All Truth Revealed

The Dispensation of The Mystery

Of the several ways in which God has dealt with His own, the present is distinguished as being "The Dispensation of The Mystery"; other administrations have had their related mysteries, but this dispensation was itself altogether and entirely a mystery (secret) until it was revealed. It should be noted that there is no reference to an "age" or "period of time" in the term "dispensation." The present age was not a mystery, as it was foreseen by the prophets as the dispensation between the return to heaven by our Lord and His return to earth. It was spoken of by the Lord, but what should be God's dispensation during this age was a mystery (secret) right until the time this age commenced. The desolation of Jerusalem and dispersion of Israel did not come about immediately after the Lord's death, for when He was on the cross, He prayed, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." This request was answered in the years of testimony to Israel that ensued. The Lord had spoken of those years, but He also revealed plainly that the testimony would not be received and in consequence, Israel should be dispersed and Jerusalem destroyed (Luke 11:49-51,  Luke 13:1-5, Luke 19:41-44, and Luke 28:28-30).

Thus the present age was foreseen, but what was to be God's administration that should obtain during this age was not foreseen by the prophets. It was a mystery. God's purposes in Israel remained in view so long as they were a people in the land and possessed of their city and temple, but when their heart was hardened, they were dispersed, and their hope was necessarily deferred until later. It is at this juncture that the question arises - "What is now God's dispensation?" The Mystery committed to Paul after Acts 28:28 supplies the answer.

The somewhat difficult term "Dispensation of The Mystery," therefore, simply means the way God is dealing with His redeemed during this period of Israel's dispersion.

To inquire what is this present way of dealing with God's people is obviously the most logical and necessary thing that the believer should do. What is now the position of the Lord Jesus Christ, and what is now God's purpose among the redeemed?

"And hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the Head over all things to the church which is His body..." (Eph. 1:22-23).

This position now is particularly ascribed to Christ (Head of The Body, The Church), and this position is now given to a company of the redeemed (The Church, which is His Body); these are both present facts. The sevenfold unity of the Spirit enumerated in Eph. 4:4 commences, "There is One body..." As this is so, God's present way of dealing with His redeemed is to call some out from among all believers to be those who are to form His One Body.

Acts 28

This commentary is intended to prove that Acts 28 is indeed of the utmost
dispensational importance to the believer today, for it marks a frontier.

Acts 28:23-31
The Dispensational Landmark

THE DISPENSATIONAL BOUNDARY

The ministry of Paul to the Elders of Israel in Rome, as recorded in Acts 28, echoes the Lord's ministry during His forty days on earth, as recorded in Acts 1.

"Speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God" (Acts 1:3).

"He expounded and testified the kingdom of God" (Acts 28:23). The record given in Acts 1:3 is a summary of what is written at large in Luke 24, where "Moses and the Prophets" are "expounded" by the Lord "concerning Himself." In Acts 28, Paul persuaded the Jews "concerning Jesus" both out of the law of "Moses" and out of the "Prophets." The parallel is intentional.

The THEME in both is "concerning Himself" and "concerning Jesus.”
The THEME includes the "hope" of Israel. "We trusted" (Luke 24:21) translates elpizo "we hoped.” The "hope” of Israel (Acts 28:20) translates elpis.
The BASIS of this ministry in both passages is the O.T. Scriptures, Luke 24:25, Luke 24:27, Luke 24:45, and Acts 28:23.
The METHOD is Exposition, Luke 24:27, Luke 24:32; Acts 28:23.
The OBJECT is Persuasion, Luke 24:25, Luke 24:32, Luke 24:45, Acts 28:26.

In addition, we have parallels in the use of the words bradus "slow" (Luke 24:25) and "dull" bareos (Acts 28:27). While the eyes of the two in Luke 24:31 were "opened," the eyes of Israel were “closed" (Acts 28:27).

Neither Luke 24, Acts 1, nor Acts 28 have we yet discovered the slightest allusion to the high calling of the Church of the Mystery. We are on the verge of its revelation, but not until Israel became Lo-ammi “not My people" could that calling of the Gentiles, going back to its inception to “before the foundation of the world,” be made known.

