Present Truth

February 14, 2007

Chapter One

PRESENT TRUTH

“Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth” (2 Peter 1:12).

In each of God's ages and dispensations, there has been truth generated from God which was peculiar and particular to that age, or dispensation, to which it pertained. By that, we mean in each age, God made known a truth which related directly to the calling which, then, stood before God. It has ever been the responsibility of God's people, in each age and dispensation, to distinguish Present Truth. By so doing, they acknowledge what God has spoken directly to them. God deals on the principle of faith. That is to say, God speaks, and man’s responsibility in any age has been that of believing that which comes from God. To believe the report that comes from God is faith. Romans 10:17 says; “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing (cometh) by the Word of God,” i.e. faith cometh by what we hear through the Word of God. Faith believes all that comes from God. But, the FAITHFUL distinguish that which relates directly to them and are obedient. In all of the ages, the requirement was for each saint to believe the report that came from God.

God Spoke Through His Creation

After the six days of creation, and as the earth was being filled with the progeny of Adam and Eve, God spoke to mankind through His creation. His speech was heard and understood by all. We don’t believe God has ever left Himself without a witness. For more than two-thousand-five-hundred years, the world was without a written revelation from God. Without a written text, what witness did God have? The written Word of God declared in Romans 1:19-20; “that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.” How were His “invisible things,” such as, His plans, His purposes, His Godhead, and His counsels, made known since the creation of the world? We learn from the Inspired Word in Romans 10:17; “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Without a written text, how did faith cometh and how did ancient man hear? The Creation spoke an intelligible language!

“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” (Romans 10:18).

This brings up the question; How did they hear? Their “sound” went into all the earth. Whose sound? Whose words? There is only one answer, and it is, THE HEAVENS!

“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun” (Psalm 19:1-4).

Yes, God had a witness of Himself in the stars. Ancient man was without an excuse ─ the GLORY OF GOD was declared by the heavens. Speech is uttered day-unto day. So then, faith in the God of Creation comes by hearing the speech that the heavens utter. Added to this, God later spoke to individual men.

God Spoke Directly

In some ages, God spoke directly to man, such as, Adam, Cain and Abel, Enoch and Noah, and etc. What He spoke to each was not the same. What God spoke to Cain and Abel was not what He spoke to Enoch. What He spoke to Enoch was not what He spoke to Noah. What He spoke to Noah was not what He later spoke to Abraham. God did not tell Noah to get up and get out of his own country and go into another. Nor, did He tell Abraham to build an ark. Each one who heard a report from God was to believe the report directed at him.

“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; … How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him” (Hebrews 1:1-2, 2:3).

God Spoke By The Prophets

In other past dispensations, God spoke to man by the mouth of the holy prophets (Hebrews 1:1). Those who lived in Israel when God spoke to “the fathers by the prophets” were required to believe not only Present Truth as spoken by the prophets, but they were required to believe all truth that had been previously placed in writing (i.e. the Old Testament).

God Spoke By His Son

In yet another age, the last of Israel's days, God spoke to the Hebrews by His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:2). Those who heard the words which the Lord Jesus spoke, as the Son, heard Present Truth at the time. Those who heard the words at the time the Lord Jesus spoke to them had a greater responsibility than did the saints who preceded them. They had to believe all that had been recorded in the Word of Truth, that is, what God had spoken directly to individual men as recorded in Scripture, what God had spoken to the fathers of Israel by the prophets, and they most assuredly had to believe THE LATEST REPORT which came from God. That being, the words which John the Baptist and, then, the words which the Lord Jesus Christ spoke—“repent for the Kingdom of Heaven (or God) is at hand.” This gospel of the Kingdom was Present Truth until the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The generation alive at the time of Christ had to believe Present Truth in order to become a partaker of the coming Kingdom. After the Lord Jesus was crucified and raised from the dead, He sent out those who “heard Him.”

