The Age of the Spirit

The Gift of the Spirit is part of the New Covenant. It is 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. God foresaw her failures and determined to institute a new covenant energized and characterized by His Spirit. It would include the salvation of the nations and culminate in the “New Heavens and the New Earth.” With the outpouring of the Spirit on Pentecost, the Age of the Spirit commenced in earnest.

The Death and Resurrection of the Nazarene inaugurated a new era in Salvation History, the Messianic Age, and the time of fulfillment. In him, the “last days” began and all God’s promises were and are being fulfilled in Jesus.

[Photo by Mike Lewis HeadSmart Media on Unsplash]

When Israel repented wholeheartedly, the God of Abraham would then gather her “from among all the peoples where Yahweh your God has scattered you.” 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 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 in the promised “New Covenant”- (Jeremiah 31:31-34, Ezekiel 11:19-20).

The promised restoration was far more expansive and glorious than anything the ancient nation had known, an act of 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 Earth - (Isaiah 65:17-18, Revelation 21:1-3).

The promises are fulfilled in Jesus as God implements His New Covenant, including those made 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. He inaugurated the Kingdom of God and it began to advance in the world - (Matthew 5:17-21, 12:6, 12:28, 12:41-42).

Having established the “New Covenant in his blood,” Jesus began building his community. His “Assembly” of saints was 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).

“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 for a limited time - “until Christ came” - the true Seed of Abraham. 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).

Jesus became the ‘Suffering Servant’ of Isaiah who “confirmed the promises to the fathers so that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.” The promise of “blessing for the nations” is fulfilled by Jesus, the Messiah of Israel who did not fit popular expectations. In him, the covenant promise of land is expanded far beyond the boundaries of Canaan - (Romans 15:8-9).

Before 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.” So now, “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 Jews and Gentiles respond in faith to the Good News of the Kingdom.

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 as well as the bodily resurrection of the righteous dead - (Romans 8:20-23, 1 Corinthians 15:20-25, 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 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 receipt of the Spirit confirms the status of believers. Whether Jewish or Gentile, they become the “children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.” Everyone who receives the Spirit becomes part of his new community regardless of ethnicity, nationality, or gender. The salvation provided by Jesus is a universal offer of life for all men, women, and children regardless of ethnicity, nationality, or geographic location.

HEIRS

Jesus of Nazareth is Abraham’s true “seed.” As partners with him, we 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.”

Jesus implemented the New Covenant by becoming the heir of Abraham. Consequently, all those “in Christ” become coheirs with him and “children of Abraham.” We will all receive the same inheritance - (Romans 8:1-23, Hebrews 8:6-13, 9:15).

In his Death and Resurrection, Christ became the “surety of a better covenant.” Because he established the “New Covenant,” logically, “he made the first one obsolete” - (Hebrews 7:22, 8:6-13, 9:15, 10:16).

The resurrection of Jesus was an act of new creation.  God did not revive a corpse but gave him an immortal body no longer subject to death, disease, and decay. This means his resurrection inaugurated the New Creation, however, 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 New Creation means a redefinition of the boundaries of the land promised to Abraham. As Paul wrote, Abraham will “inherit the world,” not just a tiny strip of land in the Middle East - (Romans 4:13).

His disciples are his coheirs. Their final hope will be realized in the future resurrection. At present, the creation itself “sighs and travails in birth pangs” as it “ardently awaits the revelation of the sons of God.” That condition will end when the “Lord of Glory” appears again. In the meantime, we have the Spirit as the “first fruits” of and down payment on our final redemption - (Romans 8:17-23).

The New Creation will be the final 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 arrives, He will wipe away every tear and death will cease forever - “Behold, I make all things new!” - (2 Peter 3:13, Revelation 21:1-7).

All this has been into effect in the Age of the Spirit inaugurated by Jesus Christ. The “New Covenant” and the “New Creation” began with his Death and Resurrection, the foundation of the Apostolic Faith. This process is underway. It will consummate in the bodily resurrection of the saints and the arrival of the “New Heavens and the New Earth.”

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SEE ALSO:

• Redemption - (Central to the biblical doctrine of salvation is the promise of redemption. God will not abandon what He first created)

• Abolishing Death - (Jesus nullified Death by his resurrection and laid the foundation of our future bodily resurrection)

• Heirs of the Covenant - (With the outpouring of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, the blessings for all nations promised to Abraham commenced)