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We saw some of the names that this tribulation period is called through prophecy and that one of those names is “the Time of Jacob’s trouble”.

We realised again that this is Jacob’s, Israel’s troubles. Jacob is Israel. His name was changed to Israel in Genesis 32:22-31 and confirmed in Genesis 35:9.

He’s the father of the 12 tribes of Israel. This period of time is Jacob’s, Israel’s trouble and it will save Israel as a nation.

We asked how does trouble do that?

We’ll see that soon, but we should look at what kind of things we’re talking about.

We’re talking here about things that have never happened before and they’re certainly not the things that are happening as we prepare this episode.

Look at Revelation chapter 6 and we must realise that if we don’t understand what the prophets have said in the rest of the Bible, the Book of Revelation is a very confusing book. We don’t really have any idea what’s going on here unless we’re aware of what’s been said by the prophets in the rest of the Bible.

The Bible is an integrated message, and the book of Revelation is just that, a revelation.

It reveals what God was talking about through the prophets of old.

If we don’t get the Book of Revelation, it’s because we’re not aware of all the other prophecies.

Prophecy is what Revelation is revealing and if we don’t know prophecy Revelation makes no sense.

But if we know what prophecy’s said, Revelation ties it all together. It reveals.

So, it’ll help our understanding if we go back and study the prophecies before the Book of Revelation.

So, Revelation chapter 6 is a popular chapter among prophecy students because here’s where it talks about the four horsemen and the seals.

But to avoid falling into confusion and error, we need to build some foundation first.

Revelation 6 begins with the Lamb (Jesus) opening the seals to a scroll. The King James Bible translates this word “Biblion” as a book.

Let’s ask a question that many people never really ask.

Why are there seals on this scroll and what’s in it?

Well, this scroll or book with these seals has to do with Israel. It’s a promise that God made with Israel that has to do with the land. It’s a land deed.

Jesus, Who in Revelation is the only One worthy to open the scroll, is bringing to reality what God promised Israel, which was this land, this Dominion on the earth, and that’s what happens when this scroll gets unscrolled.

If we can understand this, we can easily see that the church can’t be a part of this period. It’s all Israel. But we’ll get to that soon.

In Revelation chapter 6 we’re trying to figure out what kind of things we’re talking about in this time of trouble. Just how bad do things need to be before we can say this is the greatest catastrophe of all time?

Revelation 6:1 says,

Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures (or beasts in the King James) saying with a voice like thunder, “Come and see.”

Like thunder. The day of the Lord will be identified by thunders and lightnings and things in the skies, in the heavens.

Revelation 6:2 says,

And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. 

We’ll talk about this a bit later on. This is the Antichrist. He’s going to come conquering the world.

Verse 3,

When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come and see.”

Verse 4,

Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword. 

These are things that John, the guy who’s writing the Book of Revelation, sees. These are representations of corresponding events happening on the earth.

The first thing is the white horse which will be the false Christ, the Antichrist. Verse 4 says there’ll be a Red Horse and power was given to him that sat on it to take peace from the earth, that people should kill one another and there was given him a great sword.

So, we’ve got the Antichrist, we’ve got lots of killing happening and then in verse 5,

When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come and see.” So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. 

Verse 6,

And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.” 

The point here is inflation, hyperinflation, and not only economic trouble, but there’ll be also a problem just getting food.

Verse 7 and 8,

When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come and see.”

So, I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth. 

The fourth part of the earth! 25%! Currently there’s 8 billion people on earth. Two billion dead?

A quarter of the earth dies by war, hunger, disease, and wild beasts and that’s just some of what’s on the horizon!

No living soul who understands this would ever want to be here at this time.

Right now, is the day of salvation, not then. That’s the day of judgment. Those who get by in that day are really going against the odds.

We need to take the Lord’s offer of salvation now and not put it off thinking that this dispensation of Grace will just keep going on indefinitely.

We haven’t got to the parts yet where it talks about the oceans being poisoned or about beasts coming out and stinging and torturing to death, or about the Serpent’s, the worldwide lightning, the great earthquakes, the Devils. All this is happening in Revelation. Everything you can imagine the apocalypse being that’s what’s in Revelation here.

Look at Mark 16 verse 16. Now we should by now understand the division between prophecy or what was made known to man and the mystery that was kept hidden from man until Paul. It gives us a have a huge advantage because we know that Paul describes what God’s doing today, with the Church, and it’s very different to what Peter and the Twelve Apostles were commissioned to do for the coming kingdom.

When Christ taught the Apostles about the coming kingdom, he gave them power to get there.

Let’s, just for a moment, pretend that this mystery period, the dispensation of grace, did not occur, it’s not included at all in God’s great timeline.

When Christ was resurrected from the dead, he taught his 12 apostles for 40 days and told them to preach the kingdom come. But as we look at the kingdom coming, what comes before it? Tribulation and the apostles knew that. They knew prophecy.

Jesus told them, the Apostles, to prepare for it. He gives them power to cope with these things.

In Mark 16:17 we read,

And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name they shall cast out demons.

These signs shall follow them that believe! These are the ones that believe and accept this message, this Gospel in the tribulation period.

Today we find a kid acting up and we think they have a demon but, in that day, there will be demons possessing people.

Revelation talks about the Devils and the warfare that’ll be going on at that time and these people who’re in this pre kingdom group in Israel will have the power to cast them out.

They’ll not have to fear the devil or demonic forces that’re trying to attack and destroy them. They’ll have the power and the authority to cast them out as Jesus did.

They shall speak with new tongues,

which, of course, is very helpful when they’re trying to communicate with each other from a wide variety of locations during the tribulation.

144,000 Jews are sealed with the sign of God on their forehead, and they’re told to go preach to the world in this tribulation. They’re able to speak in more than just Hebrew as many of these people being preached to at this time will speak many different tongues, or languages. That’s in Act’s 2 when Peter quoted Joel’s end time prophecy.

In verse 18,

they will take up serpents.

What’s going on here? Serpents?

The book of Revelation makes things clear as prophecies like Ezekiel 14 talking about wild beasts as part of the judgment and Revelation talks about these creatures that look like serpents and they’re part of the judgment.

Well, these signs will follow these people who believe the gospel and are baptized, and they’ll be able to take up serpents and not get hurt. They’ll be protected if they trust Christ. Of this group, it says,

and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them;

Well, when a third of the waters are poisoned and you can’t drink unless you die it’s very helpful to be able to drink deadly things. You see, God gives powers to these people going through this time of trouble that the world’s never seen before.

By the way, these verses never say these people will be protected from persecution like people cutting their heads off. It does say they’ll lay hands on the sick and they shall recover, which again is helpful.

A lot of these people, these believers, will die and they go to heaven and John sees them there.

Revelation 7:13 and 14,

Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?” 

And I said to him, “Sir, you know.” So, he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 

They died in and for their faith in Jesus Christ.

So, these powers are going to be helpful in saving Israel out of this tribulation. Huge numbers will die. It’s called a time of trouble friends.

This is not the church’s activity today it’s very different.

The question is when will these things be?

That’s the big question when it comes to prophecy, when!

People read about these things, and they know what the trampling of the wine vat is. They know bad things will happen in the tribulation before the kingdom comes, but when will it happen.

That’s exactly the question the Apostles asked Jesus in Matthew 24 verse 3 as he sat upon the Mount of Olives. We read,

Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

The disciples came to him privately asking Him about the end of the world.

How do we know if we’re going to the kingdom and how are these things going to happen.

How do we know when the end is happening, I mean it’s pretty nice to know when you’re done with all this judgment so we can have a more positive view.

In verse 4 the first thing Jesus says is,

Take heed that no one deceives you.

There’s so much deception around the question of when Christ will return, and we’ve already covered some of those things like mixing prophecy with the mystery of the dispensation of grace.

Matthew 24:5 says,

For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.

What was the first seal that was released that we just read about in Revelation 6?

There was a white horse, and many will believe the rider is Christ.

So, if you’re here in the tribulation and someone comes as the Christ, You’d know to say, “No, you’re not.”

How would you know those things? Because these many things have got to happen first. There’s prophecies that need to be fulfilled. We see in verse 6,

And you will hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 

These things must come to pass but the end is not yet.

