Category: Pauline Dispensationalism / Dispensational Bible Study

333’s 4300th – We Want More Light!

Thursday, March 9, 2023

“Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him” (Acts 8:29-31 KJV).

Dear friends and saints, we have reached devotional #4300 today!

Indeed, we do not have all the answers. If we did, we would be God. However, the Bible has all the answers we need—not all we want, but all we need. The Holy Spirit could have given us a record of everything in minute detail—all that God thinks and does and all that man thinks and does—but the Bible would not be mobile. We would never reach the end, and would never be able to read everything in it. In this world of darkness, what God has revealed to us is usually ignored anyway.

Long ago, I often came across the television program of a certain preacher. His theology was greatly perverted—he actually seemed to be an unsaved man—but even liars tell an occasional truth. He said how it always pleased God when we opened our Bible and read it. I disagreed with 99.9% of his statements, but he was right about that. Furthermore, if we are receptive to the spiritual light that we have, the Holy Spirit will provide more light.

The Ethiopian eunuch of today’s Scripture was reading his copy of Isaiah, but could not make sense of it. Nevertheless, since he was a sincere seeker of the truth, the Holy Spirit sent the Evangelist Philip to teach him about Jesus Christ (read verses 26-39). In chapter 10, Cornelius was another lost man, but he was walking in the light that he had, so the Holy Spirit sent the Apostle Peter to teach him about Jesus Christ (verses 1-48). The God of the Bible sent the Apostle Paul to teach us Gentiles about Jesus Christ (Acts 26:16-18; Romans 11:13; Ephesians 3:1-11). We with open hearts (hopefully!) are still learning to “rightly divide the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). By God’s grace, we have done this now for 4,300 days—so let us keep on keeping on!

Onward to devotional #4400! 🙂

Worthless Papers #3

Friday, March 3, 2023

“And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem” (Acts 9:1,2 KJV).

Behold, Saul possesses worthless papers!

Saul is definitely relieved to learn the Lord is working with Ananias to confirm the fact he really is a saved man now. Read verses 10-19. With Ananias restoring Saul’s physical sight, Saul’s conversion thus made apparent, the saints in Damascus receive him. They recognize him as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and no longer feel threatened.

Decades later, as the Apostle Paul, Saul writes Philippians chapter 3: “[3] For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. [4] Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more [and here is his worthless résumé, all his accomplishments]: [5] Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; [6] Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.” Saul learned a valuable lesson on the road to Damascus, for here comes the contrast….

“[7] But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. [8] Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung [manure!!], that I may win Christ, [9] And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: [10] That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; [11] If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.”

If you think about, dear friend, there is much for us to learn from these verses too!

Worthless Papers #2

Thursday, March 2, 2023

“And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem” (Acts 9:1,2 KJV).

Behold, Saul possesses worthless papers!

It is not uncommon in this world to see people parading their “degrees,” whose specialty in one field (or, a few fields) of study has caused them to now be under the impression they can comment authoritatively on any and every topic. To be sure, Saul of Tarsus had rabbinical training, having sat under the most eminent teacher of Judaism of the day (see Acts 22:3 and Acts 5:34)—Gamaliel known to orthodox Jews even now. Saul assumed he knew all there was to know about religion. He was a master at it. He would have had the equivalent of a doctorate in theology, being proficient not only in Hebrew, but Greek, Latin, Aramaic, and perhaps other languages. Knowing the Hebrew Bible, he had also been familiarized with Greek philosophy.

Furthermore, Saul had received from the highest-ranking religious leaders of Israel the legal power to round up any believing Jews who had found refuge in Damascus. Carrying those warrants and leading a party of troops, he is just outside of the city when he meets the resurrected, ascended, and glorified Lord Jesus Christ! Whatever credentials Saul had, he realized they were useless at this point. Such worldly wisdom, such secular power, such religiosity, was worthless. “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?… I am Jesus whom thou persecutest…” (Acts 9:4,5). The God he thought he was worshipping was the very God he was upsetting!

“And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him to Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink” (verses 8,9). Once physically sighted but spiritually blind, he is now spiritually sighted but physically blind. His religious training is of no use to him now. Those warrants are unusable. There he is, vulnerable in Damascus, among the very people he had come to destroy….

Worthless Papers #1

Wednesday, March 1, 2023

“And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem” (Acts 9:1,2 KJV).

Behold, Saul possesses worthless papers!

Saul of Tarsus was a religious scholar, a rabbi or teacher in Judaism. He led Israel’s rebellion against the Lord Jesus Christ during the early Acts period. Let him tell you himself: “I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel [Jewish rabbi/teacher; see Acts 5:34], and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day. And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished” (Acts 22:3-5).

“I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange [foreign] cities. Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,…” (Acts 26:9-12).

Saul received from Israel’s governing body (Sanhedrin) letters of authority (warrants) to extradite (bring back) the Jewish saints who had fled Jerusalem and taken refuge in Damascus. Mighty Saul, with his extensive education and dreadful legal power, does not know it yet, but he is carrying worthless papers. He will soon be reduced to nothing….

