REVIEW of the SCRIPTURE RECORD

 

Part FIVE

The Greek words: epiphania(n.) and epiphainO(v.) are found firstly in Luke, Acts, and 2Thessalonians, those documents written about the activities of the apostles before 62ad. After Paul's announcement to the Jews at Rome, only his letters to Timothy and Titus contained these words. He did not use them in his letter to the Philippians, nor  in his letters to the Colossians, 'Ephesians', and Philemon. The latter three were written after his revelation concerning this present Administration of God's Grace in 69/70ad,

When it was thought that 2Timothy was Paul's last letter written about 69ad, the word 'epiphania' was said to form the Hope of Christians living in this Administration of God's Grace. By recognising that Paul wrote this letter some time before he received the Revelation of the Mystery of this Administration, the confusion caused by attempting to reconcile the use of 'epiphania' with the other words indicating an appearance of The Christ, is avoided.

In 2Thess 2:8 the noun 'epiphania' is associated with the noun 'parousia' (Christ's personal presence)...the Hope of the churches of the Kingdom Administration being introduced during the period of Acts. Because of the recognition that 2Timothy was written before Paul's revelation of this Administration, other references using these words can now be seen to apply to the same event. In this context we would expect 'epiphania' to be also used by Paul in his first letter to Timothy and his letter to Titus, and so it is:

That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the 'epiphania' of our Lord Jesus Christ:  1Timothy 6:14

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious 'epiphania' of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;    Titus 2:13

However, as indicated above, the word 'epiphania' is not used by Paul in his letter to the Philippians, again written before his Revelation of The Mystery of this Administration. Why should this be?

When Paul wrote to the Philippians, he knew only the out-resurrection from amongst the dead of 1Thess. 4:13-18. But he was 'stretching forward' to know Christ and a higher priority of resurrection: 'the Out resurrection Out from amongst the dead' (Phil 3:11), His 'transitional' state of mind is described in the following words:

For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his body of Glory, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.  PHI 3:20

 
These words anticipate his words used in Col 3:4:

[1] 'Looking for The Saviour' is anticipating......'When Christ who is our life shall appear',

[2] 'change our vile body....like unto His body of Glory' is anticipating.....'we shall appear with Him in Glory'

Here, Paul is recognising his new Hope, not as the epiphania with the parousia of Christ, but rather at the time of a phanerOsis of Christ, which he describes in his letter to the Colossians [ch.4 v.3].

After further 'stretching forward' to the point of receiving the revelation, he came to recognised that there would be the inevitable return of Spiritual Sight and Hearing to the Jews [Isaiah 35:4-6], so he would have appreciated 'Arise, Shine, thy Light is come' described in Isaiah 60:1. He could therefore refer to it in his statement to the 'Ephesians' [Eph 5:14], who were new Christians of whose faith he had only heard (Eph 1:15). 

Paul also wrote to the new Christians at Colosse (Col 2:1) describing this revelation concerning the new Administration of Grace.

When Paul wrote to Timothy the Second time, he makes this emphatic statement in ch.4 v.1:

I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing(epiphania) and his kingdom;

Doctrinal difficulties have puzzled students of The Word of God concerning this passage. The mistaken sequence of Paul's letters which placed this Second letter to Timothy as his last, (which would have followed Paul's revelation of the present Administration of God's Grace) caused students to believe that there would be a judgement of present day believers at the time when God's Kingdom began, despite the fact that when Paul first uses the word epiphania, he associates it with Christ's parousia, which would be over 400years later.  We have seen from the analysis above, that the epiphania is the light which accompanies the parousia, the Hope of all those who came to believe in The Lord Jesus Christ whilst the Kingdom was, and will be, heralded, as recorded in the book of Acts.[1 Thess.4, 1 Cor.15 and Mark 16:15-18]

With the knowledge that this second letter to Timothy was written by Paul before God had revealed to him the mystery of this Administration, we can now recognise that Timothy was being reminded concerning  all those Christian Jews and Gentiles who had previously entered that Kingdom by its heralding during the Ministry of Christ and His Apostles, which was postponed at the end of the record of the Acts of the Apostles [28:28]. Those who entered the Kingdom at that time knew that they would come before the Judgement Seat of Christ(Rom 14:10, 2Cor 5:10). In this passage Paul reminds and informs them that their judgement will take place at the beginning of Christ's Kingdom in Israel.

Because of the fundamental changes which will be brought about by the 'Christ's appearing' (phanerOsis) at the closure of this Administration of Grace, we Christians of this Administration, should recognise the application of these changes, the most important of which is our Identification in Christ's Life and Glory. In this Administration, for those in Christ there is no Law (Eph 2:15). Where there is no Law, there is no Judgement, only shame upon those who have failed to determinedly see to understand (2Tim 2:15).

Following the enlightenment brought about by Christ's phanerOsis (Col 3:4) at the recommencement of the Kingdom in Israel, there will be a period of time, about 440 years, in which the wonder and joy of the initial phase is gradually corrupted to the events described in Daniel 2:40, Daniel 9:27, Ezekiel 38:16, Revelation 3:14-21 etc., etc. These events all lie within the following period of the coming Scripture history. They describe this period from five points of view and are addressed at different times to different sections of God's people:

1. The Second Part of The Last Days.......................The concluding Period[455 yrs.] prior to Christ's Second Advent, His 'parousia'.

2. The potential Kingdom of God in Israel.................Continuing God's Order among the Christian Israelites.

3. Christ's Seven Letters to the Ekklesias in Asia......The Spirituality and encouragement of the ekklesias.

4. The Whole House of Israel.....................................The condition of the Twelve Tribes of Israel

5. The Second part of the 70 weeks[63 wks or 441years] of Gabriel's prophecy to Daniel, continuing:

To end the transgression,
To make an end of sins,
To atone for iniquity
To bring in everlasting righteousness
To seal up the vision (with a concluding sign)
To seal up prophecy ('with a concluding sign)
To anoint The Most Holy

Of these, item No. 1 particularly needs to be looked at more closely, because of the persistent desire of many Scripture students to erroneously refer these nineteen prophetic statements to different periods of time. This analysis is given in PART SIX below:

Go to part 6.

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