Before beginning this Bible study:

Transcription

1 Before beginning this Bible study: 1. If YOU have never personally believed in Jesus Christ as your Savior, the One who paid for all of YOUR sins, then NOW is the time to do this. The issue is faith alone in Christ alone! Jesus Christ died on the cross, was buried, and rose again to give YOU eternal life. Right now, in a moment of time, you can make the most important decision of your life, to trust in Christ as your personal Savior. He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the command to believe in the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." - Jn. 3:36."For by grace you have been saved by faith, and that not by anything that you can do, it is a gift of God. Not of works on your part lest you are able to brag about those works saving you. - Eph. 2:8-9 DO IT NOW! 2. If you already are a believer in Christ, then the issue for YOU is to be in fellowship (i.e. have things in common with God) and therefore filled with the Spirit. You do this by naming or acknowledging YOUR sins privately to God the Father. You will then be able to take in doctrine and have it go into YOUR soul as spiritual food that can benefit YOU in YOUR growth towards maturity. - God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship by means of the filling of the Spirit and biblical truth" - Jn. 4:24 and "If we confess our known sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our known sins as well as to cleanse us from all unknown or forgotten sins - 1 Jn. 1:9 ======================

2 >> Class #18 - Doctrine of Operation Footstool taught 1 December 2013: 1. The word footstool appears 16 times in the KJV. In the O.T. it is the word hadom meaning to stamp upon. In the N.T. it is the word hypopodiom meaning to make one a footstool of one's feet, i.e. to subject, to reduce under one's power. 2. Definition - Operation Footstool refers to the termination of the strategic victory of the Angelic Conflict, by which the Lord Jesus Christ returns to the earth to establish His kingdom and to remove Satan and all the fallen angels. It is a metaphor taken from the practice of conquerors who placed their feet on the necks of their conquered enemies. Thus the Earth becomes God s footstool. It constitutes a victory whereby Satan loses the rulership of the world to the Lord as per Ps. 110:1; Heb. 1:13; 10:13. So, Operation Footstool begins at the Second Advent and terminates at the end of the Millennium. Operation Footstool is the ultimate triumph of the Angelic Conflict. HERE

3 a. First comes the triumphal procession in which all demons are disarmed by Jesus Christ and publicly displayed, Col. 2:15. b. Satan is imprisoned for one thousand years, Rev. 20:1 3. c. Church Age believers then cast demons into prison, Zech. 13:2; 1 Cor. 15:24 25; Col. 2: Operation Footstool was decided in eternity past as a part of the divine decrees, but cannot be fulfilled in time until the prerequisites have been fulfilled. 3. The prerequisites to Operation Footstool: a. The first prerequisite was our Lord s victory on the Cross, i.e. the imputation of ALL sins of human history to Christ on the Cross and their judgment. b. The second prerequisite is the resurrection, ascension and session of Jesus Christ, at which point He received a third royal title ( King of kings, Lord of lords, the Bright Morning Star ), which demands the calling out of the royal family of God during the Church Age to provide a Royal Family for His third royal patent (i.e. an order from the King of kings & Lord of lords giving believers a specific right or title.) The second prerequisite includes the completion of the Church as the body of Christ, and this prerequisite is completed at the Rapture of the Church. c. The third prerequisite is The Great Tribulation. Operation Footstool cannot begin until the resurrection of the Church and evaluation of all Church Age believers at the judgment seat of

4 Christ, so that we know exactly who is qualified to rule nations on earth during the millennium. Only super-grace believers will be qualified to rule with Christ. 4. THE SEQUENCE OF EVENTS: a. Human history cannot be fulfilled until Operation Footstool is completed. b. It will take one thousand years to complete Operation Footstool once it starts. c. In all of human history and eschatology, super-grace status in the Royal Family is the gem of history. The highest rank ever given to believers is super-grace status. Super-grace is a term coined by one of the greatest Bible teachers, R.B. Thieme Jr. By definition, therefore, super-grace is the status of spiritual maturity. Supergrace is where the normal function of the royal priesthood and the production of divine good begins. The salt of the earth or the salt of the land is the super-grace believer. The theological synonym is greater grace, [meizona charin] (see Jam. 4:6, But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. The word greater is the Greek adjective meizona which means: even more, to a greater degree, or all the more. The word for greater grace is where we get the phrase Supergrace. d. The Church Age is absolutely necessary as both a prerequisite and as a principal part of Operation Footstool. super-grace believers will play a major role in human history

