THE CROSS OF CHRIST - 3

THE DEATH AND THE SACRIFICE OF JESUS CHRIST

When Adam ate the forbidden fruit, what happened was a shift from the spirit faculty of man to the physical faculty of man. Adam sinned, and since the wages of sin is death. Adam must pay for it.

The sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross was a payment for the sin of Adam. Jesus Christ is referred to as the last Adam because he came to pay for the error of the first man, Adam.

In the first Adam, we all sinned against God. In the last Adam, we all paid for the sin.

All humanity was in Adam when he committed the sin. When Christ died on the cross too, the all humanity was also in him. We did not commit a sin before we became a sinner. Neither will anyone do any good before he becomes righteous.

He died that those who believe that he died for them should partake in his death, he resurrected also that those who believe in his resurrection and its purpose should also partake in the benefit of his resurrection.

Remember when Adam sinned, suddenly they discovered that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves for themselves to cover their nakedness.

But when God appeared unto them, God gave unto them an animal’s skin to replace the leaves they had first used.

The leaves they had first used represent religion. Religion is an attempt to cover the shame and imperfections of man but it is not sufficient. Imagine what it looks like, leaves us as clothes. What kind of wind can that stand? How long will the leaves last before they begin to tear?

The animal’s skin recommended by God to the first man represents the sacrifice of the lamb (i.e Jesus Christ) for the remissions of the sins of humanity.

Leaves came in as a result of man’s idea. Man started religion, God did not. Religion was mankind’s search for victory over the shame and deformations caused by sin

Religion is a means man had devised to serve God. God didn’t introduce religion to man. Man introduced religion to God.

Religion had existed before the laws of Moses. There had been various attempts by man to please God by obeying some sets of codes and rules which they seem best for the cause.

So prophetically, when Adam used religion to cover their nakedness, God introduced salvation by the sacrifice of a lamb.

This was the first prophetic sign of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the sin of the whole world.

This is exactly what John the Baptist meant by saying “Behold the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world…” John 1:29

And since man sinned against God, it requires man to pay for this sin and hence the death of a sinless man. The sacrifice requires a man who has no sin, in order for God to accept the sacrifice.

God would not accept a sinner as a sacrifice for sinners; a saint must be sacrificed for the sinners.

That Jesus Christ was the only qualified man is clear. He was the only man to walk the earth without sin.

He was born of a virgin and of God the Holy Spirit to qualify him for the blameless sacrifice.

Jesus Christ accomplished this for humanity. He was the sinless and blameless man who died as a sacrifice for all of us. Jesus did not come to start a religion; he came to sacrifice himself for humanity.

Paul said this same thing in 2 Cor 5…“…He who knew no sin, was made sin for us…that we might become the righteousness of God”

Some Jews have claimed that the death of Jesus Christ as the sacrifice for sins does not meet the requirements of some of their laws. Whether true or not, it is now clear that the sacrifice of one man for the entire human race was a prophecy and a plan of God before the laws of Moses.

The sacrifice was the goal of God since the fall of man. Jesus Christ was born for this purpose.

He told Pilate “to this end was I born…”

Remember again, God prophesied the seed of the woman bruising the head of the serpent? Note that God said the seed of the woman not the seed of the man? This is because Jesus must be born solely by the woman and not by the intercourse between a man and a woman. This again is a prophecy of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ who will bruise the head of Satan at the cross.

Jesus is our sacrifice!

Jesus is our savior!

There is no more sacrifice for sins! See how the writer of Hebrews puts it “But this man, after he had offered ONE SACRIFICE FOR SINS FOREVER, sat down on the right hand of God” Heb 10:12

The sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross is a ONE-TIME SACRIFICE and it has PAID FOR OUR SINS FOREVER! FOREVER means past, present and future! Hope you get?

We have received eternal forgiveness of sins by the reason of his sacrifice! One man Adam gave us condemnation, one man Jesus gave us Justification!

You were not a sinner because you sin; you were a sinner because of what Adam did. If that’s the case then if you believe, you are now a saint because of what Jesus Christ did. Halleluyah!

