What Is The Mystery

What Is “The Fellowship of the Mystery”? – Part 2

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Although this mystery is spoken of often by Paul it’s easy to just gloss over it without really paying much attention to it.
But if we’re to know where our position in Christ is today, not in times past or times future, but today, we need to understand what Paul is clearly teaching. We need to know what it is, how it came into being and what it means for you and me today.

Adapted from various teaching material from Grace Ambassadors.

“Speed Slider”

Comparison Between the Old Covenant, The New Covenant and the Fellowship of the Mystery

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Old, New and Mystery Comparison

 

What is the Fellowship of the Mystery? Part 2 – Transcript

In this second part of our study of what this Fellowship of the Mystery is, that the Apostle Paul talks about throughout his 13 epistles, we get to learn exactly what it is, how it came into being and what it means for you and me today.
We’ll see how it’s one of the most important doctrines in the Bible for us the Body of Christ, the church, today.

In part 1 of this short series on What is the Fellowship of the Mystery, we did a brief summary of the history of the nation of Israel, because Israel is a major key in understanding this mystery that was revealed to the apostle Paul for us.

We need to see that it was through Israel’s continued disobedience to God and rejection of His Word that the nation fell, and that fall meant that now, God’s grace would be focused on the Gentiles and no longer Israel as a nation.

We start in Paul’s epistle to the Romans.

In Romans chapters 9, 10 and 11, Paul tells his audience what happened to Israel, and he describes Israel is fallen.

In Romans chapter 9:31 to 33 we read this,

What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. 

Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. 

As it is written: “BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STUMBLING STONE AND ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND WHOEVER BELIEVES ON HIM WILL NOT BE PUT TO SHAME.” 

That stumbling stone, that rock of offense, Is Jesus Christ, Israel’s Messiah and the Saviour of the world.

This is a quotation from Isaiah chapter 8 verses 14 and 15 and we won’t read that but just for your own knowledge you could go back to Isaiah and see the quote.

Now let’s look at Romans chapter 10:3, and we read,

For they (Israel) being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. 

Skip down to verse 16,

But they (Israel) have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?” 

Then verse 21,

But to Israel he (God) says: “ALL DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS TO A DISOBEDIENT AND CONTRARY PEOPLE.” 

Israel has fallen and that’s what Paul’s describing in these chapters and there are 90 verses in Romans chapters 9, 10 and 11 which give highly detailed evidence of how and why this fallen state of Israel came about.

But God had a plan, a plan that He kept secret from before the beginning of the world and that was that Israel’s fall was the salvation of, and to, the Gentiles.

Look at Romans 11:11,

I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. 

And in verse 25,

For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 

Look at Romans 11:12

Now if their (Israel’s) fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness! 

The riches of the Gentiles came through Israel’s fall.

Now, Israel may be fallen at this time, however God made promises to Israel, to the nation, and we saw that in the last episode. He promised a land, a kingdom, a nation and that was to be forever, and it was to be here on Earth.

God will save national Israel!

Ok, so we’ve seen the history of Israel and we’ve seen that it’s fallen today but that God will save them in the future. So, what does that all have to do with the Fellowship of the mystery that Christ revealed to Paul?

Everything actually, as we’ll see.

Now what do we clearly see in all this?

Israel is fallen and Israel will be saved in the future. We can see that Israel fell 2000 years ago. When will it be saved?

In the coming Great Tribulation as we see in Jeremaiah 30:7,

Alas! For that day is great (the day of the Lord, the tribulation), So that none is like it; And it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, But he (who? Israel is the subject here.) But he shall be saved out of it.

Then in Zechariah 13:8 and 9,

And it shall come to pass in all the land (the land always refers to Israel),” Says the LORD, “That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, But one-third shall be left in it: 

I will bring the one-third through the fire, Will refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is My people’; And each one will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’ ” 

Again, we see in Revelation 12 verses 13 to 17. The woman in this passage is Israel. She is protected and nourished in the wilderness during the tribulation and God preserves her from the serpent (Satan) who seeks to harm her.

Then in Romans 11:25 to 27 we read,

For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 

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.”

And Paul here is quoting the prophecy of Isaiah 59:20.

Of course, there’s many other prophecies relating to this ultimate salvation of Israel.

But that hasn’t happened yet! Israel’s not saved today. They bear no resemblance to the nation that will finally accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah and turn to God. This is yet future.

So, the question is what’s happened in the 2000 years that’ve past between Israel’s fall and today?

Well, there’s an interlude in the great timeline of prophecy. It’s as if the prophetic clock’s been stopped, and this is exactly how it is.

In this interlude to prophecy God’s done an almost inconceivably great work, and He’s revealed it to us, primarily but not exclusively, through the ministry of the apostle Paul.

God has “slotted into history” a period of time, a dispensation, an age, which we know of today as the Dispensation of Grace.

Paul calls it the Dispensation of the Grace of God in Ephesians 3 verse 2. Sometimes this age is called “The Church Age” or even sometimes, “The Age of the Gentiles”.

It’s this disruption, this interlude to God’s great prophecy timeline which has made God’s Grace freely available to all people, both individual Jew and individual Gentile today. And, unlike the other ages, the vehicle is not Israel and their covenants and laws.

The vehicle now is faith!