God Spoke By The Apostles

The Apostles continued teaching what the Lord Jesus had taught. Their message still centered on the restoration of the Kingdom and the restitution of all things (Acts 3:19). The added elements to this were truth connected with reconciliation, born again, justification, and the grace of God. Those who had heard the Son (Hebrews 2:3) were the Twelve Apostles. They had no new message to preach. Peter, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and James were also given the responsibility to put down the things, in writing, which the Holy Ghost told them to write. Their preaching was to the Jews, only, throughout The Acts of the Apostles. Peter spoke the Kingdom message to only one Gentile—Cornelius, the Roman Centurion in Acts 10. The Apostle Paul heralded present truth—to the Jew first and, then, to the Gentile. Throughout the Acts period, Paul’s custom was to the “Jew first.” The Jew had the priority during the Acts period. The Apostles of the Circumcision preached Present Truth to the Circumcision. However, after Paul received his special revelation from the Risen Christ Jesus, he spoke THE LATEST REPORT FROM GOD. In the last half of the Book of Acts, the Apostle Paul was the preeminent Apostle.
The Kingdom of God was the centerpiece of the Gospel from Acts 1 through Acts 28.

Present Truth Divides

Present Truth has always been the dividing line among God’s people. In each age, God has had those who believed “unto eternal life” but rejected the latest report from God. Many saints fail to believe the latest revelation from God. They only believe that which relates to “salvation;” they fail to go and grow from “faith-to-faith” (Romans 1:17). Consequently, they cannot please God because it is required of stewards that they are to be found fully believing all that God has revealed (I Corinthians 5:2).

The Apostle Peter urged his readers to be established in Present Truth when he said in     2 Peter 1:12; “Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the PRESENT TRUTH.” Notice his emphasis on the believer knowing and being established in PRESENT TRUTH. The good minister of Jesus Christ is to put the believer in remembrance of Present Truth and to establish the saint in truth for today so that they might be rooted and grounded in it. Many of those who were possessors of eternal life, in Israel, failed to be established in Present Truth, many failed to see Present Truth; consequently, they will miss the Kingdom. This will be the case of Demas and those like him. In plainer words, those who failed to believe the Kingdom message will not be made a partaker of it. Thereby, they will not be admitted into the Kingdom when it is established. Remember, the Lord rewards according to faith. The hope of the Gospel of the Kingdom will be realized when “… the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together” (Isaiah 40:5).

Those who did not believe the report from God regarding the Kingdom will miss it when it is established and made manifest. They might have been saved from their sins, but they will not enjoy life during the Kingdom of God. They will be made alive and live on the new earth, but they, very definitely, will miss the Kingdom.
God Tests Man By Giving Him Something To Believe God has always tested man by giving him something to believe. Most Christians think God would have them DO SOMETHING, but that is not the case. He would have them to believe something. Whenever God made known additional truth, He tested man to see whether or not man would believe the latest report from Him. Man generally fails to believe God's latest revelation.

When John the Baptist came preaching, “repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand,” those who believed were believing PRESENT TRUTH. After that, when the Lord Jesus said, “repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand,” that, too, was PRESENT TRUTH. The Lord told the disciples to pray:

“Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9-10).

This prayer was appropriate for the time that was then present (i.e. when the Lord instructed them). It related to the fact that the Kingdom was at hand. And the Holy Secret, that is to say, “The Mystery” was still an unrevealed truth—hid in the heart of God.

Even after Israel crucified their King, and the King was raised from the dead, Peter announced to the multitude that despite the fact that they (Israel) had taken and “by wicked hands have crucified and slain” (Acts 2:23) their King, that if they should …

“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:19-21).

This hope of restoration of the Kingdom to Israel and the times of refreshing coming from the presence of the Lord was in view all through the Book of Acts. The Apostle Paul had a ministry as the apostle to the Gentiles during this same period.

His ministry was very broad and complex, even as admitted by Peter himself:
“And account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:15-16).
Paul's Acts ministry was “hard to be understood” by the unlearned. While he explained many deep truths, he also had the job of winning the Gentiles to Christ in an effort to provoke Israel to jealousy that they might “emulate” the Gentiles’ faith and be saved (see Romans 11:11-25).

