Doctrine of the indwelling Christ part 5. Comparing the Church-age and the eternal state.

Title: Doctrine of the indwelling Christ part 5. Comparingthe Church-age and the eternal state.

 

Sections of a Veterans Day speech delivered Nov 11, 1999 by Lt. Commander Chuck Red Jr.

 

My Grandfather was a man of honor.  He was highly respected in his community.  He was a leader in his church, a man who could be counted on to be true to his word, to embark on a task, to stay the course, and my grandmother tells me, to have fun!  He was not altogether different from the veterans sitting here today.  Many veterans here today can remember back to the day they left their loved ones.  There was no burning of draft cards, no fleeing the country to avoid serving, no celebrities protesting injustices done to the enemy.  America was a much more moral and honorable society.  Men saw their duty to their God and to their country.  A French writer once noted, "America is great because it is good,  when it stops being good, it will stop being great."
    Today there is no threat to freedom on the foreseeable horizon.  The Soviet war machine is in shambles.  Our enemies militaries are inept at best.  America is the world's lone superpower.  Yet, the United States is under attack today.  Its greatness is threatened.  It suffers today from a moral collapse.  Honor, integrity and personal responsibility are shunned in a "what's in it for me?" attitude.  Like never before, there is a genuine need for honorable men and women to step forward and lead as our veterans did at that time in history.

 

Foster Crowell [Lt. Commander Red’s grandfather] left Texas and attended Navy boot camp.  He was designated a yeoman and assigned to the U.S.S. Lexington, CV-16.  Throughout 1943 and 1944 the Lexington was involved in battle after battle in the Pacific.  Operations in the Marshall and Gilbert Islands in Nov 1943.  The carrier was heavily damaged in Kwajalein in Dec of that year.  It returned to the shipyard for repairs and later, saw action in Saipan, Guam and the Mariannas.  Three times, Japan incorrectly reported that the USS Lexington was sunk which earned the carrier the nickname "The Gray Ghost."  My grandfather and his fellow sailors aboard the Lexington exhibited great courage as time and again they were confronted with life and death situations.  Each time they responded with mental and moral strength, withstood the opposition, and emerged victorious.  They were not born with the kind of courage needed to win decisive victories and ensure America's winning the war.  My grandfather and many other veterans drew on a strong faith in God.  When faced with the toughest circumstances life could throw at them, they steadied themselves on their cornerstone, God.
     The men of the Lexington were responsible for downing hundreds of enemy aircraft, over 300 in one day alone, sinking many enemy carriers, battleships and cruisers. Courage was important to them.  Courage is every bit as important in the military today as we face more and more crises around the globe.

 

One can easily see the requirement for courage in a soldier, a sailor, or aviator.  Like honor, courage is also necessary in everyday life.  The first step is to follow the narrow path of honor, but we must go farther.  We must have courage to do our best and if we fail, get up again and do better the next time.  We must have the courage to build something great though critics around us are saying it can't be done.  We must have the courage to live as a nation under God as our nations founders did when they forged our country over 200 years ago.  We must have the courage to pray for God's strength and guidance.  We must have the courage to say  NO! to media filth, smut and violence that distracts us from our goals.

 

/4. There are two periods in which there is no sacred building; the Church-age and the eternal state.\

 

The Church Age.

Since Jesus Christ already came in the flesh during the First Advent, there are no longer any theophanies nor any sacred buildings in which He dwells. The sacred buildings of Israel have been replaced by something more startling and unique.

 

So often in our studies of late the resurrection life has come up. In our covering [the inner seamless garment], graciously given to us by God, we have in time the coverings of eternity and we do not have to wait until eternity to live eternally.

 

This potential is only realized in the Church and this is the significance of a lack of a sacred building during this age.

