Ephesians Lesson 8 part 5

Now verse 6 of Isaiah chapter 9:

Isaiah 9:6-7
"For unto us (Israel) a child is born, unto us (Israel) a son is given: and the government (the 1000 year rule and reign when He will be King of kings and Lord of lords, and we feel we're getting closer all the time. Is this for only the 1000 years or for eternity? As the 1000 years is but a metaphor an an allegory for eternity. I mean we're getting close!) shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."
So Who do we have intertwined in this one verse? God the Father, God the Holy Spirit and God the Son. Because the Holy Spirit is all three and is therefore the Godhead which Jesus was filled with as the Son of man. Like so many westerners think in only a compartmentalized fashion of mindset they want to think of God as being only one part of the whole. This style of mindset is what also plagued Israel as a nation because it thought of itself as being above all others. (We must keep in mind that He ways and thoughts are NOT as we think and see things.) When in actuality it was not, it was more corrupt then all others because it had forsaken God and broken His word and Covenant and become idol worshipers of its own making in religion. Moving on this reminds me of John chapter 14, what did Jesus tell Philip?

John 14:9
"Jesus saith unto him, `Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father:...'"
We know this is mind-boggling, but we've got to remember that even though it's three Persons it's one God. Yes! Jesus is the Prince of Peace, but that does not limit Him to being the Peace of Jerusalem as He is our Peace with God when we've willing surrendered our all to Him for He told Israel, its all or nothing (paraphrased; Deuteronomy 6:4-6 and Jesus said in Matthew 10:37, 22:37 and then Paul says in Romans 12:1-3). Now verse 7.

Isaiah 9:7
"Of the increase of his government and peace (the world has no idea what it would be like to live in total peace. And of His peace) there shall be no end, (in this coming 1000 year reign there won't even be a little brush fire war. It will be a 1000 years of peace under the rule and reign of the mighty God. And where is He going to rule from? Jerusalem but and here is the trouble will it be an earthy or Heavenly Jerusalem for even King David sought the Heavenly Jerusalem because he saw it for it is witnessed of him as his HOPE! Hebrews 11) upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. (And how is it going to happen?) The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this."
See how this all fits with God's timeline as found in Psalm 2 up to verse 8. And in our last lesson we were seeing the power of God. His power will bring all of this about, and don't worry whether all these things will happen. They will happen! In His fashion and not mans understanding. Hey we're all human. We read these things and wonder, "Is it really going to happen?" That 1000-year reign with Christ almost sounds to good to be true, so as humans we wonder is it really going to happen. It's not that we're doubting it, but on the other hand we have to face reality, "Is all of this really going to happen?" In the way in which we see it and understand it? We couldn't help but think about all of this the other night, and all of a sudden the Lord sent the thought into my spirit, "But listen, everything that the Old Testament prophesied concerning His first coming happened." And we imagine those people back 1500 years before Christ couldn't even begin to imagine that all these things would happen. So we imagine that they felt the same way. Is God really meaning business with us? Yeah, He was because it all happened. So don't ever lose heart, and remember that God's Word is sure. Now back to our text in Ephesians.

Ephesians 1:13-14
“In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”

Ephesians 1:13a
"In whom ye also trusted,..."
Remember who is Paul writing to? Believers. He's writing to those who are now believers, so he's writing to us as believers today also. Now of course as he writes to believers it's also going to have an effect on the unsaved person. And here again is how we've gotten our position in Christ. By hearing and hearing the Word of God though it may have become distorted in our hearing the Holy One, the Spirit who is our trainer and teacher of all Truth gives His life of Light to it and thereby causes it to grow within us we don't know how.

Ephesians 1:13a
"In whom ye also trusted (what's the other word for trust in the Bible? Faith or receptivity, or to believe, as you can use any of the four. When did you trust, receive, believe, or have faith?) after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation:..."
Too many people just glibly read this without really understanding what it says. That we trusted Christ so that He could place us into the Body of Christ, His divine assembly. But when did we trust? After we heard the word of truth, not before. And what gospel did we believe? This Gospel of God's Grace for entry into the promised New Covenant. Now that reminds us of a couple of verses in Romans. Let's just drop down to verse 13 of Romans chapter 10.

Romans 10:13-17
"For whosoever (and who are the whosoevers? anyone) shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
Now we had a nice conversation with someone the other morning, and he was wondering about the words saved and righteous. He had a verse where they were more or less in the same context. So we told him they were interchangeable. In fact we read a long time ago it would probably be more appropriate for us to say today that we were made righteous, rather than to say we were saved. We're not taking anything away from the word saved, but really when we're saved what happens? When we were made righteous, which is to be right with God. At this point God places us in the first estate to be tutored by the Holy Spirit through the Old Testament where He reveals to us our former undoneness and the utter sinfulness of sin and its hold in our flesh. He then gives us a choice within its hold or our putting of it to death, the mortifying its deeds. He does this by revealing the highlights of the hidden Truth in the New Testaments revelation. So it's really more appropriate to say I was made righteous when I believed rather than just simply saying I was saved.

When we were made righteous, God imputed the righteousness of Christ to us. But look what had to happen first. We had to call upon Him and let Him know. We tell people to verbalize it, don't just say, "Yeah, I believe." But rather we verbalize it, "Lord I believe that you died for me. I believe that you were buried, and that you rose from the dead and that I was in You. I believe that your shed blood is payment for my sins, I believe and receive that!" Don't just assume that God can read your mind, although we know He can. He wants our willful agreement to His revelation by way of our acknowledging of it to Him. Now verse 14.

Romans 10:14
"How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?"
So it takes the whole complex human being to bring all this into experience. We have to have heard it, we have to thought about it, we have to comprehend (receive) it, and then we have to use the mouth and verbalize it.

Ephesians Lesson 8 part 4

Ephesians 1:4a
"According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,..."
We mean that's just mind boggling, and the only thing we can do is take it in by faith. We can't understand and comprehend the full of it, but it's what the Word declares. So we were called -

II Timothy 1:9b
"...not according to our works, but according to his purpose..."
Which is completely wrapped up in the Grace of God. Let's go back to Ephesians where we have left off. This should thrill you when you see how the whole Book fits together so beautifully? How that we were predestined according to the purpose which is all under the control of the power of God. How many were they called? Not as some have speculated as being a remnant few or only a small number of chosen ones but the whole of humanity. Because it says that Jesus' blood was given for "all" and this all is including those from the day of Adams fall until the last human is born. Every thing is working according to the counsel of His own will. And both Jesus and Soul give witness to that Will our death as explained earlier and through the revelation of Christ and the secret hidden in Him. Now verse 12. Now this is for one purpose, this is why we are, what we are, this is why, and who we are.

Ephesians 1:12a
"That we should be to the praise of his glory,..."
Oh if believers could just get a little excited about this fact, that the reason we're left here, the reason that God gives us breath day after day is that we might bring praise to His glory. How? by bring many people to the knowledge of Christ (knowledge and absence = Love and true Love (given by the Holy Spirit within) causes the heart to grow fonder) and by that He brings them to the place of becoming a son of God. There's a verse in Hebrews that speaks what we should offer unto God.

Hebrews 13:15
"By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name."
With this we find in Romans 12 this:

Romans 12:1-3
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, Will of God. For I say, through the grace given to me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith."
Who is this measure of faith? Why none other than the ontological essence of Christ restored to us. And that is what God is looking for, and that's the whole purpose of everything! For when we've been raised in Christ our worship then is spiritual for we're to worship in spirit and in Truth.

Start right out with that same prepositional phrase "In whom." All the way through we've got this positional reminder that we are in Christ. That's something that nowhere else in Scripture do we hear of a group of people being actually in the Godhead itself, and in this case the Person of Christ, as an allegory or metaphor. Speaking of the Godhead, and looking where we get this term just turn ahead to the Book of Colossians chapter 2, and we'll have to read verse 8 to pick up the flow.

Colossians 2:8-9
"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men (since Jacob and Israels waywardness), after the rudiments of the world (under the influence of Satan), and not after Christ. (do you see the danger? Most of us have just been inundated with tradition. Some tradition is OK, but we've got to line it up with the Word of God, the Revelation of Christ, to see if it fits.) For in him (Christ) dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily."

Before we progress lets look at the word "rudiments", remember Genesis chapter 1 and verses 1-3 and I'll include verse 4 which states this:
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness." With this we'll look to John chapter 1 verses 1-5 which say this:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."
We've shared that passage of scripture from Amos 8 where the Lord said that a famine would be upon the world and that this famine is a lack of hearing His voice or His Word and that this famine as we've said would be likened to darkness of night which causes us to live by Faith not by our five senses. Well here's rudiments as the principle or elements of the beginning which causes order to come or to be restored in Christ.

