Era of the Spirit
The Gift of the Spirit is part of the New Covenant, and the first fruits of the New Creation and the gathering of the nations. The history of Israel includes national sins that caused her expulsion from the Land of Canaan. However, God foresaw her failures and determined to institute a new covenant, one ENERGIZED AND CHARACTERISED BY HIS SPIRIT. This covenant included the salvation of the nations and would culminate in the New Creation at the end of the age. With the outpouring of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, the Age of the Spirit commenced.
The death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth
inaugurated a new era in Salvation History, the messianic age, and the time of
fulfillment. In him, the “LAST DAYS” began in earnest and all God’s promises
are now being fulfilled in and by Jesus.
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| [Photo by Robson Hatsukami Morgan on Unsplash] |
When Israel repented wholeheartedly, as promised in the Hebrew Bible, the God of Abraham would then gather her “from among all the peoples where Yahweh your God has scattered you.” Moreover, He would “MULTIPLY you beyond your fathers” and “CIRCUMCISE your heart to love Him with all your heart and with all your soul that you may live” - (Deuteronomy 30:3-6).
Two things are noteworthy in the passage
from Deuteronomy. First, God planned to “multiply Israel beyond
her forebears.” The English term “multiply” translates the same
Hebrew verb found in the call to Adam to be “fruitful and multiply,” and in God’s
promise to multiply
Abraham’s seed - (Genesis 1:28, 17:2).
Second, the restoration would occur when God
“circumcised Israel’s heart” and inscribed His law on it, an internal
change promised in the Hebrew scriptures and actualized by God’s Spirit under the
promised “New Covenant”- (Jeremiah 31:31-34, Ezekiel 11:19-20).
The promised restoration of Israel was far
more expansive and glorious than anything the ancient nation had ever known or
imagined, an act of sheer grace by which Yahweh would enable His people to
fulfill the covenant through the “new Spirit” given by Him. This describes
nothing less than a new creative act
that impacts all the nations of the earth - (Isaiah 65:17-18, Revelation
21:1-3).
IN JESUS
In the New Testament, the promises are fulfilled
in Jesus as God implements His New Covenant, including the covenant promises to
Abraham and Israel - the “circumcised heart” and the “new Spirit.”
Jesus came to fulfill the “Law and the
Prophets.” The Jews who saw him experienced something “greater than
Jonah,” “greater than Solomon,” “greater than David,” and
greater than the Temple. In the Nazarene, the Kingdom of God has been inaugurated
and now is advancing across the Earth - (Matthew 5:17-21, 12:6, 12:28, 12:41-42).
Having established the “New Covenant in
his blood,” Jesus commenced building his community. But in this new era, his
“assembly” of saints is formed around and centered on him, not the Land
of Canaan or the Temple in Jerusalem:
- In him, “what things God had before declared through the mouth of all the prophets… the covenant that He covenanted with your fathers, saying to Abraham, in your seed shall be blessed all the families of the earth” - (Acts 3:24-26, Acts 10:42-43, 13:18-33).
According to the Apostle Paul, “All the
promises of God find their ‘Yea’ and ‘Amen’ in Jesus.” He ascended on high “that
he might fulfill all things.”
The jurisdiction of the Torah was
only for a limited time - “until Christ came” - the true seed of
Abraham. In him, all those who have faith in the Word of God as the Patriarch
did become the “children of Abraham” and heirs of the promises - (2
Corinthians 1:20, Galatians 3:24, Romans 10:4).
THE GENTILES
Jesus became the Suffering Servant portrayed
in Isaiah who “confirms the promises to the fathers so that the
Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.” Thus, the promise of “blessing
for the nations” given to Abraham is fulfilled by Jesus, the Messiah of
Israel. The original covenant has been expanded far beyond the limited
boundaries of Canaan - (Romans 15:8-9).
Prior to his death, the Gentiles were “separated
from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the
covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” However,
because of Jesus, “Those who once were far off have been brought near by the
blood of Christ.” The ancient promise to regather God’s people is fulfilled
as BOTH Jews and Gentiles respond in faith to the Good News of the Kingdom
announced by Jesus and his disciples.
