The
Taken from writings by
Dr. E. W. BULLINGER.
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THERE is still
something more to learn concerning the dispensations before we can rightly
understand the unique position and wonderful teaching of the later Pauline Epistles
written from the prison in
These
dispensations are commonly spoken of as two, the old and the new, but we must
bring them, as all else, to the bar of the written Word to see whether we have
learned from man or from God, from tradition or from revelation.
To
some extent we shall all agree.
1.
We shall be all agreed that the great subject of the Old Testament prophecies
is a restored
We
are at one with all our readers in taking these prophecies in their literal meaning;
and in not attempting to explain them, or rather fritter them away by any
spiritualizing interpretation which derives them of all their truth and power.
We
all look forward also to the time when He that
scattered Israel will gather them (Jer. 31: 10); when they shall all
be taught of God (John 6: 45, Isa. 54: 13); when the kingdoms
of this world shall become the kingdom of our LORD, and of His Christ (Rev. 11: 15); and when the earthly Jerusalem shall be
restored in more than all its ancient glory.
That
kingdom and sphere of blessing and glory will be on the earth; and the new
Israel with a heart of stone changed to a heart of flesh and with a new spirit,
will bring forth the fruits of righteousness (Ezek. 36: 24-36, Matt. 21: 43). This will
be the regeneration (or Palingenesia)
when the apostles will be seated on twelve thrones
judging the tribes of
This
will be the first and lowest sphere of blessing. It will be on earth, and under
the whole heaven. These are the people of the saints of the Most High (Dan. 7: 27).
All
the nations of the earth will share in this blessing according to Gods
original promise to Abraham.*
*
Gen. 12: 3, 4; 17: 4; Ps. 22: 27, 28; 67: 4; Isa. 2: 4; 11: 10, 12; 42: 1, 6; 49: 22; 52: 15; 55: 5; 60: 3, 5, 11; 66: 12, etc.
2. But Abraham and his spiritual seed are the saints of the Most High as distinct from the people (of these saints) on the earth (Dan. 7: 18, 22, 25), and [also] occupying a distinct place in the heavenly
sphere of this same [millennial] kingdom. These, according to the Lords words in Luke,
are equal to the angels, sons of the resurrection (Luke
20: 34-36,
raised in the first resurrection before the
thousand years of earthly blessing for
This
is the inheritance of those who, as Peter
declares to the believers of the Dispersion, have
obtained like precious faith with us.
That inheritance is uncorruptible, and undefiled,
and fadeth not away,
reserved in HEAVEN for you. The Greek, by the figure Homoioteleuton, emphasizes this inheritance as being not earthly,
but aphtharton, amianton, amaranton (1 Pet. 1: 4).
The
inhabitants of that heavenly city are declared to be the
bride, the Lambs wife (Rev. 21: 9).
From
the call of Abraham there have ever been these two seeds, the earthly and the
heavenly.
The
one is likened by Jehovah to the dust of the earth
or the sand of the sea (Gen. 13: 16; 22: 17); and the other was likened to the stars of heaven (Heb. 11: 12; Gen. 15: 5).
Both
expressions suggest multitude, but the former is specially associated with earthly
blessing, while the latter points to the partakers of a
heavenly calling (Heb. 3: 1).
These
latter, like their father Abraham, looked for a heavenly portion and a heavenly
blessing, for the city which hath the foundations.
These all died in faith, not
having received the promises, but having seen them
and greeted them from afar, and having confessed
that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such
things make it manifest that they are seeking after a country of their own. And if indeed they
have been mindful of that country from which they came out, they would not have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a
better country, that is a HEAVENLY; wherefore God is not
ashamed of them to be called their God; for He
hath prepared for them a city (Heb. 11: 13-16,
R.V.).
Where,
and what could that city have been if it was not the city which John was shown
descending out of heaven from God, the
foundations of which are specially described in Rev.
21: 19, 20.
All
through the ages, from Abrahams day to the present, these partakers of the heavenly calling may be traced.
They
formed the congregation of the Lord, and are
continually spoken of as such.
Not
all
Those
(probably the few, as we see it today) who gathered to the stated worship of
Jehovah are called the assembly or the congregation.
The
Hebrew word for congregation is from kahal (from which
doubtless we have the word call). The verb means to call, assemble, gather
together; and the noun is used of any assembly thus called. Seventy times in the Septuagint version of the
Old Testament it is rendered ekklesia (the
word for church in the New Testament.*
*
The Hebrew word is rendered congregation 86 times; assembly,
17 times; company, 17 times: multitude, 3 times.
