PROGRESS OF THE KINGDOM PROGRAMME
An overview of the Scriptures will show that God intends to establish a (theocracy) kingdom with His subjects. The outline of the kingdom programme is as follows:
1.The offer of the kingdom in – AD 26
2.The rejection of the King and the kingdom – AD 30
3.The re offer of the kingdom at Pentecost – AD 30-35
4.The rejection of the King and the kingdom at Jerusalem at Stephen’s
death – AD 35
5.Preaching in the dispensation – AD 35-60
(a) Jesus the Christ, the Saviour-King, and His kingdom
(b) God’s plan for the Gentiles (Acts 15:14-17).
For thirty years Israel at home and abroad continued to reject Jesus as the Saviour-King and His offer of the kingdom. So the kingdom was delayed, postponed, or held in abeyance until the time in the future when Israel will turn to their Messiah. Because of this rejection by Israel, the character of the visible Church emerged.
Because of our place historically, it is hard for us to understand how little the early believers understood about the Church. Nothing had been revealed in the Old Testament concerning the Church, so it is only in the light of the New Testament epistles that we understand the significance of the newly formed assemblies of believers called “Church”.
The kingdom of the heavens was first offered to Israel by John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ; the offer was then continued by Christ and His disciples. Israel though, beginning with John, spurned the offer. And not only did Israel spurn the offer, but the Jewish people terminated their rejection by crucifying the Heir, their Messiah.
But even though the Jewish people had done these things, God was longsuffering towards them. He, at this point, was not finished with Israel in relation to the proffered kingdom.
After God had raised His Son from the dead, He called a new entity into existence to be the recipient of that which Israel had rejected.
And for those comprising of this new entity – the “one new man,” in Christ, the Church – their first task had to do with proclaiming the message of the kingdom to Israel once again, constituting a re offer of the kingdom to the Jewish people.
This re offer of the kingdom began on the day of Pentecost as Peter and others, empowered by the Spirit who had been sent, proclaimed the message to Jews who had assembled in Jerusalem from every nation under heaven. These Jews had come up to Jerusalem to observe the feast of Pentecost (one of the three festivals to be observed in Jerusalem by Jewish males [Deut. 16: 16], and every man under the sound of those proclaiming the message on that day heard the opening message of the re offer of the kingdom in the native language of the country from which he had come (Acts 2:1ff).
This re offer of the kingdom to Israel continued for slightly over three decades (form 30 AD until about 62 AD). And throughout this time, though Israel held priority, the message was also to be carried to the Gentiles (something completely new, for the offer had been restricted solely to Israel up to this point in time [Matt. 10:5, 6]).
But beginning on the day of Pentecost – when a new entity was brought into existence and the re offer of the kingdom to Israel began – Gentiles were no longer excluded, though priority still belonged to Israel. As long as the re offer of the kingdom remained opened to Israel, the message was to be proclaimed “to the Jews first” {did you ever wondered what that meant?}. The Jewish people held priority in this respect. But, with the Gentiles no longer excluded, the message was to be proclaimed “also to the Greek [‘Gentiles’]” Romans 1:13-16; 2:5-10 [sections of Scripture written very near the close of the re offer of the kingdom to Israel]).
However, even though the offer of the kingdom was now also opened to Gentiles, those comprising the “one new man” (all converted Jews at the beginning) apparently, at first, had little to no understanding of this fact. For about the first ten years of the existence of the Church, the message continued to be carried to Israel alone (as in the original offer preceding Calvary). And even Paul, converted about midway through this period, insofar as the record goes, did exactly the same thing at first.
Two central things brought an end to events where the message was carried to Israel alone:
(1) The Lord took Paul aside as the one whom He had chosen to carry the message out into the Gentile world (cf. Acts 9:15, 16; Gal. 1:15-23; 2:2, 7). And this is where the revelation of the mystery is seen in Scripture. Viewing the mystery from this perspective, it simply has to do with all the different things involved in Paul’s taking the same message being proclaimed to Israel and proclaiming this message to the “nation” which the Lord had spoken of when He previously announced that the kingdom would be taken from Israel (Matt. 21:43). This was a nation which couldn’t be Jewish (for the kingdom had been taken from Israel); nor could this nation be Gentile (for the Gentiles were “aliens from the commonwealth [Gk. politeia, having to do with political or governmental activity] of Israel….and without God [Gk. atheos, from which the English word “atheist,” is derived] in the world” [Eph. 2:12]).
