Aloha brother Winman,
I agree with your assessment of those verses that you sited. They
could have been applicable to the Gentiles - but I believe that they are NOT applicable to the Gentiles, because of the nation of Israel's eventual
REJECTION of Peter's "gospel"
. [Matthew 24:14]
Remember - Peter's address was to:
"Ye men of Israel"; "
all the house of Israel" and "
Men and brethren" - these "titles" did
NOT include Gentiles. {No Jew, living at this time, would even think of "including" Gentiles as "
men of Israel"; or of Gentiles having a part in "
the house of Israel"; or especially calling Gentiles "
brethren".}
Quote:
Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Acts 2:17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
Acts 2:21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Acts 2:39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
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I believe that the "KEY" to understanding this issue, is that the dissemination of the "gospel of the kingdom" [
Matthew 24:14] that Peter and the others were preaching early on in the Book of Acts was
interrupted by the
REJECTION of that "gospel" by the nation of Israel's leaders [
Acts 7: 1-60] and the subsequent call of the Apostle Paul, and the revelation of the "mystery" of the church [
Colossians 1:26] that was given to him; along with his (
MY "Gospel").
Had the nation of Israel accepted the "gospel of the kingdom", it could have very well gone unto the "uttermost part of the earth" and "
to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call."
But because of Israel's
REJECTION of that "gospel", it has been temporarily laid aside (for Paul's "Gospel")
until "
the last days".
Acts 2:17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh:and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
When the church is translated out of this world the Lord will "pick up" with the Nation of Israel and the "Kingdom" where He "left off", and the "Gospel of the Grace of God" (Paul's "Gospel") will go out with the saints. At that time God will re-institute "the gospel of the kingdom", which shall, at that time, go out "
unto the uttermost part of the earth", as God intended it to nearly 2,000 years ago.