus died for the sins of the whole world, was entombed, and raised from the dead on the third day after His death. It tells us that the blood of Jesus atoned for all sins and God is now at peace with humanity, and is not counting their sins against them. This good news is referred to as the grace of God. It was entrusted to Paul to preach to all humanity, not just the Jews. 

"Now I am making known to you, brethren, the evangel which I bring to you...that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was entombed, and that He has been roused the third day...God was in Christ, conciliating the world to Himself, not reckoning their offenses to them, and placing in us the word of the conciliation." (1 Corinthians 15:3-4;2 Corinthians 5:19 CLNT)

2. This good news tells believers that they were chosen by God to become "body" of Christ. Humans 
are "placed" in the "body" of Christ as God the Father "wills"

"...He chooses us in Him before the disruption of the world..."for we are members of His body"(Ephesians 1:4; 5:30)

"God placed the members, each one of them, in the body according as He wills."  (1 Corinthians 12:18) 

3. This good news for all people was kept a secret until revealed to the Apostle Paul. 

"I should be perfecting my career and the dispensation which I got from the Lord Jesus, to certify the evangel of the grace of God.... through Him to reconcile all to Him (making peace through the blood of His cross), through Him, whether those on the earth or those in the heavens...the secret which has been concealed from the eons and from the generations, yet now was made manifest to His saints..."
 (Colossians 1:20,26) 

"For the saving grace of God made its advent to all humanity."(Titus 2:11)

"God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love...vivifies us together in Christ (in grace you are saved)...in grace, through faith, are you saved, and this not out of you; it is God's approach present, not of works..." (Ephesians 2:4-9)

4.  The church is to proclaim this "grace" during the ages.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who blesses us with every spiritual blessing among the celestials, in Christ, according as He chooses us in Him before the disruption of the world...in love designating us beforehand for the place of a son for Him through Christ Jesus; in accord with the delight of His will, for the laud of the glory of His grace, which graces us in the Beloved…"  (Ephesians 1:3-6) 

"...suffer evil with the evangel in accord with the power of God, Who saves us and calls us with a holy calling, NOT in accord with our acts, but in accord with His own purpose and the grace which is GIVEN to us in Christ Jesus BEFORE times eonian.” (2 Timothy 1:8-9)

5.  All believes will reign with Christ during the thousand year kingdom of Israel on the Earth and among the celestial regions of heaven.

"For the Lord Himself will be descending from heaven with a shout of command...and the dead in Christ shall be rising first, thereupon we, the living who are surviving, shall at the same time be snatched away together with Him in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)

December 23rd - Merry Christmas Israel!

"For a Boy, He is born to us; a Son, He is given to us, and the Chieftainship shall come to be on His shoulder, and one shall call His ...