Now the definition of the word rudiments is this which we'll take from the Strong's Greek Dictionary: Foundational, initial, to bring into order; then Thayer's Greek Dictionary says this: any first thing, from which the others belonging to some series or composite whole take their rise, an element, first principal; the elements, rudiments, primary and fundamental principles of any art, science, or discipline.

Then while still in Colossians look down the page to verse 20 where we find this:

Colossians 2:20-23
"Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch not; taste not; handle not; [these are those things brought about by religion and mans government] Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honur to the satisfying of the flesh."

Now that blows a lot of people's minds. Who is the Godhead? God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Now that's the Godhead, but Christ is the epitome of it as He settled down in the Godhead bodily. With that resurrected body that He left with at the Mount of Olives, and ascended into glory. Another verse just comes to mind in Isaiah. We almost looked at it in one of the lessons we had earlier. That's the way we share and as these Scriptures come flying through then we feel we have to stop and look at them. Now here again, this is the Christ that died for us, this is the Christ that keeps us today, this is the Christ that is coming again, and we trust real soon. This fits so beautifully with these verses in Ephesians. This is the Christ in Whom we dwell and who by the power and foreknowledge of God now dwells within all who will receive His Gospel. Now verse 6, and remember this is the prophet writing to the Nation of Israel, so the pronoun "us" of course is to the nation.

Ephesians Lesson 8 part 3

In our last post we shared Amos chapter 8 which says this: Amos 8:11-12
"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it."

From here we can move to Micah chapter 3 verse 6: Micah 3:6-7
“Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them. Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God.”

Then Paul has this to say as recorded in 2Timothy: 2Timothy 3:8-9
“Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.”

We've shared these things as a means of helping others to be able or empowered to receive the things of God and to build trust in His faithfulness which is Christ. As they with us walk through the dark night of Faith by His Love and ontological Spirit's essence in our being in receptiveness of His Grace and Truth. Before we continue we need to also look at another few passages wherein God speaks of the furnace of affliction to hear what He purposes in it. Lets look first at Isaiah chapter 48:

Isaiah 48:9-10
"For my name's sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off. Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction."
"The furnace of affliction is for those who by faith are in Christ. What happens in the furnace of affliction? What is it that is dealt with in the fire? Is it you, and is it I, that are refined in the fire? Are we are refined in the fire? Am I refined in the furnace of affliction? I say, No! emphatically NO!! If we say, “Yes!” well, let us look at the furnace of affliction, the fire with the metal in the crucible. The furnace of affliction is not for the removal of the bad out of us so as to leave the good that is in us, and secure it! Then what is its purpose? Is it to refine Christ in us? We need not discuss that! Christ needs no refining! What is it for? It is to divide between what is us in fallen nature, and what is Christ, and to get rid of the one in order to give full place to the other! The furnace of affliction is the application of the Cross to the getting rid of you and me (self-will or self-sufficiency, hardheartedness, unbelief), in order to leave the whole place for Christ." (quoted from a blog written by Michael Clark titled "A Wilderness Voice") We could call up such passages as Hebrews 12:10-11, 1Peter 4:12, and Revelation 3:19 as our proofing of this statement in the New Covenant or possibly a few from the Old but we'll allow it to stand for itself just now.

Now to 2Timothy chapter 1 verse 7:

II Timothy 1:7a
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; (now isn't that a comfort? We don't have to sit here shaking in our boots scared to death of what's going to happen tomorrow, or the next day, or down the road. We're not living under a spirit of fear) but of power,..."
We want to remember that our all-powerful God is the One that spoke the Word, and created the whole universe. We recently read an interesting thing in a magazine, an article by, "Ask Marilyn." in which she wrote that. Someone wrote and said, "I told my child while on the sandy beach one day that for every grain of sand there was also a star out in space." Then after he had told his 5-year-old this, he was wondering if he had told him right. What if the child backed him into the corner and told him to prove that? It is quite a statement, but do you know what her answer was? The old scientist Carl Sagan had determined scientifically that there are approximate 10,000 grains of sand in every handful of sand, I believe that is the correct figure. And from that he determined that there are more stars out in space than there are grains of sand on all the beaches of this world. Now you think about that for a while. Now we're not saying that he was right, but we wouldn't think that he was just spitting into the wind, as we say. We think that there is validity to that. For every grain of sand there's a star out in space, and we think the Scripture also implies that. But whatever, this is a God that we belong to, and then some of us fear? We have nothing to fear, but fear itself, as Roosevelt once said. But nevertheless our God is so powerful that we have absolutely nothing to fear. And here it is in this verse -

II Timothy 1:7-8
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God."
So here we have the power of God and there are many out there that want that power in their own hands so they can do what Jesus did, heal the sick, raise the dead and more. But there's one thing wrong with all that, if they had the power what would happen to them? Why! they'd self destruct, they'd become puffed up like a blow-fish, with ego. The power that God through the Holy Spirit imparts to us is the ability to become a Living witness, be a martyr of Christ's resurrection power. How? Through our death, not a physical death as the natural man thinks of death but as the spiritual man sees it. A passing from an earthy life into a heavenly spiritual Life in the Newness of Christ's Life infused within us. This Life is our Salvation out of here, the calling out of Ur of Chaldees and Egypt if you will.

For that reason, now whenever you see that word "power" from this point on, do you know what we want you to think of? The vastness of our outer space, and that God's in total control. We've never yet read an account of an astronomer who sees a star crashing into another star. Have you? No! Now they see explosions out there and the beginnings of still another new star, but we have never read the account of someone seeing through the Hubbell or anything else an event such as one star colliding with another one. Why? Because our Bible tells us that the Creator not only created everything, but He also holds everything exactly where it belongs. Now listen if He can keep track of as many stars and celestial bodies as there are grains of sands on the beaches of this world, then we know He keeps track of us. And we can rest assured that He's keeping track of you and me. We mean, that's a God we're talking about that goes beyond human understanding, but that's the God of this Book. Now let's read on in verse 9, and here comes the purpose of God. This God -

I Timothy 1:9
"Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose (and where was that purpose originally generated? Back there in Acts chapter 2 that we looked at when the Godhead came together, and precipitated everything according to their counsel. According to His own purpose) and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,"
This was already in the mind and heart of God in that counsel that predetermined everything because He's an all-knowing God, all loving God in whom is only goodness and He alone could do IT. It all happened in that determinate counsel we read about in Acts 2:23. That's where God had us on His mind and in His heart of hearts. That's why Paul could write this in Ephesians.

Ephesians Lesson 8 part 2

Romans 8:17a
"And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ;..."
Now for goodness sake everybody knows what it means to be a joint heir. It means everything's equal! In other words you're not going to get just a little handout. Everything that's Christ's is ours. Now we know this is mind boggling, and overwhelming to many but it's the promise we find here, and take it in by faith. The last part of verse 17 has a price with it.

Romans 8:17b
"...if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together."
So there is a price to pay. Now we in America don't really know what it is to suffer for our faith. We may come under a little opposition, and of course we think that opposition is growing, but nevertheless we're still in a nation that protects our freedoms and liberties. But there are a lot of areas in the world today that are under intense persecution. Thousands of believers are losing their lives for their faith. But the promise is that if we do suffer, or to take the Lord's cup, we're going to certainly one day enjoy all the glory of it, as he says in verse 18.

Romans 8:18
"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us,"
So this is part and parcel then of our salvation experience; that yes, we are now children of God, and if we're children of God then we're heirs of God. If we're heirs of God, then we're joint-heirs with Christ! This is the restored Gospel of Christ which was hidden within the Lord's Last Suppers (the evening of the supper, the garden and its cup and betrayal, the illegal trial, execution of the tree, burial in the ground for three days and nights, resurrection, ascension with those held in Abraham's bosom, and return to walk with His followers for 40 days during which time He revealed or opened their hearts mind to the scriptures and then the finial ascension just days before Pentecost) framework as we've revealed else where. Now back to Ephesians chapter 1, and looking at verse 11 again.

Ephesians 1:11a
"In whom also we have obtained an inheritance,..." (became joint-heirs)
We're so thankful that the Lord opens hearts. So these things are exciting to us, to see it's not a hope for a thing. It's not a religion, but rather it's a position that we enjoy in Christ. And like we're shared in previous lessons, how do we know that we're in Christ? By Faith! The Bible says we are, and we believe and then receive it, we trust it. By our receptivity we have confidence and a Love of the Truth which is Christ our guaranty. Just here I must say this, faith in order to be faith is likened to our walking down a forest trial or within our own home with NO light what so ever by which we can see anything in our path. For this is the meaning of "we walk by faith not by sight." Before we return to our verse allow me to share another passage of scripture found in Amos chapter 8.

