In the gospels and through the book of Acts, Israel was given three opportunities to receive Jesus as Messiah King before the offer was temporarily suspended. We'll look at that and the foreshadowed duration of our current age of grace and when it is due to come to a close.
By W. D. Penfield. Originally published on Substack, January 12, 2022.
Three Offers of the Kingdom, and the Duration of Our Current Age
Acts 19 says of the apostle Paul:
8 And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.
9 But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.
10 And this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.
(“Divers” simply means some, “an indefinite number more than one” –Merriam Webster Dictionary app.)
Before our current age began, Israel was given three opportunities to receive Jesus as King. Had they believed He is the Son of God, the promised Messiah, and received Him as Savior and King, the Biblically prophesied Kingdom age—the thousand-year reign of Jesus on Earth—would have begun.
The three months mentioned in verse 8 echo three offers of the Messianic Kingdom to the Jews.
After those three offers, “divers were hardened, and believed not”, and even “spake evil of that way before the multitude” (verse 9).
As a result, Paul “departed from them”. This is a picture of God temporarily setting aside Israel as a special people and instead regarding them as “Lo-ammi,” “not my people” (Hosea 1:9). God turned His focus from Israel and broadened it to the whole world, Jews and Gentiles alike.
With the suspension of the offer of the Kingdom to Israel, open activity and evidences of God “departed,” and our current age began, an age of salvation by grace alone through faith alone.
Paul “separated the disciples”. They left the synagogue and established their own separate meeting place. This is a picture of believers establishing the Christian faith distinct from Judaism. Believers included both Jews and Gentiles. And that continues to this day.
Paul disputed (exhorted, taught) daily in the school of one “Tyrannus,” whose name reflects the majority of Gentile governments in this age, which have been tyrannies, monarchies, and empires, beginning with the Roman Empire. American democracy was a very late development in our age.
“Asia” in verse 10 is a type of the whole world. Also in verse 10, the duration of this age is depicted: “the space of two years”.
That foreshadows the 2,000-year length of the current age of grace, when salvation through simple belief on Jesus Christ is offered to everyone alike, both Jews and Gentiles. (Ephesians 2:5–6, Philippians 3:20, Colossians 1:5)
The duration of our current age is also foretold in Hosea 6:1–2, verses that prophesy the future restoration of Israel after being temporarily set aside:
COME, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.
2 After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.
Those “two days” are a picture of the two thousand-year “days” of this age. (See 2 Peter 3:8. A thousand years is as a day to the Lord.) The “third day” is a picture of the thousand-year Millennial Kingdom of Jesus reigning in person from His throne in Jerusalem in a restored Israel.
Three offers of the kingdom to Israel were also foreshadowed in chapter 13 of Luke:
6 ¶ He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none.
7 Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?
8 And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it:
9 And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.
The fig tree was given three opportunities—three years, or three time periods—to bear fruit.
The third opportunity (“this year also”) included adding dung.
That represents the “insult” of directly calling Gentiles to be saved in order to provoke the Jews to jealousy (Romans 10:19, 11:11). Up until then the plan was to restore Israel first, then send the Jews out to evangelize the Gentile world.
As God’s chosen people, it was to be the Jews’ privilege and honor to be a nation of priest-kings and deliver the message of salvation to the rest of the world (Matthew 28:19–20). Through them all the world was to be blessed (Genesis 12:3).
And the world will be blessed through Israel when their nation is restored and Jesus Himself reigns in person in Jerusalem.
Even though Gentiles began to be directly called to salvation around Acts 10, the focus of the gospel at that time was still the offer of the kingdom to the Jews. That remained the focus all the way to the end of the book of Acts. Paul was still going to the Jews first even in Acts 28, the last chapter.
Here’s an overview of the three offers of the Kingdom to Israel.
The first offer: From John the Baptist to the cross of Christ
The first offer of the kingdom to Israel was heralded by John the Baptist (Matthew 3:3), who went in the spirit of Elijah (Luke 1:17).
John the Baptist is a type of the Law and the Old Testament, which foretold and heralded the coming of the Messiah.
The first offer was then presented to Israel directly by Jesus Himself (Matthew 4:17), along with His disciples (Matthew 10:5–7).
