Then, in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says,

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. 

This is what we’re trying to do, to stop relying on hearsay and the traditions of our own particular denomination.

We’re so used to people preaching from one or two cherry picked verses followed by a 20 minute story or life improvement message that we’ve forgotten this is a real book that God’s given us to instruct us about the world, humanity, salvation, sin, and everything else, and we need to understand that what God says to man changes over different ages. God’s book to mankind didn’t materialise like light did at creation where God said in Gen 1:3

Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 

It was given to us in bite size pieces of information in 66 different books over 1,500 years by 40 different writers who were directly inspired what to write by God. It was a progressive work through the ages and what God said to man over those ages changed. God Himself never changes but what He instructed man to do did change.

Now this doesn’t mean that because the way God deals with mankind changes over the ages, He just up and decides on the spur of the moment to do things differently. Every revelation that He’s given to us is part of an unchangeable, plan and purpose that’s been in place for an eternity.

So, we need to understand not only what the Bible says but to whom it’s addressed to and why it was said at that time.

If we just randomly pick a place in the Bible to start reading and try to apply it to our life we may well be trying to apply something that God never intended for us today.

We should never assume that if it’s in the Bible, it must be true for today. That’s just not so. Many things in the Bible were true before or will be true in the future, but they’re not true for today.

Is it important for us to know about every time? Very definitely YES because every word is a vital part of the entire message even though the things that God instructed man to do then is not what He’s instructing today.

Also, throughout the majority of the Bible, both past and future, God’s dealings with mankind were, and will be in the future, through a single nation, a chosen nation, Israel. Even when Jesus Christ, God in human form, came into the world He created, He came through and to the nation of Israel, and we see that in many places like Matthew 15:24

But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Jesus’ mission was to Israel, fulfilling age old prophecy, but later, through Paul’s 13 epistles to the church, the body of Christ today, we see God’s greater purpose where, for a time, His message is to all people Jew and gentile.

So then, is the knowledge of Jesus’ earthly ministry of any value to the Body of Christ today? Very definitely! In fact, it’s crucial to our salvation and our eternity.

Hebrews 1:1 tells us that

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 

We need every line of scripture to gain the full picture of God’s dealings with mankind, but we also want to know what God’s will is today so that we can operate according to it and be involved in what He wants for us today. To do that we need to know not only the messages He revealed, but to whom He revealed them, what they said, and which ones are for our learning and which ones are for our instruction.

One major misunderstanding in the Body of Christ today is God’s will and our purpose. So much heartbreak and frustration occur when we think God’s speaking to us verbally or through the circumstances of our lives. But if we know 1 Timothy 2:1-4 we know God’s will for the age we live in now,

Therefore, I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

God’s desire, His will is for “all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

And what is “saved”?

To be saved from the wages for sin which is eternal death.

Romans 6:23,

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

What is the method God gives to get this salvation?

Romans 1:16,

For I (the apostle Paul) am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 

The Gospel is God’s power to salvation. Something in that Gospel contains all the power of God to save a sin saturated human.

What is the Gospel?

1 Corinthians 15 1-4,

Moreover, brethren, I (Paul) declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,

That is the pure unadulterated Gospel that is God’s power to salvation, folks.

How do we partake of this power of the Gospel?

In the beautiful and wonderful scripture found in Ephesians 2:8-9,

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. 

So, now let’s try to learn how this Gospel of Salvation came into being and what the Scripture actually says.

To start at the beginning we look at the first and most profound revelation God gave to man in Genesis 1:1

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

This is revelation given to every man across every age and it tells us very clearly that there was a beginning to the entire universe as we know it.

It also tells clearly that before that beginning God existed. He must have else how could He have begun after He created?

God is outside of His entire creation including its time, energy, matter and space.

Psalm 90:2 says

Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. 

The human mind naturally thinks in terms of beginnings and endings because we live in a universe governed by time. But God is beyond time and space, and He exists in a way that doesn’t require a beginning or an end.

Eternity is beyond the human mind to comprehend. The only way we can handle it is to accept it by faith, believing what God has said.

In the first part of the earth’s early history, we see the first instruction given to man in Genesis 1:28,

Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Then, in Genesis 2:16-17 God speaks directly, verbally, to the first man,

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Of course, the man was not obedient to that one simple command and as a result he fell into a state of sin and took the now cursed earth with him.

If we never read past chapter 1, we won’t recognise that we live in a fallen creation, a cursed world, that’s full of sin.