Amos 8:11-12
"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it."
This pretty much describes what we have been suffering now for the past almost 2000 years and answers why so many don't hear or understand spiritual things. Now reading on in verse 11. We've found out in this verse we have an inheritance, which is our being joint-heirs with Christ, now then we -

Ephesians 1:11b
"...being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:"
In this portion of this verse we've got so many references that have come flying through our mind, we don't know just where to go first. We're going to look up the word counsel first. So go back to Acts chapter 2, and let's look at this counsel. What's a good definition of counsel? Well a meeting of the minds. You can appoint a committee to accomplish something, and so they meet. Out of that meeting comes some real concrete results, so what do you say they did? They counseled. They had a meeting of the minds and agreed. Now looking at Acts chapter 2, let's see what happened in the Godhead. And in this verse we find Peter saying this and remember Peter is preaching to the Jews, the Nation of Israel, the Hebrews on the day of Pentecost, and he says-

Acts 2:23
"Him, (speaking of Christ) being delivered by the determinate counsel (where and when did this counsel take place?) and foreknowledge (before creation was ever laid down) of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:"
Do you know what that verse is saying? That's telling us that sometime way back in eternity past, before anything was ever called into being out of nothing, when it was still nothing, just darkness of space, the Triune God (Elohim) had a counsel, and since they were all members of the Godhead they didn't have to deliberate for half and hour. But nevertheless the Trinity came together and in a counsel agreement set everything in motion. This squashes the opinion of many that there is no Godhead made up of two or three because in order to have a counsel there by definition requires at least two parties. So we have the three Persons of the Trinity agreed that they would create the universe, and that they would put one little planet down there called earth in the midst of it. And on that planet they would put the spiritual race who would become the human race. For they knew the human race would sin, it would fall out of fellowship with their Creator, that they would then become flesh and blood and immediately after that happened He could promise a Redeemer, a seed of woman. We get this all in Genesis chapters 1 through 3. He also knew that He would do as Amos tells us which is to say that we're to live by faith not by hearing or sight as the early Hebrews had. For they saw and heard, they tasted and eat but it did them NO good because it did not produce trust or faith in Him.

Then in the Old Testament the Redeemer is being prophesied all the way through. All according to this predetermined counsel of God, and then one day here He came. He came at the exact right moment in time, as the last days. And when we analyze history, nothing would have ever worked out right had He come a 100 years sooner or 100 years later. But rather this Redeemer came at just exactly the right time, according to that predetermined counsel of the Godhead. See how beautifully everything fits. This verse also speaks of the foreknowledge of God. God knew everything that was ever going to happen. It was all in that predetermined plan of the ages, way back before anything was ever created, that Christ would go to the Last Supper, the garden and then the Cross. And through it brought these things back on plan or into focus in the right direction again, spiritually speaking. Now coming back to Ephesians chapter 1. Everything that has been unfolding now for 6000 plus years of human history, not to mention however long it was before that, that the universe was already out there spinning around. But everything was-

Ephesians 1:11b
"...predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:"
So everything has been set right on schedule. We don't know when the Lord's coming, but He does, and it won't be 1 hour too late or too early, it will be right on schedule. What is this purpose of God? Now let's go to II Timothy, chapter 1, and look at that for a moment. These verses are all so good it's hard for us to know where to start, we really don't. But let's just jump in at verse 7.

Ephesians Lesson 8 part 1

Romans 3:1
"What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?..."
Do you see what those two questions say? Why was Israel in such a preeminent position, and why were they feasting at Yehovah's table? Why did Paul write in Romans chapter 11, "did they dwell on the root and fatness of Abraham?" Because they were so privileged, they were spoken to directly by Yehovah and this is what Paul is alluding to. Just look at all the privileges that Israel had. They had the beautiful Temple, and early on, the presence of the Shekinah glory. They had the miracle working power of God. They witnessed His presences among them with all the signs and wonders of that time or dispensational period. They even had angels among them. They had the priesthood, but what was the preeminence that they had going for them? The next verse tells us this:

Romans 3:2.
"Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God."
They had the oracles or spoken audible Word of God (Christ is the manifestation of this oracle), they heard at the first the very voice of Yehovah Himself and that's what put Israel in such an invincible position. All during this time when God was dealing with primarily the Hebrews only, they had the Word of God from about 1500 BC on, until Christ. And the Gentiles were out there destitute of any of that. Now when we come on this side of the Last Supper and then the “it is Finished” of the Cross, and Christ ascension to the Fathers right hand, we find Paul becomes the Apostle of the Gentiles. His Church letters are directed primarily to us as Gentiles in the One Body of Christ, our heavenly spiritual position. NO! Longer to remain earthy, carnal or governed by sin, this is to say under Satan's influence. And oh what a difference is in the language we have when we get to Paul. Once in a while people of our every day meeting of them where ever, they're hung up in the Old Testament. We always tell them that it would be so simple to understand if they would just realize to whom is it being spoken? It was written to the Hebrew under the Law, and that makes all the difference in the world. But most fret and fuss with it, and can't figure out why they can't understand it. Well we're not under the Law, we're not Jews. Now on the other hand the Hebrew today has a hard time comprehending Paul, nor do those of a Hebrew mindset. They avoid his writings like a plague, as do most so called "Christians" because it's not written to the Hebrew only, but rather to and for primarily the Gentiles. And because its primarily all spiritual and requires our having the Holy Spirit to reveal or unveil these things to us. For it is He that removes the veil from our hearts eyes and ears to be empowered by Him to see and hear God speaking to us through His Son. So always keep that in your mind as you are reading these things. For they are spiritually discerned and the fleshly or carnally minded does not discern spiritual things.

Now let us finish recapping the earthly and heavenly if we may. So here's the earthly, the earthly Kingdom that was promised to Israel and Israel only and they rejected it, and then God funnels, scatters them back into the masses of Gentile humanity. They almost lost their identity, but God kept His finger on them, and so the Hebrew is still out there, he's still a viable factor to be dealt with. But again I must caution you this is subject to God's view not ours or your.

In the meantime the One Body of Christ has been lifted out of that mass of humanity, and made separate, they are a unique group of people, and who's end is going to be when we depart or taken out of the way, and we're getting close to that time. Maybe we should have looked at the departure more in detail, but for now we'll let it go because we'd like to move on. Because now you see when the Church is out of the way God will again pick up with the Nation of Israel where He left off back in the Book of Acts. And the verse in Psalm 2, the end of verse 8 remember. At least this is what or carnal natural mind tells us but we're not to depend on it because it is still in subjection to Satan's influences.

Remember the Nation of Israel has just been floating along, you might say, through human history out there in the nations of the world. But now as we've seen in 1947-48 they became a independent nation, and now God can deal with the Nation of Israel again. The Church has to be out of the way before that can happen however. Then God will finish His dealing in that seven years of Jacobs troubles or the Tribulation that are still future, that are still part and parcel of the Old Testament prophecies. But as said these are not necessarily so. Then when the earthly people, Israel, are ready for the coming of their King (and that is what He will be to them), the King will establish His rule and reign for 1000 years, and as Revelation says so clearly, "He shall be King of kings, and Lord of lords." For those who have chosen Him and His ways He is already King, LORD and High Priest of His household. As stated in the Old Testament and New a peculiar people set a part unto Him. In this 1000 year reign, Ephesians 1:10 becomes a fulfilled reality, where the heavenly and earthly are brought together in Christ, even in Him. Now let's move on to verse 11, and that verse starts right off with a prepositional phrase.

Ephesians 1:11a
"In whom (IN Christ) also we (as members of this One Body of Christ) have (already, past tense) obtained an inheritance,..."
Now in order to have an inheritance, what do you have to have? You have to have somebody who is going to share their wealth and property with you. Otherwise you've nothing to inherit. For that let's look at a portion of scripture in Romans chapter 8. Now where does our inheritance originate? Ephesians has already told us that it's "in Christ," but let's also see what this says.

Romans 8:14-17
"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons (the born ones not earthy but from the dead, spiritual alive or restored and in Christ) of God. (so a believer has to have the leading or power of the Holy Spirit) For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; (now Paul is not only talking about the Law with its legalism but the first commandment of Genesis 2:16, which many don't consider law. Anytime somebody puts the Law on people, it puts those people in a place of superstition and fear, and they're scared to death that they're not doing things right, and they're not doing enough by their own sufficiency) but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, (when we're placed in Christ, at our death to the influence of Satan's hold as a strongman) whereby we cry, Abba, Father. (we can call God our Father, we have every right to do that. Now here it comes) The Spirit itself (Himself, this is the ontological essence of Christ within us) beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:"
Now what do most children wait for if they have a wealthy set of parents? Their inheritance. That's normal, there's nothing wrong with that. We get a kick out of these people that go south every winter. With a bumper sticker which says, "I'm spending my kids' inheritance." But when parents have wealth, the kids have an inheritance. Well that's exactly what we have with God, but there is a requirement before one can receive an inheritance. Especially in marriage, one party has to die before the other can benefit from the contract. When this happens the survivor receives the benefits under contract. In our case our contract was inaugurated at the Lord Last Supper and ran through His ascension to the Fathers right hand side, where we now sit with Him in the Heavenliest. Its from this position that we can say, “Abba, Father.”

