TruthVid's 100 Proofs that the Israelites were White, Part 69: 93, The Blood of the Lamb; 94, The Scope of the Gospel

TruthVid's 100 Proofs that the Israelites were White, Part 69

In our last presentation of these 100 Proofs, we endeavored to show that there are certain men whom Yahweh God could not have cleansed, and whom He had never intended to cleanse because, as it is prophesied in the Old Testament, He only intended to cleanse the children of Israel of their sins. So for that same reason, in the presentation preceding that we had discussed what Yahweh God had cleansed on the cross of Christ, which must have been the children of Israel whom He had explicitly promised to cleanse in the words of the prophets. So if God had only cleansed certain men, and only men of Israel as He had promised, it must be evident that there were men who were not cleansed by Him, and as we argued here last week, it is for that reason that Judas was not clean, and that Paul of Tarsus spoke of “disgusting and wicked men” who were never candidates for conversion to Christianity but against whom Paul had prayed for protection. Furthermore, of such men are the unclean whom Paul had told his readers to come out from among, particularly in 2 Corinthians chapter 6, where he was paraphrasing the words of the prophet Isaiah. Since the Scripture describes the cleansing of men with the blood of the Lamb, that will be the subject of our next discussion.

93) The Blood of the Lamb

An allegorical description of the crucifixion of Christ as the blood of a lamb is found in 1 Peter chapter 1, where we read: “18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” When Peter wrote those words, he was addressing Christians of the Roman provinces of Anatolia, having described them as sojourners, where he also informed them that they were elect “according to the foreknowledge of God.” Then he encouraged them, that upon their trials they could look forward to “9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. 10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: 11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. 12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.”

That foreknowledge must have been expressed in the prophets, and when we examine all the words of the prophets which describe salvation and all the promises of Christ, they only apply to the children of Israel exclusively. So where Peter wrote: “18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers…” in relation to the blood of the lamb, the historical context is found in the Old Testament explanations of the reasons for the sending of the children of Israel into captivity, and by saying “vain conversation”, which is vain conduct, Peter is referring to the sins of the ancient children of Israel.

There is an indirect prophecy of Christ as the lamb in Jeremiah chapter 11: “16 The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken. 17 For the LORD of hosts, that planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee, for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke me to anger in offering incense unto Baal. 18 And the LORD hath given me knowledge of it, and I know it: then thou shewedst me their doings. 19 But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered. 20 But, O LORD of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I revealed my cause.” This allegory of the innocent sheep brought as a lamb to the slaughter is also found in the Psalms, and was fulfilled in Christ.

But there is a more explicit Messianic prophecy in Isaiah chapter 53: “1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? 2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth….”

Where we began speaking of the blood of the lamb, the apostle Peter had connected redemption to that blood, so to understand what the blood covers, we must also speak of that redemption.

The word redeemer appears five times in the Old Testament outside of the prophecies of Isaiah. Once in Job, who lived in the period of the Judges, Job speaks prophetically and says “25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.” Again in the 19th Psalm, David professes that Yahweh is his Redeemer. In the 78th Psalm, Asaph wrote in reference to the children of Israel of the captivity and said “35 And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer.” Finally in Proverbs, in chapter 23, Solomon wrote generally of the redeemer of the fatherless in reference to the law, suggesting that God would punish all those who would oppress them. Moving ahead to the Messianic prophecies starting with Jeremiah, in chapter 50 we read: “ 33 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go. 34 Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall throughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.” So once again, it is attested that Yahweh God is the Redeemer of Israel, as opposed to the “inhabitants of Babylon”. That too is a type for the fall of Mystery Babylon described in Revelation chapter 18, where only the people of Yahweh are called to “come out of her”. All the others shall remain in Babylon, where they shall perish.

But in the prophet Isaiah, the word redeemer appears on thirteen occasions, and on every one of them it is professing, or Yahweh is declaring, that He is the Redeemer of the children of Israel in relation to Messianic prophecies of their salvation. These begin in Isaiah chapter 41, and it is in that chapter, which was written after the Assyrians had taken away most of both Israel and Judah into captivity, that the prophet had begun addressing the children of Israel in captivity. So we read as that address begins that Israel is promised the help of God against all their enemies: “13 For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. 14 Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. 15 Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. 16 Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.”

In subsequent chapters, in Isaiah chapter 44 Yahweh is described as “the King of Israel, and his [Israel’s] redeemer the LORD of hosts”, and addresses those same children of Israel by saying “thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer” (44:6, 24). In Isaiah chapter 47, the children of Israel themselves are portrayed as saying “4 As for our redeemer, the LORD of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel.” In chapter 48 we read “17 Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.” Then in chapter 49, “7 Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One…” and at the end of the verse it says, still addressing Israel: “because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee.” At the end of the same chapter it speaks of the nations which had oppressed Israel, and we read: “26 And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.” Here the fate of the “unclean” whom the children of Israel were commanded to “come out from among” should be fully apparent.

