• The Church Of The Book Of Acts Is Not The Church Of The “Great Mystery” (Eph. 5:32) of Today’s Gentile “Dispensation of the Grace of God.”
• The Messianic Church of the Acts Period Did Not Begin At During The Acts Period of The Book Of Acts.

In Acts 7:38, Stephen spoke of it as the “church in the wilderness” at Mt. Sinai, as being “the congregation [or church] of Israel.” The congregation or ‘church of Israel’ in the OT is the assembly or church of Acts period. This church began in the Sinai desert when the children of Israel, liberated from Egyptian bondage, received the Lord’s “commandments” (Read Exodus 19:5-8 below) This congregation remained in effect throughout the 35-year Acts Period, lasting about 1,560 years. The Lord through Moses said;

“Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: ⁶ And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. ⁷And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him. ⁸ And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD.” Exodus 19:5-8 (KJV)

After the end of today’s parenthetical Gentile ‘Dispensation of The Mystery,’ the ‘church of Israel’ and its ministry will be restored and it will last 1,000 years on this present earth during the Millennial reign of Christ. Thus we realize that the Church of Israel in Acts is only one phase of it. It will last thru the history of this earth and then have its place again on the “new earth” as found in Revelation 21. There is no end there.

Now this church of Israel during the Acts period was really the third phase of the Kingdom of [from] Heaven (Matthew 13) and has one phase yet to go before the millennium. That will be a period of 21 years. (This has been further explained in greater detail in the article The Seventy Weeks Of Daniel Nine.) That is why the Lord speaks of a church in Matthew 18:17, another proof that there was a church in NT times before Pentecost. That also explains the church mentioned in Acts 2:47, “And the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved.”

All the ‘churches’ we see in Revelation 1-3 were Jewish synagogues, beginning about 43 A.D. In fact, most of the churches of the Acts period were synagogues except maybe the school mentioned in Acts 19, which was connected in some way to the synagogue.

Also, the congregations in these synagogues were Jews, while believing Gentiles sat outside the main room on one side and the women and children on the other side. Men only of age 12 and over who were circumcised could sit in the congregation. It was somewhat the same in the temple proper, the women had a court, and the Gentiles had their court and the Gentiles dared not to go beyond the wall of partition “under penalty of death.”

When Paul began to preach his “gospel of the grace of God” to Jews and Gentiles in the synagogues; these Gentiles were said to have been ‘wild olive branches grafted into the true olive tree, Israel.’ In so doing, the believing Gentiles could partake of the blessings that were promised to Abraham. Read Romans 11 for some light on this.

So we find a rather strange situation in the synagogues. The apostles of the circumcision had only a message for the Jews. But on the other hand, Paul in Acts had a grace messages for both Jews and Gentiles. But it was all about the Kingdom to come, not some other gospel. The Kingdom was in view as long as Israel was a people.

The divorce of Hosea 3:1-5 finally happened in Acts 28. Since that time, Israel has not been a people. Now, after two days (2 Thousand years) Israel will be restored as we find it in Hosea 6:2. So, Israel, though fallen today (Rom. 11:10-12,15, 25), still has a God ordained future. The promises to Abraham will be fulfilled!

From the dedication of the temple in Jerusalem after the captivity to Babylon, until the birth of Christ was about 401 years. T was a time of silence as far as Scriptures were concerned.

Then from His birth till the beginning of His ministry was 30 years. Jesus’ ministry was preceded by a six months ministry by John the Baptist. Jesus’ ministry was the first sowing in Matthew 13:3-9. Then The Lord's ministry was the second sowing, and it lasted three and half years. Both these sowings brought forth very little harvest. The wayside was not a good place for sowing, nor was stony ground. These two sowings took four years. The Book of Acts was the third sowing, and that was in ‘thorny ground.’ And we see the result was the full “fall of Israel” with the end of the Acts period. It was a field that had to be burnt to get rid of the thorns (Hebrews 6:8), a common practice even today. Note that the fourth sowing is in Revelation 7:1-17, for a great harvest.

