The Patriarchal Age
David Hill

If one is to be a true Bible student he/she must understand the Bible ages.   The first is the Patriarchal Age.  This is the time from the beginning of man (Gen. 1:27; 2:7) and extending to the receiving of the Law by Moses in Exodus 20.  It was a time characterized by God speaking to the fathers (Heb. 1:1).  Job is also believed to be a man out of the Patriarchy because (for one) no other references are given by Job to a governing law of God (law of Moses, etc.) in the book of Job.

The Patriarchal Age was a time of beginnings.  It was the beginning and development of the world, man and the building of societies.  Thus, it would appear to be a time of preparing, and that is exactly what is indicated in some of the references from the time (Gen. 2:24; 3:15; 12:1-3; 45:5; 50:20).  It was a time to prepare for the coming Law of Moses, a time of beginning preparation for the coming Christ and time of promise.  Who were some of the great patriarchs?  Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses.  Moses, of course, was a transitional man from one age to the next.

There is great misuse and misunderstanding of the Bible and its application to today.  Many will go to the prophets of old and cite incorrectly supposed end of time prophecy.  Much of this is heard today.  Many go to the Old Testament to try to establish the use of instrumental music in worship, but it is improper and wrong to do such (Heb. 8:13; 9:1f; 10:9). As to the patriarchs, some do misuse and abuse the writings of the patriarchy but not seemingly as much as others parts of the Old Testament.  Perhaps the greatest misuse in today’s time is the attempt by some to justify and condone the Muslim religion as descending from Abraham through Ishmael (Gen. 17:20) just as Christianity descended through Isaac.  God said through the apostle Paul, if you are “Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise,” (Gal. 3:29).  God’s promise was to Abraham’s seed through Isaac (Gen. 17:19) not through Ishmael (Gen. 16:12).  And Ishmael’s race, the Arab people, are still basically the same as prophesied (Gen. 16:12).  The only thing that will change them is obedience to the Gospel of Christ, which will make them heirs to God’s promise.  In the first century it has been reported that a lot of Christian activity took place in the country now known as Iraq.  That would mean that the Lord’s church had a presence there at one time.  It’s too bad that the teaching failed to be passed to future generations.

A fellow once said to me, “We don’t believe the old Bible, do we?”   And the man was a Sunday school teacher!  Yes, I believe every word of the Old Testament (II Tim. 3:16; II Pet. 1:20-21).  The fact is the laws are no longer applicable because we are under a new and better law (Heb. 8:6).  I do believe this is what the man meant but spoke it all wrong.  God no longer speaks to and through the fathers directly (Heb. 1:2), but speaks to us through His son Jesus Christ and His New Testament.  The Bible is complete and able to furnish us unto every good work (II Tim. 3:15-17).

One important feature of the Patriarchal Age is that one can study and learn much about the mind of God as is revealed in His direct dealings with His people (Rom. 15:4).  It reveals that God has always been very serious about His worship (Gen. 4:1-13), and He has always demanded that mankind worship His (God’s) way.  Another important revelation is the institution of the home (Gen. 2:24).  Jesus further revealed that God’s plan was to have been just as in the beginning (Matt. 19:8), which was and is now to be one man for one woman for a lifetime.  Any perversion of this plan was and is unacceptable (Gen. 19; Rom. 1:25-28).  God expected honest, fair dealings from His people.   The life of the honored man of faith, Abraham, reveals this.  God’s providence can be seen in the life of Joseph and Job.  There are so many great lessons to be learned from this historical age.

Keep studying from the “old Bible."  There is much to be learned and gleaned from this historic section of Scriptures.

Editorial

There are those who continue to teach that alien sinners are not subject to the last will and testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  They tell us that a man or woman can be married as many times as they wish before they are baptized, but when they become Christians, they must keep the party they are married to at the time they obey the gospel.  This doctrine comes from varied background such as the Bales doctrine, the Olan Hicks doctrine, the Fuqua doctrine, and some mixed in between.