Comatose! #5

Monday, February 27, 2023

“Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (Ephesians 5:14 KJV).

“Wake up!,” screams the Holy Spirit to today’s comatose professing church!

In Matthew 13:25, “the enemy” labored “while men slept.” Verse 39 identifies this “enemy” as “the devil.” The sleeping, of course, is not physical but spiritual. When people are spiritually oblivious, napping in the spiritual realm, they become more susceptible to Satan’s will. A saint not walking in the light of God’s words to him or her will fall into the spiritual trap of functional death, the Christian life not functioning (see today’s Scripture). Also, any lost people refusing to believe God’s words to them—they are content in being lost—they too will be vulnerable to Satanic deception (remaining lost). The context of the verses in Matthew chapter 13 is the Little Flock receiving and believing the Gospel of the Kingdom, God’s work (genuine), and lost Israel refusing and disbelieving the Gospel of the Kingdom, Satan’s work (counterfeit).

Satan’s evil world system is still in force now, misleading lost and saved alike, following the patterns already laid out in Scripture. It had duped the Corinthian saints (spiritual immaturity, heresies and sects, fornication, abusing spiritual gifts, petty lawsuits, mockery of the Lord’s Supper, et cetera), the Galatian saints (legalism, denominationalism, works-religion), the Ephesian saints (various sins and silly deeds delineated in Ephesians 4:17–5:21), and so on. In the verses following today’s Scripture, we read: “[15] See then that ye walk circumspectly [looking around, carefully, alertly], not as fools, but as wise, [16] Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. [17] Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. [18] And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;….”

If there is no renewed mind, thinking like a mature grace saint (Romans 12:1,2), we will be “fools… unwise… [not] understanding what the will of the Lord is.” Since the vast majority of the professing church has never paid much attention to the warnings the Holy Spirit issued 2,000 years ago, there is no filling of the Holy Spirit, and therefore no real spiritual fruit and meaningful Christian influence on the world. Like with Israel of old, a spiritual coma incapacitates….

Comatose! #4

Sunday, February 26, 2023

“Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (Ephesians 5:14 KJV).

“Wake up!,” screams the Holy Spirit to today’s comatose professing church!

In today’s Scripture, Paul evidently alluded to Isaiah 60:1, which is sinful, spiritually blind, spiritually-impotent Israel exhorted to pursue holy living because of Messiah’s coming: “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.” You may also see verses 2 and 3 (Millennial Kingdom glory—cf. Matthew 5:14-16). Since Israel’s Messiah (Jesus) is our Head, the Head of the Church which is His Body, should we not likewise walk in God’s light instead of stumbling in Satan’s darkness?

As it was appropriately stated long ago, “We do not become sinless when we become Christians, but, when we become Christians, we should sin less.” Before we can fix a problem, dear friends, we have to identify it. After we discover what is wrong, only then can we proceed to making it right. If we want to improve our lives, we have to admit our shortcomings. Three passages of the Dispensation of Grace that will benefit us in pinpointing and correcting our carnal living, worldliness, and foolish thinking are Romans chapter 12, Ephesians chapter 4, and Colossians chapter 3.

If these three chapters were actually believed in the heart and applied to life on a daily basis, the Church the Body of Christ would have a far greater and more positive impact on the world than it has. We would hear much less about “hypocritical Christians,” “confused Christians,” “discouraged Christians,” “apostate Christians,” and “silly Christians.” There would be fewer dissolved Christian marriages, fewer broken Christian homes, fewer delinquent Christian youth, fewer split Christian churches, fewer secular Christian colleges. More lost people would notice and say, “I may not agree with Christians, but I cannot deny their sensible thoughts and decent lives.” More lost people would respond with, “I want to know more about Christianity and that ‘Jesus’ you serve.” Ultimately, there might just be a few less atheists, agnostics, freethinkers, Muslims, Buddhists, Satanists, and other pagans.

Today’s Christians need to wake up and heed the Lord’s words through the Apostle Paul, rising from their practical death, and enlightened with the brilliance of Christ’s very words….

Firmer in Their Murmur #4

Sunday, February 19, 2023

“The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven…. Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves…. When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?” (John 6:41,43,61 KJV).

Behold, they have become firmer in their murmur!

“I do not follow Paul. Paul is just a man. I follow Jesus.” Whenever someone says this, they are advertising Bible ignorance: they need to do more biblical studying and less spiritual murmuring. For example, is it not interesting that Jesus Himself ordered the healed leper to “offer the gift that Moses commanded” (Matthew 8:4; Mark 1:44; Luke 5:14)? Adopting the pattern described earlier, can you just imagine the idiotic reply? “But, Lord, I follow God. Moses was just a man. I obey God’s command.”

