Key to having God’s wisdom and
prudence flow out abundantly is knowing the mystery of the Father’s will, which comes from understanding the purpose He has in both Israel’s
prophetic program and the mystery program defined by Paul’s epistles.
In Ephesians 3, Paul writes, “If you
have heard of the dispensation of grace,” revealing that even in his day there
were many saints who had not heard about the mystery dispensation because of an
organized attempt to hide this information.
“It shouldn’t surprise you that 2,000
years later what was successful in Paul’s day has been successful ever
since,” says Jordan. “But, boy, when you get it, doesn’t it liberate you?!
Doesn’t it make it exciting?! If you’re not excited, it’s just that it has never
gripped you. I guarantee that.
“Paul says in I Corinthians 2: 14-16, ‘But
the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are
foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is
judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct
him? But we have the mind of Christ.’
“You see, what happens to you and me is
we’ve been put into a position in Christ of having the complete total thinking
of the Godhead available to us right there.
“We relate to God just as Jesus Christ
relates to Him. Jesus Christ, by virtue of whom He is—as glorified humanity,
the God-man glorified— knows and understands everything; He has all
the information and you share His mind! Okay?! It’s the
Spirit of God who teaches you that Book, isn’t it?”
*****
Bible scholar C.R. Stam’s Romans commentary
from 1981 offers a super quick synopsis of the biblical concept of “Law vs.
Grace.”
Stam writes, “Under the Law God’s
people were not invited to seek the leading of the Holy Spirit in their walk.
Their fellowship with God depended rather upon their obedience to
the Law. ‘Thou shalt’ and ‘Thou shalt not’ were the
characteristic phrases of God’s Word through Moses...
“The Believer in this ‘dispensation of
the grace of God’ is not only saved from the penalty of sin, but is accepted
as the Father’s fullgrown son in Christ, God’s beloved Son. He is
given a position in Christ in the heavenlies at God’s right hand,
with free access to all the riches of the Father. . .
“The Apostle Paul specifically
states that as fullgrown sons we come into a deeper
appreciation of the fact we are God’s children by
birth . . . As ‘joint-heirs with Christ’ we share in all
of Christ’s riches; not part belonging to each, but all to both.
All He has is OURS.
“ . . . The Law from without, with its prohibitions, commands and threatenings, could only produce fear, but the Spirit resides within to produce that revolutionary change that causes us, as grown sons, to look to God and call Him ‘Father’ with an intimacy that the Law forbade. No threat hangs over God’s people today.”
“ . . . The Law from without, with its prohibitions, commands and threatenings, could only produce fear, but the Spirit resides within to produce that revolutionary change that causes us, as grown sons, to look to God and call Him ‘Father’ with an intimacy that the Law forbade. No threat hangs over God’s people today.”
*****
Conservative
pundit Ann Coulter was once widely attacked as an anti-Semite on MSNBC for
saying that “Christians consider themselves perfected Jews.”
She
said in the interview, “We believe the Old Testament. As you know from the Old
Testament, God was constantly getting fed up with humans for not being able to,
you know, live up to all the laws. What Christians believe -- this is just a
statement of what the New Testament is -- is that that's why Christ came and
died for our sins. Christians believe the Old Testament. You don't believe our
testament.”
Coulter
shows a very common, basic ignorance of the Bible by mistaking Christians for
“spiritual Israelites” who are supposedly “spiritually fulfilling” the things
God said and gave Israel.
*****
*****
When the law was given to Israel through the hands of Moses in the Old Testament everybody else was “cut off,” as Paul clearly informs.
As Paul
summarizes in Ephesians 2, “Wherefore remember, that ye being in
time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is
called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were
without Christ, being aliens from
the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having
no hope, and without God in the world.”
Jordan explains, “There’s a racial issue here; something you are by nature. There are two groups of people; a group called the circumcision (Jews) and a group called the uncircumcision (Gentiles). Could you get any more different than that? One is and one ain’t.
Jordan explains, “There’s a racial issue here; something you are by nature. There are two groups of people; a group called the circumcision (Jews) and a group called the uncircumcision (Gentiles). Could you get any more different than that? One is and one ain’t.
“To me,
in that first verse, the one word repeated twice really emphasizes the matter:
‘Who are called uncircumcision by that which is called circumcision.’ I mean,
these dudes call each other names!
“You
see they’re mad at each other. There’s enmity between them. There’s hatred
between them. They despise one another. They don’t love each other. There is
contempt for each other. And if you don’t believe that, well, you haven’t
thought very much, have you? The Jew has absolute total contempt for
the Gentile and the Gentile returns the favor.
“Write
down in your notes I Samuel 17:26. Old David looks out yonder at Goliath and he
talks about this uncircumcised dog. Well, you know he wasn’t complimenting him
when he said that!
“Look
at John 18:35 and see if you think old Pilate was being kind when he answered,
‘Am I a Jew?’ You think Pilate was trying to butter him up when he said
that? Can’t you just kind of hear
the contempt roll of his tongue? He’s saying, ‘I’m not a Jew, man!’
*****
“This
enmity is demonstrated in Acts 16 where it’s reported that the Gentiles ‘caught
Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers,
[20] And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city,
[21] And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans.
[22] And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.’
[20] And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city,
[21] And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans.
[22] And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.’
“The
Jew despised the Gentile and there's a contempt socially and racially between the two. That was a problem for you and me as Gentiles. You know why? Paul says ‘that at
that time you were without Christ.’ Well, why were they without Christ? ‘Being
aliens from the commonwealth of Israel.’ Uh-oh!
“You see why it’s a problem for the hatred and
division to be there? Because one of those groups is advantaged and the other
one isn’t. People are always talking about superiority—hey, did you realize
there’s racial superiority in the Word of God?! And you know who it is? Well,
it ain’t none of us. It isn’t us; it’s them!
“And
the reason that nation—the national, racial, social superiority existed is
because of a spiritual and religious superiority God gave them.”
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