Paul’s ministry is the key to the present dispensation in which we are living. Without it we are going to lose our proper character as those who are possessed of the heavenly calling, those who wait to be taken out of this world, those who are expecting His return to take us into the place where we belong.
Going back into the historical sequence of things, in the second chapter of Acts the church was formed. And in the next two chapters, the Spirit of God energizes them with such unique power and Christian affection as the world had never known — not a jarring note; everything is in lovely harmony — a beautiful answer to our Lord’s prayer in John 17 that they all might be one. Very soon failure came in, for, remember, the Word of God never promises a perfect condition in the church of God. We will never have it while we are down here in this world, for wherever anything is committed to man, we can look for failure to come in. So it was in the fifth chapter, in the lie of Ananias and his wife; likewise, in the sixth we discover selfishness. We find trouble early in the church of God. I trust none of us are so self-complacent as to think we can expect or look for a perfect company. Mr. Armet used to say that if he found that company, he would not join it, because, if he did, it would be spoiled. No, we are not looking for the perfect company, but we are seeking to discern from the Word of God the path marked out for faith in these last days.
In Acts 7 we find that the Jewish nation sins again against Christ in the stoning of Stephen. They definitely say, “We will not have this man to reign over us” (Luke 19:1414But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us. (Luke 19:14)). How final was Israel’s rejection of their Messiah!
Immediately, in the next chapter, we find grace beginning to work outside the bounds of Israel proper, and the Samaritans were brought in. All is orderly progress from the day of Pentecost right down to the ninth chapter. Here Saul of Tarsus is converted, that chosen instrument whom God, as it were, had hidden away. His eye was upon him. Saul of Tarsus thought he was going on in his own way and using his dynamic drive to wipe the name of Jesus off the face of the earth. There was no name he hated like that name. Nevertheless, he was a chosen vessel of God, a vessel of mercy. God was going to demonstrate in that vessel that where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. And so, in Acts 9, it is Saul who is brought to God. Acts continues in the tenth and eleventh chapters with the introduction of the Gentiles into the church formally.