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Last week Brother Ray privately asked me what the real differences are between what the Old Testament calls the Children of Israel and Judah.
I wasn’t able to articulate an answer and did some research to fortify the information.
Here it is quickly:
The Children of Israel (formerly called Jacob) also called Israelites had a single kingdom during the reigns of David and then Solomon.
After the death of Solomon, the country or nation was divided into two independent kingdoms. The southern region came to be called Judah (which consisted of the tribes of Benjamin and Judah) and had Jerusalem as their capital.
The northern region was called Israel which comprised the remaining ten tribes and they had Samaria as their capital.
Israel, which was a part of Palestine, is now a republic in the Middle East. It is bordered in the north by Lebanon, east by Jordan and Syria, south by the Gulf of Aqaba, southwest by Egypt, and west by the Mediterranean Sea.
Jerusalem, which was once the capital of Judah, is now the capital of Israel.
Even from earlier times, Israel was a larger region than Judah and far more prosperous.
In 722 B.C., Israel ceased to exist as a kingdom after it was conquered by the Assyrians. History also states that the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem (Judah) in
586 B.C., and the citizens were taken captive.
It was only after the Persians conquered Babylon that Judah could return.
In 1948 Israel was proclaimed a nation and remains a war torn area as Arab people have a growing opposition against the formation of their country.
If I am not mistaken, by the time Jesus walked the earth there was no ten tribes gathered and recognized – only Judah and Benjamin located in and around Jerusalem remained intact. I don’t know where I learned that but it sticks with me as a fact.
Okay we left off reading last week reading at verse 5 and 6 of chapter 2:
Eph 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
And before we go on to the passage I read upon our conclusion last week, I want to illustrate something by way of a repetition because the concept is really important – and so I am going to go to the board.
When we read the Bible the meaning of “saved” takes on different forms due to the time and circumstances involved.
So, we have to be cognizant of the word and how we interpret it today as bible readers:
Ephesians 2:7-
September 15th 2019
Milk
OLD TESTAMENT
Genesis to Malachi
APOSTOLIC RECORD
Around 3BC to 30AD
END
Of
AGE
NEW TESTAMENT
Post 70 AD till Present
Saved
From material death
Psalms 80:3 Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
From prison in sheol to paradise in sheol
From Physical death
From Prison in hell to paradise in hell
POST RESURRECTION
From 33AD to 70 AD
From immanent physical death
Promised at the destruction of Jerusalem.
From Prison to Heaven (all who died without faith went to prison portion of hell. All who died in faith went to God.
HIS
R
E
T
U
R
N
W
I
T
H
J
U
D
G
For all –
From hell to heaven
For those of faith, to the New Jerusalem
So in that age – people were saved by faith in Jesus Christ from immanent death that fell upon that oikonomea and they were saved by faith from a trip to sheol after death and then they were saved to heaven.
This is the expectation futurists have for believers today as the read the Bible and apply its contents given then to themselves and the rest of the world.
However, and as a result of Jesus doing what He said he would do, and since the wrapping up of that age when God destroyed material religion and became “all in all” at the return of Jesus to the earth for his bride, all people are now are saved from sheol to a heavenly realm (because sheol has been emptied and cast into the lake of fire) and those who have faith in Jesus are additionally are saved TO the New Jerusalem in that heavenly realm instead of just to the heavenly realm.
Taking all the passages of the Bible that speak to and describe that former and and the age to come, I know of no other reasonable contextual way to describe it all.
So back to Ephesians where Paul now delivers a radical passage if you are willing to receive it.
So, at verse 6 Paul said,
Eph 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
And then he adds the verse I left you to consider last week
7 THAT . . . in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
Now, whether you realize this or not this verse opens us up to a fascinating word – ages – plural – as in “ages to come.”
“That IN the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward US through Jesus Christ.”
I have always taught that the Jews spoke of two ages – the age that they were in and the age to come. But Paul writes of ages TO COME here.
Now scripture speaks of ages in the past, presumably talking about periods or admin that covered the span of time from the creation to the Lord’s arrival.