Now back to The Book of Acts. The question about establishing The Kingdom as was asked in Acts 1:6. Until the end of Acts that time-period, there was a looking for the coming Kingdom. But it did not come. Israel was not ready. Then finally with the end of Acts, Israel was concluded to have rejected the King and His Kingdom as seen in this parable. “And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. ¹⁴ But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us. Luke 19:13-14 (KJV)

Thus Israel was rejected, and “The Salvation of God was sent to the Gentiles” (Acts 28:25-28). This was the beginning of “THE Great Mystery” (Eph. 5:32) which thill then had been hid for ages and generations. Then, after this Gentile age and program is complete and its “faithful” taken to “appear with Him in [heavens] glory” (Col. 3:1-4), then Israel will again come into view and finish its course unto eternity on earth.

All during Acts, there was a looking for the Messiah, expecting that He would come with millions of angels and that believers would be gathered together and carried into “meet the air [Gk. aer, atmosphere]” (1Thes 4:17) as He descended to the earth to set up His Millennial Kingdom.

Since the prophecy of Daniel 9:24-25 set the date of that coming as of A.D. 85, they would have experienced His 2^nd coming IF Israel accepted the Gospel of the Kingdom as preached by The Twelve and Paul during Acts. During Acts the Jews were still under the law and practiced their rituals and sacrifices as before. But note that the Gentile believers were not obligated to do the deeds of the law as was decided in the Acts 15:6-31 counsel meeting with Paul.

It was plainly brought out in the Acts period Epistles that Israel would someday enjoy The New Jerusalem on the new earth. But even back in the times of Isaiah 1:3, Israel did not know as much as the ox and the ass. By the end of Acts, they do not seem to have learned very much more.

Remember that the four sowings of Matthew 13 were preparatory for the coming Millennial Kingdom. So the coming Kingdom was preached all during the period from Pentecost to Acts 28:27-28. The Romans still accused Paul of preaching, another king than Caesar.

So that generation of Israel missed The Millennium and The New Jerusalem, they so God's program was delayed. That is according to the human standpoint, for God knew what He was doing, but man failed. We know ‘the pitiful church’ we see on earth today will also end in failure. (cf. 2 Timothy 3:1-9).

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. 6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, 7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8 Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. 9 But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.” 2 Timothy 3:1-9 (KJV)

We have already mentioned that the Messianic Church in Acts was the church or congregation of Israel in the wilderness spoken of by Stephen (Acts 7:38). Also, there was a church during the Lord's ministry, the same one (Matthew 18:17). And since Acts is a continuation of the Lord's ministry, there was no new church formed at Pentecost in Acts 2.

All thru Acts, we have mention of prophecies being fulfilled. So then, that Church was founded on the apostles and prophets. But today’s Gentile “Church, which is His body” began at Acts 28:28. Being the church of “the Mystery [Gk. musterion, secret]” it has no part in prophecy, except that it fill the blank in Israel's history (cf. Hosea 6:2).

The message of the apostles during Acts was the same message given to them by the Lord during the 40 days in which He taught them after His Resurrection (Acts 1:3). This instruction was given on a mount of Olives, which was before decided upon as a rendezvous (Matthew 28:16-20). Why go to all this trouble if there was a change at the time of Acts 2? Or even if there was a change in Acts 9, 10, or even 13? Jesus’ message was consistent before and during Acts.

But we discover that the so-called great commission given in Matthew 28:18-20 was for their ministry during the Millennium. In Matthew, the commission was to begin immediately, and the signs would follow, and they did during Acts… but Israel failed and fell in unbelief, so the Kingdom was set aside in abeyance.

Luke’s Gospel records the instruction of the disciples that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, BEGINNING AT JERUSALEM (Luke 24:47). Jesus knew Israel would fail to receive Him and His Kingdom, saying;

“But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall Not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come [again]. Matthew 10:23 (KJV)

When Peter preached at Pentecost, there were Jews from the diaspora nation's present (lands outside of Israel), hearing The Gospel in their own tongues, and they were exhorted to repent. But we do not find anything like this AFTER the Acts period of time.

