John 1:14 - And the Word (undiminished deity) became flesh (true humanity), and dwelt among us (the Incarnation), and we (James, Peter, and John) beheld His glory (the visual manifestation of the Uniform of Glory), glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth (Bible Doctrine).
In our previous lessons we reviewed the doctrines that relate to TLJC in his first advent when he was incarnated via the virgin birth in his first advent.
We started our study with a discussion of the doctrine of the virgin birth that was necessary for there to be no transmission of the OSN and then took up the doctrine of the hypostatic union that explains the mechanics of how undiminished deity and true humanity reside in the person of TLJC and then discussed the doctrine of the kenosis that defines God the Father's protocol for the deity and humanity of TLJC in hypostatic union.
In the context of these doctrines, we have been looking at some of the names and titles for our Lord Jesus Christ in order to see more clearly what God has done for us through him, so we can more completely understand who TLJC is and what he has done for us, and from our knowledge of him have our confidence established in him by being occupied with him. Heb 12:2;
Last time continued in our study of "New Spiritual Species" that the church age believer becomes part of because of the baptism of the Holy Spirit that occurs at point of regeneration or being born again.
The concept of "The New Spiritual Species" comes from Paul's teachings in:
1Cor 12:13; For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
2Cor 5:17; If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature (kaine ktisis a new creation, or spiritual species); the old things (archaios: the status quo of unbelief) have passed away; behold, new things ( kainos: divine power to execute imputed spiritual assets) have come.
When we ran out of time last time we were discussing the fact that the new spiritual species in history demands new distinctions in Biblical systematic theology. This is why we have the mystery doctrine of the Church Age that is completely different from what God revealed in OT scripture.
Bible doctrine relating to the new racial species of Israel distinguishes between Jew and Gentile from Abraham to Christ.
The Bible doctrine relating to the new spiritual species of the Church or body of Christ, removes the distinction between Jew and Gentile during the Church Age, Eph 2:11-22.
The Mystery Doctrine of the Church Age only distinguishes between spiritual realities like believer and unbeliever and between believers who are or are not functioning under the filling of God the Holy Spirit.
Every individual Member of the New Spiritual Species is part of the Royal Family of God.
This brings us to a study of the Church as the Royal Family of God.
A royal family is the family of a king. Our Lord. Jesus Christ is divine royalty as God.
TLJC is a sovereign king as part of the Trinity, possessing all the attributes of divine essence.
As the manifested person of the Trinity, our Lord wears the crown of divine royalty. He is the only person of the Trinity ever seen. John 1:18; John 6:46; 1Tim 6:16; 1John 4:12.
His royal title is "Son of God." and the members of His royal family are God the Father and God the Holy Spirit with whom he has eternal and infinite coexistence.
The virgin birth introduced the humanity of Christ into the world, at that point Jesus Christ also became Jewish royalty and a member of the new racial species.
He is descended from lines of two of the sons of David by Bathsheba. The royal line from Solomon ends with Joseph who was not the real father of our Lord, the royal line from Nathan, comes down to Mary, our Lord's real mother.
His royal title is "Son of David," and His royal family is the dynasty of David. As Jewish royalty, our Lord fulfills the Davidic covenant at the Second Advent.
As a result of our Lord's resurrection, ascension and session in Hypostatic Union, our Lord received His third royal patent. By virtue of His strategic victory in the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union, our Lord received His battlefield royalty as the King of kings, Lord of lords and bright morning star. He became the strategic victor in the angelic conflict. Rev 19:16; Rev 22:16;
By living inside the prototype spiritual life TLJC remained impeccable in his unglorified humanity, qualifying Him to go to the cross and be judged for all the sins of all mankind.
The result of His saving work on the cross was that our Lord became the winner in his unglorified humanity in the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union.
His victory was confirmed by His resurrection, ascension, and session to the right hand of the Father, where He received His third royal patent: "King of kings, Lord of lords, the Bright Morning Star."
The "many crowns" of Rev 19:12; refers to this third warrant that is described in Rev 19:16; "He has a royal title written on His robe, `King of kings and Lord of lords.'"
When our Lord received His third royal patent, He had no royal family to accompany it so a third royal family therefore had to be formed. Because of this, God the Father interrupted the dispensation of Israel and inserted the Church Age for the purpose of calling out of or the formation and election of a royal family to accompany our Lord's third royal title.
The mechanics for the formation of this royal family is the baptism of the Spirit, when the Day of Pentecost was fulfilled after our Lord's ascension. The baptism of the Spirit places all church age believers into union with Christ as members of the new spiritual species who compose the church that is also his Royal family.
This new spiritual species is created for the purpose of deploying the maximum divine power that God has ever made available, the same power that TLJC himself used while on this earth in unglorified humanity.
The new spiritual species is created to complement our Lord's strategic victory. The members of the royal family are given equal privilege and opportunity for the execution of the PPOG while they are on this earth.
When the royal family is completed, it will be resurrected all at once, in the Exit Resurrection or Rapture of the Church. 1Cor 15:52;
The Jew as a new racial species is always distinguished in the Old Testament from the Gentile. But the Jewish person has absolutely no spiritual blessings in the Church Age unless they become a member of the church, and then their spiritual blessings are no better than any other Church Age believer.