From the beginning, God’s purpose was “to sum up all things in Christ in the fullness of the times.” This included the redemption of the nations and the physical creation itself - (Ephesians 1:10, 2:11-13).
When referring to the Promised Land, the Hebrew
Bible employs the terms “inheritance,” “inherit,” “heir,”
and “promise.” In the New Testament, the same terms are applied to what
God is accomplishing now in His Son, including the Gift of the Spirit. He is
the true heir of Abraham and the heir of all things -
(Matthew 21:38, 28:18, John 13:3, Colossians 1:12-13, 1 Peter 1:3-5).
The Gift of the Spirit confirms the
status of believers, both Jewish and Gentile alike. They are the “children
of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ.”
Anyone who has received the Spirit becomes part of his new community regardless
of ethnicity, nationality, or gender.
Thus, the salvation provided by Jesus is a universal offer of life for all
men, women, and children.
HEIRS
He is Abraham’s true “seed,” and as partners
with Jesus, his disciples also become “heirs according to promise.” Moreover,
the Spirit is the “earnest of our inheritance for the redemption of
the possession” - (Romans 8:16-17, Galatians 3:29, Ephesians
1:13-14).
He is “the
mediator of the new covenant, that a death having taken place for the
redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, they that
have been called may receive the promise of the everlasting inheritance.”
He implemented the prophesied New Covenant
by becoming the heir of Abraham. Consequently, all who are “in Christ”
are coheirs with him and “children of Abraham” who will receive the same
inheritance - (Romans 8:1-23, Hebrews 8:6-13, 9:15).
The apostles are “ministers of the New Covenant,
not in a written code but in the Spirit,” another allusion to the New
Covenant promised in the Hebrew Bible in which God writes His laws in hearts freshly
circumcised by His Spirit - (Deuteronomy 30:6, Jeremiah
31:34, Ezekiel 11:19-20, 2 Corinthians 3:4-6).
In his death and resurrection, the Nazarene
became the “surety of a better covenant” and established the promised
new one. Moreover, because he established the “New Covenant,” logically,
“he made the first one obsolete” - (Hebrews 7:22, 8:6-13,
9:15, 10:16).
RESURRECTION
The bodily resurrection of Jesus was an act
of new creation. God did not resuscitate a corpse but gave him a gloriously
new and immortal body that is no longer subject to death, disease, and decay. This
means that his resurrection inaugurated the New Creation, although there
is an overlap between the existing age and the coming one - “Therefore, if
any man is in Christ, a new creation, the old things are passed away,
behold, they have become new” - (1 Corinthians 15:42-50, 2 Corinthians
5:17).
The arrival of the New Creation means the redefinition of the boundaries of the land promised to Abraham. As Paul wrote to the church in Rome, Abraham will “inherit the world,” and not just a tiny strip of land in the Middle East - (Romans 4:13).
Moreover, his disciples are also his coheirs.
Their final hope will be realized in the bodily resurrection. At present, the creation
itself “sighs and travails in birth pangs” as it “ardently awaits the
revelation of the sons of God.” But that condition will end when the “Lord
of Glory” appears again at the end of the present age.
Both humanity and the entire universe, at
present, are subject to decay and death due to Adam’s “transgression.” But
God will reverse the curse when His sons receive the redemption of their bodies.
In the interim, his disciples have the Spirit as the “first fruits” of
and down payment on their final redemption - (Romans 8:17-23).
The New Creation is the ultimate inheritance
of believers. According to his promise, “we look for the new heavens and the
new earth wherein dwells righteousness,” and in it, “God will tabernacle
with men, and they will be his people.”
When that day does arrive, He will wipe
away every tear and death will cease forevermore - “Behold, I make all things new!” - (2 Peter
3:13, Revelation 21:1-7).
All this has been set into motion in the Age
of the Spirit inaugurated by Jesus Christ. The “New Covenant” and “New
Creation” began with his death, resurrection, and ascension, a process that
is currently underway, and one that will consummate in the bodily resurrection of
the saints and the arrival of the “New Heavens and the New Earth.”
