Mark 1:15. "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel." To whom is our Lord speaking here? Presumably to everyone within earshot. Suppose a 'natural man' should hear Him. What a terrible thing that would be!
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God's Covenant with Abraham
- Thread starter Martin Marprelate
- Start date
Brightfame52
Well-Known Member
The same,people who are already spiritually prepared. The natural man may here the Gospel,but its foolishness to him,he doesnt have the capacity to understand it spiritually 1 Cor 2:14
14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Mark 1:15 is specifically for a prepared people Lk 1 17
And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
Brightfame52
Well-Known Member
@Martin Marprelate
Which gives evidence he was already regenerated, it was an effectual call , and that Faith is the fruit of the Spirit. Gal 5:22
Which gives evidence he was already regenerated, it was an effectual call , and that Faith is the fruit of the Spirit. Gal 5:22
1 Cor. 2:14 is a given, and if you will kindly arrange for all 'natural men' to have a yellow stripe painted on their backs, I won't preach to them. But until you do, I will preach and witness to all and sundry and plead with them, exhort them, implore them and command them to repent and trust in Christ, for so my God has commanded me. Mark 1:15; Luke 14:23; Acts 17:30; 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2; 2 Timothy 4:1-2. In that way I will play my small part in turning the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, and in making ready a people prepared for the Lord, for 'How shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!"' (Romans 9:14-15).
Just so, but obedience is the evidence of regeneration. Just about all the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11 were people who went and did something. 'By faith Abraham obeyed....' "Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance" (Acts 26:19-20; cf. James 3: 20ff).
Brightfame52
Well-Known Member
Yes obedience is an evidence of a new nature from regeneration.
We appear to be in agreement then. 
I'm sorry not to have dealt with your post #12 before, but I've been struggling to get on the website at all recently.
Our differences are over hermeneutics. I believe that the O.T. must be understood though the lens of the N.T., specifically the words of the Lord Jesus Christ when He rebukes the Jewish leaders in John 5:38-40, and says, "These are the Scriptures that testify of Me."
In John 8:, our Lord says that He must bring other sheep into His fold and that there will only be one flock. This is amplified by Paul in Ephesians 2:11-22. There is only one people of God, believing Jew and believing Gentile together - 'one new man from the two'. This is not 'replacement theology' but Inclusion Theology: 'That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the Gospel.'
The 'Old' Covenant was always conditional (Exodus 19:5-6 etc.), and in Jeremiah 31:31, God proclaims a new covenant in which, instead of writing His laws on tablets of stone, He will write them on the hearts of His people. In Hebrews 8:13, we are told, 'In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.'
Psalm 105 cannot contradict the rest of the Bible. Jacob's version of the Abrahamic Covenant is not a different version to that given to Isaac and Abraham (Genesis 28:13-15). The land of Canaan stands for the whole earth (Romans 4:13), Zion is the Jerusalem above (Galatians 4:25-26) and the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the Lord Jesus Christ and those that are in Him by faith. That there may yet be a great revival among the Jews I do not for a moment deny (Romans 11:23), but I pray not only for that, but for revival among the Moslem people, and at present there seems to be more evidence of the latter than the former.
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Well, well. You think I do not accept the words we are given from God. I think you do not understand them.JD731 said:
John 6:63. 'The words I speak to you are spirit and they are life.' You may seek to drive a wedge between the Father and the Son; I do not.
One reading your comments would believe the world began with Abraham
Well, the title of this thread is 'God's covenant with Abraham.' If you want to make a point about the Tower of Babel, start another thread. Genesis 3:15, however, is not about Abraham or the Jews.
I quoted three portions of Scripture, with none of which you saw fit to take issue. Maybe it is you who is given to fanciful speculation.
Revelation 7:9-10. 'After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb."'
The two things about this crowd are that it is great, and that no one can number it. So where do you get off numbering it and finding it "few"?
Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead
Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Acts 4:10,11
The beginning of; The Church. ------ Another thought
Acts 2:32,33 “This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. “Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.
Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Acts 4:10,11
The beginning of; The Church. ------ Another thought
Acts 2:32,33 “This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. “Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.
Alan Dale Gross
Active Member
"The New Testament Scriptures state, in most unambiguous language, that ‘the seed of Abraham’, to whom ‘all the promises of God’ belong, are those who believe the gospel of Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:7, 29; 2 Cor. 1:20).
"For God’s invariable order of procedure, in the working out of His eternal purposes, is “first – that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual” (1 Cor. 15:46).
"If, therefore, an Old Testament prophecy of blessing, intended for the true Israel (that ‘holy nation’ spoken of in 1 Pet. 2:9), be interpreted as applying to ‘Israel after the flesh,’ the interpretation is not ‘literal’ (i.e., according to the letter) except in the sense in which ‘the letter kills, but the spirit gives life’ (2 Cor. 3:6);
"for obviously in this case, interpreting the prophecy in relation to that typified by ‘Ishmael’ destroys it completely. And it is specially to be noted that, in the passage from which this Scripture is quoted, Paul is explaining the great differences between the Old Covenant (which was of the letter) and the New Covenant (of the Spirit);
"and, moreover, he is comparing the ministry of Moses, which had to do with things that are seen (an earthly sanctuary and its vessels of service, animal sacrifices, etc.), with the ministry of himself and others whom God had made ‘able ministers of the New Covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit.’
"Also it should be noted that the apostle there speaks of the Old Covenant (under which promises were made to the natural Israel) as ‘that which is done away’; whereas the New Covenant is ‘that which remains,’ that is, abides eternally (2 Cor 3:11).
"From this Scripture alone it is evident (and the same truth is set forth at greater length in Gal. 4:21-31 and Hebrews chapters 8 – 10), that all future promises of glory and blessing for Israel and Zion must belong to the true Israel and the heavenly Zion.
"And, in this very passage, we are admonished to ‘look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen’ (2Cor 4:18); which admonition, however, is habitually disregarded in the interpretation of prophecies relating to these very subjects.
"Evidently then our difficulty in understanding certain prophecies is due to our lack of faith and our spiritual dullness. For, in respect to the things which are not seen, faith takes the place of sight; for faith has to do solely with things not visible to the natural eye; and the same is true for hope, for ‘hope that is seen is not hope’ (Rom. 8:24).
"Thus it is written that, ‘faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen’; and ‘through faith we understand’ (Hebrews 11:1,3).
"Hence, to understand the prophecies it is necessary, and vitally necessary,
1.) that we believe the revelations of the New Testament;
2.) that we accept as ‘literally’ true that there is now, at this present time, a realm of spiritual realities, into which our risen Lord is actually entered, and we also, in Him;
3.) that ‘the substance of things hoped for’ is there, not here;
and specially that God’s purposes concerning
4.) His Eternal City,
5.) Temple
6.) and People are being fulfilled at this very time, in that spiritual realm, though the natural eye cannot see what is going on there.
"I can testify from experience that, by the simple process of believing what is written in the New Testament concerning the actual present existence, among the things not seen,
"of the true Zion,
"of the city of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem,
"of the holy nation which is a royal priesthood,
"and of other spiritual realities,
"the main difficulty in the understanding of the Old Testament prophecies which speak of a glorified state of the things named above, vanishes away."