Ephesians Lesson 7 part 4

Just how do we get into this Body of Christ? Next verse -

I Corinthians 12:13a
"For by one Spirit (Holy Spirit, this is to say the fulness of the Godhead) are we all baptized into one body,..."
Here is the only true baptism for us. This is the true baptism that everybody better have or they're not going to be in glory. Now that's it! If we have this baptism then our name remains written in the Lamb's Book of Life, how by the required path, the ancient path, the reversal of falling into sin and death. Now we'll come into Newness of Life through what many will not believe or be able to conceive or understand, Death. And for those who do we're going to see each other in glory there's no doubt about it. What most don't get is this that with God all things are possible and He alone. The proof of this is Jesus Himself, He is the risen reality because He was crucified as the "Son of man" and raised and then declared the "Son of God".

Paul says that by the one Holy Spirit we're all baptized into One Body. Not just some, but all believers are baptized into the One Body of Christ. This is a work of the Holy Spirit, NOT mans doing the baptism in water as we've covered elsewhere, that at the moment of salvation He places us into the Body of Christ. Thus is the mystery or secret of our being identified IN Christ on the tree or cross. We're always using the analogy of the baby in the mother's womb. For 9 months what does that mother's body do? Adding cells to that little body or embryo which is known as the rudimental stage in her womb. Starting from invisible, and for every day for 9 months cells are being added until the last cells are in place, and what happens? Delivery! A full term baby delivered, now it's like that for the Body of Christ. When He starts our salvation process and the perfecting of the image, character of God or the birth of the day star within us, Christ. For the last 1965 + years now God has been adding believers into this Body. He does that one at a time, and He knows every one of them from around the world. Now reading the rest of verse 13.

I Corinthians 12:13b
"...whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink (or partake of) into one Spirit."
That's the Body of Christ that has been forming ever since it began back there in Acts chapter 9 with the conversion of the Apostle Paul. At least that's what we gather from the Scriptures. When is this Body going to be complete and departure out of here? Let's go back to Romans chapter 11. And while we're in Romans we might as well show another verse that is so appropriate, and very few people know it's in their Bible, and that's verse 13.

Romans 11:13
"For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:
In other words Paul takes a back seat to no one. Now now come on over to verse 25. This is why we had you turn here, as we wanted to see when the Body of Christ was going to be departure out of the way. This doesn't show a day or hour, or a month or year, but when that last cell, or person, is brought into the Body of Christ.

Romans 11:25
"For I would not brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, (or secret) lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; (and here's what we're supposed to know) that blindness in part (for a certain period of time, not forever, in part because they were already given a familiar spirit who has his way with them) is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in."
Now like the other areas where the term completion or fulness is used it is used as an action, the common word is imbue. We're getting close to that time, and it will happen when the fullness or completion of the Gentiles is brought in. Just as when the end of times or the last days of Israels disobedience were full when Jesus came. Now what does that tell you? Israel is out in the world tonight in a spiritual blindness, and has been for almost 4000 [2000BC-2000AD] years. But the day is coming when once again their spiritual eyes will be flipped open and they're going to see and recognize their Messiah. At least this is implied by scripture and prophecy but here again it is all in God's regulation of Prophecy not ours. Israel, as we've said, they'll be born in a day, but before that happens the Church, the Body of Christ, has to be brought to the full when that last person is brought in, and then the Church is taken out of the way for the seven years of Tribulation. Well let us show you our heavenly connection in the Book of Colossians. These are heavenly promises, we know Israel was never told something like this.

Colossians 1:13
"Who hath delivered us (speaking of God the Father) from the power of darkness, and hath (has already) translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:"
Well where is the kingdom of His Son right now? Well it's in Heaven, or is it? You see that is natural mans thinking and NOT God's and so we have this heavenly connection, with our heavenly promises.

Ephesians 1:10
"That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both in heaven, (heavenly, those after Christ) and which are on earth; (earthly, those before Jesus) even in him:
Everything is going to be brought together under His headship. Now if we could just, for a moment, recap the earthly and heavenly aspect of that verse. From the call of Abraham especially now, everything concerning the Nation of Israel, including the Prophets and Psalms, were all written for the benefit of Israel. And for our learning. In fact let us show you a verse to prove that so you don't think we're just making this up. In Romans chapter 3 is the Scripture we want to look at.

Romans 3:1-2
"What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God."

A special lesson as seen through the eyes of St. John of the Cross

In his book titled "The Ascent of Mt. Carmel" and in the third book and 27th chapter on pages 313-315 we find the following quote taken from. We share this because it seems to fit what we've shared in today's post in our study of Ephesians.

"Which begins to treat of the fourth kind of good — namely, the moral. Describes wherein this consists, and in what manner joy of the will therein is lawful."

"The fourth kind of good wherein the will may rejoice is moral. By this we here understand the virtues, and the habits of the virtues, in so far as these are moral, and the practice of any virtue, and the practice of works of mercy, the keeping of the law of God, and of that of the commonwealth [Lit., política, the ‘political’ virtue of Aristotle and St. Thomas — i.e., the ’social,’ as opposed to the ‘moral,’ ‘intellectual’ and ‘theological’ virtues. P. Silverio glosses the word as meaning ‘good government in the commonwealth, courtesy and other social virtues.’], and the putting into practice of all good intentions and inclinations.

These kinds of moral good, when they are possessed and practiced, deserve perhaps more than any of the other kinds aforementioned that the will should rejoice in them. For a man may rejoice in his own affairs for one of two reasons, or for both reasons together — namely, for that which they are in themselves, or for the good which they imply and bring with them as a means and instrument. We shall find that the possession of the three kinds of good already mentioned merits no rejoicing of the will. For of themselves, as has been said, they do no good to man, nor in themselves have they any good, since they are so fleeting and frail; rather, as we have likewise said, they cause and bring him trouble and grief and affliction of spirit. Now, although they might merit that man should rejoice in them for the second reason — which is that he may profit by them for journeying to God — this is so uncertain that, as we commonly see, they more often harm man than bring him profit. But good things of a moral kind merit a certain degree of rejoicing in him that possesses them, and this for the first reason — namely, for their intrinsic nature and worth. For they bring with them peace and tranquility, and a right and ordered use of the reason and actions that are consistent therewith, so that a man cannot, humanly speaking, have anything better in this life.

Thus, since these virtues deserve to be loved and esteemed, humanly speaking, for their own sakes, a man may well rejoice in the possession of them, and may practice them for that which they are in themselves, and for the blessing which they bring to man in human and temporal form. In this way and for this reason philosophers and wise men and princes of old esteemed and praised them, and endeavored to possess and practice them; and, although they were heathen, and regarded them only in a temporal manner, merely considering the blessings which they knew would result from them — temporal, corporeal and natural — they not only obtained by means of them the temporal renown and benefits which they sought, but, apart from this, God, Who loves all that is good (even in barbarians and heathen) and, as the Wise Man says, hinders the doing of naught that is good,(as found in the book of Wisdom 7:22-23 "For wisedome which is the worker of all things, taught mee: for in her is an vnderstanding spirit holy, one onely, manifold, subtile, liuely, cleare, vndefiled, plaine, not subiect to hurt, louing the thing that is good, quicke, which canot be letted, ready to do good: Kinde to man, stedfast, sure, free from care, hauing all power, ouerseeing all things, and going through all vnderstanding, pure, and most subtile spirits.") gave them longer life, greater honor, dominion and peace (as He did for example to the Romans), because they made just laws; for He subjected nearly the whole world to them, and gave rewards of a temporal kind for their good customs to those who because of their unbelief were incapable of eternal reward (the Hebrews in particular but not being limited to them only but rather reaching to all the religions of the world under Revelation chapter 17). For God loves moral good so much that, merely because Solomon asked wisdom of Him that he might teach his people, govern them justly and bring them up in good customs, God Himself was greatly pleased with him, and told him that, because he had asked for wisdom to that end, this should be given him, and there should also be given him that which he had not asked, namely, riches and honor, so that no king, either in the past or in the future, should be like him.(as found in 1Kings 3:11-13 "God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days.")

