Eph 489, 491-494 3/1/87; Isr 170 1/26/92
A. Introduction One.
1. The extension of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union into the Church Age has resulted in establishing a precedent for the dispensation of the Church. The great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union is not only the dividing line between Israel and the Church, but it becomes the separation line as well. This precedent answers the question: what constitutes 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. The dispensation of Israel sets no precedent for the modus operandi in the Church Age.
2. All precedence for the Church Age is derived from the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union, which separates the Church from Israel forever. This precedence is restricted to the Lord Jesus Christ with emphasis on His humanity residing in the prototype divine dynasphere, i.e., the filling of the Holy Spirit, Heb 9:14.
a. The Church Age has the thinking of Christ, 1 Cor 2:16. The New Testament canon emphasizes a body of doctrine that pertains to the Church. It is sometimes called the mystery doctrine because it was not known to the Old Testament prophets. Rom 16:25; 1 Cor 2:7; Eph 3:3-4,9; Col 1:20,27; 1 Tim 3:9,16.
b. Our Lord used the problem solving devices during the Hypostatic Union and established a precedent for the use of our problem solving devices in the Church Age. There is no greater illustration in history for the resisting of the outside pressures of adversity from being converted into the inside pressure of stress in the soul than the final three hours on the Cross, when salvation was provided.
c. As the One who sets precedence, Jesus Christ is the only role model for the Church Age believer. Making a role model out of Christ means understanding the dispensation and doctrine of the Hypostatic Union and Impeccability.
d. We have the same problem solving devices available to us as our Lord had available to Him. In fact, we have two additional problem solving devices: rebound and occupation with Christ.
3. All precedence and authorization for the protocol plan of God is taken from the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union. This includes the content of the Mosaic Law which establishes no precedent for the protocol plan of God. There is nothing in the Mosaic Law related to your spiritual life. The Mosaic Law sets up principles of establishment which have been repeated in the New Testament, but the Mosaic Law is not the way of salvation and is definitely not the Christian way of life. The best thing the Mosaic Law can produce is morality, which is not the Christian way of life.
a. Morality is based on human self-determination. The virtue of the protocol plan of God is based on the utilization of the power of God. Which is stronger: your self-determination, or God’s power?! There is no contest!
b. That’s why when people go to morality for the Christian way of life, they get into the worst arrogance: crusader and self-righteous arrogance. As a result, they become the greatest of blasphemers because they enter into moral degeneracy.
4. Therefore, under the doctrine of verbal plenary inspiration, the New Testament Canon had to be written to explain the relationship between the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union and the great power experiment of the Church Age. The two go together. The first is designed for the strategic victory of one person; the second for the tactical victory of many believers, i.e., those who advance to gate #8 of the divine dynasphere or spiritual maturity.
5. While the Old Testament eschatology anticipated the Incarnation and First Advent of Christ, it did not reveal the relationship of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union to the modus operandi of the royal family of God during the Church Age, nor did it reveal the results, the victory, the demonstration from the great power experiment, the use of God’s happiness (+H), the use of the prototype divine dynasphere. These things were never revealed in Old Testament.
B. Introduction Two.
1. This doctrine teaches what is the origin of all the invisible assets which the Church Age possesses.
2. This study is related to the doctrine of the new spiritual species, for all those who believe in Jesus Christ during the Church Age are instantly created a new spiritual species by means of the baptism of the Holy Spirit entering them into union with Christ.
3. 2 Cor 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ [all Church Age believers], he is a new spiritual species. The old things have lost their power; behold new things have come.” Being “in Christ” refers to one of the forty things we receive at the moment of our salvation.
4. Results of the baptism of the Holy Spirit are:
a. The extension of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union into the Church Age.
b. The creation of a new spiritual species for the utilization of 100% divine power made available for the first time in history to every Church Age believer. This is a result of the extension of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union into the Church Age. This power includes the omnipotence of God the Father which is related to our portfolio of invisible assets, the omnipotence of God the Son, related to the perpetuation of human history, and the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit, related to life inside our very own palace, the operational-type divine dynasphere.
c. Positional sanctification which removes all distinctions among human beings who personally believe in Jesus Christ, to include any race, economic, social, cultural, ideological or any other distinctions that existed prior to salvation.
d. Under the computer asset of predestination, union with Christ through the baptism of the Holy Spirit provides equal privileges for all believers in this dispensation.
e. The election of the royal family of God designed to complement our Lord’s strategic victory in the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union. There are three elections in history.