We talk about all the wars all the death and all the things that’re to happen, but Jesus says, “Don’t be troubled”. How can you not be troubled?

He says the end isn’t yet. That’s how you know the end is not yet.

So, the one thing that people say are signs of the end times, well that’s the one thing Jesus says that they’re not signs of.

Mattew 24:7 and 8,

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 

All these are the beginning of sorrows.

What’s Jesus listing here?

Pestilences, earthquakes, famines. Just what we’ve seen Revelation 6.

People hungry, people dying, people sick. And what powers were given to the apostles and the remnant believing group of Israel at that time?

Heal the sick and to get their daily bread. All these things match together and God’s going to work with His people during that time but He’s going to judge the world.

In Matthew 24 verses 10 to 15 Jesus lists some things that will happen.

False prophets and false Christ’s will rise up and people will betray one another the love of many will grow cold. Verse 13 says he who endures to the end shall be saved.

And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations and then shall the end come.

We today in this dispensation of grace don’t preach the gospel of the kingdom, we preach the gospel of the grace of God.

Look what Jesus says in verse 15 and 16,

“Therefore when you see the ‘ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

There’s a specific event that happens here called the abomination of desolation that was spoken of by Daniel the prophet.

So, there’s got to be a Holy Place first, something that can be abominated. We are the temple today in this dispensation. Can we abominate ourselves, except for our bad behaviour of course.

Verse 15 talks about this abomination of desolation and Jesus gives us a reference. He says go back and read Daniel. Daniel speaks of something that needs to happen that will tell us when these end things are going to happen.

In Daniel chapter 9 and verse 24, another name’s given to this time period. Here it’s Daniels 70th week.

Daniel was in captivity. He was a faithful Israelite. Israel had received the judgment of God and had been taken out of their land which they’d been promised since Abraham, Issac and Jacob, and God gave a prophecy to Jeremiah before they were taken out.

He says, “I know the plans I have for you,” and it’s another popular verse people always take out of context. He was talking about Israel, and he says in 70 years you’ll return from captivity.

Well 70 years is over in Daniel 9 and Daniel prays to God and says, in effect, “God it’s been 70 years and I read this in Jeremiah 29:10,

‘For thus says the LORD: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place.’ 

So, what are you going to do, Lord?”

When he prays this prayer, Daniel, being the faithful one that he is, God sends an angel to him.

The angel communicates to him what God’s going to do and in this communication is this prophecy in Daniel 9 verse 24.

It describes how long it will be until the Messiah comes and until the end of all things. Daniel prayed and God answered!

Daniel 9:24,

“Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy. 

A lot of things have to happen you see, but the good thing is there’s a time reference. Seventy weeks.

As we read down through here, we understand a couple things.

One is that the week’s here are not actual weeks of days they are weeks of years. The word “week” simply means seven. We use it most often to mean seven days, one week, but it could mean any length of time and here it’s weeks of years. So, there’s seventy weeks or seventy sevens of years.

So, we have the calculation of 490 years.

W’re still in Daniel 9 and Daniel 9:25 – 26, says,

“Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times. 

“And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined. 

This is one way the Jews could know that the time of the Messiah’s appearance was due.

The wise men from the east knew when the Messiah would come. The Jewish nation could read this also, in fact by and large they already knew this prophecy well.

They could read Isaiah and say yes that’s the right place, that’s the right time. Jesus in fact held them accountable to know the time.

So, we have seventy weeks here and it says in verse 25 that after 69 of those weeks the Messiah, the Prince will be cut off, killed.

This countdown of 70 weeks begins with what’s known as the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem.

There were actually three decrees and the story behind them is fascinating in itself but the one that Daniel’s prophecy refers to would be the authority given to Ezra by Artaxerxes in the 7th year of his reign (457 B.C) and spoken of in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.

This decree was for Jerusalem and the temple to be rebuilt, that had both been levelled by the Babylonians, led by King Nebuchadnezzar.

During this devastating siege, the temple, which had been built by King Solomon, was torched, and the Judean leadership was exiled to Babylon.

The street shall be built again and the wall even in troublesome times refers to the rebuilding of the streets and the walls within 49 years, seven weeks of years, from this date but there were many troubles in and around this rebuilding.

Daniel 9 verses 25 and 26 tells us that there are 69 weeks from the decree to the Messiah.

Within the first 7 of those weeks of years, 49 years, the city, and the temple would be rebuilt. Then 62 weeks of years later, 434 years, the

Messiah would be cut off, killed, but not for himself, and the people of the prince who is to come, the people of the nationality of the Antichrist, the Romans, will come and destroy the city and the temple again.

Another prophecy in Daniel talks about how the Antichrist will come out of a revived Roman Empire.

So, we have a prophecy 483 years beforehand of the Messiah’s death. The Messiah that will come and will die.

This angel is telling Daniel in Daniel 9:24,

“Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy. 

It would be seventy weeks of years until all things are finished.

So, looking back we see the cross of Christ after the 69th week but, what about the last week the 70th week?

Well, looking at verse 26, it says in the second half of the verse that the people of the prince shall come and destroy the city and the sanctuary and in 70 AD this is exactly what happened.

The Romans came and destroyed Jerusalem and killed over one million inhabitants and destroyed the temple.  Then, like a flood the Roman army would overspread the land, and carry all before it turning into devastation anything that stands against them.

This antichrist who arises from this revived Roman empire will confirm the covenant with many for one week, seven years, the 70^th and last week of Daniel’s prophecy.

Daniel 9:27,

Then he (the antichrist) shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week, He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate.” 

In the middle of this last week, 31/2 years in, he’ll cause the sacrifice and offerings to cease.

Here we have the temple, naturally rebuilt again, with sacrifices and offering being made as of old.

This prince, the antichrist, will make this sacrifice stop and destroy the sacrificial system.

We’ve got this Antichrist, this prince that shall come, who actually declares himself to be Christ, making a covenant confirmed with many people that he’ll break 31/2 years in, and then we’ve got an abomination of desolation happening.

The point here is not to go into all the details of Daniel 9 but to point out that the time of Jacob’s trouble aligns with Daniels 70th week, that prophecy in which all these things’ll be fulfilled. But before those things are fulfilled at the end of the seventy weeks you have this time of desolation this time of trouble, this Great Tribulation.

Now we know that something has happened between this 69th week and this 70th week. That’s this interlude to the prophetic timeline that was a mystery that was never revealed to man through prophecy. It was a mystery right up to the time it was revealed to Paul by Jesus Himself.

When Peter stood up at Pentecost, he said these are the last days and they absolutely were the last days according to Daniel’s prophecy. They were the last days according to what needed to happen. The next thing that was going to happen according to prophecy was this Great Tribulation, but instead Christ poured out and revealed a mystery to Paul. What He revealed interrupted prophecy, and that interruption has so far lasted 2000 years. We know we don’t live in the tribulation at the moment because we live in this time of the mystery, the dispensation of grace.

If we don’t live in this time, and there was no mystery revealed to Paul, and you’d need to rip out the most important books of the Bible that relate to us today to believe that, the tribulation would have been over 2,000 years ago. Some Christians even believe this is the case, that the 70th week happened 2,000 years ago.

Really? So, this world we’re in now has already gone through the tribulation and the 1000-year reign of Christ where sin was bound up and no unbelievers could exist?

And after the millennial reign of Christ the new Jerusalem must have come down from heaven and God must have wiped away the old heavens and earth and replaced them with new heavens and earth.

Come on! Look around! Is this the case? We couldn’t be further away from that picture!

The 70th week of Daniel concludes God’s work with Israel and included in it is the Great Tribulation.

What’s the point of all this judgment? Because of sin!

We already know that God made a promise to Israel to bring a kingdom on the earth.

He made a promise that he would bring that kingdom in righteousness, it wouldn’t come to sinners, so he’s going to judge the world. He’s going to come back and make the high places of the world low. He’s going to conquer the Gentile nations and set up his own Kingdom.

Daniel 2:44 says,

And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. 

He’s going to restore Israel and that was the question Peter asked Jesus before he ascended to heaven in Acts 1:6,

“Will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

Jesus tells him in Acts 1 verse 7,

It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 

Jesus doesn’t tell him the Kingdom wasn’t coming. In fact, He said it would come, Peter just wouldn’t know when.

