Chapter 12: Church
We all have our own views of the Church and what she is called to be. Few of us actually understand the mystery that is described in Ephesians 5:30-31. Paul makes the statement that the mystery being explained in Genesis 2:24, that they should become one flesh, actually applies to the Bride of Christ – the Church. With that one insight, that we are not two, but one flesh with Christ, we ought to have the utmost sincerity about our lives. Everything matters. We’re connected to Christ in a way that the two cannot be separated. As if that wasn’t enough, this would also imply that we are not simply human beings, but as the corporate expression of God’s Body, we are divine.
Hear me. I am not saying that we, as individuals, are divine. I am saying that we, as a corporate Body, have been exalted to the right hand of God, filled with the Holy Spirit, and made to be one with God Himself. It is not that we have stopped being human, but that we have become the incarnation. We are God in the flesh – corporately. As God in the flesh, we are witnesses unto Him. We are not simply people that should witness, but instead are the very image of God to the rest of mankind. Does that calling express your daily walk? Are you living in a way worthy of that calling?
If this is true, that we are God incarnate, His expression in the earth, then we have a very specific purpose. We are to be Christ to the world. We are to reiterate the cross of Christ Jesus in an expression that would manifest the wisdom of God to the principalities and powers, and at the same time be a ransom for many. We are called to lay down our lives as living sacrifices. As ministers of the new covenant,{cccvi} we present our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, which is our spiritual service,{cccvii} and to minister the Gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be made acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit{cccviii} and the building up of a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices,{cccix} namely, our own bodies,{cccx} acceptable to God through Christ Jesus{cccxi} – for the sake of provoking the Jews to jealousy,{cccxii} and so all Israel shall be saved.{cccxiii}
Can you follow that? We have been given a purpose as the Church. We are the remnant of Israel within Israel. We are not some sort of separate entity, but instead have been brought into them. The two have become one flesh, as it says in Isaiah 56:8, “The Sovereign Lord declares – he who gathers the exiles of Israel: I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered.” We are those “others”. We are those Gentiles mentioned in verse 6 who bind themselves to the Lord, to serve him, to love the name of the Lord, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to his covenant. We are that people mentioned in Deuteronomy 32:21: a people that are no people. We are that people that will provoke Israel to envy, because we’re only an inference. We are a no people, not even called a small people or an insignificant people. With that “no people”, God desires to drive the Jew to jealousy so that Israel might come to know their God. They will see the new covenant at work in our midst, and the very fact that we have been called the “arrogant kingdom” up until now only shows how far below the glory of God we live and move and have our being. We have not given ourselves over to the purposes of God. Instead, we have considered our own purposes, which is ironically coveting the very call of Israel.
Now, one of the questions that I have is this: How can the Church be taken out of the earth if she does not fulfill her primary purpose? How can a rapture take place if the Church has not yet fulfilled it’s ultimate mandate to be witnesses unto Him, as the remnant people engrafted into Israel, and to defeat the powers of the air over Israel and all nations? We desire to take Israel’s place. We want their calling. Instead of accepting the challenge that we’ve been given, we covet their purpose, as if we are able to fulfill their calling without them. The Jews are right; we are indeed the “arrogant kingdom”.
When we have desired to major on selfishness, God has given us the necessary calling to free us from selfishness. We are given the eternal purpose that is beyond us. It is outside of us. We are called to wrestle an invisible enemy, of which we have never even known existed until we came into the faith. Does that make sense? Why would God put this challenge to us? Are we supposed to just pretend? It seems like we’re imagining some sort of “pretend” powers that we’re supposed to engage. Wouldn’t it make more sense to tell us to oppose government, or to challenge those who are promoting wickedness? Yet, it is the wisdom of God that He has not called us to oppose nations as if government is the enemy. Instead, we are called to oppose the powers that influence that government. Either wrestling the demonic powers is insanity, or it is ultimate reality. If it is ultimate reality, then intuition and spiritual discernment is vital. We need to know who, what, and how to combat those powers.