Those who hold this view have some kind of a moral law from God floating around.  They often use the phrase, “the law of sin and death” when referring to those who have never obeyed the gospel.  They teach that one cannot be an assembly-forsaker, a fornicator, a liar, an idolater, an adulterer, effeminate, a homosexual, a thief, a covetous man, a drunkard, a reviler or an extortioner, until he obeys the gospel.  They talk about covenant and non-covenant passages in the Bible.  But where do we read about covenant and non-covenant passages in the Bible?  This kind of talk originated with man and not with God.

Some food for thought along this line and our consideration.  A man from Russia is under American law as long as he is in America.  If he murders a man while in America, then he is a murderer. Even though he is not an American, he is still subject to American law.  If a man from China comes to America for a visit and should he rape an innocent person, then he is held accountable for what he has done by American law even though he is not a citizen of America.  A man in the world who steals is a thief and is condemned because he is accountable to the law of Christ.  Some would have us believe that alien sinners are not and cannot be subject to the law of Christ.  If this is so, then how could one ever become a Christian?

Now back to what I like to call this floating moral law that shrouds the entire earth and holds all aliens accountable to God.  Where did this law come from?  Is it a written law from God?  If so, where can it be found?  If it is not a written law, then how do we know that there is such a law from God?  If it is only known as the law of sin and death, then what sin or sins?  Is it composed of such sins as lying, stealing, fornication, idolatry, adultery, etc.?  If it is different from the moral laws of the Christians, then how does it differ from the moral laws of the Christians?  What other moral laws could there be other than those mentioned in the Bible?  If God gave “ the law of sin and death” (according to those who espouse it) and it is for sinners, then why did God not just let the moral laws of the Christian apply?  If God could make that one apply to alien sinners, then He could make the moral laws of the New Testament binding on alien sinners, could He not?  Actually, God did make the moral laws of the New Testament binding on every accountable person on the face of the earth.

Now let us consider the law of sin and death as found in the Bible.  Those who try to establish this floating law of sin and death quote Romans 8:2 where it talks about the law of sin and death.  We would like to see someone list the various sins that make up and compose the law of sin and death.  Let us see what some very excellent Bible scholars have to say about the law of sin and death.  John Wesley says, “It is the law of Moses.”   E. W. Bullinger says, “The Law brought the knowledge of sin; and its wages—death.  But the work of the Holy Spirit has freed me from that Law, and has given me a new nature, by which I serve and obey Him from a totally different motive.”   Bullinger says the law of sin and death refers to the Law of Moses.  Guy N. Woods says, “Despite the fact that good and great men have thought otherwise, I believe it to be the Law of Moses.” We have checked many different scholars and not a one believes the law of sin and death to be a universal floating law for alien sinners separate and apart from the Bible.  This is the heart and core of what Jack Evans, Sr., and James Maxwell of Southwestern Christian College in Terrell, Texas, teach and debate.  What they teach would permit men and women to live in adultery and die in adultery and at the same time be in good standing in the Lord’s church.  Think of the young men and women that might have been and still are influenced by such doctrine.

It would be interesting to know what sins compose the law of sin and death according to those who believe in it.  Is lying in it?  Is stealing in it?  Is adultery in it?  Is homosexuality in it?  Is lesbianism in it?  Is beating one’s wife in it?  Is being untrue to one’s wife in it?  If God made “the law of sin and death” to apply to the alien sinner why not just let the New Testament apply to him?  The truth about the matter is the alien sinner is subject to the New Testament.

When men do not want to follow the truth for one reason or another, they will invent to themselves laws that they hope will let them circumvent the truth.  The floating law of  sin and death was invented by those who want to justify people to live in adultery.
—Malcolm L. Hill

Strategies to Employ with Epistemological Agnostics
Mac Deaver

It may be helpful for some of the younger brethren to focus on the topic here being discussed.  This sort of material has been made readily available by others in days gone by, but perhaps a fresh look at it will be helpful and invigorating as we ponder the ploy used by those who would take from faithful Christians a right claim to know the truth.  Opponents of truth may use various routes to escape its exposure of their current course.  Let’s consider a few.

Some say that there is no such thing as truth.  That is they plainly deny that there is an objective truth-value (truth in and of itself) entrenched within a proposition (or necessarily an intrinsic quality of that statement).  It is as though they think that truth always comes from some source other than a “statement” or “proposition.”   Remember that a proposition is a group of words that assert that something is or that something is not the case.