We’re now saved by God’s Grace, through faith, plus nothing. We believe God’s Word, the Gospel of Salvation, that Christ died for our sins according to scripture, was buried and rose again from the dead according to scripture, and based on that belief we’re saved. We have eternal life and we become members of the Body of Christ and partakers of all the riches of God, in Christ.

Paul was chosen by God in spite of being an intensely committed unbeliever in Jesus Christ and His claim as the Jewish Messiah.

He had an intense hatred for “The Way”. That was the movement that was gathering momentum in Pauls day that had, as its core belief, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and that Jesus was the Christ, the Jewish Messiah and the Saviour of the world.

Paul was uniquely saved by God, not by his murderous works, nor by the covenant promises made to Israel, but freely by God’s grace.

We see in Titus 3:3 to 7 Paul describing his salvation,

For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. 

But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 

Paul was a unique apostle. He was the chief persecutor of the twelve apostles, and he calls himself the chief of sinners. We see him before he was saved in Acts 8 and verse 1 being a willing participant in the stoning of Stephen,

Now Saul (his name was changed later to Paul) was consenting to his death (that was the stoning of Stephen).

At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 

Then, Paul was called by God to be an apostle of God’s grace.

Romans 1:1,

Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God…

And in Romans 15:15 and 16,

Nevertheless, brethren, I have written more boldly to you on some points, as reminding you, because of the grace given to me by God, that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. 

And also 1st Timothy 1:15 and 16,

This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. 

However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. 

The Lord Jesus Christ appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus where he was on his way to wreak havoc on the church some more. The Lord Jesus appeared many times after that to reveal what was “from the beginning of the world… hid in God”, that is, this fellowship of the mystery.

Ephesians 3:8 and 9,

To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; 

Paul calls this revelation the “mystery of Christ”, the “mystery among the Gentiles”, and the “dispensation of the grace of God”.

This mystery of Christ is different from what “was spoken of by the mouth of the prophets since the world began” concerning Christ, as Acts 3 verse 21 says,

…whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.

Paul continues to explain how he came to minister this mystery in Romans 16:25,

Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began

And in Ephesians 3:1 to 3,

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles— 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 made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, 

So, what is this mystery revealed to Paul?

The mystery revealed affected both the message of salvation and sanctification (which is God’s separation of a people for his service).

The mystery regarding salvation is the gospel of Christ: how any man can be justified freely by God’s grace through faith in Christ Jesus as our propitiation. Propitiation is the act of appeasing or satisfying God’s wrath or anger. It’s closely associated with atonement—the reconciliation between God and humanity through Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross.

We look at Romans 3:20 – 26,

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

But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference (difference between Jew and Gentile he means) ; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 

The mystery revealed to Paul is the identity of a new creature called the church, the one Body of Christ.

Nowhere does this Body of Christ appear in prophecy, a Body with Christ as it’s head and every other joint and cell made up of all who have received the grace of God, redemption and salvation, through nothing else but faith. Simply believing what God said in His Word.

We see that in Romans 12:5,

so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 

And we also see it in Ephesians 4:4,

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 

The church, this Body of Christ in which we are all members if we’ve believed, is to practice and preach the gospel of Christ and all its blessings which are free in Christ to all men through faith.

In Romans 5 to 8, Paul lays this out in great detail.

Also in Ephesians 1:3,

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 

And Ephesians 3:1 – 9,

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles— 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 made known to me 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: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power. 

To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; 

The most important thing we can learn in discerning God’s will in the Bible is to rightly identify and divide the mystery of Christ from what was spoken by the prophets concerning Christ, the nation of Israel and the Gentiles.

What God had spoken of by the mouth of His prophets since the world began is not what God kept secret since the world began.

Act 3:21,

whom (that’s Jesus Christ), whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things (this is the kingdom come), which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.

We put that verse up against Romans 16:25,

Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began.

See the difference? Spoken of by the prophets since the world began, kept secret since the world began!

Mixing mystery truth with the message prophesied to Israel has led to a great deal of confusion of doctrine.

Without understanding the mystery Christ revealed to Paul we can’t be faithful stewards of those mysteries, nor, actually, faithful ministers of Christ.

1st Corinthians 4:1 & 2,

Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 

Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.

More importantly, if we don’t understand the mystery of Christ revealed to Paul, we can’t obey the Lord’s greatest commission, “to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery” with its unsearchable riches and we look at Ephesians 3 verses 8 to 9,

To me (that’s Paul), who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;

It’s not difficult to see that there was a mystery ‘hid in God’ ‘kept secret since the world began’ and then revealed to Paul.

We see this clearly in Romans 16:25, and Ephesians 3:3 and other places we’ve just looked at.

Yet there seems to be difficulty among many sincere Christians with identifying what this mystery is.

Some claim that this mystery is something that we can’t know. It’s about the nature of God. After all, they say, ‘God works in mysterious ways’.

Yet the scripture says that the mystery is now ‘known’ and ‘revealed’. Though it was once a secret it’s not hidden any more.

Others say that the mystery is simply Gentile salvation. But, there’s evidence of Gentile salvation in the both the Old and New testaments before the mystery was revealed to us through Paul.

One purpose of the nation Israel being established was to be a blessing, a light, and the ‘Priests of the Lord’ to the Gentiles. The blessing of the Gentiles couldn’t be a mystery or a secret if it was told about so often in the prophecies to Israel.

Another belief says the mystery is Gentiles becoming part of Israel and their covenants. This is a dangerous misunderstanding because it leads to confusion about both Israel and the church, which are very clearly separate throughout the Bible.