His sacrifice on the cross has justified you eternally! You are righteous by the reason of his sacrifice as your sin! He did this all for you! All for you!

Glory be to unto Jesus!

Philip Oklu

+234(0)8137579913

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REDEMPTION THROUGH HIS BLOOD

THE CROSS OF CHRIST - 2

WHY JESUS MUST DIE?

It is expedient for us to know that Jesus Christ must die on the cross for the remission of sins, and that everyone who believes in his death for their sake, will be saved.

However, Jesus Christ must die in a particular pattern of death.

The death of Jesus could have come by a different means, but the way of the cross was chosen.

See how John wrote it …

“The Pilate said unto them, take ye him, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, it is not lawful for us to put any man to death: that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake SIGNIFYING WHAT DEATH HE SHOULD DIE” John 18:31-32

Though this mean that Jesus must die as a sinner, which must then be on the cross according to the judgment in those days.

Then we must first understand why the Jews choose to crucify him in the first place….

See what the Jews said to Pilate before he was crucified…

“The Jews answered him. We have a law, and by our law, he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God”. John 19:7

See again…

“Now Caiaphas was he, which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people” John 18:14

Although according to the scriptures, Jesus Christ must die and must die a sinner’s death. But it was not stated specifically that he should die on the cross. He was to die in order to save his people from their sins.

That Jesus must die is sure, that he must die as a sinner is very important too, because that was his mission on earth – to save sinners to God by dying in their place. To this end, he was symbolically exchanged for a robber (righteous man died instead of the sinner man).

To die on the cross was then necessary, because he was condemned alongside thieves whose end judgment was also to die on the cross. The cross is the prescribed means of execution for Jesus’ crime.

i.                     Jesus must die according to the law of the Jews

ii.                   His body must not be destroyed since he will need it for his resurrection

iii.               The evidences of his death must be clear; everyone must see his dead body including the Jews who crucified him as a testimony unto them. The death and resurrection must not be behind the scene.

So Jesus Christ does not need to die by a car accident…

Neither does he need to die by slumping; he must die on the cross!

The cross was rendered figuratively in four different ways in the whole bible;

The cross was used “as a duty”…you remembered the words of Jesus in Matthew 10:38 “take up thy cross and follow me”

The cross is also a symbol of Christ’s sufferings, It is also the symbol for the Christian faith and also used as the symbol of reconciliation of mankind back to God.

Why must Jesus die? He must die person it is required that a sacrifice be made for the sin of humanity. He must die because the wages of sin is death. What happened on the cross is a New Testament type of the sacrifice offered by the Jews according to the laws of Moses for the remissions of sins.

The cross is a symbol of the altar (though we have an eternal altar not made with hands in the heavens), where Jesus (the Lamb) was offered for the eternal remission of sins of mankind.

Jesus was the lamb whose blood was shed for the forgiveness of sins.

So you must understand that Jesus Christ must need to die, and must die on the cross.

Though the cross he died upon was made of wood, and Jesus was not first and only person to die on it, but the cross of Christ as recorded in the epistles is far beyond the wooden cross. It is of great significance to the Christian faith.

There is nothing like the cross of Calvary. Calvary was just the location for the crucifixion. The cross has nothing to do with it.

It is actually best that we render it as “the cross of Christ” instead of the “cross of Calvary”. Calvary is not linked to its function at all; it is only the cross of Christ that can save. Just like every other physical thing involved in the redemption work, the cross of Christ is more spiritual than physical.

See how Paul puts it …

“For God sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest THE CROSS OF CHRIST should be made of none effect” 1 Cor 1:17

See again how he explained the same thing it in his epistle to the Galatians “but God forbid that I should glory, save in THE CROSS OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST…”

Jesus is the sacrifice for the sins of the world, and this is possible because of what happened at the cross.

He died on the cross, and not just anywhere because it is a pre-requisite for other things that must happen for the completion of the redemption work planned by God from the beginning.

Now, we shall begin to take one by one what happened at the cross many years ago and its implication to those who believe these things.

Amen!

