Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Romans. Tonight is study #18 of Romans 2, and we are reading Romans 2:8-11:

Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: For there is no respect of persons with God.

I will stop reading there. We have been spending some time looking at the judgment aspect of these verses, where God speaks of tribulation and anguish, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile. We have seen how that is really laying out God’s end time judgment program, which began at the house of God. And the house of God identifies with the Jew: “…of the Jew first…” Spiritually, the Jew or the nation of Israel represent the Christian churches and congregations of the world, so judgment began on the churches on May 21, 1988. That was the end of the church age, but 1994 was the official judgment on the churches and congregations of the world. Then it transitioned to the “Gentile” on May 21, 2011. And, again, this word “Gentile” is the word often translated as “Greek,” but it stands for all the people of the nations that are not a “Jew.” We spent some time looking at some verses that used this word in that way, with the “Greek” representing the world itself.

We looked at Jeremiah 25 and some other places where we see this pattern of judgment beginning on the city called by God’s name or the house of God. I do not think we went there, but we could have gone to Ezekiel 9, where God speaks of judgment beginning “at my sanctuary.” It begins with the church, followed by the judgment on the world, which is the recompense of judgment. And that is the time period we are currently in. This is the “second tribulation,” and tribulation is a synonym for judgment.

And yet, we also see in Romans 2:10 that this reference, “of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile,” also ties in with blessings and good things: “But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile.” The only way someone can work “good” and receive glory, honor, and peace is if they have become saved. If God has had mercy on them by covering all their sins and giving them a new heart, causing them to walk in His commandments, and then they can do the good works they have been ordained to accomplish. So this statement has everything to do with salvation and, therefore, God is saying the same thing about salvation as He was saying about judgment: “…to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile.”

When we think of God’s salvation program for the New Testament era, what do we find? We find that He speaks of it as two periods of rain: 1) the early rain that fell over the 1,955 years of the church age, from 33 A. D. to 1988; and 2) the Latter Rain that began to fall in September 1994, a Jubilee Year, when the Lord stretched forth His hand a second time (to save the remnant of His people). Each rain identified with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and salvation.

So as we look at God’s salvation program, we do find that the way the Bible speaks of it, it is as though it came to the Jew first, followed by the Gentile. And the Jew and the Gentile represent the same thing as they represent in judgment. The Jew represents the churches, and the Gentile represents the people of the nations or world. God sent His Gospel through the Holy Spirit primarily to the people within the churches and congregations, or “the Jew first,” and He saved those firstfruits, as the early rain produced the harvest of firstfruits. This was followed by God stretching forth His hand the second time to send His Holy Spirit out to the nations, the Gentiles, to save the great multitude. So it follows the exact order. First, those called by His name received salvation, and then later, the nations or Gentiles received salvation. We see this in Acts 26 where the Apostle Paul was recounting his experience on the road to Damascus, when the Lord intervened in his life and revealed Himself to Paul. He blinded him, and later God caused a man named Ananias to come and lay hands on him, and Paul’s sight was restored once again. Remember, Paul is a pattern of the believers, and from Acts 21 to the end of the book in chapter 28, it is pointing to the end of the church age, then the Latter Rain and the sending of the Gospel to the nations outside of the churches. We can see this with Paul being dragged out of the temple and being forced to appeal unto Caesar, which meant he had to be taken to Rome, which is outside of the land of Judah. I will read Acts 26:14-17:

And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, 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,

We see a couple of things here that we should notice. First, Paul says he stood upon his feet, and when we see that phrase, it relates to the sending forth of the Gospel, and it does say that He would send him unto the Gentiles.

So in Revelation 11 where the two witnesses are lying dead in the streets for “three and a half days,” it is pointing to the first part of the Great Tribulation, the 2,300 evening mornings when virtually no one became saved. The Holy Spirit had not yet been poured out that second time, but then they “stood upon their feet,” and that points to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that began September 7, 1994, and the sending forth of the Latter Rain to bring in the final fruits of harvest, the great multitude saved from among the nations of the world.

So Paul was a Jew. He ministered to the Jews. He was Saul of Tarsus. And then the Lord changed his name to Paul, and he became an Apostle to the Gentiles. He was sent to the Gentiles. Remember, Paul was a pattern of believers, so the believers are sent to the Jews first, and then to the nations. The word “Gentiles” in Acts 26:17 is the Greek word “ethnos,” and it is translated as “Gentiles” and also as “nations.” That is what is in view. Actually, “ethnos” is translated as “nations” 64 times, and as “Gentiles” 93 times, so it is more often translated as “Gentiles.”

Also, if we go to Acts 28, the last chapter, we read in Acts 28:17:

And it came to pass, that after three days Paul called the chief of the Jews together: and when they were come together, he said unto them, Men and brethren, though I have committed nothing against the people, or customs of our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.

Paul was now in Rome, and he called the Jews that were living in Rome to his own hired house in order to speak to them. We will read what he says, in Acts 28:23-29:

And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening. And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not. And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it. And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, and had great reasoning among themselves.

