God Revealed In Christ
Dramatic change is the opening theme of the book of Hebrews. At the announced place and time, God fulfilled His promises to send the Messiah. Divine revelation now came to mankind in the form of Christ Himself.
God, after He spoke long ago [in previous dispensations] to the fathers in the prophets in many portions [of the written canon of Scripture] and in many ways [divine communication to the prophets], in these last days [the Dispensation of the Hypostatic Union] has spoken to us in His Son . . . [Who] is the flashing forth of His glory and the exact representation of His essence. (Heb. 1:1-3)
This long-awaited period of history, called “these last days” in Hebrews 1:2, is also called the dispensation of “the fulness of [the] time.” This term is used for each of the two christocentric dispensations, the Age of the Hypostatic Union (Gal. 4:4) and the Church Age (Eph. 1:10), indicating the close relationship between these two dispensations.
But when the fulness of the time came [a new dispensation], God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the [Mosaic] Law, in order that He might redeem those who were under the Law [by living a sinless life so that He was a qualified substitute to receive divine judgment for man’s sins], that we [who believe in Him] might receive the adoption as sons. (Gal. 4:4-5, NASB)
The uniqueness of the dispensation of our Lord’s first advent is also the subject of the first chapter of the Gospel of John. In terms of divine revelation, the written Word of the Old Testament passed the baton to the Living Word in the Person of the God-man, Jesus Christ.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . . . And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the uniquely born One from the Father, full of grace and truth . . . No man has seen God at any time; the uniquely born God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. (John 1:1, 14, 18)
The Great Power Experiment
God became man and purchased salvation for all mankind of all dispensations—past, present, and future. The incomparable influence of Christ’s first advent supports the conclusion that this period is not contained within any other dispensation but must be treated separately and defined in its own terms. During these thirty-three years, the Gospel became an accomplished reality for all dispensations.
The Dispensation of the Hypostatic Union was also distinguished from previous dispensations by the system of power that God the Father designed to sustain the humanity of Christ in accomplishing man’s salvation. I have coined a term for this unprecedented sphere of power: the divine dynasphere.39
According to the Father’s plan, Christ did not use the omnipotence of His own deity to support His humanity (Phil. 2:7-8). Instead, God the Holy Spirit constantly empowered and sustained the humanity of Christ amid the hostility of the devil’s world (Matt. 4:1; 12:18, 28; Luke 4:1, 14-15, 18; John 3:34; Acts 10:38; Rom. 1:4; Heb. 9:14). In addition to the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the divine dynasphere also included powerful assets for the humanity of Christ to master and utilize by His own human volition. Our Lord used these divine problem-solving devices in executing the salvation plan of the Father.
Because of the divine dynasphere, the period of the incarnation of Christ may be called the great power experiment of the hypostatic union. An experiment in this sense is a demonstration of a known truth. The known truth is that the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit and the perfect efficacy of divine problem-solving devices were fully able to sustain the humanity of Christ. In the power of the divine dynasphere, Christ perfectly fulfilled every demand of the Mosaic Law throughout His life and death. The divine dynasphere proved effective even under the maximum pressure of being judged for all the sins of mankind. The Holy Spirit constantly sustained Him on the cross (Heb. 9:14), and the problem-solving device that I call “sharing the happiness of God” enabled Him to endure the judgment of all human sins (Heb. 12:2).
To anticipate our description of the next dispensation, the great power experiment of the hypostatic union has been extended as the great power experiment of the Church Age. Christ bequeathed to every Church Age believer the very system of power that sustained His humanity during the Age of the Hypostatic Union (John 7:37-39; 15:10-11). Our Lord’s proven source of power is now available to the Church Age believer for executing the postsalvation plan of God.