The only racial issue in the Old Testament is that the Jews had privileges that the Gentiles did not.
The new spiritual species of the Church Age that is formed by the baptism of the Holy Spirit erases all racial distinctions between Jew and Gentile. There are no racial distinctions in the royal family of God.
In fact, with the coming of the Church Age and the baptism of the Spirit, all racial, cultural, social, and gender distinctions are removed. Gal 3:26-28; Eph 2:11-12; 1Cor 12:13;
In the Church Age, there is no racial distinction at anytime for any reason for any believer. These distinctions are gone forever.
Believers are identified as members of the church, not as a member of any race. Only ignorant and arrogant people have prejudice. Believers are not to think of themselves as belonging to any race, but only to the new spiritual species.
All Church Age believers have equal privilege and equal opportunity under the assets of election and predestination.
The application of this doctrine is tolerance for all believers. Tolerance is important because it gives all believers the privacy they need to grow in grace under the mentorship of God the Holy Spirit.
The only distinctions recognized in the new spiritual species are the distinctions between carnal and spiritual believers, that is the absolute concept of Christianity and between winner and loser believers, that is the relative concept of Christianity, that is based on spiritual momentum or regression.
The church age believer's royalty is eternal and secure because it is the result of regeneration. This means all Church Age believers are in full time service for Christ as royal priests and ambassadors.
Under the assets of election and predestination, every member of the royal family of God has equal privilege and equal opportunity for the execution of God's plan, will, and purpose for their life.
Under election, every believer has the equal privilege of the royal priesthood, and the equal opportunity of logistical grace support.
Under predestination, every believer has the equal privilege in Christ by means of the baptism of the Spirit, and equal opportunity from life inside God's power system.
The results of the baptism of the Spirit include:
The extension of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union into the Church Age.
The creation of a new spiritual species to use divine power.
The election of the royal family of God.
Positional sanctification.
Every believer becomes an heir of God and joint-heir with Jesus Christ.
Eternal security
Equal privilege under predestination.
Equal opportunity inside the unique spiritual life of the PPOG.
Some terms that are used to describe the royal family of God include:
The "Church," emphasizing the function of the royal family of God during the church age.
The "Body of Christ," identifies the church with TLJC with emphasis on the utilization of the same divine omnipotence used to sustain the humanity of Christ during the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union.
The "Bride of Christ," emphasizing the royal family of God after the exit resurrection.
A "Temple," emphasizing God's indwelling and filling ministries and the function of the believer's spiritual life and their priesthood.
The church age, the time of the royal family, is a dispensation that has been inserted into history for the purpose of:
(1) Extending the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union.
(2) For the formation of a royal family of God to complement our Lord's third royal patent.
(3) To provide a rebuttal argument against Satan in the historic appeal trial of the angelic conflict.
(4) And to provide an invisible impact on human history, unique to the Church Age.
As goes the Church Age believer, so goes human history; There is no prophecy during the Church Age.
The plan for the royal family of God is not the ritual plan of the dispensation of Israel. The ritual plan has been rescinded and superseded by the protocol plan of God that calls for maximum use of the divine power provided by God the Holy Spirit and the application of Bible Doctrine.
The protocol plan of God is related to an unprecedented provision of the indwelling of all three members of the Trinity, making church age believer's bodies a temple.
The protocol plan of God provides members of the Royal Family with two royal commissions:
(1) The royal priesthood where we represent ourselves before God.
(2) The royal ambassadorship where we represent God to all mankind.
The protocol plan of God for the Royal Family has three categories of spiritual adulthood:
(1) Spiritual self-esteem with it's cognitive self confidence from Bible Doctrine.
(2) Spiritual autonomy with it's cognitive independence from Bible Doctrine
(3) Spiritual maturity with it's cognitive invincibility from Bible Doctrine.
The protocol plan of God has three unique systems of suffering for blessing that have never existed before.
(1) Providential preventative suffering for spiritual self- esteem.
(2) Momentum testing for spiritual autonomy.
(3) Evidence testing for spiritual maturity.
The Church Age believer can actually suffer for blessing in spiritual adulthood, and maintain perfect happiness because they understand the meaning and purpose of the suffering.
The protocol plan of God has ten unique problem solving devices: the acknowledgement of known sin or rebound, filling of the Holy Spirit, faith-rest drill, grace orientation, doctrinal orientation, a personal sense of destiny, personal love for God, impersonal love for all mankind, sharing the happiness of God, and occupation with Christ.
The assets of the royal family of God are contained in the portfolio of invisible assets that God the Father prepared in eternity past. These assets include the escrow blessings for time and eternity.
The objective of the royal family of God is to glorify God. God is glorified when believers advance to spiritual maturity inside the PPOG where they receive the conveyance of their escrow blessings for time, then pass evidence testing and are qualified to receive the conveyance of the escrow blessings for the eternal state at the evaluation that occurs immediately after the exit resurrection.
The description of the church age believer's royalty is found in 1Pet 2:9; "But you are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the virtues of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."