There is a concept in Christianity today that is basically wrong. Man considers the church to be something on earth today, and in heaven in the future. I fully agree that in God's salvation there is such a thing as going to heaven. I do not deny that there is such a thing. Yet I do not like the expression "going to heaven." What God wants is a Body for His Son, and this Body is to be the expression of the Son. This concept of God has no element of time or space in it. He never considers whether it is to be on earth or in heaven, or whether it is to be for today or for the future. He has only one concept, which is to gain a group of people in His created universe—including both time and space—to be the mystical Body of His Son, in order that His Son would have an expression in this Body. He is not concerned with the question of whether it is in heaven or on earth, today or in the future. He has absolutely no concept of this sort. If the Son of God is to be expressed in this Body in the future, so much more does He want to be expressed today. If the Son of God is to be expressed in this Body in heaven, much more does He need to be expressed on earth. Every elder should have such knowledge. The church is the Body that God seeks after for His Son in His plan, for the purpose of expressing Him in the universe. This does not have to wait until the future to come into being. It is here today. We do not have to wait until we go to heaven to see it. It should be here on earth.

We thank the Lord that He raised up the British Brethren one hundred years ago. They saw much light concerning God's plan, the church, and the second coming of Christ. But we have to point out that the Brethren went too far in putting God's plan off until the future through the application of prophecies. If you look at the reference Bible of Dr. Scofield, whose teachings were mostly from the Brethren, you will realize that he has pushed the prophecies too far to the extreme, to the extent that he even made a distinction between the visible and the invisible church. According to his teaching, the visible church has some true elements and some false elements; only the invisible Church is all true. Some elements of the visible church are fleshly, while some are spiritual, but the invisible Church is all spiritual. The visible church is on earth, and the invisible Church is in heaven. It is unavoidable and tolerable for the visible church to be divided and denominated, for when the invisible Church comes, all divisions will disappear. Dear brothers and sisters, this is not the teaching of the Bible. You cannot find such teaching at all in the whole Bible. The Bible says that the church is the Body of Christ, and that it has no distinction between the present and the future, or between earthly and heavenly. If the church will be the Body of Christ in the future, so much more it is today.

We agree that there is a second coming of the Lord Jesus. We also agree that the Church will be raptured. But it is not only when the rapture of the church occurs that the nature and function of the church are realized. It is something for today. Every elder has to know God's plan for the church to such an extent. Otherwise, the management of the church will be affected. All the service has to be controlled by this vision. If you do not have a clear vision concerning God's plan, you will not be able to come up to the standard of God's plan in your management of the church. In order for the church to come up to the standard of God's plan, you must surely have such a vision. Only by being under the control of such a vision can there be the service according to the standard of such a vision.