But now, such a suggestion that there is no objective truth lends itself to curious scrutiny.  Consider the statement itself: There is no such thing as truth.  That statement either meaningfully says something or it does not.  It either communicates a specific idea and makes a specific claim or it does not.  If  I can have no clear idea as to what it means, then I cannot tell whether or not it is true.  However, if it communicates to my mind the very idea intended by its author, then communication has taken place, and I can then evaluate the statement as to whether or not it is true.

On the other hand, if there is no objective quality about the information that it is intended to be, then I must bring meaning to it as I consider it.  It is as though the statement is void of content until I read into it what I will.  But if its meaning is not dependent on what its author intended but rather on what my mind intends for it to be for me, then there is no possibility of communication between its author and myself, for every statement that I find I must (according to this subjective theory of truth) impose my own meaning onto the declaration.  So no author can mean exactly what he is taken to mean unless, happily and luckily, the reader imposes the idea that was intended by the author.  But such would be mere luck, for per the theory of subjective truth, there is no objective truth in the original statement. The author could not have stated something that had objective truth in it.

To state that truth is not objective is to imply that men (to say nothing of God) are incapable of intelligent communication and actually amounts to a negation of the significance of language and calls in question the meaning of meaning.  It is a denial of the intelligibility of language.

Now, back to the declaration:  There is no truth.  If the declaration is true, it must be false.  Isn’t this peculiar?  If language has meaning, then the declarer is saying that there is no such thing as truth.  Undoubtedly he means to be taken as accurate.  That is, he means to be taken as telling a truth.  But he cannot be telling a truth, if there is no such thing as truth.  He is in a confusion. He is claiming that he has found the truth that there is no truth.  What gives him the right to make this truth claim in the light of his attempted suggestion that no such  thing as truth exists?  You see, dear reader, that he has unknowingly affirmed the existence of truth while explicitly denying that such exists.  He has made a self-contradictory claim.  The proposition, “There is no truth,” cannot be true without its being false.  In a sense, it is a meaningless proposition because of its self-contradictoriness.  No man without confusion and without self-contradiction can say that there is no truth.  And doesn’t that say something about how God has arranged mental reality, human cognition, and the nature of language?

Second, some even in the church have tried to uphold the idea that though truth exists, men simply are incapable of locating it.  You might recall that when Jesus stood before Pilate and claimed that he came to bear witness to the truth, that Pilate responded by saying, “What is truth?”   (John 18:38).  I’m not sure whether he was attempting to deny its existence or simply to say that it is most difficult if not impossible to reach.  Perhaps he was reflecting the exasperation of many Greeks and Romans who had decided that the truth, even if it existed, was a goal out of reach.  Some Christians in our day have used this tactic in order to avoid religious obligation.  In order to justify certain views taken or practices pursued, these brethren would say (when being exposed) that no one could know truth anyway, so no conclusive exposure of them was possible.

But now let us consider that statement:  Truth exists but man cannot find it.  The question arises as to how in the world that claimed truth was in fact found!  Did the claimant find that one truth?  If yes, then truth can be found.  If the statement is false, then it is true that truth can be found. So whether true or false, the statement winds up meaning that truth can actually be located.  Isn’t that interesting?  And as has been pointed out, the admission that one truth can be found leads to another admission that some more truth can be found.

Consider:  Only one truth can be found.  Now, we need to consider its truth or falsity in the light of the foregoing discussion.  We have already learned that it is impossible to accurately and without confusion say that there is no truth. So truth exists.  That is one truth.  Secondly, we found that it is possible to find one truth.  But now in this paragraph we must consider the claim that only one truth can be found.  That strange claim must be false in the light of the fact that the other two truths have already been located:  That is, the truth that truth exists, and the truth that man can know truth or find it.  The claim that only one truth can be known by man is false.  And if it is false, then the truth that more than one truth can be known by man is true.  How many truths can a given man come to know?  That depends on the man and many other things. But all men can know more that one truth.

