Ecclesiology
The Church, a Heavenly People
Lesson XVIII
March 22, 2007
Introduction
Most
Bible teachers ignore the distinction between Israel and the Church. Repeatedly, in their writings, they state
that
Nathaniel West has written: “The Pre-millennial
Coming of Christ, which, in the apostolic and Old Catholic Church, was, for 300
years “the test of orthodoxy” and formed a chief article of faith and hope.”
He
also stated: “The Old Covenant at Sinai
and the New Covenant were both made with literal Israel, with
Jews and not with Gentiles.”
He
continues: “Our present age, occupied with evangelizing the Nations, belongs to
“the Times of the Gentiles”, when Israel is under foot, and will be followed by
another in which Christ’s Kingdom will be Israel’s Kingdom, Gentile supremacy
over Israel having passed away, and Israel once more placed in their historical
position and relation to the Nations, as a converted people, holy to the
Lord. Such is the realistic
interpretation concerning
West
also states “that in the hour of affliction we learn more of God’s Word, and
God’s way, than in a whole age of sunshine and prosperity, and it is well to
remember that the prophecies were spoken first in that moment when
Here,
I insert, the above statement certainly has no place in the Kenneth E. Hagin - Kenneth
Copeland prosperity, health and wealth doctrines. As one has written, “Seldom if ever, has
there been a gospel that has promised so much, and demanded so little”. Hagin claimed to be a prophet in 1952. It is my opinion that had it not been for TV,
both of these men would never have been heard of!
Had
the Scriptures been rightly divided, such a false doctrine would never have
been accepted.
We
are told we are to turn away from those who teach that “gain is godliness”.
1 Timothy 6:5
(5) Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and
destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw
thyself.
But
I have known some very sincere Christians who thought Mr. Hagin was a wonderful
Bible teacher.
Because
of the famine of teaching these subjects, we want it to be clearly understood:
Ø Pre-millennialism means that Christ will return to earth to this earth before the
1000 years.
Ø Post-millennialism - that the world will get
better and better and after the 1000 years of peace,
brought by the leaven of the gospel preached by men, Christ will return. As I understand what is now called
‘Preterist’ is simply a new name for old post-millennialism
Ø A-millennialism means no literal thousand year Reign of Christ on this earth.
“George
Muller gives this testimony (Streams in the Desert, December 6th):
“When
it pleased God in July 1829, to reveal to my heart the truth of the personal
return of the Lord Jesus, and to show me that I had made a great mistake in
looking for the conversion of the world (post-millennialism), the effect that
it produced upon me was this: From my
inmost soul I was stirred up to feel compassion for perishing sinners, and for
the slumbering world around me lying in the wicked one, and considered ‘ought I
not to do what I can for the Lord Jesus while He tarries, and to arouse a
slumbering Church?’”
Remember,
the fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians has to do with the return of the Lord, the resurrection
of the dead, the mystery of the rapture and concludes with the last
verses: Therefore, my beloved
brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” What is believed and taught about the Coming
of the Lord has a great bearing on the conduct and concern of every believer as
to the need of the lost.
When
God said to Adam and Eve, if you eat of the forbidden fruit you will “surely
die” and Satan said “you will not surely die” when Eve believed the Devil, she
was calling God a liar.
Matthew 16:16-22
(16) And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God.
(17) And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art
thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed [it] unto thee, but
my Father which is in heaven.
(18) 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.
(19) And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of
heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and
whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
(20) Then charged he his disciples that they should tell
no man that he was Jesus the Christ.
(21) From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his
disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the
elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the
third day.
(22) Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him,
saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.
In
Matthew 16, after Peter had made his firm confession in verses 16 and 17 (thus
a saved man), in verse 21, when Jesus said “He must go to Jerusalem, suffer,
die and rise again”, verse 22 tells us that Peter took Jesus aside and said
“Lord, this shall not be to thee.” Peter
was clearly calling Jesus a liar. Behind
both Eve’s and Peter’s action and words, was the Devil.