THE CROSS OF CHRIST - 1

THE ETERNAL COUNSEL AS PER THE CROSS

Oh that the manifold wisdom of God the almighty has been made manifested to his sons in these last days. That he concealed many of these things from the prophets of Old and the angels was part of his eternal counsel. He made the heavens and the earth and every other thing for himself and for his own great and unsearchable pleasure.

He made the thrones and kingdoms; he made everything including Satan and his cohorts. He created all and all these things are working together in synchronous with this eternal counsel concluded before the world began.

The plan to save mankind was settled before time began; some persons have claimed that God did not plan redemption until Adam fell, which is not true according to the written word of God. He is Alpha and Omega; everything we see today is history to him.

He finished everything in the spiritual before he made them visible. You see, God is someone who establishes something in the spirit realm and then brings it to physical manifestation later. This is because he is a spirit and also because the spirit realm controls the physical realm. So what you see manifested today was first birthed and completed in the spirit realm.

This was what he did when he created man in the garden; he first made man spirit and then manifested the created man bodily later on. In the same vein, the plan of salvation and redemption of mankind back to himself through the death and resurrection Jesus Christ on the cross was first concluded in the spirit realm.

The Cross was the place where the eternal counsel of God which he made before the creation of the world was fulfilled.

The cross was where the sacrifice of the Lamb of God was offered for the eternal forgiveness of sins.

But we must however understand that though this happened more than two thousand years ago, somewhere in the country of Israel but it had already been concluded before time began.

That God wants a family for himself, knew that man would fall and that he would have to redeem mankind back through the Cross.

See it here how Paul puts it…

“Blessed be the God the my father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as HE HAS CHOSEN IN HIM BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. HAVING PREDESTINATED US UNTO THE ADOPTION OF CHILDREN BY JESUS CHRIST TO HIMSELF, ACCORDING TO THE GOOD PLEASURE OF HIS WILL. To the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved IN WHOM WE HAVE REDEMPTION THROUGH HIS BLOOD, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace.” Ephesians 1:3-7

You see how that God chose us before the foundation of the world. But this will not be according to his love, if he did not do this through the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ. So he did this by offering Christ on the cross to express his love and to adopt us as his children.

See again how Paul the apostle puts it to Titus …

“In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie PROMISED BEFORE THE WORLD BEGAN ...”

So the promise of eternal life to those who believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ was promised before the world began. It wasn’t promised when Adam ate the fruit. It had been settled before Adam was created at all.

You see?

Although the eternal counsel of God concealed billions of years into eternity past was manifested within some three days and it brought many sons to their father.

This all happened at the cross!

And that is why we have a keen interest on this subject

What happened at the cross is one of the greatest benefits from God to mankind. God expressed his dimension of love to humanity on the cross.

The man Jesus Christ was God, he took upon himself the body of that man to die the death that mankind should die when there was none worthy.

This is love! That is why the bible repeated it several times that GOD IS LOVE! He is!

It is imperative that you understand everything that happened to you when you became a child of God. Because many things were made available on the cross for those who believe in Christ, and these things we shall closely look into in subsequent lessons

Too many fights and curses today in the name of prayer today, because we are ignorant of what happened to us by the reason of the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus on the cross.

Understanding the cross of Christ is sufficient for your victory in life.

The cross is our glory!

Amen!

Philip Oklu

Whatsapp: +234(0)8137579913

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WHY JESUS MUST NECCESARILY DIE?

UNLEARNING THE LIES ABOUT HEAVEN - The End

MY FINAL SUBMISSION

Great and mighty is our God who took on the form of man to redeem man. He wrote a counsel before time began to tick. He made a plan that was concealed for his sons to reveal. He made everything; the heaven, the earth, the thrones, the kingdoms, the powers and others for his pleasure. He created light and darkness, he created the good and the bad, and he is sovereign and knows the end from the beginning!

He is not bound by time and space. Although he is eternal, he is older than eternity.