Jesus knew something was going to interrupt the progression of prophecy and it wasn’t for Peter to know what it was, not at that time anyway. He would know before his death.

Isaiah 4 is an interesting chapter that talks about the salvation of Israel through and out of tribulation and how the purpose of the tribulation is to make the high places low and to make those low places, Israel, make them high.

Israel will be purged from all their sins to make them clean once again and God will save them. He’ll judge the world’s wickedness to end the time of the Gentiles so that God’s power can now be in Israel as that one nation above all the nations. That’s time of tribulation, the restitution, the refreshing of all things that Peter presents in Acts 3:19.

This time of restitution and refreshing is when all things are made right putting Israel in the right place and the Gentiles in their right place.

That’s the time of tribulation. That’s why it’s there and when we realise that purpose and that function, there should be no question in our mind as to whether the church is there, because we’re not.

That’s not our ministry it’s not what God’s doing today through us.

We’re not part of a nation.

God’s building a body today and we have a Ministry of the gospel of the grace of God not the rise of the Kingdom. That’s another kind of judgment and there’s no mention of the Church, this mystery Body of Christ in any of these prophetic passages we’ve read.

Neither is there any mention of the church as in the Body of Christ in the prophetic passages in Revelation. The churches Jesus refers to in Revelation 2 and 3 is not the Body of Christ of today’s dispensation of grace.

We must be careful not to associate every word in the Bible with just one meaning only. There are a number of churches spoken of in the Bible and you can do a search on and see the differences.

We’re not going derail this end times study here to fully explain this but just one clear indication that these are not the Body of Christ churches is Jesus’s constant reference to their works and how He’s displeased by them.

This is not how God relates to the church, the body of Christ today.

He graciously bestowed salvation and justification freely upon us through Jesus’s death on the cross and his resurrection and all of those bad works and sinful activity have been crucified on the cross.

Works and our lack of them is not the basis of our salvation today in the age of grace.

Ephesians 2:8 and 9,

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

We, the Body of Christ, are just not there friends.

So, until next time as we learn about these sobering times of judgment on sinners, which is well deserved, I pray that you have received the salvation freely offered by God through the completed work of Christ.

We want to see what’s going on here and it’s a key point in understanding the end times correctly.

In this episode, we want to see how all this relates to this strange event that’s know today as the Rapture of the Church.

For those listening who are unfamiliar with doctrine as it’s preached in most churches today, the Gospels, along with what’s known as the Hebrew epistles and  the books of Hebrews, James, 1^st peter, 2^nd Peter, 1^st John, 2^nd  John, 3^rd John, Jude and including the Book of Revelation, are preached as if all that’s written in them is speaking to the church, the Body of Christ, today and the sayings are doctrines that the church must follow.

It’s assumed that Jesus’s words that He spoke during His earthly ministry were to the church today and so were the words of His disciples who followed Him at this time.

However, when we really look at these words, we find big differences to what’s preached in the epistles of Paul.

Why?

The key is context! Who is speaking, to whom are they speaking and what’s the age or dispensation that the writings refer to.

When we grasp this and look at scripture from this viewpoint, we clearly see that there’re no contradictions or disagreements, just different groups of people in different dispensations.

Is the scripture we’re studying speaking to the nation of Israel and where the context is the Old Testament law and the prophets or is it speaking to us, you and in the Body of Christ today. This is critical if we’re ever to understand the end ties and in fact the whole bible.

We know from our study in Matthew that Jesus said in Matthew 5:17,

“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 

And then in Matthew 15:24, Jesus said,

“I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 

The more we read of Jesus during His ministry the more we see that His ministry was to Israel to fulfill prophecy and the law. He came to bring in the long-prophesied Kingdom of heaven.

We don’t see the church of today come on the scene until after the continued rejection of Jesus as the Messiah by Israel. The last rejection was at the stoning of Stephen, described in the Book of Acts in chapter 7.

Stephen was a disciple who went about preaching to the Jews about Christ and had great miracles and signs occurring to confirm that what he was saying was from God.

But again, the Jews rejected his message and stoned him to death just as they had rejected Jesus and put Him to death on the cross.

The stoning of Stephen was a sort of final statement by Israel after they’ve had numerous chances to receive the One who was sent to redeem them.

A person was at that stoning who would become one of the most important figures of the Bible.

His name was Saul who violently persecuted the young Church. Jesus Himself would intervene in the life of this man.

One day as he was on the road to Damascus to persecute the Church again, Jesus appeared to him, and he was converted and believed in Jesus as the Christ. His name would be changed to Paul, and he would preach the truth and reality of Christ like no other person then or since.

He would preach the Gospel of grace to Jew and Gentile alike, but his ministry was specifically to the gentiles. He would write 13 epistles, or letters, that are the foundational doctrine of the Church today, the Body of Christ.

Paul, unlike all the other New Testament writers, is preaching from the context of a new dispensation, revealed to him by Jesus, that became an interlude to God’s great prophetic timeline after Israel repeatedly rejected their Messiah. This interlude is known as the dispensation of Grace which has lasted now for 2000 years.

After the stoning of Stephen, God then turns from Israel and rejects them. But it’s critical to see that God hasn’t rejected them forever.

God’s timeline of great and wonderful promises to Israel was put on hold and salvation would now be offered in a different way, and to a different group. Salvation would be offered through grace by faith in the completed work by Christ in His death burial and resurrection, and this new group would be a new creature called the Body of Christ. One spiritual body, made up of individuals from every nation including individuals from Israel.

This was a hugely radical and massive change to the way God had dealt with mankind since Abraham, which was always through Israel and the law.

Salvation had always been through faith plus the keeping of the law. Now, in this new dispensation, Israel is completely bypassed, and salvation is by Grace alone, through faith, without the works of the law. This interlude to God’s prophetic timeline was never spoken of in prophecy. God had kept it secret from the foundation of the world but after Israel’s rejection and their resulting fall, it was revealed to this man Paul.

No wonder the Jews and their leadership persecuted Paul so persistently and so cruelly. It was something most Jews simply could never accept.

God’s set the nation of Israel aside because of rejection of the Messiah.

One day the Nation of Israel will come to the acceptance of Jesus as the Christ, their Messiah, but only a small remnant after an enormous amount of them will be slain during the horrific period known as the Great Tribulation.

So, what we see today is a lot of speculation and confusion relating to the end times and much of this comes from the mixing of scripture that relates to Israel and Israel’s program, such as Matthew chapter 24, with what God’s doing today in the Body of Christ.

So many things that Christians talk about today, especially about the end times, is the result of confusion due to the failure to divide the ages, the dispensations correctly and missing how God deals differently with mankind through those ages.

So, what do we mean when we say, “The End Times”?

Studying the last days, the end times is to study Christ’s return and that’s the major subject when it comes to end time events.

Christ came the first time. He was rejected by His people, He was crucified, buried, and rose again and ascended back to heaven, but before He did, He promised He would come again. Prophecy said He’d come back as well but the question is when.

The whole study of end time events revolves around Christ’s return and not just his return but his return to fulfill what God said he would in prophecy. That’s to bring in this glorious Kingdom on earth after putting down all sin and wicked dominion of nations by pouring out his wrath.

This is what separates Christianity from Judaism. Judaism completely rejects that Christ came the first time. Israel rejected Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah when he came the first time, and they still overwhelmingly reject Him today.

To them Jesus he was just another man, not the Messiah.

Christianity says Jesus was the Christ he was the Messiah. He left this earth after His resurrection, but he’s coming back one day, which we know from prophecy, infallible prophecy.

Amongst true Christians there’re different positions people take on when He’ll return but all Christians believe He will return.

If we don’t believe Christ will return it’d be hard to prove ourselves a Christian.

To know He’s going to return, that He’s coming back, is a foundation of Christianity.

But when will He return and fulfill these prophecies in Israel? When will he bring that Kingdom and will we as the Body of Christ be the focus of that Kingdom?

These questions cause so much speculation and confusion, but they shouldn’t because the Word of God’s very clear about these things.

We get into trouble when we deviate from that Word and we mean the whole counsel of God, into our own ideas or the ideas of others who speak their own ideas, instead of the Word.