So ages is not entirely new – but here Paul clearly says that God has quickened us together with Christ THAT in the ages to come he might show us the exceeding riches of his grace in His kindness toward US through Jesus Christ.
First of all, notice how many times God is specifically referred to as being the one to show exceeding riched toward us through Jesus Christ.
Listen again:
“that God has quickened us together with Christ THAT in the ages to come he might show us the exceeding riches of his grace in His kindness toward US through Jesus Christ.”
There is an order and a hierarchy there.
But back to the phrase ages to come.
The Greek takes aion (Age) makes it aiOsin – the plural – and here Paul speaks frankly about that fact that the reason, the purpose – WHY God has saved people by grace is so that
IN THESE ONCOMING AGES that we will experience God might show us (those who are His) the EXCEEDING RICHES of HIS GRACE IN (or through) HIS Kindness toward US through Jesus Christ!!
For me, at least, this plural use of ages answers one of the most oft used criticisms of the term aion (age) in the Bible. The thinking goes like this:
Aion, is used to describe periods or epochs of time in the bible, not eternity. And from this we can readily see that the Old Testament age was not to last forever, and that the Apostolic Age was only to last until Jesus returned with reward and punishment, and that periods in hell or sheol were never supposed to last longer than for a space of time or an eon or age too.
A problem arises when we read the term eternal life in scripture, which is used exactly in the Apostolic Record 30 times.
In ALL thirty of these times where ETERNAL LIFE (and or LIFE ETERNAL) is used, the Greek term for it is AGE-RELATED and is NOT a term for never ending.You name it – it is always from aheeonos – age abiding life – not a life that goes on forever and ever and ever IN THE SAME age!
Not!
People wonder what we are going to be doing in heaven for eternity. I don’t know but what I do know is that eternity consists of AGES – not a single age.
So when Jesus promises eternal life (as translated in the King James) he is NOT promising a life fixed in one eternal age but a life that will forever exist in a series of AGES.
And again, what those ages consist of I have no idea.
Therefore, when Jesus says in Matthew 25:46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
What he is really saying is
Matthew 25:46 And these shall go away into age abiding punishment: but the righteous into age abiding life.
And on this we have a clear understanding of the hellish or heavenly futures for those in that age – at least toward their destinations – albeit both – both are not fixed, but will apparentlybe ages followed by other ages according to God’s design.
Verse 7 here in Ephesians chapter 2 informs us that:
“God has quickened us together with Christ THAT in the ages to come he might show us the exceeding riches of his grace in His kindness toward US through Jesus Christ.”
So perhaps, those who are His are not shown EVERYTHING that God has for them the moment that they enter His Kingdom but each age is filled with new wonders at the hand of His Grace and Kindness.
Perhaps the first age is getting acquainted with our heavenly bodies and homes, and the second age is celestial travels, and the third age consists of some other facet, and on and on and on.
All we can cite is 1st Corinthians 2:9 which says
“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”
This reference to ages opens more up to us relative to the issues surrounding the concept in scripture.
At this point Paul continues now, so let’s read the rest of our text for today repeating what he has already written beginning at verse 5:
Eph 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
7 THAT . . . in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
And then he reiterates at verse 8
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Remember now, this was to them then, and while elements of this remain true to us today – by Grace we ARE saved by faith to the Kingdom above – to them it referred to By grace you will be saved through faith from destruction and from hell and to the New Jerusalem above!
And this salvation is by and through the mere favor and goodness of God. It is not by our own merit or because we have any claim.
Saved – in whatever way that term has application – BY GOD’S GRACE THROUGH FAITH.
And Paul adds:
And that it is not of yourselves, IT (the salvation) is the gift of God.
The faith is not a gift from God we know by virtue of the Greek construction, but the Salvation is the gift from God and NOT of ourselves. For those of you who enjoy an explanation, the word rendered “that”–touto–is in the neuter gender, and the word faith—“pistiv” –is in the feminine. Therefore, the word “that,” does not refer particularly to faith, as being the gift of God, but to the salvation by grace of which he had been speaking.
