We're looking at Acts chapter 11 and verse 19:
Acts 11:19
"Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen traveled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word (Old Testament or the revelation of Christ, the Old because that is all they had so they shared His mystery from it) to none but unto the Jews only."
Remember only the Hebrews had the Old Testament at that time. Do you see how plain it is? That they preached only to the Hebrews? How can anybody miss that, but we know they do. They could only do as Jesus shortly after His resurrection had done. Remember Luke's account in chapter 24 verses 13 through 31, where the risen Christ opened up the Old to those two followers and believers of Him. This is also our standard because it says out of the mouth of two or three witnesses let all things be established. We had a friend of ours try to show one of his friends something recently, the guy read it, looked him in the eye and said, "I don't believe that." So my friend said, "In other words you're calling God a liar?" Now isn't that sad, but you see there are multitudes of men with many degrees behind their names that would just literally say, "But I don't believe that." They say that Jesus ministered to Gentiles, and Peter ministered to Gentiles, but our Bible says that all the way up to the stoning of Stephen they ministered to none but to the Hebrew or Jew only. Now how did it come about that all that changed and finally God sent someone directly to the Gentiles? Just back up to Saul's conversion in chapter 9, and drop all the way down to verse 15.
Acts 9:15
"But the Lord said unto him, (Ananias) Go thy way: for he (Paul) is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles,..."
Did you catch that? Paul was to "bear the LORD's name to the gentiles" remember that Jesus said than we're to prayer in His name but quite frankly many take that literally and so they say, "in Jesus name, Amen". But that is NOT how we bear any ones name. My wife bears my name because we've become one flesh and in the same way are we to bear Christ's name through God's activities do we become one in Him and He within us. The revelation as we've said of the LORD's Communion or Marriage Feast, meal, garden cup, crucifixion on through and including His ascension. When we through His Grace receive of Him in this fashion it is said that we've become one flesh because of the circumcision of the heart which God does through the whole operation, we then bear His name. We're not "Christians" of the worlds churches meaning or rendition but as God's Sons restored to Him, Christ like ones.
Now if you want to see what the Jews thought of Gentiles turn quickly to Acts chapter 22. In this chapter Paul has already been out in the Gentile world establishing little congregations, and he's back in Jerusalem, and he's trying to explain to his Jewish counter parts and listeners what God had been doing though him with the Gentile people. In verse 17 we find Paul in a trance while praying in the temple in Jerusalem, and now let's look at verse 18.
Acts 22:18-22
"And saw him saying unto me Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem; for they (the Hebrews as a nation) will not receive thy testimony concerning me (Christ). And I said, Lord, they (the Hebrews) know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them (the Jewish-Christians, believers) that believed on thee: And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him. And he said unto me, 'Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles'. And they gave him audience unto this word. (what word? "Gentiles" at the end of verse 21.) and then lifted up their voices, and said, 'Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live'."
Can it get any plainer how the religious Jews felt about the Gentiles? They said much the same-thing about the Lord the day of His execution by unlawful authority. Though they called Him a blasphemer. This thy still do this day in ignorance and unbelief. So much unbelief that it is said that the religious ones have removed from their record about 100 to 150 years and the whole of chapter 53 of Isaiah's record. Though I have no proof of it.
Let's go back to Matthew chapter 10, because this is a verse that has shocked a lot of people, and when folks have heard us share this, and they take it into their Sunday School class, and normally the Sunday School class will come right back with, "Where in the world do you get this stuff?" When that happens all one has to say, "That's what the Bible says!" It's as plain as day, and the Lord Jesus Himself said it. Jesus of Nazareth has just begin His earthly ministry, and in the opening verses of chapter 10 He's calling the Twelve to be His disciples. Then they're named in verses 2, 3, and 4, but now look at verse 5. For most of us this is all old hat, but you want to remember we've got a lot of just every day believers who don't know what it is that they believe, and most of them have never seen this. But look what it says.
Matthew 10:5-6
"These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
Do you see how plain that is? It's just as plain as daylight from darkness. "Don't you go to Gentiles, don't you bother with the Samaritans, but rather you go only to the lost sheep of Israel”. And this we've covered elsewhere in depth as Enoch's book is the witness of who they are, NOT the Church or Body of Christ ones. So you see Jesus as the Son of man and Messiah, Christ's earthly ministry was confined to the nation of Israel. We have to remind people, can you find one instance in Scripture when He took His ministry down into Egypt? No! Did He ever go up into Syria? Of course not. So where did He spend all of His 3 to 3 1/2 years? Right in that narrow neck of geography between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, and no farther, and neither did the twelve.
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