“How that by revelation he (Jesus) make known unto me (Paul) the mystery (secret); Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it now revealed unto his holy apostles (Paul’s disciples) and prophets by the Spirit.”
(Ephesians 3: 3-) Strong’s Concordance Analysis of Word “Mystery”
Strong’s Concordance # 3466
Original Word: µυστήριον
Transliteration: mustérion
Phonetic Spelling: (moos-tay'-ree-on)
Short Definition: a secret doctrine
If the reader has developed a practice of purposefully avoiding the epistles of Paul, then you have never been made aware that God purposely and sovereignty kept specific “secrets” reserved from eternity past, which were given only to the Apostle of the Gentiles, Paul of Tarsus, at Jesus‘
precise time table of history‘s clock.
Millions of Christians disdain what the scriptures directly tell us about these secrets that were specifically targeted only to Paul. When they ignore Paul, they ignore Jesus Christ.
Many Bible teachers claim that the twelve apostles had “hints” about these secrets during Jesus’ earthly ministry. This is an impossibility because the Rapture was yet a “secret” in the mind of God. He would not betray His secret “before its time.” It was reserved only for Paul.
Many scholars and Bible teachers’ theological streaming focus primarily on the four Gospels 147
of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. It is important to realize that these disciples were not prophets; they were disciples. Matthew 11: 13 tells us that the last “prophet” was John the Baptist, who preached that Jesus, as the Lamb of God, took away the sins of the world:
“For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.”
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John knew nothing of the future Church. Yet many scholars, pastors and Bible teachers try to squeeze the Body of Christ into that which Jesus called “the lost sheep of Israel.” It cannot be done!
Jesus’ Disciples Did Not Know Jesus Would Die and be Crucified Most Christians are not aware that Jesus’ disciples had no idea that Jesus would be crucified.
The twelve did not know that He would die, be buried, and then gloriously resurrected. Yes, they certainly and most emphatically did hear Jesus speak about his imminent death. However, God did not allow them to understand what Jesus was saying:
“Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For he (Jesus) shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, (Romans) and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again. And they (disciples) understood none of
these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.”
(Luke 18: 31-33)
Do you comprehend what this spectacular scripture just told you? The disciples had no knowledge or into the reality that Jesus was to die, be buried and then resurrected. If they 148
had known, why weren’t they waiting at Jesus’ tomb after He rose from the dead?
God did not allow the disciples to understand Jesus’ words because God held it in reserve for Paul, some thirty years after Jesus ascended into heaven. Even after Jesus was resurrected, He did not discuss the Rapture with the twelve. It was not their business.
Recall that after Jesus ascended into heaven, the twelve disciples were all waiting for the tribulation to begin as judgment for Israel’s part in crucifying Jesus. At the tribulation‘s conclusion, then Jesus would return as Messiah and establish His Kingdom for all of Israel and the world.
Many Bible teachers and pastors are not familiar with the pinpointed nature of the entire ministry of Jesus, and that of Peter and the twelve disciples. They have no idea that Peter’s and the disciples’ ministries were aimed only at “lost sheep of Israel.”
Please embrace this reality - the disciples had absolutely no idea about the Church age (us) because it was never revealed to them. The Church was not a part of the covenants God made with Israel. If you doubt this, recall what Ephesians 3: 3-5 tells us:
“How that by revelation he made known unto me (Paul) the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of
men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets (Paul, Barnabas, Timothy, Titus) by the Spirit.”
I submit this query to your understanding. How can Bible teachers state that the disciples spoke of the Rapture if it was set for 2000 years in the future? Once again, the disciples were not 149
prophets! They were ordinary men filled with, and enabled by, the Holy Spirit, to perform signs, wonders and miracles, as a continuation of Christ’s ministry.
Why did Jesus perform so many signs, miracles and wonders? Because that is what Israel demanded. It no longer relied of faith. Israel required divinely inspired proof to convince:
“For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom.”
(1 Corinthians 1: 22)
Another instructive verse blatantly displays Israel’s sorrowful lack of faith in the promises of God to the Nation of Israel. In this instance, Jesus spoke with a man whose son was dying:
“Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.”
(John 4: 48)
Other examples of Israel demanding “signs” follows:
“Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master (Jesus) we would see a sign from thee.”
(Matthew 12: 38)
“An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign given to it”
(Matthew 12: 39) If Israel was to believe in Jesus as Messiah, the Messiah had to prove that He could divinely orchestrate miraculous feats in order to convince them that He was, indeed, God in the flesh.
Peter and the twelve (Matthias replaced Judas Iscariot) were authorized by Jesus to continue performing signs, miracles and wonders. They carried on with Jesus’ holy agenda of convincing sinners that the source of their divine abilities were heavenly inspired; powers given only through the gift of the Holy Spirit.
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The Servants of God - Moses and Paul
Moses was the servant by which God presented His laws to the nation of Israel. Likewise, God chose His servant Paul to bring the Gospel of Grace to the Gentiles. In Exodus 19: 3, we find Moses speaking personally with God:
“And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye (Israel) will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine.”