So in all these prophecies that promised redeemer and the accompanying salvation are all for Israel, for Israel only, and these prophecies cannot be honestly disconnected from Israel and given to any other people.

In Isaiah chapter 54 we read of the relationship of the punishment of Israel to the promised redemption, and the Word of Yahweh says: “5 For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called [Israel was promised to inherit the whole earth]. 6 For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God [Israel the wife was refused when she was divorced and sent into captivity]. 7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. 8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.” That small moment lasted for nearly 800 years, from when the first tribes which were taken into captivity.

Even later, in Isaiah chapter 59, the exclusivity of the covenants and promises of God for the children of Israel is once again attested in relation to redemption, where it says “20 And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD. 21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.” So we see an affirmation of the racial covenant with Jacob and his descendants. Then in chapter 60, the reversal of their punishment is once again prophesied: “15 Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. 16 Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings: and thou shalt know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.”

Then near the end of Isaiah, in chapter 63, the children of Israel are portrayed as having said to Yahweh their God: “ 16 Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel [Jacob] acknowledge us not [in their captivity]: thou, O LORD, art our father, our redeemer; thy name is from everlasting. 17 O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants' sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.”

It was sin from which the children of Israel needed to be redeemed, so that they would not suffer the ultimate penalty of death for their sins. So we read, in a Messianic prophecy in Isaiah chapter 52: “1 Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. 2 Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. 3 For thus saith the LORD, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money. 4 For thus saith the Lord GOD, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.” As Paul also explained in Romans and elsewhere, the children of Israel had sold themselves into sin.

This is the entire context of redemption in Scripture, and Paul of Tarsus explained how that redemption applied to the children of Israel in Romans chapter 7, where he wrote along the same lines of Isaiah’s prophecy of the bereaved and forsaken wife and said “ Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? 2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. 3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. 4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.”

When Christ died on the cross, Israel was freed from the punishments of the law. But in Hosea, after He announced the divorce of Israel and sent them off into captivity, Yahweh had also promised to betroth Himself to Israel forever, and that too is in the person of Christ. Thus we read in Hosea chapter 2, addressing those same Israelites: “19 And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. 20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD.” Of course, those words were also an explicit promise to the children of Israel. This explains how and why Peter, in his first epistle, told his readers that they had been redeemed with the blood of the lamb.

But that too is a matter of the law, and in that manner the law as well as the first Passover represented a prophecy of Christ. So we read, in Exodus chapter 12: “3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: 4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: 6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. 7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. 8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.” This blood on the doorposts which had preserved the children of Israel from the destroyer of the firstborn of Egypt presaged the blood of Christ which saves the children of Israel from sin today.

For that reason Paul wrote in Romans chapter 5: “9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” Then he told the Ephesians, referring to Christ in Ephesians chapter 1: “7… we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins…” and in chapter 2: “13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” Likewise, referring to Christ in Colossians chapter 1: “14… we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” Paul then wrote at length in Hebrews chapter 9 how the blood of Christ forgave the sins of the children of Israel once for all time, whereas the high priests were required by the law to conduct the same ritual with the blood of a lamb once every year. Then Paul wrote in Hebrews chapter 13: “12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.” Then further on: “20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” Those sheep could only be the “lost sheep of the house of Israel”.

So both Peter and Paul had understood the forgiving of sins and the redemption prophesied to Israel to be found in the blood of the Lamb, and that Christ was that lamb. So we read in Revelation chapter 7 of the sealing of 144,000 of Israel, but it is not they alone who would achieve salvation. Rather, after the sealing we read “9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number [as Abraham was promised that his seed would become innumerable], of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands…” Then a little further on, where an elder is portrayed as having inquired as to the identity of this multitude, we read in the words of John himself: “14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest.” So John did not answer the question, where it continues and we read: “And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. ”

That tribulation is the prophesied punishment of the children of Israel which we have just seen in the related prophecies in Isaiah and Hosea. Those who would wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb are all those who suffered in that tribulation, and in the end accept His redemption. They are from every Israelite family, and every Israelite nation, as Israel was to be scattered abroad and driven to the ends of the earth during the time of that tribulation. This interpretation is confirmed in Revelation chapter 12 where we read, in part: “9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” Further on in the chapter, the dragon is prophesied to persecute the woman and her seed, the same woman with the twelve stars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. The children of Israel, the children of God, can only overcome His enemies by the blood of the Lamb. These things are only for them, and the innumerable multitude is composed only of them.

Once that blood of the Lamb was shed, the Gospel of reconciliation was announced abroad, and that leads us to discuss the scope of that announcement, which is the scope of the Gospel.