Of course, the Lord Jesus knew Moses was only a human, but Moses was God’s spokesman to Israel. To reject Moses meant refusing Almighty God’s messenger. Advising His Apostles, Christ stated in John 13:20: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.” To receive Christ’s messenger or apostle to us is to accept Jesus Christ Himself, and to receive Jesus Christ is to accept Father God who sent Jesus Christ as the Spokesman for the Godhead. Christ commissioned the Apostle Paul to reach us, “Delivering thee from the people [Israel], and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee [‘apostello’],….” (Acts 26:17). The Holy Spirit thus moved Paul to pen Romans 11:13: “For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify my office….”

Instead of spending all our time reading Christ’s earthly ministry (to Israel! Matthew 15:24), we should consider His heavenly ministry to us through Paul. The Corinthians were negligent here (1 Corinthians chapter 10), as is much of the professing church now. Let us not be firmer in our murmur—or even murmur at all—concerning “the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery [Paul’s ministry]” (Romans 16:25,26). Let us be appreciative of the Lord speaking through our Apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 14:37)! “But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant” (verse 38).

Fill Up That Which is Behind? #7

Monday, February 13, 2023

“Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church” (Colossians 1:24 KJV).

Did Jesus Christ suffer enough to pay for our sins? Then how can Paul “fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ?”

“When you become a Christian, all your troubles disappear” is a prime example of prosperity theology, false teaching, and Bible ignorance. Satan cannot torture Jesus Christ anymore, and he cannot imprison Paul anymore, but we continue the Lord’s ministry through Paul, and thus we have trials and tribulations. “So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure” (2 Thessalonians 1:4).

As grace believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we (should) think about problems differently than the people of the world do. Today’s Scripture is the Apostle Paul under house-arrest for the Lord’s sake, yet, he writes, “[I] rejoice in my sufferings for you.” As Christ’s spokesman for this the Dispensation of Grace, Paul knew he had been given an opportunity to prove just what God’s grace would be like during the days of hardship. He was not depressed, feeling sorry for himself, or giving up, for he could still hear those Divine words from long ago, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:17,18). “For I reckon [think, judge] that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). Saints, now, in this fallen world, is our chance to show the lost souls around us, just what God’s grace can do in and through us as we rejoice in the midst of trouble. Let us too “fill up that which is behind.” 🙂

Fill Up That Which is Behind? #6

Sunday, February 12, 2023

“Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church” (Colossians 1:24 KJV).

Did Jesus Christ suffer enough to pay for our sins? Then how can Paul “fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ?”

Once Satan realized a dispensational change arose with the Apostle Paul’s salvation and commissioning, he quit persecuting Israel’s believing remnant and started targeting God’s apostle of the Gentiles (see Romans 11:13). Concerning this the Dispensation of the Grace of God, the Church the Body of Christ is the Lord’s current agency of believers. So as to hinder, obstruct, and interfere with God’s purpose and plan for the Body of Christ, Satan worked in and through sinful men to do whatever he could to harass and harm Paul (today’s Scripture).

After the first two sons of men were born, a spiritual conflict existed between them. The narrative is recorded briefly in Genesis 4:1-8, but the underlying satanic motivation for the combat is made manifest centuries later in 1 John 3:11-13: “For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one [Satan], and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.”

Unbelieving Cain followed Satan’s evil world system’s religion to the point of murdering his believing brother Abel—and it was that same religion of the evil world system that resulted in the execution of many of God’s people through the ages, all the way up to Jesus’ own murder at Calvary and beyond (see Matthew 23:29-37, Luke 11:45-51, and Acts 7:51-53). That evil world system was in Paul’s day during Acts, it is here with us at this present moment, and it will be in effect until Christ’s Second Coming in justice and righteousness.

Abel himself is no longer here, Christ Himself is no longer here, Paul himself is no longer here, so sinful men do to us what they cannot do to injure them….

Fill Up That Which is Behind? #3

Thursday, February 9, 2023

“Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church” (Colossians 1:24 KJV).

Did Jesus Christ suffer enough to pay for our sins? Then how can Paul “fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ?”

Observe the circumstances surrounding the conversion of Saul of Tarsus (later the Apostle Paul): “And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks” (Acts 9:1-5).

Saul was abusing Israel’s believing remnant, the Little Flock, the Messianic Church, yet the Lord Jesus said, “Saul, thou art persecuting Me!” Jesus was in Heaven, but His saints were on Earth suffering the pain that sinful man would have inflicted upon Him if He were still present with them. Again, it was not, “Saul, thou art persecuting My people!” Rather, it was, “Saul, thou art persecuting Me!” The Lord is one with His saints.

Later in this chapter, the Lord told Ananias (a member of the Little Flock in Damascus): “Go thy way: for he [Saul/Paul] is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake” (verses 15,16). These “great things he must suffer for my name’s sake” bring us to today’s Scripture. Paul has been in ministry for over 30 years now, suffering for the same Jesus Christ that the Messianic Jews followed when he (Saul) was distressing, torturing, imprisoning, and killing them….