Class Notes: 7/19/2009

The Spiritual life of TLJC is the precedence of the spiritual life of the church age believer


We are continuing in our study where we are discussing the relationship between the Jewish Feasts and the events of the First Advent of TLJC that launched the church age.

We have seen that the Jewish Feasts that relate to the events of the First Advent of TLJC are Passover, Unleavened Bread: First Fruits and Pentecost, the day that the Holy Spirit was sent to indwell and fill believers universally providing the power for unique spiritual life for believers in the church age.

We have seen that the model and precedence for this unique spiritual life was established by TLJC during his life on this earth in unglorified humanity at the beginning of the hypostatic union. Heb 10:5; Heb 12:2a;

At Pentecost God launched the church age and we are presently discussing the impact that the events of Pentecost had in redefining the believer's relationship with God in the church age.

Last time we ended with the principle that precedence for the spiritual life of church age believers came from TLJC in the DBHU.

No precedence for the spirituality of the Church Age comes from the Old Testament.

Only establishment principles that apply to both believer and unbeliever are carried over into our dispensation.

The great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union has two applications.

It serves as a permanent separation and line of demarcation between the dispensation of Israel and the Church Age and it serves as a precedent for the unique protocol plan.

Old Testament Scriptures have value to us as application and illustration. But we do not take one bit of the Old Testament to determine what is the Christian way of life.

Israel functioned under the ritual plan of God. The Church Age functions under the protocol plan of God. Israel was elected as a new racial species.

The Church was elected as a new spiritual species.

Therefore, the Church does not take its precedence from the new racial species and the dispensation of Israel.

The protocol plan of God for the Church Age supersedes the ritual plan of God for Israel. Therefore, the Church derives its precedence from the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union, the First Advent of Christ.

While many denominations include the Mosaic Law as a part of the Christian way of life, this distortion and false conclusion is repudiated in the New Testament books of Romans and in Galatians.

The legalism of tithing, Sabbath observance, and the confusion of morality with spirituality originates from the erroneous concept that the Mosaic Law is a part of the Christian way of life.

The great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union is not only a dividing line between Israel and the Church, separating them forever, but it also removes any need to go back to the Old Testament for the definition of Christian way of life.

Precedence from the dispensation of Israel skips over the Church Age and continues into the Tribulation and the Millennium with some refinements.

When our Lord presented Himself to Israel, He communicated in the Sermon on the Mount how the Mosaic Law will function in the Millennium.

The principles of the Sermon on the Mount will not be operational until the millennium after the Second Advent of TLJC.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit, the protocol plan of God, the portfolio of invisible assets, the unique royal commissions, the indwelling of each member of the Trinity in the believer's body, the 100% availability of divine omnipotence did not exist in the Old Testament; yet all these things belong to us now in the Church Age.

There was no new spiritual species in the Old Testament dispensation, nor will there be after the exit resurrection. This is the only dispensation in history where the Church Age believer becomes a new spiritual species at salvation in order that he might use the 100% available divine power.

In the dispensation of Israel, no precedence exists for the formation of the royal family of God through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The only ministry of the Holy Spirit was the enduement, given to very few Old Testament believers.

There was no royal priesthood and no universal priesthood given in the Mosaic Law. They had a specialized priesthood from the tribe of Levi.

There was no resurrection in the Old Testament, only resuscitation back to physical life. But they did know the resurrection would occur, because it was taught in prophecy.

The first resurrection occurred at the end of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union, when our Lord was resurrected into his resurrection body by the omnipotence of the Father, the omnipotence of the Son the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit.

The power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead and into his resurrection life is the same power we have available to us today in the great power experiment of the Church Age, the dispensation of grace.

The Church Age is the only dispensation in which there is no prophecy. Instead we have invisible historical impact.

Old Testament history is the history of visible heroes, comprising a very small percentage of all Old Testament believers.

Jesus Christ as the Messiah was the last visible hero to Israel, but Israel rejected Him.

In the execution of the plan of salvation, He became the invisible hero. Darkness covered the land while He bore our sins on the cross, sustained by the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit in the divine power system and by His perfect happiness.

Our Lord therefore made the transition from visible to invisible hero. Everything that made Him an invisible hero has been provided for us.

Invisible heroes of the Church Age change the course of history. That's why it's so important for believers to become mature believers.

Cursing or blessing from God on the Gentile client nation depends on the number of invisible heroes in the client nation to God.

As goes the believer, so goes the client nation to God.

This is all predicated on the fact that the Church Age is the dispensation of unique mystery doctrine and The Church Age is the first dispensation to possess a completed Canon of Scripture.

The Church Age is the first dispensation in which Jesus Christ controls history from his position at the right hand of the father in His Hypostatic Union.

In previous dispensations He controlled history from His deity alone. But now as the God- man He controls history.

The Church Age is the first and only dispensation of no prophecy, it is the only dispensation of historical trends. The only prophecy relates to its termination.

The Church Age must be regarded as unique for ten reasons.

The baptism of the Spirit that occurred at Pentecost and its results.

The unique protocol plan of God taking its precedence from the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union.

The unique equality of the Church Age.

Every believer's very own unique portfolio of invisible assets, prepared for every believer by God the Father in eternity past.

The two unique royal commissions: the royal priesthood in which we represent ourselves and others before God, and the royal ambassadorship in which we re-present our Lord to the world.

The unique mystery doctrine of the Church Age

The indwelling of all three persons of the Trinity.

The unique availability of divine power, the omnipotence of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

The dispensation of no prophecy and therefore a dispensation which continues on the basis of historical trends.

The dispensation of invisible heroes.

These are some of the results of the events that were forecast by the Jewish feasts that culminated with Pentecost 1980 years ago.

-

We have seen in our study that the precedence for the Spiritual life of the church age was established by TLJC during the DUHC. Given the significance of this we will now take up a discussion on the topic of precedence.

Precedence is defined as: (1) an earlier occurrence of something similar; (2) something done or said that may serve as an example or rule to authorize or justify a subsequent act of the same or an analogous kind (3) a verdict that had no precedent (4) the convention established by such a precedent or by long practice or (5) a person or thing that serves as a model.

The extension of the power of God that was deployed in the unglorified humanity of TLJC at the beginning of the Hypostatic Union into the Church Age has resulted in establishing a precedent for the dispensation of the Church.

The great power of the Hypostatic Union is not only the dividing line between Israel and the Church, but it becomes a wall of separation as well.

This precedent answers the question of just what comprises the spiritual life of believers in the church age or just what is the Christian way of life.

The great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union cuts off the Old Testament, the Mosaic Law, and the ritual plan of God for Israel. This means that the protocol plan of God which supersedes the ritual plan for Israel is not taken from the Old Testament Scriptures, including the Mosaic Law. John 1:17; Rom 10:2-4;

Because of this, the dispensation of Israel sets no precedent for the function of the spiritual life in the Church Age and all precedence for the believer's spiritual life in the Church Age is derived from the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union, which completely separates the Church from Israel.

© Copyright 2024, Michael Lemmon Bible Ministries. World Rights Reserved.