(1) The election of Israel under the ritual plan of God.
(2) The election of Jesus Christ under the salvation plan of God related to the First Advent.
(3) The election of the Church under the protocol plan of God.
5. Each of these three elections have a special relationship.
a. The election of Israel is related to the creation of the new racial species, the Jew.
b. The election of Christ is related to the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union.
c. The election of the Church is related to the great power experiment of the Church Age.
6. The new spiritual species is related to two categories of the great power experiment.
a. The great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union which is the strategic victory of Jesus Christ during the First Advent.
b. The great power experiment of the Church Age which is the tactical victory of the royal family of God in the execution of the protocol plan of God.
7. The new spiritual species is designed to use 100% divine power, something which has never been available before this Church Age to the ordinary believer. In the Old Testament, less than 1% of all believers had any availability of divine power, and for those who did, it was always for special reasons related to the communication of doctrine. Now for the first time in all of history, there is a divine plan which includes the ordinary believer, who is no longer ordinary but extraordinary when he utilizes the available divine power.
8. The few believers who are executing the protocol plan of God have the most significant role in all of history, a role of invisible impact. The trends of history are directly related to the believer’s spiritual life. As goes the believer, so goes the client nation.
9. “Old things” (ARCHAIOS) refer to the pre-salvation state.
a. Position in Adam and its resultant real spiritual death plus the power of the old sin nature, including pre-salvation handicaps such as genetic, environmental, and volitional handicaps. Only our human volition in determining to sin or execute human good can give the old sin nature its power. God has destroyed the power of the old sin nature, though we still possess it. More pertinent here than the total depravity from spiritual death is our total helplessness to do anything for our salvation and to execute God’s plan, will, and purpose for our lives. Both are the total provision of God under the same policy of grace.
b. The modus operandi of the cosmic system, demon influence, and the dynamics of psychological living. Any demon possession is terminated because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
c. The function of human power and human dynamics in Satan’s cosmic system. This includes every category of human self-sacrifice, human dynamics, human works, personality changes; all these have lost their power because God has made available 100% of His divine power. Although believers can still use human power to do such things as improve their personality, it is not a part of the Christian way of life; it’s psychological living.
d. People emphasis having priority over God emphasis. The new spiritual species demands that your #1 priority be relationship with God and with His Word (divine thinking, Bible doctrine). The pre-salvation assumption that if you are right in your relationship with people you are right in your relationship with God is wrong, as was demonstrated in the Garden. The priority of the new spiritual species is gate #5 before gate #6. Wrong experience with God means maladjustment with people.
e. Because of the rebound technique which is available to all new spiritual species believers, the power of the old sin nature and the cosmic system has been positionally neutralized. But rebound simply puts you back into the operational divine dynasphere. The Christian who logs maximum time in the divine dynasphere is a winner. The Christian who logs maximum time in the cosmic system is a losers (described in nine ways in the Scripture).
f. While old things have lost their power, we are not impeccable, but continue to possess an old sin nature. So even though the Church Age believer is a new spiritual species, he still have volition and still continues to sin after salvation (1 Jn 1:8) under three categories: occasionally (in spiritual childhood using rebound), frequently (failure to use rebound, continuing in the cosmic system), and sporadically (in spiritual adulthood). The sin factor in the Christian life depends upon how much time the believer logs in the divine dynasphere.
10. “New things have come” refers to:
a. The unique precedence for the Church Age based on the extension of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union into this dispensation.
b. The baptism of the Spirit making you a new spiritual species and royal family of God, which is without precedent in the Old Testament Scriptures.
c. The 100% availability of divine power to every believer in the Church Age only. Available to you is the omnipotence of God the Father related to your portfolio of invisible assets, the omnipotence of God the Son related to perpetuating human history, holding the universe together, and the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit related to our palace, the operational type divine dynasphere.
d. The unique royal family of God has a new divine plan for the glorification of God. The protocol plan of God supersedes the ritual plan of God for Israel. The protocol plan of God is designed for tactical victory as an extension of our Lord’s strategic victory in the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union, and it is the basis for the grace fulfillment of the Christian way of life.
