 |  |
"I am Jesus Whom thou persecutest. But rise, and stand upon thy feet, for I have
appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness BOTH of
these things which thou hast seen, AND of those things in the which I WILL APPEAR
UNTO THEE, delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, UNTO WHOM
NOW I SEND THEE" (26: 15-17).
Here is a two-fold ministry. The one, a testimony of the things which he had seen
(see 22: 14, 15), the other, a testimony of those things which the Lord promised He
would at some future date reveal to the apostle.
A.--I see this plainly enough, but I fail to see what difference it can make to us.
B.--Well, turn to Acts 28: 17-31. There the chief of the Jews came to Paul's lodging
and for a whole day the apostle testified the kingdom of God, persuading them
concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, but they would
not accept the testimony. "One word" said the apostle is fulfilled in you, that word being
Isa. 6: 10, when blindness settled down upon the people of Israel.
All through the Acts Israel are still a people before God. Miracles are everywhere the
accompaniment and confirmation of the apostle's witness, but at this point Israel pass off
the scene. Miracles cease. "The salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles" (28: 28).
A new dispensation begins, and Paul the prisoner becomes the vessel through whom
hitherto unrevealed blessings to the Gentiles are for the first time made known.
A.--How do you prove that?
B.--There are a set of epistles known by some as "The Prison Epistles", because in them
the apostle alludes to his bonds or imprisonment.
A.--What are the names of these epistles?
B.--They are Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and II Timothy. There the references to
the prison are vitally connected with the apostle's new ministry, as can be seen by turning
to Ephesians:--
"For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if ye have heard of
the dispensation of the grace of God which is given to you-ward, how that by revelation
He made known unto me the mystery . . . . . unto me who am less than the least of all
saints is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches
of Christ, and to make all men see what is the dispensation (R.V.) of the mystery, which
since the ages hath been hid in God" (Eph. 3: 1-9).
Here is a prisoner, "For you Gentiles". Here is a dispensation, "The grace of God
which is given me to you-ward". Here is a mystery, revealed for the first time. For the
"mystery of the gospel" the apostle was an ambassador in bonds (Eph. 6: 19, 20). This
new dispensation of the mystery was for the Church which is His Body (Col. 1: 24-26).
This second ministry of the apostle fulfilled his ardent desires expressed in Acts 20: 24:--