Eph 579, 588ff, 534-5, 641, 722, 1265
A. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
1. This is the transitional link between the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union and the great power experiment of the Church Age. It is the mechanics of extending the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union into the great power experiment of the Church Age.
2. This is the ministry of God the Holy Spirit at salvation whereby He takes every person who believes in Jesus Christ during the Church Age and enters him into union with the person of Jesus Christ. By this we become royal family of God.
a. This never occurred before the Church Age and will never occur after the Church Age. We know the baptism of the Holy Spirit never occurred before the Church Age because it was prophesied during the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union in Jn 14:20. Just before Christ ascended, He again prophesied about it in Acts 1:5.
b. Our Lord’s prophecy about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Jn 14:20 and Acts 1:5, was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost.
c. Water baptism was the big deal during the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union. It was carried over into the great power experiment of the Church Age for only forty years during the pre-Canon period. Water baptism was a teaching aid in the pre-Canon period to teach about the Spirit’s baptism. Going under the water was a picture of identification with Christ in His death and burial. Coming out of the water was a picture of identification with Christ in His resurrection.
d. We no longer have any need for water baptism, now that we have the completed Canon of Scripture. We can now understand the baptism of the Holy Spirit totally apart from this teaching ritual.
3. The baptism of the Holy Spirit actually begins the Church Age: Acts 2:1-4 cf. Acts 11:15-17. The baptism of the Holy Spirit only occurs during the Church Age; it is the basis for the formation of the royal family of God.
4. The mechanics of the baptism of the Holy Spirit are in 1 Cor 12:13; Gal 3:26-28.
5. Characteristics of the baptism of the Spirit.
a. Like everything else in our portfolio of invisible assets, it is an invisible asset. Therefore, it is not experienced or felt or a system of emotion.
b. It is not an experience.
c. It is not speaking in tongues.
d. It is not progressive; it cannot be improved or developed.
e. It is not related to any form of human merit or human works. No one has ever done anything to earn or deserve the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
f. It is obtained en toto at the moment of salvation.
g. It is eternal in nature, known only through postsalvation epistemological rehabilitation which is cognition of pertinent Bible doctrine, i.e., the mystery doctrine of the Church Age recorded in the New Testament epistles. It is something that has to be learned and understood, and therefore cannot be applied from a state of ignorance.
6. The results of the baptism of the Holy Spirit are as follows.
a. It is the basis for the extension of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union into the Church Age. We are identified with Christ; therefore the constant phrase throughout the New Testament: “in Christ.” This means we are related to the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union; we are not related in any way to the Old Testament dispensations. Therefore, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the transitional link that connects the two Christocentric dispensations. We have the same benefits as Jesus Christ had during the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union.
b. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is the basis for creating a new spiritual species for the utilization of Divine power, available in three categories to every Church Age believer, regardless of any other factor.
(1) The omnipotence of the Father related to our portfolio of invisible assets.
(2) The omnipotence of God the Son related to the perpetuation and preservation of human history and the holding together of the universe, Col 1:16-17.
(3) The omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit related to residence, function, and momentum inside the divine dynasphere, the means of executing the protocol plan of God.
c. The election (formation) of the royal family of God to complement our Lord’s strategic victory during the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union. There is a tactical victory by the few Church Age believers who advance to spiritual maturity and form the pivot for a Gentile client nation.
d. Positional sanctification removes the areas of arrogant prejudice, systems of evil discrimination, and barriers of antagonism; e.g., the removal of racial, cultural, social, sexual, economic, personality, political and religious barriers and prejudice. These are all erased positionally at salvation; they are not erased experientially apart from spiritual growth. Personality conflicts are inevitable but protocol provides for personality conflict.
e. Every Church Age believer is positionally higher than angels. This is the remarkable Doctrinal principle taught in Heb 1-2. Being in union with Christ makes us higher than angels. Jesus Christ came into the world through the virgin birth as a member of the human race and therefore lower than angels. But because of His strategic victory in the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union, He became higher than angels. Therefore, being in union with Him, we are now positionally higher than angels. In a resurrection body, we will be physically higher than angels as well.