I don’t think that we should spend this chapter reviewing what we’ve already discussed. Rather, I want to put before you the connection from now to the Millennium. I want to raise the eyes toward heaven. It was the glory that is to come that caused Paul to say that his suffering was “momentary and light.” A man who had been stoned, shipwrecked, beaten, whipped with 39 lashes, and many other horrors is telling us that his afflictions were, and are, momentary and light. That should cause us to pause. What kind of glory must Paul had seen that would claim suffering and anguish that many, if not all, of us are flabbergasted that one man could even endure, “momentary and light”?
The End Time Church
A while ago, my wife and I had noticed that Proverbs 31 is a description of the Bride of Christ. As a man, this was one of those chapters that I would skim because “it didn’t apply to me.” Yet, when the moment of revelation came that this passage is a description of the Bride of the Lamb, and that this view of the Church will be enough grandeur to maintain us through the end times, it gave me a new respect for this passage of Scripture. I vehemently oppose the usage of the term “virtuous woman”. We have cheapened that wording. We have made it some sort of “woman thing” that is only used on Mother’s Day or women’s retreats and women’s small group studies. This kind of Church is nearly impossible to find. There are spurts of reality glittered here and there throughout the world, but the majority of believers today simply don’t have the faith to even consider that we are able to live like this today.{cccxiv}
When I begin to speak about the Church and Christianity, one of the most frequent reactions is to stop me and say, “There is no perfect church.” If they do not use those words, they will tell me, “The church is full of imperfect people.” If they are too pusillanimous to outright say one of these phrases, they might use a tone of voice that would sound almost joking as they word it, “It sounds like you’re trying to find a perfect church, and that just doesn’t exist!” Most often, I encounter these words by older men in the faith. They feel the need to take me aside and reprove me privately because I’m a nuisance. I demand something that is “impossible” to come into.
What exactly does it take to be someone whom the principalities and powers fear? Understand that this is something that can describe an individual, but I am writing in the sense of a corporate man. This man is a prophetic man; a man of many sorrows and acquainted with grief.{cccxv} A man ruled by Zion, our heavenly dwelling where Christ currently sits and we are seated with Him.{cccxvi} A man that recognizes the spiritual forces that influence and manipulate our nation. This man cries. This man is alone, though never alone.{cccxvii} This man is a father to many, but a son to God. This man does not see circumstance, but instead sees possibility. When persecution is all that he faces, this man loves.{cccxviii} This man is crucified with Christ.{cccxix} This man hopes against hope.{cccxx} This man’s lamp does not go out at night.{cccxxi} This man trembles, and yet stands firm. This is a man in whom the Spirit of God is.{cccxxii} This man is given to charity even when it hurts. Of this man, there is no guile.{cccxxiii} This man alone is what is necessary to shake hell and free the captives. This man alone will drive the Jew to jealousy and tear off the veil that covers the nations, that all flesh may receive the Spirit and walk in God’s anointing.
The Church of Jesus Christ is beautiful. She is not a whore. She is not defiled. She is spotless and blameless. We need to be extremely careful how we speak about Christ’s Bride, because He is jealous over her.{cccxxiv} It is not becoming to degrade this Bride, even if there are people that do not live up to the calling. It is Christ and Christ alone that is the author and finisher of our faith.{cccxxv} This Bride of Christ – the Church – is pure and spotless.{cccxxvi} In her there is no guile. She has been given a new name, a new heart, and a new reality from which she lives. She is first and foremost a community – multiple people that have come together in unity to shake hell and climb Mount Zion to usher in the King of Glory.{cccxxvii}
This Church is perfect. It is this Church that will rule and reign with Christ forever. The issue of ruling and reigning is the issue of servanthood. Those that are servants are they that will rule and reign. They have been made perfect in the image of God, and therefore they alone are able to rule and reign with Him.{cccxxviii} There is a union that we all have with this Bride, but to come into this reality is quite different than praying a prayer and being accepted into the family of God. This is a reality that must be apprehended, and in return apprehend us. It is one thing to be a friend of God, and to be adopted into His family. It is quite a different statement to be co-heirs and sons or daughters. There is a maturity that must be reached for that to take root. We are called to Zion, and Zion is defined as the symbol and statement of God’s House. This is the place where He has put His name.{cccxxix} This is His sanctuary. This is where He dwells, and God does not dwell where He is not at rest. Zion is the ultimate manifestation and revelation of God’s glory through mankind. Zion is the word made flesh.
