Preparation for the offer of the kingdom

1.  The Acts of the Apostles begins with the statement that the book is a continuation of the ministry of the Lord Jesus to the nation Israel.  Luke’s gospel records what the Lord Jesus began to do until he ascended into heaven (Acts 1:1).  The Acts, also penned by Luke, records what the Lord continued to do through his apostles on earth, through the power of the Holy Spirit, while the Lord was in heaven.  In the book of Acts the Lord’s message is the New Covenant promised to the "House" of Israel and to the "House" of Judah.  But its promises are conditional on whether the Jewish nation, not just individual Jews, accepts His Messianic claims.

2.  The missing apostle (Judas Iscariot) is replaced, restoring the required twelfth apostle to their number (Acts 1:15-26).  It is necessary (Acts 1:21) to have twelve apostles because the Lord promised that in the Messianic kingdom on earth there would be twelve apostles who would sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Mat. 19:28).  Some Bible teachers claim the eleven apostles were mistaken when they chose Matthias; that Paul was the twelfth apostle.  But the Lord Jesus had promised

     "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Mat. 16:18)

This authority given to the apostles proves that Matthias, not Paul, is the twelfth apostle, and the Holy Spirit confirms it in Acts 6:2 and in  1 Corinthians 15:5.  Paul is not the twelfth apostle and will not sit on one of these twelve thrones.  He is a very special apostle, born out of due time (1 Cor. 15:8), with God’s commission to go to the Gentiles (Rom. 11:13).

3.  The Lord Jesus ascends into heaven (Acts 1:9), and the Holy Spirit is poured out upon believers (Acts 1:8 & 2:1-4), thus "gathering" them into a special spiritual body of believers known as the ekklesia, "gathering" or “called-out-ones”, a word commonly translated "church" or “assembly.”  This church is not a religious denomination or a building, but a special gathering of people chosen by God as a distinctive spiritual body and marked by His Holy Spirit for His Divine purposes. 

    The Lord Jehovah had promised to "gather" His covenant people Israel in the last days (Jer. 32:37-42; Ezek. 11:17-20; 36:24-28, etc.).  From of old, the prophets of Jehovah had promised to gather His people Israel, and to put his Spirit upon them, so they might worship Him in holiness.  In Acts 2 and 3 this is exactly what is about to happen to Israel, provided they willingly submit to His calling. They would be part of God's "gathering," the ekklesia promised by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 16:18-19.

    Some believe it is necessary to distinguish between "Israel and the church."  This, however, presupposes that the characteristics of the church in Acts 2 and 3 are identical to those characteristics of the church described in Ephesians and Colossians. When the apostles preach the gospel to the "house of Israel" (Acts 2:36) the intent is that if that nation turns to the Lord, it will be the "church" and the "kingdom" promised by the Lord in Matthew 16.  As it turned out, only individual Jews, (not the officials who sit in Moses' seat), would believe the gospel.  Because of this, Christ's ekklesia was composed of individual Jewish believers who had purified themselves by water baptism from the unbelieving Jewish clergy.

    What is a "church" (ekklesia)?  "Local churches are simply local gatherings of people who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and who are part of the one universal church.  Nowhere in Scripture is a physical structure or religious organization ever called a "church."  It is the true believers themselves who happen to meet in a home, or a chapel, or a cathedral, or even by the riverside, who are the local "church" (gathering).

Some remarks as to when Christ's "gathering" began

     But specifically when does Scripture say this church began?  In Matthew 16:18 the Lord describes it as future (“I will build my church”).  Since Christ's "gathering" is bought by the blood of Christ (Acts 20:28) it could not come into existence before His precious blood was shed.  Moreover, since Christ baptized believers into His ekklesia by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13), it could not have existed until the Holy Spirit descended from heaven to do that work to believers on earth.  Furthermore, before the Holy Spirit could come, Christ said he must go away, i.e., ascend into heaven (John 16:7).  All these conditions appear to have been fulfilled on the Jewish Feast of Firstfruits (Pentecost).  The sacrifice of Christ had been accomplished, the Lord was in heaven, and the Holy Spirit had made His presence known on the earth, and had been poured out upon believers, fulfilling John's prediction that the One following him would baptize with the Holy Spirit (Mat. 3:11, Mark 1:8, Luke 3:16, John 1:33, Acts 1:5, 11:16, see Acts 2:1-4).  And on that day of Pentecost the Lord added to their company “about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:41).  In Acts 2:47 this company is called a “church,” or “assembly” or “gathering.”  By Acts 4:4 the number of new believers had grown to about “five thousand.”