The Dispensation of the Hypostatic Union establishes the precedent for the Church Age. Christ lived in the prototype divine dynasphere; the Christian can live in the operational divine dynasphere. The Church Age believer has the privilege of living by the system of divine dynamics under which Christ lived, not by the ritual system of Israel which Christ totally fulfilled and abrogated (Rom. 10:4; Eph. 2:15). We will discuss this precedent later.40 Obviously, the known truth in the Church Age power experiment is that divine power and problem-solving devices are capable of handling any situation that could possibly confront us.
Giving Definition To Other Dispensations
We have noted two reasons for regarding our Lord’s incarnation as a separate dispensation. This unique period revealed God in His Son and purchased salvation for people of all dispensations. There is a third reason: The incarnation of Christ helps to identify the other dispensations. This period of time, which is the central focus of human history, and which defines the dispensations, is itself a dispensation.
As already noted, a major purpose of Old Testament Israel was to anticipate the coming Messiah. Israel was custodian of a shadow Christology. Like the shadow of a person that appears around a corner before he does, Israel’s spiritual life took its shape from the reality of Christ who had yet to appear on the scene of history. Other dispensations also are patterned after the first advent of Christ. God took upon Himself true humanity to win the victory of the cross, to be the substitute for man’s sins. Because God is forming the Church in honor of that victory, the glorified Christ is called the Head of the Church (Eph. 4:15; 5:23; Col. 1:18). Also, Christ became true humanity in order to fulfill the Davidic Covenant to Israel, on which the Millennium is based. Because He will rule in the Millennium, Christ is called the Son of David (Matt. 1:1; 12:23; 22:41-46). Each of these dispensations—the Age of Israel, the Church Age, and the Millennium—is defined in terms of the first advent of Christ.
From another perspective, each dispensation subsequent to the incarnation of Christ terminates with a resurrection. This repetition treats the first advent of Christ as a pattern for dispensations, hence equivalent to a dispensation itself. The resurrection of Christ is the first and, so far, the only resurrection in history (1 Tim. 6:16). Other individuals have come back from the dead, but they were resuscitated, not resurrected (John 11:43-44). Resuscitation restores an individual to his mortal body, but he subsequently dies again (John 12:10). Resurrection gives the believer his resurrection body so that never again will he die (1 Cor. 15:54).
The sequence of resurrections is introduced by the phrase “all shall be made alive, but each in his own order” (1 Cor. 15:22-23). The “orders” are dispensations. The resurrection of believers is dispensational. After this introduction, four phrases correspond to the final four dispensations beginning with the Incarnation. The Dispensation of the Hypostatic Union culminated with the resurrection of Christ, the “first fruits of those who are asleep” (1 Cor. 15:20, 23; Rev. 1:5). The Church Age will end with the Rapture, or resurrection of the royal family—“those who are Christ’s”—who are next in line to receive resurrection bodies (1 Cor. 15:23). The Tribulation will conclude with the second advent of Christ—“when He delivers up the kingdom” (1 Cor. 15:24; cf., Rev. 20:4), at which time the Old Testament believers and tribulational martyrs receive resurrection bodies (Job 19:25-26). Finally, this progression of resurrections will culminate with the resurrection of all believers of the Millennium—“when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power” of Satan’s final revolution (1 Cor. 15:24; cf., Rev. 20:5, 7-10).
Christ The Cornerstone
A biblical analogy illustrates what has been said already about the Incarnation as a separate dispensation. This illustration also depicts the separation of Israel and the Church, a vital truth which gives such importance to realizing that the Incarnation stands as a distinct dispensation between these two ages.
The Bible describes our Lord’s relationship to Israel and to the Church in several ways, but one example will suffice in this general study of dispensations. Jesus Christ is frequently described as “the chief cornerstone” (Ps. 118:22; Isa. 28:16; Matt. 21:42; Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17; Acts 4:10-12; 1 Cor. 3:11; 1 Pet. 2:4-7). This expression must be interpreted in light of the times in which it was written.