It is to this that we are called. Let us read through Proverbs 31:10-31 and take up a few of the statements to consider. “A wife of noble character, who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her, and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, and not harm, all the days of her life.” You know what this introduction of the Bride and Husband speak to me? It speaks of adoration. The Bride adores her husband, and the husband adores His Bride. I don’t know that I have come to the place that I can truly say that I adore Christ. Cherish Him, yes, and even love Him. Yet, adoration is such a deep relishing. To adore Christ is a far greater statement than we originally expect it to be. Adoration would cause that we would do nothing out of sync with His desire for us, because to grieve Him is the most atrocious act that we can perform. Adoration eclipses our ideas of a novel esteem and brings us into the realm of joyous praise and tears for the heavenly vision of our Maker.{cccxxx}
I’ve heard the story of a man that I sadly never had opportunity to meet. When he prayed over the food at a meal, it would only take a few sentences before he was caught up in rapturous ecstasy. Tears would be streaming down his face, and his hands would be raised toward heaven, and all he was doing was blessing the food. There was something in his heart that could not help but thud with excitement at the opportunity to commune with his creator. He would pant and break into blissful tears at the moment that he felt the presence of God. That man loved Jesus. That man adored Jesus. “She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.”
“She selects wool and flax, and works with eager hands. She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar. She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls.” These verses, to me, indicate of a fresh word from heaven. When she speaks, her words are not her own. Just as Christ was able to say while on earth that His words are the words that His Father has spoken to Him,{cccxxxi} so too can this Bride say that she only speaks what Christ has spoken to her. Those words that she speaks are provision and sustenance. They go deep into the soul and cause for freedom from fear and despair. God has spoken when this woman speaks. Our words are to cause for men and women to pause and wonder if they are talking to a human being, or whether an angel has visited them. Surely no mere man speaks like this. These words are God’s words being spoken through a human vessel. And it is not on bread alone that a man shall live, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.{cccxxxii} Those words are Spirit, and where the Spirit is there is liberty.{cccxxxiii}
“She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.” What is the vineyard? What is this field? This is the field that Christ has said is ripe for the harvest.{cccxxxiv} The vineyard is our personal relationship with Christ. When we read Song of Solomon, what is so important about this vineyard that the beloved tends for the sake of her lover is that it is her love and devotion to him.{cccxxxv} The Bride adores her Husband, and it is of that love and adoration that these words speak: “You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride; you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain”.{cccxxxvi} And again later, “Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave”.{cccxxxvii} We’re told in 2 Corinthians 1:22 that Christ has set His seal of ownership upon us, which is the Holy Spirit,{cccxxxviii} guaranteeing what is to come.
“She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks. She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night.” Paul writes to the Church in Corinth, “You do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.”{cccxxxix} If the Church in Corinth did not lack any spiritual gift, neither do you. Do not think that Christ has called us to something bigger than what we are capable of performing. “Her arms are strong for her tasks.” The Bride of Christ is both able and willing, for “her lamp does not go out at night.” Night, in the eschatological sense, is the hour of tribulation. In 1 Thessalonians 5:2-5 we read, “You know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.”
The Church will know the day and hour. She will know and understand when the time has come. When that dark hour is here, her lamp will not go out. That is why we continue and read, “She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.” The Bride of Christ does not fear this hour. We read later in Proverbs 31 that “she can laugh at the days to come.” What is it that causes this? It is twofold. First, this Bride understands the times and seasons, and therefore does not fear because she knows that her salvation draws nigh. Second, we read of the character of this woman. Her character is something that describes utter confidence in her God, her Husband.