This view requires us to replace most of the prophecies given to Israel with prophecies supposedly referring to a Gentile church. The prophecies and commandments of Jesus himself concerning Zion, Israel, Jacob, Jerusalem, and ‘my people’ would need to be replaced with commandments to ‘the church today’.

This is pretty much impossible to do and still keep the verses in their correct context.

Unfortunately, many denominations and pastors believe at least one of these views of the mystery.

What leads to a mistaken view of the mystery is ignoring the revelation of the mystery which was first given to Paul.

Paul was the first to explain that Israel has fallen from their special status with God. Through this fall, salvation is no longer the covenant possession of Israel alone but is being given to the Gentiles.

It’s not until Paul that we read about salvation apart from the law and the covenants based on faith alone in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Those who’re saved do not become Israel or remain heathen Gentiles; instead, they become part of the body of Christ, which is the church today.

Our hope today lies in our heavenly position reigning forever with Christ in heaven, but for now we’re left on earth to represent the Lord and the message of his reconciliation to God by grace through faith alone to a world that’s entirely rejected God.

It’s a good thing for us to understand the differences between the Old Covenant, The New Covenant, and the Fellowship of the Mystery which, as we’ve seen, all describe different ways in which people receive God’s blessings throughout different ages.

If we ignore the differences, or we’re not aware of them, we can claim blessings or curses belonging to someone else and miss blessings belonging to us.

So, what are the differences between the old covenant, new covenant, and the fellowship of the mystery? We’ve got a chart included below this episode list to help see these differences.

As a sidenote, we do have a covenant called the Abrahamic Covenant which is found in Genesis chapter 15 where God makes a formal agreement, a covenant, with Abraham that He would do what He’d said. Interestingly, Abraham had no part in this, he was put to sleep, showing that this was God’s responsibility to ensure it was fulfilled and didn’t rely on anything Abraham would or wouldn’t do.

We also have another covenant known as the Davidic covenant where, in 2 Samuel 7:12 God makes this promise to King David,

“When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.

But we’re concerned here with the two main covenants that we know as the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.

We’ll start with the Old Covenant.

The law was given to Israel, by God, through Moses in the exodus out of Egypt.

This law was intended to be a blessing to the world through Israel’s separation and obedience.

God declared to Israel, “You will be my people, and I will be your God.”

The covenant outlined specific terms for Israel’s relationship with God.

The law was the basis of this Old Covenant, and the terms were that if Israel was obedient to the law it would lead to blessings, prosperity, and them remaining in the land.

But disobedience would result in curses, judgment, and potential exile from the land.

It was this latter condition of the covenant that Israel would learn the hard way throughout their history. They couldn’t keep the law and they required a multitude of sacrifices to cover their sin. And, into the bargain they constantly suffered for their disobedience as we saw in part 1 of this series.

However, and this important, Israel as a channel of God’s blessing was not done away by their failure to keep the law.

God had made promises to the fathers of Israel to make Israel the nation through which the world would be blessed. Those promises of God cannot be cancelled out because they were given to the fathers before the law. Israel did not fulfill them by their own power to keep the law.

So, to summarise the Old Covenant we have:

  • Israel must perform on their own, by their own works of obedience
  • Israel is a nation separate from the Gentiles
  • The law given to obey
  • It was a Covenant to make Israel the channel of blessing to the world

Now we come to the New Covenant.

Israel was given promises from God to be the nation through which the world would be blessed. The old and new covenants were both intended to fulfill this promise. This is why both the old and new covenants are made with the house of Israel and Judah. It’s hard to see why most modern-day churches regard the New Covenant as for the church today.

We see Jeremaiah 31:31,

“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 that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. 

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

Then we see Hebrews 8:10 & 11,

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.

Both the old covenant and the new covenant include the law, priests, a kingdom, and sacrifices for sin. Both were intended to provide blessing to the world through Israel.

Both are the subject of prophecy, and were not part of God’s mystery kept secret since the world began.

The new covenant was made better for Israel in that God would perform all that they couldn’t do on their own. He would be the better priest, he would give the Spirit to cause them to keep the law, and he would send Christ to establish the kingdom.

The new covenant is merely the old covenant blessing, the promises to the fathers, made possible through the provision of God.

John 1:17,
For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Whereas the old covenant emphasized man’s performance, the new covenant was God performing for Israel what they could not do. The old covenant failed to fulfill the promises because of that inability of Israel to perform, but the new would not fail.

Hebrews 8: 7 – 8,

For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, 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—

and then we go into the remainder that we’ve already read.

So, to summarise the New Covenant and compare it to the old we see this:

  • In the Old Covenant Israel must perform on their own, by their own works of obedience, whereas in the New Covenant God gives His grace for Israel to perform by the Spirit.
  • In The Old Covenant Israel is a nation separate from the Gentiles and it’s the same in the New Covenant.
  • In the Old Covenant the law given for Israel to obey in their own strength whereas in the New Covenant God’s law would be written on their hearts and minds as we saw in Jeremaiah 31 verse 33.
  • The Old Covenant was to make Israel the channel of blessing to the world, and in just the same way the New Covenant was to make Israel the channel of blessing to the world.

Now we want to compare The Fellowship of the Mystery.

Because the new covenant describes God’s performance on behalf of Israel, many people get confused by the difference between the new covenant and the fellowship of the mystery. People think that because they both require God’s grace they must be talking about the same thing.