What was a cornerstone in the ancient world? Two definitions come down to us, one regarding a building’s foundation, the other pertaining to structure above the foundation. A cornerstone was a stone laid at one corner of a foundation as the normal starting point for construction. A stone at the intersection of two walls, uniting them, was also called a cornerstone. Both meanings illustrate Christ’s relationship with Israel and the Church, although this analogy by itself does not prove the relationship. Christ can be compared to both the foundation and the superstructure in a process of construction. According to this analogy, what is being built? And what is the construction schedule?
As Paul declared to the Athenians, God “does not dwell in temples made with hands” (Acts 17:24). He transcends the “world and all things in it” (Acts 17:25) but has chosen to dwell among men (John 1:14) and in men (John 14:20).41 Jesus Christ, the God-man, is the foundation for two invisible, spiritual “temples” designed for worship of God throughout eternity. These two figurative buildings are Israel (Acts 4:10-12) and the Church (Matt. 16:18). Each structure is built of individual believers, not of the stone, brick, and timber normally associated with temple construction. This explains why no temple building will exist in heaven (Rev. 21:22). Church Age believers, for instance, are described as “living stones being constructed into a spiritual house for a holy priesthood” (1 Pet. 2:5). This also sheds light on the fact that the Tabernacle in Israel was only a “copy and shadow” of the reality which is in heaven (Heb. 8:1-2, 5).
The two “temples” built of believers will be complete when all members possess resurrection bodies. The Church will become a spiritual temple forever at the moment of the resurrection, or Rapture, of the Church. Israel, on the other hand, will be resurrected in two stages. Believers from the Old Testament Age of Israel and believers who die during the Tribulation will be resurrected at Christ’s second advent (Job 19:25-26; Rev. 20:4), and millennial believers will be resurrected at the end of the Millennium (Rev. 20:5). With all members in resurrection bodies, Israel will then be a completed spiritual temple forever.
These living temples are built through evangelism and the communication of Bible doctrine. We are “constructed on the foundation [Christ] by means of the apostles and prophets [writers and communicators of Bible doctrine]” (Eph. 2:20). We might speculate that large stones are mature believers whereas small stones are the believers who never learn doctrine, never grow to spiritual adulthood on earth, but who are eternally saved nonetheless.
In contrast to believers who form these temples, unbelievers stumble over the foundation stone (Rom. 9:30-33). The Jewish leaders in the Age of the Hypostatic Union are depicted as builders (Acts 4:10-12), but they rejected Jesus Christ, their foundation. Therefore, work on Israel ceased, postponed until later dispensations (Matt. 21:42-43). In the meantime, construction of the second building, the Church, began upon that same shared foundation stone. The current situation finds the Church under construction while Israel remains a foundation with its superstructure incomplete. The building up of Israel came to a temporary halt while the Church is formed on earth. When the Church is completed, then construction of Israel will resume.
The superstructure aspect of the analogy depicts Christ as the chief cornerstone. He not only connects two walls but divides them as well, separating the Age of Israel from the Age of the Church. As the corner, the Age of the Hypostatic Union ends one wall and sets the standard for another. Israel and the Church share certain features, but one is not merely the continuation of the other. God’s administration of human history turns a corner in the life of Christ.
Israel and the Church are separate dispensations even though numerous continuities exist. They way of salvation remains the same in both dispensations, after the pattern of Abraham’s faith. God loves both groups of believers, gives them eternal life, watches over them, and illustrates His relationship with each group by an analogy to marriage. Both are elect; both are called to grow up spiritually; both represent God in the world. But fulfillment of divine covenants to Israel is not found in the Church. God does not renege on His promises. Divine covenants guarantee that Israel, as a distinct and permanent nation, will be a blessing forever to all mankind (Gen. 12:3). In contrast, Jews who believe in Christ during the Church Age are included in the Church through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, equal with all gentile believers and not distinct from them (Eph. 2:11-22).