94) The Scope of the Gospel

Many people presume that where Christ had told the apostles to take the Gospel to “all the world” and to “all nations” that means it was meant for every single person, race and nation on the planet. But that is not true. In Matthew chapter 24 we read: “14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” First, just because all nations are to receive the gospel as a witness does not mean that its message is meant for them. But in truth, there is a definite article in the Greek accompanying the word for nations, and it should have been translated as “the nations”, referring to particular nations and not just any nations. The same circumstance exists where we read at the end of Matthew chapter 28: “19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” It should have said “teach all the nations”, and from the use of the word world in the last verse, we see it could not have referred to the planet. We will discuss that at greater length soon.

In Mark we read another version of the two passages which we have just cited from Matthew. First, in chapter 13, we read: “10 And the gospel must first be published among all nations.” But once again, there is a definite article and it would be properly read as “all the nations”. The last 11 verses of Mark chapter 16 are spurious, and exist in none of the oldest manuscripts. We shall nevertheless read a relevant portion of this spurious passage: “15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” The last phrase is singular, and the word for creature, which is also, and more frequently, translated as creation, is also accompanied by a definite article. So the phrase, πάσῃ τῇ κτίσει, would have been better translated as “all the creation.”

Finally, in Acts chapter 1, immediately prior to the ascension of Christ, He tells His apostles: “8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” This evokes the blessing of Joseph, as Moses had promised in Deuteronomy chapter 33, that “17 His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people [of Israel] together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.”

Finally, there is the favorite quotation of Scripture by Judaized Christians who insist that the Gospel is for all peoples, and just about the only verse in Scripture that most of them seem to remember is John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” But does this verse really describe anyone of the entire planet who claims to believe in Jesus as being loved by God? If so, who are those disgusting and wicked men who could not be clean?

But the words translated as world did not mean planet to the apostles, and neither did the words translated as earth. In Isaiah chapter 14, the king of Babylon is described as “16… the man that made the earth to tremble… 17 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof…” yet the king of Babylon only ruled over a relatively small part of the planet, a portion in Mesopotamia and parts of Anatolia, the Levant, Arabia and northern Africa. Later, Jeremiah used the term world in the same narrow way where he wrote in Lamentations chapter 4: “12 The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem.”

While I will not discuss the meaning of Hebrew terms here, a brief discussion of the meanings of the Greek terms frequently translated as world should be sufficient. Of these there are three: αἰών (aeon), κόσμος (cosmos), and οἰκουμένη (oikoumene). The word αἰών describes a length of time, an aeon or eon in English. The word κόσμος means order. It can refer to the overall natural order of creation, but not merely to the planet and not in a merely physical sense. To imagine that it means all peoples on the whole planet is completely removing the word from its original meaning, as it never described such a thing. In that general sense, it more appropriately described the order of the heavenly bodies, seasons, stars, sun and moon. But it can also refer to the society, as the order and organization of the governments and dwelling places of men. Finally, the word οἰκουμένη refers to the physical dwelling place of men, to the land upon which the society is organized, but not necessarily the entire planet. Greeks writers such as Strabo described the οἰκουμένη and its borders, and also expressed the understanding that there were other lands and peoples outside of their οἰκουμένη.

So Luke wrote in chapter 2 of his gospel that “1… there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.” There the word for world is οἰκουμένη, and we see that his concept of “all the world” was equivalent to all of the Roman empire, the portion of the world which Caesar had the power to tax. We see a very similar use of the term for world in Isaiah chapter 62, where the very purpose of declaring the gospel to the world is explicitly for the benefit of the children of Israel: “11 Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion [which can only be the children of Israel], Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. 12 And they shall call them [Israel], The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.”

It is described in the Wisdom of Solomon that only the children of Israel were the world of which the Scriptures and Yahweh, the God of the scriptures, was concerned. This is found in Wisdom chapter 18 where we read: “ 24 For in the long garment was the whole world, and in the four rows of the stones was the glory of the fathers graven, and thy Majesty upon the diadem of his head.” The giving of the law at Sinai was indeed the “foundation of the world” which is often referenced in Scripture. That is how Christ is the “lamb slain before the foundation of the world.” Paul of Tarsus must have felt this same way. Paul used the phrase “foundation of the world” in that very manner in Hebrews chapter 9, in verse 26 where he was speaking of the sacrifices made by the Levitical high priest and he said that “25 Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; 26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”

Furthermore, in his epistle to the Romans Paul was citing from the Septuagint version of the 14th Psalm, which is actually Psalm number 13 in the Septuagint, and the citation is verbatim from the Greek in verses 12 through 17 of Romans chapter 3 where he wrote: “12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 15 Their feet are swift to shed blood: 16 Destruction and misery are in their ways: 17 And the way of peace have they not known: 18 There is no fear of God before their eyes. 19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.”