I mention this because some earlier scholars insist that this view is incorrect. Doddridge, Beza, Piscator, and Chrysostom maintain that the word “that” touto refers to “faith,” (pistiv;) with Doddridge maintaining that such a use is common in the New Testament.
This flows right into the Reformed thinking which states that God must give a person the faith in order for them to first believe.
But I would point out that God does not believe for us. It is not God that believes for anyone – the one made in his image must receive and choose to believe and walk by faith.
Remember Romans 4:3
“For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”
The idea of faith exercised then seems to mean that a person chooses to accept what God has promised. In this there is no merit gained, just acceptance of labors God has already done on our behalf.
I describe it this way to present faith as something OTHER than a work. It is no more laborious that another person laboring all day long over a dish of food, coming over to your house, placing it before you and you receiving the gift and then eating it – which is akin to doing nothing but benefiting from it.
Verse nine makes this all clear when Paul plainly adds to verse 8 which says:
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
What works could cause a person living in the Apostolic age to get God to save them from the destruction of a million plus Jews? He did it and all they had to do was believe He would.
The Jews could not accept this approach therefore the goodnews was a stumblingblock to them.
That works can a person do who wants to be saved to the New Jerusalem? The religions give them plenty with promises of salvation. But here Paul makes it clear:
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Just as God does not believe for us, it is our choice whether we will choose to believe or not; and just as the Holy Spirit does not repent for us, we choose whether to repent or not, and just as Jesus doesn’t love for us, we choose to love as He loved . . . or not.
All of the power and skill and labor has been given to us to believe, and to repent and to love is there for the taking, but God does not make us eat it.
In this set up there is no boasting – anymore than a person can boast for eating a meal prepared for them completely by their neighbor.
But in the end, when God saves a person it is entirely His decision and is not because they have earned it or have merited His giving us the well prepared meal of love and grace.
This makes the man-made line, “God helps those who help themselves,” exactly that – man made.
God helps those He helps.
It does NOT proceed from ourselves, is not gifted because of ourselves, or rewarded because we have earned it.
“It is the gift of God.” And then Paul adds something more than significant, saying:
10 FOR . . . we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
That word, For, in my estimation is telling us that what follows it is the reason FOR His saving us as well as explaining in what manner He operates within those who are His as a means to produce what Paul calls, Good Works.
“For . . . Paul says, “we are his workmanship.”
We are his making—”poihma.” In other words, we are created or formed by him, not only in the general sense in which all things are made by him, but in that peculiar sense of our becoming His new creations.
He is the potter of our spiritual life, we are the clay in his hands – if and when we allow Him to work.
This point emphasizes the fact that we are saved by His grace and we are illuminated and led to good works by the same. Our growth as His Children is on account of Him being in and with us, not of ourselves.
This fact is often lost in the minds of people as they are inclined to believing that they are the ones who either are doing good works instead of the fact that they are the ones allowing – allowing God to gracefully do the good works in and through them.
The process is letting Him in and allowing Him to do His will and work through us, not for us to perform works of our own volition as a means to earn or supplement or keep Him loving us.
The meaning behind this appears to be that by His grace He has made the perfect meal, He has offered it to all, it is either received or not, and if received (ingested) it is what produces the growth in the individual, not the individual her or him self.
For . . . we are his workmanship. This idea was presented in the Old Testament to the COI.
Deuteronomy 32:6 Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?
God chose and carved out the Nation to be His. He bought them, He made them and He established them.
Of course, they all had a say in this as well – and rebelled against His position in their lives. Nevertheless, He was the giver, the blesser, the maker of the way.
This concept is reiterated in Psalm 100:3 which says:
Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
The idea again is He is the one doing the making and molding of us as His children, by His power, through the Holy Spirit, because of His Son as
Isaiah 44:21 says:
Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me.
All the re-creation, the regeneration within us begins at spiritual rebirth. This is why Jesus said in John 3:3:
John 3:3 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
What Paul is describing here in verse ten is when God entered into our lives and began to re-create us from the animal realm of our flesh to the Spiritual realm of His Kingdom. Paul wrote in
2nd Corinthians 5:5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
Twelve verses later he adds
2nd Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
As new creations, in the hands of God, we enter into a relationship with the creator, the former and finisher of our person.