By the time we get to Genesis 9:1, God’s now speaking to Noah. A few chapters earlier, He told Noah to build an ark—an instruction He didn’t give to Adam, but to Noah and we see humanity wiped out, all but 8 souls on the ark,

Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill, or replenish, the earth.”

Then, in verses 9-11, He says to Noah again:

Thus, I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

This is the first time in the Bible that the word covenant is used. In Genesis 1, God simply blessed Adam and gave him dominion. Now, a thousand years later, after judging sin by flooding the world, God introduces something new—the way He operates has changed, you see. Flooding the entire world is very different from the paradise He provided for Adam.

So now, along with the command to have dominion over the earth—just as He told Adam—God’s also making a covenant with Noah. In verse 10, God extends this covenant:

“With every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.”

Then, in Genesis 9:11, God promises:

Thus, I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

Gods remained faithful to this covenant ever since. There’ve been local floods, and people have drowned in water, but never again has He flooded the entire world.

So, we see that from the very first chapters of the Bible, God changes the way He operates, and we must be careful to recognise the places in scripture where God dispenses new information.

Later in Genesis 12:1, we see yet another way God communicates with humanity. The earth had been replenished but humanity remained in sin even building a tower and a false religion until God confounds their language and they’re scattered throughout the earth. From Adam to Abram, we see that mankind simply could not do what God required.

Then the Lord again speaks directly to a single man, Abram.:

Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you.

It would be wrong to apply this verse to every son or daughter who gets married, thinking it is an instruction to them. This was a specific command to Abram.

Yet here, God’s doing something new. He dispenses new information to one man—Abram (later named Abraham) and to his descendants Isaac and Jacob who would later be called Israel. God makes a promise to Abram in Genesis 12:2-3,

I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

This is new. God chooses one man out of all the people on the earth and says, “You are going to be special to Me.” I’m going to make from you a great nation.

If anyone blesses you, I’ll bless them. If anyone curses you, I’ll curse them.

• He’ll give Abraham a land.
• He’ll make Abraham’s descendants a great nation.
• And through Abraham, all the families of the earth’ll be blessed.

We can see these promises to this nation have not changed throughout the entire bible right to the end of the book of Revelation.

God spoke, He dispensed, He revealed, and He changed the way He operated.

See the pattern developing?

Not every verse in the Bible is speaking about us, and not every verse carries the same message. Yet, in just the first twelve chapters of the Bible, we already see three dispensations, three steps in God’s revelation, building upon the message.

Now, let’s move to Genesis 15:18 to confirm that God did promise Abraham physical land,

On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates

The boundary lines of the land that God promised to Abraham can still be identified today. They’re right there clearly marked.

Now, if we thought this was what God was still doing today, we might consider moving over there believing this is what God wants us to do. But, has God changed anything from Genesis 15 to today?

In Genesis 17:14 we find another covenant made with Abraham, circumcision,

And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

God tells Abraham that he must circumcise all his male children—or else he’ll be cut off from God’s covenant.

This is new. Circumcision even further separates Abraham’s descendants from the gentile nations, which Abraham had been called out of. He was sanctified, which simply means separated for God’s purpose. Abraham had never been circumcised before but now it’s required.

Many people today believe this is still necessary, that circumcision is the entrance into God’s covenant dealings with humanity. But has God changed anything since then?

Let’s move on to Exodus 19.

By this point, we see that God fulfilled His promise to Abraham. His seed had multiplied into a great people. However, they were in bondage in Egypt. So, God sends a saviour to get them out of their bondage in Egypt. The saviour was Moses.

The book of Exodus tells the story of God delivering Abraham’s descendants (Isaac and Jacob’s) children out of Egypt.

In fact, in Exodus 4:22-23, God tells Moses to approach Pharaoh,

Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Israel is My son, My firstborn. So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn.” ‘ ”

Now, many of us may have thought God’s firstborn son was Jesus. But Exodus 4:22 calls Israel His firstborn son.

Of course, Jesus is the only begotten Son of God—God in human form. But Israel was the nation that God created.

After delivering Israel from Egypt, God makes a new covenant with them.

Through Moses He gives them the law and tells them if they obey they’ll be blessed and if they don’t they’ll be cursed. God’s revealed even more information. Moses is given the Law. That’s the Ten Commandments and 613 other laws. And a priesthood is established for Israel.

See, how God reveals things progressively? Abraham didn’t have the law; he was dead long before the law was given. Neither were the gentiles given the law. God has new things to teach and this time it’s about His righteousness, which the law showed, and Israel should have realised that there was no way they could keep all 613 points of that law and to fail once was to be cursed. That’s why provision was made within the law for sacrifices to be made when they broke it.