The testimony of the Apostle on that memorable day was twofold. It was concerning "the kingdom of God" and "concerning Jesus,” and it was found entirely in the testimony of the Old Testament.

It is evident that "the restoration of the kingdom to Israel" (Acts 1:6). arose as a direct result of the Lord’s testimony "pertaining to the kingdom of God" (Acts 1:3), and Paul, in Acts 26:22, declared that up to that point, he had declared "none other than Moses and the Prophets did say should come." So, here, in his testimony to the Elders of the Jews, the teaching of the O.T. scriptures that impinged on "the hope of Israel" set the limits to his message. When one remembers the scrupulous care with which the Apostle speaks of his Lord in his Epistles, rarely calling Him "Jesus” but nearly always giving Him His title "Lord" or "Jesus (the) Christ,” it is a matter of importance to observe that to the Jews he spoke "concerning Jesus.”

When the dismissal of the Jew was over, and the salvation of God was sent to the Gentile, a change was observed. He now speaks “concerning the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 28:31). Not only so, the omission of any reference to the O.T. scriptures is eloquent.

In his early Epistles, Paul constantly appeals to the Old Testament. The Gospel which he preached had been "promised afore in the holy scriptures" (Rom. 1:2); the doctrine of Justification by Faith is confirmed by the words "as it is written" (Rom. 1:17); indeed "What saith the Scriptures?" (Rom. 4:3) might well be cited as typical of Paul’s attitude during his early ministry (see An Apostle Twice). In 2 Timothy 3:16, Paul makes it clear that to the very end, he unhesitatingly believed that "All scripture was given by inspiration of God" - and yet the moment we cross the boundary line of Acts 28 into his "Prison Epistles" that moment we come into the light of a new revelation, something that had been hid in God from the ages, and something not found in the O.T. writings, something indeed that was a Mystery, or a Secret as the word means. "It is written" occurs forty times in Paul’s early epistles; the phrase is never again employed by him after Acts 28. Not one quotation of Scripture meets us in Ephesians 1 until we come to the reference to Psalm 8 in Ephesians 1:21-23.

We read on through Chapters Two and Three right into the practical section, Chapter Four, before we meet the next reference to the O.T., namely Ephesians 4:8. There is no direct quotation of O.T. scripture in Philippians or Colossians and but one in 2 Timothy 2:9, an allusion to Numbers 16:5 and 26.

In the seven later epistles, there are no more than eight references to the O.T., and of this number, not one can be said to teach the peculiar doctrine that was entrusted to Paul to make known. We have already reminded the reader that the word "depart” apoluo (Acts 28:25) indicates Israel’s "divorcement," and the words "they agreed not" (assumphonos) are also used in the marriage relationship (1 Cor. 7:5).

The failure of Israel and the consequent blessing of the Gentile were foreshadowed in Paul’s opening ministry, as recorded in Acts 13. The doom there threatened now falls. Here is the de facto execution of the sentence pronounced de jure in Matthew 23:38, "Your house is left unto you desolate." Since the call of Abraham, the Scriptures contain no record of a Gentile being saved independently of Israel. "Salvation is of the Jews" was the testimony of the Lord Himself to the woman of Samaria.

Acts 28 ends with the Apostle dwelling for two years in his own hired house, preaching and teaching "no man forbidding him." During Paul’s early ministry, the Jew had consistently opposed the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles, and this, said the Apostle, was their climax sin.

They "killed the Lord Jesus," but forgiveness was given, and a new opportunity to believe and repent was granted. They had earlier "killed their own prophets" and had more recently "persecuted" the Apostle and his helpers "forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved," reaching, however, a climax “To FILL Up their sins always for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost" (1 Thess. 2:15-16).

"To the bitter end," reads Moffatt. "In its severest form," reads Weymouth. This same word, "forbidding," found in 1 Thessalonians 2:16, is the word used by Paul, "No man forbidding him" - Israel, the opposer, had gone. They had filled up their measure of sin to the brim, and the very Gentiles that they had "forbidden" now entered into blessings hitherto unrevealed.