This’s where we need to turn our attention back to the book of Acts and the Apostle Peter’s preaching on the day of Pentecost where he preached, as we showed last episode, from the prophet Joel.

We said when we started this episode that we’d look closer at this prophecy and also the “sister” prophecy of Micah 4, but before we do we need to focus for a bit on the book of Acts.

This book is usually seen as the beginning of the modern church and a recipe for the Church to follow but when we look closer at it, we find that’s not really the case.

Firstly, the book of Acts is a “descriptive” book, not a “prescriptive” book. This means that what it contains describes events that happened at that time, descriptive, but it’s not a prescription of the way the church is to operate today.

The book of Acts is really a book about a transition. It’s a transition between what should have happened after the resurrection and ascension of The Lord and what did happen after that event.

According to prophecy what should have happened was a period of God’s judgment and wrath against an unbelieving world after which time Christ would return and set up of the Kingdom.

But what was not spoken of in prophecy was a period of time that would slot in and delay that. This interlude which we’ve already talked about, was a direct result of Israel’s rejection of their Messiah. The interlude is what we know of from the last episodes as the mystery period or the dispensation of grace that’s so far lasted 2000 years. It’s called mystery because, as we said, it was kept secret by God up until Jesus personally revealed it to Paul.

Peter’s preaching from the prophet Joel’s day of the Lord prophecy in Joel chapter 2. In the first verse of this prophecy this is what the Lord says,

Joel 2:1

Blow the trumpet in Zion And sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of the LORD is coming, For it is at hand.

Then in Joel 2:27 and 28 the Lord says,

Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: I am the LORD your God And there is no other. My people shall never be put to shame. 

And it shall come to pass afterward (after what? After the day of the Lord!) That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. 

According to Peter and according to prophecy, these events were upon them, but this just didn’t happen. The terrible events spoken about earlier in the prophecy didn’t happen and they haven’t happened yet.

Peter preached this message before Israel’s last and final chances to repent or turn from their unbelief and rejection of the Messiah. This was the intended next step, if you like, after Israel had accepted the Messiah, but Israel continued to reject Him.

This prophecy of Joel has nothing to do with the Body of Christ in the dispensation of grace that was revealed quite some time after the events surrounding Peter’s message on that day of Pentecost. This prophecy relates to the tribulation period which definitely will come as prophesied, just not when Peter preached. If that prophecy had been fulfilled, then the tribulation and the horrors that go with it would have been over seven years after that day of Pentecost happening.

Likewise, the Kingdom of Heaven would have been set up with Jesus’ return and He would have ruled over that Kingdom for 1000 years. So, in our time today, we’d be living in the regenerated earth where sin was completely eradicated and the New Jerusalem, this incredible city of God, would be already here. How different would everything be? Obviously, all this never happened.

Joel’s prophecy most definitely will come to pass and so will Micah 4 come to pass afterwards. Where Joel chapter 2 speaks of war and great destruction during the tribulation period, Micah 4 speaks of peace and of the days after the Kingdom is set up.

Jesus Himself knew that all this would be the outcome!

We see this in Luke 4:16 to 22 when Jesus read from the Book of Isaiah in the synagogue on the Sabath. Let’s read that passage,

So, He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 

And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place (which is Isaiah chapter 61 verses 1 and 2) where it was written: 

“THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE HAS ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR; HE HAS SENT ME TO HEAL THE BROKENHEARTED, TO PROCLAIM LIBERTY TO THE CAPTIVES AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET AT LIBERTY THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED; TO PROCLAIM THE ACCEPTABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.” 

Then He closed the book and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 

And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” 

So all bore witness to Him, and marvelled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” 

Now what’s so remarkable about this event and what shows us that Jesus knew what would happen after His resurrection and ascension was the place in this prophecy that He stopped reading. It’s what He didn’t read that’s important.

You see Isaiah 61:1 reads just as Jesus read it,

 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken hearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD but notice something vital. After that sentence, To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD there’s a comma. Not a full stop, a comma. Jesus didn’t finish the sentence! He stopped before it was finished. What does Isaiah 61 verse 2 say after the comma?

And the day of vengeance of our God;

See what Jesus is saying? He’s left out “The day of vengeance of our God”. He knew that the day of vengeance would not be fulfilled at that time, and it wasn’t.

Peter was preaching prophecy correctly, and He’s preaching it to Jews, who knew those prophecies. But He didn’t know what Jesus did and what the Lord would, later reveal to Peter also, that the comma in Isaiah 61:2 would last for 2000 years.

What would replace this gap, this interlude in the dispensation of the law? We see Peter and the other 11 Apostles continuing to preach the law to Israel through the book of Acts up until the Apostle Paul’s ministry to the gentiles starts in earnest.

Then, through a series of debates and discussion which are all in the Book of Acts, Paul’s ministry grows and reaches the whole known world, Peter’s ministry to Israel, which is the gospel of the coming Kingdom, diminishes.

In fact, in Peter’s own epistle, of 2^nd Peter in chapter 3 verses 14 to 16, just before his death, he wrote this,

Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you,  as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. 

So, to put all this in a nutshell, we have the book of Acts transitioning from the dispensation of the law that Jesus was under when He walked on earth in His ministry as Israel’s Messiah and the Lamb of God that would take away the sins of the world, all of which was clearly stated in prophecy from the foundation of the world.

Acts transitions from there to the dispensation of grace that was not prophesied but that God had kept secret from the foundation of the world until He revealed it through the Apostle Paul.

Now we should be able to see the reason for this dispensation of grace butting into prophecy as it were.

God’s great plan was that the Gentile nations would come to know God and His salvation, but it would be through the nation of priests that Israel would be after the time of God’s wrath and judgement on the world.

They would be a righteous nation through the shed blood of Christ and a holy nation knowing God intimately having His laws written on their hearts and minds through the new Covenant that they would be under. This is a long way from the reality of Israel as a nation today.

Now, because of Israel’s rejection of the Messiah, salvation would come to the Gentiles and all individuals of the earth, including believing Jews, a different way as we’ve already pointed out.

All that would be required was to hear the Word of God, the Gospel of grace and respond to it by believing it. Nothing else would be required. No works of the law, no special signs, or rituals, no priests or organisations or acts of circumcision, nothing but simple and pure faith in the Word of God that shouts out to a world in turmoil that Jesus, Who was the Christ, God in the flesh came, was crucified, and buried and rose again the third day all according to scripture.

This incredible and wonderful dispensation of grace that we’re currently living in will end, and probably very soon.

How will it end?

Well, we know from prophecy that God’s original, prophesied timeline will begin again with the last stages of the dispensation of the law before the dispensation changes again to the millennial rule of Christ, The Kingdom.

The last stages of the dispensation of the law will be this dreadful period known as the last days, where God’s wrath and judgement will be rained down on this earth for seven years, the final week of Daniels seventy-week prophecy that has been on hold now for 2000 years.

We know that God could not start judging the world with His wrath while still offering grace. Grace is not judgement and judgment is not grace, so this dispensation must end first. God can’t bring judgement at the same time as grace. He’ll change His attitude. A rough example would be you and I trying to be angry and peaceful at the same instant. We can’t. We must stop being one in order to be the other.

The end of the dispensation of grace will be with the event popularly known as the Rapture of the Church. The Church, Christ’s Body on earth will be taken out so that the next phase, which is a completely different way of God dealing with mankind, can come into place.

And what’s so very important to understand about the ending of this dispensation of grace with the rapture is that there are no events that need to take place before this happens. Not one. It’s an imminent event. The word “imminent” refers to something that’s likely to occur very soon or a situation or event that’s about to happen, which means it could happen at any moment.

This makes the search for signs in the sky and in natural events a futile and even ridiculous pastime even though it’s incredibly popular today.

It’s only through this understanding of the difference between prophecy and mystery, as we call it, that we can clearly see all this unfolding. Without this division there’s a confusing mix of dispensations, a blending of what was prophesied for the nation of Israel and what was revealed through Paul about the Body of Christ, and chucking in judgement for good measure.

Let’s look closer at this mysterious event known as the Rapture, which you may or may not have heard about.

