The doctrine of the uniqueness of the Church Age

1. The uniqueness of the Church Age is based on the strategic victory of Jesus Christ during the first advent, His two deaths on the cross, both of which are involved. The first death validated the new covenant, His second death or physical death abrogated the old covenant. So the Mosaic law was abrogated by His physical death but His first death was a spiritual death and that was the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ refers to the expiatory sacrifice of Christ bearing our sins. The blood of Christ covers the last three hours on the cross when He who knew no sin was made sin for us, and His first death on the cross, the blood of Christ death, actually validated the new covenant whereas the second time He died on the cross he died physically and that abrogated the first covenant. From those two deaths we have resurrection, ascension and session, all part of this great strategic victory. From this victory comes the royal family of God, and because of the royal family of God and because of the validation of a new covenant, there has to be an interruption of the Jewish Age. For one thing, the Jewish Age had just run out of gas because its covenant is abrogated. The Mosaic law was abrogated at the cross and therefore out of gas in the name of the game for the Jewish Age. Furthermore, Christ is sitting up there alone and the born again Jews cannot be royal family, they all were saved during the period when the Mosaic law was operative. Therefore, a new covenant means a whole new ball game, and that means a new age, a unique age, the Church Age; that means things that never happened before. That means a royal family and there never was a royal family of God, there was just family of God.

2. Every believer lives in the holy of holies in the palace forever. Therefore, this is accomplished by something absolutely unique, the baptism of the Holy Spirit and resultant positional sanctification.

3. As a sign of royalty every believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament no one was ever indwelt by the Holy Spirit. John 7:39 — “The Holy Spirit was not yet given because Christ was not yet glorified.” No glorified Christ, no possibility of a royal family. Glorified Christ; royal family. While believers in the Old Testament could be filled with the Spirit they were never indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

4. A second sign of royalty is the fact that the believer is indwelt by the Son of God as well as the Holy Spirit.

5. A new dispensation means a new covenant, a unique covenant authorising a new priesthood, and so the fifth unique factor is that every believer is a priest, and not only just a priest but a royal priest.

6. As members of the royal family of God we have the completed canon of scripture. All divine revelation to the royal family of God is in written form and therefore God does not reveal Himself to us by dreams, visions, trances, or direct conversation. The canon of scripture was completed in 96 AD and God does not reveal Himself apart from the canon of scripture. A new communicator of doctrine has now been provided: the pastor-teacher; and a new classroom: the local church. And since this is the intensified stage of the angelic conflict, all get attacked - the Word, the communicator, the local church.

7. The believer does not live under the Mosaic law, he lives under the new covenant which abrogates and supersedes the Mosaic law. Therefore we have a clearly defined grace way of life, so clearly defined as to be unique. There is no clearer definition of grace than Ephesians and Hebrews.

8. The objective of maturity, the supergrace life, is for the first time constructed in a systematic way. It is constructed through the various stages of the ECS. The ECS is constructed out of doctrine. For the first time in history maturity is based entirely on Bible doctrine resident in the believer’s soul. Before he reaches supergrace he will have a fully constructed ECS. Contrast that to the shadows of the Old Testament. David reached supergrace but he reached it through shadows. He learned doctrine through the tabernacle, he learned it through the teaching of Samuel, Samuel being the priest of the time. So it took shadows to build an ECS in the ancient world, now we have the finest building materials, Bible doctrine forming six floors of and edification complex moving the believer into supergrace.

9. Every member of the royal family of God is in full time Christian service. As a member of the royal family you represent God on the earth, and that is called ambassadorship. You are God’s personal representative and this is the only age in which God has represented Himself through all believers. When David was the king of Israel all believers did not represent God.

10. The strategic victory of Christ plus the interruption of the Jewish Age leads to something unique: the intensification of the angelic conflict during this dispensation. The Tribulation is not the intensification of the angelic conflict, this age is.