Third, some have attempted to be epistemologically agnostic while attempting at the same time to be Christians by claiming to have gotten “close” to the truth without actually arriving at it.  This is the motivation given by them for our continuing to study the Bible.  They think that even though we can never arrive at the truth of the gospel, we must study in order to get closer to it.  Our obligation before God is not, per their theory, to know truth; it is, however, to do our best thinking and lessen the knowledge distance between our minds and it.  But this is an impossible situation. For, how in the world can any man know that he is getting closer to the goal if he knows nothing of the goal.  In this strange scenario, there are no mental markers whereby one can detect whether or not he is getting closer to the truth or not.  If you start with the theory that any knowledge is impossible (that is that no man can know truth), it is impossible to arrange knowable mental markers whereby we can detect that we are getting closer to truth.  If we cannot know truth, then continuing study yields no promise that we are getting closer to truth.  For, it could be the case that continual study leads to more profound confusion and increased distance from the truth.

Fourth, some would think that even if truth exists in an absolute sense, it must be completely irrelevant to our lives.  It is true that not all truth is equally relevant or has an equally influential bearing on us.  It is even true that not all Bible truth has an equally relevant bearing on us.  There are many facts in the Bible that none of us knows or remembers or at least can immediately recall (cf. Old Testament names of certain kings, etc.), and we forego the knowledge of those facts without harming ourselves. To say that not all facts are equally relevant is not to say, however, that no facts are relevant.  If some facts are relevant, then the knowledge of those facts becomes relevant.  The existence of the Bible implies the relevance of truth, and not just truth, but sacred truth.
(To Be Continued In Next Issue)

The Mosaic Age
Ronald D. Gilbert

There are three dispensations or ages of Bible history.  The Patriarchal Age was from creation to Mt. Sinai.  The Mosaic Age was from Sinai to the cross of Christ.  The Christian Age was from Pentecost until the second coming of Christ.  The book of Genesis covers the Patriarchal Age.  In the book of Exodus, the Law of Moses was given at Mt. Sinai.  The books of Exodus through Malachi deal with the Mosaic Age.  It is quite obvious, then, that most of the Old Testament deals with the Mosaic period.

Many times in the Bible the expression “the law” is used, and it signifies the law of Moses.  “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).  It is clear from this passage that the law refers to the law of Moses.  God entered into a covenant with the Hebrew people.  This covenant was the law of Moses.  This was not a universal covenant that God entered into with all the people of the earth but with the Hebrew people.  “And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep and do them. The Lord our God, made a covenant with us in Horeb.  The Lord made not this covenant with our Fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day” (Deut. 5:2-3).

The basis of the Mosaic law was the Ten Commandments, but much more was involved.  In Exodus 20:1-17, the Ten Commandments are listed.  The first four deal with man’s relationship with God; the last six deal with man’s relationship with man. Many of the Ten Commandments are eternal principles.   They did not originate with the law of Moses  but have been in effect from the beginning.  Moral law remains constant; positive law may change from one period of Bible his-tory to the next.  When one reads the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy, he sees that the Ten Commandments is but a small part of the many laws and details of the Mosaic Age.

Understanding that the law of Moses has been done away is of paramount importance to understanding the New Testament today.  A great number of religious people today still believe that the Ten Commandment law and other parts of the Mosaic law are still binding on men today.  The law of Moses has been done away (Col. 2:14; Heb. 8:6-9; Heb. 7:12).

One of the problems the early church faced was the Judaizing teachers.  Their doctrine is set forth in the book of Acts.  “And certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren, and said, “Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1). More than circumcision was required by these false teachers.  “But there rose up certain of the sect of Pharisees which believed, saying, that it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses” (Acts 15:5).  In the context of Acts 15, it is made clear such doctrines are false.

The book of Galatians deals with the theme of Christians not being under the law of Moses.  Paul declared in Galatians 1:6-9 that some were troubling them and perverting the gospel.  He also declared in Galatians 2:17-21 that no flesh is justified by the works of the law.  In Galatians 3, Paul asked a question that should have settled the question concerning whether we are under the law of Moses.  “This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” (Gal. 3:2).