Christ will come back and take his church out of here before the time of trouble (the tribulation) that prophecy tells us will come on the earth as God judges the earth and pours out His wrath on unbelieving humanity before the kingdom comes, as we’ve seen this plainly from God’s Word.

The word rapture is not in our Bible unless we speak Latin and use the Latin Vulgate as our Bible.

Scripture calls it in 1st Thessalonians 4:17 the catching away or the snatching away.

In this passage, Paul’s trying to comfort the Thessalonian Christians, because they’re worried about their people, who were Christians, who’d died.

They’d died before this catching away had happened and they were concerned that this meant they wouldn’t be resurrected. You see Paul taught them about this catching away as part of their basic instructions as Christians. Many Bible scholars think that Paul himself probably thought, in the early stages of his ministry at least, that this catching away would happen in his lifetime.

Paul tells these people whose loved ones had died that their loved ones are with Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 4:13 to 18,

But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

Therefore comfort one another with these words. 

See the phrase, “we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together”. Caught up together is the phrase in the Bible that in the Latin translates to rapture.

So, the Bible clearly says there’ll be a catching away and we’re going to be caught up together with the Lord both those who have died in Christ and those still alive in Christ, where we’ll meet Him in the air and will be with him forever.

This event is impossible for anyone to believe except for us strange people who are absolutely convinced that God exists and is all powerful all knowing, omnipotent, and that He created all things from nothing but the power of His word. For those of us who believe that, this event, the catching away, as fantastic as it is, is very easy for such a One as our God.

Now meeting Christ in the air is important as it describes a completely different event than the many other passages in the Bible that talk about the Lord’s returning to the earth where he’s going to physically stand on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.

For example, Zechariah 14:4 says this,

And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, Which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, From east to west, Making a very large valley; Half of the mountain shall move toward the north And half of it toward the south.

See, He’s coming back to the earth physically one day, whereas here, in this catching away, we’re getting caught up to the air.

Meeting Christ in the air is not the second coming. He doesn’t come physically to the earth in this great catching away. At His second coming He’ll actually set foot on the earth on the Mount of Olives from where he left 2000 years ago.

So, this catching away is obviously talking about a resurrection because it says the dead in Christ will rise. Well, that’s a resurrection from the dead but it’s not only a resurrection. What’s happening here is a vital and necessary change.

1 Corinthians 15:51 to 53 explains,

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep (that’s die physically), but we shall all be changed—

in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

There’s a lot of things in the Bible that you and I really don’t have to know to be saved. What we do need to know is Who Christ is and that He died for our sins, that He was buried and that He rose from the dead.

We need to know that Resurrection is real, that Christ rose from the dead and we will too.

It’s really not that hard to understand that God can change us even before we die.

Paul mentions this resurrection, this rapture, other times in his epistles.

Look at Colossians 3:1 to 4,

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.

Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

See, if we’re saved by God’s grace, we have God’s resurrection promised to us, and Paul’s saying that we need to set our minds on these things, not on the things of this earth.

This’ll help us deal with all the hysteria and confusion relating to end time events and the circumstances unfolding on this earth.

We have a hope, a sure and certain hope, that we’ll live forever.

It’s guaranteed to us who trust the gospel and are saved by God’s grace. That’s the powerful message of Christianity.

Whether he comes after we die or before we die, we’ll be changed and we’ll be with him in glory.

That’s the powerful message of Romans 8 verses 10 and 11,

And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

And Romans 8 verse 18,

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

We know that this present world is suffering and so if you haven’t faced suffering in this life good for you, I guess, but a lot of people have and are. This whole life, this whole existence is about suffering and that’s why we need Christ to give us the hope of glory and He’s promised it to us whether we live or die and we know it’s true because he rose from the dead and he’s sitting in glory right now. He’s alive and this is the truth and the great hope of Christianity.

In Colossians 3 verses 3 and 4 Paul says after exhorting us again to not set our minds on the things of this earth,

For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

Paul’s talking here about the coming of the Lord for the church, those who’re saved. When He comes, we’ll appear with him in glory.

Look at Titus 2:13,

Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

Our hope is not in a temporal existence, in earthly material goods or some sort of financial or social position, but an everlasting existence. This’s how we can view the trials and afflictions we have now in this life as light and short.

Look at 2 Corinthians 4:16 to 18,

Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

You’re say you’re suffering? You say I’ve had this pain for years? Well, how many years will you not have it?

We understand by knowledge of the truth that life is short and the affliction we have in this life is light compared to the weight of glory and eternity.

Our hope is in Christ, in his return and Him taking us up and getting us out of here and as we’ve said already, it’s an imminent event, meaning it could happen at any moment. No prophecy or sign will indicate it’s coming, making the search for signs in the sky and in natural events futile.

We’re Christ’s ambassadors while we’re here in a place that’s not our home because ambassadors don’t live in their home country.  They live in a foreign land. They long to go home but they’re doing a job. We don’t belong here, and we long to be in our home with the Lord.

Are we, the Church, the Body of Christ going through the tribulation that period of God’s wrath and judgment on earth? Are we going to live in the Kingdom on the earth?

In Romans 5:8 and 9 these great verses say,

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

The only wrath that the Bible talks about as being in the future is the wrath that God will pour out on an unbelieving world and an unbelieving Israel during this period known as the tribulation.

That’s exactly the wrath from which we, in the Body of Christ, will be saved from.

That’s the gospel of grace.

We’re members of the body of Christ if we trust the gospel. He’s not going to put his body through Wrath again, He’s already done that when He died.

Jesus, as the perfect Lamb of God, took upon Himself the sins of humanity as Isaiah 53 verse 6 beautifully expresses it,

“All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.”

When Jesus died on that cross, God the Father placed the sins of the world on Him. Then he rose from the dead and we’re now each a member of his body and we’re not appointed to wrath, as 1st Thessalonians 5:9 tells us,

For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

And as we’ve just seen in Romans 5 verse 9 which says we’re saved from wrath through Him.

In 1st Thessalonians 1 we see it again, where Paul’s talking to the Thessalonian Christians about their position and in verse 10, he says,

And to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

How so? The wrath Paul spoke of hasn’t even come yet. That wrath, the time of trouble, the tribulation where the wrath of God will come on the earth is still future.

How has he delivered us from it?

Well, He’s made us a part of his body as Ephesians 5 verse 30 says,

For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.

We’re members of His body of which He, Jesus Christ, is the head.

We’re his members down here. He’s going to bring His body up before he returns to conquer the earth and tread out that winepress as Isaiah 63:3 says,

“I have trodden the winepress alone, And from the peoples no one was with Me. For I have trodden them in My anger, And trampled them in My fury; Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, And I have stained all My robes.

He’s going to bring his body up before this and in 1st Thessalonians 5: we’re told,

Therefore comfort each other and edify one another (Paul means by knowing these things), just as you also are doing.

Next time friends well look at the tribulation period and beyond and until then may the pace of God that passes all understanding be on you.

Chapters in the Bible such as chapters 24 and 25 of the Gospel of Matthew relate to a period that’s yet future, which makes it unfilled prophecy and that attracts a lot of confusion and speculation within the Christian community and on the internet and social media.
This is largely because many if not most Christians believe that these chapters, in fact everything Jesus spoke of in His earthly ministry, is directly dealing with the church today and that everything spoken is for our obedience today, which simply is not the case.
We’re told in 2nd Timothy 2:15,

Be diligent (or study) to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Once we understand these divisions of the Bible the entire bible story becomes much simpler, much easier to understand.
The Bible says a great deal about the future, the end of the age, and Christ’s return, but so much that’s being put forward today has been gained from a “bits and pieces” approach to scripture.
Somebody writes a short social media opinion based or a short YouTube video based on one or two verses of scripture or some isolated passages, and mix them with a heap of opinion from others who’ve done the same thing.
What we’re going to do is bring nothing at all to this discussion other than what’s clearly stated in the Word of God. The Bible is our full and final authority.
God and God alone knows the beginning from the end as we read in Isaiah 46:10,

Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,’

This verse beautifully captures God’s ability to see beyond time and understand the entire scope of existence—from the very beginning to the ultimate end. His purpose is unshakable, and His wisdom surpasses all understanding. Truly, God alone knows every detail of His creation and every situation and circumstance surrounding it’s past, present, and future.

