E
epouraniois
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Three spheres of blessing - although this will be a long study, it is by no means an exposition, and very far removed at being exhaustivePART ONEThere are at least three distinct spheres of blessing indicated in the New Testament: 1. The Earth. - "Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth" (Matt. 5:5). 2. The Heavenly City. - "The city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem . . . and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven" (Heb. 12:22,23). 3. Far above all. - "He ascended up, far above all heavens" (Eph.4:10). "And made us sit together in heavenly places" (Eph. 2:6).These three spheres of blessing correspond to three distinct callings: 1. The Kingdom. - "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth" (Matt. 6:10). 2. The Bride. - "The Bride, the Lamb's wife . . . the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God" (Rev. 21:9,10). 3. The Body. - "His body. . . the church: whereof I (Paul) am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you . . . the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations" (Col. 1 :24-26).These three spheres of blessing, each with its special calling, have associated with them three groups of people in the N.T. The first sphere of blessing is exclusive to ISRAEL according to the flesh; the second to believers from among both "JEW and GREEK", while in the third sphere the calling is addressed to "YOU GENTILES". I wish to share something of a study by C. Welch, regarding 'hope', as only one Greek word and its compounds are translated "hope", these words are elpizo, to hope, to hope for; proelpizo, to hope before; apelpizo, to hope for again; elpizomenoi, things hoped for; elpis, hope. No other word in the English language can be suggested as a better rendering of elpis than "hope", and yet all have to acknowledge that in common use hope has degenerated in its meaning. We can speak of a forlorn hope, or sometimes a person who has no grounds for hope at all, will say "I hope so". "Expectation is a conviction that excludes doubt" and this is the temper of the word elpis. When we use the word "hope" we must remember to keep it on the ground of confident expectancy, not merely hoping for the "possible" but confidently expecting the fulfilment of a promise. There is no trace of anxiety or fear in the LXX use of elpis or elpizo, although in later classical Greek this element creeps into the word. Cremer's summary is that "Hope is a prospect, gladly and firmly held as a well-grounded expectation of a future good."Where we read of "hope" in the New Testament we often find in the context a reference either to a "promise" or to a "calling". For example, Paul before Agrippa says: "And now I stand and am judged for THE HOPE OF THE PROMISE made of God unto our fathers; unto which promise OUR TWELVE TRIBES, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come" (Acts 26:6,7).Here there is no possibility of making a mistake. Not only is the hope that is in view the fulfilment of a promise, but it is the fulfilment of a specific promise "made of God unto our fathers". Further, there is no ambiguity as to those who entertain this hope; the words "our twelve tribes" are too explicit to permit of spiritualizing. Other examples will occur to the reader, and will come before us in the prosecution of our present study. For the moment it is sufficient that the principle should be clear, that HOPE LOOKS TO THE FULFILMENT OF A PROMISE. It is therefore necessary to discover what promise has been made to any particular company before we can speak with understanding of their hope. Another prerequisite is a knowledge of the "calling" concerned. "That ye may know what is THE HOPE OF HIS CALLING" (Eph. 1: 18). "Even as ye are called in ONE HOPE OF YOUR CALLING" (Eph. 4:4).The realization of our hope in the future will be in agreement with our calling now by faith. "Now faith is the substance of things HOPED for" (Heb. 11 :1).Recent discoveries among the papyri of Egypt have brought to light the fact that the word "substance" was used in New Testament times to signify the "Title Deeds" of a property. Every believer holds the title-deeds now, by faith, the earnest and first-fruits of the inheritance that will be entered when his hope is realized. As every believer does not necessarily belong to the same calling, and most believers grant a distinction between Kingdom and Church, while some realize the further distinction between Bride and Body, it follows that the character of the calling must be settled before the hope can be defined. The earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ was limited to the people of Israel, and had special regard to the promise made to David concerning Israel's King. It also had in view the promise made to Abraham concerning the blessing of all the families of the earth, but did not, at that time, extend to them, being concentrated rather upon Israel from whom, as the appointed channel, the blessing should flow to all nations. We shall now bring Scriptural proof of these statements, and then proceed to show that Matthew twenty-four and twenty-five speak of the hope of ISRAEL, and that this phase of the second advent has nothing to do with the hope of the "church". 1. Proof that the earthly ministry was limited in the first instance to Israel. "Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the CIRCUMCISION for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the FATHERS" (Rom. 15:8). "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of ISRAEL" (Matt. 10:5-6). "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of ISRAEL" (Matt. 15:24). 2. Proof that the promise made to David concerning a King was in view. "Where is He that is born KING of the Jews? . . . in Beth1ehem" (Matt. 2:2-5). "Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy KING cometh unto thee" (Matt. 21 :5). "What think ye of Christ, whose Son is He? They say unto Him, The Son of DAVID" (Matt. 22:42). "David. . . 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; He seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ" (Acts 2:30,31). 3. Proof that the promise to Abraham concerning Israel as the chosen channel of blessing to the Gentiles was in view. "Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. UNTO YOU FIRST God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless YOU, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities" (Acts 3:25,26).The threefold prophecy of the coming of the Lord as revealed in Matthew twenty-four was given in answer to the threefold question of the disciples- "When shall these things be?" "What shall be the sign of Thy coming?" "And the end of the world (age)?"The evidence which follows, sufficiently shows that in this passage the hope of Israel and not the hope of "the church which is His Body" is the subject.Three proofs that Matthew twenty-four speaks of the Hope of IsraelFirst the word translated "end" is sunteleia, a word at that time well known to every Jew, for it was the name of the third great feast, namely "the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year" (Exod. 23:16). This is evidence that Israel's hope is in view.Secondly, we find that this coming of the Lord is to be preceded by "wars and rumours of wars". Because of the fact that there have been, and yet will be, many wars and rumours of wars since the setting aside of Israel, these words, as they stand, cannot be construed as evidence that Israel's hope is in view. If however we turn to the O.T. origin of the reference: "For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom" (Matt. 24:7), we shall see that it comes from Isaiah's prophetic "Burden of Egypt" (Isa. 19:1,2), the passage ending with the words "Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel Mine inheritance" (Isa. 19:25). This reference, therefore, when seen in the light of its O.T. setting, gives further evidence for the fact that Israel is in view in Matthew twenty-four.Thirdly, this coming of the Lord takes place after the prophetic statements of Daniel 9:27 and 12:11 have been fulfilled. "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place . . . then shall be great tribulation . . . IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE TRIBULATION of those days . . . shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven . . . and they shall see the Son of man COMING IN THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN" (Matt. 24:15-30).As the detailed exposition of this chapter is not the purpose, and as these three items provide proof that the second coming of Christ as here made known cannot be the hope of the church, no unbiased reader will desire further delay in prosecuting this, our inquiry.