Acts 28:28
The Salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles
The Great Secret Or Mystery, The Salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, was made known to Paul by the inspiration of God. It was not so made known to any other person. Paul declares that to him, only was the Dispensation of The Mystery made known. See Ephesians 3:3, Eph. 3:7-9; Colossians 1:25-27.
The apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers given to the church (Ephesians 4:11) were gifts from God to The Church; the men and the ministries they had were the gifts. They had to get The Mystery message from Paul. For example, Timothy was to preach the things which he heard from Paul (2 Timothy 1:13; 2 Tim. 2:2). The whole responsibility of teaching the Dispensation of The Mystery was laid on the apostle Paul, just as the Kingdom of heaven was to be preached by the 12 apostles after the ascension of the Lord.
Acts 28:28 also tells Paul that the Gentiles will listen to his Gospel of the Dispensation of The Mystery, the Great Secret.
Now just suppose that Paul had a visitor the next day after this one in Acts 28:23-29. What would Paul talk about? What would be his message? Would he continue in the old things, the Gospel of the Kingdom or the Gospel of the Grace of God? Remember, Christ Jesus had to give Paul the Revelation of The Mystery, but in the days or weeks to follow, Paul would receive the doctrine of The Mystery. This is why The Word instructs us that for two whole years, Paul preached to all that came to him in his own hired house, bound to a Roman soldier. Was it then that He taught the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers so they could carry on the work of the ministry?
During those two years in prison, Paul wrote Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon as Christ Jesus poured out The Mystery doctrine. And in each one, there is mention that they had heard the Gospel that Paul was then preaching. How had they heard it? From the visitors who came and went and then by Paul's Epistles written from prison. No other way.
So then The Secret was revealed by the Spirit to Paul after he spoke in Acts 28:28 when he wrote the Prison Epistles as Christ Jesus revealed it to him. That is how the Gentiles had heard the Gospel of their Salvation, that salvation that was sent to them upon the rejection of Israel. Paul even sent messenger gifts which were the men listed to the churches to tell the Good News.
So the seven post-Acts Epistles of Paul sum up the message, the Salvation of God, sent to the Gentiles. Actually, the Revelation of The Mystery is not complete, with any one of these Epistles lacking. Check them each one through and see.
Now, to sum up, this question of how the secret was revealed, both to Paul and to the Gentiles, It was revealed to Paul and him alone; he taught it to men gifts and visitors in his home, he sent messages to the groups and wrote his seven last Epistles, He poured himself out to the gifts Christ gave the Church of The Body the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers. These ministry gifts he trained went everywhere and preached this message to all the new creation (believers). Colossians 1:23.
Today the mystery or secret is being proclaimed by a few in several countries. The reception is very poor, and it is not long till it will be proclaimed no more and a new era will be ushered in, the Kingdom of Heaven Gospel.
When Israel was brought forth from Egypt by the mighty arm of God amidst signs and wonders, it was not long till they rejected their Jehovah and set up the golden calf instead. And when this Redeemer came in person to Israel, they rejected, crucified Him, and set up Barabbas instead. There is a parallel.
Two years after the Exodus, they came to the border of Kadesh-Barnea. There they again rebelled, rejected Moses as leader, and would have selected another leader and returned to Egypt. For this, they were forced to wander in the wilderness for 38 years till all the rejecters died and a new generation, a new nation, entered the land. These were the other sheep, and when the Jews rejected Christ at the end of Acts, they were forced to wander again. But this time, scattered among the nations, not in the wilderness. In this case, no water supplied from the rock, no manna to gather, no quails for meat, no presence of God among them in the form of the Shekinah, no serpent raised on a pole to cure the snake bites, and no leader.
Today they have lost their identity; the records were burned in the temple. No one can prove that he is a Jew except as of late by DNA testing. Their condition was prophesied in Hosea 3:4. And in Hosea 6:2 is given the time of the wanderings among the nations. But just as they finally entered the land across the Jordan, even so, someday they will receive their Messiah and enter into His blessings. The present time is parallel to the wilderness wanderings of 38 years.
So Calvary is parallel to the golden calf, and Acts 28:28 parallel to the refusal at Kadesh-Barnea to enter the land. But with this exception: today, they are not God's people. He is not dealing with them in any way. In the wilderness, they were led from day to day till they entered the land; that is the difference.
Here is where we come to the reason for the secret. Here is the record in Acts 28:25-27, 'And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed (were dismissed, divorced), 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 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.'
Now look at the word therefore in verse 28. It is the result of this prophecy having been fulfilled then and there. Therefore The Salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles.
And as we go on into The Mystery, we find that it is indeed an individual matter, not of nations, for they are to be blest thru Israel.
Mystery comes from the Greek musterion. It can be translated as secret. This Greek word, musterion, first occurs in Dan. 2:18. Here, a secret is revealed to the king concerning the times of the Gentiles. So we can right there formulate a biblical truth; When Israel ceases to make history, then there is a mystery. And so it was in Daniel. Israel had failed, and so was taken out of their land. God was not working thru them, and so they were not making history. Mystery came in.
Now we mean that when Israel was not remembering the promises made to Abraham and were going their own way, God would forsake them for a time. In the Babylonian captivity, they were Lo-Ammi (not My people). After the great festival upon the rebuilding of Jerusalem in AD 405, there was a great revival. But in about 30 years, as all revivals seem to do, this one fizzled out, and there was silence at/out Israel till the Redeemer was born in 4 BC. We have to go to world history or tile Apocrypha to find out what was going on in Israel at that time.
There is a warning in Matthew 13 about Israel again becoming Lo-Ammi. Isaiah 5:10 is quoted in Matt. 13:14-15, which is later quoted for the last time in Acts 28:25-27. And so in Matthew 13, we have the mysteries (secrets) of the Kingdom of heaven foretold. But the Kingdom is then postponed for a season, with no time given. It was re-offered during Acts, and because of the rejection of the Kingdom by Israel, the axe fell, and the tree was cut down. Very few have any idea of how much this event at the end of Acts has changed the course of world history.
If this had not happened, Israel would soon have had her King and with Him ruling over all the nations of the earth. That would have lasted from AD 85 till AD 1085, the Millennium. But when we read our history books, we find nothing like that happening in those years. Not only did Israel fail, but in those years, we have recorded the fall of the Roman empire and the beginning of the Crusades. All this is far from the glorious reign of the King of kings and Lord of lords from Jerusalem over the whole earth.
Since Acts 28:28, nations have risen and fallen. Empires have been set up and crumbled. Millions have been tortured and killed because Israel rejected their King and kingdom. A low estimate of 75 million has been set for the murders in the Inquisition. Hitler made away with 6 million Jews. There is strife in the Middle East, nations are becoming bankrupt, and China and Russia are sitting at the back door of the United States, waiting for the door to open (and to look at our borders, the doors are flung wide). And we do not know of the future until Israel repents and her Messiah comes and takes over the kingdoms of the world. Only one war in the Millennium, Revelation 20:7-10.
Spend some time in the prophecies and think about what might have been the conditions today if it had not been for Acts 28:28. Historians never dream of the importance of this event.
Be thankful that God knows the end from before the beginning and that He has ensured our Salvation, Inheritance, and Home. Thank God for His most precious gift, our Head Christ Jesus, Who loves us and gave Himself for us that we might be manifest with Him in the Heaven of heavens, safe in The Beloved from before the overthrow of the world. Thank you, Father, Thank You Lord Jesus Head of The Body and soon Crowned Head of the Universe.
