We are presently doing a brief study of how the resurrection, ascension and session of our Lord impacted the spiritual life of believers in the Church Age.
When we stopped last time we were discussing the fact that the Mosaic Law is not the basis of the spiritual life of the church and that it was never the basis of salvation.
This is clearly stated in Rom 3:28; and Gal 2:16; "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law, but by faith in Jesus Christ; even we have believed in Christ that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law. For by the works of the Law no person (flesh) shall ever be justified."
The Mosaic Law is not the basis for spirituality either as clearly stated in Gal 3:5;
This is because the Mosaic Law cannot and never did provide the Holy Spirit. The ministry of the Holy Spirit was limited to very few of those who lived in the dispensation of Israel and was unrelated to their spiritual life.
Spirituality is the filling of the Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit controlling the believer's soul.
Spirituality is the believer's residence inside God's power system that is maintained by their walk in doctrine under the mentorship of God the Holy Spirit and the persistent acknowledgement of any known sin.
The Mosaic Law did not, cannot, and never will provide the ministry of the Holy Spirit, Gal 3:2;
The Mosaic Law does not and cannot solve the problems of the old sin nature and real spiritual death. Rom 8:2-4;
v3 "For what the Law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for a sin offering condemned sin in the flesh,
v4 so that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us through the filling of the Spirit."
We see from this that the Mosaic Law does not provide spirituality.
The Mosaic Law was given specifically and exclusively to client nation Israel, Ex 19:3; Lev 26:46; Rom 3:19; Rom 9:4;
It was never given to any Gentile nation, Rom 2:14; even though it is where God reveals the establishment principles necessary for freedom within a nation.
The Mosaic Law was never given to the Church, Acts 15:5,24; Rom 6:14; Gal 2:19.
This means that the precedence for the Christian way of life comes from the same system that TLJC used during his life on this earth in unglorified humanity at the beginning of the Hypostatic Union and it is the system that Jesus in his humanity used to maintain his impeccability and keep the Law perfectly. (Posse non picarre)
It is how Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law, Matt 5:17; and how he actually became is the end of the Law for all who believe, Rom 10:4;
An example of the application of this principle is that the tithing mandated in the Mosaic Law is not and never was a system of spiritual giving.
No percentage was ever attached to spiritual giving; there is no mandate in the Word of God regarding spiritual giving. Spiritual giving has always been a grace principle.
Tithing however was a system of income tax for everyone in Israel for both believers and unbelievers, and anything mandated for the unbeliever cannot be spiritual and therefore cannot be a part of the spiritual life even when it was valid in Israel.
There were three types of tithes or taxes in Israel.
A tithe for the maintenance of the Levites as described in Lev 27:30-33; Num 18:21-24.
A tithe for the feasts and as described in Deut 12:18; and Deut 14:22-24.
A tithe for the poor of the land described in Deut 14:28-29.
The tithes were for business related to the function of Israel's government and the function of their national holy days and are not related to their spiritual life because everyone, even unbelievers were mandated to comply.
When it says in Mal 3:10; "Bring the whole tithe into the treasury," it does not mean bring the tithes to the local church. The church didn't even exist at the time because as part of the Mystery it had not yet been revealed.
In spite of this some church denominations today falsely teach that if believers do not give 10% of their income to the local church, they have failed in the Christian life.
The Gospels, that cover the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union, are difficult to interpret because Jesus Christ presented Himself as Messiah, the King of Israel, the One who fulfills the Davidic Covenant while simultaneously pioneering the spiritual life of the Church Age and prophesying regarding the coming of the Church Age.
He came as Adonai Elohenu, Adonai Echad, (The Lord is God, the Lord is Unique) as the Alpha and the Omega. This part of His ministry explains the Sermon on the Mount that is an amplification of the Mosaic Law.
But because Jesus Christ was rejected by Israel during the First Advent, the Sermon on the Mount will not be applied until the Millennium during the personal rule of Jesus Christ over the entire earth.
This also explains the eschatology of Israel that is found in the Olivet Discourse in Matthew chapters 24-25. Many confuse the references to the baptism of fire that removes unbelievers from the earth, with the Rapture or Exit Resurrection that removes believers from the earth.
The Gospels are difficult to interpret because so many confuse what applies to believers in the Church Age and what applies to Israel.
