THE REVELATION ADMINISTRATION
This administration begins with the second coming of Jesus Christ, and it is the glorious triumph that all believers look forward to. 1Thessalonians 4:16-17(NLT) tells us, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” This triumphant return of Christ is in the future, and many have speculating about its timing.
In the Old Testament, Joel 2:28(NLT), God spoke through His prophet and said, “Then, after doing all those things, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions.” This same prophecy is repeated by the Apostle Peter in the New Testament, in Acts 2:17, and it takes us right up to the point where we are today, waiting on the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior. Peter went on to state in Acts 2:39(NLT), “This promise is to you, and to your children, and even to the Gentiles—all who have been called by the Lord our God.”
Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, made it possible for us to have God’s seed, the Holy Spirit, dwelling on the inside of us. God’s commandment to us is to be led by His Spirit every moment of our lives. Galatians 5:16(NIV) “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Walking in the Spirit is a choice that is ever before. Because of the accomplishment of Christ, we have a new nature as born-again believers. Our old sinful nature was crucified with Christ, and we are to walk in the newness of what he made available, but many believers are dabbling in the old dead self. They have not done as God instructs us Ephesians 4:22(NLT), which is to “throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.”
The old nature is corrupt because of the sin that satan introduced within it. Romans 6:23 tells us that the wages of sin is death, so the physical body, the shell that houses our human spirit and human soul, is going to eventually die. It cannot live forever because is has been corrupted by satan through sin. This is part of the curse of the law. It should be a strong reminder to us that we can’t allow the old self to rule our decisions or govern our lives. The body wants what it wants, and many people will pursue whatever they feel will bring the body pleasure. This is the old nature, and it is not the way God’s children live. We live by the Spirit so that we can please God, remain blessed, and be transformed by renewing our minds to His Word.
God is giving us time to renew our minds. Renewing our minds is the process of putting God’s Word in them so that we become more and more like Christ. Becoming like Christ is God’s goal for us. Many of us are anxious for Jesus Christ to return and for the Revelation Administration to begin, but no one knows when our Lord will return, and it is not prudent for us to wish it sooner than our God’s perfect timing. 2Peter 3:9(NLT) declares, “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.” God is very patient with us, and He is allowing us time to renew our minds and to repent so that we are spiritually ready for our Lord’s return.
Our posture as believers and followers committed to the Lord Jesus Christ is to testify of him in the earth. God desires that all people will accept His gift of salvation and become members of His family. As believers, we are ambassadors for Jesus Christ, and God is giving those on this earth more time to turn to Him.
We must look forward to the return of Christ with great hope and anticipation, but our focus must always be vigilance to the work he has called us to carry forth. Telling others about our Lord and Savior and helping them to receive the gift of God’s salvation through Christ is the greatest thing that any human being can ever do. Jesus Christ taught the disciples in Matthew 9:37 that the harvest for souls to be saved is plentiful, but those who will commit themselves to this work are few. The same is true today.
We are commanded by Christ in Luke 10:2 to pray to God for the harvest, and to also pray that He will send out more laborers into His harvest. This is our responsibility as Christ’s ambassadors. Until the door to the Grace Administration has closed, and the new Revelation Administration has opened, we are commanded to be imitators of God through Jesus Christ. We are commanded to labor in the purpose for which we have been called. If we do not, the Lord may return at any moment and find us with our work undone. This would be tragic. If we are not prepared to meet our Lord and Savior, face to face, we must stop this delay. Now is the time to get right with God and to let His love and light flood our hearts and minds. We are children of the light, this is our identity, and through God’s unmerited favor and ever abounding grace, we must see the Grace Administration as a gift from Him to become all He has destined us to be in Christ.
THE PARADISE OR GLORY ADMINISTRATION
This administration begins in Revelation Chapter 21. The final Paradise/Glory Administration goes back to God’s original intention in the Original Administration which began in Genesis 1 and ended with Adam’s and Eve’s disobedience. Paradise will once more be on earth. Revelations 21:1(NLT) says, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone.” We should know that there is an interval between the Revelation Administration and the Paradise Administration where believers are raised to reign with Christ for a thousand years. This is when the ‘new self’ is fully manifested in the new nature that is the very image of the nature of Christ. The thousand-year reign is known as the “Millennium”.
The Millennium is a period when believers that have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ will be fully in his glory. Our Heavenly Father had a plan for humanity, and He never gives up on His Plan. He knew the end at the beginning, and He knows the beginning at the end. Through the renewing of our minds and changing of our hearts to measure up to the fullness of Christ, we are being transformed by the indwelling Holy Spirit into the men and women God planned us to be way before we entered our mother’s wombs. Nothing and no one can thwart God’s plan, not humans or satan. It is moving forward no matter what happens. Everything is working out according to God’s divine plan and purpose, and we will see the culmination of it and the end of evil in the Paradise Administration.
There is infinitely more to learn about all the administrations that God has set forth. Like many other areas of His truth, there are biblical scholars and theologians who have various opinions and different understandings of these administrations, but this should be of no consequence to those who seek to walk in the Spirit and submit their whole lives to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is dwelling inside us because of the accomplishment of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is the teacher, and he never misses a beat.
We must be led by the Spirit to have a successful Christian life, and to accomplish what we have been called to do. Jesus Christ is our King, and through us he is establishing his Kingdom on earth. It is a Kingdom with no end and no equal. ■
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 4”, written by JMack, 4theChristianMan.com© 2022. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.