I
testify: If I were to deny the thousand year reign, I too, would in my
conscience, be calling Jesus, who gave the message of Revelation to John, a
liar and I am not prepared to do that!
These
subjects I have here listed, (pre-, post-, and a- millennialism), like law and
grace, cannot be mixed. All three are involved
subjects, and in my judgment, to rob the Church of the rich teaching of Pre-millennialism
will result in robbing saints of many rewards.
It
is no wonder that James 3:1 warns, “Be not many masters for ye shall receive
the greater condemnation.” (The word
‘masters’ here means ‘teachers’.) Thus
we bend ourselves to rightly divide the Word of truth, so that we be workmen
who will not be ashamed (2 Timothy 2:15) when our work is examined at the
Judgment Seat of Christ. For we must all
appear before the judgment seat of Christ.
There are no exceptions (2 Corinthians 5:10).
The
subject matter of all Scripture pertains to the Jews, the Gentiles and the
Church as we have shown from 1 Corinthians 10:32. These groups of peoples are not the
same. They never have been and never
will be the same. If one is a Jew then
one cannot be a Gentile, and if one is a Gentile then one cannot be a Jew.
In
many pulpits the cry is: “Back to Jesus
and the sermon on the Mount, while the Holy Spirit expressly directs the Church
to the Epistles. The purpose of God in
the New Testament is not back to Matthew but on to Revelation. The Epistles of Paul call the Church from Jewish
ground to Heavenly Places in Christ Jesus; from the gospel of the Kingdom to
the gospel of the grace of God and the coming day of glory.
The
Church is called to be a Heavenly people.
Our hope is in the Saviour from Heaven. The Church does not belong to earth. The Church belongs to Heaven.
So
get your eyes off of the ground and begin to look up!
The
Thessalonians were working and waiting for the Lord from Heaven.
1 Thessalonians 1:9-10
(9) For they themselves shew of us what manner of
entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the
living and true God;
(10) And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised
from the dead, [even] Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
To
Titus Paul wrote, live and look
for that blessed hope.
Titus 2:12-13
(12) Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly
lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
(13) Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious
appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
1 John 3:2-3
(2) Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not
yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall
be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
(3) And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth
himself, even as he is pure.
This
hope purifies
the Church as it learns to put off things that hinder growth (1
Peter 2:1-2).
1 Peter 2:1-2
(1) Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and
hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
(2) As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the
word, that you may grow thereby:
To
the Philippians, Paul wrote be sincere and sober (without offence) ‘till the day of Jesus Christ’.
Philippians 1:10
(10) That ye may approve things that are excellent; that
ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;
1 Corinthians 2:9-10
(9) But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath
prepared for them that love him.
(10) But God hath revealed [them] unto us by his Spirit:
for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
In
the Epistles, the Spirit takes the things of Jesus Christ and shows them unto
us. “But as it is written, Eye hath not
seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things
which God hath prepared for them that love him. (The verse is not talking about Heaven.) But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit…”. Here we also see things to come. Here are things we can never learn from
Matthew, Mark or Luke because they are not revealed there.
The
gospel of the Kingdom is everywhere in the Old Testament and in Matthew, Mark
and Luke, but the gospel of Grace is everywhere in the Epistles. The Old Testament promised a King coming from
heaven to earth. Deuteronomy 11:21
speaks of days in the land of Israel as “the days of Heaven upon earth”.
Deuteronomy 11:21
(21) That your days may be multiplied, and the days of
your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them,
as the days of heaven upon the earth.
Jeremiah 23:5
(5) Behold the days come, saith the LORD, that I will
raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper,
and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
Zechariah 14:9
And the LORD shall be king over all the earth; in
that day shall there be one LORD and his name one.
It
was because of these and like promises in the Old Testament that, recognizing
Jesus as their promised Messiah, the disciples asked Jesus if at
this
time he would restore again the
Kingdom to Israel.
