Why God Called the Apostle Paul

Apostle Paul

In my second pivot point I brought up the history of the Hebrew people and their purpose on the earth.  After Adam fell and was thrown out the Garden of Eden, the human race grew substantially.  But they also degraded themselves morally.  Eventually God found only Noah, who was the great-grandson of Enoch.  Enoch was the one God liked so much that God just took Enoch up to heaven with him, and therefore Enoch never experienced death, and is still alive and well in Heaven to this day.  Some of Enoch’s goodness must have filtered down to Noah.  God found him and his family alone worth saving.  Everyone else died in the flood.

Melchizedek

After the flood, Noah’s family began to repopulate the earth again. God sent a minister from heaven named Melchizedek as a minister to the people of earth.  But even with Melchizedek the population began to turn from God and serve idols made by human hands.  You have to remember that until Moses there was no written word of God.  So God called out Abram and the Hebrew nation was formed to be a nation of priest for all mankind.  But like everything else, they also turned against God.  And the religion of the Jews had turned into just another money scam by the time Jesus Christ arrived on the scene.  Christ himself called them a den of thieves.

According to the word at that time, then the 70^th week of Daniel or the tribulation period as we know it, should have started right after the death of Christ.  Now I’ll try and explain why it didn’t.

The Mystery of Pauls Gospels

God started something new after Christ resurrection from the dead. It wasn’t really new to God; it had been planned all along, but was kept secret in the mind of God and hidden from the world until now. Romans 16: 25 -26  25) Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, 26) But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith. The bible calls it the times of the Gentiles.  It was a new Gospel of grace not law, and this gospel went to the gentiles and Jew alike. Romans 11: 7 – 8  7) What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded 8) (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear; ) unto this day.   Paul brings this out when he deals singularly with an unbelieving Jew named Bar-Jesus. Even though this event is about a single person, it’s also a perfect example of what happened to the entire Jewish race.  God blinded them for their unbelief, but not permenately.  They are blinded only for a season.  Acts 13: 6 – 12  6) And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer; a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-Jesus:  7) Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. 8) But Ely-mas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. 9) Then Saul, (who also is called Paul) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, 10) and said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? 11) and now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season.  And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. 12) Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.  The Jews had rejected God, and said “away with this man, we’ll not have him rule over us.”  So God stopped the Jewish time clock and turned to the Gentiles with a new gospel.  Romans 11: 11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. 

70AD dispursion of the Jews

Christ speaking in the book of Luke states that the Jews shall be dispursed ( which happened in 70 AD) and Jerusalem shall be trodden down until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Then the Jewish time clock will restart and Daniels 70^th week will commence.  Luke 21: 24  And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

Why did God pick Paul

God was sending the world in a whole new direction.  That is why he couldn’t use any of the twelve apostles he already had in Jerusalem or any one of the hundreds of disciples he had.  They were all trained and studied under his ministry on earth, which was to fulfill the Law of Moses, and tell the Jews that their King was here, and to get ready to set up the kingdom.  So all these men knew was that their mission was to take their gospel of the kingdom to the Jew.  This is shown all throughout the four gospels.  When a Gentile woman seeks out help from Jesus, he initially turns her away.  Mathew 15: 22 – 24  22) And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thous son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. 23) But he answered her not a word.  And his disciples came and besought him, saying Send her away; for she cried after us. 24) But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  When Jesus sends out the twelve to minister unto the people he makes his message clear.  Mathew 10: 5 – 7  5) These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6)But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7) And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.   Which in simple terms, they were to convince the Jews that Jesus Christ was the promised Messiah for the Jewish people.  They were never able to convince them.

That is why God went a totally different way and pulled out a man named Saul.  Acts 9: 10 – 16  10) And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias, And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.  11) And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called, Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth, 12) And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.  13) Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:  14) And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.  15) But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:  16) For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.  In the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians, Paul elaborates more on his conversion.  Galatians 1: 15 – 19  15) But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, 16) To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him amoung the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:  17) Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.  18) Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.  19) But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother.  Paul went up into the mountains (many believe the same one where Moses centuries early received the Ten Commandments) and for a time no greater than three years, the resurrected Christ, taught him this new Gospel.  It had been planned by God all along, but was something that God had kept secret from the human race until now.  Colossians 1: 25 -29  25) Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; 26) Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints; 27) To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery amoung the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory; 28) Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: 29) Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily. God was going to take his message directly to the Gentiles until the times of the gentiles are fulfilled.  Then God was going to call up to Heaven in one quick trumpet blast all that believed this new gospel from the fist day until the last. 

Why Christians don't fear death

Those who already died would go first then meet in the air those still alive at time of the call.  This will end the times of the Gentiles.  1 Thessalonians 4: 13 – 18  13) But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep(saints who have died), that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14) For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15) For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16) For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17) Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18) Wherefore comfort one another with these words. 

The Anti-Christ

After Paul taught these words, there crept into the church a lot of false teaching about when the Lord would come and when the tribulation and the end of the world would start.  Paul addresses these in 1 Corinthians 15: 20 – 24  20) But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 21)For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22)For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23) But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. 24) 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.  II Thessalonians 2: 1 – 3  1) Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 2) That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand(the start of the tribulation is also called the day of Christ). 3) Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;  Here Paul tries to comfort the saints and let them know that God will remove his people before the start of the tribulation period.  By the time the tribulation starts, there will not be one Christian left on the planet.  The Holy Spirit will be removed from the earth, and according to verse three above, there will be a great falling away, or people will turn against God, then the antichrist will be revealed. 

Then God will go back to the Jews and the earth will re-start the Jewish clock, and Daniels 70^th week will begin.  There will be seven years of tribulation upon the earth where Christ will cleans the earth of all evil.  Then Jesus Christ will return and the Kingdom of God will begin.