5 during its last one thousand years. e. There are two completions involved in the dispensation of the Church. Individual completion (execution of the spiritual life) and corporate completion (the Rapture) is all a part of the next prerequisite for Operation Footstool. In Operation Footstool, every believer who reaches super-grace status will rule with Christ during Operation Footstool. Every Church Age believer has equal privilege and equal opportunity to reach super-grace status! 5. Pertinent Scripture: Eph. 1:22 (Net Bible), And God put all things under Christ s feet, and he gave him to the church as head over all things. a. All things under His feet is eschatology (The Doctrine of Last Things). as head over all things. is ecclesiology (The Doctrine of the Church). God the Father is going to subordinate everything in the world to our Lord Jesus Christ. b. The first doctrine anticipates Operation Footstool. The second doctrine emphasizes the prerequisites before Operation Footstool can begin. c. Our Lord s royal title in relation to Operation Footstool is King of kings, Lord of lords, the Bright Morning Star. This title is found in: 2 Pet. 1:19; 6:15; Rev. 17:14, 19:16. d. The rulership of Christ over the Church includes the fact that He is a ruler with another special title. He is a Royal High

6 Priest, 1 Pet. 2:9. Because He is a royal High Priest, every believer in the Church Age is a priest. We are called a kingdom of priests in Rev. 1:6, 5:10. In 1 Pet. 2:5, we are called holy priests in the sense of being separated unto God for a special purpose. Ps. 110:1 is the first mention of Operation Footstool, The Lord [JHWH God the Father. NOTE: The name Jehovah, in the Hebrew, is spelled JHVH. It could be pronounced Jeheveh, or Jihivih, or Jahavah, or many other different ways. When the scribes came to this name Jehovah to copy, they washed their bodies, and the pens with which they spelled this name were cleansed. One reason why the word Jehovah was suppressed was to impress its sacredness upon the minds of the people.] says to My Lord [Adonai Jesus Christ. NOTE: Even in public, when readers of sacred Scriptures came to this word they would not pronounce it, fearing they would take it in vain, but would substitute the word Elohim or Adonai in its place. The term Adonai really means master, or owner; one who owns, one who rules, one who blessed his own. Adonai can always be known by the word Lord, or lord in the Old Testament of the King James Version.], Sit down at My right hand until I make Your enemies Your footstool. Only the humanity of Christ can sit down in one location at the right hand of God the Father. Our Lord is invited to sit down with His human body because in His body He won the victory of the Cross. The humanity of Christ refers to the fact that He is undiminished deity and true

7 humanity in one place forever. Ps. 110 is about the Messiah's reign and rulership when He returns to the earth to set up His kingdom. This prophecy is so important that it is quoted six times in the N.T., four times under a rebuttal concept to settle a Jewish controversy regarding Christ as the Messiah to Israel, and the dispute about the Hypostatic-union. In Mat. 22:41-46, when questioned by the Pharisees who were denying the fact that TLJC was the Messiah and a member of the human race at the same time, Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, What do you think about the Christ [not Himself but the Messiah that they expected], whose son is He?" They said to Him, "The son of David." He said to them, "Then how does David in the Spirit call Him Lord, saying, The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, Until I put Thine enemies beneath Thy feet? If David then calls Him Lord, how is He his son?" And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him another question. 6. Who are the enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ? (1) Satan. Isa. 14:13-14 mentions the revolution of Satan. (2) All fallen angels. The ⅓ who followed Lucifer in his revolt. (3) All religion is the enemy of God. Religion is man by mans works trying to gain the approbation of God. Original