Heavens

The five Hebrew words and one Greek word that speaks of them

Heaven. There are five words employed in the Hebrew O.T. translated as "heaven" and one Greek word so translated in the N.T. Of the Hebrew words, galgal (Psa. 77:18) refers to the "rolling clouds," the word galgal being elsewhere rendered "wheel" and "rolling thing." Shachaq, used in Psalm 89:6 and Psalm 89:37, means a "thin cloud" and is elsewhere translated as "cloud," "sky," and "small dust." It may be accidental, but it is nevertheless interesting that the blue color, and hence the visibility of the "sky," is owing to the refraction of blue rays of light and that it is to the vapory and the earthy particles in the atmosphere that the refraction is due; but for these, there would be total darkness till the instant of sunrise. As the imagery of the O.T. has been seized upon to "prove" the unscientific character of these ancient writings, the inclusion of the above note may not be without justification. Arabah "mixed" (Psa. 68:4) and ariphim "dropping" (Isa. 5:30) complete the references that refer to the clouds under the covering figure of heaven.

Shamayim. This Hebrew word is the one that is translated as "heaven" or "heavens" in the O.T. except in those portions where the Chaldee equivalent shemayin is used (Ezra, Daniel, and Jer. 10:11). The Hebrew shamayim occurs in the O.T. 419 times, of these, twenty-one occurrences are translated "air," as in Genesis 1:26. In the N.T. only one word, ouranos, is translated "heaven." This Greek word occurs over 280 times, of which "air" accounts for ten occurrences and "sky" for five. The name 'heaven' in our own language has been explained, according to its etymology, as that which is heaved or lifted up, and a similar origin has been assigned to the Greek ouranos and the Hebrew shamayim. The temporary "heaven" stretched out like a tent over the earth during the ages of Redemption is not the subject of this article where we will deal with heaven itself. Whether the translation reads "heaven" or "heavens," the word is always plural in the original. This no more indicates a plurality of "heavens" than the plural Elohim "God" indicates a plurality of Gods. There is a use of the plural in the Hebrew language known as "The Plural of Majesty" as, for example, "the sacrifices of God" in Psalm 51:17, which means "the great sacrifice."

Creation is divided into two parts, "heaven and earth" (Gen. 1:1), which in Colossians 1:16 is expanded to mean "all things visible and invisible," and the term "heaven" may include thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers, as well as physical sun, moon, and stars. Heaven is often used as a symbol of authority, for example, when Nebuchadnezzar learned "that the heavens do rule" (Dan. 4:26). The superiority of the heavens to the earth is expressed in the words "on high" (Luke 1:78, Heb. 1:3), "height" (Isa. 7:11, Psa. 148:1, Proverbs 25:3). It is possible that, after Genesis 1:1, there are but nine or ten references to "heaven itself," i.e., the heaven of Genesis 1:1, in the whole of the O.T. This can be put to the test by reading the Book of Genesis, and noting every allusion to "heaven." We read of the waters that are under heaven, lights in the firmament of heaven, fowl that fly in the "air," the windows of heaven opened at the deluge, Abraham directed to look toward heaven, to the countless number of the stars, but no passage demands that the term "heaven" should be interpreted of the heaven of Genesis 1:1. We cannot print here the 419 references to heaven, but we can print the nine or ten references that look beyond the present limited firmament.

"Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord's thy God" (Deut. 10:14).

Here Moses draws attention to the firmament, which is "called" heaven, and the Heaven of heavens, the Heavens in the highest degree that were created long before the six days of Genesis 1:3-31 and Genesis 2:1. No further reference is made to the heavens themselves, until the days of David and Solomon, where in Psalm 8:1, Psalm 57:5, Psalm 57:11, Psalm 108:5, Psalm 113:4, Psalm 115:16 and Psalm 148:4 we have six references to a glory that is above the present limited heavens; making, with Deuteronomy 10:14, seven in all, the perfect number; in all other places the heavens referred to are put into correspondence with the firmament (Psa. 19:1) either by the actual statement or by implication. Five hundred years after Moses, Solomon recognized that neither the present heavens nor the Heaven of heavens could "contain" God (1 Kings 8:27), and the last reference to the Heaven of heavens, in contrast with the firmament, is found in the Levites' prayer (Neh. 9:6).