e. The indwelling of all three persons of the Trinity in the body of every Church Age believer.
f. Two royal commissions for every Church Age believer are unique and unprecedented in history. Never before the Church Age were all believers royal priests; there were only specialized priesthoods. You are a royal priest and so represent yourself before God. You are also a royal ambassador and represent Jesus Christ in human history, i.e., God to mankind in the great power experiment of the Church Age.
g. The great power experiment of the Church Age is the dispensation of equality. All Church Age believers have equal privilege and equal opportunity under our computer assets of election and predestination.
h. A unique problem solving devices system composed of ten parts: rebound, the filling of the Holy Spirit, the faith-rest drill, grace orientation, doctrinal orientation, personal love for God, impersonal love toward all mankind, +H or sharing the happiness of God, a personal sense of destiny, and occupation with Christ.
i. Unique categories of suffering for blessing. This is the first time in history when suffering for blessing is designed to equate both adversity with prosperity, living with dying.
(1) Spiritual self-esteem plus providential preventative suffering equals spiritual autonomy.
(2) Spiritual autonomy plus momentum testing equals spiritual maturity.
(3) Spiritual maturity plus evidence testing equals glorification of God to the maximum in this stage of the angelic conflict.
j. New things have come in the form of the historical uniqueness of the Church Age.
(1) The Church Age is the first dispensation in which Jesus Christ controls history from His Hypostatic Union.
(2) The Church Age is the first dispensation with a completed canon of Scripture. Our instructions are given in writing permanently.
(3) The Church Age is the only dispensation of no prophecy; there are historical trends only.
(4) The Church Age is the first dispensation of individual impact for God. Personal impact is from blessing by association. National impact is from the mature believer in the pivot. International impact is from the function of worldwide missions to non-client nations only.
k. The great power experiment of the Church Age has two unique systems of blessing.
(1) For winners and losers alike, logistical grace blessing.
(2) For winners only, the greater blessings in escrow for time and eternity.
l. The lifestyle of wisdom: cognition of Bible doctrine, inculcation of divine viewpoint over human viewpoint, the teaching ministry of God the Holy Spirit inside the divine dynasphere.
m. “New things have come” focuses attention on the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union as being both the dividing line between the dispensation of Israel and the Church Age, and the separating line between them as well. It is this concept of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union as the separating line that leads to the doctrine of precedence for the Church Age.
11. If you are to ever know what is required of you by God, you must understand precedence. You must understand that God does not require from you Sabbath observance, or that you live under the morality produced from obeying the Mosaic Law. The Mosaic Law was for both believers and unbelievers; anything the unbeliever can do is not a part of the Christian way of life. The Christian way of life is essentially an invisible and supernatural way of life and demands a supernatural, invisible provision for its execution.
12. It is very important to answer two questions.
a. After salvation, what does God expect from me?
b. Where is the precedent for God’s plan for the Church Age? This Doctrine of Precedence for the Church Age answers both these questions.
C. The Results of Failing to Understand the Doctrine of Precedence.
1. Many Protestant denominations came out of the Reformation.
2. The Dutch Reform Church are Sabbath observers and totally legalistic in their concepts of the Christian way of life.
3. The Reform Church in South Africa is one of the most extreme Sabbath-observant groups of all time. The hundreds of thousands of believers in South Africa do not even begin to understand the Christian way of life.
4. The Presbyterian Church in its orthodoxy under covenant theology, both the southern and northern US version, did not understand even remotely the Christian way of life.
5. The Church of Scotland, the Church of England and all those related in that area have this same problem.
6. The Baptists, which started in England and moved to the US, have had the same problems. Only in the last century with some teaching of dispensations in this country have some even had a clue about the Christian way of life. But even then, most Baptists go back to the Mosaic Law for their standard for living.
7. Everywhere you turn, you see a blasphemous and erroneous gravitation to the Mosaic Law for the Christian way of life.
a. The Mosaic Law commanded tithing, but that did not mean spiritual giving even when it was first ordained in the Old Testament. Tithing was a 10% system of income tax for believers and unbelievers. Mal 3 says “bring all the tithes into the treasury.” It had nothing to do with the spiritual life. Yet in most denominations today, tithing is declared to be a part of the spiritual life, which it is not. What you give and if you give is a matter of the privacy of your royal priesthood related to your own understanding of Bible doctrine.
b. The morality produced from obeying the Mosaic Law leads to arrogance, for morality is accomplished by human self-determination. With arrogance from this, moral degeneracy erupts, resulting in violence, crusades, and the evils of our day. Crusader arrogance and self-righteous arrogance combine to destroy any concept of the Christian way of life.
