The Glorious Church of God
God always gives light to those who are open to receive it but especially since the time of the reformation onwards God has been giving light to the Church that she needed to receive and act upon. At the time of Martin Luther God gave the light of justification by faith alone. The reformers at that time acted upon this truth and the reformation was born. There wasn’t much change in the ordinances and traditions or the massive church buildings but a seed had been sown. Later John Wesley saw the need for sanctification and acted upon it. He also preached in the open air which the Church of England forbid him to do.
Later still, at the beginning of the twentieth century, there was the Pentecostal outpouring of the baptism with the Holy Spirit which God mightily blessed, even though there was a vast persecution from most denominations. Many other groups had revelation and acted upon it, seeing the blessing of God upon their works. People went out all over the world taking the gospel and God mightily blessed their works.
We have come now to a time right at the end where the Lord Jesus is about to return for His Church. What is God showing us now for us to receive and make ourselves ready for His coming?
The Bible says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labour in vain who build it” (Psalm 127:1). In Matthew 16:18 Jesus said “— I will build My Church and the gates of ha’des shall not prevail against it.” Jesus also said that if we want to build a tower we must count the cost first otherwise if we run out of money and cannot finish it, people will mock us for starting what we couldn’t finish (see Luke 14:28-30).
When Jesus said that He would build His Church, He knew that He could finish it. However, we don’t see it finished now with its many different denominations often being opposed to one another, all following their own ideas of how to build their church.
Very quietly God is doing a work on His people. They are being worked upon individually. God is chiselling away at them, knocking the edges off, preparing them as living stones to fit perfectly with the other stones that He is producing so when He finally brings it together it will be a perfect house, fit for the Lord to dwell in. All this will be done outside the camp, outside the denominational structure, outside the false idea of what church is. These will be isolated Christians, they won’t understand what is happening to them, all they will know is they no longer belong in the church structure as we see it now. They will be misunderstood. They will desire to have true fellowship with God’s people and yet wherever they go there will be no response in their spirit but only a feeling of bondage. Even house groups don’t satisfy as many are still functioning according to their own ideas of “church”.
The Church that the Lord is building may consist of many small groups but the one thing they have in common is that they meet together in Jesus’ name and He is there in the midst of the Church, ministering to them and through them. It is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes.
The Bible says, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 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” (Ephesians 5:25-27).
This is what the Lord is doing; this is what He is coming back for, a glorious church which He will present to Himself on His return. No it is not there yet but it will happen, probably only for a short time, till He come. It will be the fulfillment of His prayer in John chapter 17 where He says, “ — that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me” (Verses 21-23).
No wonder it is a glorious church, it is His glory that He has given us that we may be one, it is shining through His church, it will happen, it will come to pass, it will be a miracle, so lift up the hands that hang down and worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. It will be a church full of the love of the Lord, loving one another, loving Jesus and loving the Father. When Jesus returns for us, we will receive our adoption, which is the redemption of our body (see Romans 8:23 and Galatians 4:5) and we will be conformed to the image of His Son.
The Apostle Paul said, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God” (Romans 8:18-19).
Biblical adoption is not that God adopts us as children but rather that He places His children into sonship. W.E. Vine says, “God does not adopt believers as children; they are begotten as such by His Holy Spirit through faith. Adoption is a term involving the dignity of the relationship of believers as sons; it is not a putting into the family by spiritual birth, but a putting into the position of sons” (Expository Dictionary of Bible Words).
Adoption in the Bible is not adopting children into the family but rather the placing of the children who are already members of the family as sons, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ (see Galatians 4:7).
Jesus Christ is returning for a glorious Church which He will present to Himself, but also the individual members will receive sonship and be joint heirs with Christ, reigning with Him, blessed be His wonderful name.
Mark Greenwood February 2020