God says, “Here’s the law and what you’ve got to do when you break it.” It tells us that God always knew they couldn’t keep the law. It was to teach them something.

We should also realise here that these were instructions were for Israel not for gentiles. Israel was separated out of the gentiles so we, as gentiles, need to see what’s for our learning and what’s for our instruction.

The bible is not God’s love letter to us. It’s his revelation of His dealing with humanity.

In Exodus 19:5-6, He says:

Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”

What do priests do?

They act as mediators between God and men. God had already promised Abraham that his nation would be a blessing to others. Now, in Exodus 19, He reveals more detail: Israel will be a nation of priests.

Here, God offers Israel a new covenant. But what happens next?

When God lays out His covenant, Israel responds in Exodus 19:8 with this,

Then all the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” So Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD.

It wasn’t a bad response, except that they couldn’t do it. They continually broke God’s law.

We’re moving quickly through the Bible, trying to understand what God’s saying, to whom He’s saying it, and where you and I fit into it all.

So now we’ll move to Leviticus 8:6,

Then Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water.

This verse is part of the Law. The book of Leviticus lays out the laws for the Levites—the priestly tribe of Israel and the first step was washing them with water.

Then, in Leviticus 8:9 says:

And he put the turban (or the mitre) on his head. Also, on the turban (mitre), on its front, he put the golden plate, the holy crown, as the LORD had commanded Moses.

Then in Leviticus 8:10, Moses anoints them with oil and later, in verse 14 and beyond, they’re sprinkled with blood.

Now, all this may seem dry and liturgical, but it’s something God commanded Israel to do for His priests. Again, we see messages that God has revealed—so far, and we’re only up to Moses.

So, the question is, Is this what I should do? Are these instructions for me? Who in Christianity today does this?

Now let’s go to Leviticus 18:5,

You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am the LORD.

Here in Leviticus 18:5, we see a religion set up by God Himself. It says:

“If a man does these things, he shall live.”

Some people actually do follow this. Seventh-day Adventists for example are adamant about keeping God’s law from this part of Scripture.

So, by this time:

• Israel had received the Law.
• They had entered and conquered the Promised Land.
• They had established their kingdom.

Eventually, Israel set up a king, king Saul. David was the second and the most famous and beloved king of Israel. David, of course, was the shepherd boy who took on Goliath and killed him.

Now, we’ll skip ahead hundreds of years into Israel’s future to 2 Samuel 7:12-13 and see another new promise God makes, this time to David.

“When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

God’s now saying that a king will come through David’s lineage and His kingdom will last forever. That’s some promise! And 2 Samuel 7:16 He adds.

And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.

This is entirely new information, but it’s built upon the previous information.

So far, God’s revealed promises relating to Dominion on earth through covenants.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are promised land, seed, and blessing.

The Law is given for the people to obey.

A priesthood is set up to serve God.

A King and a throne are promised that will last forever through David’s lineage.

God has revealed a lot progressively and we’re only in 2 Samuel 7.

Hopefully we can all see that:

• This promise of an everlasting kingdom had not been revealed before.
• Before Leviticus, the Law had not been given.
• Before Abraham, the covenant of the land had not been made.

God’s revelations build upon each other. This is dispensational Bible study or understanding when something was dispensed by God and to whom.

Now, let’s turn to Psalm 89:18 realising that many of the Psalms were written by David but not all of them. I’m going to quote this verse from the King James Version:

For the LORD is our defence; and the Holy One of Israel is our king.

God is the defence of His chosen nation, Israel. The Holy One of Israel is their King—the promised Holy One who would come from David’s throne.

Now down to Psalm 89:26-28 and back to the New King James:

He shall cry to Me, ‘You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.’ Also I will make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth. My mercy I will keep for him forever, And My covenant shall stand firm with him.

God’s talking here about the promise He made to David and about this seed of David who would rule an eternal kingdom. We go on to Psalm 89:28-34:

My mercy I will keep for him forever, And My covenant shall stand firm with him. His seed also I will make to endure forever, And his throne as the days of heaven. “If his sons forsake My law And do not walk in My judgments, If they break My statutes And do not keep My commandments, Then I will punish their transgression with the rod, And their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him, Nor allow My faithfulness to fail. My covenant I will not break, Nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips.

Then He says in Psalm 89:35-37,

Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David: His seed shall endure forever, And his throne as the sun before Me; It shall be established forever like the moon, Even like the faithful witness in the sky.”