But, although the Christian should rejoice in this first way in the moral good that he possesses and in the good works of a temporal kind which he does, since they lead to the temporal blessings which we have described, he must not allow his joy to stop at this first stage (as we have said the heathen did, because their spiritual sight extended not beyond the things of this mortal and purely physical life); but, since he has the light of faith, wherein he hopes for eternal life, without which nothing that belongs to this life and the next will be of any value to him, he must rejoice principally and solely in the possession and employment of this moral good after the second manner — namely, in that by doing these works for the love of God he will gain eternal life. And thus he should set his eyes and his rejoicing solely on serving and honoring God with his good customs and virtues. For without this intention the virtues are of no worth in the sight of God, as is seen in the ten virgins of the Gospel, who had all kept their virginity and done good works; and yet, because the joy of five of them was not of the second kind (that is, because they had not directed their joy to God), but was rather after the first and vain kind, for they rejoiced in the possession of their good works, they were cast out from Heaven with no acknowledgement or reward from the Bridegroom. And likewise many persons of old had many virtues and practiced good works, and many Christians have them nowadays and accomplish great acts, which will profit them nothing for eternal life, because they have not sought in them the glory and honor which belong to God alone (Jesus spoke this as a parable of the nation of Israel because they were the five virgins under the priesthood of unbelief, Matthew 25). The Christian, then, must rejoice, not in the performing of good works and the following of good customs, but in doing them for the love of God alone, without respect too aught else soever. For, inasmuch as good works that are done to serve God alone will have the greater reward in glory, the greater will be the confusion in the presence of God of those who have done them for other reasons.

The Christian, then, if he will direct his rejoicing to God with regard to moral good, must realize that the value of his good works, fasts, alms, penances, etc., is based, not upon the number or the quality of them, but upon the love of God which inspires him to do them; and that they are the more excellent when they are performed with a purer and sincerer love of God, and when there is less in them of self-interest, joy, pleasure, consolation and praise, whether with reference to this world or to the next. Wherefore the heart must not be set upon pleasure, consolation and delight, and the other interests which good works and practices commonly bring with them, but it must concentrate its rejoicing upon God. It must desire to serve Him in its good works, and purge itself from this other rejoicing, remaining in darkness with respect to it and desiring that God alone shall have joy in its good works and shall take secret pleasure therein, without any other intention and delight than those relating to the honor and glory of God. And thus, with respect to this moral good, the soul will concentrate all the strength of its will upon God."

Now we can get the hint of the value that God placed upon that which He spoke to Israel shortly after its escape from Egypt as we've quoted elsewhere in this blog within the past few days. And maybe learn the lesson required of us all as revealed in Deuteronomy 6 and the related passages quoted with it. Keep in mind that our association, communication and revelation is an intimacy with the Living God by our being in His presence moment by moment. But for the religious its not that way because they see Him as being either in Heaven only or at some distance far from them, in other wards they have no knowledge of His being now in them by Faith.

Ephesians Lesson 7 part 3

Hebrews 11:6a
"But without faith it is impossible to please him:..."
Now coming back to Galatians chapter 1 if you will. So this is just exactly what Paul is talking about. Paul says that he was such a religious Jew. He was like all the rest of the Israelites doing everything according to the letter of the Law, but he was destitute of real faith, and consequently he too was blind with regard to Who Jesus really was. You've heard us say so many times that Israel should have known Who Jesus was. Israel could have known Who Jesus was, but why didn't they? They didn't really believe the Word of God! They had hearts of stone and deft ears and yes blind eyes. Why? Because they were given a spirit of stooper a familiar spirit as we've already revealed through the prophet Isaiah by God. Do you get the picture of why all the signs, miracles and wonders were necessary? Now we're in the same situation in church which is not only in America but the world today. We know the Lord is coming, but we don't know when. Now we're one that thinks it's not very far away, and yet most people have no concept where we are in God's timetable. Remember Psalm 2. On top of that, most wouldn't believe it if we told them. Why? They have no faith. They know not God. Oh they have a mental assent of God or some trumped up vain opinion of Him but they don't Know Him. Now continuing in Galatians chapter 1.

Galatians 1:13-15-17a
"For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church (church here is the Jewish assemblies of believers) of God, and wasted it:" And profited in the Jews religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. But (now here's the flip-side again. Oh he was a very religious Jew, he was doing everything that the Book instructed, but) when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, (what does Paul here mean by and separated me from my mothers womb and in the next verse we have the purpose) To reveal his Son (the Lord Jesus and here it comes are you ready for it?) in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; (Gentiles, the non-Jew world) immediately (How long? "immediately", again Paul puts the emphasis on that he did not go to Jerusalem and check in with the Twelve, but) I conferred not with flesh and blood: Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, ..."
Lets address the phrase "from my mothers womb" in metaphoric language his mothers womb means Israel as she was the mother of all Hebrew children. So Paul is saying that the LORD separated him from his religious convictions,customs, traditions and ways of thinking. The LORD turned him around and inside out He canceled all his known religiousness and ways. In order to do and become His disciple and Apostle. Paul was NO longer a Jewish priest but was a ambassador of God's Son who was given this message or Gospel of Good News.

Now if we want to know where he went in Arabia, just turn the page in Galatians and go over to chapter 4. This is to show us what was in Arabia where he went.

Galatians 4:25a
"For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia,..."
So we have to feel that just as surely as God gave the Law to Moses up there on Mt. Sinai back in the Book of Exodus, and Moses took it down to the children of Israel, so this man Paul went to the same Mt. Sinai, and received all the revelations of our doctrines of Grace, and he came down and took it to the Gentile world, and what a difference that has made. Then Paul goes on through the rest of the chapter, and says in verse 18 -

Galatians 1:18-19
"Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter,..."
Paul had 3 years with the Lord, now whether it was in Arabia or in Galatia it does not say. While we were in II Corinthians we made the point that one of the main points of controversy that the Corinthians had with Paul was that he didn't have the 3 years with Jesus that Peter had. Now it's obvious that the disciples had walked those dusty trails of the Nation of Israel for 3 years, we all know that. But after thinking about it those Corinthians were wrong, because Paul also had at least 3 years with Christ. In fact Paul even had it better as he had more years with the risen Lord than most, even there at Mt. Sinai with no one around but the Lord Himself. So Paul could come back and say, "Oh yes, Peter had his 3 years, and I've had my years as well".

We've always have said, that God evens everything up. Here we've got 2000 years, where God dealt primarily with the Nation of Israel. It was Jew only with a few Gentile exceptions. Now since Paul and the beginning of the Body of Christ, it's been nearly 2000 years that God has been filling the Body of Christ with Gentiles, with a few Jewish exceptions. It always balances out. God is never out of balance. We had a gentlemen that said what I really like about you is that you have balance. Well thank you, because that's what we try to maintain. We're not going to go clear off on the right or left till we get off balance. We just have to keep our eyes on the Word of God and not get too far off in either direction. So everything that God is in is always balanced. So yes, Peter had three years with the Lord while He was here while dealing only with the Hebrews. Paul had more years with the Lord, the Spirit, here during his Gentile ministry. Now verse 19.

Galatians 1:19-21
"But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother. (this James was not one of the Twelve) Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not. Afterwards (his stop at Jerusalem for 15 days) I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia;"
Now of course that's the area of Antioch, and his hometown of Tarsus, so this was the beginning now of Paul's ministry, and a calling out of a people for the Lord's name, but from what people? From among the Gentiles. What's happening to those people? Come back with us for a moment to I Corinthians chapter 12. And now we will notice that this is all fresh language. This is something that we've never heard before in Scripture, and this is all a result of that three years or so of revelation, and the giving of the Grace of God on this Apostle of the Gentiles. In verse 12 Paul uses the human body as a comparison as he does marriage. While Jesus used farming and agriculture in His parables. Again keep in mind that a parable is basically a metaphor, a analogy, or an allegory used to express a Truth or explain a spiritual reality.

I Corinthians 12:12
"For as the body (human body) is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ...."
Or the Body of Christ. All believers have been brought into that One Body, we never lose our individuality, but we're all part of the composite. Now how do we get into this Body of Christ? Next verse -

Ephesians Lesson 7 part 2

Today in our Church Age and as the Body of Christ we aren't connected to a Temple on the earth, but rather we're connected to the Heavenliest or the Zion of God and the New Jerusalem, which is by way of metaphor our mother above, which is in Heaven. All are veiled as a bride is covered by her wedding veil.

