Random Thoughts on the Really Good News

"This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses…the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses…Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead…And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great GRACE was upon them all... I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile...  (Acts 2:32; 3:15; 4:10, 33; Romans 1:16) The message of the Jewish disciples to the Jewish people was the RESURRECTION of "Jesus Christ of Nazareth" . The resurrection of Jesus proved he was their Messiah and Savior. And when they shared that they had witnessed his resurrection - "great GRACE was upon them all" . At first they went ONLY to their fellow Israelites. Then Cornelius, a devout and God-fearing Gentile, had a vision and sent for Peter. Peter told him about the RESURRECTION o...

God’s plan for mankind has always been to save them all. The revelation of that plan, however, did not come to mankind until it was revealed to the Apostle Paul between 33 and 50 AD. Up until then God had only revealed his dealings with regard to his chosen people Israel as shown to Moses and the other Prophets to Israel. What He had planned for Gentiles was a “mystery” . “Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation…which was not made known to people in other generations…This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 3:2-6) Without the revelation of the salvation of Gentiles as well as Jews, the Gentiles had “no hope” and were “without God in the world” only in the sense that they were unaware of God’s plan for them. “That at that time you were without ...

“This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Hebrews 8:10-12) This was written to the Hebrews (Israel) concerning their salvation. In his letter to the Romans Paul affirms that all Israel will be saved but adds: “after the full number of the Gentiles have come in” … “I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written: ‘The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away f...

"I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that it may be with you for the age; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see it or know it, but you know it because it abides with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16-17) Jesus asked the Father to give the Holy Spirit to those Jews who believed that Jesus is the Messiah. It would abide in them, and on Pentecost, 50 days after the resurrection, the gift of this power came and settled on those early Jewish believers… “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place…and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit (the power of God) and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.” (Acts 2:1-4) Those Jews then begin to speak to other Jews who had come from all over the world to celebrate the Jewish Festival of Weeks. By this POWER they spoke in the various languages and told them about Messiah Jesus, his resurrection an...

“Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.” (10:1-2) Who is "them" ?   It is Israel and he tells "them" … “…if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved…” (10:3-5) To this day Israel, as a nation, has not confessed Jesus nor do they believe God raised him from the dead - so they are not saved YET - but Paul tells us that "all" of them will be saved… “I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! ...What then? …a partial hardening has happened to ISRAEL until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so ALL ISRAEL will be saved; just as it is written, the deliverer will come from Zion, he will remove ungodliness from JACOB. This is My covenant WITH THEM, when I take away THEIR sins.” (11:1-27)...

“The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU. So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer…Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us…in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” (Galatians 3:8-14) Christ Jesus not only redeemed Israel from the curse of the Law, but the Gentiles as well (everyone else). And in Christ Jesus the unconditional promises made to Abraham rests on ALL because one day ALL will believe. “It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers. Prescribe and teach these things…EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and...

"The Gospel of the Kingdom" was  preached to Israel until it was blinded for its rejection. That good news is not to be preached again until the time of the second appearing of King Jesus to Israel, when the gospel of the Kingdom will again be preached in all the world to Israel. For the past 1950 years or so it has been "the Gospel (good news) of the Grace of God” (Acts 20:24) that is to be preached to sinners, both of Israel and the Gentile nations. Failure to understand the distinction between the gospel of the Kingdom and the gospel of Grace has caused all of the divisions we see among Christianity. The gospel of grace has nothing to do with the Old and New Covenants between God and Israel. “I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles…For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so ALL ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED;...

“For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not UNDER law but UNDER grace.” (Romans 6:14) I recently posted about how a saint is one who believes what God says in his Word. How does that relate to obedience? And what does Grace have to do with believing God and being obedient to God? It is simpler than you might think. What Paul is saying is that our eternal destiny is no longer dependent on “obedience” to the law, but is solely dependent on the “grace” of God. ALL mankind is UNDER the umbrella of God’s GRACE, not UNDER the condemnation of the LAW. And when we are obedient to BELIEVE what God says…we are designated saints. And what does God tell us about salvation, justification and reconciliation? That it was all secured by Jesus Christ on our behalf purely and solely by His merciful love and grace. AS FOR ISRAEL:  "For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and ...