D. Definition. 1. The extension of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union has resulted in establishing a new system of precedence in history. All precedence for living was taken from the Old Testament until the victory of our Lord in the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union. The precedence for this Church Age has never existed before, precedence which is unique in history, i.e., the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union. This precedence only exists for the Church Age and for no other dispensation in history.
2. Therefore, the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union has two applications in history.
a. It serves as a permanent separation between Israel and the Church.
b. It serves as a precedent for the unique protocol plan of God for the Church Age.
3. The protocol plan of God for the Church Age abrogates and consequently supersedes the ritual plan of God for Israel. There is not one thing in God’s plan for Israel that we can use, except for instruction. The protocol plan of God and ritual plan of God can never be linked; they are separated forever.
4. This forces us to the conclusion that the protocol plan of God for the Church Age, which supersedes the ritual plan of God for Israel, is not taken from the Old Testament Scriptures, including the Mosaic Law.
5. While most reform denominations and all covenant theologians include the Mosaic Law as a part of the Christian way of life, this erroneous concept has been refuted in parts of Romans and the entire Book of Galatians.
6. The Book of Galatians rejects two false doctrines.
a. Salvation through keeping the Law, Gal 1-2.
b. Spirituality through keeping the Law, Gal 3-6.
7. Therefore, the legalism of Sabbath observance, tithing, etc. originates from the false doctrine that the Mosaic Law is a part of the Christian way of life, which it is not.
a. Our Lord even began to amplify the Mosaic Law in relation to His millennial reign. In the presentation of His kingdom, which the Jews rejected and is now postponed until the Second Advent, our Lord presented the Sermon on the Mount, showing the fallacies of the Mosaic Law because the Mosaic Law can never serve as a way of life for believers. It is an establishment code for people in general, believers and unbelievers alike.
b. In the Millennium, the amplified Mosaic Law, as given in the Sermon on the Mount, will be part of the way of life. But the Sermon on the Mount has no application to your life now!
c. The disciples prayer which the Lord taught in the Sermon on the Mount (“Our Father who...”) obviously can have nothing to do with the Church Age because of the phrase, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven;” this can only occur in the Millennium.
d. During the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union, our Lord wore two hats. His first hat was “Son of David,” for He is the final King of Israel, the fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant. In this role He had to present to Israel His platform for the Millennium, which the Jews rejected (especially the Pharisees, the “experts” on the Mosaic Law).
e. Our Lord’s second hat is “King of kings, Lord of lords,” awarded because of His victory on the cross. Sitting at the right hand of the Father with a new third royalty, He needed a new royal family, and so the Church Age was inserted for the election of the royal family of God. So our Lord is called the chief cornerstone, for He is both the prince ruler of the Church and the king of Israel.
f. Only when wearing His second hat did our Lord teach anything pertinent to the coming Church Age. He made very clear how His royal family was to live in prophetical form. But these teachings, such as the Upper Room Discourse, were only in outline form. It was left to the New Testament epistles to fill in the details, the bulk being written by the greatest apostle, Paul.
E. The dispensation of Israel establishes no precedence for the Church Age.
1. All precedence for the protocol plan of God is taken from the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union, the last three years of our Lord’s First Advent.
2. The great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union divides Israel from the Church and separates them forever, since they have nothing in common. No precedence exists between Israel and the Church. Nothing in the dispensation of Israel sets a precedent for the Church Age. This means that the protocol plan of God is not a plan related to morality, but is a plan infinitely superior to morality under the concept of virtue.
3. For example, the baptism of the Holy Spirit never occurred in the Old Testament. But the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the basis for the Christian way of life. The provision made from the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the basis for the protocol plan of God.
4. There was no new spiritual species in the dispensation of Israel nor in any part of the Old Testament, and no maximum availability of divine power to every believer. This was completely unknown, a part of the mystery doctrine. It was never authorized, understood, or appreciated until the point of our Lord’s ascension. His Mount of Olives statements in Acts 1:5 and 1:8 establish the principle that there is no precedence to be derived from the dispensation of Israel. Precedence is derived from the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union.
