Every person should know, what is the Church?

Every person should know, what is the Church?

 

What is the Church? Many people think of Church as a building where Christians gather for worship on a Sunday. The Church (ἐκκλησία ekklēsia) is a unique entity revealed and ordained by God and came into existence at the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon the believers. The true meaning of "ekklēsia" is the "called out ones." Jesus started building His Church by calling out people to repentance and turn to Him. Jesus said, "... I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18). Jesus is the One who is building the Church. 

 

The Church, a group of people who are called out and set apart for the glory of God. God's view of the Church is seen as described by apostle Paul, "but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy" (1 Peter 2:9-10). The job of the Church is to keep herself holy and "proclaim the praises of Him who called them out of darkness into His marvelous light." Apostle Paul writes, "He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins" (Colossians 1:13-14). The Church submits to Christ's authority as He is the Head of the Church. The relationship between Christ and the Church is likened to a bridegroom and a bride. "For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ" (2 Cor. 11:2). The Holy Spirit is sanctifying the Church as a bride for the marriage. Paul also writes, "that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5:27). The Church was born on the day of Pentecost will be taken up to heaven at the Rapture. The Church will be presented as a bride for the Bridegroom Jesus Christ. "Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready" (Rev. 19:7).

 

The Beginning of the Church

 

There is no concept of the Church in the Old Testament. It was a mystery until it was revealed later in the New Testament. Sometimes people wrongly equate the Old Testament Israel with the Church in the New Testament. John the Baptist rightly understood this and acknowledged he was not part of the Church. He calls himself the friend of the bridegroom (Jesus) but not the bride. "He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled (John 3:29). Jesus also said, "The law and the prophets were until John" (Luke 16:16).

 

Later, Jesus told His disciples that He must go to the Father in order to send the Holy Spirit to them. "Nevertheless I (Jesus) tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment" (John 16:7-8).

 

Later, after His death, burial, and resurrection, "He (Jesus) was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God" (Acts 1:2-3). Just before his ascension, Jesus said to His disciples, "tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high" (Luke 24:49). Just like He promised, after seven days after His ascension, "when the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:1-4). Thus, the Church was formally born with the anointing and the visible presence of the Holy Spirit.

 

 The Church will be raptured before the whole world will be plunged into the great tribulation that will come upon the whole earth. The Holy Spirit also the Restrainer who dwells in a believer will be taken out of the way at the Rapture. The apostle Paul writes, "For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming" (2 Thess. 2:7-8). Paul describes, after the Church is raptured, then the Antichrist will be revealed. After the Church is taken out of the way, the focus will go back to the Jewish people to fulfill Daniel's seventieth week for seven years.

 

 

Message to the Church while awaiting the Rapture

 

 

The message to the Church is as follows:

 

·       Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life (Rev. 2:10).

·       To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God (Rev. 2:7).

·       And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations—‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter's vessels’—as I also have received from My Father; and I will give him the morning star (Rev. 2:26-28).

·       He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels (Rev. 3:5).

·       He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name (Rev. 3:12).

·       To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne (Rev. 3:21).

 

Dear reader, we are now in the church age. Have you repented of your sins and asked Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior? It is a terrible thing to be left behind when Christ comes for His bride the Church at the Rapture. The world will experience unimaginable hardship on this earth under the Antichrist. Don't trust your good works. Bible says "...we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousness are like filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6). The only righteousness that is valid before God is Christ's righteousness by removing our unrighteousness. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).

 

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