Prayer: Lord, we thank You for this time that we can come together to learn something of Yourself. Lord, we do feel that we are not competent to minister before You in such a matter, so we do trust in You for all the need. Lord, we look to You that You would open Your Word to us that we may see from Your Word, through Your Word, and in Your Word something about Yourself and something about Your Body. Lord, do reveal to us the heavenly things that we may have the heavenly vision in these last days. In Your precious name we ask. Amen.
The church is a great subject in the Bible. In these few chapters we will be able to see only some practical principles concerning the church without getting into many details.
First, the church is something of God’s eternal plan, His eternal purpose. It is something planned by God in His eternal plan, something purposed by God in eternity and for eternity. Ephesians 3:10-11 gives us the scriptural ground to speak of the church as something of God’s eternal purpose. Verse 11 says, “According to the eternal purpose which He made in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The Greek word for purpose means “plan.” God has purposed a purpose, He planned a plan, and this purpose, this plan, is called the eternal purpose. In eternity past, before the foundation of this world, before the heavens, the earth, and all things were created, God made such a purpose for something in the future, in eternity to come. Therefore, it is called the purpose of eternity, the eternal purpose. Moreover, many passages in the New Testament tell us that this purpose was purposed not only in Christ but also for Christ.
Now we must ask what this purpose is. Verse 10 says, “In order that now to the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies the multifarious wisdom of God might be made known through the church.” The eternal purpose of God is that He would have a church. In the whole universe only the church is the subject, the center, and the content of God’s eternal plan. This should make us very clear that our being saved to be the members of the church is something not only for this present age; it is something purposed, planned, long before the foundation of this world.
In eternity past and for eternity to come, God planned and purposed to have a church in Christ and for Christ. Therefore, the church is not a temporary matter but an eternal matter. The church is in this age and throughout this age, yet it is from eternity past and for eternity future. It is an eternal matter in the eternal purpose of God, and it is the center, the subject of God’s eternal plan. God planned in eternity past to have a church, and God expects to have the church in eternity to come.
Throughout all the generations before the New Testament time, the church was a mystery. Mystery indicates that something was hidden that no one knew about. Do you know why God created the heavens, the earth, and thousands and thousands of items? Do you know why God created the race of Adam, the human people? You need to answer this question by saying, “It was to have the church.” The intention, the desire, of God is not to have heaven, not to have the earth, and not to have many different items. The intention, the desire, of God in this universe is to have the church. Therefore, everything is for the church. We may illustrate this with a brother I once met. This brother was busy day by day with so many matters in order to build a house and prepare its furniture. One day I asked him what all these preparations were for. He replied that it was so that his son could have a bride. This is exactly an illustration, a type, of what God did in creation in order for Christ to have a bride. Heaven, earth, and all things created by God are a “new house” for Christ so that He may marry His bride. They are the preparation for Christ to have the church.
The church is the central thought of God’s intention, but before the New Testament time God never told anyone about this. In the Old Testament times people looked up to the heavens and could say, “Oh, it is so wonderful.” Abraham once looked up to the heavens to count the stars, and the psalmist in Psalm 8 said in the night, “When I see Your heavens, the works of Your fingers,/The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,/What is man, that You remember him,/And the son of man, that You visit him?” (vv. 3-4). However, if we could ask Abraham and the psalmist what the heavens were made for, they would not know. They could only say that the heavens magnify the glory of God. However, please remember that the heavens are not only for the glory of God to be manifested but also as a preparation for Christ to have the church.
The heavens, the earth, and all things are for the church, but before the New Testament time God never told this to anyone. Adam did not know it, Abraham did not know it, Moses did not know it, and David did not know it. It was a mystery; no one in the Old Testament times ever knew it. Is this still a mystery to you today? Before you read this message, you may not have been clear why God created all things, but now it is no longer a mystery
The New Testament tells us that the church was a mystery hidden in God. Ephesians 3:9 says, “And to enlighten all that they may see what the economy of the mystery is, which throughout the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things.” From the beginning of the world the purpose of creation was hidden in God as a mystery. All creatures could see that there is a creation, but no one knew what the purpose of it is. One day the Lord came, and He died, resurrected, ascended, came down as the Holy Spirit, and raised up a number of persons. Some of these persons were apostles, prophets, and teachers, who received the revelation. The mystery hidden in God was revealed to them at that time. They saw and came to know that the purpose of creation is to have the church. The church was a mystery hidden in God in the past generations until in the New Testament time it was revealed to the apostles and prophets.
Home | First | Prev | Next