As we see the world changing, almost daily, it’s easy to become fearful and uncertain about what the future holds. If we look to the Word of God and correctly divide that Word, we’ll see that there’s no reason to be either fearful or uncertain if we’re in Christ.

The Bible is full of events relating to the end times such as the catching away of the church, (The rapture), The Tribulation, that coming seven-year period that we’re now studying in Matthew 24. The Anti-Christ, that one that draws so much speculation and intrigue today. The Return of the Lord, The second coming. The Millenium, the thousand-year reign of Christ, His Kingdom, The Judgment and The Holy City on into eternity.

We’re not going to go into the fine detail but instead we want to present an overall, bird’s eye view.
We need to start with a warning.
We’re dealing with prophecy. Prophecy, in itself, isn’t harmful. God gave it to us to unveil and reveal the Messiah and Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ and to verify that the Word, The Bible, and what’s being spoken in it, is from Him, from God.
A large proportion of prophecy in the Bible has already been fulfilled but we’re now dealing with a section of prophecy that has not yet been fulfilled.

Prophecy is important for our instruction and as doctrine, but it should always be used to further the main goal that Colossians 1:27 and 28 points us to,

To them (to who? To the saints and faithful brethren. That’s to the Church today, to you and me if we’re believers), To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Him (Christ) we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect (or complete) in Christ Jesus.

We see here what God’s will is for us today. That’s for us, the Church. It’s that we make known to all men “what are the riches of the glory, which is Christ in us, the hope of glory”.
To know and then pass on that knowledge of Him, Christ, and Him in us and us in Him and the riches of His glory. The One Who shed His blood in death and paid the wages of sin so that we wouldn’t need to, that’s the highest cause, and that in knowing Him we also know the riches of that glory that’s ours in Him.

When dealing with prophecy that’s not yet fulfilled it’s easy to get drowned in speculation and wrong doctrine and yet we know that prophecy has a purpose which we find in 2nd Timothy 3:16 and 17,

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

There’s a danger in labouring too much on the end times because it can take us away from the real issue, which is Who is Jesus Christ and what did He do to purchase our salvation?
It’s only through that knowledge that we’re set free from the fear and confusion of the end times. But at the same time, having an overall understanding of the end times is important because it’s where we see the purpose, the end result of everything, this world, us, and God’s ultimate plan. We see why we believe and why it’s important to believe what we do.
Prophecy lets us see the world the way God sees it.
We understand God better and we see that He’s not only love, but He’s also righteous and just as well and He cannot let evil and sin flourish forever.

In the horrific end times events, we see God’s love for mankind in His longsuffering and patience and His desire that none perish but that all would be saved, but we also see His Justice which must judge all unrighteousness.
We get immune to injustice today where courts with their human judges and governments who are supposed to uphold justice pass out feeble and inadequate punishment for the worst crimes and almost laugh off lesser crimes. But this won’t be the case in this final period of God’s judgment.

All the talk that’s around today about the world spiralling to its end can bring fear and confusion to people, but as a Christian these are not things we should fear! And rather than cause the unsaved to be in fear we should be preaching the gospel of God’s grace, not current events, because the knowledge of current events will not and can not bring salvation to the unsaved.
Yes, they should be aware of what the Bible says about the time of the end, but they need to be aware of the answer even more so.

If we don’t know the Gospel ourselves, we need to learn it and if we don’t know how to divide the Word of God correctly there’ll be problems with understanding the things related to the end times. If we don’t have the bigger picture firmly in place, we’ll simply add more confusion to an already confused world.

All these end time things are future! They haven’t happened yet, and we simply can’t be as certain about what hasn’t yet happened as we can about the past that has happened.
Jesus Christ lived, He died, and He rose again! That’s 100% certain from God’s Word.
All we can know is what God’s told us and we need to stick with that and not try to fill in gaps with our own viewpoints.

In 2nd Timothy 3:1 to 7. Paul tells us about people in the last days when perilous times will come, and we don’t want to be one of these.

Lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

In verse 7 he goes further by explaining that these people are, quote, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Then we see also 2nd Timothy 4:3 and 4,

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables.

They don’t want sound doctrine or truth. They want their ears tickled.
They want the romance without the reality, the fantasy without the fact. They love the intrigue and the mystery of the end times, and it doesn’t always matter if it’s correct or not.
This is true of many who delve into end time events. They spend so much time trying to figure out signs and they get so excited about trying to work out all these details, that they miss vital truths especially about God’s overriding purpose for these things.
It never ceases to amaze me how much can be made of a couple of social media memes.
We don’t want to join this crowd.

Another thing we need to guard against is trying to read something into every event that happens in the world and trying to “hear” God’s voice in those events.
It’ll just make it harder to understand the reality of the end times.
People are so ready to label every event that happens as evidence of the end of the world, and we see this everywhere especially on social media. People love the drama of the end times more than they love the whole truth.
It becomes ridiculous as people take a snippet of news here or a man-made situation there or a natural event somewhere else and then try to make them fit as evidence that the end’s coming tomorrow.
We want to avoid that like the plague and instead look at what the Bible says.
The stock market may crash, inflation may spiral, people may become more lawless, those who were once wealthy may become poor, or, all these things may not happen, or the reverse may even happen, things may look outwardly better and better, but no matter what, only the Bible will still be true through all of it.
So, let’s keep away from trying to see every current event as a signpost to the end.
In a nutshell, we don’t want to let the study of the end times distract us from what’s most important, who we are in Christ and all that entails.

We’ve also got to make a big statement.
Most of the prophecy in the Bible, both fulfilled prophecy and unfulfilled prophecy relates to the nation Israel.
If we try to put ourselves, the Body of Christ today, into that prophecy, we’re going to drown in a sea of confusion and error.
So, as we study prophecy, particularly end time prophecy, which is what Matthew 24 relates to, we need to define where we, today, fit into it.
We can be fascinated with the four horsemen of the apocalypse, the rise of the anti-Christ, the mark of the beast, the seven seals and the seven bowls of the wrath of God and all the other details of the tribulation period, however, we should be aware that the Church today, the Body of Christ, is just not in these prophecies and we need to see that and see why in order to understand the Bible correctly.

If we’re wanting to find our place in the end times we don’t look to the prophecies of the Old Testament or to the Book of Revelation. By “our” we mean the church today, the Body of Christ.
There’s only one place where we can see our destiny through those end times and that’s through the Apostle Paul in the epistles of Romans, 1st Corinthians, 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1st Thessalonians, 2nd Thessalonians, 1st Timothy, 2nd Timothy, Titus, and Philemon.

You may say, “That’s ridiculous”, but the Bible is first and foremost about Jesus Christ, and about God’s chosen people, Israel. We, as the Body of Christ today, only occupy a very small place in that whole story.
Also, we should realise that throughout the Bible and throughout prophecy, God always intended that the Gentiles would come to a knowledge of Him. That knowledge of God by the gentiles in prophecy was always supposed to be through Israel who were to be a nation of priests from where the Gentile nations would learn of God. Israel is the major key to the end times.

Now, there are divisions in the Bible where God works in different ways with different people at different times.
For example, in Exodus 14:16 the Lord commanded,

But lift up your rod and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.

Was this spoken to us today, as something we need to do?
Of course it wasn’t.
In Genesis 6:14 God commanded Noah saying,

Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark and cover it inside and outside with pitch.

Pure commonsense tells us God wasn’t speaking to us today when He spoke to Noah. We’re not all commanded to make arks!
Then in Matthew 10:5 and 6 we saw when Jesus told His disciples this,

These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans.
But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Then in Matthew 28:19 Jesus said to His disciples,

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.

Did Jesus change His mind? Clearly these are two very different commands. Both these commands are in the so-called New Testament so they must be for us, right?
But were these commands given to us today? If so, which one do we follow? See, if we don’t understand the context of who was speaking, who they were speaking to and in what age or dispensation the communication was intended, we’ll be confused as to what’s to us today.

We know absolutely from 2 Timothy 3:16 and 17 that all scripture is intended for us today,

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

But is all scripture a commandment or a requirement to us today?