That he desired to have a family of sons who will look like him, live and do things exactly like him was the goal of his eternal counsel. This he did by creating man in his own image and bringing him to existence on earth. Although man was formed from dust, that was not his aim. The man who will establish the kingdom must be created, but this all must play according to the eternal counsel. Man must fall, and another dimension of God must be revealed to his creation; which is the dimension of his unconditional love. This was the love that brought us where we are today.

That Adam lost the kingdom to Satan was part of the plan. So Satan was a character in the eternal counsel. He thought he was been smart and wise by deceiving the first woman, but he had crucified the lord of Glory before he knew that he was been used.

God must express his love to his sons, which was what he did all at salvation. He did not involve man at all in any of the process. Except for logistics, man was not included in the redemption work. God did all the saving. His goal was to regain the lost kingdom and bring us into it. His plan was to make many kings rule this kingdom at a time. We are the kings! He is the KING of kings! We receive from him and we act. We have been translated into this kingdom of the Lord God by the eternal seal of the Holy Spirit!

What we were taught as the Lord’s Prayer is no more valid…”thy kingdom come” is outdated! The kingdom has come since 2000+ years ago. The kingdom is coming to its full establishment now. The speed of takeover was slowed down by UNSKILLFUL and LEGAL TEACHERS of the word of God. They shifted the focus of the church away from the eternal counsel of kingdom establishment, and made the church to run after vain ambition of making heaven! But the Day of Judgment is here! The army is rising! We will return the church back to the mind of God! The Kingdom must speed up.

We have a mandate, we must not fail God! He did his role and said “it is finished”, we are yet to finish ours! We have not overthrown the kingdom of darkness form their hideouts! We are still busy fighting ourselves because of material things and men of God are running after big auditoriums and church membership population. We have neglected the plan of God from eternity past.

The last army is here, Judgment has started from the house of God. Those who have turn the believers to slaves and made lord over them will face the axe. This last move of God will uproot the tares from the midst of the wheat into the fire. All doctrines and beliefs that were planted as a seed by religion will all be uprooted. The church that Jesus died for cannot be caged like this forever! We will not watch it happen! We are the sons that the creation has been waiting for, creation has now started rejoicing because the manifestations are ongoing.

An average believer today is CHASING AN AMBITION TO MAKE HEAVEN AT ALL COST TO LIVE IN A BIG MANSION FOREVER! What an insult upon the finished work of the Cross! They took the redemption work as something that was not necessary!

Imagine how these legal preachers have scared many believers whom Jesus imputed righteousness and holiness for free, to strive to be holy again and even say that they will go to Hell. Some of this people are more dangerous than Moses! They take everything in the bible and swallow it just like that! They just remove verses anyhow from any place in the bible to scare people about hell! Your time is up! The judgment day is here!

Many people would have been more productive and fruitful for the Kingdom and we would have taken over this earth many years back if these STUBBORN LEGAL PEOPLE had not existed.

Then kingdom reformers and revivalist are rising from every corners of the world, we will first correct the error and ignorance among our Christian brethren, then we will face religion and defeat him flawlessly, then we will wipe off everything that has exalted itself above the throne of Jesus Christ. We will not pray “a die by fire kind of prayer’, we will enforce the victory of the Ancient one at resurrection!

Then the words in the book of Revelation 11:15 will finally be fulfilled…

“And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, THE KINGDOMS OF THIS WORLD ARE BECOME THE KINGDOMS OF OUR LORD, AND OF HIS CHRIST; and he shall reign forever and ever”

Amen.

UNLEARNING THE LIES ABOUT HEAVEN - 7

IN MY FATHER’S HOUSE ARE MANY MANSIONS – WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

Jesus said to his disciples in John 14:2 that “In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you”

For many hundreds of years now in the body of Christ, this has been translated to mean that there are mansions in Heaven prepared for believers who go there to live forever after they die. This is very contradicting to the purpose of God for the Kingdom. The Bible made it clear that the Kingdom of God will be established on earth many times both in the OT and in the NT (see lessons 2 & 3). So a dream of living in a beautiful gigantic building in heaven cannot be true. Since this is the only place in the entire bible that MANSIONS in the Father’s house was mentioned. So as not to fall into error, good bible students will not use this verse in isolation but do a proper exegesis to see if this was actually referring to the claim above.