Now, for quite a while in human history, Israel wasn’t in their land, and even today, they’re still trying to determine the boundaries. There’s no King David over there, so where’s the fulfillment? These are valid questions.

Now, let’s move into the prophets just to highlight some key points.

We see that God revealed messages to the prophets—words that were inspired, written down, and preserved for us today. We can read them, and there’s lot of reminders about the promises, the law, and the covenants made to David—but there’s also new information.

Most of the time, the prophets messages warned Israel:

“You’re breaking God’s law, and you need to repent.”

The prophets came with words from the Lord, saying:

“Send this message to Israel: If you don’t repent, if you don’t stop sinning, I will curse you.” Just as He had said that he would in the law.

Now, in Ezekiel 18:29, we read:

Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ O house of Israel, is it not My ways which are fair, and your ways which are not fair?

That’s what rebellious Israel said. But God responds in Ezekiel 18:30,

“Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,” says the Lord GOD. “Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin.

God’s saying, “I’m doing this right; you’re the ones who are wrong.”

That’s what the law said. If a man does the commandments, he’ll live, if he does not, he’ll die. The word repent means a change of mind.

Gods warning, through the prophets, that people must repent—change their minds—and stop doing wrong. That’s the message God gave the prophets to deliver to Israel. Some of the prophets also spoke to Gentile nations, telling them the same thing:

Now let’s look at Micah 6:7

Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, Ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

Does God want you to kill animals? Is that His ultimate purpose for you?

Micah 6:8

He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?

Three things God requires:

1. To do justly,
2. To love mercy, and
3. To walk humbly with God

These were requirements given through the prophet Micah to Israel and, by extension, to the world. So far, the message has been very consistent.

Now we move to Isaiah 13:9, another prophet, who declares this:

Behold, the day of the LORD comes, Cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger, To lay the land desolate; And He will destroy its sinners from it.

The prophets now spoke about a future day—a day of tribulation. The prophets warned people of the coming wrath and told them to repent and get right with God.

They were also told about a new covenant that God would make with Israel, and we read that in Jeremiah 31:31 -35. This new covenant wasn’t made with the gentiles as we see when we read.

“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD.

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

No more shall every man teach his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

This new covenant would be later ratified by the death of Jesus Christ Himself.

Now, let’s move forward to The Gospel of Matthew were we read about the genealogy of Jesus Christ which proves He is indeed of Abraham and David’s seed as God had promised all those centuries ago.

We’re also introduced to the greatest of the prophets, John the Baptist.

This is all within what’s popularly called the New Testament which is the division we have in our bibles between the Old Testament and the New. It’s not a division inspired by God but by bible publishers. They wanted to separate the Greek writings, in the so called New Testament from the Hebrew writings in the so called Old Testament. It’s the same with the division of chapters and verses. They’re not inspired by God either, they’re the publishes way of making it easy to find particular places in scripture, and it works, but it’s not inspired.

The problem is that Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and half of the Book of Acts are a continuation and a fulfilment of the Hebrew writings and the prophecies that came before.

In Matthew 3:1-2, we read:

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

We’ve already seen that message before. The prophets also preached repentance, but the second half of the sentence is new information:

“The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

John the Baptist comes preaching repentance and the coming kingdom.

This kingdom is the dominion promised to Israel. A kingdom with a temple and a nation and a King that will rule over the earth forever. This was God’s promise to Moses, Abraham, Issac, Jacob and David.

Now look at John 1:31-32, which says, (and John the Baptist is speaking):

I (John the Baptist) did not know Him (The Christ); but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.” And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He (The Holy Spirit) remained upon Him (Jesus).

Matthew 3:16-17, also says that when Jesus was baptised, The Spirit descended like a dove and God spoke from heaven, saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’

This was a sign to Israel that Jesus was The promised Messiah, the One who would sit on David’s throne and the One who’d lead them into the promised land and reign over the earth.

See God’s revelation progressively unfolding through history?

John the Baptist’s ministry and Jesus’ earthly ministry to Israel are the fulfillment of what God previously foretold. The long promised Kingdom was now at hand.

Mark 1:1-3 says:

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the Prophets: “BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER BEFORE YOUR FACE, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY BEFORE YOU.” “THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS: ‘PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD; MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT.'”

Here again, we see the call to prepare for this coming Kingdom. This is confirmation of what the prophets had already said especially Malachi 3:1:

“Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” Says the LORD of hosts.