Acts 1:6
(6) When they therefore were come together, they asked of
him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
They
did not ask if he would restore the Kingdom.
They had no question as to the fact of such because they believed the
Old Testament Scriptures. Their question
had only to do with the time of restoration.
Jesus did not correct them and say, “There is no such thing”, but he presented
their present work of being filled with the Spirit and being witnesses. However, He did also send an answer to their
question in verses 10, 11.
Acts 1:10-11
(10) And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he
went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
(11) Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye
gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven,
shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
This
same Jesus is coming back again! Thus
there will be no restoration of the Kingdom to
“Thy Kingdom come, thy
will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:13).
The
Bible is an unfolding of the purpose, the plan, and program of God. There is a distinction in Scripture between
the Church and the
The
Epistles of Paul are addressed to the
Philippians 3:17-19
(17) Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them
which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.
(18) (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and
now tell you even weeping, [that they] are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
(19) Whose end is destruction, whose God is [their]
belly, and [whose] glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)
1 Corinthians 11:1
(1) Be ye followers of me, even as I also [am] of Christ.
In
1 Corinthians 11:1, he wrote follow me even as I follow Christ. In other words, be followers of Christ as I
am a follower of Christ.
In
the above verses in Philippians, there is a contrast. Paul is an ensample of those who follow
Christ but verses 18 and 19 state: “For
many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that
they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is
in their shame, who mind earthly things.” Paul
is telling us that he is occupied with heavenly things, while others are only
minding earthly things. He, minding the
things not seen and therefore eternal, they the things seen and therefore
temporal.
2 Corinthians 4:18
(18) While we look not at the things which are seen, but
at the things which are not seen: for the things which [are] seen are temporal;
but the things which are not seen [are] eternal.
Philippians 3:20
20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we
look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
Philippians 3:20 For our conversation, our manner of
life, our citizenship, our country is Heaven.
Here
I recommend that you read Dave Hunt’s book, “Whatever happened to heaven?”.
Hunt
states “to the average Christian the hope of Heaven is no longer real. When the reformed Church preached less and
less about the need for regeneration and exchanged such preaching for a ‘social
gospel’, the less they influenced people. A social gospel has never helped any society.”
In
1914, Rev. Charles Gordon, speaking to the Social Reform Council of Canada
spoke of new causes in his own words ‘to a New Church’ which worshipped a God
who was ‘a good man with goodness raised to the highest power’. This ‘
Isaiah 40:6-7 “…all flesh is grass and all the goodness
thereof is as the flower of the field;
The grass withereth, the flower of the fadeth; because the spirit of the
Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.”
Every
seen thing, every temporal thing is fading!
My dear wife pinned some roses on the wall in our bedroom. They are still there but the fragrance is
gone. They illustrate the words of
Isaiah and our experience in life.
Isaiah 40:6-7
(6) The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry?
All flesh [is] grass, and all the goodliness thereof [is] as the flower of the
field:
(7) The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the
spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people [is] grass.
The
Church needs to hear again. We are a Heavenly
people, not merely earthly. Our
inheritance is in Heaven. Our final
destiny is to be there with the Lord. We
are not here to change the world but to preach the good news that the hearts of
men might be changed.
The
Salvation Army believed that their followers were on the way to Heaven. A brother, whose name was Nat Strain told me
the following: The Salvation Army were
holding a street meeting outside the Beer Parlor in
Acts
chapter nine relates Paul’s experience on the road to
Acts 26:19
(19) Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient
unto the heavenly vision:
And
Paul lived a heavenly life on earth.
1 Peter 3:18
(18) For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the
just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the
flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
The
chief work of Christ as stated in 1 Peter 3:18 is to bring us to God. There was no other way but the way of the
cross. Now, Christ lives so we can live
a heavenly life on earth. Jesus lives to
put Heaven in our souls. Of Hudson
Taylor it is written: “He had a living God, therefore a living faith, and a
living service.”
