The Turning of the Ages: From Kingdom to Grace

The Turning of the Ages: From Kingdom to Grace

The Kingdom Still Offered (Acts 1-7)

The book of Acts opens with the risen Christ speaking to His apostles of the kingdom of God. Their question is simple, almost childlike in its hope: “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). The expectation is alive, the promises of the prophets still ringing in their ears. When Peter stands to preach at Pentecost, he does not announce a new programme but calls Israel to repentance so that “the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, and he shall send Jesus Christ” (Acts 3:19-20). The kingdom is still on offer, the prophetic hope still extended to the nation.

Yet the story takes a darker turn. In Acts 7, Stephen, full of the Holy Ghost, rehearses Israel’s long history of resisting God’s messengers. His words cut deep: “Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye” (Acts 7:51). The leaders, enraged, drag him outside the city and stone him. This is more than the silencing of a preacher; it is the nation’s climactic rejection of the Messiah and His witness. With Stephen’s death, the prophetic appeal to Israel as a nation reaches its close. The kingdom offer is refused, and the stage is set for God to reveal something entirely new.

The Damascus Road: A New Apostle (Acts 9)

Into this moment of rejection and scattering steps the most unlikely figure. Saul of Tarsus, breathing out threatenings and slaughter, sets out for Damascus to crush the followers of Jesus. But on that road, heaven breaks in. A light shines, a voice speaks, and the persecutor falls to the ground. “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” (Acts 9:4). In that instant, the enemy of Christ becomes His chosen vessel.

Paul’s salvation is not only personal; it is dispensational. He is called to be the apostle of the Gentiles, entrusted with a message that had never before been revealed. Where Peter and the Twelve proclaimed what the prophets had spoken since the world began, Paul would later write of “the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest” (Rom. 16:25-26). The contrast is deliberate and profound: prophecy had always spoken of Israel’s kingdom, but mystery unveils the body of Christ, a heavenly people united in grace. The hinge of history turns on that dusty road outside Damascus.

A Season of Blindness (Acts 13)

The story continues in Acts 13, where Paul confronts Elymas the sorcerer. This false prophet, opposing the gospel, is struck blind “for a season” (Acts 13:11). The symbolism is unmistakable. Just as Elymas gropes in darkness, so Israel as a nation enters a season of blindness. Paul would later explain it in Romans 11: “Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in” (Rom. 11:25). The kingdom promises are not cancelled, but they are paused. The nation that should have been a light to the Gentiles is, for now, set aside, while God turns to the nations through the gospel of grace.

Gentiles Enter Without Israel’s Repentance (Acts 10–15)

Even before Elymas, God had already given a sign of what was to come. In Acts 10, Peter is sent to the house of Cornelius, a Gentile. Against all expectation, the Spirit falls upon Cornelius and his household without Israel’s national repentance, without circumcision, without the law. It is a shocking moment for Peter, but a clear demonstration that God is doing something new.

By Acts 15, the Jerusalem Council faces the question head‑on: must Gentiles keep the law of Moses to be saved? The answer is no. They are saved by grace through faith, apart from the covenantal requirements of Israel. This decision marks a decisive break from the kingdom economy. The Gentiles are no longer blessed through Israel’s rise, as prophecy had promised, but through Israel’s fall, as Paul later explains in Romans 11:11.

The Shift of Apostolic Centre (Acts 13–28)

As Acts unfolds, the narrative focus shifts. The early chapters revolve around Peter and the Twelve in Jerusalem, proclaiming the kingdom to Israel. But after Stephen’s death and Paul’s conversion, the spotlight moves steadily outward. Paul takes centre stage, travelling through Asia Minor, Macedonia, and Greece, preaching Christ among the Gentiles. By the time we reach Acts 28, Paul is in Rome, the heart of the Gentile world, “preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence” (Acts 28:31).

Peter does not disappear, but his role fades. He opens the door to the Gentiles in Acts 10, but Paul builds the house. The Spirit’s narrative choice is deliberate: the stewardship of the present dispensation belongs to Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles.

