(Topic Continued from Part 4 - "The Fellowship of the Mystery")

1. A Second kind of believer today consists of “THEM WHICH SAY THEY ARE JEWS,” and Are NOT,” (Rev 3:9). These are Gentiles and some Jews who today imagine that Israel’s National Kingdom program is still open, supposing that they are to carry out Jesus’ commission that was to be given to Israel regarding the world and ‘the nations.’

They often adhere to various versions of the delusion of ‘replacement theology’ as explained here; https://artlicursi.com/articles/great-error-%E2%80%9Creplacement-theology%E2%80%9D. In summary, they believe in Jesus as ‘Messiah’ rather than Christ as today’s “head” of the Gentile “body of Christ.” So they work at trying to practice some of Israel’s religious rituals and ordinances [i.e., water baptism, communion, women’s head coverings, etc), as if they were Jews (Rev 2:9; Rev. 3:9 below). But to this the Lord would say;

⁹ I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich [with His life]) and I Know The Blasphemy Of THEM WHICH SAY THEY ARE JEWS, And Are NOT, but are the synagogue [assembly] of Satan. Rev. 2:9
⁹ Behold, I will make them of the synagogue [assembly] of Satan, which SAY THEY ARE JEWS, and Are Not, but do Lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet [of Israel], and to know that I have loved thee [Israel]. Revelation 3:9 (KJV)

• The sad part is that they have imagined that their destiny is to have a part in Israel’s Kingdom Reign on earth. These folks are mostly ‘Jesus believers’ unto “everlasting life” as Jesus promised to “whosoever believeth” per John 3:16. But their “dead works” and faith are built on Jesus’ “Gospel of the Kingdom” that Jesus and later ‘the Twelve’ proclaimed ONLY to the Nation ISRAEL (cf. Matt 15:24, Matt. 10:5-6), only before Acts 28:28.
• Then also they know not, and do not fulfill the will of God for today’s Post-Acts Gentile church of “the dispensation of the grace of God” (Eph. 3:2). Thus they do not qualify for ‘heaven’s glory.’

Since Israel is currently “Lo-ammi” and thereby National Israel’s Kingdom is currently closed (not open to anyone today) … these so-called ‘Messianic Jews’ must have their destiny with the ‘first kind of believers’ in Part 4, that is in the Paradise of “the new earth” under Israel’s reign and tutelage (see Part 4, 1.).

3. The Third kind of believer today is of the Gentile “body of Christ’ … destined to dwell eternally in “the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 1:3). They are those who have heard and believed Paul’s Post-Acts ‘complete’ Gospel and they endeavor to “walk” accordingly (cf. Eph. 2:10), during today’s age of the dispensation of “The Fellowship of the Mystery” (Eph. 3:9).

“The Saints, and the Faithful”:

It would also help us to understand the significance of the words of Paul concerning “the saints,” and “the faithful” in Ephesians 1:1. (See https://artlicursi.com/articles/%E2%80%9C-saints%E2%80%9D-and-%E2%80%9C-faithful%E2%80%9D)

¹ Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and [also] to the faithful in Christ Jesus: Ephesians 1:1 (KJV)

Here in Ephesians 1:1 there are two categories of grace-age believers. They all are “the saints” but “the faithful” are the matured and faithful grace believers among the “saints” as referred to in Paul’s first Post-Acts epistle of Ephesians. Both “the saints,” and “the faithful” are saved and have ‘sonship responsibility but only “the faithful” are faithful to their calling as seen by their “walk” of faith. They both were “created unto Good Works which were before ordained that They Should Walk In Them” (cf. Eph. 2:10). So yes, both “the saints” and “the faithful” are among the already saved of this today’s Post-Acts grace-age of “the dispensation of the grace of God” (Eph. 6:2). Yet, as seen below, there is this important distinction between those who are “the saints” and those who would be “the faithful.”

A. The ‘saints’ are those today who have heard and believe Paul’s Post-Acts gospel … BUT They Still “Walk” according to THEIR OWN WILL. Thus, while they are counted as among the grace believing “saints,” but they are not “the faithful” who commit themselves to “walk worthy” of their calling (Eph. 4:1). It is not that these “saints” have rejected the truth, but … they have Neglected The Whole Truth. They, just like “the faithful” were “created unto Good Works which were before ordained that They Should Walk In Them” (Eph. 2:10)

Sadly, this is the prevailing condition of many Post-Acts 28 grace-believing Christians today. Many people who believe unto salvation and the “blessed hope” of heaven’ (Titus 2:5) but they are too satisfied to walk as ‘self-governing independent souls’ never growing ‘the faith’ that Paul shares in his seven Post-Acts Epistles for the members of the invisible Gentile “the church” that he calls “the body of Christ.” Therefore they never come to soul-rest by entrusting their whole existence (life, death, and eternal life) to Christ.