Paul also shows in Galatians 3 the purpose and duration of the law of Moses.  “Wherefore then serveth the Law?  It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator” (Gal. 3:19).  Then in Chapter 5, Paul declares that those who try to bind circumcision are debtors to do the whole law and if so “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace” (Gal. 5:4).

The law of Moses was a wonderful law.  It was given to the Hebrew people by God the Father. Jesus Christ came to fulfil the law of Moses and do away with it on the cross.  Many people today in the religious world need help under standing that we are not under the law of Moses.

Is the New Testament God's Complete and Final Revelation?
Kerry Duke

Some questions in Bible interpretation are most basic and crucial.  This question is one of them.  Unless this issue is settled, arguing about other issues that are built on this one is fruitless. If the New Testament is God’s complete and final revelation to man, then every issue of religion must be settled by it.  If it is not, then there is little need to argue about questions of interpretation and doctrine.

Before we can know whether a particular passage applies to us, we must ask the more basic question:  Does any of the New Testament apply to us?  In order to say that we must obey New Testament teaching on baptism or the Lord’s Supper, we must know that the New Testament is universally and permanently binding.  Most people just assume that it is binding today; they may even consider this question unimportant.  But it is necessary to prove that it is binding in general in order to prove that its particulars are binding.

The New Testament declares itself to be a permanent and universally binding revelation. It is the faith which was “once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3; NKJV).  It is “the everlasting covenant” (Heb. 13:20), the “everlasting gospel” (Rev. 14:6).  The New Testament will remain in force until the day of Judgment (Rom. 2:16; John 12:48).  The language of the Great Commission reveals that this system of truth is binding throughout the Christian age (Matt. 28:18-20; note I Cor. 15:24).  The gospel law applies to every person in every nation at any time in this dispensation.  God commands “all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30).  It applies to “every creature” (Mark 16:15).

The New Testament also forbids any addition to its pages.  Any man who adds to it will be punished forever (Rev. 22:18).  Even if an angel from heaven were to preach another gospel, Christians are to reject it (Gal. 1:6-9).  The New Testament is “perfect” or complete (I Cor. 13:10; James 1:25) and needs no additions.  It contains anything we need to know to live for God (II Tim. 3:16-17; II Pet. 1-3).

The fact that miracles have ceased shows that God’s work in revealing a new covenant has ended.  The Jews in the 400 year period between the Old Testament and the New Testament knew that special revelation from God had ceased.  They knew there were no revelations because they knew there were no prophets, and they knew there wereno prophets because they knew there were no miracles.

Experience confirms that there are no real miracles done today, only frauds.  Remember that the primary purpose of miracles in any age was to prove that God was delivering special revelation (Mark 16:20; Heb. 2:1-4).

Catholics, Mormons, and Muslims all deny that the New Testament is God’s complete and final revelation to man.  Muslims believe that the Quran is God’s final revelation; Mormons believe in continuous revelation through the Mormon church, particularly through its twelve “apostles” ; Catholics believe in continuous revelation through the Magisterium (the Pope and the college of bishops) although in typical hairsplitting fashion deny that the guidance God gives them today is actually revelation.  There are basically three ways of exposing their claims.  One is to show that their “revelations” contradict the Bible, which can be easily done.  Another way is to show that each of these religions contradicts itself in its own system of teaching.  A final way is to turn the tables on these religions and to demand proof for their claim to special revelation.  When we are challenged by a Catholic, Mormon, or Muslim, we do not have to immediately feel pressed to disprove his religion.  He is the one making a claim that God has delivered new and special revelation to his group, so why not just tell him to prove the claim?  Surely, this is not an unreasonable request.  It is the same as asking a person who says he can work miracles to actually perform one.  If a Mormon wants us to believe that the Book of Mormon is from God, then it is only right to ask why we should believe it is inspired and the Quran is not.  What is the proof?

