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vacancies in Lane County?" he it is stated that Christ is the Head
asked.
"1
want to support my wife, of the Church.
and she wants to remain here in
So this we know. Whatever the
Lane County."
Church is, it belongs to God and its
"Well, yes," 1 replied.
"1
do name is the Church of God. Jesus
know of one vacancy, but that Chi"ist is its founder, and he its liv–
wouldn't help you because that is a ing Head.
Christian church, and you are a
But if it is God's Church- if ·
Methodist with different beliefs . Jesus Christ founded it and today
and practices."
heads it-it is something important
"Oh, that won't make any differ- to God, and therefore vital that we
ence," he assured me. "I'll preach cometo understand! We must bear
whatever doctrines they want meto in mind what went before- what
preach."
led up to it-to understand
why
the
But does it really make any dif- living Christ created the Church–
ference what we believe? Let the
what
it is, and where it fits into the
Word of God answer that ques- divine purpose being worked out
tion.
here below.
The Church seems to be some–
thing concerned with worshiping
with others. Supposedly it refers to
the worship of God.
Church of the Old Testa–
ment
Godo Now as the Son of God just
what was Jesus? He was called the
second Adam
(1
Coro
15:45)0
Why
should he be called the second
Adam? The first Adam had the
opportunity of taking of the tree of
life, which meant God-life--obey–
ing God and thereby replacing
Satan on the throne of the eartho
Jesus carne to do just that, to qual–
ify to replace Satan on that throne
and to start the government of God
on the earth through those called
out from Satan's worldo He carne
also with a message from God
called the gospel. The word
gospel
means good newso And actually, his
gospel-the message sent by him
from God-was the good news of
But if God is related to the
Church, what is his relationship?
How did the Church start? All this
is a mystery to today's world.
Back in the early part of
1927
when my intense Bible study was
bringing me toward conversion, 1
asked myself such questions. 1 sup–
posed questions of that sort never
enter the average mindo
Old Testament Israel had
a function preparatory to
ultimate establishment of
the kingdom of God. The
first mention in the Bible
of the Church, in time of
existence, is Acts
7:38
where it speaks of "the
church .in the wilderness"
at Mount Sinai, under
Moseso So Old Testament
Israel was the "Churcho"
he modero Western
world takes the fact of the
existence of churches
In the New Testament Greek,
the Church is called the
ekklesia.
a
Greek word meaning called-out–
ones-an assembly,
a
congregation,
a gathering, a groupo There is no
sanctity to the word
ekklesiao
The
name
of the Church, however, used
12
times in the New Testament, is
"Church of God," which denotes
that it is
God's
Church- which
name attacbes sanctityo The · Old
Testament Church was the "Con–
gregation of Israel," the congrega–
tion descended from the biblical
patriarch, Israel.
Why Jesus Founded the Church
The first place in the New Testa–
ment where the word
church
appears is Matthew
16:18,
where,
speaking to Simon Peter, Jesus
said , "1 will build my churcho" As
noted above, the inspired Greek
word for church was
ekklesia,
meaning called-out-oneso Stated in
more clear English language,
Jesus said "1 will call out of
Satan's world disciples, to grow
into the altogether oew and differ–
ent world, which will be God's
kingdomo" And in Ephesians
"5:23
12
for granted, as a part of the
world's civilized life.
Most generally in the Old Testa–
ment, Israel , as a Church, is
referred to as the "Congregation of
Israel."
However, as we shall see, the
Church of tbe New Testament is
entirely different and has an entire–
ly different purpose than the Old
Testament "Congregation of Is–
rael." Almost no one has under–
stood that the gospel could not be
proclaimed to the world, nor could
God's called congregation of people
have the Holy Spirit
until
Jesus
a) had qualified by overcoming
Satan, and b) had been glorified
after ascension to heaven (John
7:37-39)0
And that is something not even
the theologians and church leaders
of our day understando
It is,
indeed, a mystery, which needs to
be revealed and understood o Now
let us understand clearly who and
what is Christo
We have already seen in chapter
one that Christ, in the eternity
before the world carne into being,
was the "Logos" who also was God,
and as Jesus, was born as the Son of
the kingdom of Godo And the king–
dom of God, as we shall see, is to be
the restoration of the government
of God over the earth and the ousl–
ing of Satan from that throneo
Jesus carne also to build the
Churcho And he carne to pay the
ransom price for a kidnapped world
and by that price-his death-to
pay the penalty incurred by all
humans for their sinso
Jesus-Earth Ruler and Klng
Next, what nearly all "Christians,"
including theologians, do not real–
ize: Jesus was born to become a
I<ING!
On trial for his life before Pilate,
Jesus was asked, "Art thou a king
then?" And Jesus answered: "Thou
sayest that I am
~
king. To this end
was I born, and for this cause carne
I into the world ooo" (John
18:37)0
Jesus also said (verse
36),
"My
kingdom is not of tbis world
o o o [else] would my servants
fight"-showing that this is Satan's
worldo Jesus carne to call people out
of this world to
be
prepared to
teach and rule under him when he
The
PLAIN TRUTH