(2) Then the Lord took Peter aside, showed him the vision of the great sheet (containing all types of animals which were unclean to the orthodox Jew), and instructed him concerning that which He had cleansed, which Peter was looking upon as unclean. The reference was to the Gentiles, and Peter was not to look upon the Gentiles as unclean in relation to the message at hand. The message was to be carried to them as well, something which all those proclaiming the message to Israel up to this point in time had not been doing at all. And the household of Cornelius was used as the object lesson, with Peter instructed to carry this message to these Gentiles (Acts 10:1-48).
But, though this new nation was neither Jew nor Gentile, it would be formed from both; and this formation would occur mainly through God going to the Gentiles, “to take out of them a people for His name” (cf. Acts 15:14; 1 Peter 2:9, 10). And it is this new entity, taken mainly from the Gentiles, which would be offered the opportunity to bring forth fruit for the kingdom.
Thus, the message to be carried to the Gentiles was not to be carried to unsaved Gentiles but to the “new man,” taken mainly from the Gentiles – which was “neither Jew nor Greek [‘Gentile’],” but “a new creation,” in Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 3:26, 28; Eph. 2:15).
The word “Gentile” is used to refer to this “one new man” numerous times throughout the Book of Acts and the epistles. And that which the Lord opened to Paul’s understanding had to do with the message surrounding the kingdom of the heavens being proclaimed to this new entity, which would be located mainly among the nations of the world.
(Though Paul had been called to carry the message to the Gentiles, as long as the re offer of the kingdom remained open to Israel, Israel held priority. The message had to be carried “to the Jews first” throughout this period. This was God’s ordained order. And this was the reason why Paul, during the course of his ministry in Gentile cities, always, without exception, went to the synagogues and proclaimed the message to the Jewish people first. Only after the Jewish people in a particular city had rejected the message did Paul go to the Gentiles in that city.
Paul continued his ministry in this respect all the way to Rome, when Israel’s priority was brought to a close. At the end of the Book of Acts, Paul, in Rome, sent for the Jewish religious leaders first. And when they had come, Paul spoke to them “of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses and out of the prophets, from morning until evening” [v.23].
It was only after those religious leaders had rejected the message that Paul was free to go to the Christians in Rome with the same message. And it was only after he had spoken to these Jewish religious leaders, that Paul, because of continued Jewish rejection, announced for the third and last time:
“Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it” [v.28, cf. Acts 13:46; 18:6].
This marked the close of the re offer of the kingdom to Israel and the end of the Jewish priority seen throughout the Book of Acts. From this point throughout the remainder of the dispensation, the message of the kingdom would go only to the Gentiles [i.e. only to “the new creation,” in Christ]. And for a Jew to come under the hearing of the message throughout the remainder of the dispensation, following Paul’s statement in Acts 28:28, he would have to become a Christian. He would have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, exactly as an unsaved Gentile would have to do to come under the hearing of this message.)
Thus, the message of the kingdom carried to the Gentiles, either before or after Paul’s visit to Rome, could not be carried to unsaved Gentiles per se. Unsaved Gentiles were “dead in trespasses and sins,” along with being separated from both God and Israel’s political sphere of activity. Gentiles had to first hear the message which would not only allow them to pass “form death unto life” but would, as well, place them in a position where they were no longer separated from God and from Israel’s political sphere of activity. Only then could Gentiles hear the various things involved in the mystery.
This is the reason Paul, when first going to Corinth and finding a city filled with unsaved Gentiles, determined not to proclaim anything among them “save Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1Cor. 2:2). Those in Corinth had to first hear the message surrounding the simple gospel of grace. Having heard and heeded this message, would allow two things to occur: (1) their passing “form death unto life,” and (2) their positionally being “in Christ,” allowing God to recognize them as “Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (cf. Gal. 3:29; Eph. 2:1). Only then would they be in a position to hear things surrounding the good news of the coming glory of Christ.
Within Paul’s proclamation of this message among the Gentiles, a ministry lasting about three decades, possibly two things stood out above all else in Paul’s summery statement as he stood before Agrippa in Acts chapter twenty-six and recounted his ministry: (1) “…..I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision,” and (2) “….I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come” (vs. 19b, 22b).