f. Furthermore, every believer shares with Christ His eternal life. 1 Jn 5:11-12, “This is the record that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son, Jesus Christ. So that whosoever believes in Him has eternal life.”
g. We share the righteousness of Christ, 2 Cor 5:21.
h. We share the election of Christ, Eph 1:4.
i. We share the destiny of Christ, Eph 1:5.
j. We share the sonship of Christ, Gal 3:26.
k. We share the heirship of Christ, Rom 8:16. 1 Pet 1:4 says “we have an inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled, that fades not away, reserved in heaven for us who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.” Every Church Age believer is an heir of God and a joint-heir with the Son of God. You have an eternal heirship. God has infinite wealth, and we share it all with Jesus Christ.
l. We share His priesthood.
m. Being in union with Christ gives you an equality that cannot exist in any other way. The only “equality” that exists anywhere is that among believers in Jesus Christ. For all believers in Jesus Christ were entered into union with Him at the moment of salvation. Therefore, all Church Age believers have equal privileges and equal opportunities.
n. In predestination, every Church Age believer has equal privilege because he is in union with Christ (positional sanctification). Equal opportunity in predestination is residence inside the divine dynasphere (experiential sanctification). (These are the top and bottom circles.)
o. The baptism of the Holy Spirit provides the basis for unity in the body of Christ, Eph 4:3.
p. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is the basis for eternal security for all believers, winners and losers alike. There is nothing you can do to cancel your salvation once you have believed in Christ, because God is faithful.
B. This is the dispensation of the unique protocol plan of God.
1. Because the Church Age believer is royalty, he functions under protocol. You must learn the mechanics of how to live as royalty. Protocol is how to live and not to live, how to think and what not to think, and what your proper motivation should be.
2. God has given you the divine dynasphere as a palace in which to live. Everything you do in that palace is by the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. God has given you the greatest lifestyle in history.
3. The protocol plan of God supersedes the ritual plan of God for Israel and is an extension of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union.
4. The protocol plan of God takes its precedence from the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union rather than from the Old Testament.
5. Consequently, the protocol plan of God is designed exclusively for the royal family of God in the Church Age, making the Church Age absolutely unique. No plan of God in history is as great and fantastic as the protocol plan. It was never operational at any other time in history: not in the Garden, not during the dispensation of the Gentiles or the Jew, and not even during the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union, though many of the support factors are identical to ours.
6. The protocol plan of God is based on the unique power structure, unprecedented in past and future dispensations of human history. You have something fantastic beyond description!
7. The protocol plan of God is defined as a rigid, long-established code and procedure for the royal family of God, prescribing complete deference to superior rank and authority, followed by strict adherence to due order and precedence, coupled with precisely correct procedure. During our time on this earth, we as royal family of God are to function under precisely correct procedure, as it is very clearly delineated in the New Testament epistles, especially in the Pauline corpus.
a. The rigid, long-established code and procedure is based on the fact that God is perfect and has only one way of doing a thing, which is the right way. The right way and the wrong way are clearly described in the Word of God.
b. A wrong thing done in a wrong way is wrong. A wrong thing done in a right way is wrong. A right thing done in a wrong way is wrong. only a right thing done in a right way is right in the protocol plan of God!
c. God is eternally and infinitely perfect. Therefore, a perfect God can only devise a perfect plan. However, the protocol plan of God is designed for imperfect believers. Therefore, the Church Age believer cannot contribute to or execute this plan through any form of human ability, human power, or human personality or human works.
d. Therefore, perfect God has provided His own perfect truth and perfect power for the execution of the protocol plan of God for this Church Age. The perfect power of God and human dynamics are mutually exclusive. Therefore, human works, human power, and human talent are excluded from the protocol plan of God.
e. Divine omnipotence available to the humanity of Christ in the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union has now been made available to you. This power was never available before the Church Age and will never be available after the Rapture.
f. Therefore, the protocol plan of God is based on a unique power structure which has unprecedented availability to all believers, in contrast to all other dispensations. Therefore, in Eph 3:2, the Church Age is called the “dispensation of grace.”