It is a two way street of Him offering and our allowing.
This caused Paul to write in 1st Corinthians 3:9
“For we are laborers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.”
Speaking of himself as an apostle, Paul wrote:
2nd Corinthians 6:1 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
There is purpose, there is a goal, on the mind of God in both creating, then calling, and then in growing those who receive His calling on their lives. In this last verse Paul wants to tell the believers at Corinth that the Grace by which God accomplished and established all this be not received in vain; that on the two lane highway when God offers, that we grasp His grace and allow Him to operate in and through us as a means to overcome the natural person by and through the power of the Spiritual man.
Speaking of Jesus, Paul wrote in Titus
2:14
Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
This is the purpose and goal, as stated here in Ephesians 2:10
10 FOR . . . we are his workmanship (HE ia working in and through us, who have been), created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
God ordained before that we, those who have been CREATED IN CHRIST, should walk in them.
Of course this audience is very familiar with what those Good Works are – they are love. We have been created in Christ, as God’s workmanship, UNTO GOOD WORKS OF LOVE.
Now people have substituted the term Good Works with Holiness, with purity, with righteousness, but all of those are characteristics of the individual. Works are a verb. And the subject here is we are the workmanship of God, created in Christ unto the GOOD WORKS OF LOVE – which is a verb.
Action.
What kind of action?
You know. We are the workmanship of God, created in Christ, unto the sanctifying actions of agape love, which act on each of us internally (our minds, our hearts, our will, our emotions, our intellect – by the Spirit – washing the carnal natures away and replacing them with the Spiritual nature abiding in the New Creations.
It all has to begin on the internal, on the heart of each individual – and then the rest of the soul, and then is begins to seep and reach out to others.
Religion demands the others first. If the internal is lacking so long as the external actions are in harmony with observable love – its all good.
But the Gospel of Jesus Christ is meant to work on the internal first – on the heart of woman and men – circumcising the fleshy tables of the heart as a means to prepare us to act with the rest of the world from that heart of active, selfless love.
Paul says that God has ordained this plan, meaning he instituted it long ago to be the means and goal of creating human beings in the first place.
So He took care of sin, and he took care of death, and He took care of sorrows, and He took care of the grave in and through His Son – got rid of that nasty dark holding tank called Prison Sheol Hell.
Got rid of Ha Satan who tormented and tested and accused the brethren under the Law, opened up the Holy of Holies once and for all to everyone, made no difference between Jew and Gentile, bond and free, males and females – and invited everyone on earth to come in.
For what reason?
So that all who want a relationship with Him, who seek Him, who want Him as their Father – directly, unencumbered, can have it by faith in His Son. For
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
7 THAT . . . in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10 FOR . . . we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
The notion of good works is emphasized over and over again in the narrative of the Apostolic record.
Jesus said to His apostles in Matthew 5:16
“Let (allow, permit) your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
In describing Tabitha, also known as Dorcas in Act 9:36 we read
“Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did.”
Of course as I have emphasized here in Ephesians 2:10 Paul said
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
Widows are described by Paul in 1st Timothy 5:10 that they are
“Well reported for good works;”
And Paul describes the hope that a Christian man would be
perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
Titus wrote
Tit 2:7 In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity,
And added in verse 14
Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
And then said in Titus 3:8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.
And then again in Titus 3:14 wrote
And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful.
The writer of Hebrews 10:24 wrote
“And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works”
And the Apostle Peter said
1st Peter 2:12 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.
Of course we know what James said about faith and works of love and so we wrap today up with the understanding that God almighty has a purpose in creating human beings in His image.
And that purpose is made possible by His Son and His Spirit which first, working internally, changes our respective hearts, and minds and souls.
And then like a strong branch coming off the vine, we are able to fulfill the ultimate purpose of our existence – to love – first God and then others, as He has loved us.
Comments/Questions/
Prayer
Nancy and Jax