 

/a. In the Church Age, the body of every believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit in order to provide a temple for the indwelling of Christ. There are no sacred man-made buildings in the Church Age, only classrooms where doctrine is taught.\

 

Since the old sin nature resides in every cell of your body, Jesus Christ could not reside in your body unless the Holy Spirit indwells to provide a temple for the indwelling of Jesus Christ.

 

/The very fact that the Holy Spirit indwells your body and turns it into a sacred building provides some positional restraint on the old sin nature. \

 

/John 3:6

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. \

 

The flesh and the Spirit war with one another for control of your soul. The one that wins will be the one that’s better fed.

 

/GAL 5:17

For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. \

 

What is the motivation that God has given us to choose for the Spirit? He is in you. Christ is in you. This makes you the temple of the living God in this dispensation.

So yeah, your life is pretty important.

 

1 Cor 3:16, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”

 

1 Cor 6:19, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?”

 

Your life now belongs to God. Therefore it has the greatest potential for happiness the world has ever known, and for greater impact than the world has ever known.

 

You have to realize to whom Paul is addressing this. This is the most carnal church of them all and they are the temple of God. The argument is, as the temple of God, what business or profit would you have living in carnality?

 

2 Cor 6:16 Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, [LEV 26:12] "I will dwell in them and walk among them;

And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

 

The Apostle granted to be a minister of the mystery of Christ adds to the OT scripture as only he has a right to do.

 

 

 

/LEV 26:12

I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people. \

 

/LEV 26:12 literally says “I will walk among you,” using the Hebrew hithpael perfect of HALAK. This means Jesus Christ will be in the presence or in the middle of Israel, indwelling a building.\

 

But when Paul quotes this in 2 Cor 6:16, he doesn’t use only “among." He makes a very subtle change.

 

/In 2 Cor 6:16 Paul translates HALAK as the future active indicative of ENOIKEO, which can only mean “indwell." \

 

Paul has the authority as an apostle to the church to make this change to indicate a change in dispensation which means a change in the policy of Christ dwelling among the Jews to dwelling within the body of every Church-age believer.

 

In LEV 26:12, Jesus Christ was dwelling “among” the Jews, not “in” them. He was indwelling the Tabernacle but was living among them. Now in the Church Age, Jesus Christ indwells the believer; He doesn’t live among us. If Paul wanted to quote this verse exactly as it is then HALAK exactly from the Hebrew would have been PERIPATEO from the Greek and he does that, but before he does that he inserts ENOIKEO, meaning to indwell.

 

You don’t have to go to your door to look out at some distant building and witness the pillar of fire to comfort yourself that God is still among you. Everywhere you go and wherever you are God is still in you.

 

ENOIKEO in 2CO 6:16 is a gnomic future tense, which states what is always true under the given circumstances of personal faith in Christ. Jesus Christ produces the action; He indwells in you. The declarative indicative mood is used for a dogmatic statement of doctrine:  the doctrine of the indwelling of Christ in your body.

 

/To make this indwelling concept even stronger, Paul uses the Greek preposition en plus the locative of autos following enoikeo, which is translated “indwell in them.” This truth is made emphatic!\

 

An English teacher would mark against you for writing this because of the redundancy, but God the HS uses the redundancy to make the point unmistakable.

 

This same verb, ENOIKEO, is used in ROM 8:11 for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

 

ROM 8:11 “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.”

 

The first “dwell in” is OIKEO plus the preposition EN. But Paul anticipated the resistance to the doctrine of the indwelling of Christ, and so in his second mention of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, he uses ENOIKEO plus preposition EN, “to indwell in you.”

 

Paul repeats and uses redundancy and emphasis because he knew there would be resistance to such an over-arching truth.

 

So, the same words, enoikeo plus en, are used for the indwelling of both Jesus Christ (2 Cor 6:16) and the Holy Spirit (ROM 8:11). Therefore there is a relationship between the indwelling of Christ and the indwelling Spirit.