5. Consequently, maximum availability of divine power has no precedent in the Old Testament, including the dispensation of Israel.
6. It is also obvious that no Royal Family of God existed in the dispensation of Israel. The only royal families in Israel were Saul’s short-term dynasty and the Davidic dynasty, beginning with Jesse and David and extending to Jesus Christ. But there was no royal family composed of all believers in the dispensation of Israel.
7. The indwelling presence of each Person in the Trinity had no precedence in the Old Testament. It only exists in the Church Age; it will never exist again.
8. The universal priesthood of the believer in the Church Age has no authorization or counterpart for Old Testament saints. In the Old Testament there were only two categories of specialized priesthood.
a. Family priesthood, based on whomever was the head of the family.
b. Levitical priesthood, based upon descent from Levi.
9. Our portfolio of invisible assets has no counterpart in the dispensation of Israel.
10. The precedence for the operational divine dynasphere by which we execute the protocol plan of God is taken from the prototype divine dynasphere which our Lord’s humanity occupied in the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union. There is no divine dynasphere found anywhere in the Old Testament. The first one was occupied by our Lord Jesus Christ in His humanity during the First Advent. Therefore, precedence goes to the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union, and never beyond it.
11. This explains why the New Testament is divided into parts.
a. The Gospels present the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union.
b. The Book of Acts is the history of the transition between the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union and the great power experiment of the Church Age.
c. The epistles delineated the great power experiment of the Church Age; i.e., what is expected of you after your salvation through faith in Christ.
12. The conclusion is that everything related to the protocol plan of God for the Church Age derives its precedence and authorization from the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union.
F. Resurrection Precedence.
1. The strategic victory of Jesus Christ on the cross, i.e., His substitutionary spiritual death, followed by His unique physical death (trichotomous separation of body, soul, and spirit), followed by His resurrection, has no counterpart in the Old Testament Scriptures. (These were matters of prophecy, Isa 52-53.)
2. There was never a resurrection in all of human history prior to the resurrection of Christ during the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union.
3. Distinction must be made between resurrection and resuscitation. Those who were resuscitated in the Old Testament were brought back to life but in a body of corruption, and so they eventually died. But in resurrection, the humanity of Jesus Christ received an eternal human body not subject to death.
4. The resurrection of Christ established a precedent for all believer resurrections, especially for the royal family of God at the Rapture. Christ’s resurrection celebrates His strategic victory on the cross.
a. Just as the omnipotence of God the Father and the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit were the agents of our Lord’s resurrection, so the omnipotence of God the Father and omnipotence of the Holy Spirit will resurrect the Church. The omnipotence of God the Father, which returned our Lord’s human spirit back to His body in the grave, will at the Rapture raise those Church Age believers who have died before the Rapture. God the Father became an agent of resurrection, Rom 16:4; Eph 2:20; Col 2:12; 1 Thes 1:10; 1 Pet 1:21.
b. The omnipotence of the Holy Spirit, which returned our Lord’s human soul from Hades back to His body in the grave, will at the Rapture give a resurrection body to those believers who are alive on the earth at the time of the Rapture. God the Holy Spirit became an agent of resurrection, Rom 1:4, 8:11; 1 Pet 3:18.
5. The power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is now available to every Church Age believer for the execution of the protocol plan of God by which we glorify Him. There is no precedence found in the Old Testament or in the dispensation of Israel for the divine power made available to us in the Church Age. The power available to us is:
a. The omnipotence of God the Father related to our portfolio of invisible assets, prayer, and other things.
b. The omnipotence of the Son related to the perpetuation of human history.
c. The omnipotence of the Holy Spirit related to life inside the operational divine dynasphere.
