If you have studied the Dispensations you know the divine arrangement of history and the significance
of each age. Since I will not be covering much of the material in that section here, and some of it bears upon the subject at
hand, I recommend that you read the Dispensations first.
The Church Age, which is in progress at this moment, is the centerpiece of human history, the period of God's great
experiment in which the elite of the heavenly order are called forth. All christains in this age are Royal Family, as opposed
to Family of God, those believers in all other ages of time.
The need for a new Royal Family has come about because of the new royal patent which Christ receives as the Unique Celebrity
of all time, The King of Kings, Lord of Lords. As God, The Son's royal family are just two, The Father and The Holy Spirit.
As a Jew, His royal line is that of David, for which reason two of His titles are "David's Greater Son", and "Son of David".
But His new royalty, that of the God-man, in which diety and humanity are joined in an everlasting union, there is no family.
Thus, it is our profound priviledge to be born in the age when this royal line is called out.
The priviledges of which I speak are so numerous, and so magnificent, that the brief treatment I provide here is pitifully
inadequate to do them justice. There are, all told, 39 irrevocable absolutes in our portolio, and those belong to us from the
very instant of salvation, and forever. We will touch upon only a few of them in this section, so if you are interested
enough to dig deeper and learn more, I recommend that you proceed to the "References" page and order the following tapes
from Berachah Church:
Series No.412 / Fourty Things at Salvation, Lesson Nos. 807-809.
The Church Age began at the moment Christ died, and continues on until the Rapture, which is the
next prophecy to be fullfilled since the coming of Messiah. When that will be we do no know, for only God knows the day
and the hour.
The first cardinal charactaristic of this unique age is the dramatic change in the relationship between God and Man which
has resulted from the work of The Son, and the retirement of the debt of sin. Now that the punishment for sin has been
adminnistered, and God's Justice is satisfied, He is free to offer us much more, and relax the strict laws that were given
the Jews under Levi. Christ has fulfilled the law, and thus He had ushered in the "Age of Grace";
"For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." (Rom 6:15)
"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness
of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Rom 8:2-4)
God put the law into place for a dual purpose; to provide protection for the freedom of the human race, in that criminal
activity , which is a violation of freedom, might be dealt with swiftly and harshly, and also to establish a criteria
for the judgement of sin.
In other words, God defined sin in the law, and demonstrated that no man could fulfill it. Consider this a parallel to
the legend of Excaliber, which was buried in a stone, and the sign of the The Great King who would come, for only he
could pull the sword from the rock. This is also a dimension of the Law of Moses. Every day the Jews were reminded that
no mortal man could possibly satisfy every tenet of the law. But the Messiah, the Savior, would do so.
The Church (which is us) operates under the law or grace, having been freed from the slavery of sin. What this concept
is dealing with is the fact that we have a unique power given to us at salvation, that being the option to be Filled
with The Holy Spirit. When we name our sins to God, such as we have knowledge of, He purifies us (1John 1:9), and we
are restored to fellowship.
"This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the
flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other:
so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the
law." (Gal 5:16-18)
"Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we
might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's
wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man
(unbeliever) receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of
no man." (1Cor 2:12-15)
As Royal Family, we have many priviledges, most of which will not be manifest until the resurrection. We will be "like His
Son", and therefore, higher than angels in rank and prestige. This regal ambiance is much the same, in principle, in heaven
as it is here. Those born to the purple are not necessarily achievers, nor even noble in other respects. However, as
children of the king and queen, they lavish in the splendor of the palace and enjoy the stature of royal blood.
Even so, not all members of our family will be achievers in this life, for this existence is where we literally determine
our eternal status. Some will "rule with Christ" as early as the millenium, when there will yet be human beings in bodies of
flesh populating the Earth. Others, the majority, will be people who "blew it" in this life, failed to aquire the Mind of
Christ and walk by The Spirit. They will not lose their salvation, regardless of how low they may sink, but they will not
receive the special blessings, which exceed "standard issue", in heaven.
God, you see, has laid up for each of us a unique package of blessing far over and above those which all believers will
receive. Call it an "escrow account". These blessings were created before creation, and they await us in heaven, assuming
that we achieve spiritual maturity, the criteria for recieving them.
The "moment of truth" will come at The Judgement Seat of Christ, which follows immediately after The
Rapture, when we will be evaluated and receive either our special blessings, or have our "wood, hay and stubble" burned.
