J. C. O’Hair – Berean Bible Church – Edgewater, Florida
Preaching the Grace of God
From the King James Bible – Dispensationally Delivered
Read 1 Corinthians 12:8 – 11; 12:28 – 1 Corinthians 13:8 – 13; Acts 28:31

Note Acts 28:25 to 28; "And when they (the Jews) agreed not among themselves they departed after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spoke the Holy Ghost by Isaiah the prophet unto our fathers. Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand With their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it."

These are the words given by God to His faithful servant Isaiah several centuries before Christ uttered the same words in Matthew 13:14 and 15. Read John 12:37 to 41. It was in Isaiah that we have the question, "Who hath believed our report?" (Isaiah 53).

Israel was in a very low spiritual state at the time Isaiah confessed for them. (Isaiah 6: 5). Israel was a people of unclean lips. Then followed God s awful judgment.

Later on they went deeper into sin until finally the awful sin of Manasseh, who reigned as the most wicked of all kings for fifty-five years. Read 2 Kings 21:1 and 2. Soon thereafter God said, in so many words, Politically, from now on, Israel, you are going to be under heathen government." God turned Israel over to Gentiles' political government. But spiritually Israel remained the children of the Kingdom. (Matthew 8: 12).

In Act 28:25 to 28, where Isaiah 6:9 is quoted, God said, to Israel, in so many words, spiritually, from now on, you will be subject to Gentile government. This is the message of Romans 11:11 - 32.

This turning from Israel to Gentiles was gradual. (Acts 13:4.6, 18:6 - Romans 11:11, 25, 26, 30.).

It marked the beginning of something very special for Gentiles.

There was a definite break with Israel in Romans 11:5 to 11 and a most radical change right after the pronouncement of Acts 28:25 to 28. Then God's order was no longer "to the Jews first." (Romans 1:16).

After that pronouncement Paul Wrote in detail concerning the eternal purpose of God, the truth concerning the hope and calling and inheritance of members of the Body of Christ; God's own secret, "the dispensation of the mystery."

This mystery is referred to, before the close of Acts, in 1Corinthians 2:6 and 7 - Romans 8:28 to 32 - Romans 16:25 and 26 - Romans 12:4 and 5. But the clear revelation was not written until after the close of Acts in Paul's prison Epistles; Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, 2Timothy (and perhaps two or three of his other Epistles were written after the close of Acts).

After the pronouncement upon Israel quoted from Isaiah 6:9 to 12 God changed His spiritual program.

But now let us very seriously, consider this question - What was the Lord’s purpose in bringing the Book of Acts to such a sudden ending?

In 2Timothy 4:11, Paul wrote at the end of his ministry on earth, "Luke is with me." Luke wrote the Book of Acts. In the last sixteen chapters of the Book of Acts Paul is mentioned more than 130 times. In fact, those sixteen chapters record only the sayings and acts of Paul and such other people as had dealings with the apostle Paul, who wrote about half of the Books of the New Testament Scriptures, and who used the first person pronoun in referring to himself about one thousand times.

The Epistles of Paul written after the close of Acts reveals the eternal purpose of God, God’s Masterpiece, the Church, one flesh with Christ, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, with different gifts and a different order. The Body of Ephesians and Colossians is the same Church as Romans 12: 4 and 5 and 1Corinthians 12:13, but with neither signs nor religion.