When Israel rejected Him and delivered Him to be crucified, He prayed on His cross that they be forgiven, “for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)
God answered His prayer, and through the apostles Jesus offered the kingdom to Israel a second time, beginning at Pentecost.
The second offer: From Pentecost to the stoning of Stephen
Jesus instructed His disciples to tarry in Jerusalem and wait for Pentecost before going out to preach about Him:
From Luke chapter 24:
45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:
47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
48 And ye are witnesses of these things.
49 ¶ And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
And in Acts chapter 1:
4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
The disciples were to wait for Pentecost in order to be Divinely endued with power to preach the gospel of the Kingdom to Israel. They needed power to do miracles, because the Jews require a sign (1 Corinthians 1:22).
Their gospel message to the Jews was simple: repent of unbelief and instead believe that Jesus is their promised Messiah, believe He is risen, and receive Him as King. For their belief they would be forgiven of their sins and restored.
And they were to follow up their belief with washing away their sins and having a clear conscience. They were to put away works of the law and instead rest in trust they had the complete acceptance and approval of God simply for having believed on Jesus. They were to no longer allow sin to beat them down and have dominion over them (Romans 6:14). In the first few chapters of Acts, they were to illustrate washing away their sins with the symbolic act of physical water baptism.
Believers were also to look forward to the return of Jesus, which would be imminent, if Israel believed and accepted Him.
Though the emphasis of the gospel they preached during that time was different—the emphasis being on convincing Israel to believe on Jesus and restoring the Kingdom—its essential message was the same as in our age: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
The message of the Kingdom gospel is, “Israel, behold your King!” In our current age the gospel message is, “Man, behold your Savior!”
He is Savior in both cases, and salvation is freely given for believing on Him.
But Israel rejected the second offer of the Kingdom, culminating with the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7).
You may recall that just before Stephen was killed, he said he saw the heavens opened and Jesus standing on the right hand of God (Acts 7:56).
You may have been told that Jesus was standing to welcome Stephen into heaven. And that’s possible. But also note this verse in Isaiah chapter 3:
13 The LORD standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people.
Jesus was standing to do justice and shut the door on the offer of the kingdom to Israel.
But with his last words, Stephen prayed a prayer that echoed the one that Jesus prayed on His cross—that this sin not be laid to their charge (Acts 7:60).
God answered Stephen’s prayer too.
The third offer: From just after the stoning of Stephen, through the end of Acts, to A.D. 70
In answer to Stephen’s prayer, the Kingdom was offered to Israel a third time, and this time “dung” was added—fertilizer was spread around the fig tree (Luke 13:6–9). Starting at Acts 10, Gentiles were directly called to be saved, in an attempt to provoke Israel to jealousy (Romans 11:11).
This calling of Gentiles did not end the offer of the Kingdom to the Jews. There’s plenty of evidence the Kingdom was still offered to Israel all the way through the rest of the book of Acts.
For example, in Acts 15:29, saved Gentiles, though no longer under law, were urged to observe a few things in order to not offend the Jews, because the offer of the Kingdom was still the primary mission.
Observant or devout Jews might have been offended by Christ if they viewed Him as enabling debauchery. Gentiles weren’t to be a stumbling block hindering them from believing in Jesus and receiving Him as King.
In the very last chapter of Acts, Paul was still doing miracles, which were signs of the Kingdom for the Jews, and tastes of the powers of the Millennial Messianic Kingdom, “the world to come” (1 Corinthians 1:22, Hebrews 6:5). And Paul was still going to the Jews first even in that final chapter (Acts 28:17–29).
More references that show the kingdom was still being offered to Israel through the entire book of Acts are listed in a chapter note below.1
The Jews depart, and the third offer ends
And “some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not” (Acts 28:24), and, disagreeing among themselves, they departed from Paul (verse 25).
When the Jews departed from Paul, a picture of them departing also from Christ, the third offer of the Kingdom was closed. Signs and miracles, which are signs of the Kingdom, signs the Jews required, ceased. (1 Corinthians 13:8.)
The gospel was then sent out to the whole world. This is reflected in the last few verses of the final chapter of Acts. Paul said to the Jews:
28 Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.
29 And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, and had great reasoning among themselves.
The third offer of the Kingdom to Israel was over by A.D. 70. How do we know this? Because Jesus said it would be over by then. See Luke 19:41–44. The destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 marked the end of the time of Israel’s “visitation,” which was the offer of the Kingdom.
