Israel's program has been set aside

[newnature]

What needs to be understood about the book of Acts is God’s everlasting account validating the partial blindness that had come upon that nation. With the stoning of Stephen, God validated having set Israel aside nationally. Were the Gentiles not supposed to be coming to Israel to learn about God? Were the Gentiles not supposed to be coming through Israel’s rise as prophecy had proclaimed, but Israel had not risen! Israel had fallen. Israel had been blinded in part. Had the leadership of Israel repented in Acts 3, it would have started the next events on the prophetic calendar, namely the time of Jacob’s trouble; followed by the second coming of Christ.

This is what Jesus Christ meant when he said he gave Peter the “keys†to the Kingdom. Peter had the ability to “unlock†and “open the door†to the Kingdom, he proclaimed the message they had to believe. Jesus Christ gave himself a ransom for MANY. Who are the “many†spoken of here? Israel! Israel’s sins were going to “be blotted outâ€; the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of Jesus, at his second coming. He was going to be their High Priest and King, sitting on the throne of David, ruling and reigning over the nation Israel. God raised him up in order for him to sit on that throne. However, an open door does no good if no one walks through it, and that is exactly what happened. The leadership of the Nation did not walk through it. The Pharisees sat in Moses’ seat as the authority over the Nation. The kingdom program did not happen, but it certainly will in a day yet future, when God resumes the kingdom program, and sets Israel at the forefront again.

With Israel's earthly program being set aside, during this age of grace, no nationality enjoys special favor in the eyes of God; all must come alike to God today. God did not lift up the Gentiles, who had been without God, and put them on an equal or higher plain, than belonged to Israel. He concluded Israel in unbelief, as he had previously concluded the Gentiles in unbelief, both of them down on the same level, so that he might have mercy on all, and that is where it is today, according to Paul. It is man who needs to be reconciled to God, not the other way around. God is already reconciled to us, where our sins are concerned. It is not a sin issue, it is a son issue.

 

[clark thompson]

yes but their are jews that are start coming to the Lord now nd they are growing

 

[JSD]

Keys...

Concerning "keys"...perhaps it's a translational issue but I found these words interesting.

18 I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” 20 Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.

I'm no Greek professor, but I found the past tense usage to possibly mean..."Whatever you bind/loose (restrict or set in motion?), will have originated, or have been founded in Heaven by the Father."

This Interlinear Greek-English also seems to use a past tense.
http://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/NTpdf/mat16.pdf

Blue Letter Bible Concordance:
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Mat&c=16&v=19&t=KJV#conc/19

Keys:
http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G2807&t=KJV

1) a key
a) since the keeper of the keys has the power to open and to shut
b) metaph. in the NT to denote power and authority of various kinds

Root Word (Etymology):
http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G2808&t=KJV

1) to shut, shut up
2) metaph.
a) to cause the heavens to withhold rain
b) to shut up compassion so that it is like a thing inaccessible to one, to be devoid of pity towards one
c) to obstruct the entrance into the kingdom of heaven

Bind/Bound:
http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G1210&t=KJV

1) to bind tie, fasten
a) to bind, fasten with chains, to throw into chains
b) metaph.
1) Satan is said to bind a woman bent together by means of a demon, as his messenger, taking possession of the woman and preventing her from standing upright
2) to bind, put under obligation, of the law, duty etc.
a) to be bound to one, a wife, a husband
3) to forbid, prohibit, declare to be illicit

Loose/Loosed:
http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G3089&t=KJV

1) to loose any person (or thing) tied or fastened
a) bandages of the feet, the shoes,
b) of a husband and wife joined together by the bond of matrimony
c) of a single man, whether he has already had a wife or has not yet married
2) to loose one bound, i.e. to unbind, release from bonds, set free
a) of one bound up (swathed in bandages)
b) bound with chains (a prisoner), discharge from prison, let go
3) to loosen, undo, dissolve, anything bound, tied, or compacted together
a) an assembly, i.e. to dismiss, break up
b) laws, as having a binding force, are likened to bonds
c) to annul, subvert
d) to do away with, to deprive of authority, whether by precept or act
e) to declare unlawful
f) to loose what is compacted or built together, to break up, demolish, destroy
g) to dissolve something coherent into parts, to destroy
h) metaph., to overthrow, to do away with