Originally posted by Mr. John
...an earthly kingdom promised to Israel...
Note that the church will rule on the earth during the millennium:
"And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father... He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches" (Revelation 2:26, 27, 29).
"We shall reign on the earth" (Revelation 5:10).
"They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years" (Revelation 20:4).
"Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5).
Note that the land covenant is for all those in Christ: "I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land" (Genesis 17:8); "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ... And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Galatians 3:16, 29).
So that the land of Israel will be divided among both Jews and Gentiles in the millennium: "So shall ye divide this land unto you according to the tribes of Israel. And it shall come to pass, that ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you, and to the strangers that sojourn among you, which shall beget children among you: and they shall be unto you as born in the country among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. And it shall come to pass, that in what tribe the stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith the Lord GOD" (Ezekiel 47:21-23).
"Many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto thee" (Zechariah 2:11).
I believe Jesus and Paul preached the gospel of the kingdom:
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God" (Matthew 6:33).
"That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom" (1 Thessalonians 2:12).
"Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3).
"Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Corinthians 15:50).
"The kingdom of God is... righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Romans 14:17).
"Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom" (Colossians 1:13).
"I [Paul] have gone preaching the kingdom of God" (Acts 20:25).
"Paul... received all that came in unto him, preaching the kingdom of God" (Acts 28:30-31).
"We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22).
"That ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God" (2 Thessalonians 1:5).
"Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:8).
Originally posted by Mr. John
...water baptism...
Note that the apostles had new believers baptized:
Jesus: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Matthew 28:19).
Peter: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins" (Acts 2:38); "Baptism doth also now save us" (1 Peter 3:21); "Can any man forbid water, that these [Gentiles] should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?" (Acts 10:47).
Paul: "One Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Ephesians 4:5); "We are buried with him by baptism" (Romans 6:4); "Buried with him in baptism" (Colossians 2:12); "As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Galatians 3:27); "And many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized" (Acts 18:8); "When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 19:5); "And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway" (Acts 16:33); "And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there" (Acts 16:15); "I baptized also the household of Stephanas" (1 Corinthians 1:16).
Originally posted by Mr. John
...The gentiles had no claims on God...
Note that the gospel has always included the Gentiles:
"Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15); "the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister" (Colossians 1:23).
"In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed" (Genesis 22:18, 26:4); "and the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed" (Galatians 3:8); "And [Jesus] said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations" (Luke 24:46-47).
"And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth" (Isaiah 49:6); "I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come: That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles" (Acts 26:22-23); "for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles" (Luke 2:30-32); "and in his name shall the Gentiles trust" (Matthew 12:21).
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
"Simeon [Peter] hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things" (Acts 15:14-17).
"I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation" (Deuteronomy 32:21); "I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you" (Romans 10:19); "as he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God" (Romans 9:25-26).
"I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh" (Joel 2:28); "I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh" (Acts 2:17).
Originally posted by Mr. John
...Jesus was sent unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel...
"Jesus should die for that nation; And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad" (John 11:52); "Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd" (John 10:16), "one body, and... one Lord" (Ephesians 4:4-5).
Originally posted by Mr. John
...Paul was the apostle to the gentiles...
Note that Paul preached the gospel also to the circumcised throughout his ministry, both before and after Acts 15 (Acts 13:16-39; Acts 14:1; Acts 17:1-4; Acts 17:10-12; Acts 17:17; Acts 18:4-8; Acts 18:19), as was ordained by Christ from the beginning of his ministry: "He is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel" (Acts 9:15).
"Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience" (Acts 13:16); "Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent" (Acts 13:26); "Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses" (Acts 13:38-39).
"And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed" (Acts 14:1).
"They came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ. And some of them believed" (Acts 17:1-4).
"And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed" (Acts 17:10-12).
"Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews" (Acts 17:17).
"He reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ... And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house" (Acts 18:4-5, 8). "And he came to Ephesus, and... entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews" (Acts 18:19).
Originally posted by Mr. John
...Israel being set aside...
"Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in" (Romans 11:25).
Note that it is only a blindness "in part" that has come upon physical Israel, for the church was begun by Israelites: "For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin" (Romans 11:1), and there still are a great many Jewish believers today: "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:13).