Matthew 24 Introduction Continued

We saw last time how this period we call the Mystery came. It came by revelation of Christ through the Apostle Paul.

We also saw why it came. God was doing something in the past when He gave the law, the covenant promises, to Israel and promised that they would be a great nation if they kept those laws. They didn’t.

Then He prophesied to Israel that He would give them a new covenant where His laws would be written on their hearts and in their minds and He would send a Messiah, a King to set up a kingdom on earth, a King who would be sacrificed for sin. Israel rejected the Christ, The Messiah. They rejected what He did, and they rejected the Holy Spirit.

Israel fell as a result.

What should have happened was the coming of the Messiah, who Israel would accept, believe, and follow, Judgment of the world, then the Kingdom with the Messiah as it’s King, ruling from mount Zion on David’s throne.

None of that happened and instead this mystery period is revealed, the dispensation of grace.

Why? Because Israel rejected the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Of course, God foreknew this, and His eternal plan factored it in, but He didn’t reveal it through prophecy.

So, we see why and how this mystery was given and we saw that it was given to the Gentiles, along with individual Jews who would believe, but we didn’t see what it actually is.

 

Now, there’s a huge amount of doctrine in Paul’s epistles that tells us what the mystery is but we’re going to simplify it for the sake of this study.

A common viewpoint, largely because of the similarities that we saw last time between the New Covenant and the mystery, is that the mystery IS the New Covenant. But to accept that is to look only at these similarities and fail to look at what makes them completely distinct.

It’s like saying that all cars are the same because they have wheels and an engine. Well, a Ford has wheels and an engine, so does a Toyota, but they’re not the same. It’s what’s distinct about them that identifies them.

 

The new covenant required Christ and His shed blood and a belief in Who He was and what He did.

It required the Holy Spirit to come, and it required Grace and Faith and as a result of those things salvation would come. All the same things in both the New Covenant and this period we call the mystery.

But what is it that makes this mystery period different?

What is the Fellowship of the Mystery and the unsearchable riches of Christ that Paul says he’s to make all men see according to Ephesians 3:8-9,

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; 

 

The word Fellowship can be defined as a partnership, a joint interest or to jointly participate in something. It’s a connection, a communion or a group knitted together.

Paul explains this in Ephesians 2-13. In chapter 3 of Ephesians, Paul refers to, quote, “that which I spoke to you in a few words”. Well, he wrote two whole chapters to help us with that.

Before verse 13, in Ephesians 2:11-12, Paul describes the old relationship between Jew and Gentile.

He says, “In time past we were Gentiles in the flesh, who were called uncircumcision by the circumcision.” The circumcision is the Jews. He says, “at that time we were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise,” notice covenants plural, all the covenants God made with Israel, “and having no hope and without God in the world.”

But then verse 13 says,

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 

 

See the word “in”? It’s vital. In Christ Jesus! This is the fellowship we have. We are made close. Made close to Who? To God!

In times past Israel had a special place with God. They had access. They were close to Him through the promises, the covenants. The Gentiles were much further away. If a Gentile wished to relate to God, they did it through Israel as we see in King Solomons day when nations came to Jerusalem to learn of God.

Same in Exodus in Egypt when Israel painted the blood of the innocent lamb on their door lentils to protect them against the death angel, any Egyptian could be saved by going into a believing Jewish house.

 

Then in Ephesians 2:14,

For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation.

This is the separating wall between the Gentile and Israel that was actually a wall between the Gentiles and God. See, it was God that Israel represented. Nobody went to the temple because Israel had a great religion, they went because God was there, in the Holy of Holies.

Today, It’s just as if God took Himself out of the temple and said, “You don’t need that anymore, all can come to me direct.” And, of course that’s precisely what He did.

We go on in verse 15,

having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two,

One new man!

He didn’t say one new covenant or one new testament. That was delivered to Israel before He died. This One New Man is a consequence, a result of His death.

We read on again in verse 16,

thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 

 

Notice here, by the way it was through the cross, not at the cross. See AT the cross, nobody new this. It was through, or by the cross that this was made possible to all men.