8. God is perfect; His plan is perfect. Since God’s perfect plan is designed for us as imperfect Christians, grace is the only Divine policy for the administration of God’s game plan for the Church Age. Under the divine policy of grace, the believer cannot earn or deserve anything from God. God’s work is always supported by divine riches.
9. This is best illustrated by logistical grace. The justice of God imputes God’s perfect righteousness to every believer. That sets up the grace pipeline down which God can both sustain and bless both winners or losers. Therefore, you’re not blessed because of anything you do. God always blesses on the basis of who and what He is.
10. Since the Church Age believer has been provided with this unprecedented power and blessing, he cannot desecrate the grace of God and the plan of God by his own works, human dynamics, personality, self-righteousness, crusader arrogance, or anything else which originates from the energy of the flesh.
11. Contradictions cannot exist in the protocol plan of God. Contradictions are only created by the believer’s failure to understand God’s plan, will, and purpose for his life. Either the believer will utilize the omnipotence of God and execute His plan, or he will reside in the cosmic system and become a loser in the great power experiment of the Church Age. Losers do not lose their salvation, but they fail to execute the protocol plan of God through postsalvation epistemological rehabilitation.
a. Just as at physical birth mankind is born in a state of ignorance about life, so at the point of spiritual birth, believers are born again in a state of total ignorance about God and His plan. Just as we have to learn a language in order to think and to orient to life, so we have to do the same thing all over again after salvation.
b. No believer can execute the protocol plan of God through the function of his emotions, his good works, his self-sacrifice, his “spiritual” personality, or any function of human power, talent, or ability.
c. Cognitive self-confidence from metabolized doctrine is parlayed into spiritual self-esteem at the beginning of spiritual adulthood.
d. Emotions are not tools of cognition of Bible doctrine nor are they the criterion for the Christian way of life. Therefore, we must learn to distinguish between doctrinal perception and emotional experience.
e. The cosmic believer is a loser. He has no spiritual self-esteem. He has not functioned under epistemological rehabilitation after salvation. He has no metabolized doctrine. He has no cognitive self-confidence. Therefore, in his mind he wanders through a maze of tragic situations which he calls the Christian way of life. Often he thinks he is pleasing God when, in reality, he is AWOL from the marvelous protocol plan of God.
f. Therefore, the Church Age believer cannot think, apply doctrine, or solve problems through the mind of another believer. When a believer depends on counseling or guidance from others and does not have correct and accurate teaching with regard to the protocol plan of God, he therefore has no doctrinal resources in his soul and he automatically becomes a loser. He goes through life walking on crutches.
g. Negative volition toward doctrine results in scar tissue of the soul. Fear, worry, and anxiety are manifestations of subjective arrogance. Negative volition toward doctrine results in those things which produce fear in the life.
h. The more you surrender to fear, the more things you fear. To the extent that you surrender to fear, you increase the power of fear in your life. The more things that acquire the power of fear in your life, the greater your capacity for being a loser when you have greater assets than have ever existed before in history. Add to this the arrogance in the profile of the loser, and you have a complete failure.
i. The greatest failures in life are believers who fail to understand and to execute the protocol plan of God. More has been given to the individual believer to fulfill God’s purpose, plan, and will than at any time in human history.
j. Arrogance produces irrationality, self-deception, loss of personal identity, divorcement from reality, so that the believer becomes psychotic or neurotic.
k. The loser has the wrong priorities in life. He spends his time in punitive suffering, self-induced misery, plus being under the three categories of divine discipline.
l. But God has designed a protocol plan so that there is no excuse for any of us being a loser.
m. Arrogance, fear, worry, anxiety, irrationality of emotionalism and the contradictions which come from it are not a part of the protocol plan of God and are characteristic of losers only.
C. Unique Equality in the Protocol Plan of God.
1. There are two areas of unique equality related to our two computer assets: election and predestination. In election, God states His desire for your life. In predestination, God provides the means by which that desire is executed.
2. Election is the expression of the sovereignty of God for your life in time. Under election you have equal privilege as a royal priest by which you represent yourself privately before God. You have equal opportunity in logistical grace support and blessing.