     Some teachers believe that because the early church was composed of Jews only (Acts 2:5), and no Gentiles, and since they correctly understand that the revealed "sphere of blessing" of the early church was a millennial blessing on earth and not a blessing “in the heavenlies,” that this early church was a separate church from that body of Christ described in Paul’s early epistles, and was particularly distinct from the church described in the “prison epistles” (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 2 Timothy).  Others believe there were two churches, two bodies, existing concurrently, one having an earthly kingdom blessing, and another with a heavenly calling. Those who hold these views tend to place the birthday of the present-day church either at the conversion of Paul (Acts 9), or at the beginning of Paul’s ministry (Acts 13) before he wrote his first epistle, or after the final blinding of Israel (Acts 28:28).  There are also a few who place the creation of the present day ekklesia at Paul’s second imprisonment.

     We completely agree that all of these events, except for Paul’s second imprisonment, are highly significant, because they represent important dispensational turning points in God’s prophetic program for the Jewish nation versus His non-prophetic program known as “the mystery.” However, while there is abundant evidence that "a church" began at Pentecost, there appears to be no combinatory evidence that a distinctly new church or body began at any of those other specific points in time, (i.e., at Acts 9, Acts 13, or Acts 28:28). The fact that the birthday of the church was Acts 2, not some later time during the book of Acts, in no way disputes the distinctiveness of the present day “heavenly blessing” of the church in contrast to the millennial blessing of the assembly in the early Acts, nor does it contradict Paul’s ministry to harden Israel’s heart during the second half of Acts.  Even after the mystery is fully revealed in the “prison epistles” Paul is careful to connect the saints having this higher sphere of blessing “in the heavenlies” (Eph. 1:3) with those "gathered" at Pentecost by saying that these Ephesian believers were “sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise” (Eph. 1:13). This word, "of promise," vitally identifies the church in Ephesians with that in Acts chapter two. Thus, the church of the present dispensation is the same assembly as that which began at Pentecost, although with an entirely different sphere of blessing.

     If the church that existed after Acts 28:28 was a different church than that which began at Pentecost, why did the Holy Spirit through Paul not simply omit the words “of promise” to these Ephesian saints who were blessed, not according to prophesy, but by the truth of the mystery?  “Promise” and “Prophecy” amount to the same thing, but they are both in sharp contrast to the “Mystery,” which was not revealed in the Prophetic Scriptures.  The Spirit of God speaking through Paul retains the words “of promise” because He purposely wishes to stress that we are “being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets…” (Eph. 2:20).  Christ Himself is, of course, the chief corner stone.  [Louis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, p. 101, suggests this verse has to do with the flow of authority and doctrine, pointing out that Christ, not the Church, is the one who appointed apostles and prophets].  I would add to Chafer's remarks that neither does the Church appoint evangelists, pastors [shepherds] or teachers, because all of these are gifts of the Lord Jesus (Eph. 4:11), not "offices" appointed by men.

    Besides using the words “of promise”  in Ephesians 1:13 to denote the connection of the local Ephesian gathering with the original gathering at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit also says that the body of truth known as "the mystery" was revealed through Paul “to his holy apostles and prophets” (Eph. 3:5), not just to Paul alone, thus maintaining a connection with the kingdom-oriented church which began at Pentecost.

    When Paul laments the fact that he had once persecuted believers, he identifies those believers as part of "the church" (1 Cor. 15:9; Gal. 1:13; Phil. 3:6).  Even in Philippians (a prison epistle) he simply identifies these earlier kingdom believers as part of "the church," thus equating the particular church existing in prison epistle days with the church that began at Pentecost.  Paul was not being imprecise by identifying the church of both eras as one and the same entity.

    We must be careful to make distinctions, where distinctions exist, but we must also observe similarities and connections where these exist.

     The letter to the Ephesians was one of the “prison epistles”, written after final blindness and hardness of heart was laid upon Israel (Acts 28:25-28).  As we have just pointed out, Paul, in that epistle, was careful to connect believers in the present “heavenly” economy with the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.  Because of this connection, we hold that there is one church, not two separate churches, (an “early church” and a "church of today" which Paul was supposedly instrumental in forming).  Furthermore, according to the credentials supplied by Scripture, the “birthday” of that one church was on the Jewish "Feast of Weeks" (Firstfruits, or Pentecost).  Arguments that there was any other “birthday” for a church which God constituted some time after Pentecost are not convincing to us, and we see no Scripturally obvious point in time when any 'new' church, or body, was formed.