So, now we’re getting somewhere. The fellowship is the Body, the Body of Christ.

Now, some people say, “Well, people were in Christ before Paul?”

Romans 16:7, Paul speaking,

Greet Andronicus and Junia, my countrymen and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.

Then in John 15:5 Jesus’ speaking,

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

A number of verses In Isaiah speak of Israel being in the Lord such as Isaiah 45:24,

…Surely in the LORD I have righteousness and strength. 

And Isaiah 45:25,

In the LORD all the descendants of Israel Shall be justified, and shall glory.

So, being quote “in Christ” is not a mystery. In fact, it’s necessary for all salvation.

Well, how then are we in Christ in this mystery that’s different from prophecy?

What defines this relationship with Christ, this fellowship with Him?

Is it by saying, “I just love Jesus so much?” No, we’re a new creation, we’re members of the Body of Christ.

Ephesians 4:14-15,

but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. 

 

See, today God’s preparing a body!

The Fellowship of the Mystery is our relationship with Christ in His Body.

This was never given in prophecy! Nowhere else in the Bible is this Fellowship described.

There’s covenants, there’s kingdoms, there’s grace and faith and salvation, but not this!

Gods making a spiritual fellowship today called the body of Christ. He already came in His own body and sacrificed it unto death. But now, this is a new man, a new creature, a spiritual Body of which Christ Himself is the Head and we, each one of us that’s saved, are all members, AND, that body is made up of Jew and Gentile, male and female, ALL who will believe in the Gospel of Grace which is 1 Corinthians 15:1-4,

Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 

 

We not only have relationship with God through our membership of the Body of Christ but with every other member, each other!

Ephesians 4:25,

Therefore, putting away lying, “LET EACH ONE OF YOU SPEAK TRUTH WITH HIS NEIGHBOR,” for we are members of one another.

Putting away lying is not the law! We put a way lying because we’re members of one another.

Romans 12:4-5,

For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.

 

The benefits of the membership of the Fellowship is a much longer list than we can delve into here, but it’s important to know that the benefits are not just good things for us to have, they’re totally necessary for salvation and eternal life. There’s no other way!

 

It’s not that we’re just partakers in the things that were promised to Israel.

See Christ was covenanted and promised to Israel, so was the Holy Spirit. So was Grace, Faith, and Salvation. Jesus said in John 4:22 that Salvation is of the Jews.

Do we have forgiveness of sins, which was promised to Israel? Yes of course!

All these things were promised to Israel.

Do we have them today under this dispensation? Yes. We’re partakers of Israel’s promises and thank God for that. If Israel as a nation had been able to keep the old covenant there’d have been no need for a New Covenant and no need of the Mystery age of grace.

Gentiles would come to know God through Israel, the nation of priests.

But God new they couldn’t keep the Old Covenant.

He knew that the only way He could bring individuals to Himself, which was His great desire, was through this body, this fellowship of the Body of Christ.

The national Israel today is still waiting for the promises of the new Covenant which are yet future whereas we have them right now, in Christ. The Holy Spirit and Salvation are ours now.

In Romans 5:11, Pauls says,

And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation (or the atonement, as the King James says). 

Atonement is for us in the Body of Christ is NOW!

We’re not waiting for the future day of atonement when Christ will return and bring remission of sins and redemption and reconciliation to the earth and to the nation of Israel as all the prophets said and as Jesus taught during His ministry on earth. We have it now! In fact, in Romans 5 the phrase “much more” is used to explain what we have. It’s much more. We have things that were never given to Israel.

The New Covenant is how national Israel will be saved in the future and it won’t fail.

 

Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 1:18,

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

 

We need to be aware that this verse in the New King James version, that we’re reading from here, has been changed from the original translation in the King James.

The New King James has “being” saved, but the King James has “saved” and there’s a difference.

Being saved infers an ongoing process, just like the new covenant where they’re waiting for salvation to come, but saved, as it’s meant to be, means we were saved totally and fully. It was completed with Jesus’ death on the cross.