More on the foreshadowed length of our current age
The final chapter of Acts closes with these two verses:
30 And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him,
31 Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.
The book of Acts ends with Paul dwelling among the Gentiles as a prisoner for two whole years, and receiving ALL who came in unto him. No one was turned away, no one lost.
This is a picture of Jesus Himself among us Gentiles for this “two year” period. This is also pictured in John chapter 4 when He dwelt with the Samaritans for two days.
And during our current age, Jesus is “in prison,” constrained from acting openly, for the sake of the salvation and eternal security of believers in Him. This is an age of faith—an age with no open, directly observable or provable Divine or supernatural activity. But God is still with us in Spirit. And as Paul says, He is still able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20).
Note that violent resistance to the gospel faded in those two years. No man forbid Paul. There was no more imminent “threat” of the physical earthly Kingdom, so violent resistance ended.
For the most part during our current age, people have been free to believe and preach the gospel.
Once this age has run its full 2,000-year course, “the time of Jacob’s trouble” will come (Jeremiah 30:7), the time of Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:21). And the Kingdom will once again be offered to the Jews.
This time they will open their hearts and receive Jesus as the Son of God and Messiah King. Jesus will return, bringing justice, restoring Israel, and establishing His Kingdom on Earth. (Revelation 19:11–21, 20:4)
When and how the terms of salvation changed
When open Divine activity ceased around A.D. 70 with the suspension of the offer of the Kingdom to Israel, the terms of salvation changed—for the better. In our current age, people who believe on Jesus receive full credit for believing, and they are sealed to the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30). In our current age, salvation is complete and secure from the very instant one believes.
I believe those who were saved before A.D. 70 had their salvation terms commuted for the better, whether they knew it at the time or not. There was no need for a Rapture-like event or a Translation to remove them from the Earth when the terms changed around A.D. 70. They got a better deal, not a lesser one.
In contrast, after this current age closes, salvation will require not only believing on Jesus, but also enduring in the faith until He returns, or until the end of one’s life. (Matthew 24:13, 1 Peter 1:3–9, Revelation 14:13)
It would be unfair to change the terms of salvation in this way for people who have gotten saved in this current age and already have eternal security.
And leaving them on Earth might result in some confusion during the Tribulation as to whether people have eternal security or not. To restate it, believers won’t have eternal security in the Tribulation. They must endure to the end. So, before the terms of salvation change in that way, believers in our current age will be Translated out of the world to be with the Lord.
Jesus will not return at the end of our current age. He will return to end the Tribulation and establish His glorious Kingdom on Earth. (See Zechariah 8, among other passages, for a description of His Kingdom.)
Believers at the end of our current age will vanish, like Enoch did, to instantly be with Him (Genesis 5:24). (See the chapter note at the end of part 3 of this series to see how Enoch is a type of our current age.)
Other prophesied events may obscure that great event. But it will mark the end of this current age of night, an age when Jesus, who is the Light of the world, is not acting openly. And it will mark the return of openly observable Divine and supernatural activity. And that will mark the change in the terms of salvation.
Speaking generally, atheism will come to an end. There will be no denying what’s openly evident. There won’t be a question as to whether there is a God, or even whether there is a Messiah. The big conflict will be over which God, or which Messiah.
Our current 2,000-year age will not be shortened
This current age will last two whole years, a full two-thousand years.
Joseph, a type of Christ, was in prison for “two full years” (Genesis 41:1), and Paul was in prison for “two whole years” (Acts 28:30).
Our current age won’t be shortened.
But the days of the Tribulation will be shortened for the elect’s sake (Matthew 24:22, Mark 13:20).
The final years of the Tribulation will be a time of wars, atrocities, natural disasters—the Earth will be significantly depopulated. It will “reel to and fro like a drunkard” (Isaiah 24:20) with mankind’s plunge into abject evil. If those days weren’t shortened, man would become extinct—no flesh would survive them.
Only a third of Israel will survive those days (Zechariah 13:8–9). And if the numbers Jesus used in His parables are an indication, half of all Christians won’t make it to salvation. Two will be sleeping, one will be taken, and the other left, He said. Two will be grinding, one taken, the other left. Two will be working in the field, one will be taken, the other left. (Luke 17:34–36.) And in His parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25:1–12, five were wise, and were brought in. Five were foolish, and were shut out. Fifty percent. Right down the middle.