8 Christianity is NOT a religion. In Christianity, God seeks mankind through the salvation ministry of Jesus Christ (4) Carnal believers are believers in perpetual carnality. In Phil 3:18 believers in a state of carnality are called the enemies (echthros - a noun signifying "cosmos diabolicus thinking, or an adversary) of the Cross. Perpetual carnality is emotion and arrogance instead of doctrine. (5) All unbelievers. Rom. 5:10, For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be delivered through His life [the prototype spiritual life of Christ]. We were all born spiritually dead in total separation from God and enemies of God. (6) Death. 1 Cor. 15: For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. Death is abolished for the unbeliever by being cast alive into the lake of fire, Rev. 20:10, 14; Mat. 25:41; and for believers, Rev. 21:4, There shall no longer be any death. Heb. 10:12-14, but He, having offered one sacrifice as a

9 substitute for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until His enemies were made [culminative aorist passive subjunctive from the verb tithemi, meaning to set, place ] a footstool for His feet. For by one offering He has brought to completion for all time those who are sanctified. 7. How do we know we are getting close to the fulfillment of Operation Footstool? Satan is the source of the public lie which begins the great war in the middle East. He uses the public lie to get his way. Satan starts the greatest war in all of human history and at the end of the millennium will start the greatest revolution in human history. 8. The Second Advent will take both the unbeliever and the apostate believer by surprise. The suddenness and the power of the Second Advent will surprise everyone but super-grace believers. Doctrinal believers will be alert and happy (+ H). In the ancient world, soldiers who fell asleep on guard duty were set on fire while asleep. You guarded your tunic by staying awake and alert. This is analogous to the use of the spiritual solutions. Super-grace believers will have the greatest happiness during the time of greatest tribulation. There is no safer or happier place to be than in super-grace status as a mature believer regardless of historical circumstances. 10. Alertness means maximum Bible doctrine circulating in your stream of consciousness. Alertness deals with memory, being

10 able to recall immediately the doctrine you need. Alertness is wisdom above all else. This alertness is commanded of ALL believers. We must be alert in several areas of our life. (a) The first area in which we must be alert is in the area of God s plan for our life. (b) We must be alert with regard to historical trends. In the Tribulation, believers must be alert to prophetical trends. Alertness demands awareness of the prophetic events of the last half of the Tribulation for those in the Tribulation. Hence, the importance of cognition and inculcation of genuine eschatology. 9. APPLICATION: Now what does all this mean to you right now? Before you began this study of the WOG have you ever become despondent or discouraged, upset or confused? Do you harbor a guilt complex because of some sin? Do you think you have any reason to be sad or hopeless or depressed due to bad health, the economy, or all the evil in this present world? Whatever your challenge, it makes no difference for God is willing and waiting to pour out grace blessing to you! As a believer, you cannot operate without Truth. Your capacity for life, your capacity for happiness and love, your orientation to life and your ability to withstand the onslaughts of the devil depend on Truth. Without a command post of Truth in your soul, you will succumb to reversionism and become a casualty in the Angelic Conflict. The angels who are still able to observe the struggle in the

11 arena of time between reversionism and maturity, carnality and Spirituality, human realities and God's Reality, suffering and triumph, are learning of the grace of God by watching us! (1 Cor. 4:9; Eph. 3:10). But we learn of the grace of God from applying the faith cycle; and by WALKING in fellowship with Him! (Ps. 40:5) When any one angel or any human sees YOU totally adjusted to the justice of God, moving right on through adversity without panic or falling apart, without crying, Why me, Lord? but letting patience have her perfect result, (Jam. 1:4) then God is glorified and you are blessed! God is able to shower His grace upon you in a fantastic way, and in effect your whole life will be a victorious proclamation to angels as well as to men! Thus Operation Footstool is the ultimate icing on the cake! 10. Conclusion: Now, according to isagogics, I will make an analogy here between Operation Footstool and a Roman Triumphal Procession. The fallen angels are a part of this procession. They are incarcerated in the abyss until the last judgment when they will come out, be judged, and cast into the lake of fire. The phrase He made a public display is the Greek word deigmatizo meaning to display or exhibit the captives or the demons He disarmed. The phrase having triumphed is the Greek verb thriambeuo, which actually means to lead a Triumphal