3. Predestination is the provision of the sovereignty of God for you to execute God’s plan. Your equal privilege under predestination is the baptism of the Holy Spirit at salvation placing you in union with Jesus Christ. Your equal opportunity is residence inside your own divine dynasphere.
4. All believers have equal privilege and equal opportunity. This has never been true before. Therefore, there is no excuse for any believer failing to execute the protocol plan of God. However, this results in great inequality among Church Age believers in the eternal state. This is because some believers are positive and so advance in the Christian way of life, and some believers are negative and become losers.
5. For losers, there is a Latin phrase: “QUI NON PROFICIT DEFICIT,” translated, “He who does not go forward goes backward.” For winners, there is another Latin phrase: “WINQIT QUI PATITUR,” translated, “He is a winner who perseveres [endures].” It is your day-by-day perception of the Word of God that results in understanding the policy and the mechanics of executing God’s plan.
D. The Unique Portfolio of Invisible Assets.
1. God is perfect, His plan is perfect. Since we are incapable of executing a perfect plan, it is necessary for God to provide us with the assets to execute His plan.
2. God provided for each one of us our very own unique portfolio of invisible assets billions of years ago in eternity past, Eph 1:3-6. There are three categories in your portfolio.
a. Primary assets: escrow blessings and computer assets of election and predestination.
b. Secondary assets: volitional assets, production assets, the assets of undeserved suffering for blessing, and invisible impact (personal, national, international, and angelic) assets.
c. Personnel assets: spiritual gifts.
E. Two Unique Royal Commissions for every Church Age Believer.
1. As royal priests, we represent ourselves before God. Ours is a universal priesthood. Believers in other dispensations have a specialized priesthood.
a. The universal priesthood of the believer is found in 1 Pet 2:5,9; Rev 1:6, 5:10.
b. Your priesthood is the basis for your privacy to live your own life as unto the Lord. It is the basis for effective prayer related to your cognition of pertinent doctrine. It is the basis for a unique system of function in spiritual adulthood. It does not begin to function until you attain spiritual self-esteem, and reaches its peak in spiritual maturity.
c. Everything that makes your life significant is related to the fact that as a priest you represent yourself before God.
d. Not only is every believer a priest representing himself before God, but he is a royal priest. For our Lord Jesus Christ is a priest in a line of royalty rather than in the Levitical line of the dispensation of Israel.
2. We are royal ambassadors, representing the Lord Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world, 2 Cor 5:20; Eph 6:10, Phile 9.
a. An ambassador does not appoint himself; we were appointed by God the Father in eternity past. It is a part of our election to “the riches of His glory.”
b. An ambassador does not support himself; we are supported by logistical grace. This is one reason why even losers receive fantastic blessings from God.
c. An ambassador has his policy and instructions in written form; we have the Scriptures as our instructions. This specifically refers to our mystery doctrine.
d. An ambassador does not belong to the country in which he serves; we belong to God and so have a message from outside of this world.
e. An ambassador does not live in a foreign country for his own personal interest; we are more concerned about the interests of our Lord than our own interests. For sooner or later when doctrine becomes your #1 priority, you change your attitude about your interests and about what’s important in your life.
f. An ambassador does not treat any insult as personal; this is analogous to the function of impersonal love for all mankind as one of the problem-solving devices.
g. The recall of the ambassador is tantamount to a declaration of war; when we are recalled by the rapture, the greatest time of warfare in history will begin in the Tribulation.
F. The doctrine of the Church Age is the unique mystery doctrine
. 1. Church Age doctrine, now revealed in the New Testament epistles, was unknown to the writers of the Old Testament Scriptures. The uniqueness of the Church Age was kept totally secret from previous dispensations. No Church Age doctrine or characteristics are ever mentioned in the Old Testament.
2. Scripture documents the Church Age as a mystery: Rom 16:25-26; Eph 3:1-6; Col 1:25-26. 3. This dispensation is also called the great parenthesis. All the Old Testament prophets skipped over the Church Age in silence, as in Dan 2:40()41, 7:23()24, 8:22()23, 11:35()36; Hos 3:4()5, 5:15()6:1.