Now, follow closely…

Jesus said; Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

Now the disciples were at first troubled when Jesus told them about this mansion in his father’s house.  So we must first understand why they are troubled before we understand the meaning of jesus’ statement.

It is important to note that Jesus in the preceding chapter has just told them about his death and glorification and that he will leave them for A MOMENT. This was what made the disciples to be troubled. They never wanted Jesus to leave, they were afraid of what could befall them and all sort of things…

See what he said towards the end of Chapter 13…

 VERSE 33 - Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you.

Note that Jesus said BOTH THE JEWS AND THE DISCIPLES cannot go to where he is going. If it were to be heaven, Jesus must be telling lies here. There are many people in heaven already, just before this conversation, Elijah and Moses had just come from there. So Jesus was not referring to heaven or paradise as where he is going and where the Jews and the disciples cannot come. Are you following?

Then after that Jesus said…

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards.

Peter was actually the one mostly troubled, so he asked again, this is because he came to understand that Jesus was not talking about paradise, that where Jesus was going is not heaven, so he said “where are you going?”… Now see the newly improved reply Jesus gave to him, he said HE MUST GO THERE FIRST AND THEY WOULD FOLLOW HIM AFTER (this is not rapture, just follow to the end please)

Now, this was what they discussed till John 14, lets follow the conversation a bit more and we will get there now.

John 14:1…

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

Peter’s reactions and probably all of them, made Jesus to say this.

Is Jesus saying the disciples did not believe him before? Yes! They were never born again. One can only be born again by believing. This leads us to the next point Jesus raised…which is tied to believing Jesus.

^“ In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.”

Some versions use “rooms” instead of “mansions”. Whether rooms or mansions, Jesus said they are in his father’s house. We have established in lesson 1 & 2 of this series that heaven is not the home of God, so the father’s house could not be heaven. Don’t forget Jesus had just told them that they cannot come to this place now, but will follow him after. He said “follow” because he would first go there to prepare a place for them. This is not rapture!

The father’s house here is the kingdom of God! The mansions or rooms are our lot or places in the kingdom. Jesus was first to enter into this kingdom as the firstborn son of God, then the disciples were second to enter, like that like that till today. They said they cannot follow him because they were not born again, they were not sanctified, they were not saved, they were not yet Sons – both the disciples and the Jews were not yet qualified to enter God’s kingdom at that time.

Jesus must be the one to redeem us all and then bring us into the kingdom. That was why he specifically said even they cannot come to where he was going unless he go there first, it is not heaven it is the kingdom of God!

Then he said…

^“ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

This is not rapture. Going to prepare a place was what Jesus did within three days of his death and resurrection. You remember what Jesus told Mary Magdalene when on that resurrection morning? “he said, I have not YET ASCENDED TO THE FATHER! He was supposed to go to the father for the redemption work to complete and then come back (which he did) to bring the disciples and all others that would believe him into the place he has prepared with himself in the Father! He is not talking about a rapture here!

The whole book of Hebrews 8, 9, 10 explained this in detail. He said “I will receive you to myself”, this is not rapture! This is what happened to all of us at salvation. We were made to sit with Christ in the heavenly places at the right hand of God; our life was hid with Christ. We return to our source. So where he is right now, is where we are also. He is not talking about going to Heaven to live forever. All these words of Jesus have been fulfilled already. He has truly prepared that mansion or room in the heart of the father and he has brought us into Mount Zion, the city of the living God! those who die before resurrection go to ABRAHAM’S BOSOM, WE GO TO THE FATHER’S HEART!

Let’s finish this quickly…

“ And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.

 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?

 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Jesus finally concluded it here with the answer to all the questions they have been asking; he said “I GO TO THE FATHER!” he was not going to heaven to build beautiful houses; he is going to the father! He was going to atone for our sins; he was going to offer himself as our substitute that we may be allowed into the kingdom of the father! Rapture and Heavenly mansions are not included in this passage at all!

I hope you get it?

