DID JESUS TALK ABOUT HOW LONG THE CHURCH AGE WILL LAST?

The Church Age

Just how long is the dispensation of GRACE?

The dispensation of Grace Started after Christ’s sacrifice at Calvary to purchase us back to God. At Calvary WE were Bought back to God. We were redeemed from Sin, from Death, so that through our Faith in Jesus Christ we can Obtain Life.

1Cor 6:20 [KJV] For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

1Cor 7:23 [KJV] Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.

1Pet 1:18 [KJV]Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, [as] silver and gold, from your vain conversation [received] by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

Heb 9:15 [KJV]And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions [that were] under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

Rom 5:17[KJV] For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

Heb 4:14 [KJV] Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast [our] profession.15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as [we are, yet] without sin.16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Without this Sacrifice we were lost. One of the two criminals who was crucified  next to Christ  obtained Grace as he Believed and confessed JESUS to be God and looked forward to his coming when He Shall come a King to set up His Kingdom and rule.

Luke 23:39[NET] One of the criminals who was hanging there railed at him, saying, “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Don’t you fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we rightly so, for we are getting what we deserve for what we did, but this man has done nothing wrong.”42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.”43 And Jesus said to him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”

This being in line with the scriptures in John and Romans that:

John 5:24[NET] “I tell you the solemn truth, the one who hears my message and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, but has crossed over from death to life.

Rom 10:9[NET] because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.10 For with the heart one believes and thus has righteousness and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation.

Eph 4:7[KJV] But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

This thief had obtained Mercy, he had tapped into the dispensation of Grace that was just beginning and had obtained forgiveness. He had got washed by the blood of Jesus right there at Calvary and despite the fact that he was hanging on the cross because he was a criminal worthy of death, his sins were washed by the blood of Jesus through  his Faith in Jesus and his confession of the same. He was now a candidate for paradise instead of Hell.

But after the dispensation of Grace started at Pentecost, when will it end and how long will it last?

We know from the scriptures that Christ will come again for his church. That event is commonly referred to as the rapture of the church. This is the coming that Jesus said that no one knows the day or the hour, not even the angels, nor the Son but only the Father. It is of this coming that is numerously written in the scriptures that Christ shall come ‘like a thief in the night’ at an hour that we least expect Him. Of this day Christ said it shall be like the days of Noah, and like the time of Lot.

Mark 13:32[NET] “But as for that day or hour no one knows it – neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son – except the Father.

HOW LONG IS THE DISPENASATION OF GRACE?

Jesus spoke the Scripture below to some Pharisees who had come to warn Him to free as Herod sought to kill Him.

Luke 13:31[KJV] The same day there came certain of the Pharisees, saying unto him, Get thee out, and depart hence: for Herod will kill thee.32 And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third [day] I shall be perfected.

We know that when Jesus walked the Earth in physical Body he cast out devils and did many cures.

Luke 6:19[KJV] And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed [them] all.

Matt 8:16 [KJV] When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with [his] word, and healed all that were sick:

Since then and until now/today Jesus  has never stopped casting out Devils and doing Healings for we,  the church, do this things in his name and with His power through the Faith that we have in Him.  Christ is the Head of the Church and the Church is his body. He has given His Spirit to the Church. The spirit of God has manifested many gifts in the body of Christ among which is Healing. It is the power of God that Heals. It is the power that God has put in the name of Jesus that casts out Devils when we command them out in His Name.

Acts 3:6[KJV] Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk………..12 And when Peter saw [it], he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? 13 The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let [him] go……………………. Acts 3:16 And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

1Cor 12:27[ KJV]  Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.

Eph 1:22 [ KJV] And hath put all [things] under his feet, and gave him [to be] the head over all [things] to the church,23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

Col 3:17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, [do] all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

SO Jesus casts out devils and does healings upto today through the church for He said:

John 15:5 I am the vine, ye [are] the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

TODAY AND TOMORROW:

2Pet 3:8 [KJV] But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day [is] with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

Ps 90:4 For a thousand years in thy sight [are but] as yesterday when it is past, and [as] a watch in the night.

From the above scriptures we can conclude that when Jesus sent word to Herod that He would do cures today and tomorrow and be perfected the third day, He was not just speaking of his Death and Resurrection but was prophesying about the dispensation of Grace and that the miracles he was performing  would continue  through His body the church for two days (today and tomorrow= 2 days= 2000 years)  and on the third day he shall be perfected (third day =1 day= 1000 years = millennium reign of Christ on Earth) . Remember three is an important number to God as HE is TRINITY GOD [FATHER, SON, And HOLY SPIRIT].

THE THIRD DAY: MILLENNIUM REIGN

The third day would then be the Millennium Reign when Christ sets up his Kingdom on Earth and rules for 1000 years. This is the coming that the Jews, Pharisees and Jesus’ Disciples were waiting for. When Jesus came to reconcile us back to God from Sin, the disciples and the Jews alike thought that he had come to set up His kingdom on Earth. Even the thief at Calvary who obtained mercy was referring to this coming when he asked Jesus to remember him when he comes back in his Kingdom.

Rev 20:1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

Rev 20:4[KJV] And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and [I saw] the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received [his] mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.[ SEE ALSO Zachariah 14]

According to the book of Revelation, the setting up of Christ’s Kingdom on earth shall be proceeded by two key Events: the rapture of the Church [God's Judgment- in a moment in the twinkling on an eye] and the wrath of God [the tribulation and great tribulation – 7 years though Jesus said this duration shall be reduced]

Mark 13:19[KJV] For [in] those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be.20 And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect's sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days.

Since Calvary we are at within two thousand years, the rapture and the tribulation can occur any time even as many Prophets of God have prophesied and our Lord has witnessed through his servants. The markers of the dispensation of Grace is in deed the Holy Spirit. The dispensation started when the Holy Spirit was given (Pentecost) and it will end when He is taken away (the rapture of the Church). This is because He was given as a Helper to help the church in many ways; among them 'to overcome the world'. And when He is taken then the Antichrist shall be revealed (2 Thes)

Remember in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every matter be established:

1John 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.

May You receive the Holy Spirit and walk in Christ for to be carnally minded is Death and to be Spirit minded is life and Peace. Romans 8:6-8

Stephen Kamau, Nairobi Kenya