So the heavenly aspect started from the time of Paul's commissioning to going to the Gentiles, in the development of the Body of Christ, as the Church of the called out. This is all heavenly and spiritual, whereas Israel is earthly, natural earthy and hopefully we can tie this whole period of human history coming together. After that time we can go into the Kingdom Age, or the 1000 year reign which Ephesians 1:10 and others is referring to. At that time He will be King of kings, and Lord of lords when everything of the heavenly and earthly will come under His reign, and rule. But until then we sit in the enigma of the interim as the battle for mans soul wages in the heavens. Where the Religion of Satan through mans deception wages war with the Son of man, Christ as the Head of His Body the Church of the assemblage now called by God as son's of God in whom He rules again. Well that's just sort of a preview of what's to come. Now if we will come back to Galatians chapter 1 and let's pursue a little more of the heavenly concept of all of this. We think we pretty much gave you an overview of the earthly progress with its promises made to only Israel. We know Israel rejected it all, they crucified their Messiah, and God immediately turned to the Apostle Paul to go to the Gentiles. Now in Galatians 1:11 is where we have the real basis of that, after we've left off with Acts chapter 9. Now Paul has been out among the Gentile world, and at this time we are some 28 or 29 years after Pentecost.

Galatians 1:11-12
"But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me (now we must be careful how we read this. When Paul says "The Gospel which was preached of me," he's referring to the Pauline message of I Corinthians 15:1-4, Romans 8, Galatians 2:20, Colossians 2:10-12 and that message ) is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, (by the instrument of other men) but by the revelation of Jesus Christ."
What's Paul saying? At his conversion on the road to Damascus when the Lord spoke to him and said, "I'm going to send you far hence to the Gentiles" Paul didn't immediately head back to Jerusalem and check in with Peter, James or John or any of the other eleven. But instead the Lord sends him in the opposite direction down to Mount Sinai in Arabia, and evidently for about a year to three years the Lord just laid on this within this man, the whole revelation of all of these things that were only hinted at in Scriptures before. The things that Enoch, Noah, Seth, Eber, Abraham and Isaac, Daniel with the prophets only saw as a dim light at the end of time or the last of days of the Hebrew era. And this is what we try to emphasize to people, do you realize that all the way up through the Old Testament, all the way up through the Four Gospels, and the early chapters of Acts, that you never once see the term "The Body of Christ"? You don't see that term until you get to Paul's Epistles.

Once Paul begins his ministry never does he use the term, "The Gospel of the Kingdom as Jesus as the Twelve did." Why? Because that gospel was associated with the Twelve or as we just said with the Hebrew only era or dispensation. Just as they couldn't use the term the Body of Christ, Paul can't use the term the Gospel of the Kingdom. Do you see that? As we've showed before there is this fork in the road in the Bible, and that fork starts with the introduction of Saul of Tarsus who'll become the Apostle Paul at his conversion on the road to Damascus. God comes up to the point where Israel rejected everything of the Covenant promises, the Law and the Prophets and when that happened God says, "I'll do something totally different." When He establishes the promised New Covenant in His Son. So with the Apostle Paul, He went to the Gentiles. Just as it was prophesied. Now Paul lays this out so beautifully here in these verses. We've covered them lots of times, and we know this is repetition to a lot of you.

Galatians 1:13a
"For ye have heard of my conversation (my manner of living) in time past in the Jews' religion,..."
Now here we have to stop. What's a religion? Oh we've defined it so often as we've shared this Gospel. Religion is always a compilation of the effort of man to somehow appease a Holy God by or though his own efforts. Now that's religion. We don't care if it's the Oriental, Protestant, Catholicism, Judaism, or what ever. Religion is always man's attempt to somehow merit favor with God. Now we want to remember that the Hebrews religion at the time that Paul was practicing it here in Christ's earthly ministry, and shortly after, that's all it was. There was nothing of the power of God in it, any longer and we want to realize that the Law as given back there to Moses was about 2000-1500 BC. God's glory had left the Temple long before in fact before the time of the Maccabees, in what can be called Israels dark age that 500 years before John and Jesus came onto the scene as the close of the Israel only era.

But from that time, the religion of Judaism was in a constant state of degeneration. The priests who where to keep it pure defiled it and their God by their so doing. Like all other things are usually in that constant state, of degradation. Very seldom does something reach a peak of more or less perfection and stay there, it always degenerates down. Remember every thing is always going into a less usable state. So we've got to realize that from the beginning of Judaism, if we want to call it that, and the giving of Law to Moses, and then coming through the prophets and so forth, by the time we get to the time of Christ's earthly ministry, it was nothing but a dead man-made religion. There was nothing left of the power of God in it. Oh they went through the Temple worship, and all that was involved there. We just had a verse come to mind in Isaiah. We've been sharing that even Israel's religion came up into God nostrils as a stench. We've shook a few people up when we said that, we wonder how many Church services around the world on Saturday or Sunday morning make God feel the same way about them as He does here in Isaiah. We're in Isaiah chapter 1, and let's just begin with verse 11. This is the Word of God, this isn't our idea, in fact it just sort of turns our stomach to read something like this. Now this is frightening, but this is where mankind can get to when they follow their own devices.

Isaiah 1:11-13
"To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: (well didn't God instruct them to bring sacrifice? Well sure He did. Now read on) I am full (today we'd say, `I've had it! That's enough! Stop with it all!.') of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? (I'm sure God is speaking of the Temple complex) Bring no more vain oblations; (that was part of their sacrificial worship. God says, `Don't bring any more, because I've had it with them.' Now do you have the picture?) incense is an abomination unto me; (now listen weren't they instructed to burn incense as a sweet smell to God? Sure they were, and they were still doing all of this exactly according to the Book. Now let's read on and we'll tell you what the problem was, for us today this would equate to religious forms of worship) the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity even the solemn meeting."
Now remember all that we've read was what God had instructed for worship, but now He's saying, "I'm fed up with this and can't stand to look at it."

Isaiah 1:14-15
"Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them." (now this is God speaking to the Nation of Israel.) And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood."
What was the major point of controversy and contention between God and them as God has here with the Nation of Israel? They were doing everything right, oh they wouldn't dream of approaching Temple worship and not do it exactly right. We mean to the last jot and tittle they did it right, but what were they lacking? Belief in Faith! There was no faith no trusting of Him, associated with all this, and it had become nothing but a dead religion a system of motions, empty meaning less. It took on the form of what God had said but He was not a part of it, He was not in it. And isn't that exactly where Christendom is today? Oh just look at all the things we do in Church, but how many people have faith to appropriate the real truth of it? And this is what God is looking for - just simple trust which a child exhibits and through love will become Faith. But love can only grow where there is knowledge of the object of that love or to which the love is given and then received. Man loves all kinds of objects or things but can they return that love? NO! They are all but dumb idols. Whats the remedy?

Hebrews 11:6
"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."
Romans 1:17
"For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith."
Is this to say or mean that we have all the answers or wisdom and knowledge of God? NO! For faith is as a walk in the darkness of night when there is no moon to lighten the path for when there is there is no faith in it.

Ephesians Lesson 7 part 1

In Acts 15 after they've had this big run in with Paul and Barnabas, that Paul and Barnabas could not be preaching redemption or salvation to the Gentiles without adhering to circumcision and Law keeping, they finally are convinced that yes, Paul's on the right track, and so James makes this tremendous statement in response to Peters.

Acts 15:14-16
"Simeon (Peter) hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them (the Gentiles) a people for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, After this (after the calling out a Gentile people, that's us today which is in accord with 2 Corinthians 6 and this leads me to share again what St. John of the Cross says in chapter 22 of book three as contained in "The Ascent of Mt. Carmel" on pages 300-301 shortly) I (God) will return and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:" This just fits so nicely in Psalm 2 verses 11 and 12. Now in verse 17 to back up what I'm saying -

Acts 15:17-18
"That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, (the first word here of interest is the word “residue” and we'll look at it shortly, but this had never been revealed before. But now even James has a little bit of insight that since Paul's Gospel has been revealed, and it's primarily for the Gentile world then yes, God is going to call out a people for His name. And it's going to be primarily the Gentiles who are going to hear it) upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world."
Now what does that tell us? The Sovereign God is in control of everything, and nothing catches Him by surprise. Now for the word “residue” Webster's Dictionary of 1828 says: “That which remains after a part is taken, separated, removed or designated.” In verse 14 above ours is revealed that God did first visit the Gentiles to take from them a people unto His name. Now in this dispensation of Grace there is a residue taken from among men or called out, maybe a better phrase. Because they are the ones who seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. They are also the ones who yield to the Lords yoke which they willingly take as their own to learn of Him. They are the ones who hear the voice and Will of God and surrender to Him of their own free-will, their flesh life, will, minds and emotions unto death, on Christ's alter, the cross and to God's Will. They by so doing are joined to Jesus through the Last Supper and on through His ascension by accepting His cup and thereby are con-joined to Him in baptism by the Holy Spirit. They then are the people upon whom His name is conferred as heirs.

