Signs in John's Gospel - The Lamp Broadcast

The Word Made Flesh 47
after several years, the time came when death followed in the
wake of rejection (Acts 7:51ff). This then opened the door for an
unprecedented onslaught of persecution and death at the hands of
Israel’s religious leaders (cf. Acts 8:1-3; 22:4, 5, 19, 20; 26:9-12).
2) Religious Leaders, the People, Now
The central message to be proclaimed to Christians today is quite
simple to understand if one remains solely within the confines of
Scripture. It has to do with that taken from Israel in Matt. 21:43;
it has to do with the new nation — “an holy nation,” comprising
“a royal [‘a regal’] priesthood” (I Peter 2:9, 10) — called into existence
to be the recipient of that which Israel had relinquished;
it has to do with the Word of the Kingdom.
A person has been saved for a purpose, and that purpose has
to do with the kingdom. An entire dispensation has been set aside,
during which time God has sent His Spirit into the world to call out
a bride for His Son. And this, as man’s salvation, has to do with the
kingdom (ref. the author’s book, SEARCH FOR THE BRIDE).
The whole of Scripture, Old Testament and New Testament,
moves in one direction alone. It moves toward the coming kingdom
of Christ. It moves toward that day when God will bring to pass
a complete change in the earth’s government, to effect order out of
disorder in the one part of God’s kingdom where sin entered.
But what is happening in Christendom relative to the proclamation
of this message? What are the religious leaders doing?
Again, one need only look around. Exactly the same thing which
occurred in Israel relative to this message is being repeated, and
the ultimate outcome will be the same.
The people were misled by their religious leaders then, and
it was relative to a kingdom; and the people are being misled by
their religious leaders today, and it is relative to the same kingdom.
Death (physical), because of the actions of Jewish religious
leaders, was the ultimate outcome for numerous faithful Christians
in that day (Christian martyrs [cf. Acts 7:54-8:3]); and death
(soulical [cf. Rom. 8:13; James 1:21; 5:19, 20]), because of the actions
of Christian religious leaders, will be the ultimate outcome
for numerous unfaithful Christians today.