But we can’t make a decision based on similarities. Both a Ford car and a Toyota have wheels, doors an engine and steering wheels, but does that make them the same? Of course not! It’s the differences that define them.

And the differences are critical for us to see here.

The new covenant is God’s blessing of grace through Israel, through their covenants, and their law written in their hearts.

The fellowship of the mystery is God’s grace given to all, Jew and Gentile freely, without the nation of Israel, without their earthly covenants, and without their law written in hearts.

Whereas under the old covenant God was the law giver, and under the new covenant God in Christ was the law keeper, under the fellowship of the mystery, God in Christ is the law remover. We see that in Romans 6:14,

For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

We also see it in Colossians 2:14,

…having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 

Whereas the old covenant was given to Israel, and the new covenant was given to believing Israel, the fellowship of the mystery is for all that believe the gospel of Christ: Jew or Gentile.

2Corinthians 5:17,

Therefore, if anyone (Jew or Gentile) is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 

Ephesians 2:15,

…having abolished in His (Jesus’s) flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances (or regulations), so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,

Colossians 3:11,

…where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. 

See, there is no place in the one body, revealed through the mystery, for a separation between Israel and Gentile.

Whereas the old and new covenants are the subject of prophecy to fulfill God’s promise of blessing through Israel, the fellowship of the mystery was not revealed in any promise from God since the world began.

Romans 16:25,

Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began 

The fellowship of the mystery is not the fulfillment of any covenant, prophecy, or promise given to Israel. The dispensation of grace was hid in God until revealed to the apostle Paul for the church today.

Ephesians 3:1 – 2,

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles— if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you…

Ephesians 3:9 – 11,

…and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, </strong

Once the differences between the old covenant, the new covenant, and the fellowship of the mystery are understood, then the riches of God’s grace according to the revelation of the mystery will be better valued.

Grace and faith were always necessary to receive blessings from God, but today, through the fellowship of the mystery, grace stands alone without Israel, the law, or covenants. This is the way God blesses the world today.

Today , in the body of Christ, in this dispensation of grace that has temporarily interrupted the great timeline of prophecy, Grace stands alone because of the differences between the old and new covenants and this fellowship of the mystery of Christ.

What Is The Mystery

What Is “The Fellowship of the Mystery”? – Part 1

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In this episode we look at one of the most important doctrines in the Bible for us the Body of Christ, the church, today.
The Apostle Paul talks throughout his 13 epistles about something called the Fellowship of the Mystery.
Since Paul was given the position of Apostle to the Gentiles by Jesus Christ Himself and because the 13 epistles he wrote are the instructions and the doctrine for the church today, we need to know what this Fellowship of the Mystery is.

Adapted from various teaching material from Grace Ambassadors.

“Speed Slider”

Summary of Israel’s History

Click or press image to enlarge it

Timeline of Israels History

 

What is the Fellowship of the Mystery? Part 1 – Transcript

In this episode we look at one of the most important doctrines in the Bible for us the Body of Christ, the church, today.

The Apostle Paul talks throughout his 13 epistles about something called the Fellowship of the Mystery.

Since Paul was given the position of Apostle to the Gentiles by Jesus Christ Himself and because the 13 epistles he wrote are the instructions and the doctrine for the church today, we need to know what this Fellowship of the Mystery is.

Although this mystery is spoken of often by Paul it’s easy to just gloss over it without really paying much attention to it.

But if we’re to know where our position in Christ is today, not in times past or times future, but today, we need to understand what Paul is clearly teaching. We need to know what it is, how it came into being and what it means for you and me today.

The natural place to begin to understand what Paul’s teaching is to look at the verses in the Bible where this mystery is presented to us.

We’re going to take these verses in the order that the epistles of Paul appear in our Bibles, realising that this is not the chronological order in which the epistles were written.

Romans 11:25,

For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 

Romans 16 verses 25 and 26,

Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith—

1st Corinthians 2 verses 6 and 7,

However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory,

1st Corinthians 15:51,

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

Ephesians 1 verses 7 to 9,

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,

Ephesians 3 verses 1 to 5,

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles— 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 made known to me 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:

Ephesians 3 verse 9,

and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 6 verses 18 and 19,

praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel,

Colossians 1 verses 25 and 26,

of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.

Colossians 1:27,

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.

Colossians 2 verses 2 and 3,

that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Colossians 4:3,

meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains,

1st Timothy 3:9,

holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience.

There are other passages where Pauls refers to the mystery as well but some of these are, if could put it like this mystery within the mystery, so we’ve not included them.

Mystery! How come a mystery? How come God kept it a secret from the foundation of the world? Why was it revealed at that time to the apostle Paul?

What is it? Is it important that we, the church, the Body of Christ know this today?

These are questions we hope to satisfactorily answer.

We’ll make a bold claim here that without understanding this mystery, now revealed, our attempts to understand the Bible, particularly that which relates to us today, and the coming events of the end times, will be confusing and leave us with more questions than answers.

Let’s start by understanding that although this mystery was kept secret by God from the foundation of the world, the vast majority of God’s revealed Word, The Bible, was not kept secret.

In fact, one of the many ways, we can be sure that our Bible is the Word of God, that it was inspired by Him, is through hundreds of prophecies that were given by God long before the events actually happened, in some cases, centuries and even thousands of years before they were perfectly fulfilled.

This shows that that author was from outside of our time dimension.