 

We see in this verse that the preaching of the cross is the power of God to salvation, the gospel of the grace of God.

The benefits are that we get salvation now, we get forgiveness now, we get redemption now, we get reconciled in the Body of Christ now with God and with each other. We have a communion with God that goes right down to the spirit, the heart, we know how to deal with each other’s sins.

See one way to handle sin is to create a nation of priests that just don’t do sin. That’s Israel in the future, but how do you get salvation, forgiveness, redemption, reconciliation, and communion with each other while we were yet sinners?

Romans 5:8,

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

That’s part of the riches that we have because of what Christ did.

Colossians 2:10 shows another of these riches we have,

and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. 

This is big because it flies in the face of religion, and even Christian religion that tries to make us move toward a state of we might say, a better person, based on our feelings of incompleteness and unworthiness.

It’s a sort of pseudo works doctrine. Pray more, give more, study more, go to church more, all good things, but if used to try and become more complete, useless! We don’t need outward signs to prove we’re complete in Him. There’s a misunderstanding of the completed work of Christ and how, if we’re in His body, we’re already complete in Him.

We don’t do these things to become more complete we do them because we are complete and they’re a natural desire.

So, completeness is a benefit, one of the riches we have in Him, in His Body. There’s nothing we need to have done, nothing more we need to do!

Now this is dependent on two things. First look at the previous verse, Colossians 2 verse 9,

For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 

It’s dependant on Who Christ is. If He’s not the fulness of the Godhead bodily we cannot be complete in Him. We can only be complete in God through Christ.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John show us that without a doubt that Jesus is the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

 

Next, we must be “In Him”.

The next verse Colossians 2:11 says,

In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,

Verse 12, we’re buried with Him.

Verse 13, we’re made alive, quickened, in Him.

Verse 14, the charges against us were cancelled, nailed to the cross with Him.

Romans 5:1, we have peace with God through this fellowship.

Ephesians 1:3 we’re blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

The benefits go on and on.

See it’s through our connection with Him in this Fellowship of being in the Body that we reap these benefits. We’re not in the body, no benefits, no riches.

Romans 6:3 says,

Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized (or immersed) into Christ Jesus were baptized (again immersed) into His death? 

We’re immersed into His death. Is that a benefit? Yes, if we have the promise of resurrection.

Everyone will die but only those in the Body of Christ will be resurrected. And if we’re baptised into His death, it means we’re no longer accountable for sin to God because He died for those sins, paying the wages for those sins, which is death and we died with Him.

He was raised from the dead and like Him, we Have eternal life.

In all this our fellowship, our connection with God is complete because of what He did and not anything we did or could possibly do.

Now let’s go to Romans 5:1-2,

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 

Justified by faith? Faith alone? Yes!

We don’t work the works of the law or go through elaborate rituals or traditions.

Justification by faith! Justification means to render righteous, to show, exhibit, one to be righteous. To declare, pronounce, one to be just, righteous.

It’s not an act of our will, where we’re trying to convince ourselves, “I believe” such as “I believe I can fly”.

No, it’s faith that comes from hearing God’s Word, God’s Word about how Jesus, The Word of God, took on flesh and lived among us and died according to the scriptures, was buried, and rose again the third day according to scripture.

The sacrifice of a perfectly righteous, perfectly innocent man sent specifically for this purpose, to save. To give eternal life to all who’ll receive it.

 

How could it ever be possible for any to be righteous any other way other than believing in the completed work on the cross? Answer, it’s not!

When we’re in His body, His righteousness is now ours! His death was our death. His burial our burial, and His resurrection from the dead is our resurrection from the dead. Outside this fellowship nothing of this is possible.

Really, this fellowship of us in His Body is too fantastic for words!

 

We should be able to see by all this that if we have all these things now why do we need a covenant?

Well, we don’t!

The covenants are for a different group of people in a different time, not in this mystery period, the dispensation of grace.

All we wait for is when we cast off this mortal body, when we drop dead. And then we’ll redeem that which we’ve already been given, a glorified or a quickened, made alive with Him, body in heavenly places.