Philippians 3:20
(20) For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also
we look for the Saviour, the Lord
Jesus Christ:
Our
conversation, our manner of life is heavenly.
We identify people from other countries by the way they dress, talk and
live. So it should be for the
Christian. Our citizenship is in
Heaven. Our Country is Heaven. Our home city is in Heaven. “People on their way to Heaven should be in
bed before eleven,” I heard John Stott say.
John 15:19
(19) If ye were of the world, the world would love his
own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the
world, therefore the world hateth you.
John 17:16 “they are not of the
world even as I am not of the world.”
We
must not forget that Satan is the god of this world.
2 Corinthians 4:4
(4) In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds
of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who
is the image of God, should shine unto them.
And that the whole world lieth in wickedness.
1 John 5:19
(19) [And] we know that we are of God, and the whole
world lieth in wickedness.
Here again the world means the world- system.
Christians
should never forget they belong to Heaven.
We will never desire to live like Heavenly people unless we truly
believe that we are Heavenly people.
Acts 20:17, 28
(17) And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the
elders of the church.
(28) Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the
flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the
church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
In
Acts 20:17 instructing the Elders of Ephesus, Paul writes in verse 28 “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to
all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost had made you overseers, to feed
the Church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.” That is plain enough. Those who hold the position of Church Elders
are responsible to feed their flock. Because
of failure to do so, most Christians are ignorant of what Paul wrote to the
Church. The result has been that the
Church, by and large, has been pre-occupied with making this sinful world a
better place. The presentation of a
social gospel has moved the Church away from the major purpose of preaching the
Word and the gospel of grace.
Dave
Hunt writes in his book, “Whatever Happened to Heaven?”:
Ø “The very existence,
size, influence of the Roman Catholic Church today is almost as remarkable a
fulfillment of prophecy as the preservation of Israel and her return to
Palestine.” (page 146)
Ø “To many (i.e. post-millennialists),
the revival of the “Holy Roman Empire” was proof that the millennium had
arrived.” (page 150)
Ø “Although the Church
(i.e., Roman Catholic) claimed to be preparing men for heaven, the pope’s
vision was clearly directed to things earthly.”
(Page 151)
In
my opinion we are seeing a revival of this kind of thinking arising from the
teaching, plan and program of Rick Warren.
It is becoming more evident as to why he stated in 2006, Christian
fundamentalism will be “one of the big enemies of the 21st century.”
When
the Church becomes too earthly minded it soon ceases to be any Heavenly good.
Never
forget, hold and hold forth that the Church is called to be a Heavenly People.
Read
carefully and prayerfully the third chapter of Colossians.
Colossians 3:1-25
(1) If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things
which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
(2) Set your affection on things above, not on things on
the earth.
(3) For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in
God.
(4) When Christ, [who is] our life, shall appear, then
shall ye also appear with him in glory.
(5) Mortify therefore your members which are upon the
earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and
covetousness, which is idolatry:
(6) For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the
children of disobedience:
(7) In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived
in them.
(8) But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath,
malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
(9) Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off
the old man with his deeds;
(10) And have put on the new [man], which is renewed in
knowledge after the image of him that created him:
(11) Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision
nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond [nor] free: but Christ is all,
and in all.
(12) Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and
beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness,
longsuffering;
(13) Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another,
if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also [do
ye].
(14) And above all these things [put on] charity, which
is the bond of perfectness.
(15) And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the
which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
(16) Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all
wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
(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.
(18) Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as
it is fit in the Lord.
(19) Husbands, love [your] wives, and be not bitter
against them.
(20) Children, obey [your] parents in all things: for
this is well pleasing unto the Lord.
(21) Fathers, provoke not your children [to anger], lest
they be discouraged.
(22) Servants, obey in all things [your] masters
according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness
of heart, fearing God:
(23) And whatsoever ye do, do [it] heartily, as to the
Lord, and not unto men;
(24) Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward
of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.
(25) But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong
which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.