Prophecy is the major portion of the Bible, and it was God revealing His plan and His will to mankind over time. He spoke through many prophets, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and these prophets wrote all these prophecies down.

So, in these prophecies God has told man about His plan and His will.

  • He would send a Saviour Who would willingly pay for the price for the sin of Adam and, by His death and His spilled blood, would take away the sins of the world.
  • He would create a special nation, separated from the rest of the world for His own purposes. That nation is Israel.
  • He told us how that nation, Israel, would continually reject Him and go their own way and how they would pay a very heavy price when they did, but how when they did do God’s will, He would bless and prosper them. As a result of their rejection, they would be enslaved and be taken captive by other nations, but that God would deliver them.
  • He told us how that nation would be a nation of priests to where the other nations of the world would come to learn of God and His ways.
  • He told how He would send a Messiah, The Saviour, to Israel through Whom they could be saved, and He told us that the Saviour would die and how the nation would reject Him and the salvation He bought.
  • He told us about a great and glorious Kingdom that would come to earth and be the inheritance of His separated nation and how this Messiah, this King would rule this kingdom for 1000 years.
  • He told us about a terrible period of time that would come upon the earth before the setting up of this glorious kingdom, where God would pour out His wrath on all the unrighteous and all the unbelievers on earth. This would happen because no unrighteous or unbelieving person could ever enter this earthly kingdom.
  • He told us how through this terrible period, a remnant of His beloved nation of Israel would finally turn from their rejection of the Messiah and accept Him.
  • He told us how the earth would be restored after that awful period of tribulation.
  • He told us about the end of sin on earth permanently.
  • He told us about a final judgement where every person who ever lived will be judged and how every person who had not trusted in the way He Had made whereby man could become righteous, at an awesome cost to Himself, would be judged to eternal damnation.
  • He told us that the current heaven and earth would pass away, and a new heaven and a new earth would replace them and how a magnificent city, called the New Jerusalem, would come down from heaven and from there God would dwell and His King, the Messiah would rule for ever and sin, death tears and sorrow would never be again.

All of this and much, much more was revealed to mankind through the prophets.

But what was never revealed to mankind, what was kept secret by God, since before the foundation of the world, told to no man, was this mystery that was finally revealed to mankind by Jesus Christ Himself to the apostle Paul.

At the same time this mystery was revealed to Paul he was given a ministry to preach this mystery to mankind both Jew and Gentile. But his main ministry was preaching it to the Gentiles.

So, the difference with this mystery revealed to Paul, is that completely opposite to prophecy, which was God revealing His plans and His will to mankind, this mystery was not revealed. It was kept secret by God until Christ revealed it to Paul.

There’s one more foundation that we’re going to need to firmly stand on as we look at these things.

That foundation is the knowledge that God deals with different people, in different ways, in different ages.

Hebrews 1 verses 1 and 2 tell us,

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.

See God at one time, in the past, spoke through the prophets. However, in the last days He’s spoken by His son. See different methods of speaking to people at different times.

Common sense tells us that although God instructed Noah to build an ark, He’s not instructing you and I to do that today.

Likewise, God, in a test of faith, instructed Abraham to offer his beloved only son as a sacrifice. Are we to do that as a test of faith today?

All through the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John we see Jesus Christ coming to the nation of Israel, proving He was the long-promised Messiah by fulfilling prophecy to the letter and yet we see enormous contrasts in what Jesus taught to Israel and how we, the modern-day church, live today.

So, it’s of the highest importance that we recognise that there are differences in the way God deals with mankind through the ages, and we need to know what God’s doing today so that we can understand what he requires of us today.

It’s also important to realise that God Himself never changes, scripture tells us that, but the way he deals with mankind does.

Although the Bible shows us clearly how God dealt with man down through the ages, we cannot try and select things that God did in the past, or will do in the future, and relate them to us today.  It’s vital for us to know what God’s doing today! If we don’t, if we try and mix these ways that God’s dealt with mankind so that we apply bits of what God’s done in the past, with bits He’s going to do in the future and then try and understand what’s happening today, we’re opening ourselves up for a heap of confusion, a mish mash of bits and pieces that don’t fit.

In order to guard against this confusion, we must understand the whole story, the whole plan of God, in order to understand our place today in that plan.

Scripture bears this out 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.

And we’re instructed to understand scripture. In 2nd Timothy 2:15 we read,

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.

Notice the emphasis on “rightly dividing” the Word of truth?

See we’re to understand these division between how God worked with man in the past, how He’s dealing with man today and how He will deal with man in the future, and those big differences are vital to you and me if we’re to know God and His purpose for us.

One word of warning!

As these differences become more and more familiar we can easily find ourselves questioning traditional church teachings and doctrines, many of which are passed down and distributed as truth without any real questions being asked.

Often they’re the product of misunderstandings about context and the reliance on single, or limited, passages of scripture that tend to become regarded as doctrine.

When we ask ourselves simple questions like who is speaking, who are they speaking to, and what is the age or dispensation they’re living in and referring to, we can see these passages in an entirely different light.

One other thing we must keep in mind is that the vast majority of the Bible is written to and about Israel, God’s separated nation, not us Gentiles.

We mustn’t try and put ourselves, as the church today, in place of Israel.

That’s not only wrong but dangerous as it’ll completely hide the truth of God’s plan and our part in it.