Be certain of this, the "trail as by fire" is not a painful ordeal, and does not imply that the believer has been
checked out, found unworthy, and sent to hell instead. The "wood, hay and stubble" is alluding to the fact that the
christian did nothing to exploit the grace of God in time, but squandered his time and gained nothing. So, his human
good and worthless values are expunged before the eternal state gets fully under way for us.
It is interesting that there actually is a moment of shame, or perhaps a limited period of same, for the loser believer.
This is obviously a momentary supressing of the natural charactaristics of the resurrection body, for it cannot suffer
shame, nor any other discomfort, no matter how minor. In this case, though, God will apparently allow the person to feel
consternation as a fitting statement of God's disgust with them for their miserable conduct. But fear not, oh lazy ones!
This will last but a very short time.
As for the winners, or those who studied and lived by Bible doctrine, there will be one or more crowns laid up, and with
the decoration, which will take the form of a special adornment on the body, or physical feature, there are many fantastic
blessings awarded. Just a few of these are; Access to the Garden in the Paradise of God. There is one tree mentioned in
particular in this garden, called the "Tree of Life", which apparently provides some very desirable effects, for it will
be a restricted priviledge to eat of it.
The winner will receive a knightly name, some attachment perhaps, to our current name, or a whole new one. This name will
be engraved into a stone pillar, with the account of his laudable conduct in time, and stand as a memorial to his spiritual
attainments. This pillar, again, is an ancient custom. Great men had their names carved into a pillar or wall with a record
of their great feats.
The order of resurrection is another subject pertaining to The Church. We will be the second "battalion" ("toxis"
in the Greek) to be resurrected, then the Old Testement believers, and last, the believers who accepted Christ after
the Rapture, during the Tribulation, and were killed before the Second Advent. Then, there will be believers during the
millenium, who are resurrected at the end of time.
The Church Age was not revealed to Old Testement believers, but was designated "The Mystery". This term was chosen
for the unknown body of truth for the reason that the circumstances were similar to the origin or the word "musterion".
In Greek culture "musterion" signified a secret society, elite, in which the code and rituals of the group were made
known only to the members. The New Testement is the mystery doctrine of The Church Age, then.
"Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest
to his saints:" (Col 1:26)
"But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the
world unto our glory:" (1Cor 2:7)
"And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the
world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:" (Eph 3:9)
"The Mystery, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed
unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;" (Eph 3:5)
There are two significant charactaristics of the Church Age; No prophecy and no overt or material manifestation of God
apart from the canon of scripture. Both of these properties help to keep the details of life under control, which is
the primary purpose for The Word of God, assimilated in our souls.
As Royal Family, and beneficiaries of the complete canon, we are expected to conduct ourselves with regal bearing that
is befitting our station. God, in effect, needn't "put on a dog and pony show" for us, as He did the Jews of the exodus
generation, under the leadership of Moses.
Royalty are trained in all manner of conduct, bearing, convictions and have a set of norms and standards hammered into
them from babyhood. They do not life the life of the commoner, not to be taken as an insult, but as members of the
King's household. One day, they will be privy to affairs of state, mingle with royalty from other dominions, heads of
state, ambassadors and aristocracy. They must learn the subtlety and comportment befitting a member of the upper class,
for there is a complex and weighty system of protocol involved in this life.
Just so, although God's Royal Family are not deluged in superficial trivia, such as table manners, they are taught a
distinct code of honor, and a protocol for their lives. This is a gradual, ongoing process, a lifetime. And this is
the point; Once a Christian we have to face the issue of growing up, just as we could in this life. The difference; We
can decline in the spiritual life, and remain a spiritual baby until we die and go to heaven. The choice is ours.
We continually hear rumors about the rapture, ranging from a wild guess, to congregations that literally gather at
a designated spot to await the moment of Christ's coming. History tells sad stories about people who were persuaded
to sell their homes, give away all they owned, even arrange care for their pets, to lift off for heaven. Any pastor
who hazards a guess as to exactly when the rapture will ocurr is not familiar with one of the paramount rules of The
Church Age; there is no prophecy until after the rapture. God has arranged no hidden signs or clues as to when it will
happen, and we are arrogant to suppose we know.
This is a very brief treatment of this subject, and the many divergent doctines which are involved are also found on
The Beacon sight. But, for a thorough and exhaustive study of this vital area of scripture I recommend that you go
to the Berachah Church website and order the tapes.