MYSTERIES OF THE CHURCH AGE
The mysteries of the Church Age were hidden from the Old Testament prophets. They saw two mountain peaks of prophecy … the cross and the crown … but not the valley between the two which is the age in which we are now living. Only in Paul’s writings do we find the doctrine for, the position of, the walk and the destiny of Church-Age believers. In the Old Testament, Israel is depicted as the adulterous wife of Jehovah, whereas, the body of believers in the Church Age is called “the bride of Christ”, as revealed to us in Ephesians 5:28-32.
Instructions for believers in this Church Age were given to Paul by revelation from God the Holy Spirit. Shortly after his conversion to Christianity, Paul spent three years in Arabia where he was personally instructed about the mysteries of the Church Age. (Galatians 1:17, 18) In his letters to seven Gentile churches … Thessalonica, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Phillipi, Colosse and Rome … Paul revealed to them “the mystery which was hidden from the foundation of the world”, i.e. that the body of Christ would be composed of Jewish and Gentile believers, and those epistles contain complete instructions regarding God’s purpose for all believers in this unique dispensation. (Ephesians 3:9)
The mystery of “Christ in us, the hope of glory” is explained in Colossians 1:26, 27. The mystery that was hidden from ages and from past generations is made manifest to believers to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of the mystery among the Gentiles; which is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Christ indwells every believer in this dispensation, and we are said to be ‘in Christ’ throughout all of Paul’s epistles.
The moment a person believes in Jesus Christ as his Savior, he is born again, and is ‘baptized into Christ’, i.e. he is IDENTIFIED with Jesus Christ, as the word baptism always means identification. Being baptized into Christ is one of the four dry baptisms presented to us in the scriptures. Paul said in Romans 6:3, 4: “Don’t you know that as many of us who were baptized into Jesus Christ were identified with His death? Therefore, we are buried with Him by baptism unto death; that just as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
The mystery of “Christ being the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form” refers to the gracious, voluntary act of the Son of God, who is the living Word of God, taking upon Himself true humanity and becoming God and Man in one Person forever. (John 1:14) Theologians call this the Hypo-Static Union.
The “mystery of Godliness” is explained in 1 Timothy 3:16: “Without controversy, great is the mystery of Godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”
In Romans chapter 11, Paul explains that God is not finished with Israel and that during the Church Age there will be Jews who have positive volition toward the Gospel and will be saved and will become members of the body of Christ. The “mystery of Israel’s blindness during this dispensation” is revealed in Romans 11:25: “For I would not have you ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles is complete.”
The “mystery of the resurrection of all believers in this Church Age” when it comes to a close is our “blessed hope.” Paul takes a look at this exciting event in 1 Corinthians 15:51, 52: “Behold, I show you a mystery … we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”
Again Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18: “I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so those also who sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For we say unto you by the Word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall not precede those who are asleep; for the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words.”
How fortunate are believers in this Church Age to have not only the complete canon of scripture but also to have God the Holy Spirit indwelling us as our mentor who will teach God’s Word to us and who has sealed us unto the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30)
Written by Lois Delnay
Fallbrook Ranch Productions
4/08
loisdelnay@hotmail.com
Books for sale by L. Delnay
http://www.amazon.com/Bible-Schoolhouse-Studies-Children-Teens/dp/1438212003/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212685141&sr=8-1
links to Lois Delnay's Children Bible Study
http://gettoknowyourbible.org/
http://loisdelnay.bravehost.com/
Lois Delnay's writings on Helium
http://kokopellisales.blogspot.com/
http://woodcarvingbywes.blogspot.com/
