New Apostle for the Dispensation of the Grace of God—The Mystery: Page 073

New Apostle for the Dispensation of the Grace of God—The Mystery (Ephesians 3)
 

The Lord would give Saul a new commission to fulfil, a new purpose, in a new dispensation, the BUT NOW dispensation. 

 

Now Saul was really going to serve the Lord. 

 

Israel’s Kingdom program was being put on hold, and God selected this reprobate, the chief of sinners, to be a pattern (I Timothy 1:16) 

 

for how all those in this new dispensation would be saved by grace, without works, no strings attached. 

 

He would be a chosen vessel that would appear before Gentiles, Kings, and the children of Israel. 

 

He was a preacher, a teacher, a minister to the Gentiles, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ (I Timothy 1:1; Titus 1:1).
 

15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: 

 

16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake (Acts 9:15-16).
 

7 Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity (I Timothy 2:7).
 

1 Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead (Galatians 1:1).
 

11 I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing. 

 

12 Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds (II Corinthians 12:11-12).
 

1 For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, 2If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: 

 

3 How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, 

 

4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) 

 

5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; 

 

6 That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the Gospel: 

 

7 Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. 

 

8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; 

 

9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: 

 

10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, 

 

11 According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord (Ephesians 3:1-11).
 

With Israel’s program to reclaim the earth from Satan’s hold and destruction in abeyance, God would now focus on restoring heaven from the havoc Satan had crafted there. 

 

God’s eternal purpose had been hidden (Colossians 1:26; I Corinthians 2:7; Ephesians 3:9) 

 

in Himself and cannot be found in the prophesied scriptures, unsearchable (Ephesians 3:8). 

 

Now the Grace Church would know the manifold wisdom of God (Ephesians 3:10). 

 

It was now time for Him to make known His long-awaited secret plan.
In the future, when the fallen angels will be removed from their seats in heaven, God will restore order in heaven, refilling these vacated seats with His new creation, the members of His new Grace Church, the Body of Christ, who has been given the new hope of being seated together in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6) to reign with Christ (II Timothy 2:12). 

 

We know that there are seats of authority in heaven—thrones, dominions, principalities, powers—(Colossians 1:16) and we are told that we will judge the angels (I Corinthians 6:3) in an administrative capacity. 

 

Might Satan and his fallen angels like to detain us from filling their seats, the ones that they will vacate when they are first cast down to earth, before they are cast into the Lake of Fire? 

 

The great deceiver can do his best work in the church, where false Gospels and false doctrines are proclaimed. 

 

12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12). 

 

God was justified to kept this BUT NOW Dispensation a secret from both angels and man since before the foundation of the earth. 

 

It was His mystery that was now to be revealed through revelation given by the risen Lord Jesus Christ.
 

9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, 

 

10 But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel: 

 

11 Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles (II Timothy 1:9-11).
 

9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ (Ephesians 3:9).
 

7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory (I Corinthians 2:7).
 

2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began (Titus 1:2).
 

The ultimate demonstration of God’s power is resurrection (Romans 1:4). 

 

Before man’s fall in the Garden of Eden, God had already begun to focus on His intent to redeem mankind, to pardon man’s sin, and to accept man as righteous for Christ’s sake (Ephesians 4:32). 

 

Before the foundation of the earth, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit had a meeting and made a contract to ensure victory in the lives of these future Gentiles and Jews who would live on the earth. 

 

Now, when they would individually, by the act of the will, by faith, make the decision to place their trust in the finished work and only the finished work of the Son, they would be saved by grace, sealed into the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit, be spiritually baptized by the Holy Spirit, which is the earnest of their inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, and be delivered from the wrath to come. 

 

Each believer would eternally be secure and would not be looking to see if their works would disqualify them from going to heaven. 

 

They would only look at Jesus Christ’s work on the cross, His death, His shed blood, His burial, and His resurrection to know that they were eternally secure in God’s family. 

 

They would be sealed into the Body of Christ until the Day of Redemption and their names would be written in the Book of Life (Philippians 4:3).
 

13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 

 

14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory (Ephesians 1:13-14).
 

22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts (II Corinthians 1:22).
 

30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30).
 

13b God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth (II Thessalonians 2:13b).