Mark 1:4, says:

John came baptising in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.

This connects back to the law program where, under the Law, sins were forgiven through animal sacrifices and Priests were cleansed with water. You see Israel was to be a nation of priests. They had to follow what the law required.

Now, John the Baptist comes preaching to prepare the way for Jesus and the establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth.

Just as in Exodus 30:17-21 where God instructs Moses to make a bronze basin for washing and place it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar. Aaron and his sons, the priests, were to wash their hands and feet with water from the basin before entering the tabernacle or approaching the altar, so that they wouldn’t die.

This ritual cleansing was a vital part of their duties and symbolised purity and holiness.

Now, let’s drop down to Mark 1:14. By this time, John the Baptist has been put in prison, and now Jesus comes onto the scene, and we read:

Mark 1:14-15 says:

Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

The same message John preached! “The kingdom of God is at hand!” What did Jesus mean by “The time is fulfilled”?

To understand that we need to know what God’s been doing since the world began.

• The time He promised to David—that his throne would last forever.
• The time He promised in the Law—that Israel would be a kingdom of priests.
• The time He promised to Abraham—that his seed would inherit the land and have dominion.
• The time the New Covenant was promised to Israel

That’s the time Jesus is talking about!

He says, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel!”

Now what gospel? Gospel means “The Good News” or “The Good Message”. What Good News? Well, the good news that the promise God made from the beginning of the world is now about to come to pass!

He’s progressively revealed His plan throughout human history.

• He used the prophets to call for repentance and foretell of a coming kingdom.
• He used John the Baptist who preached repentance and announced the kingdom was at hand.
• Then God Himself in human form, Jesus Christ, confirmed it, declaring, “The time is fulfilled!”

A lot of Jesus’ earthly ministry wasn’t new information, it was a confirmation and fulfillment of what had already been revealed progressively since the world began.

In Romans 15:8, Paul says that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision, The Jewish nation. He came to fulfill what had already been spoken about.

So far in this episode we’ve skipped thousands of years with each step but now, as things are being fulfilled, we’re dealing with days and years in which God’s speaking and giving out new things.

A new thing is announced in John 3:17-18,

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

See, John the Baptist said, “The kingdom’s coming, the Messiah’s coming, repent, and be water baptised.”

Jesus says, “The kingdom is coming, and I am the King. You must believe in me.”

Jesus is adding to the message, saying that He’s the promised Messiah and to believe on the name—His authority. That’s what “name” means. A police officer comes in the name of the law. A minister marries people in the authority invested in them by the state. It’s the name of Jesus, meaning He is the promised Messiah.

Matthew 1:1 says He’s the Son of Abraham, the Son of David, and under the authority of the covenant God gave to David. This is the Son of God. Now that was good news because they’d been waiting for Him for a long time.

We’re looking at a time where John the Baptist and Jesus were close to each other timewise. Before that, in biblical history, it was a long time between the pieces of God’s revealed information. There was one prophet for one era, another prophet for another era. Moses was gone before someone else came along.

In John 3:25-26 we learn something else:

Then there arose a dispute between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purification.  And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified—behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!”

John the Baptist’s disciples confront John saying, “Hey, that Jesus, the one you pointed to, he’s also baptizing, and now people are following him instead of you.”

John answers them in John 3:27-28 saying,

“A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’

Then, in John 3:30-31 he adds,

He must increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.

When two things happen at the same time, but only one can continue, you transition from one to the other. And why shouldn’t Jesus increase? After all, he’s the Messiah, the King, God manifest in the flesh, the one promised to David and Abraham.

Then in John 14:12 Jesus says,

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.

Jesus says, “I’m leaving and where I’m going, you can’t follow me.” He came preaching a message, and then he left. And he left his disciples with something else. He said, “You’re going to do something greater because I’m going to give you the power to do it.”

Jesus also promised the Holy Spirit. John 14:16-17 says:

And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

So, Jesus was leaving, but something new was coming, the Holy Spirit.

This would fulfil the promise of the New Covenant where, through the Holy Spirit, Israel would not only have a comforter to enable them to survive through the coming time of God’s wrath on unbelievers but have God’s laws placed in their hearts and in their minds.

See the law that God delivered to the nation through Moses would not cease, even though no man could keep it, it would be fulfilled another way by installing it into their hearts and minds. We also remember that Jesus said in Matthew 5:17

“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.

After Jesus’ earthly ministry, Peter and the other apostles, who’d been preaching with Jesus, received the Holy Spirit just as He’d promised. This led to greater works than what Jesus did during His earthly ministry.

