Sunday, March 14, 2010

Which Commission?



Question: Can you explain these two passages?



Acts 9:15: But the Lord said unto him (Ananias) , Go thy way: for he (Paul) is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel.



Matt. 28:19: Go ye (disciples) therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:



Answer: In Acts 9:15, the Lord states the purpose for His saving Saul/Paul, and that is that He will send Him to the Gentiles (common, regular folks), kings (of the gentile nations), and then lastly the children of Israel (to provoke them to jealousy to get saved...Rom 11:13-14).



This "GRACE Commision" given to Paul is still in effect today, and will be until the rapture. Today, in Paul's absence, we are Christ's Ambassadors (2 Cor 5). This commission supercedes all others in the scriptures at this current time during the Dispensation of Grace.



So when Paul/we "bear His name" to the entire world, we preach Christ according to the revelation of the Mystery that Paul received...Rom 16:25.



That was NOT what Peter/James/John were sent to preach to the gentile world in Mat 28!



Mat 28:19-20...Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.



Notice that these Jewish Apostles were instructed by the Lord to TEACH all nations (gentiles)! Teach them what? "To OBSERVE all things which I have commanded you". What are those things?



The Lord told them earlier in Matthew: Chapter 23: 1-4...Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, Saying The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.



Notice that the things that He taught them to observe were the things that Moses taught Israel in the Law! Moses wrote this also in Deu 6:24-25...And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day. And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.



Notice that Moses said that when Israel observed to do God's Law it would be their righteouness. That NEVER changed with the Lord's earthly ministry! Israel was still under the Law...and in the kingdom, when that great commision begins again, the gentiles/nations will be under that Law as well.



The Lord took this VERY serious: Mat 5:18-19...For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.



Therefore, it will be the job of the Nation of Israel, headed up by the 12 Apostles, to teach all nations the Law...this will happen thruout the earthly kingdom!



Isa 2:1-3...The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

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