Ephesians 2:4-7,

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 

We’ll be changed in the twinkling of an eye, a speed too fast to explain in natural terms,

1 Corinthians 15:51-54,

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, 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. 

So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written (quoting from Isaiah 25:8: “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY.” 

This is that event we know of as the catching up of the church. The Rapture.

What will we be changed to?

The Bible doesn’t give specific details, probably because it’s something far beyond our current natural ability to understand. We only know that this body will be quickened, or made alive with Him, and corruption will put on incorruption. The mortal will put on immortality and frankly that’s more than enough to look forward to for me.

 

So now, hopefully by defining these divisions in the Bible, especially the division between prophecy, that was made known to all men and this mystery of the dispensation of Grace that was kept secret but is now revealed we can look more clearly at the bible and see who is being referred to and when.

Now we can come to this prophetic time in history, the end times, and we can separate where exactly in these end times does this mystery period, this dispensation of Grace fit in.

 

Let’s change direction now to the end times themselves.

We’ll start in Acts 2:16-17 where the apostle Peter stands up and speaks after the Holy Spirit had come on the day of Pentecost after the Lord Jesus had had died, been resurrected, and ascended into heaven. Let’s read,

But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THE LAST DAYS, SAYS GOD, THAT I WILL POUR OUT OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL FLESH; YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS.

I WILL SHOW WONDERS IN HEAVEN ABOVE AND SIGNS IN THE EARTH BENEATH: BLOOD AND FIRE AND VAPOR OF SMOKE.

THE SUN SHALL BE TURNED INTO DARKNESS, AND THE MOON INTO BLOOD, BEFORE THE COMING OF THE GREAT AND AWESOME DAY OF THE LORD.

Many people see blood moons and eclipses as being signs of the end.

The problem is there’s been hundreds of lunar eclipses or blood moons since Acts 2. As I write this there’s an eclipse in America and the stuff related to it on the internet that try and couple it to some kind of end time sign is beyond ridiculous.

So, what did Peter preach on the day of Pentecost?

That these days, the days they were in at that time, were the last days!

Peter’s quoting from the prophet Joel 2:1 of this prophecy we see what Joel’s prophesying about. We read,

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:

You see Peter was preaching that the Day of the Lord had come. He’s preaching a quote, “Last Days” prophecy. The day of the Lord is the day on which Christ returns at His second coming to wipe out Israel’s enemies and finally set up the Kingdom of Heaven over which He, Christ, will reign.

According to prophecy this was the correct thing to preach.

After the Messiah had been cut off as we see in Daniel chapter 9 in what we know as the seventy weeks prophecy there would be a week, seven years of wrath and judgement on the earth after which God would set up an earthly Kingdom, ruled by the resurrected Messiah, The King.

People have been studying end times over the last 2000 years, ever since Acts 2.

So, what Gospel was Peter preaching in Acts 2? The Gospel of the Kingdom. In Mark 1:14-15 we read,

Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

John the Baptist preached this Gospel as well.

And Peter is also preaching this Gospel here on the day of Pentecost according to prophecy.

Let’s look at Daniel 2 verse 44. This is where Nebuchadnezzar has a dream that Daniel interprets and in that dream The Lord reveals the empires that would rule after Nebuchadnezzar by using a statue with a head of gold, a chest of silver a belly of bronze legs of iron and feet of a mixture of clay and iron.

As a sidebar this of course further shows the geniuses of the Word of God because no man could ever make a prediction of successive world empires like these hundreds of years in advance.

Verse 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.

So, after all these kingdoms have come God, Himself will set up a Kingdom that will last forever. He’ll set it here, on earth.

 

Now let’s see how Joel continues in Joel 3:9-16,

Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war! Wake up the mighty men, Let all the men of war draw near, Let them come up.

Beat your ploughshares into swords And your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’ ”

Assemble and come, all you nations (that’s gentile nations), And gather together all around. Cause Your mighty ones to go down there, O LORD.

“Let the nations be wakened and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. (The Lord’s inviting all these nations to come. He’s going to destroy them!)

Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, go down; For the winepress is full, The vats overflow—For their wickedness is great.”

Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

The sun and moon will grow dark, And the stars will diminish their brightness.

(Now just in case you’re thinking that a blood moon is a sign of the end just pop outside during one and look up. If the stars are still shining, it’s not the time of the end. We read on,)

The LORD also will roar from Zion And utter His voice from Jerusalem; The heavens and earth will shake; But the LORD will be a shelter for His people, And the strength of the children of Israel.

This is pretty graphic stuff. This is the last day events.

Let’s look at Micah 4:1-4,

Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the LORD’s house Shall be established on the top of the mountains And shall be exalted above the hills; And peoples shall flow to it. Many nations shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion the law shall go forth, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

He shall judge between many peoples, And rebuke strong nations afar off; They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war anymore.

So, what we have here is the same thing Joel said, but in reverse! Joel say’s beat your ploughshares into swords, Micah says beat your swords into ploughshares! Then in verse 4,

But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, And no one shall make them afraid; For the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.

So, in Micah we have peace on earth.

Joel’s talking about last days and going to war, while Micah’s talking about last days with peace in the nations.

How do we make sense of this?

Firstly, let’s ask ourselves this.

In these prophecies and passages, from Acts chapter 2 to Daniel chapter 2 to Joel chapter 3 to Micah chapter 4, do we hear anything in any of these passages relating to the last days about the Church, The Body of Christ?

Do we see anything about the Church going to heavenly places and being complete in the Lord through His death, burial, and resurrection?

No, we just don’t! Why?

Because this mystery of the church, the Body of Christ which we are all members of if we’ve believed in salvation through Christ, is not found in prophecy!

Acts is not a prescription for the church today as many think it is.

Peter is speaking to Israel as we clearly see and although the nation has just rejected and crucified the Messiah, they would get another chance to repent and turn to the now dead and resurrected Messiah.

This address by Peter in Acts chapter 2 is before that final rejection and Peter is referring to the end time prophecy of Joel chapter 3 to show all that were listening that this was this long-prophesised day of Christ. It had finally arrived. This is what would have happened if Israel had repented and turned to the Lord. Sadly, it did not.

As a result of Israel’s continued rejection of the Messiah, God puts a hold on the entire prophetic program of the nation Israel, actually the entire world.

He brings a blindness to the nation and changes His timeline by inserting another age into it. In this age salvation will no longer be available through the nation of God’s priests, Israel.

The book of Acts is a transitional book that describes the changes from what actually happened on the day of Pentecost, to Israel’s final rejection through the stoning of Stephen and on through to the change to this new dispensation revealed to Paul.

Incidentally, Paul was not the only one to receive this mystery of this new dispensation but it’s him through who Christ works to bring us these incredible 13 epistles he wrote that explain this dispensation in a way unmatched in human history.

God, of course, knew with His perfect foreknowledge that Israel would reject Him. He wasn’t caught napping!

However, His foreknowledge didn’t stop the chances Israel had to fulfill prophecy and be the nation it was always intended to be and will be some day.

 

Salvation now is offered directly to the Gentiles another way from what was prophesied, through Israel.

That way is this dispensation of grace that we’re talking about, this period of time that was never prophesied but was kept a mystery since the world began but is now revealed by Christ through the apostle Paul.

Individual Jews will be included but not the nation. It will now go into a long period of this blindness, and it’ll be troubled on every side until one day in the future, in this period of tribulation that Matthew 24 tells us about, a remnant of its survivors will finally turn to the Messiah and realise that Jesus was Him all along and that they crucified Him.

At the time period that we’re in with our study of Matthew 24, none of this has happened yet.

The Messiah, Jesus, is still alive and in His earthly ministry. He’s already attracted rejection and criticism from the Jewish leadership, but it hasn’t yet reached the crescendo it soon will.

The events of Matthew 24 are revealed to us through the questions the disciples asked of Jesus in Matthew 24:3 and 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?” 

We’ll leave off until next time. Until then may God give you the patience and will to seek out these things to confirm them for yourselves.