Acts 2:14-15 describes the scene:

But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 

The Holy Spirit had come, allowing them to speak in various languages so that all could understand. Peter explained in verse 16,

But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

He’s saying this was the fulfillment of prophecy.

Then in Acts 2:32 Peter preaches the resurrection:

This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.

Peter told them, “You killed the Messiah!” But he also stated that God had raised Him from the dead.

In Acts 2:36 Peter goes on and says:

“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

Peter’s message included:

• Repentance (as the prophets taught)
• Belief in the name of Jesus (as Jesus taught)
• The Holy Spirit (as Jesus promised)

Then, in Act 2:38 we see,

Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Many churches today focus on different parts of the Bible—Abraham, the Law, the prophets, or the apostles. But we need to understand the whole picture as Paul would later state in Acts 20:27,

For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.

So where are we?

John the Baptist preached that, “The kingdom is near.” Then Peter said in Acts 2:16, “These are the last days.” But that was all 2,000 years ago! What’s happened since?

Well, there’s more scripture after Acts 2 so let’s keep reading.

In Acts 3:19 Peter’s urging,

Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,

If Peter preached that the last days were coming 2,000 years ago, why aren’t we seeing the miracles they saw? Why can’t we heal the sick, raise the dead, or perform signs like they did?

We even see in Acts 5:15 that even Peter’s shadow healed people. The woman in Jesus’ ministry was healed just by touching His garment and the Roman centurion’s servant who was healed without even Jesus’ presence, just His word. But today, we don’t see those miracles, despite what some churches and ministries would try and have us believe.

Why?

Because God has revealed even more truth since Acts 2. There’s been a further unfolding of His plan, and to understand what He’s doing today, we must continue studying His Word beyond Acts 2.

So, we have Peter, looking at all the messages God revealed, saying, “We’re close to it. We need to repent because when the kingdom comes, the time of refreshing will arrive, and your sins will be blotted out.”

In Acts 3:18-21, Peter says:

But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.

Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.

Peter ‘s proclaiming that Jesus not only has fulfilled all that the prophets spoke of but that He’ll come back, judge and make war, destroy all sinners, and then set up His kingdom. At that point, the end will come—no more death, no more pain, no more tears.

This aligns with everything we’ve studied so far. From Genesis onward, we see Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David—all these figures pointing to a dominion on the earth through Israel, which will bless the other nations. The Gentile nations looking up to Israel, being blessed through them, with Jesus Christ as the Messiah and King, sitting on the throne of David, fulfilling what the prophets spoke since the world began. The kingdom was coming, and miracles were happening.

Stephen, one of the apostles with Peter, who was anointed with the Holy Spirit was captured and brought before the rulers of Israel.

We read about him in Acts 6:15:

And all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel.

His face was glowing, evidence that the Holy Spirit had anointed him. Just by looking at him, they could see God’s power.

In Acts 7, Stephen delivers the longest recorded sermon in the Bible, recounting Israel’s history from Adam to Peter, pretty much as we’ve done here. He emphasizes how Israel continually rejected God’s revelations, even as He kept fulfilling His promises.

But in Acts 7:58, the people didn’t like what he was saying and we read,

and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Now, why does it matter whose feet they laid Stephen’s garments at? Because that young man, Saul, is very important.

In the next chapter, Acts 8:1, we read:

Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

The apostles had been instructed by Jesus to stay in Jerusalem because that’s where the kingdom would come. So, they remained there despite the persecution.

This is why we have the epistles of Hebrews through to Revelation.

Let’s look at James 1:1

James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To (who?) the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings.

Every book from Hebrews to Revelation was written by one of the twelve apostles—Peter, James, John, Jude, and John again in Revelation.

Now, we just read in Acts 8:1 how the believers were scattered due to persecution, but the apostles stayed in Jerusalem. That’s why they wrote letters. They were scattered. The apostles wrote to those scattered believers, instructing them on how to continue in the faith.

When we read James, it closely resembles Jesus’ and Peter’s teachings. The same applies to 1 John, 2 John, and Revelation—they all continue the message of God’s purpose with Israel since the world began. Nothing new is added.

Now, if we go back to Acts 9, we see a portion of the Bible we haven’t covered yet—the epistles of Paul.

In Acts 9:1-2, we see Saul (later called Paul) still persecuting believers:

Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

He wanted to go to Damascus to arrest more believers and bring them back to Jerusalem.