While other religious groups are not as bold with their claims, their teaching denies that the New Testament is God’s complete and final revelation. Protestants, especially Pentecostals, who claim that God speaks directly to them are claiming special revelation from God.  They may say they believe the Bible is all-sufficient, and they may say that what God “speaks” to them does not contradict the Bible, but in the end both their teaching and their practices show otherwise.  They contradict revelation by denying the essentiality of baptism. They contradict the Bible by allowing women to be in leadership roles in worship.  Every time a Pentecostal preacher says “The Lord told me” or “The Lord laid this on my heart” , he is denying the finality of the New Testament revelation.  Cults deny the all-sufficiency of the Scriptures when they claim special information from heaven, whether oral or written.  Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh-Day Adventists and others give lipservice to the finality and completeness of New Testament revelation, yet deny it with claims to special knowledge of God’s will they claim has been given to their group.

Do we really believe the New Testament is God’s complete and final revelation?  If we do, we will study it more than any other book.  Any other writing or any other author will be a far distant second.  As preachers, we will emphasize it far more than our illustrations and our catchy sayings.  In our hearts and in our lives, we will give it a prominence that directs our path to heaven.

The Christian Age
Glenn Ramsey

The culmination of God’s plan for the redemption of man is the church of Christ.  We might well assert that God’s plan for man’s salvation is the church of Christ.  Paul said in Ephesians 3:1-12:

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 me to you-ward:  How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; as I wrote afore in few words; Whereby when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ.)  Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:  Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.  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 fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him.

It is evident that the final “Age” of human existence before God is the age where the church of Christ (the Kingdom of God) would exist.  Because this church is Christ’s, it is called the “Christian Age.”   Under the jurisdiction of Jesus Christ, the head of the church (Colossians 1:18), the fulfillment of God’s eternal plan for man’s redemption is effected.

This does not mean that God in His wisdom failed to do what He wanted to do during the Patriarchal Age.  This does not mean that He failed to do what He intended to do during the Mosaic Age.  The fruition of this “mystery” which had been hidden (unrevealed) from the beginning of the world is seen in its splendid beauty in the Christian age.

Whereas there was always the promised hope of God’s final deliverance of His people from sin and death, during the Patriarchal and Mosaic Age, the reality of this is seen in the Christian age. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ (John 1:17).  Obviously, God had the church in mind from the beginning.  The church of Christ is to make known the manifold wisdom of God.  It is in the church that we are to give glory to God throughout all ages, world without end (Eph. 3:21).

This Christian Age is the age wherein the kingdom (church of Christ) which cannot be moved (Heb. 12:28), exists with Jesus reigning as the King from the throne of heaven.  When the kingdom of Christ is mentioned it refers to the church of Christ.  It is called a kingdom because of its government feature.

The prophecies of the Old Testament are clear.  In Daniel 2:44 it is said, “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but is shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.”

“In the days of these kings” is fulfilled in Mark 1:14-15.  “Coming to Ancient of Days” is fulfilled in Acts 1:9.  “Kingdom shall stand forever” is fulfilled in Hebrews 12:28.

The Kingdom of God (church of Christ) will stand until it is delivered up to Jesus’ Father.  I Corinthians 15:24 says, “Then  cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.”   This will be at the end of all things.

What a wonderful privilege we have today to be able to be a part of that spiritual body, the church of Christ, the Kingdom of God!  One becomes a citizen of the Kingdom of God by obeying the law of Christ, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords!  Jesus requires that we believe in Him, that we repent of our sins and that we live our lives faithfully in His Kingdom (John 8:24; Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; Acts 17:30-31; Luke 13:3; Matt. 10:32-33; Rom. 10:9-10; I Pet. 3:21; Col. 2:11-12; Rom. 6:1-5; Rev. 2:10).

All the “Ages” of religion are temporary.  The Patriarchal Age lasted for about 2500 years.  The Mosaic Age lasted for about 1500 years.  The Christian Age has lasted almost 2000 years to this point.  Yet the Christian Age will cease when the Lord comes to receive His own and to administer judgment to all men of all ages.

What is our responsibility in view of these great truths?  Mark 13:37 records Jesus’ words, “And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.”   The admonition of Jesus is to look for the coming of the Lord in a “prepared state.”   Are you prepared to meet the Lord?  If you are not prepared, then you cannot “watch” as Jesus admonishes.  Won’t you obey the Gospel and be able to “watch” with all the saints for the Lord’s return?