For The Church After Acts did not have the miracles and signs of The Kingdom, but rather, they knew The Truth concerning “the spiritual Church, which is The Body of Christ.” (cf. Eph. 1:22b-23a) that is destined for “the heavenly places” (Eph. 1:3-4, not earth).

Since the present time is as a ‘parenthesis’ in the timeline of the work of God on earth, we can expect that the Apocalypse (Revelation) should have continued right after Acts. But man’s religious tradition has made such a mess of things, it was necessary to start all over and take the Bible as our only authority.

There were fourteen epistles written during Acts, seven by Paul and seven by the apostles of the circumcision. The theme all thru is that of prophecy and its fulfillment and the coming Millennial Kingdom. The return of the Lord is prominent, and the prophets are quoted to sustain the argument. In fact, it is quite a chore to tabulate all the prophecies quoted or alluded to in the book of Revelation alone.

The Acts of the Apostles, so-called, was written after the events had taken place and is designed to reveal the failure and fall of Israel, then paving the way for the Revelation of The Dispensation of The Mystery by the Apostle Paul soon after the divorce of Israel with Acts 28:28.

The time-period of Acts is from A.D. 29 to 64. This is 35 years, (5 X 7,) which is of prophetic significance and has a part in the prophecy of Daniel 9:25. For that prophecy had to do with the history of Israel from the dedication of the temple in 405 B.C. till the coming of the Lord as mentioned in Revelation 19, a total of 490 years (70 X 7). Daniel dated The 2^nd Coming as being in A.D. 85. But it did not happen. The record we have in Acts falls short of that 490 years by 21 years. And that 21 years have not been fulfilled even today (2025).

This little review can set up a lot of questions. And it can make one wonder when we see all around us indications that the Truth has been ignored and man has set up his own series of events. According to the prophecy, there is no possibility that The Lord could have come and set up His Kingdom before A.D. 85. Yet many seem to think that it could have happened, and may happen at any moment even today. They have no regard for prophecy and its dates.

And so then the great parenthesis of Hosea 6:2 is ignored, and man is still looking for The Kingdom while ignoring and denying The Spiritual Gentile Church of “the Great Mystery,” which is “The Body of Christ.”

Some have a notion that The Church came into being at the time of Acts 13 at Antioch. That was in A.D. 46. Yet the coming of The King is looked for in 1 Thessalonians 4, written in A.D. 53, and in 1 Corinthians 15, written in A.D. 57. There are many more facts that can be brought out along this line, but time and space do not permit the presentation here. Now if people would cease to read all the junk by the so-called ‘Church Fathers and modern theologians’ and turn to The Word of TRUTH, they would be informed. "Don't take it from us; search the Scriptures and see." Just try this rule for once.

Peter was the last to write during the Acts period of time, yet he is looking for The Revelation (Apocalypse). See 1 Peter 1:13 below. He then speaks of priesthood in 1 Peter 2:9 as well as many other expressions that belong to The Kingdom on earth and the churches during Acts.

“Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation (Apocalypse) of Jesus Christ;” 1 Peter 1:13 (KJV)

“But ye [Israel] are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:” 1 Peter 2:9 (KJV)

It is a great surprise to many that during Acts, three of the Gospels were written, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. John was written after the final rejection of Christ by His own, (John 1:11).

“He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” John 1:11 (KJV)

Gentile believers during Acts were not subject to the law. Yet because of the new nature within them, they did the things contained in the law. See Romans 2:14.

“For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:”

These Gentile did not bear fruit, that is, they had no ministry since during the Acts Period “salvation” was still “of the Jews.” These Gentiles were grafted in only to make Israel jealous and bear the fruit they were ordained to bear, but the grafting was a failure.

<> Portions drawn from www.Believer.com .