The Mystery Revealed

From this point, Paul begins to unfold the mystery in his letters. In Ephesians 3, he writes of “the mystery… that the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.” In Colossians 1, he describes it as “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” In 1 Corinthians 9:17, he speaks of “a dispensation of the gospel” committed to him.

This is not prophecy fulfilled but mystery revealed. It explains why the kingdom has not yet come, why Israel is blinded for a season, and why the church today is a heavenly body, not an earthly nation.

Why This Matters for Us Today

It is one thing to trace the history of Acts and to admire the precision of God’s unfolding plan. But the question presses in: why does this matter for us now? The answer is simple yet profound. If we do not see the dispensational change, we will confuse Israel’s kingdom promises with the church’s present calling. We will mix law with grace, prophecy with mystery, earthly hope with heavenly identity. The result is not clarity but contradiction, not assurance but uncertainty.

When we understand that the kingdom programme has been suspended and that the dispensation of grace has been revealed through Paul, the fog lifts. We see that salvation today is by grace through faith alone, apart from works of the law. We see that our identity is not in Israel’s covenants but in Christ Himself. We see that our hope is not an earthly kingdom but a heavenly calling. This truth protects assurance, strengthens joy, and anchors us in the finished work of Christ.

Anticipating Objections

Some may say, “But isn’t there only one gospel? Isn’t this dividing what God has joined?” The answer is that there is one Saviour and one cross, but God has revealed His redemption in different ways across time. Peter preached the gospel of the kingdom, calling Israel to repent so that Christ might return. Paul preached the gospel of grace, declaring that Christ has already accomplished redemption and that Jew and Gentile alike are saved on equal ground. These are not competing gospels but distinct stewardships of the same Christ.

Others may object, “If Israel has been set aside, does that mean God has abandoned His promises?” Paul answers this directly in Romans 11: “God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew” (v. 2). Their blindness is only “for a season,” until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. The promises to Israel remain intact, awaiting their future fulfilment. To deny this distinction is to make God a liar; to accept it is to marvel at His faithfulness.

A Path for Further Study

If you are new to these truths, do not take my word for it. Test them in Scripture. Here is a simple path to begin:

• Read Acts 7, 9, 13, 15, and 28 in sequence. Watch the progression from Israel’s rejection to Paul’s Gentile mission. 
• Compare Acts 3:21 (“spoken since the world began”) with Romans 16:25 (“kept secret since the world began”). 
• Notice the deliberate contrast between prophecy and mystery. 
• Contrast Peter’s message in Acts 2 with Paul’s in Acts 20:24. One calls for national repentance to bring the kingdom; the other proclaims the gospel of the grace of God. 
• Study Romans 11 to see Israel’s temporary blindness and future restoration. 
• Read Galatians 2 to see how Peter, James, and John recognised Paul’s distinct apostleship. 
• Meditate on Ephesians 3 and Colossians 1 for the fullest explanation of the mystery.

Take these passages slowly. Read them in context. Let Scripture interpret Scripture.

Conclusion: God’s Manifold Wisdom

The stoning of Stephen, the conversion of Paul, the blinding of Elymas, the fading of Peter and the Twelve, the Jerusalem Council, the revelation of the mystery, and the gospel of grace—all these are not random events but the Spirit’s deliberate record of a dispensational change. The kingdom programme has been suspended; the grace programme has been revealed.

It is time to recognise this progression and to begin studying the Scriptures rightly divided. When we do, the contradictions vanish, the harmony of God’s Word shines through, and we step into our calling as stewards of His truth. This is what it means to “study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). To embrace this is to handle the Word with accuracy and understanding, to minister it with clarity, and to honour the manifold wisdom of God in the way He has designed His redemption plan.

So let this not be a truth admired from a distance, but one tested, studied, and lived. For in rightly dividing the Word, we not only gain assurance for ourselves, but we also become able ministers of Christ to others, carrying His Word with precision, grace, and power.