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As one traces the scheme of redemption from eternity to Calvary and examines
the tremendous lengths to which God went in order to bring about the church,
he should stand in awe at the magnificent manifestation of God's great wisdom
(cf. Eph. 3:10). The church revealed on the pages of God's wonderful
Word is by no means an accident or afterthought, but is the very fulfillment
of God's promises, predictions, and plans from eternity!
By giving in to temptation and transgressing God's law, Adam and Eve severed their righteous relationship with Deity (Gen. 3). Heaven's great and perfect plan to redeem and reconcile man then went into action. God provided the first glimpse into this soul-saving plan when He declared the following to Satan: "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" (Gen. 3:15). While the seed of woman would suffer slightly by the actions of the devil, that same seed would ultimately deliver a crushing deathblow to the archenemy of God and man. One would do well to consider the declaration of Genesis 3:15 in light of Matthew 16:18 and its fulfillment. In response to Peter's confession of the Christ, Jesus declared, "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18). Even though Jesus, the seed of Genesis 3:15, would pass through the gates of Hades (that is, he would experience death), that passage would allow Him to purchase the church with His blood (Acts 20:28) and ultimately triumph over the grave. Thus, the promise made to Satan in the garden finds its fulfillment in Christ's church, or body, in which God reconciles man back to Himself (cf. Eph. 2:16). Of course, much transpired between God's words to the devil and Christ's purchase of the church. For example, according to Genesis 12:1-3, God made a covenant with Abram (later called, Abraham) that initiated the beginning of a nation — a nation that would bring about the Savior of the world, the builder and founder of the church. In order to accomplish the promise of Genesis 3:15, God established a line of descendants, the nation mentioned above, and a tribe through whom the head of the church would come. Notice the covenant of Genesis 12:1-3: "Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." Through the "great nation" of Israel came the Christ, Who in turn offers redemption to "all families of the earth" — Jew and Gentile alike (cf. Gal. 3:8) — in His body, the church. The promises of Genesis 3:15 and 12:1-3 are not the only occasions where God spoke of His plans for Christ's church. A number of the Old Testament prophets presented crucial details of that heavenly-designed institution to which the saved would be added (cf. Acts 2:47). The rugged prophet Amos, for example, told the divided people of his day that God would "raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof" (Amos 9:11). Amos continued by stating that this tabernacle would include all who are called by the Lord's name — both Jew and Gentile. By inspiration, James revealed that this figurative language applied to the church which Jesus built (Acts 15:14-18). Isaiah was another Old Testament prophet who revealed key points about the church of Christ. Consider the following: "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem (Is. 2:2-3). When one considers that the New Testament describes the church as the "house of God" (1 Tim. 3:15) and Christ's "house" (Heb. 3:6), there should be no doubt that Isaiah's prophecy definitely deals with that same divine institution. Notice the details Isaiah gave about the church:
Each of these details finds its fulfillment in the church described in the New Testament! Acts 2 records how the church came into existence at the right time (in the last days) and in the right place (Jerusalem), while the rest of Acts records how it spread in the right manner (from Jerusalem to Samaria, and then to the uttermost parts of the world). Any church that started in any place, time, or manner different than Isaiah foretold cannot be Christ's church. A third prophet to reveal important details about the church of Christ was Daniel. Whereas Amos described the church as the tabernacle of David and Isaiah described it as the house of the Lord, Daniel described the church as the kingdom of God. Concluding his interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar's dream, Daniel declared, "And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever" (Dan. 2:44). The kingdom, which was "at hand" (or, about to appear) during the preaching of John the baptizer and Jesus (Matt. 3:1; 4:17), was in existence by the time Paul penned Colossians 1:13: "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:" [ emphasis added ]. Placing this fact in the spotlight of Matthew 16:18-19 where Jesus used the terms "church" and "kingdom" synonymously, we understand that the kingdom of which Daniel spoke and the church which Jesus promised were the same institution. Returning to Daniel 2:44, one notes that God was going to set up his kingdom in the days of "these kings." But, just who were "these kings"? Studying Daniel 2:36-43, secular historians and biblical scholars agree that Daniel spoke of four world empires:
God's kingdom, which is Christ's church, was to be set up during the Roman Empire. Again, Acts 2 pictures the church coming into existence at just the right time — in the first century, during the reign of the Roman kings! Just like Isaiah, Daniel gave details about the nature of the kingdom, or church. He described it as indestructible. Consider this with Hebrews 12:28 in mind: "Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear" [ emphasis added ]. No military might in the world can stop the spiritual kingdom of Christ. Rather than being overtaken and destroyed, it continues to consume the hearts and minds of all nations by preaching the Gospel to every creature! Truly, the church of which Jesus is head and for which He shed His innocent blood is the fulfillment of Old Testament promises and prophecies. It is the manifestation of God's wonderful wisdom, and its doors are open to all who will enter into it through obedience to Christ's Gospel. [ See, The Church Perfected in this month's issue — ed. ] "Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob." |