The BIG Picture (Shorts)

FACT NO. 5 —That we must understand the two-fold ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. During His earthly ministry He ministered exclusively to Israel: “But He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the HOUSE OF ISRAEL” (Matt.15:24). His whole ministry to the Nation was under the Law of Moses (Matt.5:17; Gal.4:4-5). Christians are not under the Law, so we are not to live according to Israel’s teachings. During His present ministry in Heaven, He is ministering according to what He revealed to the Apostle Paul. He is saving men according to His gospel of Grace. He is at the throne of grace making intercession for us (Rom.8:34). We are to live in and apply Paul’s epistles where our doctrine is found. This is not to say we should neglect the rest of the Bible. It is ALL for us but not all TO us (1Cor.10:6,11). More FACTS to follow... See this article for even more rightly dividing differences By Robert C. Brock (with minor modifications) Source:  https://bereanb...

The phrase "look to Jesus" typically means following or imitating Christ according to what He has taught us in scripture. However, this is not true for us today. Jesus' earthly ministry was directed to Israel, not to us. His call for those to follow Him was directed to His kinsmen, the Jews, Matt 15:24.  We look to Jesus by looking into His Word. The only way we can grow in Him, learn of Him, and become like Him, is to study His Word and allow it to change our mind and our actions in obedience to it. When we look into his word we are instructed to look into the revelation of the mystery, which is the doctrine that Jesus gave to Paul to teach. Consider why Paul says the following in 1Cor 4:16, “Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.” and in 1Cor 11:1 saying, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.” In 1Tim 1:16 he also mentioned he is the pattern for all grace believers to imitate. So, to look to Jesus today, we follow Paul’s pattern and the princip...

Start with PART 1 here. Part 4 of 4 - It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. The Mystery program had to remain a secret to ensure that 'the powers of darkness in the heavenlies' would work to get Jesus Christ onto the cross. Our salvation is ENTIRELY wrapped up in the cross of Christ. Did you ever notice how Paul NEVER mentions anything about Jesus' earthly ministry. Paul recites no parables, no teachings of Jesus, no activities .... NOTHING, EXCEPT the cross. Paul glories in the cross (Gal.6:14) because the only thing that could come out of Jesus earthly ministry, for the salvation of the Gentiles, is his death and resurrection. Everything else about the life of Christ incarnate is for the Jews. We can learn of the earthly life of Christ, and we can study prophecy, but these are not addressed to us as Gentiles under grace. What we take as instruction is the doctrine of Paul.  1 Corinthians 14:37 If any man think himself to be a prophet, or...

Start with PART 1 here. Part 3 of 4 - It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. If we come back to Jesus' statements to the Canaanite woman, we can also understand the references to not casting Israel's bread to the dogs. The bread was God's word, God's new covenant that was His word to Israel. The covenant had NOTHING to do with the Gentiles. It was Israels bread, the children's bread. Casting it to the dogs, the Gentiles, would be fruitless and a waste as it was not meant for the Gentiles. Gentiles were known as 'dogs' during this time. Jews saw Gentiles as pagans, serving other gods and wandering around without the perfect law. It was a slang term that was commonly used, so this explains why Jesus used this phrase. Our final point to answer is, "what about the Gentiles then? How do the Gentiles get saved?" Well, in short, this is where Paul's ministry comes into view. Israel failed to receive their Messiah, so ...

  Start with PART 1 here. Part 2 - It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. It is important to first understand that God established the Jewish nation to be His people; a holy (set apart) nation, a royal priesthood who would be the representatives of God in a godless world, (Ex.19:5-6). The nation of Israel had a divine purpose, to show forth the presence and glory of God among the Gentile nations. They were also to bring forth the promised Redeemer and Saviour of the world, (Gen.3:15). Israel did not reach this goal during Christ's first advent due to unbelief, but in the Millennial Kingdom, Jews would carry the law of God in their heart (Jer.31:33-34) and would finally fulfil their great commission (Matt.28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16), to bring salvation to the world through their Messiah and the Kingdom gospel. With this understanding, it is now clear to see why Jesus came for the Jews. The earthly ministry of Jesus was to establish the Jewish nation to...

  It might come as a surprise to many Christians, but Jesus clearly tells us that He did not come for the Gentiles, Matt.15:23-27. In the above passage a Canaanite woman begs Jesus to heal her child. Jesus ignores her and His disciples get annoyed at her cries to get Jesus' attention. Then Jesus finally responds by saying, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." What did He mean by this?  Another statement that bewilders many is when Jesus says, "It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs."  What is the bread? Who are the children? Who are the 'dogs'? This is not the only time Jesus said something like this. Earlier in Matthew, Jesus sent out his disciples to preach the Kingdom gospel and clearly stated that they do NOT go to anyone, EXCEPT to the Jews, Matt.10:5-8. How do we explain this? Where do the Gentiles fit into the ministry of Jesus? How do the Gentiles get saved then? See PART 2 here... See P...