4. Our Lord revealed the Church Age in prophecy, “I in you and you in Me” in John; also, “you will be baptized with the Spirit not many days from now.” Mt 16:18, “Upon this rock I will build My Church.”
5. Paul knew that he was teaching mystery doctrine, 1 Cor 2:7, “We communicate God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden assets which God predestined before the ages resulting in our glory.” You were provided with a destiny in eternity past, and it is designed for the glory of God and for blessing which is “exceedingly abundantly above all we could ever ask or think.”
a. Paul had a tremendous sense of destiny and understood exactly what he was doing. He was presenting revelation from God that had never been presented by the greatest of Old Testament writers and would never be operational after the rapture.
b. The invisible hero is the glory here.
6. 2 Tim 3:9, “With a pure conscience, keep holding the mystery, even doctrine.” This is a mandate for postsalvation epistemological rehabilitation.
G. The body of the Church Age believer is indwelt by each person of the Trinity.
1. Never before in history and never after the rapture is the believer indwelt by God the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit. But now we have the indwelling of all three members of the Trinity!
2. God the Father indwells your body, Jn 14:23; Eph 4:6; 2 Jn 9; Phil 2:13.
a. God the Father indwells for four reasons:
(1) As the author of our portfolio of invisible assets.
(2) As the grantor of our escrow blessings.
(3) As the mastermind of the protocol plan for the Church Age.
(4) As the designer of our very own palace: the operational-type divine dynasphere.
b. The indwelling of the Father is related to the glorification of His protocol plan for the Church Age, Eph 1:3, 6, 12.
c. The indwelling of God the Father is a guarantee of His personal ministry to every Church Age believer, both in time and in eternity past. It’s a guarantee of our portfolio of invisible assets, of our escrow blessings for time and eternity, of the protocol plan of God, and of the divine dynasphere.
d. The indwelling of God the Father is unique and without precedence. It is a part of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age. Never before in history was any believer indwelt by God the Father; only in this dispensation.
3. Jesus Christ indwells your body, Jn 14:20, 17:22-23, 26; Rom 8:10; 2 Cor 13:5; Gal 2:20; Col 1:27; 1 Jn 2:24. This is unique to the Church Age believer.
a. The indwelling of Jesus Christ serves as both a sign and a badge of the royal family of God. We are here to complement our Lord’s strategic victory in His great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union.
b. The indwelling of Jesus Christ is a guarantee of our escrow blessings, for Jesus Christ is both the depositary and the escrow officer. As the indwelling Shekinah Glory, Jesus Christ is a guarantee of the irrevocability of the escrow blessings and the certainty of their distribution to winners.
c. The indwelling of Jesus Christ motivates momentum in the protocol plan of God, “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” Col 1:27. The indwelling of Jesus Christ gives you great confidence in your advance to maturity.
d. The indwelling of Christ is related to the experience of occupation with Christ, the basis for focus and motivation in the protocol plan of God.
e. The indwelling of Jesus Christ is the basis for assigning number one priority to relationship with God before relationship with people.
f. The indwelling of Jesus Christ is the basis for assigning number one priority to postsalvation epistemological rehabilitation, so that the experience of occupation with Christ becomes the priority problem-solving device in the protocol plan of God.
g. The indwelling of Jesus Christ is the basis for the utilization of divine power, 100% of which is as available to us as it was to our Lord in the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union.
h. The indwelling of Jesus Christ is a guarantee that we have eternal life after death. We indwell Christ (baptism of the Spirit) and so share His eternal life. So we have, as royal family of God, a double portion of eternal life; that of the Father and that of the Son. The fact that the Son indwells us is a guarantee of that eternal life, and a guarantee that we will live with Him forever. Death has lost its sting; the grave has lost its power. “Thanks be unto God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
4. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit, Rom 8:11; 1 Cor 3:16, 6:19-20; 2 Cor 3:6, 6:16.
a. The Holy Spirit primarily indwells every believer to provide a temple for the indwelling of Jesus Christ as the Shekinah Glory.
b. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit provides a base of operations for the use of His omnipotence as the means of executing the protocol plan of God. He provides a base whereby His power is available, attainable, and usable when we live and function inside the divine dynasphere. We execute the protocol plan in two ways.
