CHAPTER 21
THE CHURCH AGE
The Church Age is the time from just after the cross until the beginning of the Tribulation. This is a time when God was first able to fully open up His grace to mankind since the cross had just occurred, where Jesus Christ provided reconciliation between God and mankind through His salvation work as the long promised Messiah. Before that time God dealt with mankind provisionally “expecting” that reconciliation would be provided by the Messiah. Once God was free to open His grace provisions wider, the New Testament was written to outline the expanded grace provisions which had just been unleashed, and the Mosaic Law was set aside as the focus. This is one of the important parts of God's eternal now, that He was able to save mankind before the cross since He knew it would become a reality. However, God did not fully open His grace to mankind until that salvation was a reality. In His eternal now God knows the future, but He also works within time to enable true free will by His souled creatures.
Therefore the Church Age is the first time in human history when God has been able to provide maximum blessings under grace. The work of Christ on the cross which removed the sin barrier between God and man made that possible. Now believers are given greater powers, greater provisions, and greater grace. The best of everything God has to offer is provided to believers of the Church Age. The Church will be the first group of believers to be resurrected. They will rule with Christ during the Millennium and then during the Eternal State. For all eternity the Church will be the pre-eminent group of believers because of what they will have accomplished on earth to show the fairness and love of God.
Each Age has a covenant change, and for the Church it was the New Testament. The Church has special provisions which have been expanded as a result of the cross. Believers in the Church Age are under the “law of grace” instead of being under the Mosaic Law. The Church is an Age of history when all believers are their own priest, are on the royal staff of the Lord Himself, have the universal indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and have a completed Bible with the New Testament providing an emphasis on grace rather than an emphasis on strict obedience to rules and codes, in contrast to the Mosaic Law. Israel is no longer active as evangelizers of the world and keepers of Scripture since those tasks have been given to the Church, so all Jews who are believers are simply part of the Church. But Israel will once again regain those tasks in future Ages after the Church Age is complete.
The New Testament replaced the temporary provisions of the now retired Mosaic Law. John 1:17 says: “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Romans 10:4 “Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.” Hebrews 7:18 “The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless 19 (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.” Ephesians 2:14 “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations.” Colossians 1:13 says: “He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.” Hebrews 9:10 says the Levitical offerings were “external regulations applying until the time of the new order” meaning the New Covenant of the Church Age as outlined in the New Testament. We see how the Bible clearly says the Mosaic Law has been fulfilled, has come to an end, and has been set aside. The Mosaic Law was fulfilled by Jesus Christ who kept it perfectly before His death on the cross, then on the cross paid the penalty for sin as required in the Law, so the Mosaic Law is no longer directive to believers after the cross. Going back now to living under the Law of Moses is going back into a system which has been deactivated. It is like saying the work of Christ was not effective. We can learn many things from the Old Testament but must not live under the Mosaic Law as a directive covenant. The Church has been set free from the restrictions of the Law of Moses, and must not re-shackle itself or it will lose out on the expanded grace plan God has in store for believers during the Church Age.
Provided below are additional verses which address the issue of the Mosaic Law vs. the grace plan for the Church Age:
Hebrews 10:1-4 “The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2 Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. 4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
Philippians 3:9 “not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.”
Romans 8: 1-4: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
The Apostle Paul was directed to spread the gospel message throughout the world, and he made a number of long missionary trips. But Paul was hounded by a group of religious unbelievers called “Judaizers” who sought to undo the teaching of Paul wherever he went, such as in Galatia. Paul taught that the grace of God had been expanded after Christ set us free from the Mosaic Law. But each time Paul left a town, the Judaizers went into those same places such as Galatia and told those believers they must live under the Law and ignore Paul’s teachings. Afterward Paul wrote a blistering epistle to the Galatians to reinforce his grace message, and these are representative passages on the subject of the Mosaic Law:
Galatians 3:13: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us”
Galatians 3:19: “Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come.”
Galatians 5:1 “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
Paul made it very clear to the Galatians that Christ freed us from the drudgery and curse of the Mosaic Law, and that we must not return to it. The Law was given to Israel to teach them about the future Messiah, and to show them how no one can be saved on their own since no one can keep the Law perfectly except the Messiah Jesus Christ the God-Man. After the cross had occurred and a new Age began, a New Covenant (Testament) from God was put in place which emphasizes grace, not the Law.
This expanded grace approach and freedom provided through our New Covenant has provided Church Age believers with a higher calling of individual responsibility. More is given to them, so more is expected. Each one is important, so this group of believers are required to study and implement their covenant, the New Testament, to a greater degree than any other group of believers in history. The Holy Spirit has been given to every Church Age believer, giving greater power and providing more support than ever before. Each believer can directly approach God. Church Age believers have more freedom, more power, and expanded gifts in order to serve and glorify God to higher levels.
There are no greater blessings for any group of believers than what has been given to Church Age believers. We have unique blessings which have never been offered to any believer of any prior Age. We are the Bride of Christ, and will be closer to Him than any other group of believers ever were or will be. We have the maximum power of the Holy Spirit unlike any other group of believers. We have greater access to God and more blessing than any time before or after. There is no more blessed group of believers than the Church, past or future.