Even when we bring these passages forward, they only emphasize the fact that "the heaven" of the O.T. was the "firmament" of Genesis 1:8, stretched out like a curtain or a tent for God to dwell in (Isa. 40:22) and any reference in Psalm or Prophecy that speaks of heaven as God's "dwelling place" refers to this tabernacle formed by the firmament. When we open the N.T., it is pardonable if we there expect to find a great advance upon this limitation of the term "heaven." Twelve times do we read in Matthew of the "Father which is in heaven," but we also read that the heavens were opened at the baptism of the Lord, that the heavens are to pass away, and unless it is a matter beyond dispute that "angels" inhabit the Heaven of heavens, we shall find no instance in the gospel of Matthew of a reference to any other "heaven" than the firmament of Genesis 1:8.

We have to wait until we reach the Gospel of John for any explicit reference to the Highest Heavens, and there the Saviour speaks of ascending up to Heaven to where He was before (John 3:13, John 6:62), to the Glory that He had "before the world was" (John 17:5). In these few references is contained practically all that is said of the "Heavens" of Genesis 1:1 in the four Gospels. The only Calling and Company, Hope, and Sphere of Blessing that pierces the present firmament above us and ascends to where Christ sits at the right hand of God is the Church of the Mystery. Christ is set forth, in Ephesians 4:10, as having ascended "far above all heavens" yet revealed as seated at the right hand of God "in the Heavenly Places." These Heavenly Places, therefore, must be above the limitations of the outstretched heavens. This is not invalidated by the fact that the selfsame sphere is called in Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians "Heaven," for we must not allow ourselves to rob "heaven itself" of its true title simply because we have used it so often of the limited firmament. In connection with this same calling, Christ can be said to be both "far above all the heavens" yet "in heaven" at the right hand of God.

There are eleven references to "heaven" in the Epistle to the Hebrews; one only speaks of "Heaven itself," and the others refer to the lesser and lower heavens. For the heavens created as recorded in Hebrews 1:10 are to "perish," but this can never be said of "Heaven itself" Christ is said to have "passed through the heavens," dierchomai (Heb. 4:14) and as being made "higher than the heavens" (Heb. 7:26), without involving any contradiction in the saying that He Who passed through the heavens and was made Higher than the heavens, was at the selfsame time depicted as entering "heaven itself" (Heb. 9:24). The contradiction only exists in our minds if we fail to distinguish the heaven of the beginning, Genesis 1:1 from the heaven of the ages, Genesis 1:8. The only references to the heavens of Genesis 1:1 that are found in the remainder of the N.T. are those of Peter and of the Revelation, which speaks of a new heaven and new earth (2 Pet. 3:13, Rev. 21:1).

The new heavens and the new earth spoken of by Isaiah are related to Jerusalem (Isa. 65:17-18). Where we read in Revelation 21 of a "first heaven" and a "first earth," the word translated "first," protos, is rendered in verse 4, "the former things," and we should possibly translate Revelation 21:1 as "the former heaven and the former earth," the reference to "no more sea" being an evident allusion to Genesis 1:2. In connection with the subject before us, let us turn to the words of Paul as found in 2 Corinthians 12:1-4. In direct connection with the visions and revelations which he had received, he refers to an extraordinary experience. Whether he was "in the body or whether out of the body," he could not tell, but he did know that he had been caught up to the third heaven . . . caught up into paradise.

First, we must be clear as to the meaning of the term "caught up." The word "up" in this passage has no equivalent in Greek, and to attempt to make it have any bearing upon the subject betrays as much ignorance of the original as would be betrayed by anyone seeking to extract the idea of direction upward, from such idiomatic phrases of the English language as "shut up," "wash up," "lock up" and the like. We can omit the word "up"; for the Greek word arpazo is translated as "take by force," "catch away," "pluck," "caught away," and "pull". The phrase "in the body" translates as en somati, which is very like the phrase en pneumatic" in spirit" used on the occasion when John was translated to the Day of the Lord (Rev. 1:10). The closest parallel is that of the experience of Philip, who was "caught away" by the spirit of the Lord, and was "found at Azotus," some miles away.