Even though Paul developed in his Acts epistles a great many things which had not, hitherto, been explained, his ministry was still centered around Israel's hope (see Acts 28:20 and Romans 15:12, Acts 26:5-7, 22). God’s Kingdom purposes were still Present Truth, and it persisted from Pentecost to Acts 28:28. However, in Acts 28:17-28, we learn that Paul met with the Roman Jews to whom he expounded and testified the Kingdom of God; persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law and the prophets, from morning till evening (Acts 28:23). Their response was one of not believing Present Truth. Thus, God pronounced national blindness upon Israel. The salvation of God that had been of the Jews was taken from them and given over to the Gentiles. Israel’s hope of the Kingdom restoration was temporarily postponed.

Thus, all Truth that had been preached and written down during the course of time, which ran from Acts 2 to Acts 28, was set aside. The Scripture which was written during that dispensation became Truth of a past and by-gone age. We will set forth below, as best as we can, the chronological order of the Books written during the Acts period. Now, the Acts period ran from A.D. 29 to A.D. 63.

DATE OF WRITING            BOOKS

    41 A.D.                Matthew
    43 A.D.                Mark and Revelation
    45 A.D.                James
    46 A.D.                Jude
            52 A.D.                Galatians, Hebrews, and John
    53 A.D.                1 and 2 Thessalonians
    55 A.D.                1, 2, and 3 John
    57 A.D.                1 and 2 Corinthians
    58 A.D.                 Luke and Romans
    60 A.D.                1 and 2 Peter
    63 A.D.                Acts 28

This chronology is basically the work of Oscar M. Baker. We believe he came closer to the dates of the writings than anyone, thus far. Each of the books written, above, need to be read in the light of the time they were written. Failure to do so creates confusion and contradiction. These should be read in the light that Israel stood before God as a nation. As long as Israel stood before God, nationally, His purposes were centered in and around the nation, and all of the attendant blessings that were to accompany the national revival were in view. The epistles of Paul, during this time, should be read recognizing the fact that what he wrote were “none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come” (Acts 26:22).  All truth connected with that dispensation           (Acts 2 to 28) is to be left behind. Only the truth that is RESTATED in the subsequent revelation of “The Mystery” is to be recognized as TRUTH FOR TODAY.

So, the Apostle Paul found himself no longer “bound for Israel's hope” (Acts 28:20), but rather, he finds that he is a “prisoner of Jesus Christ for the Gentiles” (Ephesians 3:1). After Israel’s blindness, he learns that his bonds are not for Israel, but they are for the purpose of him being an ambassador in bonds to make known “The Mystery”    (Ephesians 6:19-20). Paul's testimony, as a free man and as a prisoner bound for Israel's hope, ends. A new ministry begins, and he makes known God’s secret purpose for this dispensation ─ the Dispensation of the Grace of God. The Lord Jesus Christ makes known to Paul, His Prisoner, by means of a special revelation, the “unsearchable riches of Christ” which is Gentile-ward (Ephesians 3:1-13).

Present Truth is now found in that cluster of epistles written by the Apostle Paul after the dispensational crisis occurred in Acts 28:28. Present Truth concerns itself with the Church Which is His Body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all, which was chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, blessed with all spiritual blessings, made accepted in the Beloved, redemption through His blood, ascended together with Him, seated together with Him, and etc. We are not attempting to explain Present Truth, but  only hoping to point the reader to THE TESTIMONY OF THE LORD'S PRISONER (2 Timothy 1:8), for it is here that PRESENT TRUTH is to be found today.

The epistles written after Israel’s blindness are listed below and are the “testimony of the Lord’s prisoner.”

    Ephesians                1 and 2 Timothy
    Philippians                Titus        
    Colossians                Philemon

The record shows that Present Truth has never been the subject of popular appeal, nor has it ever been well- received by the majority of established orthodoxy.