Israel is the key focus of the Bible even though, as we’ll see, Israel is in a fallen state in this day we’re living in now.

So, to understand this “Fellowship of the Mystery” we need to go back in time to past ages, past dispensations and understand how and why this nation of Israel has such a huge influence on what’s happening to us today.

Let’s look at some terms that relate to these past ages so when they appear we know what they mean.

These terms are parts of God’s program through the ages.

We have the promises, the Covenants and the law.

Understanding the promises, the covenants, and the law, all given to the nation Israel, is another key to understanding this mystery.

The Promises.

When we talk about the promises we’re talking about both unconditional and conditional promises that God made the nation of Israel.

We see that in Genesis chapter 12 and God’s unconditional promises to Abram who would later be Abraham. Then in Exodus chapter 19 we see the conditional promises made to the nation of Israel which had grown from Abraham.

The Law

This is the mosaic law, the law given to Israel, by God Himself, through Moses. The 10 commandments were just a sort of table of contents because there’re 613 laws.

We see the start of these laws in Exodus 20 and the details throughout Deuteronomy and many come from the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh.

The Covenants.

The covenants are agreements that God made with the nation of Israel. There were two. The Old covenant, and the New Covenant.

The Old Covenant, which Israel did not, and could not keep their part of, relied on them keeping the law that God had given to them through Moses.

The New Covenant that God made with Israel was that, at the correct time, He would put His laws into their hearts and into their minds so they would do what God required of them as a natural instinct.

There’d be no need for them to be taught the things of God because they’d all know Him and His ways in their hearts and minds.

We see the old covenant in Exodus 20 and the New Covenant prophesied by Jeremaiah in Jeremaiah 31:31 and confirmed in Hebrews 8:10.

Then, last but certainly not least, we need to understand a person. The promises, the law and the covenants along with everything else in the Bible revolves around a hub and that hub is a person.

We’re talking, of course about The Lord, Jesus Christ.

He’s a part, a member of the Godhead, the triune God, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

He was the Word of God Who was in the beginning with God, and was God.

All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

The Word became flesh in the town of Bethlehem some 2000 years ago, born of flesh through the body of a virgin, human woman. Born apart from the seed of Adam which carried the sin nature from person to person, every person who’d ever been born, except this One. The seed of this person was not from man but from God, making Him fully God and fully man both at the same time.

He was given the name Jesus, according to prophecy, which means saviour.

Jesus came to His own, to the nation of Israel, as the long-prophesied Messiah who would save Israel, though Israel did not receive Him. They rejected Him and crucified Him, all according to prophecy.

He came to Israel in the flesh to fulfill prophecy. We see this in Matthew 5 verse 17 and 18, Jesus Himself speaking,

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

For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.

Then we see in Matthew 15:24 Jesus speaking to the Syrophoenician woman,

But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

The prophecies and the prophetic dates that were given through prophets like Daniel made certain that there was no puzzle about this coming Messiah or the time He was due.

The nation should have known and there was no excuse for them.

But we’re jumping ahead of the story.

What exactly happened to Israel? Let’s look at a brief history.

Below this broadcast list is a timeline showing this history to make it easy to follow.

From the creation we see mankind continually rejecting God, and outliving the sin which is in every person’s heart, inherited from the fallen first humans. We see that sin and wickedness get so bad that God wipes out the population of the earth except for eight people, Noah and his family. As Noah and His family repopulate the earth we see that population continue in evil and disobedience to God and His plan through the account of the Tower of Babel at which point God disperses the population by separating their language, forcing them to spread over the earth.

But then we get to a man named Abram, whose name would be later changed by God to Abraham, and wife Sarai whose name would also be changed to Sarah.

God chooses this man to make a promise to and we see that in Genesis 12 verses 1 to 3,

Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house To a land that I will show you. 

I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 

I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

God has promised that a great nation would emerge from this man and that this nation would be a blessing to all the earth. That promise was passed on to Abraham’s son Isaac and then to Isaac’s son Jacob.

Jacob’s name was changed to Israel, and he had the 12 sons that would become the 12 tribes of the nation of Israel.

One of those 12 sons, Joseph, was despised by the other brothers who were jealous of him, and the brothers sold him into slavery and told their father Jacob, Israel, that he’d been killed by a wild animal.

However, Joseph, through one of the most amazing life journeys ever, becomes a ruler in Egypt where he’d become a slave.

In a background of high drama, which can be found in Genesis chapters 37 to 50, there came a great worldwide famine which ended up with this fledging tribe of Israel, 70 people at this stage, coming to Egypt for food and through Joseph, who bought them to live in Egypt, they survived as a nation.

In Genesis chapter 15 God tells Abraham that this would all happen.

Let’s look at Genesis chapter 15 verse 13 and 14,

Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. 

And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions.

That happens. The nation of Israel goes into Egypt and as they’re in Egypt they increase greatly and the Egyptians fear that they may grow to be more powerful than them, so they put them into harsh slavery.

God hears their cries for deliverance from this slavery and raises up a person who would lead them out of captivity, Moses.

In Exodus 12 verses 35 and 36,

Now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. 

And the LORD had given the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus, they plundered the Egyptians. 

It was God’s way of simply collecting back wages for their years of slave labour in Egypt. The Egyptians owed the Israelites so much in back wages that the children of Israel plundered them and left with much of Egypt’s wealth.

Then we go down to Exodus 12:41,

And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years—on that very same day—it came to pass that all the armies of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. 