But in verse 3, something happens which would prove to be one of the most important events of the bible, especially for us today:

Acts 9:3-5,

As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.  Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”

The response in Acts 9:6 changed everything:

So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

This moment in time is a major turning point in the Bible. Saul, the great persecutor, would become Paul, the apostle of grace, receiving a new revelation from Jesus Christ Himself.

Paul is blinded yet he sees the Lord Jesus Christ after His resurrection—after everything that had happened, and after Peter’s ministry.

Paul was the one persecuting these believers, the ones preaching the message that had been revealed since the world began, yet Jesus appears to him. Sort of like the song, “Why me Lord?” Why? Apparently, by His grace, because there’s no other reason Jesus would reveal Himself to Paul.

Then, in Acts 9:15-16, God says to Ananias, who questioned The Lord about the wisdom of choosing this man Saul:

Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”

Later, in Paul’s epistles, we read that he received a direct revelation from the Lord Jesus Christ. So, here’s where we need to add something new to our study. But there’s a problem.

Up until now, everything God revealed had been building upon itself. Each new revelation confirmed what came before. But with Paul, as we read in Romans 16:25, starts preaching a message different from everything else in Scripture.

Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ,

Up to this point in the verse there’s nothing new. We’ve seen gospels, we’ve seen Jesus Christ being preached before Paul. But then Paul adds something unique in the rest of this verse:

according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began

Now hold on! Paul is talking here about a message concerning Jesus Christ that had not been spoken about since Genesis 1:1!

What’s this mystery Paul’s referring to?

Look at 1 Corinthians 9:17 and the context of the whole passage is Paul refusing payment for preaching, which was his right, and his conviction that he had no choice but to preach the gospel. He says:

For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a stewardship (or a dispensation) of the gospel is committed unto me.

This mystery, this thing kept secret, has to do with a gospel—a message of good news—that God revealed to Paul.

Let’s look at Galatians 1:1,

Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)

Paul was not made an apostle by Peter or by any human authority. Jesus Christ Himself made him one. Paul emphasises this again in Galatians 1:11-12:

But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Paul is making it clear that he didn’t receive this message from men. It was directly given to him by Jesus Christ.

So, what exactly is this message?

We see in Ephesians 3 that his is truly something new. Unlike everything before it, this revelation doesn’t just confirm the old that had been given since the world began, it introduces something that had been kept a secret since the world began.

Ephesians 3:1-6:

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles—

Now, wait a minute! Gentiles? Since Noah, God had never gone directly to the Gentiles. His purpose had always been to work through Israel. But here, Paul is speaking directly to Gentiles.

We carry on in verse 2,

if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you,

Paul’s revealing something unique here, a dispensation of God’s grace, given specifically to him.

Verses 3 to 5,

how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets:

See, this wasn’t made known in other ages.

Verses 6 to 7,

that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power. 

I hope we can all see how groundbreaking this is. The Gentiles, who were always supposed to be blessed through Israel, are now included in something directly—without going through Israel.

Why is this change happening and why was no mention ever made by God of this new dispensation?

Because of Israel’s rejection of their Messiah!

The Messiah had come, clearly demonstrating that He was the Messiah, The Christ. What was supposed to happen was that that the Holy Spirit would be given, the New Covenant activated, and a period of tribulation and judgement would come to the earth before Jesus would return to set up the Kingdom and establish His rule from David’s throne in Zion, Jerusalem, and Israel would finally be the separated, special nation that God intended all along.

But Israel rejected the Messiah, rejected God’s Word and rejected the Holy Spirit by stoning the Holy Spirit filled Stephen. It was the final straw!

God knew this would happen but, as per usual, He gave Israel every chance to claim their glorious destiny.

But at that final rejection when they stoned Stephen God stopped His timeline to the kingdom and replaced it with a new dispensation, given through Paul, which had never before been spoken of by God to man.

That dispensation has so far existed for 2000 years. It is the dispensation of Grace where man can be saved freely, without works, purely by God’s Grace through believing His word, nothing else.

Eventually this interlude to the prophetic timeline will end and prophecy leading to the establishment of the kingdom will resume, beginning with the removal of the Church, The body of Christ, from the world and the beginning of a terrible judgement of the earth and it’s people by God.

Now, look at Galatians 2:7 and how the apostles to the circumcision agreed with Paul,

But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me, as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter.

This is huge. There were two gospels being preached:

1. The Gospel of the Circumcision—preached by Peter to Israel.
2. The Gospel of the Uncircumcision—preached by Paul to the Gentiles.

