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I have recently been looking at Companion Appendix 180 and particulaly 192.
Appendices of the Companion Bible
The thought that struck me is in the last chapter of Acts, where Paul pronounced the blindness curse
for the seventh and final time in the NT onthe Jews. This was apparently just a year or so from the final destruction of Jerusalem
in AD 70, which was also the end of the (traditional) 40 years given by God since the rejection of His Son. This also (as
I have posted before), finishes the 70 weeks of Daniel 9.
The amazing thing is, according to the chronology of the
referenced appendices, there are 7 epistles of Paul written to the Jews before Acts 28:28, and seven written later. The seven
early ones are:
1&2 Thess, Heb, 1&2 Cor, Rom and Gal.
The later are: Col, Phillipians, Philemon, 1&2
Tim, Titus and Eph.
These latter appear to be an example of progressive revelation, for the following reasons.
1)
There is little doubt that Paul and everyone else prior to ACTS 28:28 believed in the imminent return of Christ. Some of those
verses are so absolute that they have made some people question the accuracy of scripture, and others to develop the 'rapture'
and any 'moment' stuff.
So, why didn't He come as promised? Was the Holy Spirit lying? God forbid! The answer to this
puzzle is very simple. We are told in MT 23:39, LK 13:35, 2COR 3:16 and ACTS 3:19-21 that this promise was (and, still is)
conditional upon Israel's acceptance of Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah. The knowledge of this fact solves a lot of problems.
It explains why the gentiles were grafted into Israel to provoke them to jealousy. ROM 11:11, It also explains why Paul went
to the Jews first and the 12 went exclusively to the Jews.
2, Thus Israel got their 40 year trial period (the book
of Acts) and failed. When Paul preached to the Jews in Rome in ACTS 28, Jesus Christ had been preached to all of the then
inhabited world. At that point, Israel was no longer the Israel of God and the Savior was sent to the heathen gentiles.
Using
this understanding, one can see a little further and avoid some confusion. For example, looking at why Paul says to keep the
ordinances in 1COR 11:2 and yet, tells you that they have been done away with in EPH 2:15, COL 2:14 and COL 2:20 makes a little
more sense to me now.
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