There’re two main divisions in the Bible.
The first is the division of the Old and the New Testaments. These are the covenants, the Old and the New covenants that God gave to Israel. The Old Covenant was not given to Gentiles it was given to Israel by God through Moses in the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy.

It’s the same with the New Covenant. It was also given to Israel as we see in Hebrews 8:8 to 13,

Because finding fault with them (that’s the Jews under the Old Covenant), He says: “BEHOLD, THE DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE LORD, WHEN I WILL MAKE A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH— NOT ACCORDING TO THE COVENANT THAT I MADE WITH THEIR FATHERS IN THE DAY WHEN I TOOK THEM BY THE HAND TO LEAD THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT; BECAUSE THEY DID NOT CONTINUE IN MY COVENANT, AND I DISREGARDED THEM, SAYS THE LORD.
FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS IN THEIR MIND AND WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.
NONE OF THEM SHALL TEACH HIS NEIGHBOR, AND NONE HIS BROTHER, SAYING, ‘KNOW THE LORD,’ FOR ALL SHALL KNOW ME, FROM THE LEAST OF THEM TO THE GREATEST OF THEM.
FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE.”
In that He says, “A NEW COVENANT,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

This passage in Hebrews is quoted from the prophecy in Jeremaiah 31:31-34.
So, we should be able to see very clearly here that the New Covenant is not that part of the Bible that relates to the church today, even though most Christians tend to believe it is.
The thought is that the Old Testament’s for Israel and the New Testament’s about Jesus and the church. But there’s a lot more to it than that!
Both the New and the Old Covenants relate to the Nation Israel.
Jesus’s birth in Bethlehem did not bring in this New Covenant or New Testament.

This division in the middle of the Bible, this page that’s headed “The New Testament” is a publisher’s way of dividing the Bible and it really has little to do with the Old and the New Covenants.
If we only used this publisher’s way of dividing the Old and New Testaments this is exactly what we’d believe that the first part of the Bible, The Old Testament is about Israel and second part, the New Testament, is about Jesus and the Church today.
We turn to the page that divides our Bible that’s headed The New Testament and the very next thing we read is the genealogy of the Christ in Matthew 1 verse 1 along with the events surrounding His birth and, well, they’re in the New Testament, aren’t they? So, this must be the New Testament. Not so!

The most important portions of scripture that relate to the New Covenant are,
firstly, the passages that tells us who this New Covenant is for, which we’ve just read in Hebrews 8:8, which, as we’ve just said, is a repeat of the prophesy of Jeremaiah 31:31.
Because finding fault with them, He (God) says, Behold, the days coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
Friends you, me and the church today are simply not the house of Israel and the House of Judah.
Many people believe that the church has replaced Israel and it’s now “spiritual Israel”, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Secondly, we need to know that a testament is only in force after the death of the testator as we see in Hebrews 9:16,

For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives.

Clearly the New Testament didn’t start at the popular publisher’s division. How could it come in to force until the testator (Jesus Christ) dies?

Why is all this important when we’re preparing ourselves to understand Matthew 24 more completely? Because without understanding these divisions in God’s Word we’ve got no hope of properly understanding the end times or the entire Gospel of Mattew form that matter. They’re powerfully interconnected.

There’s another division in the Bible that’s critical to our understanding of the end times and particularly the destiny of the Body of Christ.
This division is far less recognised than the division between the Old and the New Testaments.
This division is between prophecy and mystery.
Never heard of this? Well, it’s the division between all the parts of the Bible that deal with Israel, past and future, and those parts of the Bible that deal with the church today.

Prophecy is what’s been revealed to mankind throughout the whole Bible, through the law in the first five books of the Bible, and all the prophets and right through to the book of Revelation, and the vast majority of it deals with Israel and God’s promise that the Messiah would be sent to them and, after a period of judgement where God’s wrath will be poured out on an unbelieving world, a Kingdom would be set up on earth where Christ, the Messiah would rule from David’s throne in Jerusalem, firstly for 1000 years and then on through eternity. This is all spoken of throughout the Bible in prophecy. It was made known to all men through prophecy.

Obviously, the Messiah came but the rest of this didn’t happen.
2000 years later and it still hasn’t happened, and this 2000-year period is not in prophecy. Prophecy does not tell us about the Dispensation of Grace, the age that you and I are living in now. This dispensation became a reality after Israel rejected and crucified the promised Messiah, The Christ.

So, we see that within God’s timeline, the ages, the dispensations, were clearly spoken of in prophecy, except for this period known as the dispensation of grace that was not spoken of in prophesy.
We can call this period, this division, “Mystery” because of it not being revealed in prophecy.
It was a mystery that was kept hidden by God before the foundation of the world until the Apostle Paul arrives on the scene and is appointed by Christ Himself as the Apostle to the Gentiles.

Just one of many passages that explains this period to us and shows us why we can call it “Mystery” is Romans 16 verses 25 and 26.
The book of Romans is almost unanimously accepted as one of the most, if not the most important epistle in the New Testament, and its explanation of Salvation and Justification by faith perhaps even makes it the most important book in the whole Bible, especially for us today.
Romans 16:25 & 26 says,

Now to Him (God) who is able to establish you according to my (Pauls) gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest (or made known, revealed), and (note the word “and”) and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith.

Again in 1 Corinthians 2:7 and 8 and Paul is speaking to the Corinthians this time,

But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

(As we go on, we’ll see that the death of the Messiah was a total necessity for God’s ultimate plan.)
Then in Ephesians 3:2 to 5,

if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He (God) made known to me (Paul) the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets:

God’s plan for mankind is revealed through both prophecy and this mystery, that was kept secret by God but is now revealed.
Our job as Christians today is to understand what the differences are.

Through the prophets we know that Jesus Christ was The Messiah, The Redeemer, God in the Flesh, Who would take away the sins of the world.
Through the prophets we also know about this coming period of God’s judgment on an unbelieving world and His wrath that’ll be released during that period, and then after that, the Kingdom on earth that will be set up with Christ as the King.

Prophecy was made known to mankind throughout the whole Bible, but Mystery was kept secret by God since the world began.
It was only revealed to us by Christ through the apostle Paul, this man who’d been a key persecutor of the church before Jesus Himself appointed him as the Apostle to the Gentiles after he was converted and became a believer on his way to Damascus one day.
This “mystery” is spoken of directly 17 times in Paul’s epistles and many other times indirectly, so it’s obviously very important.
Paul wrote 13 epistles that reveal that mystery, Romans, 1st Corinthians, 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1st Thessalonians, 2nd Thessalonians, 1st Timothy, 2nd Timothy, Titus, and Philemon.

This division between prophecy and mystery is hidden in plain sight and if we don’t understand this division, Bible study, especially when we’re trying to understand our place today in God’s timeline, will be confusing and full of error.
Why are we bringing up this division in God’s Word here? Because it’s in this mystery section of the Bible, that small chunk that relates to the Body of Christ, that we find our story. It’s in the mystery, now revealed, where we find our destiny.
Matthew 24 and all the rest of the Gospel of Matthew, along with Mark, Luke, and John and even the early part of the book of Acts are for a different purpose than this mystery of the dispensation of grace.
Their purpose is to reveal that Jesus Christ is truly the Messiah Who was prophesied and promised throughout the Bible.
All through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John we see the terms like, “That it might be fulfilled”. They were giving mankind unmistakable and absolute evidence and assurance that this central figure of these books, Jesus, was the promised Christ.
They were showing the fulfilment of prophecy and promise, that the Messiah would be sent to Israel.
It’s here that we see God manifested in the flesh, God with us, Immanuel, fully God and fully man.
Without that assurance the Bible is meaningless and the mystery of the dispensation of grace is useless since Jesus, The Christ, is the pivot on which it all spins.
We also see throughout these four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
how the Messiah was uniquely Israel’s, that He was promised and sent to Israel and Israel was Jesus’s focus during His earthly ministry.
We hear the kingdom that was so long prophesied, repeatedly referred to and all the parables Jesus told that were illustrations of this coming kingdom. Someone, The master, The King, The landowner, went away for a period of time and left servants in His place who plundered what he had left. Then, after a time that King or master returns to take revenge on the ones who plundered His estate.