The dispensations of Israel and the Church are separated by the Dispensation of the Hypostatic Union. Israel does not set the precedent for the postsalvation life of the Church Age believer. Christians must “concentrate on Jesus, the prince-ruler, even the One who brings [believers] to the attainment [of spiritual maturity] by means of doctrine” (Heb. 12:2). He is the cornerstone. He, not the Law that governed Israel, is the pattern for the Church Age believer. In the power of the prototype divine dynasphere, Christ fulfilled the Mosaic Law, rendering it obsolete (Rom. 8:2-3; Heb. 8:13; 9:15; 10:9). In the power of the operational divine dynasphere, the Church Age believer advances spiritually and acquires the virtues of the humanity of Christ (Phil. 4:8; 2 Pet. 1:2-4). Virtue from executing the protocol plan of God meets and exceeds any demand for morality found in the Law (Rom. 8:4).42
The Separation of Israel and the Church
Fulfillment Of The Mosaic Law
The Dispensation of the Hypostatic Union stands as a line of demarcation between Israel and the Church. Christ fulfilled the Mosaic Law on one hand and set the precedent for Church Age protocol on the other. This division is confirmed by numerous passages which state that the Mosaic Law does not define the Christian’s way of life (John 1:16-17; Acts 15:5-11, 24; Rom. 6:14; 7:4-6; 2 Cor. 3:7-13; Gal. 2:9; 3:19-25; 5:18; Eph. 2:15; Col. 2:14).
At the Exodus God founded Israel as a theocracy ruled personally by the Second Person of the Trinity.43 The whole thrust of the Jewish way of life was spiritual. Because God ruled Israel, every aspect of life in the nation had spiritual significance, and the Mosaic Law did not distinguish between spiritual and secular issues. Obedience to divine establishment was part of the spiritual life of Jewish believers, and observance of holy days and animal sacrifices was required of all citizens, including unbelievers (although these rituals were fully meaningful to believers only). We distinguish the freedom code, the spiritual code, and the establishment code as a categorical approach to communicating the wide scope of the Mosaic Law. But all aspects of the Law add up to one code for a unique political entity with a spiritual origin, a spiritual destiny, and a King who is God Himself.
The Law is an integrated whole (Matt. 5:18; Gal. 5:14). The entire Mosaic Law is a particular expression of God’s eternal and holy character (Ex. 19). He gave the Law to a distinctly defined group of people (Ex. 19:3; Lev. 26:46; Rom. 2:17-20; 3:19; 9:4). It was effective for a limited period of time (Gal. 3:23-25). And it was designed for several explicit purposes. The Mosaic Law regulated life in God’s unique client nation, exposed man’s sinfulness, and demonstrated his need of a Savior, but the primary purpose of the Law was to anticipate the coming of Christ.
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.” (Matt. 5:17, NASB)
The Law was far more than simply a rule of behavior. Although superior to contemporary codes in its moral instruction, the Law was not primarily ethical but messianic. Therein lies its true greatness. Its mandates depicted the Person and work of Christ and protected the line of Christ until He would arrive in the flesh. The centuries-old purpose of the Mosaic Law was achieved by the incarnate Jesus Christ. Anticipation was replaced by reality. This perfect fulfillment is a tribute to the faithfulness of God.
Because all parts of the Law functioned together as one code, the Law has been abrogated as a whole. The entirety of the Law is no longer pertinent and no longer governs any people or nation (Matt. 5:17-19; Rom. 10:4; Gal. 3:23-25; 5:3-4; cf., 5:18; Heb. 8:13; 10:9). The regime of the Mosaic Law has ended. The Church is “not under law, but under grace” (Rom. 6:14).
The Law Of Christ
The end of the Mosaic Law does not leave believers or unbelievers lawless (Rom. 6:15; 13:1-7). A new code of divine mandates, which also expresses the essence of God, now defines the believer’s way of life. Like the Law, this new code is also an integrated whole. But God’s protocol plan for the Church has a different objective: to glorify the victorious Christ to the maximum. The protocol plan accompanies a different array of divine blessings for the believer that are surveyed in the second half of this book. And the protocol plan of God has a different thrust: greater responsibility placed upon each believer to think and apply Bible doctrine for himself in the privacy of his own priesthood. Still, many principles found in the Mosaic Law also appear in the protocol plan. The reason is that both codes come from the same source, from God Himself.