They go from Egypt into the Wilderness where they got God’s law. The fathers weren’t perfect people, and we can read a lot about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’s failures in life, but the nation also learned all sorts of incorrect customs while in Egypt. They served other gods and as they came out they had to get rid of those idols and things.

So, God gave them a law.

And what did they do? Moses goes up to Mount Sinai to receive the law and the very first thing the nation does is build a golden calf, an obscene idol.

It’s the same as the story of the Earth. From the beginning sin entered by one man Adam, ruining the thing that God had created.

Now, God has created this special nation, and their fall begins right away. They start a history of tripping and falling that continues to this day.

Now out of Egypt, it’s God’s intention for them to go in and possess the land that He’d given them through His promise to Abraham.

When they get there, probably after a few weeks, they’re too afraid to go in. They’re afraid of the people who’re in the land at the time.

What they’re really saying is, “We can’t trust God to give us our land, we don’t believe His promise.”

So, God punishes them and says, “Well you’re going to wander in the wilderness until all of this current generation are dead.”

After forty years wandering in that wilderness, they finally get into their promised land, led by the only two people of that unbelieving generation who did believe, Joshua and Caleb.

As usual, they mess up very quickly. God tells them to get rid of the native peoples and they don’t, and so those people remain and cause them problems for the rest of their history.

Then, as soon as God’s man, Joshua dies the nation of Israel disobeys God.

They followed God’s statutes while Joshua was alive and as soon as he died they chucked out those statutes.

In the law that they were given God clearly told them what He would do when they disobeyed

and what they He would do when they obeyed that law.

However, its vital to point out what Paul makes clear in Galatians chapter 3 verse 16 to 18 and we read,

Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “AND TO YOUR SEED,” who is Christ. 

And this I say that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. 

For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise. 

What Paul’s saying is that the requirement for Israel to be obedient came with the law. However, the promise to Abraham was made 430 years before the law was even given. This means that the promise of the land made to Abraham was not annulled or cancelled out by the nation’s disobedience to the law.

Let’s move to Judges now and look at Judges chapter 2 verse 14 and 15,

And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel. So, He delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. 

Wherever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for calamity, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed. 

The Lord raised up these judges which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. Let’s keep reading in verses 17 to 19,

Yet they would not listen to their judges, but they played the harlot with other gods, and bowed down to them. They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked, in obeying the commandments of the LORD; they did not do so. 

And when the LORD raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed them and harassed them. 

And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they reverted and behaved more corruptly than their fathers, by following other gods, to serve them and bow down to them. They did not cease from their own doings nor from their stubborn way.

This is the continuing story of Israel. They didn’t just fall at the end; they were tripping up all along the path of their history.

Israel gets to a point that God said in the law that they would, they look around at the other nations and decide that what they need a king, a man to lead them.

That was wrong because God was their King, and they should have been looking to God for their leadership. However, God then began appointing them Kings and it’s in this time period of the Kings where they get punished some more because their Kings aren’t good.

They end up messing up yet again and God, according to the law, punishes them.

Now let’s look at 2 Samuel chapter 7 and a very important promise that God makes to King David, a man of whom God said was quote, “A man after my own heart”,

“When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 

He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 

Here’s a prophecy talking about the Kingdom of Israel being forever.

God will eventually raise the Kingdom of Israel regardless of how they mess up and fall, and, of course, they did mess up.

David had issues with BethSheba, and his son Solomon had issues with his 700 wives and 300 concubines.

We just saw David getting promised the throne in the Kingdom forever, but still, it didn’t take long before the problems of the nation continued and compounded.

In 1 Kings 11 starting verse 9 to 13 we see,

So, the LORD became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the LORD God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the LORD had commanded. 

Therefore, the LORD said to Solomon, “Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. 

Nevertheless, I will not do it in your days, for the sake of your father David; I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 

However, I will not tear away the whole kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”

After King Solomon’s death his two son’s Jeroboam and Rehoboam (who was Solomon’s rightful successor) cause a civil war in Israel resulting in the nation being split in two.

Israel split into the 10 kingdoms referred to as Ephraim or the house of Israel in the north of the land and only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained loyal to Rehoboam in the new kingdom of Judah in the south.

We read about it earlier when God was telling Solomon what was going to happen for his disobedience.

Jeroboam the first king to the 10 tribes, didn’t want those tribes returning to Jerusalem so he set up his own Temple and he set up his own idols, calves made of silver and gold, just like they did in the wilderness.

After this split in the time of the Kings, Hosea prophesied. This is when there’s still a nation, so Israel’s not fallen at this time but they’re making mistakes.

In the future, when Israel goes again into captivity, other nations came in and lived in that area and the Samaritans, who we hear a lot about in the Bible are a mixture of those peoples.

This was in the northern part of the promised land that God had given the nation, and the Samaritans originated there.

In 2nd Kings chapter 17 verse 24 we read,

Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its cities. 

Then in 22nd Kings 17:29,

However, every nation continued to make gods of its own, and put them in the shrines on the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities where they dwelt. 

The idolatry and spiritual adultery were almost universal.

As the nation of Israel continued to disobey God He did what he said in the law. The punishment for that disobedience was that they were taken out of the land.

This is the period of captivity that Hosea is prophesying about. He’s says you lot are going to get punished and the kingdom is going to end, and you’ll be carried away to Egypt and to Assyria and you won’t live here anymore in your promised land.

