davidbowerkingwood

The Mystery of the Church Age.

God had revealed two major prophetic events to the Old Testament prophets; their Messiah would come both as a suffering servant, and a triumphant King. In Isaiah 53, for example, the Messiah is described as the suffering servant; while in Isaiah 9 the Messiah is a victorious king.

These were two prophetic mountain tops that concealed a long valley in between, the age of the church; a time when God would introduce an entirely new creation, mankind indwelt by God! Although the prophets could see the two mountain tops, the valley in between them was hidden from view!

The valley held a mystery, the mystery of the church; a collection of individuals from every nation who would join in one body to serve the Lord Jesus Christ forever! We are now in year 1,990 of this hidden age.

This new creation would be available to all who would simply receive the free gift of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ as Savior regardless of nationality or ethnicity!

The implementation of this new plan required the completion of the First Advent by the Lord Jesus Christ including the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of the Lord back to heaven, which would then open the door to a completely new ministry by God, the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit Comes to Create a New Human Being

Our Lord is speaking to his disciples in John 16:5-15 and tells them of the importance of his going to the Father so the Holy Spirit can be sent to them.

⁵ “But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ ⁶ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. ⁷ Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. ⁸ And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: ⁹ of sin, because they do not believe in Me; ¹⁰ of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; ¹¹ of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

¹² “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³ However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. ¹⁵ All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.”

Jesus tells them it is to their advantage that he go away so he might send the Holy Spirit to them to minister. I suspect their initial reaction was doubt, how could Jesus’ absence ever be better? While Jesus reveals the general ministry of the Holy Spirit to the world, he does not, at this point, explain the fundamental change the Holy Spirit will bring to mankind!

At the Feast of Pentecost on May 25, AD33, the Holy Spirit would indwell human beings for the fist time after resurrecting their dead spirits and awakening them to eternal life in Jesus Christ! Jesus makes a reference to this in John 14:16-17 where it is written:

“¹⁶ And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”

At Pentecost, that is exactly what happened; the Holy Spirit joined with human Christians in an unbreakable bond that would never change. The Holy Spirit would join with every human being that received Jesus Christ as Savior and was born again into the family of God!

That union, between God and man, continues to this day! When you received Jesus Christ as your Savior, the Holy Spirit had come into you, resurrected your dead spirit, and took up an unbreakable presence in you that is eternal! You became a new creation as described in 2 Corinthians 5:17-19 where it is written:

¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. ¹⁸ Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, ¹⁹ that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

While the church age had a specific time when it began, it will close at a future time when the church age is ended by the removal of all born again Christians from the face of the earth. This event has a specific future date that is only known by the Father!

Next time, the church’s work is finished and the church is called home.