(1) The filling of the Spirit, which is residence, function, and momentum inside the divine dynasphere.
(2) Through the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit inside the divine dynasphere. Without that ministry, we would not be able to comprehend doctrine. The teaching ministry of the Spirit is documented in Jn 14:26, 16:12-14; 1 Cor 2:9-16, and 1 Jn 2:27.
c. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit provides a guarantee of two categories of Christian modus operandi, called spirituality.
(1) The filling of the Spirit, Eph 6:18, is tantamount to the Holy Spirit controlling your soul when you’re in the divine dynasphere, as a result making possible postsalvation epistemological rehabilitation.
(2) Walking by means of the Spirit, Gal 5:16, is tantamount to the Church Age believer living inside the divine dynasphere. This is the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit related to the divine dynasphere.
5. So all three members of the Trinity indwell our bodies whether we are winners or losers.
H. The Unique Availability of Divine Power.
1. Divine power has always been available to a few believers in every dispensation but never before in history has there been maximum availability of divine power and maximum emphasis on the use of divine power to fulfill God’s purpose, plan, and will for your life.
2. Divine power or omnipotence is available to every believer.
a. The omnipotence of God the Father related to our portfolio of invisible assets is available.
b. The omnipotence of God the Son related to the preservation and perpetuation of human history is available.
c. The omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit inside the divine dynasphere related to the execution of the protocol plan of God is available.
3. The same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is available to us, Eph 1:19-20.
I. The Age of No Prophecy.
1. The Church Age is the only dispensation where there is no prophecy during the course of the dispensation.
2. There are only two prophecies in the Church Age, which are its termini.
a. The baptism of the Holy Spirit, which began the Church Age, was prophesied by our Lord in Jn 14:20 and in Acts 1:5 just before He ascended.
b. The Rapture of the Church is the next prophetical event.
3. This is why the Rapture is always called imminent, because there is no intervening prophecy to be fulfilled.
4. In every other dispensation, there is an ongoing system of prophecy related to its function. The only exception is the Church Age.
5. There is no prophecy between the baptism of the Spirit which began the Church Age and the Rapture of the Church which concludes it.
6. This means that instead of prophecy, this is the only dispensation that functions entirely on historical trends.
7. The uptrends of history in the history are always related to the function of evangelism of mankind followed by the communication of the mystery doctrine.
8. The Church Age runs coterminously with the times of the Gentiles, mentioned by our Lord in Lk 21:20-24. This means that the Church Age is the only dispensation in history where Gentile client nations exist.
9. As goes the believer in the Church Age, so goes the client nation to God. All client nations are Gentile nations. A maximum number of mature believers in a pivot means blessing to that client nation. A minimum number of believers in a pivot means national discipline in the stages of the five cycles of discipline.
a. The first cycle is found in Lev 26:14-17.
b. The second cycle is found in Lev 26:18-20.
c. The third cycle is found in Lev 26:21-22.
d. The fourth cycle is found in Lev 26:23-26.
e. The fifth cycle is found in two major passages: Lev 26:27-38 and Deut 28:49-67.
10. The first Gentile nation to God was the Roman Empire. The present Gentile client nation to God is the United States of America.
11. The downtrends of history during the Church Age are related to the number of people, both believers and unbelievers, who become involved in Satan’s cosmic system. There are no tragedies in history, only in drama.
12. Both Bible doctrine and evil were here before we were. Therefore, you cannot change evil but if you function under crusader arrogance, evil will change you. You cannot change Bible doctrine, but Bible doctrine will change you.
J. The Church Age is the dispensation of invisible heroes.
1. In every other dispensation, it is always the visible hero who is emphasized.
a. It was Abraham who “staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what God had promised, God was able also to perform.”
b. It was Moses who said “Stand still, and watch the deliverance of the Lord. The Lord will fight for you today.” Moses was obviously a visible hero.
c. Joshua said, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
d. David stood before Goliath and said, “The battle is the Lord’s.” He was a visible hero.