The character of God remains unchanged even as He makes dispensational changes in human history. God was perfect before He gave the Law to Moses, perfect during the tenure of the Law, and perfect when He fulfilled and rescinded the Law in Christ. In fact, the succession of dispensations reveals His changeless essence to man and angels. God expressed His absolute holiness to man in legal terms long before the Mosaic Law existed, and He continues to provide ethical norms and spiritual instruction now that the Law has ceased to govern. Indeed before, during, and after the time in which the Mosaic Law was in effect in Israel, other expressions of divine law functioned among Gentiles to whom the Mosaic Law never applied (Gen. 26:5; Ex. 19:5b; Rom. 2:14-16; 1 Cor. 7:19; 9:20-21).
In the Church Age the operative divine law is not the Mosaic Law but “the law of Christ” (1 Cor. 9:20-21; Gal. 6:2). This also is called “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:2), which I designate the protocol plan of God or life in the divine dynasphere. Christ fulfilled the entire Mosaic Law in the power of the Holy Spirit in the prototype divine dynasphere. The Church Age believer obeys the new “law of Christ” by following His precedent: filled with the Spirit in the operational divine dynasphere (Rom. 8:2-4).
Because Christ fulfilled and abrogated the Mosaic Law (Heb. 8:13; 10:9), practices instituted for the nation of Israel are not included in the postsalvation plan of God for the Church Age. They do not contribute to the Christian way of life. The Church, for example, does not offer animal sacrifices, observe holy days or the Sabbath, maintain the Levitical priesthood, worship in a sacred building, offer tithes, or have minute details of civic life prescribed by spiritual ordinances. There is now a new, universal priesthood of all believers (1 Pet. 2:9; Heb. 7:12; 8:1), a greater emphasis on individual responsibility (Gal. 5:1), and a separation of church and state (Rom. 13:1-7; cf., Matt. 22:15-22).
Transition Between Divine Administrations
Three separate dispensations converge in the Age of the Hypostatic Union. This pivotal era is, therefore, a challenge to accurately interpret.
Christ fulfilled the Old Testament Law and taught His current followers to live apart from legalism.
He proclaimed His ruling platform for the millennial kingdom.
He unveiled the plan of God for the Church
These closely juxtaposed divine administrations—as well as the presence of Christ Himself—exhibit the grace and wisdom of God in unparalleled depth and variety. The period of our Lord’s first advent, then, is an extraordinary presentation of God’s perfect character.
Each dispensation fulfills its own purpose in the overall plan of God. Although similarities exist, differences in divine mandates distinguish the Incarnation, the Church, and the Millennium, and divine policy for each of these periods differs significantly from the Law given through Moses to Israel. For example, the Sermon on the Mount represented a shift in divine policy. Again and again Jesus declared, “You have heard that it was said [in the Mosaic Law] . . . but I say . . . ” (Matt. 5:21-48). He proclaimed the kingdom of God to the Jews in terms of their Mosaic frame of reference. He used the Law as the foundation or point of departure for explaining the way of life in the promised kingdom under His personal rule.
Christ also ministered to the current needs of His hearers. Amplifying and clarifying the true meaning of the Law, He taught them how to live free from the legalistic degeneracy that was so pervasive in the nation. Never was the Law intended to be a means of salvation (Matt 5:20) or a breeding ground for self-righteousness (Matt. 6:1-18). The Law revealed the necessity for grace and the source of that grace, Jesus Christ Himself.
