A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF (THE APOCALYPSE OF JESUS CHRIST) BOOK OF REVELATION, Part III
The following is copied from Bullinger, E.W. (2011-08-21). The Apocalypse or “The Day of The Lord”: Commentary on Revelation (Kindle Locations 402-404, 414-421). Trumpet Press. Kindle Edition.
THE CHURCH NOT THE SUBJECT OF OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
“Closely connected with this foregoing point, that the book (revelation) is Hebrew in character, and intended specially for Hebrews, is another undoubted fact, that the Church of God is not the subject of the Old Testament , either in history, type, or prophecy. Passages, etc., may be found there and used to illustrate what is subsequently revealed. But this can be done only by way of application, and not by way of teaching or of interpretation. Because, of the “Mystery” or the secret concerning the Church of God, we are told that it “was kept secret since the world began” (Rom. xvi. 25). That “in other ages it was not made known unto the sons of men” (Eph. iii. 5). That is, “from the beginning of the world, hath been hid in God” (Eph. iii. 9). That it “hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to the saints” (Col. i. 26). These statements are “the true sayings of God,” and not our own. We have no choice but to believe what He says. If any hold that, in spite of all this, the Church was not “hid in God,” but was the subject of Old Testament prophecy, then we have nothing more to say to them; for, if they will not believe God, it is not likely they will believe us.
But, believing God, we ask whether the Church is likely to be the subject of prophecy in the Apocalypse, especially when its future is clearly foretold in the Epistles which contain the revelation of the Secret. There we learn what is to be the future and end of the Body of Christ. The members of that Body are merely waiting to be “received up in glory” (1 Tim. iii. 16). They are waiting for their “calling on high” (Phil. iii. 14). They are looking for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change their vile bodies that they may be fashioned like unto His own glorious body (Phil. iii. 20, 21). But all this, we submit, takes place before the Apocalypse opens. There we have, not the coming of the Lord to take away His Church, but, the revelation of the events which shall take place after the Church has been “received up in glory.” These events will take place during “the day of the LORD,” when He shall come not in grace, but in judgement; not in mercy, but in wrath. But this brings us to our fourth point. What is the meaning of “the Lord’s Day,” in chap. i. 9?”–end quote
How could this be, you might ask? It’s really quite simple.When we choose to believe Romans 16:25, Ephesians 3:5, 9 and Colossians 1:26–-that this day and age in which we currently live was kept secret by God from everyone, from every preceding prophet—how could there be any prophecies concerning this time? There cannot be and there is not.one single Old Testament prophecy, which includes the 4 Gospels, that concerns the Church of God which no one prior knew anything about. As Mr. Bullinger says in the last sentence of the 1st paragraph, if you won’t believe what God said in the Epistles about the Secret, you more than likely will not believe me!
God bless!
Illustrations by Rev. Clarence Larkin who died 90 years ago, which represent Oikonemia in Scripture
This picture represents what the prophets (including Jesus Christ) could see and know from the Scriptures. As you can see here the Prophets could not know or understand anything about the Church Age because God kept it a Secret from everyone until it was revealed to Paul and the other Apostles by the ascended Christ.
Rom 16:25-27
And to Him who is able to establish you, according to my good news, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the secret, in the times of the ages having been kept silent,
26 and now having been made manifest, also, through prophetic (Christian) writings, according to a command of the age-during God, having been made known to all the nations for obedience of faith —
27 to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to him [be] glory to the ages. Amen.
YLT
Eph 3:3-5
3 that by revelation He made known to me the secret, according as I wrote before in few [words] —
4 in regard to which ye are able, reading [it], to understand my knowledge in the secret of the Christ,
5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it was now revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the spirit —
YLT
1 Cor 2:7-8
7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a musterion, secret, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
KJV
This one represents the Church of the Body of Christ versus the Kingdom of God and Christ. The resulting affect of this hidden wisdom is that the coming Kingdom which Jesus and the apostles expected soon after his ascension, would be put on hold or held in abeyance. As you can see, the Kingdom most Christians speak about as if it existed today, will not exist until after the Great Tribulation. As for now, Jesus is our Lord, not our king.
2 Peter 3:14-18
Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, 15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
NASU
This revelation is NOT to be ignored; you do so at your own destruction.
Will you be found blameless?
Are you among the untaught (unteachable) and unstable?
Are you being lead astray by the error of unprincipled men?
Are you growing in knowledge as well as grace?
The Mystery (Secret) Revealed (a solved mystery is no longer)
When Jesus taught his disciples how to pray (what has become known as the Lord’s Prayer), he prayed for God’s kingdom to come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. THIS PRAYER HAS YET TO BE ANSWERED! When Jesus prayed this prayer he did not know about the Secret which God kept hidden from everyone from the foundation of the world. This secret was first revealed to the Apostle Paul and the other Christian Apostles and Prophets.