12 Procession, make some kind of a special exhibition, or to celebrate a triumph. A custom in the ancient world after winning a war was to bring the captives back and to have a Triumphal Procession or a march through the city of Rome. In the Roman army, Field grade officers were called Tribunes; General officers were called Praetor or Imperium. When an Imperium was victorious, the highest honor that could be given was a Triumph (Triumphus), which included a procession or a parade. The victorious Imperator or General assembled his troops outside the gate and delivered a speech commending his army on their victory. When TLJC was resurrected three days after the cross, after He was on the earth for 40 days, He ascended to the right hand of the Father. That's when He heard from God the Father the phrase, "Sit at My right hand, Until I make Thine enemies A footstool for Thy feet!" When TLJC arrived in the presence of the Father, He arrived as the conquering general, and in front of Him during the ascension were Satan and all demons in the Triumphal Procession as captives. So there was a moment on the earth when things were pretty quiet because all the demons were paraded by TLJC as He sat upon that throne. The analogies between the Roman Triumphal Procession and the Spiritual Triumphal Procession which will take place at the Second Advent are fantastic to note! As the army of the Imperium lined up to salute him with the shout, "Ave

13 imperator", so TLJC will be honored as the King of kings and the Lord of lords at the Second Advent. As the triumphus was the highest honor that could be given to an Imperator, the highest honor which can be given to TLJC is to sit down at the right hand of God as the "King of kings, Lord of lords, the bright morning star." The ultimate decoration ON OUR uniform of glory will be the Order of the Morning Star (see Rev. 2:28). The order of the morning star is named after our Lord's royal title and is given for historical impact in the Church-Age. The uniform of honor, being invisible and worn in the soul, is exchanged at the judgment seat of Christ for the translucent uniform of glory worn over the resurrection body. It was first modeled by Jesus Christ on the mount of transfiguration, Mat. 17:2, "And His clothes became white as light." The uniform of glory is given as a translucent light which covers the resurrection body, Rev. 3:4 5 says, "they will walk with Me in whites...". Bible doctrine is related to Christ as the morning star in 2 Pet. 1:19 21, "and the morning star has come up" (second advent), awarded for the ultimate in Christian service, i.e. invisible impact. Rev. 2:26,28, Furthermore, the winner, even he who keeps my assignments [the fulfillment of the PPOG] until the end [of his life], to him I will give authority over the nations. Furthermore I will give to him the order of the morning star. Not all winners will receive the order of the morning star, but many will be rewarded the different crowns and awards given

14 for faithfulness and dedication to the Lord in time. For our Lord, the first part of the triumphal procession took place in the spiritual realm, while the second part will take place in the temporal realm and will be seen by all. Rev. 11:15-17 says, And the seventh angel sounded; and there arose loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever." And the twenty four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, "We give Thee thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who art and who wast, because Thou hast taken Thy great power and hast begun to reign" In the Roman Triumphal Procession, the senate had to approve the triumph. By analogy, God the Father will support His Son Jesus Christ and at the Second Advent there will be a victorious procession to celebrate our Lord's victory. On the day appointed for the Triumphal Procession, the senate declared a holiday and the entire population of Rome came out of their homes and stationed themselves along the streets. In Rev. 1:7, Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. Even so. Amen. In the Roman Triumphal Procession, the victorious Imperator assembled his troops outside the gate of triumph and delivered

