DISPENSATIONAL TRUTH
ACTS
59
AND
the words, `Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentles' (Acts
18:6).
It may not have particular significance, or it may be typical, that the next verse tells us that he entered into a
house which was `hard by the synagogue', and that Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord,
and from 1 Corinthians 1:1 we gather that his successor, Sosthenes, also believed (18:17). But the objector may say
that Paul's words in 18:6 are final, `from henceforth'. Yet we have only to read on to verse 19 to find him once
again in the synagogue, and reasoning with the Jews.
After his visit to Jerusalem we once more find the apostle speaking boldly in the synagogue, occupying the space
of three months in this public ministry (Acts 19:8). Again his testimony was followed by opposition, and for two
years he conducted his ministry among the disciples in the school of one, Tyrannus (verse 9), where both Jews and
Greeks heard the word of the Lord Jesus. But Acts 20:3 shows us the opposition of the Jews persisting, and, in verse
22, the apostle's testimony as a free man draws to an end. His own summary of this period says nothing of any
turning from the Jews to the Gentiles, but, on the contrary, his words are, `Testifying both to the Jews, and also to
the Greeks' (verse 21).
It is then clear that no valid opposition can be discovered in the record of the Acts to the position we have
reached, namely, that at Acts 28:28 a door was opened to the Gentiles that had never been opened before, and that
there the dispensation of the mystery was given to the imprisoned apostle; there the high glories of heavenly places
were, for the first time, revealed. Acts 28:28 is the dispensational landmark.
CHAPTER 8
Three spheres of Blessing, and the Principle of Right Division considered
By the statement `Three spheres of blessing' we must be understood to indicate that the Scriptures teach that
there are three distinct provinces within which the distinctive callings revealed in the Scriptures are naturally
confined.
Our first step will be to enumerate these `spheres of blessing' in scriptural terms, and then compare and contrast
them, so that by trying the things that differ we may avoid confusion and keep each calling in its appointed place.
Let us begin with our own calling as revealed in the epistle to the Ephesians:
`Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in
heavenly places in Christ' (Eph. 1:3).
At the moment we are not concerned with the kind of blessings here set forth, namely `all spiritual', but with the
`province', `range' or `domain' in which these blessings naturally find their setting, and we have but to record:
(1) The sphere of blessing found in Ephesians 1:3 is defined as `in heavenly places'.
Again, we are not yet concerned to know whether these `heavenly places' are no higher than the firmament in
which birds fly; whether they denote the starry heavens; or whether they refer to a position `far above all', but that a
distinct `sphere' is indicated by the words `in heavenly places'.
We now turn to another part of the New Testament, where we read of another sphere of blessing:
`Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth' (Matt. 5:5).
Once more, we are not concerned with the character of those here referred to, nor with their inheritance, but
exclusively with the `sphere' of their inheritance, and we therefore record:
(2) A sphere of blessing is found in Matthew 5:5, which is defined as `earth'.
Here, then, are two spheres of blessing concerning which there is no controversy. But, in addition to these two,
we discover what appears to be an intermediate sphere of blessing, a sphere above `the earth', yet not `in heavenly
places'. For this we turn to Galatians 3:14 :
`That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ'.