It
is actually used in the expression the ekklesia (or church) of the Lord in Deut.
23: 1, 2, 3, 8; 1 Chron. 28: 8; Micah 2: 5.
In
Neh. 13: 1 it is the ekklesia (or
church) of God.
It
is the ekklesia (or church) that is referred to as the congregation in Ps. 22: 22; 26: 12; 35: 18; 40: 9, 10; 68: 26.*
In Ps. 22:
25 it is spoken of as the great ekklesia or
congregation, and in Ps. 149: 1 as the ekklesia of the
saints.
*
In Num. 16: 3 and 20: 4 the
Hebrew kahal
is translated in the Septuagint as synagogue. In the Revised Version this is rendered the assembly of the Lord.
This
is what David means in Ps. 22: 22, when he
says:
In the midst of the congregation I will praise Thee
(verse 22), and
My praise shall be of Thee in
the great
congregation (verse 25).
This
is the usage of the same word in the Gospels when the Lord said:
Upon this rock I will build My ekklesia
(Matt. 16:
18).
He
did not, when addressing Israelites, use the word in the new, exclusive and
special sense in which it was afterward to be used in the
revelation of the secret in the Prison
Epistles; but in the larger and wider Old Testament sense which His hearers
would understand as embracing the whole assembly of Jehovahs believing and
worshipping people who were partakers of the heavenly calling
(Heb. 3: 1).
When
the [Holy] Spirit
by Stephen speaks of the ekklesia in the
wilderness (Acts 7: 38) he means the congregation of pious
worshippers.
Those
who were kept secure under the shadow of the
Almighty during the 38 years of penal wanderings in the Wilderness, see
Psalms 90 and 91.
When
the Lord added to the ekklesia such as were being saved (Acts 2: 47)
after Pentecost, He added them to the 120 who before Pentecost assembled
together in the upper room, and who continued daily in
the Temple (no longer offering sacrifices and partaking of the food
furnished thereby), but breaking bread (or eating as in Luke 24: 30, 35 and Acts 27:
35) at home, with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having
favour with all the people.
And the Lord added to the church
(ekklesia)
daily such as were being saved (Acts 2: 46, 47).
It
is true that the words the church (Gk. ekklesia)
in verse 47, are omitted by all the Textual
Critics (even the most conservative and least modern)
Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Alford, Westcott and Hort,
and the Revised Version; but we lay no stress on the omission here, because
even as it stands, it is used in the Old Testament sense of the congregation of the Lord, and not in the later
sense as found in the Epistle to the Ephesians: for they would not have
understood it (neither should we today,
if we had never seen that later Epistle).
When
Paul says he persecuted the ekklesia of God (1 Cor. 15: 9; Gal. 1: 13), he does not use the word in a sense which he
had at that time never heard of, or had even the remotest idea of. His words must be understood in the same
sense in which he then used them; and we must not read into any passage of
Scripture that which was the subject of a subsequent revelation: especially,
when the sense is perfectly plain and clear as it stands.
The
word ekklesia in the Gospels, Acts and the earlier Pauline Epistles must be
taken by us in the sense of its Old Testament (Septuagint) usage as meaning
simply the congregation or assembly, or company of Jehovahs worshipping
people, partakers of a heavenly calling,
having a heavenly hope, a heavenly
sphere of blessing, and looking for their part in the [First] resurrection unto life.
It
had been revealed of old that there would be a resurrection, (see Job 19: 25-27; Hosea 13: 14; John 11: 24); but it was subsequently revealed also that
there would be two resurrections, one to life, and [after the Lords
coming Millennium] one
to judgment. Paul testified of the
former as being the hope of those who were worshippers of God (Acts 24: 14, 15; David hoped for it (Psalm
16: 9-11;*
49: 14, 15). So
did Daniel (Dan.
12: 1-3).
*
Though the Psalm refers to Messiah (Acts 2: 27-31; 13: 35), we
may not exclude David himself, though his expectation is not yet (See Ps. 49: 15).
The
Lord plainly spoke of the former as the resurrection
of the just [or righteous*]
(Luke 14:
14); and, as the
resurrection of life (John 5: 29). By the word of the Lord was revealed a further hope,
or rather, an expression of the hope in John 11: 25, 26.
[*
See Matt. 5: 20, which refers to the
disciples undisclosed standard of personal righteousness. It is a resurrection of REWARD, for those deemed worthy for the REWARD of the inheritance: Thou shalt be recompensed
(rewarded) in the resurrection of the just (14: 14. R.V.). See also Luke 20: 35. cf.