 

Because of the indwelling of Jesus Christ, there are no sacred buildings in the Church Age. However, for Jesus Christ to indwell your body, where the old sin nature also resides, it is necessary for that body to be converted into a temple by the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit.

 

/There is no period of time between the age of Israel and the eternal state that is without “sacred” buildings except the Church Age. This emphasizes the tremendous importance of the CA.\

 

The Church-age becomes a crossroad in human history. It is the dispensation of the royal family. It is the period of maximum grace and the fullness of truth. It is the calling out of the body of Christ and you happen to be a part of this most important dispensation.

 

It is the dispensation of maximum freedom. Do not reject the authority and sovereignty of Christ and accept the authority and sovereignty of the sin nature, which is already dead.

 

/b. The eternal state is the next period in which there are no sacred buildings, REV 21:3, 10-11, 22-24.\

 

REV 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.

 

REV 21:2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.

 

REV 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them,

 

There will be no sacred buildings in the eternal state because Jesus Christ is present.

 

His people refer to the different categories of believers from different dispensations. Not all of them possess the indwelling Christ or HS; only those of the Church-age.

 

REV 21:10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,

 

REV 21:11having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper.

 

/The “glory of God” is the presence of Jesus Christ as the Shekinah Glory. He is the source of all light and energy in the eternal state.\

 

REV 21:22 And I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb, are its temple.

 

REV 21:23And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.

 

/No sacred building means that the church has the position closest to eternity. The church alone is given the potential of resurrection life in time.\

 

For this same reason we are the first to receive resurrection bodies. But we don’t have to wait for that. The seamless inner garment of the mystery doctrine of the church will cover your soul in time.

 

/5.  The Relationship between the Indwelling of Christ and the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit.\

 

/a. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit provides a temple for the indwelling of Christ as the Shekinah Glory.\

 

This relationship bridges the gap between the indwelling Christ and glorifying God in your body.

 

1 Cor 3:16, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” This is repeated in 1 Cor 6:19-20 with some amplifications.

 

1 Cor 6:19-20, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? You have been bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body.”

 

Being the temple of God is the status quo of every believer. This alone does not glorify God.

 

/You glorify God in your body by the knowledge of and then the execution of the plan of God for your life, the lifestyle of wisdom, and the unique resurrection life.\

 

The indwelling of Christ is related to your body while occupation with Christ is related to your soul. The indwelling Christ does not produce a feeling or experience, but occupation with Christ does.

 

/Having the indwelling Christ coupled with the mind of Christ metabolized in the heart of the soul is what produces invisible heroes that glorify God in the Church-age. \

 

2 Cor 6:16

Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said,

"I will dwell in them and walk among them;

And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

 

The “idols” here refers to the Corinthian temples. They were houses of prostitution, places where they worshipped the various gods and goddesses of sex. They were also the place for the best bars and best food, with a little religion thrown in on the side [tough competition to the doctrinal assembly]. As a result, Corinth was a party town.

 

/Since some of the believers were still going back there, Paul asks what is the rapport between those idol temples and the temple of your body.\

 

2 Cor 6:17 Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate," says the Lord.

"And do not touch what is unclean;

And I will welcome you.

 

 

 

2 Cor 6:18 "And I will be a father to you,

And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,"

Says the Lord Almighty.

 

2 Cor 7:1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

 

This is not in any way promoting legalism, but the worship of idols when your body is indwelt by God the HS, God the Son, and God the Father.

 

Idolatry is always related to demonism. Satan desires the creature to worship that which man produces. The carved or engraved images of the past that people worshipped where themselves man-made, and what they represented was always creature based.

 

/Idols come in many forms: money, power, sex [phallic cult], relationships, social life, approbation, chemicals, knowledge, family, reputation, etc.\

 

The believer is commanded to flee from idolatry and God’s appeal for that separation is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

 

Paul’s impact on this subject caused economic hardship for the makers of idols and they conspired against him. This shows us that our stand for the worship of Christ and the rejection of idols will meet with persecution.