     One should not “invent” birthdays of a church simply because the promises made to Israel at one point in Acts (Acts 2:39) are different from our heavenly portion today.  We understand it to be one church, but with specific blessings that varied depending on God's program for Israel according to the Divine timetable.  Thus, although many of the kingdom gifts and practices of that church on earth differ from the gifts and practices given to us today, it is one and the same spiritual body of Christ in heaven although with obvious dispensational differences.

The millennial kingdom offered to Israel at Jerusalem

4.  On the day of Pentecost Peter warns that the terrible “day of Yahweh” prophesied by Joel was about to begin (Acts 2:16-21).  In Acts 3:19 the Lord, through Peter, heals the lame man in a striking fulfillment of Isaiah 35:6 which previews the day when the lame man shall “leap as a hart,” a prophecy that also promises that “The wilderness and the dry land shall be gladdened; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose” (Isa. 35:1).  Peter’s message is:

     “Repent therefore and be converted, for the blotting out of your sins, so that times of refreshing may come from [the] presence of the Lord,
     "and he may send Jesus Christ, who was foreordained for you,
     "whom heaven indeed must receive till [the] times of [the] restoring of all things, of which God has spoken by the mouth of his holy prophets since time began.” (Acts 3:19-21)

     This is a direct, literal, promise of the immediate return of the Lord and of the restoration of the physical kingdom on earth at the time of the millennium as foretold by Jehovah's holy prophets over and over throughout the Hebrew Scriptures.  But, it is conditional on Israel's “repentance” (Acts 3:19), because they denied “the holy and righteous one,” and because they had slain “the originator of life” “in ignorance” (Acts 3:14,15,17).  It is conditional on Israel’s “conversion” (Acts 3:19).  Again, no Gentiles are mentioned as being present either at Pentecost or at the healing of the lame man.  Peter distinctly says “Ye are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God appointed to our fathers…” (Acts 3:25).

The offer of the millennium under the New Covenant rejected by Israel at Jerusalem

5.  But Israel began to resist the gospel of the kingdom as soon as Peter finished his message in Acts 3.  Acts 4 records this opposition, as do Acts 5:17 and Acts 6:9-15.  And so, it is not surprising that, at Acts 8, after the stoning of Stephen, "a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit" (Acts 6:5), a "great persecution" arose.

 "And Saul was consenting unto his death.  And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles." (Acts 8:1)

     As a result of the scattering those who fled Jerusalem continued to preach the Word to "none but the Jews only" (Acts 11:19).  Thus, from Acts 2 through Acts 7 God's message of the kingdom was presented to Israel alone.  But as a result of the slaying of Stephen, God began a new phase, a new dispensation, in his relations with His people Israel. 

The kingdom in "mystery" form

     One feature of this new dispensation is that God now begins the process of breaking off the natural olive branches (Israel) and grafting into their place “wild” (Gentile) branches (Rom. 11).  This is done to provoke Israel to jealousy (Rom. 11:11), because God’s prophetic purposes were still in effect at that time (Rom. 11:25-29).  According to Scripture, God's prophetic purpose will one day be fulfilled by making a believing Israel God’s covenant missionary people for the salvation of Gentiles (see Zech. 8:23).  But, for now, Israel is embarking on the perilous voyage of unbelief.

     Thus, as God begins to blind Israel, believers preach Christ to the Samaritans, a people of mixed race (Acts 8:1).  Peter and John travel to Samaria to turn another of the “keys of the kingdom” (Mat. 16:19).  The signs and wonders of the millennial kingdom then fall upon this new group of half-Jewish Samaritan believers (Acts 8:14-17).  These signs and wonders were God’s stamp of approval upon the message, upon the messengers, and upon the people themselves who received the message.  They were the Divine credentials of the works of the Holy Spirit, particularly on display to unbelieving Israel, to provoke them to jealousy.  These signs and wonders now exhibited amongst non-Jews warned Israel that God was beginning to turn away from them because of their unbelief.

