Today, Israel is back in the land waiting for all these end-time things to take place. The Roman Empire is ready to make its appearance again in the nations of Western Europe and so everything that was in place here in the late 50's AD and early 60's AD is now in place once again. And so these letters were so appropriate for the Jewish believers, the Kingdom believers -- they know nothing of Paul's Gospel yet. They're Kingdom believers looking for the return of their Messiah.


Now I emphasized that when we were introducing the little book of James, but never lose sight that the prophetic program is coming right straight through with no indication that it's going to be interrupted. And I pointed out in a past program the only hint we had is what the Lord Himself, the God of Creation, knew, and that was in Luke 4, when He stopped in the middle of the verse in Isaiah 61 verse 2. And He said, "this has been fulfilled in your ears." But remember He stopped in the middle of the verse and sat down. Because the rest of the verse made reference to the Tribulation, and the next verse made reference to the Kingdom. Age. But the Lord knew that that wasn't going to happen at that time, so He stopped.


Peter, on the other hand, in the book of Acts, also uses an Old Testament prophecy and he tells the people, those Jews, on the day of Pentecost that what they're seeing is what was foretold in Joel. And he quotes the whole prophecy. "The sun and the moon turned into blood. And the great catastrophes associated with the Tribulation and then the Kingdom would come" So remember that these letters were written to Jewish believers in view of the soon-coming Tribulation and the Second Coming and the Kingdom, with no hint of the Age of Grace, or of Paul's Gospel of Grace.


Now that doesn't mean that we don't take good things out of these Jewish epistles. Of course, there are many things because the God of the Jewish economy is the God of Grace, and so this whole Book all fits together -- but what's written to Israel is intrinsic to Israel. What's written by the Apostle Paul to the Church or to the Grace Age is intrinsically written for us. All right, so remember now this little Book is written to Jewish believers by the Apostle John.


I John 2:1a

"My little children,...." Now that's a term of endearment. And what is the main theme of John's writing back in the Gospel as well as in his letter -- what's the four-letter word? Love! John is the Apostle that is always epitomizing love. He must have been the kind of an individual that just had a soft heart. I don't think he was the blundering type that Peter was and that shows up so clearly in John 20. John is just a heart of love. And so this is a term of endearment that fits his personality, even though it's inspired by the Spirit.


I John 2:1a

"My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not...." Can't you hear the begging in his voice? Now Paul says much the same thing. Let's go back and look at how Paul puts it. Go back to Romans chapter 12, and verse 1. It's almost the same kind of language but, you see, Paul doesn't exude that softhearted love that John does, I don't think. Paul just comes right out and says it.