2. Visible heroes characterize every dispensation except the Church Age. In the Tribulation there are the two witnesses, the Tribulational martyrs, the 144,000 Jewish evangelists; all of whom are visible heroes. In the Millennium there is a very visible hero—our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
3. In this dispensation, heroes are invisible. There are two factors necessary for the manufacture of these invisible heroes.
a. The teaching ministry of God the Holy Spirit inside the divine dynasphere.
b. The faithful communication of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age through pastors who understand it and can communicate it.
4. Eph 3:1-13, 4:11-16 emphasize the principle of the invisible hero.
5. The Old Testament dispensations were characterized by visible heroes.
6. The impact of the Church Age comes through the execution of the protocol plan of God by believers who have the same privileges and the same opportunity.
7. This is the great power experiment of the Church Age which was designed for the manufacture of invisible heroes.
8. Invisible heroes are manufactured through postsalvation epistemological rehabilitation which is persistence in the perception, metabolization, and application of doctrine.
9. Invisible God plus invisible assets plus invisible power equals invisible heroes.
10. An invisible hero is a mature believer who has advance to gate #8 of the divine dynasphere and has a four-fold impact on history.
a. Personal impact—blessing by association to those in the periphery of a mature believer: loved ones, friends, relatives, associates. This often explains why the wicked prosper. This can extend even to the third generation.
b. National impact—blessing by association to the Gentile client nation based on the number of mature believers in the pivot. As goes the believer, so goes the client nation to God.
c. International impact—blessing by association to non-client nations based on indigenous missionary activity from the client nation to God. The missionary who advances to spiritual maturity through the execution of the protocol plan of God is the basis for blessing to two nations: the client nation from which he comes, and the foreign country to which he goes.
d. Angelic impact—the mature believer who passes evidence testing becomes a witness for the Prosecution in the rebuttal phase of Satan’s appeal trial which is coterminous with the Church Age.
e. Heritage impact—blessing by association with the mature believer or invisible hero after his or her physical death. The invisible hero leaves behind blessing by association to loved ones, close friends, associates after his death. This is often why the wicked prosper. This impact can extend for several generations.
11. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you can be an invisible hero; for the great power experiment of the Church Age is designed to make an invisible hero out of you. But it requires your perception of doctrine and your utilization of divine omnipotence.
12. Invisible heroes can change the course of human history in any generation of the Church Age, functioning as the “salt of the earth.”
K. Conclusion.
1. Unique Experiment.
a. The Church Age is the dispensation of a unique experiment.
b. The noun experiment can be defined in three ways pertinent to this subject.
(1) An operation undertaken to discover some unknown principle or effect. In fact, in the mystery doctrine of the Church Age, we have the discovery of unknown principles.
(2) A demonstration of a known truth. This occurs when believers advance to spiritual maturity, and when believers fail and get under self-induced misery and divine discipline. Both winners and losers demonstrate known truth. The Church Age is a demonstration of revealed and known principles related to the protocol plan of God.
(3) A tangible result of a policy. The tangible result of the divine policy is the believer’s advance to spiritual maturity, the manufacture of invisible heroes through the divine policy stated in the protocol plan of Gold through which he glorifies God. This tangible result of divine policy is the formation of pivot, the means of sustaining the Gentile client nations during these times of the Gentiles.
(4) To bring about a desired result or purpose, and a tangible result of such a procedure and policy. This is an exact description of the Church Age with its protocol plan. In this great power experiment of the Church Age, never has so much power been provided for every believer: the power of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It’s designed to bring about a desired result and purpose: that you might become an invisible hero.
b. The policy for this dispensation is grace, Eph 3:2. The procedure is the mechanics of the protocol plan of God. The tangible result is the manufacture of invisible heroes, the only way to glorify God in this dispensation.
c. The noun experiment is further defined as a demonstration of power: two categories of divine power.
(1) The utilization of 100% available divine power under three categories.
(a) The omnipotence of God the Father under our portfolio of invisible assets.
(b) The omnipotence of God the Son related to the fact that human history can never be destroyed by man. But human history and the plan of God will go on, for Jesus Christ perpetuates and preserves human history.