During his time on earth at the beginning of the Hypostatic Union, our Lord anticipated the Church Age. He therefore, had a prophetic ministry regarding the mystery doctrine for the Church Age while he was simultaneously living under the law as the Messiah to Israel. Gal 4:4;
He revealed the mystery doctrine in a prophetical manner for the first time. This explains the Upper Room Discourse of John chapters 14-17, and the prophecy regarding the Church Age presented by our Lord just before His ascension in Acts 1:5-8.
Precedence for the Church Age therefore originates from the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union. The extension of the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union into the Church Age through the baptism of the Holy Spirit results in establishing a new procedure from the precedent set during the first advent of Christ.
This means that the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union has two applications.
It serves as a permanent line of demarcation between the dispensation of Israel in the Old Testament and the dispensation of the Church in the New Testament and it also serves as precedence for unique protocol for the church as it is explained in the mystery doctrine.
Therefore, the protocol plan of God for the church rescinds and supersedes the ritual plan of God for Israel and settles the matter of precedence.
This means that God's mandates to Israel provide no precedence for the Church Age.
All precedence for the protocol plan of God is taken from TLJC and the spiritual power he deployed during of the Hypostatic Union. This is compatible with the definition of the Mystery as it is found in Rom 11:25; and Col 1:25-27.
The legalism of tithing, Sabbath observance, and morality being spirituality originates from the erroneous concept that the Mosaic Law is a part of the Christian way of life.
The function of Israel is based on the fact that they are the new racial species separated to God for the purpose of providing the true humanity of TLJC.
The function of the Church is based on the fact that we are the new spiritual species for the purpose of becoming invisible heroes and glorifying God in the invisible war.
Israel did not have the 100% availability of divine power that is available to the church; therefore, no precedence for the church comes from Israel.
Israel did not have the indwelling of all three persons of the Trinity, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the universal priesthood of the believer, the universal royal family of God composed of all believers, the equal privilege and equal opportunity of both Jews and Gentiles, the function of the protocol plan of God which is God's purpose, plan, and will for our lives.
Therefore, all doctrine related to the function of the protocol plan of God for the Church Age is classified as the Mystery doctrine and its precedence is based exclusively on the precedence of TLJC in Hypostatic Union.
Paul describes this in: 1Tim 3:16; "And by consent of all, great is the mystery of the spiritual life: the unique One (Jesus Christ) who appeared in a human body was vindicated by means of the Holy Spirit; He was observed by angels; He was proclaimed among the nations; He was the object of faith in the world; He was taken up into glory (ascension and session)."
Our Lord's humanity resided inside the prototype divine power system, where He depended entirely upon the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit plus the problem-solving devices of a personal sense of destiny, personal love for God, impersonal love for all mankind, and his sharing of the perfect happiness of God.
Today believers have exactly what the humanity of Christ had to function in during his time on the earth in unglorified humanity. 1John 4:17;
He functioned in the prototype divine power system; we have the operational divine power system that God provides for every believer at the moment of salvation.
The strategic victory of our Lord during the Hypostatic Union is the basis for His third royal patent and results in the Church Age as the second Christocentric dispensation.
The precedence for the spiritual life is the residence of Jesus Christ in the prototype divine power system. The extension of that power system into the Church Age has resulted in establishing precedence for the function of the body of Christ, the royal family of God.
The Hypostatic Union is therefore not only the dividing line between Israel and the Church, but a separating line as well, and becomes the basis for establishing precedence for the protocol plan of God.
This principle also extends to resurrection, because there were no resurrections in the Old Testament. There were only resuscitations in the Old Testament.
The only resurrection that has occurred up to this moment in time occurred during the Hypostatic Union when TLJC was resurrected by the omnipotence of the Trinity.
That same omnipotence of God will effect the resurrection of the Church at the end of the Church Age. So even the precedence of resurrection is taken from the Hypostatic Union not from Israel.
During the Church Age there are two categories of communicators of the mystery doctrine.
In the pre-Canon period of the Church Age, the apostles communicated mystery doctrine. Some conveyed it in writing. Paul was forced to convey it in writing after he was confined to prison in Rome. Eph 3:1-3;
In the post- Canon period of the Church Age, pastor-teachers communicate the mystery doctrine in each successive generation of the Church Age.
Paul describes this in 1Cor 2:7; "But we communicate God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden assets which God predestined before the ages to our glory."