Observe how God delivered his message to Israel. He used his servant Moses rather than directly writing His words in their hearts as we see God doing in Hebrews 8: 10, at the conclusion of the tribulation:
“For this is the covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those days, (tribulation) saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.”
Our Lord Jesus also directly used his servant Paul the Apostle in conveying His message to the Gentile nations:
“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherin ye stand. By which also ye are saved if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
for I delivered unto you first of all that Christ died for our sins according to the 151
scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day
according to the scriptures.”
(1 Corinthians 15: 1-4)
Moses and Paul - two majestic servants for God, each bearing a different message for a different people. Moses delivered the law - the Ten Commandments. Paul delivered the freedom and liberty of Jesus Christ. What I am about to present next may confound you and force you to pause and ponder.
The Conundrum of the Ten Commandments
The Holy Scriptures tell us that the Old Testament law served only to condemn Israel of their sins. There was no salvation attached to the Commandments. If today‘s Christians believe only in the Ten Commandments, and not in the Gospel of Grace, they are deceived and remain in their sins.
Look at what the Bible states about the efficacy of the law:
“Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”
(Romans 3: 20)
There was no other purpose. Despite what the reader may believe, there was no remission of sins from obeying the commandments. One cannot go to heaven because one did one’s best to follow the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments were designed to only “convict.”
Certainly, there were animal sacrifices that “covered” Israel’s s sins, but these sacrifices did not take the sins away:
“For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the 152
unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from deadworks to serve the living God?”
(Hebrews 9: 13-14)
Let us look at another revealing scripture about the law and the Ten Commandments. This scripture shows us how God does not focus on the utility of the Ten Commandments for the Body of Christ. God states that the Ten Commandments are:
“…the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones (commandments)…”
(2 Corinthians 3: 7a)
This scripture tells us that the law doesn’t give life; it only illuminates sin and therefore condemns the sinner. Therefore, when people say that they are basically a “good person”
who follows only the Ten Commandments, they are doomed. If they don’t believe in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, they are forsaken.
Temple Worship by God’s Command
Our dear Lord Jesus’ earthly ministry was conducted under the law of Moses.
Galatians 4: 4 and Matthew 5: 17 confirm this:
“But when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law.”
“Think not that I (Jesus) am come to destroy the law (temple worship), or the
prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.”
Our Lord did not stop going to the temple. He observed all the Jewish festivals. He remained steadfast in Judaism. Jesus never told his disciples to cease from going to 153
the temple, or to stop the practice of circumcision or not to sacrifice animals. They still went to the temple to pray:
“Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour to pray, being the ninth hour (3:00 pm)”
(Acts 3:1)
The book of Acts was written in approximately 64 A.D., about 30 years after Jesus was crucified and resurrected. Notice that Peter and John were still worshipping in the temple. Why shouldn’t they? Jesus did not tell them to stop their traditional form of worship.
The book of Acts provides a valuable piece of information which verifies that Peter and the disciples were instructed by God to continue worshipping and teaching at the temple. In Acts 5: 17-18, Peter and his disciples were put in prison by the high priest because of their preaching:
“Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation, and laid their hands on the
apostles, and put them in the common prison.”
However, while in prison, the cell doors suddenly opened:
“But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them (disciples) forth, and said, Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life. And when they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning, and taught…”
(Acts 5: 19-21)
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Paul’s Converts Met In Synagogues and Homes
When Paul began preaching the Gospel of Grace, he would typically enter a town and attempt to convert traditional Jews in synagogues. He was often rejected and was therefore led by God to primarily witness to Gentiles as Jesus commanded him to do.
It is important to realize that Gentile converts were former pagans who had served Greek and Asian gods and goddesses. They were not Jews, and had never followed the traditional practices of Judaism or the Old Testament Scriptures. Therefore, He would not have looked for these Gentiles in synagogues.
Much of Paul’s ministry was conducted in the homes of his converts. In some cases, he was also well-received in the Synagogues, which quickly became Spirit filled centers for Paul’s ministry.
The Bible provides examples of how believers’ homes served as meeting places for new converts as the Church began to grow:
“The Churches of Asia (Turkey) salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the Church that is in their house.”
(1 Corinthians 16: 19)
“Likewise greet the Church that is in their house. Salute my well-beloved Epaenetus, who is the first fruits of Achaia unto Christ.”
(Romans 16: 5)
“Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the Church which is in his house.”
(Colossians 4: 15)
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Paul’s converts did not have to travel to Jerusalem for the feasts. The Church was yet in its infancy, and there few true Christians. Homes provided a more intimate setting, and new believers were always in close contact with each other, especially when persecution was upon them.
The Gospel of Grace broke away from keeping the law that all of Peter’s converts were taught to follow. Peter and his disciples were legalists, perennial slaves to an impossible-to-keep list of do’s and don’ts.
Jesus knew how restrictive the law was. Hapless worshippers trying to assuage their sins through the blood of goats and sheep was no longer a component of Jesus’ new Gospel of Grace. The Ten Commandments and its associated 613 laws were no longer needed to point out sins.
