THE CHRIST ADMINISTRATION

Throughout the seven administrations in God’s Word, we must understand that Heavenly Father did not force people to love Him or to obey His Word. He gave us the gift of free-will, and He will never overstep this gift. Heavenly Father allowed people living during Old Testament times to make their own choices, just as He allows us, those living after the ascension of Christ, to make our own free-will choices as well. Spiritual maturity begs us to comprehend that every choice has a consequence, so every human being will face the consequences of their choices. Even though the damage their sin caused was catastrophic, God did not prevent Adam and Eve from making the colossal mistake of choosing to disobey Him. He knew they would disobey, and He also knew we would need to be redeemed through His Son, Jesus Christ. He had a plan for our redemption through Christ from the very beginning.

Through the Original, Patriarchal, and Law Administrations, our relationship with God developed as our understanding of two things progressed. The first being our understanding of who God is, and the second is our understanding of who He created us to be through His Son, Jesus Christ. Notice that God did not rush humanity to obtain this knowledge, nor did we come preprogrammed with knowledge about everything already in our heads. We, you and I, make the decision to know more, and we do this of our own choosing. God does not force us to know Him or His Word. We must desire to know Him. As we grow mentally and spiritually, knowledge has an opportunity to mix or combine with our experiences and encounters. This yields for us a deeper and greater awareness in Christ. It doesn’t happen instantaneously, but gradually, as you and I progress through our lives.

With the passage of time, we can gain more knowledge about God. Our appreciation for Him and His love, nature, and sovereignty can grow. Hopefully, we begin to recognize that we are very important to Him, and that we have a purpose to fulfill within His plan. In other words, time and the experience of walking with God helped humanity exponentially. It helped us cultivate the bandwidth to not only comprehend the redemption and salvation Christ came to make available to us, but it also helped us appreciate the accomplishment of Christ deeply in our hearts. This deep level of gratitude for what Christ has done is necessary for our faith in him. We had to recognize that we needed to be redeemed; for a blessing can never be appreciated and utilized to its fullest capacity without fully comprehending the need for it. God would not rush this but waited patiently and prepared us through the prior administrations. The birth of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, began the Christ Administration.

Jesus Christ said in Matthew 5:17(NLT), “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.” The purpose of the Law was to reveal the perfection, sovereignty, and nature of God. It was to point to His design and purpose for our existence. Romans 8:29(NLT) tells us, “For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” Jesus Christ is God’s only begotten, His firstborn Son. All who are born-again of God’s Spirit are the brothers and sisters of Christ. Our Big Brother, our Lord and Savior, came to show us the way.

Jesus Christ fulfilled the law perfectly and demonstrated for us how to live, love, and give as he did when he walked upon this earth. Not only did his sacrifice and resurrection make the Holy Spirit available to us as an inner or inside reality, but Jesus Christ came to show us how to walk by God’s Holy Spirit and thereby walk by faith. Because of what Christ accomplished on earth, we have his Spirit, the Holy Spirit, living on the inside of us, and we are empowered through the Spirit to live a successful life as a believer. All the other administrations laid the groundwork for this. They helped us gain the width and depth to comprehend the light and love of Christ. The Apostle Paul beautifully describes this in Ephesians 3:17-21(NLT) where he prayed:

“17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. 20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. 21 Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.”

We are now able to fully digest the reality that our identity is contained within Christ. Acts 17:28 cosigns this and tells us that it is through him that we live, move, and have our being. Because of Jesus Christ, we have learned and have been empowered to pray, worship, and praise God in the Spirit and in truth. We do this through God’s Holy Spirit, who helps us give God the glorious adoration that He deserves. Christ restored the holiness that Adam and Eve lost through their choice to sin. He made it available for the Holy Spirit to dwell inside the human spirit of every born-again believer. Because of Christ, and of our own free-will, we have the great privilege to reject the actions of Adam and Eve and commit our lives totally and completely to God through Jesus Christ.

When our Lord and Savior sacrificed his life on the cross, the law was fulfilled. He made the righteousness of God available to all that believe in our Creator through Christ and accept him as their Lord and Savior. The Christ Administration ended on the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit began to dwell inside God’s people through the new birth experience.

Stay tuned for Part-3.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“Understanding the Seven Administrations-Part 2”, written by JMack, 4theChristianMan.com© 2022. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.