     The next step in the process of breaking off the natural olive branches is the salvation of the household of Cornelius the Gentile (Acts 10 & 11).  Again, Peter is on hand to turn yet another of the “keys of the kingdom.”  And, again, the gift of the Holy Spirit falls on the household of Cornelius, fulfilling the signs and wonders promised by the great commission, (Mat. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-18), astonishing even the Jewish believers who had accompanied Peter:

     “While Peter was yet speaking these words the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were hearing the word.
     "And the faithful of the circumcision were astonished, as many as came with Peter, that upon the Gentiles also the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out:
     "for they heard them speaking with tongues and magnifying God. Then Peter answered,
     "Can any one forbid water that these should not be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit as we also did?
     "And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord.  Then they begged him to stay some days.” (Acts 10:44-48)

     Even before Peter preached to the Gentiles, the dead, unbelieving heart of this great persecutor, Saul of Tarsus, was quickened by the Lord (Acts 9:1-31), because he was elected and destined to become God’s chosen vessel, a special apostle to the Gentiles (Rom. 11:13, 2 Tim. 1:11).

6.  Yet, when Saul, (or Paul), ministers throughout the book of Acts he always goes to the Jew first (Acts 13:46; 18:5-6; Rom. 1:16; 2:9-10).  But each time Paul preaches, the Jews reject the message.  As a result, after each rejection Paul turns away from them and goes to Gentiles.  Why?  Because God is slowly breaking off the natural branches and grafting in wild branches. Throughout this book we observe the millennial miracles and signs of the "great commission" pertaining to the earthly kingdom (Mark 16:17-18), because God's message at that time still consists of those prophetic promises made specifically to Israel.  Once this New Covenant message is withdrawn from Israel there will no longer be a need for such signs.

7. During the period covered by the Acts of the Apostles, God's message continues to be the message of the millennial kingdom according to the promise of the New Covenant.  At this point in time, the Messiah, God's Anointed, and the message proclaimed by the Holy Spirit was "the hope of Israel" (See Acts 26:6 and 28:20).  As that dispensation draws to a close, and as Israel at Jerusalem and throughout the world willingly place themselves outside of the Divine purpose, additional features of God’s message, known as the "mystery," will be revealed.  This message had been kept secret from the beginning of time and is about to replace Israel's prophesied millennial kingdom blessing on earth.

The kingdom rejected in finality

8.  We now reach Acts 28:28, the important dispensational boundary line that marks the temporary end of God’s ‘prophetic’ program with Israel.  Up until this point both Jews and Gentiles are partakers of Israel's promised New Covenant blessing, a blessing that will take place on earth during the millennium.  Gentiles are blessed due to the "mystery" of Israel's blindness, rather than as part of prophecy in which a faithful, believing, Israel is God's instrument for Gentile salvation.  (This "mystery" is part of God's program ‘hidden’ from the foundation of the world).  But, we ask, after God is done with Israel, will the Gentile's sphere of blessing continue to be Israel's millennial blessing on earth?  And if the New Covenant is withdrawn from Israel, will Gentiles suffer the loss of all of their New Covenant blessings?

     At the end of the book of Acts, God completes the process of breaking off the “natural branches.”  Israel (temporarily) ceases to be God's potential vehicle for the salvation of the Gentile world, a commission announced in the prophetic writings.  Corporate Israel at Jerusalem had rejected the works of the Holy Spirit, and demonstrating this by stoning Stephen.  Now, at Acts 28:28 the representatives of the Jewish dispersion also reject Him.  At Acts 28, with an air of finality, Paul quotes the prophecy of Isaiah 6:9-10 pronouncing final blindness upon the entire corporate nation Israel, thus officially ending their former covenant position that had previously required Paul to minister "to the Jew first."

     In Acts 28:20 Paul meets with the representatives of Israel and immediately sets the record straight as to the purpose of his ministry thus far in the Acts.  He emphasizes that his every endeavor has been to bring about Israel’s blessing in the millennial kingdom under their Messiah, saying to the Jews, “For on account of the hope of Israel I have this chain about me.”  Even unbelieving Israel held that this "hope" was a resurrection, but a resurrection without the One who was resurrected.  To Paul the true hope of Israel was the Lord Jesus Christ, and the resurrection from the dead made possible through Him (see Acts 23:6; 24:14-15, 21).  In Acts 28:22-23 the Holy Spirit is careful to stress that this is no inconsequential five minute dissertation to a small handful of unimportant Jews.  His exposition of the Scriptures is to “those who were the chief of the Jews,” it was to a “great number” of Jews, and his message lasted perhaps eight or more hours, “from morning till evening.”  This is Paul’s final opportunity to present the claims of Israel’s Messiah to the final outpost of the Jewish dispersion, and it is Israel’s final opportunity to hear it.