After Christ was rejected by Israel, He retracted His offer of the kingdom. Instead of continuing to present His kingdom platform, He announced yet a different divine system, the mystery doctrine of the Church Age (John 14—17). In the Millennium the spiritual and the civil will come under one aegis as Christ again reigns, not as God ruling over one nation but as the God-man over both Israel and the entire world. During the Church Age, however, church and state are separate entities. Divine mandates for the Church Age believer cannot be imposed upon the unbeliever, unlike the Mosaic Law which regulated believers and unbelievers in Israel. Rather than institute another legal system that directly governs all people, Christ now controls history in a manner that gives individual Church Age believers tremendous opportunity (and responsibility) for having invisible impact.44 In the Upper Room Discourse Jesus bequeathed to the Church this new system of dynamics by which He Himself had lived throughout His first advent.
Common Principles In Different Codes
The similarities between the Mosaic Law and Church Age protocol reveal God’s immutable consistency, but the differences reflect the magnitude of Christ’s achievement during His first advent. The utterly superlative quality of His saving work not only is a stated fact of doctrine (Heb. 2:3), but is also indicated by the dispensational changes that followed the victory of the cross and resurrection (John 7:39). Astounding privileges belong to the “new spiritual species” of believers—the Church—who are chosen to glorify His victory forever.
In establishing the way of life for believers of the Church Age, God manifested His character in many individual commands, some of which He had also included in the Mosaic Law. For example, with the full unveiling of mystery doctrine in the New Testament epistles, every one of the Ten Commandments, except Sabbath observance, has also been given to the Church. Even with these similarities, Church Age protocol is not the Mosaic Law. These are entirely different codes, just as the United States Constitution is not the same as England’s Magna Carta even though they share certain concepts. Continuities between Israel and the Church exist because all divine law reflects the unchangeable essence of God, not because all or part of the Mosaic Law carries over into subsequent dispensations.
Despite numerous continuities, the new policy for the Church Age is not the old Mosaic Law itself. If precepts found in the Mosaic Law pertain to the Church, they do so because they appear in the New Testament epistles, which define the Christian way of life. These common principles belong to the Church because they are part of the “law of Christ,” not because they belong to the Mosaic Law.
Adherence to divine establishment had a different meaning under the Mosaic Law than it does under God’s plan for the Church Age. Because Israel was God’s unique client nation, obedience to the establishment aspect of the Mosaic Law was an integral part of the spiritual life of Jewish believers. As part of the Law, divine establishment not only preserved the line of the Messiah but also stabilized Jewish society so that over many centuries the Jews would retain the specific national functions that foreshadowed Christ. In the Church Age these special purposes for divine establishment do not exist. The separation of church and state means that the Christian’s responsibility to obey establishment is an application of his spiritual life rather than an integral part of it. This explains why the Romans considered the early Christians to be deficient in patriotism, not because Christians disobeyed civil law or were irresponsible as citizens but because Christianity did not make civil duty part of one’s religion. Again, whereas the Law of Moses pertained to all residents of the nation—believers and unbelievers alike—the “law of Christ” governs believers only.
The Continuing Value Of The Mosaic Law
The Mosaic Law belongs to the Word of God and still has value for the Church Age believer. In Codex I the Ten Commandments define human freedom. Many people assume the Ten Commandments define sin, but this short list of prohibitions does not begin to cover the doctrine of hamartiology. Clearly, these mandates have another purpose. The identified sins destroy the component elements of freedom—which are life, liberty, property, privacy, and divinely delegated authority. In every dispensation believers and unbelievers alike can protect freedom by avoiding these destructive sins. This explains why every provision of the Decalogue, except Sabbath observance, is also found in the “law of Christ.”
Codex II presents the purpose for which God gave man free will: to come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ. The ritual provisions of the Law still have value because they reveal the Messiah as the only Savior. In the ceremonies prescribed by Codex II, the sacrificial animal received the judgment due the sinner, portraying forgiveness and personal cleansing. The New Testament reveals that the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross results in forgiveness of presalvation sins when man expresses faith alone in Christ alone (Rom. 5:8-10) and postsalvation sins at the moment of rebound.45 Fulfilled in the Person of Christ, these details of ceremonial worship in Israel can teach the royal family to appreciate the Lord. The Church Age believer can see Jesus Christ in the Law.46 New Testament phrases like “the Lamb of God” and “the blood of Christ” dramatically declare that Christ’s saving work on the cross is the reality that the Mosaic Law foreshadowed (John 1:29; 1 Pet. 1:18-19).