But once again, only the children of Israel were under the law so only their sins could be imputed to them, and therefore all the children of Israel, who were all of the world of the Scriptures, were guilty before God. Paul had written similarly to the Galatians, in chapter 4 of that epistle, of the circumstances under which Christ had come: “4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” So here he spoke in that same manner to the Romans, and since only the children of Israel were under the law, and since Paul himself had written in that same epistle, in chapter 5, that sin was not imputed where there was no law, then “all the world” who are guilty before God can only describe those same children of Israel who were under the law, and that is what Solomon had also described.

This is also how Paul of Tarsus saw the promises of the Gospel and the commission given to the apostles by Christ to bring the Gospel to “all the nations”, and to go to “all the world”. So in Romans chapter 10 Paul was citing a prophecy of the going out of the Gospel from Isaiah and wrote: “15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?” Then Paul had attested that “17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 18 But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.” Therefore, according to Paul of Tarsus, the Gospel had already been announced “unto the ends of the world”, and he wrote that epistle in 57 AD.

This is confirmed later in the same epistle, in Romans chapter 16, where we read: “26 But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: 27 To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever.” Again, there Paul had used a past tense, indicating that the Gospel had already reached all the nations, the nations which it was intended to reach.

Later, after Paul is in bonds in Rome, perhaps around 62 AD, he wrote to the Colossians and in chapter 1 of the epistle he said “ 5 For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; 6 Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth.” Using the present tense, Paul therefore attested that the Gospel message was already “in all the world” by that time. This is confirmed once again further on in the same chapter, speaking of Christ: “20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. 21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled [language which could only apply to Israel] 22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: 23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister.” Here “every creature” is that same exact phrase, πάσῃ τῇ κτίσει or “all the creation” which we had seen in Mark chapter 16.

Indubitably, in the words of Paul of Tarsus himself, the whole world had already received the Gospel of Christ, as every nation of those same children of Israel had the opportunity to hear and accept it by that time, even if it took a thousand years for some of them to finally do so. In the first century, not only was the Gospel in Rome, but it had already been brought to the western extremities of Europe, into Gaul and throughout Anatolia and Syria into Scythia and Mesopotamia. This was the same world which Caesar had the power to tax, at least for the most part, and it was the same world which the dispersed children of Israel in their various branches had come to dominate by the time of Christ.

This was also “all the world” of Martin Luther fifteen hundred years after Paul of Tarsus. For example, in Chapter 13 of his treatise On the Jews and Their Lies, after citing Isaiah 53:11 he stated: “The proof of this is before your eyes, namely, that the apostles used no spear or sword but solely their tongues. And their example has been followed in all the world now for fifteen hundred years by all the bishops, pastors, and preachers, and is still being followed.”

In the early 16th century, the colonial period was just beginning, and there were no Christian bishops in any part of the planet save Europe, and perhaps a few of the Spanish and Portuguese colonies. The English, French and Dutch had not yet established any North American colonies of their own. The oldest European colony in North America, St. Augustine, was not founded by the Spanish until 1565. The Dutch founded the first European colony in Africa in 1652. The first Spanish colony in South America, Cumaná in Venezuela, was not permanently established until 1569. There were no surviving Christian nations anywhere in the East, as they were all absorbed by Islam. So when Luther wrote that treatise in 1543, “all the world” to him was Europe, and while he often wrote of the muslims in other places and their wars in Eastern Europe, they certainly were not a part of his “all the world”.

In fact, while, unfortunately. he seemed ignorant of the differences between Judah, Judaean and Jew, Luther did not even consider his Messiah to be the Messiah of other gods and peoples, but only to be hated by them. This is found further on in the same chapter of his writing: “It is a great, extraordinary, and wonderful thing that the Gentiles in all the world accepted [the European world], without sword or coercion, with no temporal benefits accruing to them, gladly and freely, a poor Man of the Jews [sic Judaeans] as the true Messiah, one whom his own people had crucified, condemned, cursed, and persecuted without end. They did and suffered so much for his sake, and forsook all idolatry, just so that they might live with him eternally. This has been going on now for fifteen hundred years. [By which time all of Europe was Christian, and only Europe was Christian.] No worship of a false god ever endured so long, nor did all the world suffer so much because of it or cling so firmly to it. And I suppose one of the strongest proofs is found in the fact that no other god ever withstood such hard opposition as the Messiah, against whom alone all other gods and peoples have raged and against whom they all acted in concert, no matter how varied they were or how they otherwise disagreed.”

To Luther, the “gentiles in all the world” were only White Europeans in the European world, the same world which was taxed by Caesar. That is also the world of the apostles, as no other race had heard the Gospel when Paul explained that all the world had already heard the Gospel.