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CHURCH
(Continued from page 3)
"Now therefore ye are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow–
citizens with the saints, and of
the
household ofGod"
(Ephesians 2: 19).
In other words, of the begotten FAMJ–
LY of God. Continue:
"And are built upon the founda–
tion of the apostles [New Testament]
and prophets [Oid Testament], Jesus
Christ himself being the chief corner
stone; in whom all the building fitly
framed together groweth unto an
holy TEMPLE jn the Lord" (verses 20-
21 ). So God reveals here that the
Church is:
1) the HOUS EHOLO or begotten
FAMILY of God; 2) a building- a
HO"LY TEMPLE- fitly joined tO–
gether-that is,
we/1 organized
(and ,
of course, on Goo's pattern).
As a building- the HOLY TEMPLE
to which Christ wi/1 come- it
is built
On a FIRM FOUNOATION: the apostles,
chosen by Christ, and the prophets.
MucH of the New Testament is
simply quotations, or citations, from
the wri tings of the prophets of the
Old Testament. The things written in
the Old Testament were " wrítten for
our admonition, upon whom the ends
of the world are come" (1 Corin–
thians 10: 11).
Again the apostle Paul reminded
Timothy: " ... from a child thou hast
known the holy scriptures [the only
Scriptures Timo th y could have
known from a child were those writ–
ten by Old Testament prophets],
which are able to make thee wise
unto salvation through faith which is
in Christ J esus" (11 Timothy 3: 15).
The writings of the Old Testament
prophets are part of the FOUNDATtON
- of the Church of God!
And, of course, J esus Christ is the
chief cornerstone-the very HEAD of
the Church.
The Temple t o Which
Christ Will Come
There has been much perplexity and
di scussion as to
when
the temple will
be built to which Christ shall come.
Malachi' s prophecy speaks of
Christ's second coming to His temple
(Malachi 3: 1-6).
In Haggai's prophecy it is referred
to prophetically. Zerubbabel had
38
been sent as governor of a colony to
build the second temple 70 years af–
ter the destruction of Solomon's tem–
ple. He built the temple to which
J esus carne, though it had been en–
larged and embellished by the Ro–
man Herod. But speaking of this
temple, as a type and forerunner of
the temple to which Christ shall
come at His
second
coming, it is writ–
ten, "The glory of this latter house
shall be greater than of the former,
saith the Lord of hosts: and in this
place will 1 give peace, saith the Lord
of hosts" (Haggai 2:9) .
It
is inconceivable that the Israelis,
in the present international turmoil
over their possession of old J erusa–
lem, could ever demolish the Arab
Moslem Dome of the Rock- now
~~
Jesus announced the fact
of the coming Kingdom,
which, by His
overcoming Satan, was
assured!
' '
standing on the site of Solomon's
temple-and build a new one there of
greater splendor and glory than Solo–
mon's! However, as the second tem–
ple Zerubbabel was building was a
typical forerunner of the temple to
which Christ shall come, even so Ze–
rubbabel was the typical forerunner
of one Christ would use in building
the far more glorious temple to which
Christ shall come in His GLORY!
Zechariah 4:9: "The hands of
Ze–
rubbabel have laid the foundation of
this house; his hands shall also finish
it. ..."Andas Zerubbabel's hands
did
finish that second temple, so shall the
one Christ uses in building the temple
towhich Heshallcomein H isGLORY!
And the Church of God of the
present day shall be a "building fitly
framed together [and growing] unto
an holy temple in the Lord" (Ephe–
sians 2:21).
Church the Brlde of Christ
T he one and only true Church, a spir–
itual organism well organized by
Christ, is the affianced Bride of
Chríst-to MARRY Chríst, after Hís
comíng and after the resurrection
and change of the Church into im–
mortality.
In Ephesians
5
this is shown by
analogy. "Husbands, love your wives,
even as Christ also loved the church,
and gave himself for it; that he might
sanctify and c leanse it with the wash–
ing of water by the word, that he
might present it to himself a g lorious
church, not having spot, or wrinkle,
or any such thing; but that it should
be holy and without blemish.... For
we are members of HIS BODY, of his
flesh, and of his bones. For this cause
shall a man leave his father and
mother, and shall be joined unto his
wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
This is a great mystery: but 1 speak
concerning Christ and the church"
(Ephesians 5:25-32).
The Church is made up of the
BODYof Christ. More on that a little
later. But the BODY presented to
Christ
wi/1 not be a dismembered
body, with an arm, a leg or other
parts beíng separated!
lt
is ONE
Church- fitly
f ramed togerher- not
dismembered into many parts follow–
ing many different men seeking to
draw away di sciples after them.
This coming marriage is again re–
ferred to in II Corinthians 11 :2: "For
1 am jealous over you with godly jeal–
ousy: for 1 have espoused you to one
husband, that I may present you as a
chaste vírgin to Christ."
The New-Covenant MARRIAGE
will take place at Christ's coming in
GLORY: "And 1 heard as ít were the
voice of a great multitude, and as the
voice of many waters, and as the
voice of mighty thunderings, saying,
ALLELUJA: for the Lord God omnipo–
tent reigneth. Let us be glad and
rejoice, and give honour to him: for
the marriage of the Lamb [Christ] is
come, and bis wife hath made herself
ready" (Revelation 19:6-7).
It is enlightening at this point to
remember Jesus carne as "the mes–
senger of the covenant" (Malachi
3:1 ). He carne as the Messenger of
the NEw Covenant.
The Old Covenant was a CON–
TRACT entered into between the chil–
dren of Israel and the Word (who
was to become Christ)-the God of
the Old Testament.
It
was a MAR–
RIAGE covenant. God " proposed" a nd·
The
PLAIN TRUTH August 1979