An overview of the Scriptures will show that God intends to establish a (theocracy) kingdom with His subjects. The outline of the kingdom programme is as follows:
1.The offer of the kingdom in – AD 26
2.The rejection of the King and the kingdom – AD 30
3.The re offer of the kingdom at Pentecost – AD 30-35
4.The rejection of the King and the kingdom at Jerusalem at Stephen’s
death – AD 35
5.Preaching in the dispensation – AD 35-60
(a) Jesus the Christ, the Saviour-King, and His kingdom
(b) God’s plan for the Gentiles (Acts 15:14-17).
For thirty years Israel at home and abroad continued to reject Jesus as the Saviour-King and His offer of the kingdom. So the kingdom was delayed, postponed, or held in abeyance until the time in the future when Israel will turn to their Messiah. Because of this rejection by Israel, the character of the visible Church emerged.
Because of our place historically, it is hard for us to understand how little the early believers understood about the Church. Nothing had been revealed in the Old Testament concerning the Church, so it is only in the light of the New Testament epistles that we understand the significance of the newly formed assemblies of believers called “Church”.
The kingdom of the heavens was first offered to Israel by John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ; the offer was then continued by Christ and His disciples. Israel though, beginning with John, spurned the offer. And not only did Israel spurn the offer, but the Jewish people terminated their rejection by crucifying the Heir, their Messiah.
But even though the Jewish people had done these things, God was longsuffering towards them. He, at this point, was not finished with Israel in relation to the proffered kingdom.
After God had raised His Son from the dead, He called a new entity into existence to be the recipient of that which Israel had rejected.
And for those comprising of this new entity – the “one new man,” in Christ, the Church – their first task had to do with proclaiming the message of the kingdom to Israel once again, constituting a re offer of the kingdom to the Jewish people.
This re offer of the kingdom began on the day of Pentecost as Peter and others, empowered by the Spirit who had been sent, proclaimed the message to Jews who had assembled in Jerusalem from every nation under heaven. These Jews had come up to Jerusalem to observe the feast of Pentecost (one of the three festivals to be observed in Jerusalem by Jewish males [Deut. 16: 16], and every man under the sound of those proclaiming the message on that day heard the opening message of the re offer of the kingdom in the native language of the country from which he had come (Acts 2:1ff).
This re offer of the kingdom to Israel continued for slightly over three decades (form 30 AD until about 62 AD). And throughout this time, though Israel held priority, the message was also to be carried to the Gentiles (something completely new, for the offer had been restricted solely to Israel up to this point in time [Matt. 10:5, 6]).
But beginning on the day of Pentecost – when a new entity was brought into existence and the re offer of the kingdom to Israel began – Gentiles were no longer excluded, though priority still belonged to Israel. As long as the re offer of the kingdom remained opened to Israel, the message was to be proclaimed “to the Jews first” {did you ever wondered what that meant?}. The Jewish people held priority in this respect. But, with the Gentiles no longer excluded, the message was to be proclaimed “also to the Greek [‘Gentiles’]” Romans 1:13-16; 2:5-10 [sections of Scripture written very near the close of the re offer of the kingdom to Israel]).
However, even though the offer of the kingdom was now also opened to Gentiles, those comprising the “one new man” (all converted Jews at the beginning) apparently, at first, had little to no understanding of this fact. For about the first ten years of the existence of the Church, the message continued to be carried to Israel alone (as in the original offer preceding Calvary). And even Paul, converted about midway through this period, insofar as the record goes, did exactly the same thing at first.
Two central things brought an end to events where the message was carried to Israel alone:
(1) The Lord took Paul aside as the one whom He had chosen to carry the message out into the Gentile world (cf. Acts 9:15, 16; Gal. 1:15-23; 2:2, 7). And this is where the revelation of the mystery is seen in Scripture. Viewing the mystery from this perspective, it simply has to do with all the different things involved in Paul’s taking the same message being proclaimed to Israel and proclaiming this message to the “nation” which the Lord had spoken of when He previously announced that the kingdom would be taken from Israel (Matt. 21:43). This was a nation which couldn’t be Jewish (for the kingdom had been taken from Israel); nor could this nation be Gentile (for the Gentiles were “aliens from the commonwealth [Gk. politeia, having to do with political or governmental activity] of Israel….and without God [Gk. atheos, from which the English word “atheist,” is derived] in the world” [Eph. 2:12]).