© The omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit by which we execute God’s plan.
(2) The perception, metabolization, and application of Bible doctrine, the “alive and powerful” Word of God.
d. The adjective experimental is defined as relating to or based on personal experience as distinct from theory. This is analogous to the personal experience of Jesus Christ during the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union and the personal experience of the positive believer in the great power experiment of the Church Age. Through the perception of doctrine, your personal experiences have moved away from theory, as psychiatry and psychology propound. The Church Age is the experience of positive believers executing the protocol plan of God.
2. Unique Precedence.
a. All precedence for the Church Age is taken from the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union. The extension of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union into the Church Age has resulted in establishing the unique precedence of all time.
b. Precedence can be traced in the Old Testament, for they followed what had gone before. So their system of precedence was clear.
c. However, we take our precedence for the Church Age only from the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union. We do not take any precedence for the Church Age from the Old Testament. Only establishment principles are carried over into our dispensation.
d. The great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union has two applications.
(1) It serves as a permanent separation and line of demarcation between the dispensation of Israel and the Church Age. 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.
(2) It serves as a precedent for the unique protocol plan.
e. 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.
f. Therefore, the Church does not take its precedence from the dispensation of Israel.
g. 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.
h. While most reform 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, both in Romans and in Galatians.
i. 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.
j. Therefore, 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 cuts off any tendency to go back to the Old Testament for the Christian way of life.
k. 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 Sermon on the Mount will not be operational until the Second Advent.
l. 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 your 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!
m. There was no new spiritual species in the Old Testament dispensation, nor will there be after the rapture. 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.
n. 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 enduement, given to less than 1% of all Old Testament believers.
o. There was no royal priesthood and no universal priesthood given in the Mosaic Law. They had a specialized priesthood from the tribe of Levi.
p. There was no resurrection in the Old Testament, only resuscitation. But they did know the resurrection would occur, for it was taught in prophecy. The first resurrection began at the end of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union, when our Lord was resurrected by the omnipotence of the Father and the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit. The power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is the same power we have available to us today in the great power experiment of the Church Age, the dispensation of grace.
q. The Church Age is the only dispensation in which there is no prophecy. Instead we have invisible historical impact.
(1) Old Testament history is the history of visible heroes, comprising less than 1% of all Old Testament believers.
(2) But we live in the dispensation of grace in which the worst cluck who ever accepts Christ as Savior can become an invisible hero and have an impact on history.
r. Jesus Christ as the Messiah was the last visible hero to Israel, but they rejected Him. In the execution of the salvation plan, 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 dynasphere 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 today.
L. Summary.
1. Invisible heroes of the Church Age change the course of history. That’s why it’s so important for you to become a mature believer.
2. Furthermore, cursing or blessing on the Gentile client nation depends on the number of invisible heroes in that client nation to God. As goes the believer, so goes the client nation to God.
3. All this is predicated on the fact that the Church Age is the dispensation of unique mystery doctrine. The Church Age is the first dispensation to possess a completed Canon of Scripture.
4. The Church Age is the first dispensation in which Jesus Christ controls history from His Hypostatic Union. Always before He controlled history from His deity alone. But now as the God- man He controls history.
5. The Church Age is the first and only dispensation of no prophecy; hence, it is the only dispensation of historical trends. The only prophecy relates to its termini.
6. So the Church Age must be regarded as unique for ten reasons.
a. The baptism of the Spirit and its results.
b. The unique protocol plan of God taking its precedence from the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union.
c. The unique equality factor of the Church Age.
d. Our very own portfolio of invisible assets, prepared for us by God the Father in eternity past.
e. The two unique royal commissions: our royal priesthood in which we represent ourselves before God, and our royal ambassadorship in which we represent our Lord to the world.
f. The unique mystery doctrine of the Church Age.
g. The indwelling of all three persons of the Trinity which has never occurred before.
h. The unique availability of divine power, the omnipotence of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
i. The dispensation of no prophecy and therefore a dispensation which continues on the basis of historical trends.
j. The dispensation of invisible heroes.
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© 1989, by R. B. Thieme, Jr. All rights reserved.
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