God’s made His Word simple and error free, but, if we divide it wrongly, we won’t see it’s incredible yet simple, truths clearly.

So, to get the foundations set properly for Matthew chapter 24, which is directly related to the period of time in the future known as the great tribulation, we need to find out what this mystery is so we can see our part in this great drama of the end times.

To summarise, the Bible has revealed events through prophecy and then it has revealed other events that were not in prophecy, they were a mystery, kept secret from men by God, but which is now revealed, which Paul calls in Ephesians 3 verse 2, the dispensation of grace, as we’ve already seen.
Ephesians 3:2,

if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you,

What defines the periods in the Bible that relate to the Old Testament or the Old Covenant, the New Testament or New Covenant, and the Mystery?

Firstly, in both the Old and the New Covenants the nation of Israel is the central focus.
The Old Covenant was given to Israel in Exodus and, and the New Covenant was prophesied to Israel, to the House of Israel and the House of Judah in Jeremaiah 31:31 and then repeated in Hebrews 8:8 as we’ve already seen.
In the mystery period however, Israel is not the central focus at all, in fact Israel has fallen.
As a nation it rejected it’s promised Messiah and crucified Him. Israel is not the focus in the Mystery period, and Israel is not required for salvation of the Gentiles which it was in the Old Covenant and in will be in the New Covenant.
In the mystery period, the dispensation of Grace, individual jews are included but not the nation.

Secondly, God has dealt with man through promises or covenants in prophecy.
Two promises or covenants were made by God which were both given to Israel. The Old was given in Exodus and, as we’ve already seen from Hebrews 8:8, so was the New Covenant given in prophecy to Israel, to the House of Israel and the House of Judah in Jeremiah 31:31 and then repeated in Hebrews 8:8.
These covenants had to be adhered to by Israel to receive the blessings that went with them.
In the New Covenant period the conditions of that covenant will be written on their (Israel’s) hearts and minds, but they’re still conditions that must be kept for the blessings to come.
No such covenants are given in the mystery period. The only condition is that a person believes.

Next there’s works. God required works in the Old Covenant and what a lot of people don’t realise is that works are also a requirement under the New Covenant. The difference is that the works will be a natural act because the law relating to the conditions of the covenant will be written on Israel’s hearts and minds.
No works are required in the mystery period in fact to try and earn a place in eternity or to try and earn God’s favour by our own works in blasphemy as it rejects the completed work of Christ on the cross and rejects the power of his shed blood to save.
Galatians 2:16,

knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

Next there’s Law. The Old Covenant is defined by Law, the law that God gave to Moses in Exodus.
The keeping of that law, the Mosaic law, is also a requirement under the New Covenant, but, as we’ve just seen in Hebrews 8:8 and Jeremaiah 31:31 in the New Covenant that Law will be written on Israel’s minds and hearts as we’ve said a few times now. It’ll be perfectly natural for Israel to live life according to God’s law.
In the mystery period, we’re free from the law as Romans 8:2 tells us,

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

Then we have the Kingdom. God promised under the Old Covenant to make Israel a kingdom of priests and that they would have a kingdom set up on earth by God with the promised Messiah as it’s King.
However, Israel kept breaking that Covenant, so it was inadequate to bring in the promises that God gave to them as we learned in the previous verses in Hebrews 8:8.
So, God promises, through prophecy, that He’d make a new Covenant with Israel that would be able to bring in the Kingdom because the laws that were required to be kept would be written on the people’s hearts and minds, again as we’ve just seen in Hebrews 8 and Jeremiah 31.
In the mystery period we are not waiting for the kingdom to come. We have no earthly promises. Ours is a heavenly promise and our salvation is now! God’s promises are fulfilled in Christ as 2 Corinthians 1:20 says,

For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.

Now we look at some of the differences in these periods.

Firstly, there’s a difference with Christ. Christ is prophesised in the old Testament and there’re many prophetic shadows of Him, but He wasn’t there. You didn’t go to the temple to see Him.
However, you certainly do see Christ as part of the New Covenant. In Matthew 26:28 He said,

For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

He was the testator of that new Covenant, and we remember Hebrews 9:16 and 17,
For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives.
And we also see Christ being instrumental in the revelation of the mystery. The mystery, in fact, is all about Christ.

Next, we see the Spirit. The Holy Spirit was not given to all under the Old Covenant even though He was given to some at various times and for various purposes. Moses and David and many others had the Holy Spirit fall on them or influence, but He didn’t permanently indwell them. All the prophets wrote under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
Under the New Covenant ALL would be filled with Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will write the law onto their hearts and minds and will give men the power of prophesy in that New Covenant period.
In Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost Peter preached from Joel 2:28 to 29 and this was the partial fulfilment, or the beginning of the fulfilment.
Then of course we in this mystery period, if we’re Christians, we have the Holy Spirit. He doesn’t come in the same way as in the Old Testament and neither does He do the same thing as He will in the New Testament.
2 Corinthians 1:21 and 22 explains,

Now (that’s in the mystery period) He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
In this mystery period, The Holy Spirit indwells us and is our guarantee of our eternal life, our righteousness through Christ.

Then we have Grace.
The Old Covenant was a works Covenant. If you did the works you got, but if you didn’t do the works you didn’t get.
Under the New Covenant Israel will still be under works, but those works are made possible by the Holy Spirit, Who would write the law on their hearts and minds, enabling them to live the law naturally. However, they didn’t earn the Holy Spirit by anything they did. He was given by grace. That’s how they’ll be able to fulfill what God promised to them, in fact the only way they can. He’s actually called the Spirit of Grace in Hebrews 10:29.
Of course, in this mystery period which we saw Paul call the dispensation of Grace, Grace abounds.
What’s preached here in this period is that mankind is saved by Grace and grace alone, without the works of the law, and that’s all important.
Ephesians 2:8 and 9,

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Next, we see faith.
There were people in the Old Testament that had faith. Abraham believed God And it was accounted to him as righteousness. Moses David and many others had faith in what God told them, but the law couldn’t put faith in their heart, they just had to believe God and what He said. But then under the New Covenant faith becomes a requirement. Jesus said they must follow Him, they had to believe He was the Messiah, or they couldn’t be part of the New Covenant.
Under the mystery today we’re saved by grace through faith. Faith is the vehicle by which we receive the saving force of grace. Faith is the key that gives us access to God and His salvation and what He’s doing today.
Again, we see Ephesians 2:8 and 9,

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Next, we have Salvation.
The Old Covenant of works, the keeping of the Mosaic law could not save a person.
The law could not be kept in a man’s own strength, no matter how much he wanted to keep it.
Salvation has always only been possible one way, by God, by grace, by faith.
Under the law, when works were required of Israel, that law was never intended to bring salvation, but condemnation.
Romans 3:20,

Therefore, by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

What God has told men to believe and do has changed, but the way God saves sinners has never changed.
Under the Old Testament their faith was in the covenant. The covenant required obedience to works.

The New Testament saints could also never be saved by their works; but they placed their faith in a better covenant.
Hebrews 7:22,

by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant.

That better covenant required obedience to works to remain in the covenant as Hebrews 10:23-26 says.
Salvation for Israel as a nation is still future when their New Covenant will be fulfilled.
Romans 11:26 to 27,

And so, all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “THE DELIVERER WILL COME OUT OF ZION, AND HE WILL TURN AWAY UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB;
FOR THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.”

Here Paul’s quoting prophecy from Jeremiah 23 which is one of the many remarkable prophecies of the restoration of Israel under the new covenant.

The nation Israel had the Old Covenant in times past, and they have the New Covenant in times future.
They always had, and will have, a covenant, whereas we today, living in the mystery period, the dispensation of grace, do not.
They’ll be saved (as a nation) in the future even as we are presently, by grace, but not yet.
Today we have the preaching of the cross for salvation to individuals, to Jews and Gentiles of every nation and tongue, rich or poor, male, or female. Salvation through redemption and forgiveness of sin through the shed blood of Christ.

With that, we’ll leave off until next time when we’ll see just what this Fellowship of the Mystery that was revealed through Paul is and how it affects our study of the tribulation chapters of Matthew 24 and 25.
Until then may God give you the patience and will to seek out these things to confirm them for yourselves.