II Corinthians 11:22-23
"Are they Hebrews? so am I, Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft."
Then come into chapter 12, and drop down to verse 11. And again Paul is defending his apostleship here. He is trying to show the authority he has as the Apostle to the Gentiles. The stewardship which was given him not by mans standards but by God's, for mans standards pale in comparison to God's.
II Corinthians 12:11
"I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me: (what did he mean by that? Well they were putting him down. They were constantly saying, `Now wait a minute Paul, you're all right, but after all Peter had more authority. Peter is the big wheel in Jerusalem.' And others used Apollos as their example, but look what Paul says) for I ought to have been commended of you; (Paul was the one that brought them out of pagan darkness, not Peter, not Apollos) for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, (but in his humility he says) though I be nothing".
Paul has now become uppermost in authority and this not of his will but God's Will. The Twelve are now behind him. They are still beating a dead horse, so to speak, because God has turned from Israel (because they broke His Law and Covenants and then on top of all that denied Christ because they did not understand the spirit of the Law or the Prophets), as they had turned from Him and they were the apostles for Israel. (Galatians 2:9) God had now turned to the whole human race, and this was all part and parcel of the revelation of the mysteries which had been hidden in God, but now have been revealed to this man. And I'm sure just like the Church today, Paul was up against himself when he said, "All in Asia have turned against me." For this is our exact situation in which we find ourselves even today because that which is known or called church has turned its back on God's Gospel which is Paul's message of Grace which works through Love in the darkness of Faith's receptivity.
Now we'll look at what Peter himself says about Paul and his letters, turn to 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 13:
2Peter 3:14-18
“Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, (as said above Peter and the others did not have revealed to them the secrets as Paul did) which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, (even Peter is ostracizing the Judaizers of his day) as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction (study also Titus). Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the (he is labeling the Judaizers for what they are) wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen
Now we're going to take a bold stand just here and say that those who profess to be "Christians" and deem it necessary to flow the ways of Hebrewism or Judaism are the equivalent of the Judaizers of Peter's and Paul's day. In fact the church as we know it and as a whole falls into that category as well. For it is on the same course as Israel was and is to this very day.
Ephesians 1:7-9
"In whom (in Christ) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; Wherein (Grace) he (Christ) hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; Having made known unto us the mystery (or secret) of his (God's) will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself."
Now remember we made the comment that everything begins and ends in and with God. Especially when we teach the covenants in the Old Testament, when God made that Covenant with Abraham in spite of all the weakness of the Nation of Israel, and the children of Abraham, did it break the Covenant? No, because you see it began with God and it's end is with God. For He swore by no one greater than Himself in other words He made all His covenants between Himself and the promised Son who was yet to become materialized in the flesh of man as the "son of man" this is to say the second Adam but without our sin nature.
Hebrews 6:13
“For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself.” (Genesis 3:15, 22:15-18; Isaiah 45:23; Jeremiah 22:5, 49:13; Micah 7:20)
And it's the same way with all those promises of Scripture, they begin and end in God Himself, that is to say in Christ. Now verse 10.
Ephesians 1:10a
"That in the dispensation (or administration or that period of time) of the fulness of times..." (Daniel 2:44; Amos 9:11; Micah 4:1-2; Malachi 3:1 and 1 Corinthians 10:11)
In other words, when human history will finally be brought to the full, when time and the material world will finally wound down, and we feel that's it's going to be 7000-10,000 years in total duration. We've already come 6000 years, so we know there's a 1000 to 4000 years left which no doubt will be this fullness of time. We see in this verse which is still awaiting the human race. How ever God is in control and His meanings and purposes may have already taken place with His setting all things straight and in order through His Son. Now continuing on, and we've got to keep the thought here. Remember "having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself." Remember God is Sovereign, and He can do it anyway He sees fit. God can keep things secret if He sees fit, and we saw that He did until He reveals many of these things to the Apostle Paul. Here's how it works out for us, we may hear God's voice and words but we don't always comprehend just what His intent is in them. Because we don't know the enigma of the interim or the timing from God's perspective. Now here is going to be the fruition of the whole program.
Ephesians 1:10
"That in the dispensation of the fulness of times (when it will all wind up) he (Christ) might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:"
Now most of us know where we're going next already, but before we go back to that I would like for you to turn ahead a few pages to the Book of Colossians chapter 2. We could just about go back to verse 1, but instead we'll have to drop in at verse 8.
Colossians 2:8-9
"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, (Wow! That hits a lot of people right in the face doesn't it? Oh how many people hang onto tradition? Here we're warned against it. Be careful, don't hang on the tradition of men, and) after the rudiments of the world (the old Jewish system), and not after Christ. (Why?) For in him (Christ) dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily."
All the Godhead was in Christ and Jesus Christ epitomized the fulness of, that's what it says. He is up there in Heaven, not in some invisible mist like spirit world, but bodily! The same body that He left with at the Mount of Olives in Acts chapter 1, when He ascended into glory. Now before we go back and take a run at our timeline again come back to Ephesians 1, because repetition is the only way these things finally soak in.
Ephesians 1:9b-10
"...according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself (Psalm 2): That in the dispensation of the fulness of times (when God is going to deal with the human race in a particular way, which is called the 1000 year reign of Christ) he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and on earth, even to him:"
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