6. Documentation.
a. Eph 1:19-20, “And what is the surpassing greatness of His power to us who have believed for the working of His superior power, which He [F] put into operation by means of Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in heavenly places.” “The working of His superior power” has no counterpart in the Old Testament.
b. Rom 1:4, “Who [Jesus Christ] was demonstrated the Son of God by means of power belonging to the Holy Spirit by means of the resurrection from the dead.” Note the word “demonstrated” is synonymous with our use of the word “experiment” in the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union. An experiment is defined as an operation undertaken to discover some unknown principle or effect. It’s also defined as a demonstration of a known truth or doctrine, or the testing of some suggested truth. So the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is now available for us to execute God’s plan for the Church Age.
c. Rom 8:11, “Now the Spirit from Him [doctrine of procession] who raised Jesus from the dead indwells you. He who raised Jesus Christ from the dead will give also spiritual life to your mortal bodies by means of His Spirit who indwells you.”
d. Phil 3:10, “That I may come to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” Between the resurrection of Christ and the Church is the greatest opportunity ever given to believers in this dispensation. You have greater opportunity than the greatest Old Testament believers. The “fellowship of His sufferings” refers to a new and unique system of suffering for blessing. “Being conformed to His death” is a reference to the baptism of the Holy Spirit; similar statements are found in Rom 6:4-6 and Col 2:12-14.
7. This was prophesied by our Lord in Acts 1:8, “And when the Holy Spirit comes, you shall be witnesses unto me.” In Acts 1:5 He had said, “John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence.”
8. Between the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of the Church is the greatest availability of divine power in all of human history.
9. After His resurrection, ascension, and session, our Lord was awarded His third royal patent but was without a royal family. This is the explanation for the extension of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union to us in the Church Age.
G. Conclusion: All precedence and authorization for the protocol plan of God is taken from the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union.
1. This means that the Mosaic Law is not a part of the Christian way of life. It contains no authorization for the protocol plan of God; it establishes no precedent for the modus operandi of the Church Age believer after salvation. Understanding this principle is the only way you can ever understand what God expects from you after salvation.
2. This implies that all doctrine related to the modus operandi of the Church Age is classified as mystery doctrine. Mystery doctrine means that no characteristics of the protocol plan of God were ever mentioned or prophesied in the Old Testament, Rom 16:25-26; Eph 3:1-6; Col 1:25-26.
3. This means that the Church Age is a blackout dispensation as far as the Old Testament is concerned. Practical applications include such things as: you are not expected to tithe (which wasn’t even related to the spiritual life of Old Testament believers), to observe the Sabbath, etc. 4. Under the concept of the mystery doctrine, God’s game plan for the Church Age is known to the players only, Church Age believers. It is known only through epistemological rehabilitation. There is no substitute for the perception of mystery doctrine. That’s why the last half of Eph 2 and Eph 3 are so important to your Christian life.
5. Therefore, under the doctrine of verbal plenary inspiration, a New Testament Canon had to be written to explain the relationship between the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union and the great power experiment of the Church Age. This explains the divisions in the New Testament.
a. The Gospels focus on the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union.
b. Acts is the historical transition to the Church Age, mostly a pre-Canon history to explain how certain things finally came to pass and how they were consolidated. While Acts contains some mystery doctrine, we get most of it from the epistles.
c. The epistles focus on the great power experiment of the Church Age.
d. The Gospels are very necessary because of two trends throughout them.
(1) Christ is presented as Messiah to Israel (and rejected).
(2) Christ is fulfilling the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union to set precedence for the Church Age. This is why very few people can properly interpret the Gospels.
6. Remember, the protocol plan of God for the Church Age supersedes the ritual plan of God for Israel. The mandates of the Mosaic Law have been countermanded by the mandates for the Church Age. The only thing in the Mosaic Law that has any application to any other age are the establishment principles, because they are for believers and unbelievers alike; they have nothing to do with the spiritual life of the believer.
7. While the Old Testament eschatology anticipated the First Advent and incarnation, it did not reveal the relationship between the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union and the great power experiment of the Church Age.
H. What is the value of the Old Testament to us?
1. The authorization and precedent for the modus operandi of the Church Age believer is taken from the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union and not from the Mosaic Law, as per Galatians and reform or covenant theology.