There are no mansions in heaven my friend!  You have been deceived for long. In fact many of the preachers of these things will add their version to it that THE TITHE YOU PAY HERE ON EARTH is being used to CONSTRUCT THOSE MANSIONS FOR YOU OVER THERE. WHAT DECEPTION OF THE HIGHEST ORDER!

THE WORD OF GOD IS TRUE AND PURE!

There are NO BRICKLAYERS IN HEAVEN, NO CEMENT, NO BRICKS, NO IRON, NO SAND, NO SHOVEL, NO LABOURERS, and YOUR TITHE IS NOT RELEVANT! GET OUT OF IGNORANCE NOW!

I have said and will repeat, going to heaven is not the goal of the believer at all! Heaven is just a point of transition! We will not live in heaven forever! There is no big deal in going to heaven as a believer! You are already citizens. Our focus is the Kingdom not heaven. You are meant to establish the kingdom of God here on earth! NOT IN HEAVEN!

So stop chasing an ambition because someone told you there are mansions in heaven!

And since some of you love beautiful things or because you have lived in a face-me-face-you all your life, you are struggling to go to heaven to live in big mansions built by Jesus forever. Welldone sir! Imagine that when Jesus said I go to prepare a place for you that he meant he wants to go and do bricklaying work for us. Haba!

Those who are wise will not remain the same after reading this!

There are too many deceptions in the body of Christ!

But people like us will not rest till we uproot all the tares!

This is judgment day!

Religion is in trouble!

Ignorance is destroyed!

UNLEARNING THE LIES ABOUT HEAVEN - 6

MANY ARE CALLED BUT FEW ARE CHOSEN – WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

Just because Matt 22:14 says “Many are called, but few are chosen”, unskillful teachers of the word have HANDPICKED THE VERSE and used it to scare many believers, warning that some of them will go to hell if they do not obey certain rules and attain certain holiness.

On the issue on holiness, we have trashed that out, read lesson 5 over and over again and you will be blessed! 

Now the phrase “many are called, but few chosen” – what this mean?

In other to understand the meaning, we must first understand the context of the passage of which it was drawn from.

May I say that the phrase occur just ONCE throughout the entire bible and that is Mathew 22:14. The “many are called few are chosen” that occur in the KJV in Matthew 20:16 is not found in some versions of the bible, because the authenticity of its presence in the original manuscript is being questioned. But whether present or not, we shall explain how it was used in both passages and see for ourselves that it has nothing to do with a believer going to heaven.

It is just one of the verses THAT WAS HANDPICKED OUT OF ITS CONTEXT and used to rob believers of their peace and rest in Christ.

Now unto Matthew chapter 20:16…where it was first used.

When you read from verse one, the passage was about the lord of a vineyard who hired laborers to work in his vineyard. Later on he went into the streets to CALL/INVITE (note the word) others whom he saw idle on the streets, and at the end paid them all the same amount. This made the first laborers to protest that they came in first to work, and that others whom he gave the same wages came in the late hour. Then the Lord after asserting his lordship and will said; they that shall be first shall be last; they that are last shall be first and that for many are called, few chosen.

What is Jesus trying to say with this parable? And as you already know, this parable is likened unto the kingdom of God. So why is he saying “many are called” …who are the many, and who are the FEW who were chose?

Now follow closely, let’s see the other passage where the same thing was said after another similar parable…

In Matthew 22, Jesus gave another parable about the Kingdom of heaven and this time around he likened it unto a king, who wants to make a wedding banquet for his son, then he sent his servants to those whom he has invited before, that it is time come for the banquet. However, when the servants got to those people, it was said that they refused to come, he sent another set, many gave flimsy excuses of businesses and other things and yet did not show up, and again the king did not give up, he sent the servants again to these invited people, and this last time, the invited people arrested and killed the servants of the king. This made the king to be angry, he sent his army to destroy those invited people and their city. Now, finally the king thought of making the invitation an open invitation to just anybody…the bible specifically used the word “ANYBODY, WHETHER GOOD OR BAD”. So the hall was full of MANY PEOPLE. Afterwards, a guy was caught without a WEDDING DRESS which everyone was putting on. He was DIFFERENT and did not have this wedding dress, which made him to be casted out. It was after this, that the king said “many are called but few chosen”….

