North Greenville University Global Impact Week

We are on the campus of North Greenville University this week for their annual Global Impact Week. What a privilege to be able to represent so many artisans around the world! 

Four Churches

There are four churches identified in the Bible and we  run into problems when we try to say they are the same. 

1. The Church in the Wilderness (Acts 7:38) which is the church that had been called out of Egypt. 

2. The Kingdom Church in the Gospels (Acts 2:47) and most of the book of Acts that was made up predominantly of Jews, but also contained Gentile proselytes. 

3. The Mystery Church revealed through Paul justified freely by grace. The Body of Christ (Colossians 1:18; Romans 11:25, 16:25; Ephesians 3:1-2; 1 Timothy 1:15-16). 

4. The Tribulation Church that will be made up of those who will seal their fates in their own blood by not accepting the Mark of the Beast which are made up of the congregations mentioned in chapters 2 and 3 of the Revelation. They are those who will accept the Gospel of the Kingdom that will be preached again by the 144,000 as per Matthew 24:13-14.

The Table of Nations

Speaking of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, you need to read The Genesis Record by Henry Morris. By the way, it would not make the list of most politically correct books in today's world.  Morris writes about how in Genesis 6 we are told that Noah had three sons (Genesis 6:10). Then in Genesis 10, we have what is called the Table of Nations which describes where each of these sons and their descendants settled after the flood (Genesis 10:1). In short, Shem's descendants are known as Shemites and they settled in what today is the Middle East. It is felt that through Shem's descendant, Joktan, came the Orientals and through his descendant, Peleg came the Asians. Thus, all Jews, Asians, and Orientals are considered to be Shemites. Ham's descendants are known as Hamites and they settled in what today is known as Africa. Japheth's descendants are known as Japhites and they settled in what today is known as Europe. Also, linguistically, through Shem came the Semitic languages; through Ham came the Afro-Asiatic languages, and through Japheth came the Endo-European languages. Religiously, through Shem came Judaism, through Ham came Islam, and through Japheth came Christianity. It goes on and on. Fascinating study! (Chapter 16, The Book of Acts Rightly Divided)

The Kingdom That Never Came

Unfortunately, it is clear from the writings of Paul that most, if not all, of the churches that he had founded or mentored eventually turned away from the Gospel of Grace that he preached and placed themselves back under the Law or Gospel of the Kingdom (Galatians 1:6), and have done so ever since, e.g., finding the church in the Old Testament, the Gospels, and the other writings of the Twelve.

Sadly, with that in mind, and the fact that the kingdom never came, in their ignorance, following the writings of Augustine, specifically, his work, The City of God, early 5th century, they began to spiritualize and allegorize the texts to make them say what they wanted them to say. As a result, the church became Israel, we are now living in the kingdom, the pope is Christ's vicar on earth, and Rome is the Holy City, etc. Unfortunately, the Protestant Reformation did little to change this theology other than to reject the authority of the pope and gravitate from amillennialism to postmillennialism. Neither interpreted the Bible literally and both led to preterism. Dispensationalism was not lost, but purposefully left.

Dispensationalism is the Only Answer

The timeline never changed for the apostles. As per Daniel's prophecy and many others in the Old Testament, their expectation and hope was that Israel would eventually repent nationally, the Tribulation would begin as per the prophecies of Daniel's Seventieth Week spoken of in Daniel 9:24 and Matthew 24:15, and culminate with the Christ's Second Coming, the establishment of the kingdom, and them sitting on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel just as they were promised  in Matthew 19:28. This is reflected in all their writings without exception. This apparently remained a hope until the eventual destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD and the death of John: the last apostle. One would do well to remember this when they are reading anything between Hebrews and Revelation. They were always addressing the believing Jews and preparing them for the tribulation that they fully expected to come in their lifetimes. 

Paul, on the other hand, had turned to the Gentiles and the establishment of the church: The Body of Christ. As such, the apostles were teaching the Gospel of the Kingdom that required repentance and baptism, while Paul was teaching the Gospel of Grace that required only belief in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. As I mentioned earlier, failure to see this transition is the reason for so much confusion in the church today, e.g., baptismal regeneration, amillennialism, postmillennialism, preterism, replacement theology, much of the Pentecostal movement, the loss of salvation, etc. In my opinion, it is only through the lens of the dispensational view that these issues can be remedied.

Spearman, H. Dwayne. The Book of Acts Rightly Divided (pp. 7-8). Directional Bible Ministries. Kindle Edition.