Codex III contains practical instructions in many fields that were especially pertinent to Israel. For example, agricultural practices or precautions in dealing with disease or sanitation addressed problems that exist throughout human history. The specific provisions of the Mosaic Law may or may not have value in other nations, but they are concrete examples of how establishment concepts apply to particular situations. Above all, these statutes testify to the care and faithfulness of God in guiding His people in specific circumstances that often were difficult.
Many particulars of divine establishment in Codex III of the Mosaic Law are neither reconfirmed nor clearly excluded from Church Age practice. These precepts still reveal the character of God as expressed in governing His client nation, but they do not bear the force of law for any nation but Old Testament Israel. For instance, the principle of capital punishment is given to the Church Age (Matt. 26:52; Rom. 13:4), but its specific application in cases of adultery (Lev. 20:10), homosexuality (Lev. 20:13), or juvenile recalcitrance (Lev. 20:9) is not reconfirmed.
God has given the Church Age believer general guidance concerning divine establishment, in contrast to the hundreds of exact laws that precisely defined life in ancient Israel. Each believer has a responsibility to his community and nation, but the separation of church and state during the Church Age entrusts the specific application of establishment principles to each generation. God encourages the Christian to think and apply the basic truths of divine establishment according to the legitimate processes of human government in his own nation. Government is “a minister of God to you for good” (Rom. 13:4). An astute political leader in the Church Age who wishes his nation to prosper can learn much from the Mosaic Law without blindly superimposing its exact provisions where they may not apply. Instead, he will adapt establishment principles to the circumstances, objectives, and heritage of his own nation.
Because Jesus Christ fulfilled the Mosaic Law, His Church is free from the Law (Gal. 5:1). Freedom from the Mosaic Law is not lawlessness or lack of direction. Instead, this royal liberty exists within the framework of God’s protocol for the Church Age (John 15:10-12; 1 Cor. 9:19-21; Gal. 5:13). The Christian lives under a new law initially announced by Christ and executed in the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:2-4). Just as the humanity of Christ matured under this powerful system of divine assets (Luke 2:40, 52), Church Age believers also have an extraordinary opportunity to advance spiritually. Among the many continuing uses of the Mosaic Law, this portion of Scripture teaches by contrast that the Church Age is an epoch of spiritual freedom. The advantages of being in union with Christ give believers unprecedented freedom to apply doctrine and grow in the experience of their unique relationship with God.
THE DISPENSATION OF THE CHURCH
The Church in Biblical Perspective
The Church Age is a brilliant advance in biblical history. For perspective, notice the progress of the dispensations. At the founding of Israel, Moses wrote:
“Indeed, ask now concerning the former days which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and inquire from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything been done like this great thing [establishing the nation of Israel], or has anything been heard like it?” (Deut. 4:32, NASB)
Magnificent though God’s client nation was, when the Age of Israel ended with the advent of Christ, a far greater thing had come to pass.
God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. (Heb. 1:1-2, NASB)
Following this incomparable revelation of God, the Church still arrived on the scene as an amazing expression of God’s power and grace. The Church is a breathtaking phenomenon. Never before has the believer held such a position in relation to the Godhead. Scripture presents the Church as yet another dramatic new departure in human history.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father [the absent Christ is represented on earth by many believers over a long period, rather than by Himself alone over the brief span of the Incarnation].” (John 14:12, NASB)
As a unique body of believers, the Church is united with Christ, imitates Him, glorifies Him, accompanies Him, and will rule with Him forever. Never before in history have all these privileges been extended to mankind.
The Epoch of the Royal Family of God