“In her hand she holds the distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers… When it snows, she has no fear for her household, for all of them are clothed in scarlet. She has made coverings for her bed; she is clothed in fine linen and purple.” For this woman to hold the distaff and grasp the spindle with her fingers, it speaks of dexterity. It is difficult to be able to hold both of these things with the same hand. It takes both practice as well as dexterity to accomplish this. When we read of the scarlet, fine linen, and purple, we are reading of royal attire. This Bride is clothed in royal clothing, and even her bed is dressed with the finest of cloth. Similarly, we are clothed with Christ.{cccxl} Yet, there is another way of looking at this. It says in Revelation 19:8 that fine linen, bright and clean, was given to the Bride to wear. Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.
When we skip a verse, we read, “She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes. She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.” Apparently this Bride has such righteousness and demeanor that those who are not saints are compelled to live righteously by her. By her strength and dignity, her words of wisdom and faithful instruction, she compels those around her to righteousness. Yet, righteousness without faith is but filthy rags. This kind of selling of linen garments and supplying the merchants with sashes must go beyond causing people to respect your religion. We are the fragrance of Christ, and that glory that is seen within our faces radiates light that attracts the hungry.{cccxli} Faith comes by hearing, and hearing the word of God.{cccxlii} This Bride speaks words of heaven that actually cause faith in the listeners. Both by lifestyle and by speech, this woman brings many sons to glory.{cccxliii}
“Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat upon the elders of the land… She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: ‘Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.’ Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.” I marvel at such words. Something deep within me intuits the majesty of these verses. Yet, it seems too extravagant to formulate words to help describe this. It is because of the Bride’s character that the husband is respected at the city gate. Her children call her blessed because of her character. It is because of the Bride’s character that her Husband praises her. We shall hear those words, “Well done, good and faithful servant; now enter into your rest.”{cccxliv}
Christ is returning with His rewards in hand.{cccxlv} We shall each receive what we have earned. To those that are a part of this Bride, who have entered into that rest by faith, they shall inherit the Kingdom of God. They shall rule and reign with Christ forever.{cccxlvi} Though they have entered the rest by faith here and now, and there is a rest that has come in a legitimate way, in that day they shall enter into a rest that we can only begin to postulate about here and now. There is a very real glory to which we are called to assume. It is this glory that will cause us to be able to wade through the Tribulation. Being prepared for the Tribulation will not prepare us for the Tribulation. Too many times I hear of sermons, teachings, books, and/or conferences that are designed to help us as believers wade through the Tribulation. If that is our only goal, we’ll fail. This glory prepares us for eternity with Christ. It brings us to adoration, if we are willing to cast off all the weights that hinder and the sin that so easily entangles us.{cccxlvii}
What the Church needs is to see this glory as a reality. It is the beauty and splendor of this Bride, fit for the Millennial Kingdom, that will alone cause for us to call our present affliction momentary and light. This is the equipping to carry the burden. This is the vision necessary that the burden of the Lord is no burden, but instead a joy. We laugh at the times to come, because we have been remade into the glory of heaven. Those that will rule and reign with Christ are those that are currently ruling and reigning. They are given over to the work of preparing a Bride for Christ. They make garments of fine linen, and they make sashes that they sell to the Body of Christ.
This beautiful Bride repeats the same words of God, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of the peoples. Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations that do not know you will hasten to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor”.{cccxlviii}
Maybe this is why one of the last statements of the book of Revelation says, “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life”.{cccxlix} The degree to which you have obtained those waters, and the degree to which you have come yourself, will be the revealing factor of whether you can call to others to come. Those that have taken and quaffed of the living water that flows from God’s throne – the Holy Spirit that flows out of our bellies – are they that can make this cry. It is a necessary cry. I pray to God that all of us might both hear it, and also bid those that we know to come to the river with us.