The Church In Prophecy
As the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus he wrote of the church in Christ, its importance, its blessings and its work. And in Ephesians 3:11 he stated that this was "According to the eternal purpose which he proposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Eph. 3:11.) As Peter spoke on this theme he said, "Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days." Acts 3:24.) Thus we see that the church of the New Testament is the object of prophecy of the Old Testament, and that the church of the New Testament is "according to the eternal prophecy." In turning to the Old Testament we find literally hundreds of prophecies concerning the establishment of God's house, such as Isaiah 2:2, and their fulfillment in the New Testament, such as I Timothy 3:15; and Daniel 2:44 — Colossians 1:13,14. But for the purpose of our lesson let us consider at length the prophecy of Daniel.
About six hundred years before the advent, life, death, burial and resurrection of our Lord, the children of Israel were in great adversity, being held captive in Babylon. During this time the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, had a dream which troubled him greatly in that he forgot the dream and could not tell what it was about. After his seers and diviners were unable to tell the dream or its meaning, Daniel was brought before the king and made known the dream and its meaning. In the dream and its interpretation certain national and spiritual changes were made known, and through the dream the fact and the time of the establishment of God's kingdom were made known.
Reading from Daniel 2:31-45 we find the dream and its divine interpretation as given through the prophet Daniel. "Thou, 0 king, sawest and behold a great image. This image which was mighty, and whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the aspect thereof was terrible. As for this image, its head was of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and thighs of brass, its legs of iron, its feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon its feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them in pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors: and the wind carried them away, so that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and tilled the whole earth.
"This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. Thou, O king, art king of kings, unto whom the God of heaven hath given the kingdom, the power, and the strength, and glory; and wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens hath he given into thy hand, and hath made thee to rule over them all: thou art the head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee; and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things; and as iron that crusheth all these, shall it break in pieces and crush. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men; but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron cloth not mingle with clay. And in the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall the sovereignty thereof be left to another people; but it shall break in pieces and consume all those kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure." (Dan. 2:31-45.)
As we look down through the annals of history we find that the Babylonian kingdom gave way to the Medo-Persian kingdom, and the Medo-Persian kingdom gave way to the Graeco-Macedonian kingdom, and the Graeco-Macedonian kingdom gave way to the Roman Republic, and the Roman Republic turned into the Roman Empire. And the Roman Empire was divided up into ten or twelve puppet kingdoms, each having its own king, each more or less subject to the Roman government. Thus by the most casual comparison of history with the prophecy of Daniel one can see that the prophecy was fulfilled and at the turn of the age the time was ripe for the establishment of the kingdom of the God of heaven.
And it was in the days of "these kings" that God sent John the baptizer preaching in the wilderness of Judea saying, "Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matt. 3:1.) The inspired record says, "When the fullness of the time was come. God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." (Gal. 4:4,5.) Thus, the time for the establishment of the kingdom of God had come, and we find Christ preaching, "Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matt. 4:17.) And when Pilate asked Christ if he were a king, Christ answered, "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice." (John 18:37.) The time foretold by Daniel had come.
Many people have thought that since John the baptizer came at the proper time and preached the kingdom of heaven was at hand that John established the kingdom. But some six months after John was dead (Matt. 14:10), Christ said, "Upon this rock I will build my church." (Matt. 16:18.) Notice Christ said, "I will build my church," still pointing to the future. Also notice that Christ said that the church would be built upon himself as the "Christ the Son of the Living God." The Apostle Paul wrote, "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ." (I Cor. 3:11.) Christ is the foundation of the church, not Peter or any mere proposition, human or divine. If Christ is not the foundation of the church of which you are a member, you may be assured that it is not the church of the New Testament, the church of prophecy.
Now let us notice that Christ not only said that he would build his church, but he said, "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matt. 16:19.) Are we to suppose that Christ promised to build one thing and give Peter and the other apostles the keys to another? "The "keys of the kingdom" was simply a sign of authority to deliver unto men the means by which they would gain entrance into the Church, the kingdom of heaven. Peter and the other apostles used the keys to open the church unto men on the first Pentecost after the resurrection of Christ; men have been entering the kingdom of heaven in the same way. by the same means, ever since. The doors of the church once opened have never been shut to those willing to obey the gospel of Christ. Those who get into the church of Christ do so not by vote of men or by human rule, but by divine appointment; the Lord adds them according to the terms delivered by his appointed apostles. (Acts 2:47.)
But when was this church of prophecy established? As recorded in Mark 9:1 Christ said, "Verily, I say unto you that there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power." Now, if Christ told the truth, the kingdom is either here, or there are some men who lived then who are still alive on the earth! But Christ said that the kingdom would "come with power." If we can learn when the power came, we will know when the kingdom came. As recorded in Luke 24:69 Christ told the apostles to "Tarry in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high." Again he said unto them "And ye shall receive power when the Holy Spirit is come upon you." (Acts 1:8.) The Holy Spirit came upon the apostles on the first Pentecost after the resurrection of Christ. (Acts 2:4.) Now here is the order: The kingdom came with the power, the power came with the Spirit, and the Spirit came on the first Pentecost after the resurrection of Christ. Therefore, the kingdom was established on the first Pentecost after the resurrection of Christ in the city of Jerusalem. So it follows, because it has t, follow, that any church that didn't start on the first Pentecost after the resurrection of Chris, in the city of Jerusalem, is not the church of the Bible, the body of which Christ is the Saviour. (Eph. 5:23.)
Also notice that every reference to the kingdom, the church, before the first Pentecost after the resurrection of Christ is always future. (Matt. 3:2; 4:17; Mark 1:15; Matt. 16:18,19 etc.) But after this Pentecost every reference is present. "The lord added to the church" (Acts 2:47); "There were prophets in the church" (Acts 13:1); "Let your women keep silent in the Church" (I Cor. 14:34); "The churches of Christ salute you" (Rom. 16:16); "And has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son" (Col. 1:14); "I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ." (Rev. 1:9.) Surely these expressions would be absurd if the kingdom had not been established.
The kingdom of God, the church of prophecy, was established in the city of Jerusalem on the first Pentecost after the resurrection of Christ and men may now enter it through obedience to the gospel of Christ. (Acts 2:14-41; Rom. 6:1-18.)