Now, if you to look into the two passages and strictly at the context you will see just two major characters, THE JEWS and THE GENTILES!

The Jews were the first laborers that were CALLED to work in the vineyard, they are the ones entrusted with the kingdom of God from the onset, they are the ones who first heard about it, but the Gentiles were brought into the scene towards the end. The Jews had received the promise of the messiah for many years and have been waiting seriously for it…the bible talks about one man Joseph of Arimatea that “he has been waiting for the Kingdom”, there are many of them like that…that was what made the Pharisees come to Jesus the other day to ask when the kingdom of heaven will come.

Similarly, the INVITED GUESTS of the king to the WEDDING BANQUET ARE THE JEWS, they are the ones who have received the invitation since ages past, God kept reminding them through Moses, Isaiah, Daniel and many others. The GENTILES ARE THE “MANY PEOPLE, GOOD OR BAD” that was invited on the HIGHWAYS AND STREETS at the late hour when the invited guest rejected the invitation to come to the wedding of the King’s son.

And of course we know the Vineyard, and the Wedding banquet here are symbols for the Kingdom of god while the Lord and the King in the passages are symbols for GOD HIMSELF.

Now to the question, who are the MANY that are called?…from the context of the two passages, the MANY are the GENTILES (nations that are non-Jewish). Note carefully how the word “are” was used for the many, while past tense “chosen” was used for the few. So the FEW chosen are the Jews.

The word “are” that preceded “chosen” was added by the translators of the KJV, the correct phrase is actually FEW CHOSEN, not FEW ARE CHOSEN…the word “are” is not present in the original manuscript of the bible. So it is “many are called, few chosen”

According to the parable of Jesus Christ, this is referring to how God extended the plan of salvation to the gentile nations. This Jews have were CHOSEN, the gentile nations were not. The Gentiles were CALLED/INVITED into the kingdom after the attitude of the Jews towards Jesus. This was exactly what Paul the apostle explained in Romans 9, 10 and 11. He explained how that the Jews rejected the gospel of salvation and nailed Christ to the cross, and then God took the gospel to the Gentiles who accepted the gospel easily.

The phrase is not talking about making heaven!

The phrase is not saying that some believers will not make heaven

The phrase is strictly about TWO SETS OF HUMAN RACE WHOM GOD APPOINTED UNTO SALVATION

That guy who was bonded and thrown into the outer darkness did not have the wedding garment; the WEDDING GARMENT IS A SYMBOL FOR THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. Gentiles (believers) are clothed with the righteousness of God upon salvation.

All those who believe and are clothed with righteousness of God upon salvation enters the kingdom of God, they cannot be thrown out!

MANY ARE CALLED means MANY WILL HEAR THE GOSPEL! When they hear and believe, they RECEIVE THE WEDDING GARMENT, THE RIGHTEOUSNESS IMPUTED BY FAITH!

See how Paul puts it “Whereunto He CALLED YOU BY OUR GOSPEL” (2 Thess. 2:14)

So some people have taught wrongly that using this passage that few people will be in the kingdom of God! NO!

This verse is not about us being few; it is about the Jewish nation being few!

Why will they be few?

1.  The Jews are just one out of over 200 nations in the world, so they will be few compared to the Gentiles!

2   The Jews who believed the gospel are very few, majority did not believe Jesus Christ even while he was alive in their midst, when he died, and even up till now!

Although they have been chosen before by God, to be his people, yet they will be few, WE WILL BE MANY!

Halleluyah!

Don’t live in fear of hell any longer! You are covered! Grace covered you! YOU ARE AMONG THE MANY THAT HAVE BEEN CALLED!

Finally, see the end of THOSE OF US that are called…

‘And those he predestined, he also CALLED; those he CALLED, he also JUSTIFIED (Amen?); those he justified, he also GLORIFED!” (Glory!!!!!)