  Present Truth, in each age, has been the subject of scorn and ridicule, as well as, hatred.  Notice the reaction to Present Truth when Jehudi read it into the ears of the king in Jeremiah 36:23. After Present Truth was read, not all of it, of course; after only three or four pages, the king took his penknife and cut it up in pieces and cast it into the fire. Jeremiah wrote Present Truth in his day, and he was considered an anti-king-know-it-all. Those who teach Present Truth, today, are considered crackpots, hard-core dispensationalists, cultists, or right division extremists. Or, all of the aforementioned. Present Truth has a way of doing that.

The same God Who spoke directly to individual men at one time, Who spoke “unto the fathers by the prophets,” Who spoke to Israel by His Son, and by those who had heard the Son, now speaks to us, today. As in the days of old, who hears God speak today? Very few. One time, the voice of God was heard from heaven (John 12), and the people who stood by and heard it said that it thundered; others said an angel had spoken. Only a few recognize the voice of God as He speaks today. God speaks, today, through the writings of the Apostle Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ. Present Truth ─as Peter said, he would not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of it. We, too, would put you in remembrance of Present Truth and pray that you might be established in it.  


February 21, 2007
Chapter Two
PRESENT TRUTH

 “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God”
(Romans 10:17)

Most men have always been of the opinion that God has required of them that they DO SOMETHING. However, God has chosen not to have man do something but BELIEVE  SOMETHING. God speaks – man’s responsibility is to believe that which God speaks. Our text tells us that faith is hearing God and believing what He says. Since man's beginning, God has communicated with him at “sundry times and in divers manners” (Hebrews 1:1). Whenever God thus communicated with man, it has been man’s responsibility to believe the report which came from God. God has placed an extremely high premium upon His Word. Faith believes the report which comes from God.

Present Truth for Adam

Notice, even in God's earliest dealings with man, He said to Adam, “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:17). God tested Adam by giving him something specific to believe. Present Truth for Adam, in the Garden of Eden, was to freely eat of every tree except one, and in the day that he would take a bite of the one exception, he would surely die.

Eve knew of this because Adam told her about the “free-trees” and about the one which was forbidden. She talked with the Serpent about what God had said. Of course, she got God’s Word all messed up. She forgot to say they could eat freely (Genesis 3:2); she added to what God said, for she told the Serpent that they could not touch the forbidden tree (v. 3). Also, there was a lack of respect for the words God chose to use, for she said, “lest ye die.” When God spoke to Adam, He was much more emphatic, for He said, “Thou shalt surely die.” The difference was that she didn't say what God had said, but rather, what she wanted Him to have said. “Lest ye die” radiates the “law of chance” and “statistical probability” to which the modern day Ph.D. loves to refer when he deals with dogmatic truth from God, such as, “surely die.”

As Genesis 3 is read, you become aware with man’s desire to acquire knowledge. The Serpent appealed to Eve’s desire to know. “In the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as the gods, knowing good and evil” (v. 5). The forbidden tree was the “tree of knowledge.”

If Eve could only know, for she thought, “seeing is believing,” like most of her present day children. What we see is what we know. Note, the connection in this is the Serpent connected seeing and knowing, “in the day ye eat …your eyes shall be opened … knowing good and evil.” Thus, what is seen is what is known. That was Eve’s interest. God was interested in FAITH. Believing what God has said is faith.

Adam did not hearken unto what God said regarding the tree of knowledge, but instead, he hearkened unto the voice of his wife and did eat. Present Truth for Adam and Eve, in the Garden, was to eat freely of every tree in the Garden except one, for in the day that they would eat thereof, they “shalt surely die.” The day they ate of the forbidden tree, death entered in and began working in them. After they were expelled from the Garden, it was no longer Present Truth. Evidently, they were told not to enter into the Garden, again, because a Cherubim was placed east of the Garden to guard the way back to the Tree of Life.

Present Truth for Abel

Adam’s sons, Cain and Abel, received a report from God. They were not told to eat freely of every tree but one because the Truth connected with the Garden was Truth which belonged to the past. God spoke to Cain and Abel concerning a sacrificial lamb. God must have spoken to them concerning the offering of a lamb, for Hebrews 11:4 says, “By faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.” Note, that it was BY FAITH: for it to have been by faith, God had to have spoken about it. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing (cometh) by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Had not God spoken to Abel and Cain concerning it, Abel’s offering would have been by chance, or fancy, or imagination.