Now we'll look at St. John of the Cross's statement, which is based upon John's Revelation as contained in the 17th chapter which reads thusly:

Revelation 17:1-6
"There came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration."


Here then starts our quote and keep this in mind that all humanity is created a receptive being and are therefore creatures of habit or pattern and design and by nature reflect the beast or the spirit of evil or Holy Spirit goodness which sways them most:

"Returning now to speak of that second evil, which contains within itself innumerable other evils, it is impossible to describe with the pen or to express in words the lengths to which it can go, but this is not unknown or secret, nor is the extent of the misery that arises from the setting of our rejoicing on natural beauty and graces. For every day we hear of its causing numerous deaths, the loss by many of their honour, the commission of many insults, the dissipation of much wealth, numerous cases of emulation and strife, of adultery, rape and fornication, and of the fall of many holy men, comparable in number to that third part of the stars of Heaven which was swept down by the tail of the serpent on earth.(Rev.12:4) The fine gold has lost its brilliance and lustre and is become mire; and the notable and noble men of Sion, who were clothed in finest gold, are counted as earthen pitchers that are broken and have become potsherds.(Lam. 4:1-2) How far does the poison of this evil not penetrate?

And who drinks not, either little or much, from this golden chalice of the Babylonian woman of the Apocalypse?(Rev. 17:3-4) She seats herself on that great beast, that had seven heads and ten crowns, signifying that there is scarce any man, whether high or low, saint or sinner, who comes not to drink of her wine, to some extent enslaving his heart thereby, for, as is said of her in that place, all the kings of the earth have become drunken with the wine of her prostitution. And she seizes upon all estates of men, even upon the highest and noblest estate — the service of the sanctuary and the Divine priesthood — setting her abominable cup, as Daniel says, in the holy place,(Dan. 4:27 and remember that Daniel is speaking of Israelnad the Temple with its religious ceremonies, customs and traditions of man's design only) and leaving scarcely a single strong man without making him to drink, either little or much, from the wine of this chalice, which is vain rejoicing. For this reason it is said that all the kings of the earth have become drunken with this wine, for very few will be found, however holy they may have been, that have not been to some extent stupefied and bewildered by this draught of the joy and pleasure of natural graces and beauty.

This phrase ‘have become drunken’ should be noted. For, however little a man may drink of the wine of this rejoicing, it at once takes hold upon the heart, and stupefies it and works the evil of darkening the reason, as does wine to those who have been corrupted by it. So that, if some antidote be not at once taken against this poison, whereby it may be quickly expelled, the life of the soul is endangered. Its spiritual weakness will increase, bringing it to such a pass that it will be like Samson, when his eyes were put out and the hair of his first strength was cut off, and like Samson it will see itself grinding in the mills, a captive among its enemies;(Judges 14) and afterwards, peradventure, it will die the second death among its enemies, even as did he, since the drinking of this rejoicing will produce in them spiritually all those evils that were produced in him physically, and does in fact produce them in many persons to this day. Let his enemies come and say to him afterwards, to his great confusion: Art thou he that broke the knotted cords, that tore asunder the lions, slew the thousand Philistines, broke down the gates and freed himself from all his enemies?

Let us conclude, then, by giving the instruction necessary to counteract this poison. And let it be this: As soon as thy heart feels moved by this vain joy in the good things of nature, let it remember how vain a thing it is to rejoice in aught save the service of God, how perilous and how pernicious. Let it consider how great an evil it was for the angels to rejoice and take pleasure in their natural endowments and beauty, since it was this that plunged them into the depths of shame.[It was through this that they fell into the vile abysses] Let them think, too, how many evils come to men daily through this same vanity, and let them therefore resolve in good time to employ the remedy which the poet commends to those who begin to grow affectioned to such things. ‘Make haste now,’ he says, ‘and use the remedy at the beginning; for when evil things have had time to grow in the heart, remedy and medicine come late.’ Look not upon the wine, as the Wise Man says, when its color is red and when it shines in the glass; it enters pleasantly and bites like a viper and sheds abroad poison like a basilisk.(Proverbs 23:31-32)"

Now we'll continue on in our course of study:

Ephesians 1:10
"That is the dispensation of the fulness of times (referring to the 1000 year reign of Christ or this may have a double meaning as the Lord is currently gathering during the enigma of the interim) he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, (the heavenly things those who have been taken there by Him when He closed out Abraham's bosom for the word things is in reference to man) and which are on earth; (the earthly) even in him:"
We can be turning to Galatians chapter 1, and while you do that we want to remind you that all the way up through the Old Testament dealing with the Nation of Israel under the Abrahamic Covenant, including Christ's earthly ministry, including the early chapters of Acts, all of that is God dealing with His earthly people, Israel. Remember, Israel had nothing but earthly promises. The Hebrews knew nothing of dying and going to Heaven, all the Hebrew understood, as Job puts it so beautifully back there in chapter 19-

Job 19:25-26
"For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: (Job didn't say, "I'll see Him in Heaven) And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God;"
So all the promises given to Israel were earthly, and never lose sight of that. Their Temple was in Jerusalem, it was earthly. And when we get to the Epistle of Hebrews which Paul wrote or dictated, and we find him constantly comparing there that which was good back in the past when God resided in the Temple, in the Shekinah glory, it's all earthly. Today in our Church Age we are not connected to a Temple on the earth, but rather we're connected to the Heavenliest or the Zion of God and the Jerusalem, which is in Heaven. Which is found in Christ and His ontological essence within us as we are living stones of His spiritual temple. All are veiled as a bride is covered by her wedding veil.

Ephesians Lesson 6 part 4

When we've learned how to hear what He told Israel through Moses, as a Prophet, this being found in Deuteronomy 6:5-7 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."

“We should have accomplished nothing by the purgation of the understanding in order to ground it in the virtue of faith, and by the purgation of the memory in order to ground it in hope, if we purged not the will also according to the third virtue, which is charity, whereby the works that are done in faith live and have great merit, and without it are of no worth. For, as James says in chapter 2 verse 20: ‘Without works of charity, faith is dead.’ And, now that we have to treat of the active detachment and night of this faculty, in order to form it and make it perfect in this virtue of the charity of God, I find no more fitting authority than that which is written in the sixth chapter of Deuteronomy, where Moses says in verse 5: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul and with thy whole strength.’ and Jesus repeats in Matthew 22:37. And Paul says this in Romans chapter 12 verses 1 through 3: 'I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.' Herein is contained all that the spiritual man ought to do, and all that I have here to teach him, so that he may truly attain to God, through union of the will, by means of charity. For herein man is commanded to employ all the faculties and desires and operations and affections of his soul in God, so that all the ability and strength of his soul may serve for no more than this, according to that which David says, in these words from Psalm 57 verse 10: 'For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds.'

The strength of the soul consists in its faculties, passions and desires, all of which are governed by the will. Now when these faculties, passions and desires are directed by the will toward God, and turned away from all that is not God (the earthy, worldly things or creature pleasures and beasts of mans passions), then the strength of the soul is kept for God, and thus the soul is not able to love God with all its strength.” (quoted from the writing of St. John of the Cross, from his book titled “The Ascent of Mt. Carmel” book 3 chapter 16 passages 1 and 2 page 282. With limited editation by me.) In this last book within the “The Ascent of Mt. Carmel” St. John of the Cross progresses deeper from the purely earthy man to the purely spiritual man and how he the spiritual man can stay the course. Now picking up where we left off:

Acts 9:12-15a
"And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight. Then Ananias answered, `Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: (the believing Christian-Hebrews) And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name. But...'"
But is one of our favorite words in Scripture. That may all be true Ananias, but the flip side is -

Acts 9:15
"But the Lord said unto him, `Go thy way: for he (Saul) is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles,...'"
All of a sudden God is going to do something that He had not done before. Or at least during the five hundred years before John the Baptist and Jesus came on the scene, when there had been NO prophets in the land and during the time of the Maccabees when God was silent or in darkness of God's revelation. You've not seen anything like this. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 10?

Matthew 10:5
"These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them saying, `Go not into the way of the Gentiles,...'"
And all the way up through His earthly ministry we have seen that He ignored the Gentiles, for the most part and as late as the Passover Feast, and the Greeks wanted to see Jesus, but He didn't respond to them. He didn't tell His disciples, "Well bring them in to me." All He told Andrew and Philip was to tell those Greeks that the hour comes, speaking of His death, burial, and resurrection. Gentiles would have to wait until that finished work not only of the Cross but He allotted Last Supper and ascension. Before He could present this saving Gospel, Himself, for them and us as Paul reveals in I Corinthians 15:1-4 and elsewhere. Now reading on in verse 16, here in Acts chapter 9.

