They were to be His servants, to do His wishes. They were given a special country to live in and special laws to live

by. God was preparing them to take His word to the rest of the world. This was God's earthly plan.

For many years God had put up with their disobedience in turning from His ways. He had punished them by

sending them into slavery, but they still did not seem to learn. Finally, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself came to them

as their Saviour and King, and they rejected Him. They crucified Him.

During the Acts they were given another opportunity to believe in Him, and God commanded them to do so, but

again they refused. Three things happened:

1.

Christ did not return to them.

2.

They were no longer a special people to God, and so could not be used to take His salvation to the world.

3.

God turned away from them to the Gentiles, and began another part of His plans, the heavenly part.

It was this turning to the Gentiles which Paul spoke of in Acts chapter 28, verse 28. This was something which

God had kept secret. Now Paul made it known, Satan had not won.

From the time when God turned away from the Jews He has been working out another part of His plans. This

has to do with the heavens, and only one man has anything to say about it - the apostle Paul. Even Paul only writes

about the heavenly plan in some of his letters. This is because he wrote seven of his letters before God made known

to him His heavenly plan. In a future booklet we must see what this plan is about, but now we must look at the other

books in the New Testament.

After the Acts of the Apostles there are 21 books in the New Testament which are really letters. They are called

epistles in our Bible. Some of these letters have to do with God's earthly plan through the Jews, and some with

God's heavenly plan for the Gentiles. We must, of course, be careful which are which.

Fourteen of the letters were written by Paul, and seven by other writers - Peter, James, John, and Jude. Of the

fourteen written by Paul, seven have to do with the earthly plan, and seven with the heavenly. Look at it like this:

(1) God's purpose through the Jews - the earth.

1 and 2 Corinthians

1 and 2 Peter

1, 2 and 3 John

1 and 2 Thessalonians

(2) God's purpose for the Gentiles - the heavens.

1 and 2 Timothy

Titus

There is not the room in this small booklet to look at each letter on its own, because there is so much teaching in

each. If you learn by heart to which part of God's plan each letter belongs, then you will be ready to understand

what is written in them.