(2) Then the Lord took Peter aside, showed him the vision of the great sheet (containing all types of animals which were unclean to the orthodox Jew), and instructed him concerning that which He had cleansed, which Peter was looking upon as unclean. The reference was to the Gentiles, and Peter was not to look upon the Gentiles as unclean in relation to the message at hand. The message was to be carried to them as well, something which all those proclaiming the message to Israel up to this point in time had not been doing at all. And the household of Cornelius was used as the object lesson, with Peter instructed to carry this message to these Gentiles (Acts 10:1-48).
But, though this new nation was neither Jew nor Gentile, it would be formed from both; and this formation would occur mainly through God going to the Gentiles, “to take out of them a people for His name” (cf. Acts 15:14; 1 Peter 2:9, 10). And it is this new entity, taken mainly from the Gentiles, which would be offered the opportunity to bring forth fruit for the kingdom.
Thus, the message to be carried to the Gentiles was not to be carried to unsaved Gentiles but to the “new man,” taken mainly from the Gentiles – which was “neither Jew nor Greek [‘Gentile’],” but “a new creation,” in Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 3:26, 28; Eph. 2:15).
The word “Gentile” is used to refer to this “one new man” numerous times throughout the Book of Acts and the epistles. And that which the Lord opened to Paul’s understanding had to do with the message surrounding the kingdom of the heavens being proclaimed to this new entity, which would be located mainly among the nations of the world.
(Though Paul had been called to carry the message to the Gentiles, as long as the re offer of the kingdom remained open to Israel, Israel held priority. The message had to be carried “to the Jews first” throughout this period. This was God’s ordained order. And this was the reason why Paul, during the course of his ministry in Gentile cities, always, without exception, went to the synagogues and proclaimed the message to the Jewish people first. Only after the Jewish people in a particular city had rejected the message did Paul go to the Gentiles in that city.
Paul continued his ministry in this respect all the way to Rome, when Israel’s priority was brought to a close. At the end of the Book of Acts, Paul, in Rome, sent for the Jewish religious leaders first. And when they had come, Paul spoke to them “of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses and out of the prophets, from morning until evening” [v.23].
It was only after those religious leaders had rejected the message that Paul was free to go to the Christians in Rome with the same message. And it was only after he had spoken to these Jewish religious leaders, that Paul, because of continued Jewish rejection, announced for the third and last time:
“Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it” [v.28, cf. Acts 13:46; 18:6].
This marked the close of the re offer of the kingdom to Israel and the end of the Jewish priority seen throughout the Book of Acts. From this point throughout the remainder of the dispensation, the message of the kingdom would go only to the Gentiles [i.e. only to “the new creation,” in Christ]. And for a Jew to come under the hearing of the message throughout the remainder of the dispensation, following Paul’s statement in Acts 28:28, he would have to become a Christian. He would have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, exactly as an unsaved Gentile would have to do to come under the hearing of this message.)
Thus, the message of the kingdom carried to the Gentiles, either before or after Paul’s visit to Rome, could not be carried to unsaved Gentiles per se. Unsaved Gentiles were “dead in trespasses and sins,” along with being separated from both God and Israel’s political sphere of activity. Gentiles had to first hear the message which would not only allow them to pass “form death unto life” but would, as well, place them in a position where they were no longer separated from God and from Israel’s political sphere of activity. Only then could Gentiles hear the various things involved in the mystery.
This is the reason Paul, when first going to Corinth and finding a city filled with unsaved Gentiles, determined not to proclaim anything among them “save Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1Cor. 2:2). Those in Corinth had to first hear the message surrounding the simple gospel of grace. Having heard and heeded this message, would allow two things to occur: (1) their passing “form death unto life,” and (2) their positionally being “in Christ,” allowing God to recognize them as “Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (cf. Gal. 3:29; Eph. 2:1). Only then would they be in a position to hear things surrounding the good news of the coming glory of Christ.
Within Paul’s proclamation of this message among the Gentiles, a ministry lasting about three decades, possibly two things stood out above all else in Paul’s summery statement as he stood before Agrippa in Acts chapter twenty-six and recounted his ministry: (1) “…..I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision,” and (2) “….I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come” (vs. 19b, 22b).
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