Acts 9:16
"For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name sake."
From here then of course we know that the Apostle Paul from this point on goes out a year or so to seminary training at Mt. Sinai, where he receives the revealed mysteries, the revelation of Christ. And one of those mysteries was this Gospel of the Grace of God by which Gentiles are saved. It's not limited to Gentiles, but as much as it was Hebrews only back there when God was dealing primarily with Israel, with a few exceptions. Now we have something totally different happening, God is now pulling out another group of people for His name which we call the Church, or the Body of Christ. It is mainly made up of Gentiles, with the exceptions of a few Hebrews. So we have two comparisons. Here we have Hebrews only with a few Gentile exceptions, and now we have predominately Gentiles, but with some Jewish exceptions. And the two we might say just cross over. But the Hebrew has to totally renounce his Judaism, and all his birth right. Because of the traditions and custom.

Israel goes out into the nations of the world into a dispersion even to our own present day. The Body of Christ on the other hand is pulled out from among all peoples and becomes a unique group of people, and they are waiting for their period of human history which will be the out-calling or the departure. After we're taken out of the way, then at that time once again God will pick up and deal with Israel for the seven years of Tribulation along with all other unbelieving people, and then we'll have the Second visible Coming when Christ will stand once again on the earth. We'll look at that if we can a later on. Now let's look at some of the heavenly aspects of Ephesians 1:10. Go back and look at some Scriptures concerning Paul's ministry. Let's stop at Romans 16:25. This verse uses language that we're afraid very few people, if they read it, don't comprehend it. But we're afraid most people don't even read it. Very few people understand what Paul is saying in this tremendous verse.

Remember that we're looking at the heavenly section of our "DOCTRINE, REPROOF, CORRECTION, INSTRUCTION IN RIGHTEOUSNESS" - of the Epistles written by Paul as they are a revelation of Christ and His New Covenant of Grace. Wherein when it is received as darkness of night in Faith, through Love and receptivity of Graces activity in Hope and Joy with charity. For as we've said in Christ is Christianity and that Christianity is Christ in Truth and harmony and one accord with God who in the fulness of the Godhead filled Jesus as the Son of man. Which is to say, "the secret of Christ in me".

Romans 16:25
"Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to (not the prophets, not the Old Testament, not the Abrahamic Covenant, not the teaching of Jesus in His earthly ministry, not the teaching by Peter in the Book of Acts, but) the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world begin."
This Paul's Gospel had been kept secret in the mind and heart of God since time began. Now that's what the Bible says, that's not something we made up. This is what the Scriptures reveals, that this Gospel that Paul is now going to start presenting to the Gentile world has been kept secret. Maybe we should have used this verse first, come back to Acts chapter 15. Because here in Acts 15 is more or less the introduction to it. We're sure that when James, when he spoke, had no real comprehension of what he was saying. He couldn't have, because nothing like that had ever been revealed before. We think he was just inspired to say what he said without really understanding the ramification of it all. But here in Acts 15 after they've had this big run in with Paul and Barnabas, that Paul and Barnabas could not be preaching redemption or salvation to Gentiles without adhering to circumcision and Law keeping, they finally are convinced that yes, Paul's on the right track, and so James makes this tremendous statement.

Ephesians Lesson 6 part 3

It's very crucial in being able to separate the Scriptures. If you can't separate the Scripture, then how are you going to be able to receive this beautiful free gift that God offers to everyone. When we've learned how to hears what He told Israel through Moses, as a Prophet, they being found in Deuteronomy 6:5-7 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."

Acts 7:2
"And he (Stephen) said, `Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; (or listen to me pay close attention to what I'm about to say) The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, (now who alone can claim Abraham as their father, up to this point? The Hebrews!) when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran,'"
Then Stephen comes all the way up from Abraham, and builds on the Abrahamic Covenant, the promises made to this nation [but not to this nation alone but to Christ through which He came], and finally comes all the way up toward the end of this chapter, and he puts it on the Jewish religious leaders.

Acts 7:51-52
"Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. (did we hear what his charges are, they resist the Holy Spirit) Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; (the Messiah, Christ) of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murders:"
When we analyze these two verses, does that fit a Gentile? No! that wouldn't fit the Gentiles. Gentiles fathers didn't persecute the prophets, but Israel's did. So always be careful that you don't just spread this out over people who are not involved. This is strictly for the Hebrews, it's still the Jew only. Its still on Israel's ground though they were considered as pagans by God because they had elevated their religion and all its forms and ceremonies above the knowledge of God which they were warned NOT to do.

Acts 7:53
"Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, (the Nation of Israel again) and have not kept it"
Here again is the charge of God against them, they broke the Covenants and the Law. They murdered His Prophets when they warned them time and time again as God's messengers. Now after this you know what happens to Stephen.

Acts 7:57-58
"Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul."
Remember when we were in the Book of Acts we called this the scenario of Israel's rejection. This is where they hit the high point of unbelief and rejection. "We'll not have Jesus of Nazareth to rule over us. He was an impostor, He could have never been the Messiah." And of course Saul of Tarsus was egging them on. Then you remember when we came into chapter 9, and now this is where we come to that fork in the road. The break between verses 8 and 9 of Psalm 2. Where God has finally left off dealing with the Nation of Israel, and He's going to do something totally different. This is something that has never been imagined by Peter or the eleven. Jesus never betrayed what was about to happen, because God in His Grace is now going to do something totally out of the secret recesses of His own mind and heart, and here it is. Guess we might as well start right with verse 1.

Remember we're now looking at what can be called the heavenly or spiritual realm into which we're all required to pass. How? By leaving the first elements of the earthy carnal and purely physical reality of common sinful man who is unknowingly swayed through his flesh or the areas of intellect, emotions, desires, opinions, wisdom, feelings of the five senses, and his religion, and government. Because these all are corrected by the evil one.

Acts 9:1-2
"And Saul, (who was holding the clothes of those who stoned Stephen in chapter 7:58) yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples (here it's not the Twelve but it is those who have made the break from Judaism to Christ centredness) of the Lord, went unto the high priest, And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem."
Then of course you know the account. Outside of Jerusalem and Damascus the Lord struck him down with this beam of Light from Heaven, probably something similar to a laser beam as we understand them now.

Acts 9:4-5a
"And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, `Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?' And he said, `Who art thou Lord?...'" (Yehovah)
You want to remember that Saul was a deeply religious man and a lawyer. Oh he was a murderer, he was one who slaughtered Jewish believers, but it was all in the name of his religion. Remember anybody that is religious certainly has a concept, whoever their God is, that he's up above. We don't know of any religion that looks at God being down, it's always up. So when this event comes from above with the stream of light, and the voice, immediately Saul knows it's got to be God that he's dealing with, so that's why the question, "Who art thou, Lord?" But in the original it really should have been, "Who art thou, Jehovah?" Because that's who Saul understood. Yehovah was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob not to mention Moses. Well what answer did Saul get for his question?

Acts 9:5b
"I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks."
Can you Imagine the man's reaction when he heard that. The One that he thought was such an impostor and blasphemer, and the One whose name he was trying to just simply obliterate and stamp out from Jewish thinking was the same Yehovah that had called Abraham and Moses. He was the One that had spoken to Moses, that had spoken to David, and He was the same One that was now speaking from Heaven after having been crucified, buried, and risen from the dead. No wonder the man became what he was. What an experience Saul had when he heard that voice from Heaven say, "I am Jesus whom you persecute." Well remember God always works the ends into the middle. Hold on a moment what does He mean by "is it not hard for you to kick, resist against, the pricks"? Seems to me that this would imply that the Lord had been dealing with Saul's heart long before this encounter. Why do I say the "kicks" because from that Greek word we get the word: recalcitrant, which means to stubbornly resist guidance or to be a refractory. And "pricks" means divine impulses. So while He's dealing outside the city of Jerusalem and outside the Temple with Saul, He's dealing in the city with Ananias. How many are there who have been like Saul throughout the history of the church who have resisted God in like fashion and jumped in where most would fear to tread by spreading another gospel by the ordinances of man [having a from of Godliness but having no power therein], in the same fashion as Israel's religion, and without God's approval? Because they kicked against the goads or picks without knowing. So now let's drop all the way down to verse 11. This is just a quick review of our timeline.

Acts 9:11
"And the Lord said unto him, (Ananias) `Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth.'"
We'll bet he was praying. I mean after all he's gone years now suppressing the name of Jesus of Nazareth as a blasphemer, as a demon, and as the worst of the worst could be, and then suddenly realize that He is the Messiah and Christ, and that it was He who is the very God that he thought he served, we bet he did pray. We don't blame him. So the Lord says, "behold, he prayeth."