Phil. 3: 11; Rev. 20: 4-6, etc.]
There
was not only the hope of those who should have part in the first resurrection, but for those who should be alive and remain when that event should take place.
The
word of the Lord first mentioned it, and the
Holy Spirit by Paul expands it in 1 Thess. 4: 16, 17.
It
concerns the Lord, not only as to His being the Resurrection, but as to His being the Life
also. He says:
c / I am the Resurrection
d / and the life.
c / He that believeth in Me, though
he die, he shall live (again).
[To him] I will be the
resurrection
d / and everyone who [is] alive,
and believing in Me shall in nowise die, for ever.
[To him] I will be the Life.
This
was (and still is) the hope for all who are partakers
of the heavenly calling (Heb. 3: 1).
Many
of those were to be found when Messiah came.
They
were those
(1) who waited for the consolation of
(2) who looked for the redemption in
(3) who trusted that the Lord was He who should have redeemed
(4) who waited for the
(5) who were as many as received Him (John
1: 12);
(6) who gladly received Peters or Pauls word on the day of Pentecost
and after
(Acts 2: 41; 8: 14; 11: 1; 17: 11); and
(7) who received the word in much affliction (1 Thess. 1: 6); and
(8) who when they received the word, accepted
it not as mans word, but even as it is
truly Gods word which worketh effectually in you that believe (1 Thess.
2: 13):
(9) who received not what was promised (Heb. 11: 39)
but who
believed and embraced it by faith.
Which
of us has not been in difficulties as to those we speak of as the Old Testament saints?
Well,
here they may be seen all through the Old Testament as being the church (or assembly) of
God, partakers of a heavenly calling,
possessing a heavenly hope, and looking for a heavenly sphere [as
well as an earthly sphere*] of blessing [during Messiahs coming millennial
kingdom].
[* See Gen. 13: 15, 15: 7; 17: 8. cf.
Acts 7: 4,
5.
A Moderator in the Presbyterian Church of Northern
Ireland was asked to explain what Stephen meant by his statement recorded in Acts 7: 4. 5. He was unable
to answer the question! but after it was suggested that Abraham is presently in
Hades awaiting his resurrection; and this must take place before he can be back on the
land to enjoy his God-promised inheritance -
he said: The Presbyterian Church dont teach that! But how many other Christian Denominations do
teach
that? See R. Govetts Hades.]
This
includes the putting down of the enemies, and the
binding of the old serpent the devil.
This
is why the enemys great endeavour, now, is to blind the minds of men and women
so that the light of this good news (or gospel) of the GLORY of Christ is hidden from
them (2 Cor. 4: 3, 4).
And
this is why we, who obey God by believing Him as to this revelation, should
cherish it as our earnest hope and constant theme; and, not being ignorant of Satans devices, since we are thus told
against what his assault is being made, therefore know where our defence is to
be directed.
In
other words, we are to labour to make known the riches
of glory which are connected with this blessing and glory and honour
for Christ and His Church.
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A NOTE ON ACTS
3: 26.
It
may possibly help some readers if I point out the solution of a difficulty
which was, to me, a very real one for some time. I could not understand how the past tense sent was used in the phrase sent
him to bless you in Acts 3: 26 after the declaration Unto
you first, God, having raised
up His Son Jesus, which I wrongly considered to refer to the
resurrection of Christ. Here was my
mistake! The words, having raised up His Son Jesus, evidently refer, not
to His being raised up from the dead, but
to the fact of His having been raised up of God, according to promise, to be
the prophet like unto Moses. See verse 22, where we have the same word For Moses truly said unto the fathers, a prophet shall the Lord your God RAISE UP unto you, of your brethren,
like unto me.
This
will be quite clear if we note the use of this word in Acts
2: 30. Therefore being a
prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an
oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins,
according to the flesh, he
would RAISE UP Christ to sit on his
throne (see also 7: 37).
My
mistake may seem to have been a foolish one, but it only serves to show how
easily we may miss the meaning of a passage of Holy Scripture by adhearing to
traditional interpretation, or even to an interpretation which has in some way
or other, most probably from a lack of meditation upon, or searching of the
Word, become fixed in ones mind.
Robert
J. Noves.
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[While
anastasis always means resurrection, save in Luke
2: 34, the verb anistemi, which, in the active, means to make to
stand up, or raise up, and, in the middle, to
stand up, or rise up, has a wider
application. See e.g., Matt. 9: 9; 22: 24; 26: 62. Acts 5: 6, 17, 34, 36, 37. Ed.]