It most certainly could not have been by faith if God had not spoken.

A close reading of Genesis 4 and Hebrews 11:4 revealed that God told both Cain and Abel to bring a blood sacrifice to an altar at an appropriate time. The two boys had the responsibility to believe all that God had said. They were to believe that which God had spoken to their parents in the Garden. They were to distinguish, however, that God was no longer speaking on the basis of “Garden Truth,” but rather, on different grounds. Truth relating to the Garden was now set aside. The basis for God dealing with man was changed. Consequently, the latest report from God was different from the previous one which had been made known to their parents in the Garden.

Abel believed the latest report from God and brought, at the appointed time, the proper sacrifice to which God had respect. Cain, at the appointed time, brought a bloodless sacrifice to which God did not have respect. Abel brought what God said; therefore, his was by faith. Cain did not bring what God said was acceptable, but rather, Cain brought what he imagined would please God. Cain brought the fruit of his labor; i.e., vegetables from the ground. Abel offered the “blood of the lamb;” Cain brought “turnips:” you “can't get blood out of a turnip.” Remember — for without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins (Hebrews 9:22).

God did not have respect to Cain’s offering because it was NOT BY FAITH. It could be said that Present Truth, in Cain and Abel’s day, was the bringing of a lamb to the altar and the shedding of its blood. By the shedding of the lamb’s blood, it signified that Abel identified himself with the lamb, and that the lamb was dying in Abel’s stead as his substitute. God accepted Abel in the person of his substitute. It could be said that this established man’s means of access to God, i.e., by means of blood. The blood of an innocent substitute provides the way of access to God. This was a principle which culminated, finally, in God offering His Own Son as God’s Lamb. God’s Lamb shed His Own blood for the sin of the world (John 1:29).

Present Truth for Enoch

After Abel offered the acceptable sacrifice, and others learned that the means of access to God was by blood, we learn of a subsequent revelation given to man.

This revelation concerned an impending judgment of the world and a way of escape. This was proclaimed by the Prophet, Enoch. “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these saying ...” (Jude 14). Notice, “prophesied” clearly indicated that God spoke to Enoch and told him what to say. Enoch believed God and prophesied, saying; “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints to execute judgment upon all ...” (Jude 14). Genesis 5 informs us that Enoch walked with God for 300 years after he begat Methuselah. This indicated that Enoch was in agreement with what God told him. “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3). Of course, the answer is, emphatically, no! For 300 years, Enoch prophesied, believing all that God revealed to him.

Enoch believed the truth regarding the “blood of the lamb” as the means of access to God. He believed a subsequent revelation from the LORD which caused him to walk with God; being in full agreement with what God had made known unto him. That is the example of a WALK OF FAITH.

Faith is progressive. Enoch’s faith did not stop with the sacrifice; it moved on, and he believed the latest report from God. It concerned the judgment and the escape.

By FAITH, he was translated. In plainer words, God rewarded Enoch according to his faith. Since his translation was BY FAITH, the LORD must have spoken to him about it. Enoch believed what he heard from God concerning the translation; therefore, it was by faith. Faith was not the vehicle that translated Enoch, but rather, the grounds for God taking him. Enoch had the testimony before his translation, “that he pleased God” (Hebrews 11:5). It is impossible to please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6). It is apparent that if any others had believed, they, too, would have been translated. Present Truth in Enoch’s day consisted of:

1. A Substitutionary Sacrifice
2.  And His Translation

Probably, as today, many believed the report about the “blood of the Lamb” but did not, specifically, believe truth that related to the, then, Present Truth. As it is today, there are many who believe Jesus Christ was God’s Lamb, and that He bore away the sin of the world, but they never get any further in their Christian life than the cross. They never progress, in faith, any further than the Sacrifice. They can never “walk with God” because they do not agree with Him regarding His present purposes. Many are trying to bring in a Kingdom, many are attempting to spread one, many are listening for the voice of the archangel (1 Thessalonians 4:16) and looking for a secret rapture, and some are praying “even so come Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20); all of which are dispensationally incorrect. The vast majority of Christians ignore the truth concerning the Holy Secret, that is, The Mystery made known to Paul, the Prisoner, “by revelation.” This concerns an invisible church over which Christ Jesus is the Head. Those who walk with God believe the latest report from Him. The latest report from God was written by the pen of Paul, the Prisoner of the Lord. But, most act as though the Prison Epistles are not in the Bible; many Christians don't even know what the Prison Epistles are.

Others knew of Enoch's translation for he spoke of it for years as he warned of the impending judgment. He walked with God and was not: for God took him. Hebrews 11:5 says that Enoch “was not found.” This speaks to us of the fact that those who believed enough to have their sins taken care of, by the sacrifice of an innocent lamb, did not believe the additional report concerning the translation. It stands to reason that had Enoch’s testimony been believed, the believers would, also, have been translated. Thus, they would have escaped the impending judgment and wouldn’t have drowned in the Flood.

Present Truth for Noah

In Hebrews 11, Noah followed Enoch in the list of the “elders” who had obtained a good report by believing all that God had revealed. A study of Noah reveals that he had Abel's faith, and he, also, had the faith of Enoch. That’s not all; he had something more. He was given additional revelation from God. He was called upon to believe something more than Abel and Enoch were required to believe. He was given additional information on the coming judgment. He was told that it would be by water. He was told that God would use water from heaven (rain). Hebrews 11 tells us how the “report,” which Noah believed, was heard. His faith came by “hearing” this report. The report came to him by the Word of God: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” There was no other way for Noah to have known about the Flood and how he was to have been delivered out of it.

He was told to build an ark. God even told him how it was to be done. 2 Peter 2:5 says that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. He preached concerning the coming judgment for one-hundred-twenty years.. He warned of things not seen, as yet. I would imagine that, as a preacher, he told people how to be delivered through the Flood that was to come. In his day, many, perhaps, even showed signs of initial faith in Present Truth. They probably ordered the lumber and began to build themselves arks. But, they grew “weary in well-doing.” Their intentions were good; however, they never got around to finishing them. The day the rains began, perhaps, many back-yards had the makings of arks in them. Noah, however, “prepared an ark to the saving of his house” ─ note, that it was BY FAITH. It could not be said that others prepared theirs by faith, for they did not finish theirs. Many, today, treat Present Truth as did those in Noah’s day. Many start out but are “moved away from the hope of the gospel.” They fail to “make their calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10). It could be said that in Noah's day, only his household believed Present Truth.

Present Truth for the four examples given could be outlined thusly:

1. Adam - Free trees vs. forbidden one
2. Cain and Abel - The blood sacrifice
3. Enoch - Translation before the judgment, to wit, the flood
4. Noah - The ark to go through the Flood

It was required of each to believe all that had been revealed previously. It was absolutely imperative for each to believe, specifically, what God had spoken to them. Each one was called upon to believe Present Truth. Truth relating to Adam was not truth relating to Cain, Abel, Enoch, or Noah. This study is to point the reader to the necessity of rightly dividing the word of truth. May these examples illustrate the fact that God, at different times, spoke to different people concerning different subjects. Each was required to believe all that God had revealed, especially that which was spoken as an additional revelation.

As Bible believers living in the Twenty-first Century, ours is an awesome responsibility. We are to believe all that God has revealed in His Word. We are to “rightly divide” His Word in order for it to yield Its’ full measure of Truth. We are not to take Present Truth and read it back into an age, or dispensation, when it had not been revealed. Truth belonging to a future dispensation should not be read into, or be interpreted of, the Present.

The latest report from God is found in the epistles written by Paul, the Prisoner. God speaks to the Church Which is His Body, today, not audibly, nor in visions, nor in dreams, but through His Word. Truth for today comes to us in the Prison Epistles.