Understanding Israel’s Promises, the Kingdom Gospel, and Why Paul’s Message Was Still Hidden

 

One of the most important principles in Bible study is this:
We cannot read ahead of God’s revelation.
We cannot pull truth from Paul’s epistles and force it back into the Gospels (Retroactive).
We must always ask:

 

Who is writing, and who is the writer writing to?

 

In Matthew 1:1, the answer is unmistakable:

 

• Matthew is a Jew
• writing under the Law
• chosen by the Messiah
• writing to Jews
• about their long-promised King
• and the Kingdom program God began with Abraham and David.

 

Matthew 1:1 is not the beginning of the Church —
it is the continuation of Israel’s story.

 

Gentiles Were Not Part of Israel’s Promises — Scripture Says So Plainly

 

Ephesians 2:11–12 states it with razor clarity:

 

“At that time you were without Christ,
aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,
strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope and without God in the world.”

 

Before Paul’s revelation, the Gentile world:

 

❌ had no covenant
❌ had no Messiah to expect
❌ had no promises
❌ had no access to Israel’s God
❌ had no place in Israel’s Kingdom hope

 

Jews saw Gentiles as unclean, pagan outsiders.
Gentiles wanted nothing to do with Jewish Law, culture, or the 613 commandments.

 

The Gentile world was not waiting for a Messiah.
 

Israel was.
For 2,000 years.

 

Jesus Came as a Minister to Israel — Not the Church

 

Romans 15:8:

“Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision (Jews)
to confirm the promises made to the fathers.”

 

Who are “the fathers”?
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob — not the Church.

 

Jesus came:

 

• to Israel
• under the Law
• confirming the covenants
• offering Israel her King
• preaching the Kingdom Gospel

 

This is why Jesus told the rich young ruler what He told him.

 

Why Did Jesus Tell the Rich Man to “Keep the Commandments”? (Matthew 19)

 

People ask me weekly, from all denominational backgrounds:

 

“Jesus said to keep the commandments to inherit eternal life!”

 

Why? Because that was the covenant ground Israel stood on.
Jesus was ministering under the Law, to those who were under the law— Jews.

 

He never told anyone during His earthly ministry:

 

“You are no longer under the Law.”

 

Because that truth was not yet revealed.

 

Paul hasn’t even come on the scene yet.

 

Lazarus and the Rich Man — What Could Abraham Possibly Preach?

 

The context of Luke 16:22-31, is stunning — and it destroys the “everything has always been the same gospel” argument.

 

Luke 16:22–31 — The rich man in torment begs Abraham:

 

“Send Lazarus to warn my brothers!”

 

Abraham answers:

 

“They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.”

 

Notice carefully:

 

Abraham does not say:

 

• “They have the gospel of grace.”
• “Tell them to trust in the death, burial, and resurrection.”
• “Tell them salvation is by grace through faith apart from works.”
• “Tell them Romans 10:9!”

 

None of that had been revealed.

 

A 12-year-old could answer why:

 

Abraham could not preach a gospel that did not exist.
Grace had not been revealed.
The mystery had not been given.
Paul had not been chosen by God yet.

 

All Israel had — and all Lazarus believed — was the King and the Kingdom:

 

• The Messiah would come
• He would be the Son of God
• He would save Israel
• He would crush their enemies
• He would establish David’s throne
• Israel would be the head of the nations

 

This is the good news Peter believed in Matthew 16:16.
This is the good news Jesus and the Twelve preached for 3 years.
This is the good news Peter proclaimed at Pentecost (Acts 2).
And again in Acts 3 — unchanged.

 

Why unchanged?

 

Because Paul’s gospel of grace had not yet been revealed. And trying to retrofit Paul into the Lord’s earthly ministry is hermenuetic desperation.

 

Even Early Acts Is Still the Kingdom Gospel — Not Grace

 

Acts 3:19–21 is Abraham’s message all over again:

 

“…that He may send Jesus Christ…
whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration…”

 

That is Kingdom truth — not grace-age doctrine.

 

Peter is not preaching the cross as salvation.
He is offering Israel their King — if they repent.

 

Both Peter and Paul preached resurrection for sure. But Peter preached resurrection as proof that Jesus is the Messiah, and assurance of the kingdom to  come.

The apostle Paul preached the resurrection of Christ as the means of salvation and sanctification for all, Jew and Gentile, becoming a new creation, being baptized into the body of Christ which is His Church. All of it apart from the law and temple worship.

This is why:

 

❌ No one in Acts 2–7 preaches the blood of Christ as a salvation message.
❌ No one preaches the Body of Christ.
❌ No one preaches Jew and Gentile in one new man.
❌ No one preaches salvation apart from the Law.

 

Because none of that had been revealed.
The mystery is still hidden in God (Ephesians 3:1–9).

 

The Gospel of Grace Arrives With Paul — 10 Years After Pentecost

 

Historically and scripturally:

 

• Paul is saved around 36–38 AD
• His gospel is revealed to him by Christ Himself
• He begins preaching it years after Pentecost
• The first grace-age epistle isn’t written until 50–52 AD

 

For roughly 10+ years, the only gospel being preached was the:

 

Kingdom Gospel ➝ for Israel

 

Not the

 

Gospel of Grace ➝ for Jew & Gentile alike

 

This is the theme of Hebrews:

 

• Angels were good ➝ Christ is better
• Law was good ➝ Grace is better
• Aaronic priesthood was good ➝ Melchizedek is better
• Old covenant was glorious ➝ New covenant is more glorious

 

Grace is better — but it came later.

 

Why Christendom Is Confused Today

 

Because for 2,000 years, Gentiles — who were never part of the covenants — have forced themselves into Israel’s program and tried to mix:

 

• Peter and Paul
• law and grace
• kingdom and body
• prophecy and mystery
• Israel and the Church

 

And you can’t mix them.

 

The Bible only becomes clear when you stop forcing it to say what it never said —

 

and start reading it “in-time,” with the writer and audience in view.

 

Then everything falls into place.

 

And you finally see the breathtaking difference between:

 

• Israel and the Church
• Peter and Paul
• Law and Grace
• Prophecy and Mystery
• The Kingdom Gospel and the Gospel of Grace

 

When divided rightly, Scripture becomes the clearest, most thrilling book you’ve ever held.

 

And you will never want to put it down.