According to the Revelation of the Mystery, Rom.16:25 To preach, and live Jesus Christ, according to the mystery, means that we learn to align our faith, our actions, and our message to that which we learn from Paul about the risen and glorified Christ. This means that we do not know Christ according to the flesh (2Cor 5:16), we do not follow after the law-based teachings and principles taught by Jesus in his earthly ministry (while in the flesh), which was under law and directed to the Jews alone. We now preach of Christ as the Head of His body, we preach His cross-work for the salvation of all men, Jews and Gentiles alike. We now learn to walk by a new doctrine, one of grace, one that teaches of liberty under the constraints of love, one of personal convictions of righteousness (see Rom 14), and one of being led by the life-giving Spirit of Christ through knowledge of His Word within us. ______________ Join my WhatsApp channel to receive these quick Bible lessons on your phone: https...

In Paul's missionary ministry, he went to Jews FIRST, and then Gentiles. Paul's focus was on saving his kinsmen, in the hopes that the Kingdom could come, Rom.9:3; 1Co 9:20. This is why Paul baptized, did miracles, spoke in tongues, circumcised Timothy, shaved his head under law because of a vow. However, we later read that Paul was not sent to baptize, he did not heal Timothy and Trophimus, he told us in 1Cor.13:8 that spiritual gifts of utterance would end. He also writes in Col.2:16 that ordinances were vain practices and that the only thing that mattered was to know Christ and the power of His resurrection.  To understand Paul’s ministry, we must realize that he ministered between two dispensations. His Jews first ministry eventually ended up with the Gentiles, Act 28:27–28. Paul introduced a mystery program while prophecy was still active. Paul's ministry started in one dispensation and ended in another. If you ignore this, your understanding and interpretation of Pau...

As result of the Acts 15 Council Meeting, Peter used the keys of the kingdom, Matt.16:19, to “bind” or limit the ministry of the 12-apostles to the already saved, circumcised ‘Jews only’, while ‘loosing’ Paul, with his pure “Grace gospel,” to go to 'All men', meaning to both the unbelieving Jews and unbelieving Gentiles. Peter first used the keys to open the door to salvation for Jews under “the Kingdom Gospel” at Pentecost (Acts 2), and to the Samaritans through Philip (Acts 8:14-17). Now Peter was ‘binding’ or ‘limiting’ this ministry. Thus, after Acts 15:11, the 12 did not ‘go into all the world’ preaching ‘the Kingdom gospel,’ according to the ‘Great Commission.’ In fact, Jesus prophesied of this short work, saying, “Ye will not have gone over the cities of Israel until the Son of Man be come” at the end of the Tribulation (Matt. 10:23). The ‘Great Commission’ for Israel will one day be fulfilled after the Tribulation, in Millennial Kingdom, when the believing Jews will se...

COMMENT: You said the New Covenant was a promise God gave to Jews. So then, why was Paul, a minister to the uncircumcision, a minister of the New Covenant? ANSWER: With the Abrahamic Covenant, it meant that all Gentile blessing must come through Israel. Israel was supposed to fulfill this (Isa 42:6, 49.6; Zech 8:20-23), but this required the entire nation to repent, which Peter preached at Pentecost. But they refused and later stoned Stephen. Right after this, God saved Paul to be the apostle of the Gentiles. The 12, therefore, never had a ministry to Gentiles. Paul thus became proxy Israel and served in the three roles Israel was supposed to occupy. Paul became the light to the Gentiles (Act 13), the minister of the New Covenant (2 Cor 3), and the priest of the Gentiles (Rom 15:16). We become partakers of the New Covenant; the indwelling Holy Spirit and the forgiveness of sins through Paul’s gospel. Thus, all blessing and doctrine for us comes through the revelation that the risen Lor...

Did you know that Jesus rightly divided the Scriptures? Jesus was a dispensationalist during His earthly ministry, carefully handling Scripture to ensure its validity for His time. Rather than quoting any Scripture, He knew which parts were valid and which were not. For example, verses applicable to His Second Coming could not be forced into His First Coming, as this would be out of context with His current purpose. Psalm 91 and Isaiah 61 were Scripture, but not all of it was to be fulfilled during His First Coming. Jesus understood that it is not enough to be Scriptural; we must also be dispensational.  Those who profess to only follow Jesus in His earthly ministry should therefore take note how He correctly divided the Scriptures, quoting verses in their proper dispensational context. Then, taking this hint, they should conclude that by right division, we follow Paul's doctrine today, as the rest of Scripture, though for our learning, is not for our application today.