15 a speech commending his army on their victory, and decorated the heroes. By analogy, before our Lord comes back in the Second Coming, He will deliver a speech to the Church at the bema seat judgment commending and decorating those who were victorious by becoming invisible heroes. Rev. 3:5 says, Thus the winner shall be clothed in white garments and I will never blot out his title [the winner is knighted at the judgment seat of Christ] out of the book of life. In fact, I will acknowledge his title in the presence of My Father and before His angels [a formal presentation]. In the Roman Triumphal Procession, the highest honor was the corona [Latin for crown]. By analogy, we have the crown of righteousness, awarded to invisible heroes for executing the PPOG and for bearing fruit in it, 2 Tim. 4:7-8 says, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing. The crown of life is awarded to invisible heroes for maximum production of divine good, and for handling suffering for blessing (Rev. 2:10), then Jam. 1:12 says, Happy is that person who perseveres under testing, for once he has passed the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him. The crown of glory is awarded to Pastor-Teachers who

16 faithfully study and communicate Bible doctrine; their motivation is occupation with the Lord and not with people. 1 Pet. 5:4 says, And when the Chief Shepherd appears [Rapture], you [faithful pastors] will receive the unfading crown of glory. The General also mounted his chariot with four horses and commanded his army to fall in, present arms, and move to the gate. By analogy, TLJC will give orders to the Church to mount their horses as she returns with Christ (Rev. 19:11-14). Then, at the gate, the Imperator was met by the Roman senators and magistrates of the city. They welcomed him in the name of the senate and people of Rome. By analogy, every eye will see him and every tongue will confess that He is Lord (Rev. 1:7-8, Phil. 2:10-11). In the Roman Triumphal Procession there was a very definite order. The senators, magistrates, and counsels walked ahead first, followed by several bands of trumpeters playing the martial music of the day. Then came a long train of carriages displaying pictures of the country that had been conquered, and all the plunder of the campaign. Next came the white bulls destined to become sacrifices and the priests carrying sacrificial knives. By analogy, when TLJC comes back, all of the O.T. saints will be raised from the dead and everyone will be in their own order. The first resurrection is pictured as a battalion pass-in-review, divided into four ranks: 1 Cor. 15:23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, after that those who are

17 Christ's at His coming, Next came the enemy's arms, their captured standards and weapons, followed by the leaders of the enemy country and army and members of their family. They were followed by all the prisoners of war in chains. By analogy, first comes the Triumphal Procession when demons are disarmed by Jesus Christ and publicly displayed (Col. 2:15). Secondly, Satan is imprisoned for 1,000 years (Rev. 20:1-3). Then Church Age believers cast demons into prison (Zech. 13:2; 1 Cor. 15:24 25; Col. 2:15). In the Roman Triumphal Procession, behind the captured enemies marched the lictors (i.e. members of a special class of Roman civil servant, with special tasks of attending and guarding magistrates of the Roman Republic and Empire who held imperium, the right and power to command; essentially, a bodyguard.) of the Imperator. Then came the victorious General or Imperator himself in his chariot. At the Second Advent, TLJC will present those winners to the entire world as He sets up His Millennial kingdom. The Imperator had a wreath of laurel (plants used for laurel wreaths) on his head, and he was holding in his left hand a very beautiful scepter made of gold, topped with an eagle. In his right hand he carried a laurel branch. By analogy, in Rev. 14:14, And I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on His head, and a sharp sickle in His hand. Just like the Imperator wore a purple toga, little did Pilate and his soldiers understand the significance of decorating TLJC with a purple robe (Jn. 19:2). The procession then ascended the Capitoline hill and the leaders of the conquered

18 army were taken to the Mamertime dungeon. At the Second Advent, demons are disarmed and displayed by Jesus Christ, Satan is imprisoned for 1,000 years, and Church Age believers cast demons into prison. Finally, in the Roman Procession, a public banquet was held in honor of the imperator, just as TLJC is honored at the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7,17). During this banquet, the Imperator was given a Triumphalis Domas, a beautiful mansion, the "House of Triumph;" and a lifetime pension, just as the Second Advent introduces the Millennium and perfect environment on the earth.