It is evident that the third heaven to which Paul was caught away was Paradise; otherwise, his reiteration would need a deal of explanation. Paradise has been located in different regions by different teachers, mainly in accordance with their peculiar beliefs concerning the intermediate state. If we keep close to the Scriptural meaning of Paradise, we shall know that it is derived from the Hebrew pardes (Neh. 2:8, Song. 4:13) and means "a garden or orchard," and when we meet the word in the Book of Revelation, it has no connection whatever with an intermediate state but is still a garden and orchard, it is indeed the garden of Eden restored and extended.

In what way, we may ask, can this Paradise at the end of the age be in any way related to the "third" heaven? If we count the third heaven as being like the third story of a building, it will certainly appear incongruous. But Revelation 21 has already spoken of "a new earth" and a "former earth," consequently it would be true to say, even as Peter in 2 Peter 3 has indicated, that there was a first heaven in the beginning (Gen. 1:1); a second heaven, at the making of the earth ready for a man (Gen. 1:8); a third heaven, at the end when redemption shall be finished (Rev. 21:1). It was to this "heaven" and this "paradise" that Paul was caught away, and as he stresses more than any other writer in the N.T. the blessings of the New Creation, it is quite understandable that this great goal of the ages should be associated by him with the visions and revelation he had received in connection with his apostleship.

The great lesson that forces itself upon our attention, however, is the fact that, apart from Paul's ministry, and especially his prison ministry, there is scarcely any reference in the Scriptures, either Old or New, to the heaven of Genesis 1:1. The hope of the Mystery alone pierces the intervening firmament and places the believer "far above all" even where Christ sits at the right hand of God. We must now go on to the consideration of the special term "heavenly places," but to this, we will devote a separate study.

Ephesians 1:3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

Up to the great divorce of Acts 28:25-28, both spiritual and material blessings had to do with the earth, the land that was promised to Abraham and to his descendants. Even the New Jerusalem comes down to the earth to be inhabited by a chosen people (Rev. 21:2). Among those will be Abraham and those who are children of the promise made to Abraham.

But abruptly in Ephesians 1:3 is the announcement that the Gentiles had a special calling from before the overthrow of the world and now will enjoy every spiritual blessing in The Heavenlies. This is a part of The Great Secret that was hidden in God for ages and generations (Eph. 3:2-6). This must have been a great surprise to the believers of that time. Not even a hint of such a thing had ever before been thought of or uttered by the prophets.

We wonder what the Ephesians thought of such an announcement! The Gentile believers of that district were told earlier that by faith, they had become children of Abraham and so could partake of the promises of life everlasting, and this apart from keeping the law as they were under grace. The Roman church had been told that they had partaken in sign gifts and some of the spiritual blessings of Israel. So these Gentile believers would go to the synagogues or assemblies every Sabbath (Saturday) and hear Moses and the prophets and all about the material and spiritual blessings that were theirs by virtue of being a 'wild olive branch grafted into the true olive tree,' Israel (Rom. 11:17-24).

Suddenly Israel is cut off. There is no source anymore for blessings for the Gentiles that believe in the God of Heaven. And then comes the good news from a Roman prison that by a special revelation to the Apostle Paul, the scene of God's operations has shifted for the time being from the earth to The Heavenlies; that there is a purpose in the great plan of redemption that also includes a realm of principalities and powers far above the earth. Mankind had never imagined such a thing.

On the earth today are multitudes that have believed according to John 3:16 and have life and the hope of resurrection (John 11:23-25). But that resurrection pertains to the last day and the earth as its sphere of blessing. Many of these may want to know how one can obtain membership in the little band that is blessed with every spiritual blessing in The Heavenlies (Eph. 1:3). This is something that is beyond the will of man (Eph. 1:4), for he cannot join the invisible Church (Eph.1:21-23). The fact that a man may desire this membership shows that he may be in some such relationship in some way, but God does the choosing and the adopting of those that belong to the chosen people of today. And that is no different from the case of His chosen people, Israel, of yesterday. As soon as any person takes an interest in these spiritual blessings and wants to know how to obtain them, we feel assured that they have been chosen from before the overthrow and predestinated to The Adoption (Eph. 1:4-5). If they take no interest, then God must have foreknown it, and they have not been chosen. Simple, is it not?

We proclaim The Good News hoping that it will fall on good ground and produce fruit.