Well, after this split occurs, they keep messing up, and eventually they fall into captivity.

The prophet Jeremiah prophesied that after the 70th year of their captivity, Israel would return back to the land.

This happens during the rule of Cyrus who, despite not being a follower of the God of the Bible, played a pivotal role in God’s plan for His people.

He decrees that they should go back to their land.

This is the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, or the nation of Judah and it’s to Jerusalem to where they’re returning.

The prophet Daniel reads the book of the prophet Jeremiah and in Daniel chapter 9 verse 2 we read,

in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. 

Go to Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 10 and 11,

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. 

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

We clearly see in Jeremiah that Daniel is speaking of the 70 years of punishment that God gave the nation of Judah for their sins and disobedience of the Covenant.

It talks about their return to that land.

Take a look at Jeremiah 25 verse 11 and 12,

And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

‘Then it will come to pass, when seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,’ says the LORD; ‘and I will make it a perpetual desolation.

Then, Cyrus, king of Persia, (the Persians had by now conquered Babylon), issues a decree and sends those from the nation back to rebuild the city of Jerusalem in the land of Judah and to rebuild the temple.

That’s described in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, which detail the actual people. It even gives a list their names and how many there were that returned to Judah and Jerusalem and how they rebuilt the wall and then rebuilt the temple.

After that there’s nothing that God says to this nation any longer.

He’s punished them with captivity away from their promised land and then some of them returned to Jerusalem and Judah.

Then God is silent.

Then one day a prophet named John the Baptist came along.

His appearance is prophesied about in the book of Malachi, the last prophetic book in the so-called Old Testament.

Look at Malachi 3 verse 1,

“Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” Says the LORD of hosts. 

We also see this in Isaiah 40 verse 3,

The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the LORD; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God. 

In Mark chapter 1 verse 2 we read,

As it is written in the Prophets: “BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER BEFORE YOUR FACE, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY BEFORE YOU.” 

“THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS: ‘PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD; MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT.'” 

It’s here that God begins to speak to the nation of Israel again.

God spoke to the fathers previously and gave the nation prophets and here’s John, another prophet, and then God Himself comes to the nation in the form of humanity.

What did Israel do in that time?

They did what they’d done since the beginning of their history. They disobeyed God. They didn’t do what He said.

Jesus, who was God Himself came and they rejected him. They nailed him to a cross and crucified him. They rejected the kingdom that he preached was coming. This was their promised kingdom which now The Lord Himself was there to bring to fulfillment.

They rejected Christ Himself and they rejected the Apostles Christ sent to herald the coming kingdom.

Let’s look at that in Matthew 21 verses 42 and 43 where Jesus is telling his disciples what’s going to happen,

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED HAS BECOME THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE. THIS WAS THE LORD’S DOING, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES’?

“Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. 

And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”  

That stone is Jesus. Jesus is also referred to by Paul as The Stumbling Stone or what Israel tripped over and we read that in Romans chapters 9, 10, and 11 where Israel failed to receive that Kingdom because of their disobedience.

Their disobedience continued even after God punished them and sent them out of their land.

They continue to reject God.

Look at Matthew chapter 16 verse 15 to 18 where Jesus talks about how he would be rejected. He’d already asked the disciples, “Who do men say I am.” and they answered telling Him that some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.,

He (Jesus) said to them (the disciples), “But who do you say that I am?” 

Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 

Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 

And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 

Here we see a play on words by Jesus. Peter means rock and “on this rock” Jesus says. On Peter did He mean?

No! Don’t fall into the Catholic trap. This is not the rock of Peter! The rock is who? Jesus!

The nation of Israel rejected that Cornerstone which became the chief Stone.

Jesus is talking about Himself, Who He is, and it’s upon believing Who He is that He’s going to build his church and the Gates of Hell will not Prevail against it.

Of course, true to form, the nation of Israel rejected that stone. They stumbled over that stone which was Jesus.

They didn’t have faith in God and all God had promised but instead they sought to establish their own righteousness through the works of the law.

This is, in fact, has the opposite result, proving them unrighteous through their lack of faith in Who Jesus was, The Messiah.

Right back into the dawn of mankind faith in what God had said was accounted to man as righteousness as we see in Romans 4 verse 3,

For what does the Scripture say? “ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS ACCOUNTED TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

So, the nation rejects Jesus and crucifies Him, and His Apostles preach at Pentecost that thank God He was resurrected. He rose again from the dead and lives.

There’s still hope for our kingdom they say, just repent, or turn from your rejection of God.

The apostles continue to preach that message until we get to the stoning of Stephen in Acts chapter 7.

It’s at this time that the nation falls for the final time. They’ve rejected the prophets which the Father sent, they rejected the Son and now they’re rejecting the Holy Spirit, who the apostles at Pentecost were preaching under the influence of. Jesus Himself said there’s no forgiveness for that rejection or blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.

In God’s great prophetic timeline, what should have happened was that Israel would receive their Messiah with overwhelming joy and then, after a short but horrific time of tribulation, where God would pour out His wrath on all unbelievers and all those that had rejected the Messiah, the promised kingdom would be set up on earth and Christ would rule over that kingdom from Jerusalem and from King David’s throne, again in full accordance with prophecy.

In the next episode, part 2 of What is the Fellowship of the Mystery, we’ll see what did happen and we’ll see why this brief summary of the rise and fall of Israel was key to our understanding of that Mystery.