It appears from 2Tim. 2:12 (below) that these who neglect trusting in Christ’s life within them, choosing rather to live by their own self-will, will “appear with Him in glory,” but … they will not “REIGN with Him” in “the heavenly places.”

¹² If We Suffer [endure in faith], we shall also REIGN WITH HIM: if we deny him, he also will deny us [from that reigning]: 2 Timothy 2:12 (KJV)

B. Alternatively, there are “the faithful” who see “the revelation of the mystery,” believing Paul’s complete Post-Acts gospel concerning “the mystery [secret]” of the Gentile church of the “One body” of Christ. They endeavor to “walk worthy” of their calling (Eph. 4:1). Thus, they are counted as among “the faithful” who enjoy;

“… the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: ¹⁸ the eyes of [their] understanding [have been] ENLIGHTENED; that ye [they] may KNOW what is THE HOPE OF HIS CALLING, and what THE RICHES OF THE GLORY OF HIS INHERITANCE IN THE SAINTS, ¹⁹ And what is The Exceeding Greatness Of His Power To Us-Ward Who Believe, according to the working of his mighty power” Ephesians 1:18-19 (KJV)

Paul’s words of 2 Timothy 2:12 (above) tell us some (not all) of Paul’s Post-Acts gospel believers willingly ‘suffer’ and endure in their walk in faith. They, being trained in the faith while here on earth, will “reign with Him [Christ]” (2Tim. 2:12) in “the heavenly places” (Eph. 1:3).

⁴ When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in [heaven’s] glory. Colossians 3:4 (KJV)

CAUTION: Even Paul was for a time uncertain (cf. Phil. 3:13) that he would be of those who obtain “the prize of the high calling” (Phil. 3:14) until he neared his end on earth. We also we ought to live day to day trusting the Lord to have His way in our lives, so as not to live as self-seeking selves, thinking ‘we have arrived.’ For He is ever The Potter and we are ‘the clay.’ Our eternal destiny is in His Grace-filled loving hands.

Some might ask, “Well then, what of the other various categories the believers of all ages as to their eternal destiny? I answer that in the ADDENDUM below.

ADDENDUM: Considering the Categories of Believers Who Will Populate “THE NEW EARTH.”

1. The Physically ALIVE Believers of Israel who Survive the Tribulation and Millennium will live on into the “eternal Kingdom” on “the new earth” in their human bodies. There will be no more sorrow, pain, or death (cf. Rev. 21:4). There human bodies will eat and drink, partaking of the water of “the River of Life” and eat of “the Tree of Life” on either side of “the River of Life” which is for “the healing of the Nations [the living human, non-Jew believers]” as it that flows out from “the Throne of God and the Lamb” on “the new earth.”

¹ And he shewed me [John] a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. ² In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations [the non-Israelites believers]. Revelation 22:1-2 (KJV)

2. Then of course the Nation Israel’s ‘faithful DEAD’ of ‘Time Past through the Acts period,’ as well as Israel’s Tribulation ‘martyrs,’ will be resurrected in their spirit-bodies [like Jesus’ resurrection body] to go on into Millennium Kingdom and on into the “eternal kingdom” of “the new earth” to reign and serve as “the Priests of God” on earth (Priests of God: cf. Rev. 1:6, 5:10, 20:4-6, 1Peter 2:9).
3. It is only after the 1,000-year Millennial Reign of Christ that the NON-ISRAELITE O.T. believers who lived BEFORE the Nation Israel was brought into being with Exo, 19:5, are to be ‘awakened to life’ on “the new earth.” This would include Adam, Noah, and many others who eventually believed and obeyed God’s words to them in their time… before Abraham and the knowledge of the Cross.
4. Then also all the minimalist “whosoever believers” of Jesus’ Jn. 3:16 gospel, since that time until today, are Neither of Israel Nor of “His Body.” They are destined to dwell in the “PARADISE’ of “The New Earth” under the Kingdom reign and the tutelage of Israel (cf. Isa. 49:6), along with the believing ‘thief on the cross’ who was specifically promised “PARADISE” (Luke 23:42-43).

NOTE: I realize I’ve said a lot here and I may not have every detail noted in Parts 4 & 5 stated exactly correctly, so please feel free to contact me with your comments. Also, realize that only the Lord’s Spirit can bring any of us “the revelation of the mystery [secret].” This is why even the mighty Paul prayed for revelation for the Ephesian saints.