Grace Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Friday,
December 13, 2019
One of the greatest dispensations is our dispensation, the Church-age.
Most of you realize that we are living in one of the greatest periods of dispensations for all time, and that is our dispensation, the Church-age.
Dispensations is a period of time like the Church-age with its mystery doctrine as the commands from headquarters in heaven.
Union with the Lord Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of God the Father as a manifestation of one of the greatest doctrines known to man in this Church-age.
It’s important for the students of the Word of God or those who are disciples of our Lord to always do their best to study the Doctrine of the Ascension-Session, whenever they are needed.
Ascension = our Lord rising from the earth as He says good-bye for now -- then He ascended into heaven with Michael the archangel following His resurrection.
The ascension is the doctrine of Christology that pertains to the transfer of our Lord's true humanity from planet earth to the third heaven in a resurrection body.
There are two Christological dispensations which means that the Lord Jesus Christ is the center of two different dispensations; His Hypostatic Union and the Church-age.
The ascension and session of Christ occurred in His resurrection body. His was the first resurrection in all of human history.
Prin: If Christ remained on earth, He would have a limited glory, but when He went to the third heaven He became superior to all creation = unlimited glory.
As a result of the resurrection of our Lord's humanity, He remained on earth for forty days before His ascension.
The ascension of Jesus Christ occurred on day forty in His resurrection body.
The ascension of Christ also demonstrates the vertical travel of the resurrection body, moving with ease through the atmosphere of the earth,
The galaxies of stellar universe, and the billions and billions of light years in an instant, and entering into the third heaven, the abode of God.
Upon arrival in the third heaven, our Lord was seated at the right hand of God the Father; this is the doctrine of the Session.
Then He received His third royal title; "King of kings, Lord of lords, the Bright Morning Star."
Now, because our Lord’s third royal title, He had no accompanying royal family, the Church Age was inserted for the calling out of a royal family.
This is why this doctrine of ascension and session is the missing link between the resurrection of Christ and the Christian way of life.
Something new had to be created to accompany this new third royalty of Jesus Christ, a new royal family. His new royalty had to be a new spiritual species, as per 2Co 5:17.
Then the omnipotence of the Father and of the Spirit was made available to believers.
The Day of Pentecost is the day the Royal Family began with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the first day of the Church-age.
The Divine order of events:
Resurrection;
Forty days on the earth;
Ascension ten days before the Church Age began;
He is seated at the right hand of the Father.
Prin: Both the ascension and session of Christ were accomplished in His resurrection body.
Though coequal and coeternal with God, it was the true humanity of Christ that was seated at the right hand of the Father.
Ascension and session combine to form the climax of the strategic victory of Christ in the Angelic Conflict.
Union with our Lord Jesus Christ = Joh 15:2, where our Lord said; "Every branch in Me” that does not bear fruit, He takes away;
JOH 15:4 "Abide in Me, and I in you.
JOH 15:5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him,
Now, here we go, let’s look at ROM 5:19 where we can see if we can make the appropriate decision to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
for as through the one man's disobedience [Adam’s original sin of eating from the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil]
Verse 19 goes on to say; the many [human race] were made sinners [from Adam’s original sin], even so through the obedience of the One [our Lord Jesus Christ]
the many [members of the human race who respond to the Gospel] will be made righteous. – positionally and eternally.
ROM 5:20 And the Law came in that the transgression might increase; but where sin [that is the old sin nature] increased, grace abounded all the more,
ROM 5:21 that, as sin [the sin nature] reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
“kainotes zoe’” = ‘newness of life.’
Newness of Life = kainotes (kahee-not'-ace) referring to something brand new not something fixed or repaired but something that is brand new – it is a brand-new life.
Next we have the Greek noun for life or living in the newness of life which is the noun zoe referring to life more abundantly especially in times of trouble.
ROM 6:5 For if we have become united (baptized or in union) with Him in the likeness of His death (that is His spiritual death or separation from God),
certainly, we shall be also {in the likeness or in union with His resurrection.
might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; or to the old sin nature.
ROM 6:7 for he who has died [or has been separated from God spiritually] is freed from sin. Or freed from the bondage of the old sin nature.
ROM 6:8 Now if we have died with Christ, [and we have in union with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection] we believe that we shall also live with Him.
Knowing is the perfect active participle of the Greek verb eido which means to know, to find, to see, to perceive, to perceive universally, to notice, discern, or discover.
The perf-act-part of eido which means to pay attention, to observe: to see about something; to inspect, examine, to look at, behold.
Therefore, we have been buried with Him through baptism into death,
in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk----
- How was Christ raised from the dead through the glory of God the Father?
Answ. Through divine power.Notice we are to walk in "newness of our life" not oldness but "newness" of life. - What is this "newness of life"?
Answ: It is the life of the New Creature who especially feeds on the word of God as manna .
We are to realize “what” we are and “who” we are as New Creatures or as New Species.
Q. Who are you?
Answ: You are the child of a king; Mat 6:10; Mat 5:20.
Who are you?
Answ: You are a member of the Royal Family of God; 1Pe 2:5-9.
Who are you?
You are the body of Christ; 1Co 12:4-31;
Who are you?
You are the future bride of Christ;
You are a Royal Priest of Christ;
You are a royal ambassador;
You are an heir to the throne;
You are a king.
Prin - Spiritual maturity is when there is no contradiction between who you are and what you are doing.
In Eph 4:22-24, the apostle Paul wrote some very important passage concerning this newness of life that our Lord has been trying to teach His disciples about and that He calls the “zoe” life or the New life for the New Creature or the new spiritual species; Gal 6:15.
Now, what are we to do with the old sin nature or the old man? We are to lay it aside through rebound.
Then once you are renewed by the spirit or the breathing of your mind which takes in the Word of God, now you're ready for Eph 4:24.
And please notice in this passage that there is a putting off the old man and a putting on of the new.
The old self or the OSN keeps on being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit.
Prin - The old creature is corrupt;
The New Creature is created.
It is the Greek word ktizo which means to create something out of nothing.
When God created the heavens and the earth, He created them out of nothing.
If you do not understand the Angelic Conflict, you will never be able to glorify our Lord Jesus Christ and the reason why you and I have been created.
If we do not understand the reasons why we have been created, the result of our life will be a life of vanity and emptiness.
He is not created from a sweet personality;
He is not created from living morally;
He is not created from being good;
The new creature is not a gradual improvement of the old creature.
It is a brand-new nature within, not a spark to ignite the old one.
God has put something in us which was never there before -- a brand new nature that cannot sin, 1Jo 3:9.