     “But we desire to hear of thee what you think: for as concerning this sect, it is known to us that everywhere it is spoken against.
     "And when they had appointed him a day, they came to him into his lodging in great number; to whom he expounded the matter, testifying the kingdom of God, and persuading them concerning Jesus, both from the law of Moses and from the prophets, from morning till evening.
     "And some believed the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved.
     "And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spoke the Holy Spirit through Isaiah the prophet unto your fathers, saying,

‘Go thou unto this people, and say, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall in no wise understand; And seeing ye shall see, and shall in no wise perceive:                          

                        For this peoples heart is waxed gross,
                            And their ears are dull of hearing,
                                And their eyes they have closed;
                                Lest, haply they should perceive with their eyes,
                            And hear with their ears,
                        And understand with their heart,

And should turn again, And I should heal them.’

     "Be it known therefore unto you, that this salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles: they will also hear.
     "And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, having much disputing among themselves.” (Acts 28:22-29)

9.  The preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom as set out in the “great commission,” (Mat. 28:18-20 and Mark 16:15-18), had included the same signs of authentication which had earlier confirmed to John the Baptist that the Lord Jesus was the Anointed One, the Messiah.

     “But John, having heard in the prison the works of the Christ, sent by his disciples,
     "and said to him, Art thou the coming one? or are we to wait for another?
     "And Jesus answering said to them, Go, report to John what ye hear and see.
     "Blind men see and lame walk; lepers are cleansed, and deaf hear; and dead are raised, and poor have glad tidings preached to them:
     "and blessed is whosoever shall not be offended in me.” (Mat. 11:2-6)

     These were physical signs that a believing Nation Israel should have recognized as proving that the Lord Jesus was the Divine Messiah.  They were the same signs promised in the “great commission” to the twelve apostles and to all who believed the Gospel of the Kingdom:

     “And he said to them, Go into all the world, and preach the glad tidings to all the creation.
     "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved, and he that disbelieves shall be condemned.
     "And these signs shall follow those that have believed: in my name they shall cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues;
     "they shall take up serpents; and if they should drink any deadly thing it shall not injure them; they shall lay hands upon the infirm, and they shall be well.
     "The Lord therefore, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat at the right hand of God.
     "And they, going forth, preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs following upon it.” Mark 16:15-20

     With the blinding of Israel, however, all mention of the physical signs of the earthly kingdom cease (tongues, healing, immunity to poison and snake bite, etc.). Gone too are the promised kingdom gifts of the Lord (miraculous powers, gifts of healing, kinds of tongues) since these all had to do with authenticating to Israel the kingdom blessing which is now in abeyance. (Contrast 1 Cor. 12:28 with Eph. 4:11, particularly noting the absence of the special sign gifts that pertain to the particular Nation that requires a sign).

The kingdom in abeyance

10. After the blinding of Israel at Acts 28:28, Gentiles continue to be saved in spite of Israel’s unbelief.  Israel's blinded eyes, deaf ears and hardened heart coincide with God’s prophetic program being placed on hold and all features of the "mystery" previously hidden in God are now revealed in all their fullness.  As part of this new program, instead of the Jew being "first," as was the case during their previous covenantal relationship with God, the Holy Spirit, through Paul, reveals new unprophesied blessings for all believers (whether Gentile or Jew, without any distinction or superiority).  This sphere of blessing is not a millennial blessing on earth, but spiritual blessings "in the heavenlies," plus blessings completely unheard of in the prophetic writings.

    After the final blinding of Israel Luke's historical record of the Acts closes without specifying a doctrinal basis for the message that follows Israel's spiritual demise.  The unfolding of this revelation is left to the letters written from prison by the apostle Paul (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus).  Therein are contained the doctrinal basis for our salvation and blessing after the suspension of the New Covenant.  Many of the precious foundational truths of the New Covenant also appear in those epistles, such as the truth of redemption by the precious blood of Christ.  Some features are missing, such as physical signs and wonders.  These physical manifestations are replaced by spiritual blessings not previously revealed in that prophesied covenant.  In summary, rather than lose blessings, believers previously saved under the New Covenant have moved upward, and have gained beyond measure.  To God be the glory!

Be sure to read our article entitled

The Birthday of the Church, When was it? 

Acts 2?  Acts 9?  Acts 13?  Acts 28:28?  Acts 28:18+?
Was there more than one 'church?'
Of which 'church' are we members today?
AND
Must a dispensational change necessarily signal the birthday of a new church?

Also be sure to read our article entitled

Miracles, Signs and Wonders of the Great Commission

This paper presents a graphical display
of the 65 times the various miraculous signs and wonders
of the Great Commission are mentioned in the Acts.
 

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