Our Lord wanted the Body of to Christ worship Him in liberty and freedom, without the burdensome stone of focusing on the law instead of the Lawgiver. Jesus programmed an entirely new direction - hence, no traditional Jewish worship and no semblance of its associated ceremonies.
David Jeremiah has provided an excellent quotation that is pertinent to the dichotomy between legalism and doctrine:
“Where doctrine is present, without love, it is legalism; where love is present, without doctrine, it is humanism.” (6)
Jesus Did Not Visit the Temple After His Resurrection
The gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, as well the epistles of Peter, James and John, give no scriptures regarding Jesus attending either synagogue or temple services 156
during His forty days on earth after His resurrection.
Nor did Jesus resume His former pattern of worship or teaching. He did appear to His disciples and five hundred of His followers, but not to non-believers. This was Jesus’ intended strategy.
If the unbelievers would have seen Him, they would have mocked His appearing in the flesh. Why did not Jesus show Himself to the Pharisees? The Pharisees saw His miracles during His earthly ministry and still would not believe.
Those unbelievers would have reasoned that Jesus did not die on the cross. People would have spread the news that Jesus obviously survived the crucifixion and was not qualified to save anyone.
The resurrection was the pivot point for God to release His new plan of salvation to the peoples of the world. It was the holy portal through which people must enter if they will be saved.
Following are several scriptures that illuminate the change of direction Jesus created to bring salvation to mankind:
“Having abolished in His flesh (at the Cross) the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in the ordinances.”
(Ephesians 2: 15)
“But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets (after Genesis 3).”
(Romans 3: 21)
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“But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.”
(Romans 7: 6)
These scriptures validate that Jesus delivered us from the law at Calvary. When faithful Jews attended the temple and met in synagogues, they did so in fulfillment of the law of Moses.
Why did Jesus come to earth? Romans 15: 8 tell us:
“Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision (Israel) for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers.”
Jesus clearly and magnificently confirmed these promises at Calvary. The major promise inherent within Romans 15: 8 was the prophesized visitation of Jesus to the nation of Israel as their Messiah. If one is a faithful Bible student, one will recognize the smooth flow of God’s plans throughout the entire scripture.
It is obvious that from Genesis 12: 1-3, to the book of Revelation, God had arranged events, and delivered prophecies, in order to prepare His beloved Israel for the coming Messiah. He was to cleanse them of their sins, set up His Kingdom; usher in the millennium, and serve as their King, forever.
The origin of this glorious plan of God’s is found in Genesis 12: 1-3:
“Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him
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that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”(Jesus and the Body of Christ) The fulfillment of this wondrous scripture has been, and continues to be, actualized.
Tragically, Israel fell into the gross sins of idolatry and profound unbelief, and abrogated their opportunity for the glorious arrival of their promised Messiah and His Kingdom.
Jesus did indeed fulfill the promises made unto the fathers. He did arrive as Messiah.
He did present Israel with the potential for redemption and the bringing in of the earthly Kingdom of Heaven. However, unbelief blinded their hearts and minds:
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathered her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.”
(Matthew 24: 37) Jesus felt the deep pangs of sadness and disappointment when Israel rejected Him as Savior. As God, Jesus knew He would be rejected, yet His sorrow for the nation of Israel was profound because,
“…thou (Israel) knewest not the time of thy visitation.”
(Luke 19: 44c)
As God in human form, Jesus carried the laws, the prophecies and the covenants to the Nation of Israel, delivering them during His earthly ministry. However, in the fullness of time, God transformed the ancient Jewish practice of worship for the Gentiles, by revealing to Paul the apostle the mysteries of the Gospel of Grace.
When Jesus was so brutally nailed to the Cross, the law was nailed with Him. However, 159
His covenant with Israel was not terminated, but put on hold until after the Rapture. Jesus had completely fulfilled the law. He arrived as Messiah. He was rejected. The law expired at the moment Jesus fulfilled everything when He uttered “it is finished,” as He died on the Cross.
Jesus’ pre-resurrection practice of worship was terminated. Similarly, Paul had ceased to continue his Jewish traditions; amazing, considering he was:
“circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin an
Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee.”
(Philippians 3: 5)
To gain some understanding of what a Pharisee was, Paul defined it in Acts 26: 5 as,
“…the most straitest (strict) sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee.”
Paul was also a Rabbi, who actively sponsored, and vehemently adhered to, the austere religious practices that Jesus often verbally attacked.
Therefore, it remains incredible that after Jesus got hold of Paul’s mind, heart and spirit on the Damascus Road and afterward, that Paul so readily forfeited his life-long regime of strict observance to the laws and traditions of the elders. Paul was truly a “new creature.”
The evidence that demonstrates that Jesus appeared to dispense with His usual religious practices is reflected back to Paul. Jesus chose to close out the dispensational traditions of formal Judaism for the Gentile and Jewish converts.
Our Lord wanted future believers to worship Him without the bulky trappings of ceremony.
He even used Peter to witness to the burden of keeping the law as seen in Acts 15:10:
“Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?”
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