787 - Les Feldick Bible Study - Lesson 2 Part 3 Book 66 - But God! (Confirming the Promises) - 3

https://lesfeldickbiblestudy.com Through the Bible with Les Feldick LESSON 2 * PART 3 * BOOK 66 BUT GOD! (Confirming the Promises) - 3 MATTHEW 16:15 – But whom say ye that I am? My, we just have a good time at these tapings. Again, in case we have new listeners, we’d like to you to know that we’re totally independent. We’re not beholden to any denomination or organization, we just simply want to teach the Word, and we’re not concerned about where it falls or who it approaches, but to get you into the Book, that’s the name of the game. Okay, let’s go back to the concept we have been talking about for the last two programs. That when Peter said in Matthew 16, "Thou art the Christ the Son of the Living God," he had no concept yet of a crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection. Nor of going to the Gentile world, unless it could be through the King and the earthly Kingdom when every Jew would become a priest of Jehovah and would therein turn to the Gentile world. But that is completely out of their thinking. Everything is still Jewish. It’s still connected to the "promises made to the fathers." Now, we’re going to jump on up past His crucifixion and His resurrection and we’re going to come in at Acts. He has now just spent 40 days with the Eleven. We always tell people that if you want to get a glimpse of our resurrection existence, go and read the account of His forty days after resurrection. You’ll get a pretty good picture of what kind of a body we’ll have. Paul confirms it in Philippians when he says what? "And we’ll have a body fashioned after His glorious body." But all right, Acts chapter 1 and let’s start at verse 3. We’re going to continue on this premise that Peter had an understanding, now, that Jesus was the fulfillment of all of these Old Testament promises concerning Israel. All right, in Acts chapter 1 verse 3, it’s at the end of His forty days after His resurrection. "To whom also he showed himself (That is to the eleven apostles.) alive after his passion (That is His death, burial, and resurrection.) by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:" Well, it’s like we’ve got it on the board, the Kingdom of God is the overall influence of God’s righteous rule and control of the universe and of the heavenlies, the angelic hosts, the Old Testament believers, and believers in the Body of Christ. You and I know who are in the Kingdom by virtue of being in the Body of Christ, but the Body of Christ is still unknown here. So, all they could talk about was the Kingdom of God in generalities and this coming Kingdom of Heaven on the earth as we see in the left-hand circle. All right, that’s what they talked about for forty days. They didn’t talk about the Body of Christ or going to the Gentiles, that’s still an unknown factor. All right now let’s get to verse 6. If you don’t think these men were human and mortal and just as ordinary in their ambitions, then you’d better read verse 6. "When they therefore were come together, they asked of him (The Lord Jesus in His resurrected body, remember.) saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" I think they had an understanding that Christ had to die. He had to be the atoning blood. He had to be the sacrifice for sin so far as Israel was concerned, but to understand that it was for the whole world, no, I don’t think they had that yet. Everything in their thinking concerns their own Nation of Israel. So they ask Him, "Are you ready now to bring in this promised Earthly Kingdom?" The same kingdom that we’ve been talking about for the last two or three programs. Look at the Lord’s answer. He doesn’t ridicule them. "And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power." It’s not for you to know when. That’s in the power of the Father. All right, but just to get an inkling of why these men were so anxious to get an affirmative answer that the Kingdom was about to come in, go back with me to Matthew chapter 19. I know we’ve done this way, way back, and some of this is repetition, but you’ve got to realize that’s the way we learn. Over and over and over again. Matthew 19, drop in at verse 27. Now this, of course, is back before the crucifixion, back in His earthy ministry. Matthew 19:27 "Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?" Now see, he’s not talking about salvation. He’s got that. That was confirmed already back in the first half hour that we looked at, when Jesus said, "Blessed art thou Simon Bar-jona, flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but the Father, which is in heaven." So Peter, and we trust the other ten, had that salvation, because they believed without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus was the Messiah. #LesFeldick #BibleStudy #Bible