The salvation of God was sent unto the Gentiles, but before that, there was the language of judgment against the Jews: “For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed.” What we need to realize is that when God began that judgment process of the Jew first, and also the Gentile, He began to judge the churches (as represented by the Jew) and, simultaneously, with that judgment, the Lord began to send the Gospel to the Gentiles. He shut the ears and closed the eyes of those within the congregations, and He removed His Spirit from them so there could no longer be understanding; that is, there would be no salvation taking place within the corporate body. Then He turned His attention to the world or the nations outside of the churches which had been the outward representation of His kingdom on the earth. And now to the Gentiles would the message of the Gospel be sent with the truth of the Word of God. That is exactly what happened as God saved the great multitude. And speaking of that great multitude, let us go to Revelation 7 where we will see the same order or sequence that was laid out in Romans 2. We read in Revelation 7:3-8:

Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.

The 144,000 were made up of all the tribes of Israel, 12,000 from 12 tribes. And notice that this is speaking of those that were saved in the churches and congregations and yet, they are called “the tribes of Israel.” That is because the Jew typifies the churches, and the nation of Israel also typifies the corporate church. So when God saved people within the churches and congregations, He uses the language that they come “spiritual Israel.” We will return here to Revelation 7, but let us go back to Romans 2:28-29:

For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

God saved those He had determined to save, the elect that were born during the church age. It was a sizeable number, but not as many as we would have thought, but a sizeable number that is much larger than in the Old Testament. When they became saved, it is as though they have been circumcised in the heart and are now a “spiritual Jew,” and in Christ they are counted for the seed, the promise given to Abraham and his seed that he would inherit the land of Canaan, the Promised Land that pointed to the new heaven and new earth. “The meek shall inherit the earth.” The inheritance of the earth is equivalent to the promise made to Abraham to inherit that land for an everlasting habitation. Obviously, the land of earthly Canaan in the Middle East cannot be an eternal habitation because the world is going to be destroyed. And yet, God is truth, and He only speaks the truth, but He speaks in parables. He speaks mysteries. So He uses the land of Canaan, and He says it will be an everlasting habitation, and He expects the reader that is guided by His Spirit to search it out (in the Bible), and to realize that the land of Canaan is a picture of the new heaven and new earth to come. That is the only everlasting habitation for the people of God. And regarding the seed (singular), which in the first instance points to Christ, we read something very significant in Galatians 3, after we are told of Christ (the seed) as the inheritor of that land. It says in Galatians 3:27-28:

For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek…

Or, we could say, “there is neither Jew nor Gentile.” Then it says in Galatians 3:28:

…there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

In Christ, we are heirs and spiritual Jews and, therefore, qualified to receive the inheritance that the Bible speaks of concerning the Promised Land.

And yet, churches are blinded in the darkness of their understanding, and they apply the promise to the physical land, and the physical Jews, the physical descendants of Abraham. It is spiritual ignorance and a lack of understanding the language of the Bible because God has not opened up their eyes. But when we look at it, it can be seen because the Lord guides us into truth. We are hear His voice and we are able to discern. But this is not so for those that are not His people.

But back in Revelation 7, since the elect are likened to Jews in their born-again souls, it is akin to circumcision of the heart or spirit, and God identified them with the spiritual tribe, the 144,000 that are the firstfruits unto God. And that further identifies the 12 tribes of 12,000 each with the church age because that is when the early rain fell and the firstfruits were saved. Remember, the church age began on the Day of Pentecost (the harvest having to do with firstfruits) in 33 A. D. when the Holy Spirit was first poured out and 3,000 were saved. They were among that number of those that would be of the 12,000 of each of the 12 tribes. Of course, it is not a literal number, but “12 x 12,000” points to the fulness of everyone that became saved over the almost two millenniums of the church age. But notice that after laying that out in Revelation 7:3-8, Revelation 7:9 begins by saying, “After this,” and this means that it was after the 144,000 were sealed, and to be sealed means that they become saved, so their salvation had been accomplished. It says in Revelation 7:9:

After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;

And notice that it does not say a great number of all the tribes of Israel. All those saved among the tribes of Israel, are represented by the “Jew,” but verse 9 is not talking about the Jew. The word “nations” is “ethnos,” the word for Gentiles. We could look at it as four groups – the nations, kindreds, people and tongues – and the number “four” points to the universal aspect of God’s salvation outside of the corporate church where God had saved the “Jew.” But after that, when God ended the church age, He stretched forth His hand the second time to recover the remnant of His people, as Isaiah pointed out. Then He saved all the elect that were scattered among the nations.

It was a great multitude that we cannot number. The Bible provides a number that God gives us in Revelation 9 of 200 million, and that may be an actual number that reveals the total number of elect that God saved, but we cannot say that with certainty. But it is certain that God saved a great multitude, and the biblical language indicates that more were saved during the little season of about 17 years from September 7, 1994 through May 21, 2011 than had been saved in all previous history. How many is that? Is it 150 million, or 175 million, or 190 million? We do not know, but tens of millions of people were saved, and God had fulfilled the salvation program He had laid out. It started with the Jew and completed with the Gentile. The Latter Rain ceased to fall as God saved the last of His elect. There are only those two groups, the Jew and Gentile, or the early rain and Latter Rain, the firstfruits and the final fruits. There is not another people group. There are no more seasons of rain. There is no additional harvest after the Latter Rain and its final harvest. That completed God’s New Testament era salvation program, and then He will finish his end time judgment program. And that is where we are at in the biblical scheme of things, in God’s program of times and seasons for this world.