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 -
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