Rom 16:25-27
25 Now to him that is able to establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which hath been kept secret since the world began,
26 But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:
27 To God the only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.
WebsterEph 3:1-5
3 For this cause, I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you the nations (Gentiles),
2 if, indeed, ye did hear of the dispensation of the grace of God that was given to me in regard to you,
3 that by revelation He made known to me the secret, according as I wrote before in few [words] —
4 in regard to which ye are able, reading [it], to understand my knowledge in the secret of the Christ,
5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it was now revealed to His holy apostles and prophets (Christian) in the Spirit —
YLT
Since then, very few people have taken notice of it, especially The Church. God kept it a secret for over 4,000 years and virtually no one in the church today can tell you what it was, let alone it’s significance. Practically everything being taught today about the Kingdom of God as it relates to the church of the Body of Christ is FALSE, DEVILISH and COUNTERFEIT, and sickening, to everyone who knows and understands the Secret of Romans 16:25,26; Eph 3:1-9 and Col 1:25-29.
The devil has had about 2,000 years to eradicate its knowledge and has done a marvelous job. The Kingdom of God and of Christ is in the FUTURE, not now! Jesus is not now ruling as King of kings! If he is, he is certainly not doing a very good job! The late Apostle Frederick Price said last Sunday, “if God Almighty is controlling the world, as most Christians think he is, I don’t want to go to Heaven!” If what we see in the world today is a reflection of God’s way of doing things, then what could there possibly be to look forward to? This is not the Kingdom of God! We, Christians, aren’t building any such thing. We are building the Body of Christ.
1 Corinthians 12:27-30
27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
28 And God has appointed in the church, ekklesia, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.
29 Are all apostles? (no) Are all prophets? (no) Are all teachers? (no) Do all work miracles? (all can)
30 Do all possess gifts of healing? (no, but many do) Do all speak with tongues? (no, but all can) Do all interpret? (no, but all can).Ephesians 4:1-8
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,
2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 There is one body and one spirit–just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call–
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men…..” ESV4:11-16
11 And he gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers,
12 to equip the holy ones (us) for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
13 until we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the extent of the full stature of Christ,
14 so that we may no longer be infants, tossed by waves and swept along by every wind of teaching arising from human trickery, from their cunning in the interests of deceitful scheming.
15 Rather, living the truth in love, we should grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ,
16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, with the proper functioning of each part, brings about the body’s growth and builds itself up in love. NAB
This is what Christians should be doing, not being kingdom builders! What is it going to take to wake you up? Take a look again at the prayer Jesus taught his Jewish followers to pray: “Our Father who art in heaven.” God’s kingdom is in heaven where he is! Jesus taught them to pray for God’s kingdom to come to earth and now Christian’s pray it every Sunday. If it’s already here, why continue to pray for it to come? Makes no sense.
One of the greatest mistranslations of most translators, has been the Greek word musterion. The problem is it was not translated at all, it was merely transliterated into a similar English word. This word is used throughout the Church Epistles of Paul given by revelation from Jesus himself. These Church Epistles serve as the new doctrine for correct believing for the church today. The transliteration of musterion into mystery was purely satanic, in that it has lead believers to understand that there are some things concerning God that are just unable to be understood. Nothing could be further from the truth. The actual translation of this word is “secret.” It does not regard a secret that any man kept, but one which God kept from the foundation of the world. You and I both know, that a secret between 2 people is one of the hardest things to keep. Deep down inside we are just dying to tell someone else or in some cases, we forget it is a secret over time, and it inadvertently slips out.
Since this was a secret that God kept, it is considered by some a Sacred Secret. No one else, including God’s only Son knew about it. Jesus was not told the secret until he had ascended into Heaven. Soon after he was told this secret, he chose a man named Saul who was a very religious Jew to reveal it to. Saul was so religious he was legally killing followers of Jesus Christ because he believed they were heretics. He was present at the stoning to death of Stephen; he gave the consent for it to be done.
Romans is the first Doctrinal Epistle written directly to believers in Jesus Christ of this Age. As I cited previously, Ro 16:25-26 says, “Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery (the secret) which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the (Christian) prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith; NASU
Here we see that this sacred secret was first revealed to Paul for our obedience of true faith and became known as his gospel. Two of the most important words used in his letters the the Church are the words “according to.” When you read these words pay close attention because our lives are to be patterned accordingly. You will see that Paul’s gospel is actually the true gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I will leave you with further evidence of this secret revealed from the epistle to the Colossians vss 1:24-29
24 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and do fill up the things lacking of the tribulations of the Christ in my flesh for his body, which is the assembly (improperly translated Church),
25 of which I — I did become a ministrant according to the dispensation of God, that was given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God,
26 the secret that hath been hid from the ages and from the generations, but now was manifested to his saints,
27 to whom God did will to make known what is the riches of the glory of this secret among the nations — which is Christ in you, the hope of the glory,
28 whom we proclaim, warning every man, and teaching every man, in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus,
29 for which also I labour, striving according to his working that is working in me in power.
We are now living during this administration of God, just as we are living during the Trump administration. One being spiritual in nature and the other physically. There is nothing more important in the Word of God to understand for the believer than that the Epistles of Paul were written according to revelation from Jesus Christ, making them our supreme guide for faith and practice. There are no mysteries in the Bible at all, just misunderstandings. God bless.
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