Galatians 2:9

and when James, Cephas (Peter), and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.

Peter, James, and John recognised Paul’s calling, and they acknowledged that he’d been given a different message for a different audience.

Now, turn back to Ephesians 2:6.

Eph 2:6

and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

Since the beginning, God told Adam to have dominion on the earth. He promised Israel dominion on the earth. Instead of focusing on the earth, Paul here speaks of heavenly places.

When God made His covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12:2-3, He said, “I will make of you a great nation,” and “And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” That was Israel’s role—to be a light to the nations.

But Colossians 3:11 tells us that in Christ, there is:

neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

Can you see how much of a radical shift this is? Under Paul’s message, there are no racial or national differences. All believers—Jew or Gentile—are one in Christ.

Paul received a revelation of God’s purpose directly from God, that had been kept secret since the world began. Unlike the message given to Peter and the apostles, which had been building on God’s promises to Israel, Paul’s message revealed a new dispensation of grace where Gentiles are included without Israel.

Instead of the focus being on the earthly kingdom promised to Israel, Paul speaks of a heavenly calling. His gospel—the Gospel of the Uncircumcision—is distinct from Peter’s Gospel of the Circumcision.

This is why Paul’s letters (Romans-Philemon) contain doctrines that differ from those found in the rest of Scripture. Paul says, “There is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision; Christ is all and in all.”

We’re now just covering Paul’s epistles, which, people say are the most doctrinal of any book in our Bible. There’s no storytelling in them. Why is that? Paul says it’s because God revealed His manifold wisdom—the things that He had purposed and kept secret—He revealed to Paul.

He says in 2 Timothy 2:7,

Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things.

Romans 6:14 says,

For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

What’s Paul talking about?

All the prophets since Moses said we’re under the law. Then Paul comes along and says, “You’re not under the law; you’re under grace.” He’s changing things—he’s changing everything that’d been revealed since the world began based on the authority of the revelation of Jesus Christ according to the mystery.

In 2 Timothy 2, Paul writes to Timothy, who is rather ashamed that Paul is preaching things that are so opposite to the history of Israel. Paul says, “Don’t be ashamed. I know whom I believe.” Paul says, “I know who gave me this message—Jesus Christ Himself.”

In 2 Timothy 2:8 Paul says to Timothy,

Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David…

Remember God’s promise to David that there would be a king on the throne forever from his seed.

He goes on in 2 Timothy 2:8 with,

Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel,

He’s saying that God promised David that there’d be a king on the throne from his seed. But there’s another purpose. He says, “According to my gospel, there was a purpose that Jesus Christ needed to be raised from the dead.” He was resurrected not just to be the King of Israel but for the salvation of all men who would put their trust in His death and resurrection.

Throughout history the prophets had been preaching, warning of coming wrath, and the repentance needed for Israel. “If you don’t repent, you’re going to be punished for your iniquities.”

Then, in 2 Corinthians 5:17 Paul says,

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

A new creature?

Now, if you were part of Israel, you’d be part of a creation of God. They were the firstborn of God as we see in Exodus 4:22. If you became part of Israel, you became part of something very old, something God created long ago.

And yet, here in 2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul says, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Again, this is huge because Paul’s saying that all these things, all this history, is not going on anymore today!

“Old things are passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

What “all things”?

We’ve seen a new dominion. We’ve seen a new creation. We’ve seen that there’s no Jew or Greek. We’ve seen that we’re not under the law but under grace. We’ve seen that David was raised according to Paul’s gospel.

See, things are becoming new—there’s new information, a new understanding.

Carrying on in 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 we see,

Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

What does that word reconciliation mean?

It’s the act of coming to an understanding and putting an end to hostility, as when former enemies agree to a harmonious truce.

Why were the prophets sent to Israel?

Every time they were sent, it was because Israel was doing wrong, and God was threatening them, saying, “If you don’t stop this, I’m going to become your enemy.”

Now, Paul’s saying in 2 Corinthians 5:19, God’s not your enemy anymore.

Why?

Because Christ died for the sins of the world, and He is not imputing trespasses to the world so that they might be saved.

If He were imputing trespasses, He’d be judging. He’d be doing what some people claim causing disasters as judgment. But 2 Corinthians 5:19 says He’s not doing that.

Romans 5:1 says we are at peace with God by faith in the gospel. God is offering salvation freely to all men today. He is offering peace between man and Himself.

He will come back in the future and wage war with a sinful creation, but until then, we are in the dispensation of God’s grace, in which He has provided salvation for all.