Colossians
1:25
"Whereof
I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is
given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;"
Let’s
go all the way back to the Old Testament to see how this all fits
together. Come back to Isaiah chapter 42, and then I’ll have a
couple of others that we can look at. Okay, Isaiah 42.
Isaiah
42:1
"Behold
my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect (choice,
chosen one, the prime of the prime), in whom my
soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: (who are we
talking about? The Messiah-God.)
he shall bring forth judgment (rule, lawful, law, order and
ordinance) to (what people?) the Gentiles (as
being the middle part of the back of any body, a nation, heathen,
gentiles)."
See
God hadn't forgotten about the Gentiles. Why? Because we are all of
the seed of Adam and woman but Jesus is the more specifically "the seed of
woman," the God man of promise (as stated in Genesis 3:15, here called
the “elect” into Whom God delighted to put His Spirit, in
fullest measure). In my way of seeing this and other like passages,
the average Hebrew be they Priest or man on the street they looked
right past passages like this one. Why? Because of a hardness of
heart caused by them being no different than any gentile heathen
(Romans 3:23, 5:12, keep in mind when you read this passage that
Christ Jesus is the Embodiment of the law and this is exactly
what Saul of Tarsus saw on the Damascus road). Just as many made up
of both Gentile and Hebrew do even to day. Why? Because of the veil
that remains covering their hearts and minds, they have NO perception
of spiritual things. Even though this veil is removed once we have
been restored to God through Christ Jesus, by the likeness of His
death, resurrect and ascension, by faith, which works through
His Love. If His Love be not restored within our heart we are NONE of
his (Romans 8:9 and those who choose to remain in this condition are in absolute denial of Him). This many have
twisted to mean that we are none of His. But when we either make
light of or mack His Gospel we are making an absolute denial of Him
and in effect we are the “his” in this passage. This is what Paul
is telling Israel as a nation did, by saying we are none of his and
Hebrew expression of legal and religious argument. Natural man does not perceive this as they remain as foolishness to him, 1Corinthians 2:14 and 3:19.
Isaiah
42:6
"I
the LORD have called thee (Jesus
the Messiah to Israel) in righteousness (one
who walks a straight line, does not turn right or left but straight
ahead forward at all cost), and will hold thine
hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people,
(usually Israel is thought of here but when this word is looked at more
closely it means to hide, dim, or the hidden people) for a
light (another
giver of light, this can only mean Messiah-Christ because all evil
beings only give off darkness, though Jesus said that He saw Satan
fall from Heaven as an angel of light as the deceiver)
of the Gentiles;"
This
was Israel’s prospectus as many suppose it to mean. But all most in
the same breath He says “for a light of the gentiles”
knowing that Israel wouldn't accept Him or His message. By this we
know that here the term “people” is not Israel but are in
reality the families of the earth, again as scene in Genesis 12:3.
Turn with me to chapter 60 and verse 3.
Isaiah
60:3a
"And
the Gentiles shall come to thy light,…"
They,
of “thy light” was to have Israel, this reinforces what I have
already stated, Israel was to have been the head and NOT the tail,
the people through whom the light of revelation of the Messiah-God,
was to have come through. It was this that Jesus offered to them
during His three year walk throughout the nation. It was this that
all the signs, wonders and miracles spoke of as a witness that He was
indeed the Prophet like unto Moses approved of God. Approved through
the deeds that bore witness of Him.
To
fulfill the Word of God coming out of verse 25 of Colossians 1, and
the promise spoken of in Deuteronomy 29:29 and this is all part of
its fulfilling.
Colossians
1:26a
"Even
the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations,…"
Does
that mean what it says? Yes! it means what it says. This whole
body of Grace and Truth that is coming out of Romans through, and
especially the little letter of Philemon, is Truth. That was never
ever revealed before to the human race or Israel. The
background for it had been, laid and hidden within the context of
scripture, of course. Paul says that himself, "that all of this
was built on the Prophets and the Apostles, but so far as the
teaching truths that we find in Romans through Philemon, this was
hidden from human understanding until it was revealed to this Apostle
of Grace. That is why so many times when people question Paul's
writings especially concerning the book of Acts. Well the first thing
that I tell them is look, there is no Pauline teaching of this
revelation as such in the book of Acts. Because Acts is the in
between book (a transitional book, part of the parenthetical of Psalm
2) that moves mankind from the earthy, worldliness of Judaism with its
many systems and the Hebrews only into chapter 11. Where the Church
Age or into the Age of Grace and the promised New Covenant in which
is promised Eternal and Everlasting Life emerges. Depending which
Prophet we are reading at the time. And remember that Christ is and
was the one spoken to by Yehovah, LORD in all the promises and covenants
including the Levitical Law as their completion. Known and called the
last of days, the end of days or the end of time. For even the Temple
and all its trappings spoke of Christ in form and symbolism as a
shadow of better things yet to appear or come. But when it comes to
Church teachings we have to go by what Paul says. As it was to him
that these mysteries/secrets were given and opened for our
understanding of enlightenment through the rebirthed spirit of all
men everywhere, as Jeremiah 31:31-36 states it. Because the next few
lines speak of Revelation and the spiritual City of spiritual Zion,
the top of the Mountain of God's seat and rule within the hearts of
all mankind. Which is reestablished within mans soul when reborn. Or
revisited by indwelling of Him Who was, Is and will come again,
within every receptive soul, soul being the bowels, inward most parts
of man. The place of God's first habitation as scene in Genesis 2.
Colossians
1:26a
"Even
the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations…"
Some
of you are going to say, "Oh no not again." But let’s go
to Deuteronomy chapter 29 and look at it. This is for the benefit of
new readers who are probably just catching us in the last few days
for the first time. This is Moses writing to the nation of Israel,
but like I've showed before, God has always been the God of the whole
human race, not just Israel and not just Gentiles, but each in their
own segmented period of time. First He dealt with righteous men
through Enoch, Methuselah and Noah then Shem, Eber and Abram who
became Abraham, Isaac and then Jacob who became Israel, here He was
dealing primarily with Gentiles but this is about to change with the
renaming of Jacob to Israel, now dealing primarily with the Hebrew
children. And this portion of Scripture just falls right in with what
Paul is saying.
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