2. However, the value of the Old Testament is not lost to the Church Age believer, as noted by one of several statements: 1 Cor 10:11-13. This tells us that the Old Testament has benefit for us, but it does not tell us how to live the Christian life. Verse 11, “Now these things [failures] happened to them [Exodus generation] as an example [of law of volitional responsibility, divine discipline]; furthermore, they were written for our instruction, upon whom [Church Age believer as new spiritual species, royal family of God] the accomplishments of the ages have come.”
a. To keep the Mosaic Law, you must have strong volition and a strong sense of self-righteousness. You must be moral to the point of arrogance. In other words, you cannot keep the Mosaic Law; it is impossible because you have an old sin nature. Only Christ fulfilled the Mosaic Law in the power of the Holy Spirit, living continually in the prototype divine dynasphere for thirty-three years, and by sharing God’s happiness.
b. These things were “written for our instruction” as an example of the law of volitional responsibility and divine discipline. 1 Cor 10:1- 10 gives examples of the Jews’ failures.
c. So we can learn from the Old Testament the consequences of suffering under the law of volitional responsibility; i.e., how we make our own misery 98% of the time. God adds the 2% in the three categories of divine discipline.
d. The law of volitional responsibility and divine discipline is a subject in both the Old Testament and New Testament, so it is not specific to the Christian way of life. It is a general principle for all believers in all dispensations.
e. The “accomplishments of the ages” is you! You are why man was created. Every other part of human history is nothing compared to what God has provided for you!
(1) Christianity emphasizes the individual, ordinary believer. You are unique!
(2) “Accomplishments” is plural, referring to all Church Age believers. The accomplishment of the ages is to take the ordinary believer, not the great Old Testament leader, and give him all that God has provided in this Church Age!
(3) The accomplishments have come; they have been here since the Day of Pentecost. Everything points to this great Age. Even the Tribulation is nothing in comparison, for the greatest pressure in all of human history is on the ordinary Church Age believer.
(4) You are a royal priest, a royal ambassador, a new spiritual species, royal family of God, with 100% divine omnipotence, indwelt by the Father, Son and Spirit, in Christ and so on.
3. We can learn many things from the Old Testament about many subjects as a part of doctrine, but the Old Testament cannot teach you anything about the protocol plan of God and the great power experiment of the Church Age.
4. Nor can the Old Testament establish any precedent for the function of the protocol plan of God.
5. 1 Cor 10:12 refers to the majority of Church Age believers who are doing works for their Christian life; they’re keeping the Law, tithing, scoring points in their church program, singing in the choir. Verse 12 warns these ignorant, arrogant, cosmic believers: “Therefore, let him who thinks he stands [arrogant legalist, assuming morality is the Christian way of life] take heed lest he fall [perpetuation of suffering for adversity under law of volitional responsibility and divine dynasphere].”
6. 1 Cor 10:13, “Testing [suffering for blessing] has not caught up with you [not at gate five yet] except the human kind [suffering for cursing, self-induced misery, divine discipline]; moreover, God is faithful [based on great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union] who will not permit you to be tested beyond what you are able [divine power], but with the testing [suffering for blessing] He will provide a way of escape [ten problem solving devices] so that you can endure it [carry the pressure].”
a. “Testing,” the three systems of suffering for blessing are unique to the Church Age. They equate adversity with prosperity; i.e., you are just as happy when under these categories of suffering as you are in the greatest of prosperity.
b. Being provided a way of escape so that you can carry it or endure it refers to the entire system of suffering for blessing which is unique to the protocol plan of God. This system of suffering for blessing without precedent from the Old Testament is based on the fact that we have our very own palace, the divine dynasphere.
c. We have a way of escape at:
(1) Gate 1: Rebound and the filling of the Spirit.
(2) Gate 2: The function of the faith-rest drill.
(3) Gate 3: Grace orientation.
(4) Gate 4: Doctrinal orientation.
(5) Gate 5: Personal love for God as motivational virtue.
(6) Gate 6: Impersonal love for all mankind as functional virtue.
(7) Gate 7: A personal sense of destiny under suffering for blessing.
(8) Gate 8: +H, perfect happiness, and occupation with Christ. I. Summary.
1. Therefore, the uniqueness of the Church Age is based on the fact that it derives its precedence from the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union rather than from the dispensation of Israel.
2. Eph 3:20-21, “Now to Him [Father] who is able to do infinitely more than all we could ever ask or think on the basis of the power that is working for us, to Him be the glory by means of the Church [tactical victory of the great power experiment of the Church Age] and by Christ Jesus [His strategic victory of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union] with reference to all generations of this unique age [dispensation] of the ages.”
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© 1989, by R. B. Thieme, Jr. All rights reserved.
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