Many who expect to be saved will not be. See Matthew 7:21–23. And chapters 6 and 10 of Hebrews inform us that once someone turns or falls away from the faith during the Tribulation and loses their salvation, it will be impossible for them to get saved again.
Salvation in the Tribulation will be high stakes and high risk. Believers will be expected to confess Jesus (Matthew 10:32), which could mean literally sticking their necks out. Beheadings will make a comeback—see Revelation 20:4. People who believe the Antichrist is the Messiah are going to persecute and kill people who don’t believe it and won’t pledge loyalty or get a tattoo of loyalty.
Going along with the crowd and renouncing Jesus might seem like an appealing choice in those conditions. But the crowd will be heading for destruction, and going along with the crowd means going along to destruction too.
It’s so much better to get saved now. These closing years of our current age are indeed the days of the Fair Havens. Now is the time to believe on Jesus instead of taking the risk of trying to push ahead into the Tribulation, hoping to somehow survive it or hold onto your salvation all the way through it.
This is what Paul was trying to tell the passengers and crew in Acts 27:9–10: Don’t take the risk of pushing ahead. It’s dangerous! Disembark now, here, at the Fair Havens.
We might look at the full, un-shortened length of our current age as God giving people every day of it to take advantage of the wonderful offer of salvation through the gospel of grace through Jesus Christ, and eternal security through it.
Other Biblical pictures of the length of this age
- In John chapter 4, Jesus tarried with the Samaritans, who are a type of the Gentiles, for “two days” before He “departed thence”—there’s a subtle picture of the Translation of believers at the end of this age—and resumed His ministry to the Jews.
It’s interesting that when He left Samaria He went into Galilee, a northern province of Israel not only geographically distant from Jerusalem but also religiously distant. (I picture them as sort of the hippies of the day.) And the Galileans received Him. (John 4:45)
- In John 11, Jesus abode where He was “two days” before returning to revive Lazarus, type of Israel.
Notice in verse 8 how puzzled His disciples were that Jesus wanted to return to Judea, the region of Jerusalem, after people there had tried to kill Him. That’s a shadow of His First Advent, when He was killed. But it turned out they had only tried to kill Him. They did not actually succeed, because God raised Him from the dead. The grave could not hold Jesus.
Jesus intended to return to Judea anyway. He loved Lazarus (verse 5). And He said “I go, that I may awake him out of sleep” (verse 11).
This is a picture of Jesus resuming His dealings with Israel and awakening them out of their sleep. The grave will not hold Israel either when Jesus raises them up as a nation again.
And Jesus will raise up Israel again for the sake of God’s promises to Abraham, His love for Israel, and for the sake of the whole world. Through the restoration of Israel the whole world will be blessed (Genesis 26:1–5). When the stone (whether the stone of the law or the stony heart) is rolled away, and they are brought up again by Him and loosed and let go, joy and blessing will spread through them to all the earth.
A friendly word of advice about setting dates
We can presume our current age is due to wrap up around the year 2070, but that’s give-or-take a few years. Our calendars could be off a year or two or even more.
Date-setting tends to discredit the faith, discourage believers, and encourage scoffing and mocking when the predicted date comes and goes and nothing happens. A lot of people presumed the prophetic clock started ticking at A.D. 0 with the birth of Jesus, and predicted the Rapture would occur in or around the year 2000.
That year came and went. They were wrong on two counts—the start date, and the Rapture. This age began around A.D. 70, not A.D. 0. And this age doesn’t end with a Rapture, but with the Translation of remaining believers. They’ll simply vanish.
So avoid date setting. Just know that when 2070 nears, somewhere around that time the two whole thousand-year days of this age will come to a close.
See Romans 1:16; Acts 9:19-20, 13:5, 14:1, and 17:1–3, which is another picture of the three offers of the kingdom to Israel; also 17:10, 17:17, 18:4, 18:19, 18:26–28, and 19:8, which is yet another picture of the three offers to Israel. The offer of the Kingdom continues all the way through to Acts 28:17, when Paul still called the Jews together to speak to them first.↩
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