By Whom Ye Have Received Grace And Apostleship For Obedience To The Faith Among All Nations For His Name -- Part 1925

" ... that ye should not be ignorant of this mystery lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.” " (Romans 11:25; I Thessalonians 4:13)

Right from the beginning, the Lord has never wanted His people to be ignorant in the things concerning the heavenly. In fact, numerous times, the Lord has referred to His people as being destroyed for lack of knowledge. (Hosea 4:6) And on the new testament side, the scriptures note a time of such ignorance that God even winked. But as the scripture also saith, "but now [He] commands all men every where to repent." (Acts 17:30)

Why? Because now, the Holy Ghost has signified the way into the holiest of all. Indeed, the dayspring from on high hath visited His people. The mystery that was held in the bosom of the Father from the beginning of creation has been revealed for one and all to behold. "Hear ye Him" -- JESUS -- the angel of the Lord declared, "for He shall save His people from their sins." (Matthew 1:21-23; John 3:16) 

Not another entity/being/person, as modern day religious culture would have us naively believe, but the One and Same Lord God who created us in the beginning, He Himself prepared a body to reconcile the world unto Himself. His plan of salvation, revealed on that cross for each and every one of us to behold. 

"For then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world; but now, once in the end fate world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself ..." (Hebrews 9:26)

"To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the Word of reconciliation." (II Corinthians 5:19)

The law was a shadow of good things to come -- Lo, behold, the volume of the book is written of Me!

As the scriptures declare, the Word that was with God in the beginning was God, and this same Word/God was made flesh and dwelt among us, so that we could behold His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14) Not another but He Himself was in the world and the world knew Him not. He Himself came unto His own and His own received Him not. (John 1:10-11; John 1:1-18) 

God Himself was manifest in the flesh, reconciling the world unto Himself. (I Corinthians 5:17; I Timothy 3:16; Isaiah 9:6; Revelation 1:8)

And we who believe should know this from the very first commandment, wherein we are instructed to "Hear O Israel, the Lord thy God is One Lord." (Deuteronomy 6:4; Mark 12:29-31) His Name in this dispensation of grace? And ye shall call His Name JESUS! The ONLY Name whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12) The Name which is above every other Name given to man. (Philippians 2:9) The Name which has ironically become the offence in the world today, or a swear word. Still, this same Jesus is the Head of the body of Christ Church. 

This same Jesus, whom Peter (standing with the eleven on the day of Pentecost) declared to be both Lord and Christ, He has become "... a stone of stumbling, and a Rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the Word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed." (I Peter 2:8; Isiah 8:14; I Corinthians 1:23; Romans 9:22; Acts 2:36-41)

The chief corner stone which the Lord God Himself declared "elect, precious" so that he that believes on Him shall not be confounded is the reason why we have salvation. (I Peter 2:6; Isaiah 28:16) After the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." (Titus 3:4-7)

But there are those who desire to rid us of the knowledge of the doctrine of Christ. (II John 1:9) These have determined in their hardened hearts that only 1/3 of God came to deliver us from the clutches of the enemy, and replaced Jesus with a false trinity/triad god. And as the scriptures declare, in so doing, our understanding of spiritual things has been darkened. 

The consequence? Because we as a  refuse to believe God gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works, our hearts have instead been alienated from the life of God through our own ignorance/conceits.

"Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart ..." (Ephesians 4:18)

What does the Lord say? "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to Me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children." (Hosea 4:6)

However, we are not the children of darkness but of the Light. We understand who Jesus is, and how much He loved us from the very beginning. And that grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, and of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace. As John the baptizer declared, "He that comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me." (John 1:15-17)

So, as believers in Jesus by faith, and having repented and been water baptized in His precious, holy name, having received the gift of the Holy Ghost, we are to "wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: but as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy." (I Peter 1:13-16)

 

And sadly, yes, as Jesus foretold, we "shall be hated of all [men] for My name's sake" but "in your patience possess ye your souls." (Luke 21:17; Matthew 10:22) 

"For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remains is glorious. Seeing the that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: and not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished. But their minds were blinded: for until this day remains the same vail untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament: which is done away in Christ ...." (II Corinthians 3:14) 

Jesus is our hope. Behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world. (John 1:29)

Stand in the offering plate.