The Church

To have been ignorant of prophecy in the days of Luther, would have been, comparatively, of small moment; for the Spirit of God was leading men’s minds into other truths of vital importance, and there was, so to speak, little leisure for any subject, except to clear away to the groundwork of justification by faith. But with this fundamental point settled, to be ignorant of such truths now, argues an indifference to the purposes of God concerning Christ and His glory―limits our acquirements to but a small portion of the Word of God, that, namely, concerning the way to be saved―and deprives us of much practical truth both for walk and testimony, just at the time, it may be, when a fresh development of His counsels concerning this world is on the eve of taking place; for we must ever remember that God in government is one thing, and God in relation to the soul is another; although the two, as in all the things of God, have their links of connection, and although Christ be the agent of both.
Yet the study of prophecy, particularly in its earlier stages, is by no means difficult. We soon find ourselves upon ground common to the great body of enquirers―such as the premillennial advent, the restoration of the Jews, and the first resurrection. It is a subject of thankfulness that even thus far so many are agreed. The possession of these elementary truths is of much advantage in practical service to the Lord; for it helps to quicken our energies in respect of a certain defined hope, and to deliver us from false expectations concerning the operations of the Spirit of God during the time in which we now live.
The next branch of the prophetic inquiry embraces such questions as the state of the professing Church (baptized Christendom) when Christ comes; together with corresponding ones as to the condition in which the Jews, whether in or out of their land, will be found when that great event takes place. What might be termed the third branch, is the investigation of the, as yet, unfulfilled last week of the seventy weeks of Daniel, and the specialty of the Anti-Christ’s dealings, whether with Jew or Gentile, at that period. With this question is closely allied that of the critical fulfillment, in a period of literal days, of some principal portions of the book of Revelation, and the characteristics of a body of suffering people, found in the trials of the latter day, and delivered, by the destruction of their enemies, at the Lord’s own appearing. This last branch of the inquiry demands a tolerably enlarged and accurate acquaintance with the Word, into which, it may safely be affirmed, many do not give themselves the trouble to enter.
Those who do, are inevitably led, by certain difficulties which present themselves on the threshold, into an examination of what the Church is, and what place it holds in the counsels of God, touching His purposes, whether present or future, in the divine government of the world.
It is in order to help the enquirer to clear up such difficulties that the following remarks are made.
Supposing, then, we have arrived at the conclusion that―according to 1 Timothy 4:1-3, 2 Tim. 3:1-8; 2 Pet. 2:1-3, and 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12.―the professing Church, in the last days, is to be very corrupt, and that according to Romans 11:20-22, its sentence is to be cut off, because it does not stand by faith; in other words, that the mercy of God shown to the Gentiles ends in their apostacy; and also, that the restored, but not converted Jews receive, according to Daniel 9:27, and John 5:43, a false Messiah, and that there are those among them (Dan. 11:30) who forsake the Holy covenant, it yet remains true that in either case, whether Jewish or Gentile, there is a godly seed who have to do with the Lord in the midst of the apostacy, and who lean on His promises (compare for the Jews Daniel 11:32-35; and for the Gentiles 2 Thessalonians 1:4-8; 2 Peter 2:1-9; 3:10-12). The general principle in either case is, that the Lord’s people are a suffering people, up to the time of the manifestation of the Lord on their behalf.
Now, whilst, as before implied, we arrive within a certain distance of the latter-day crisis with tolerable unanimity; it is just within this distance―within a small circumference―that events occur which become important for testimony, in proportion to the nearness of their approach. One of these questions is the action of the Spirit of God upon the godly Jew or Jewish remnant of the latter day, concerning his proper earthly hope; viz., of being blessed in earthly things in the land of Judea; and another intimately allied with the former is, whether the Church is to be in the tribulation of Anti-Christ, and not rather relieved by being caught up to meet the Lord in the air, previous to His revelation for the destruction of that Wicked one (2 Them. 2:8). Into the first of these, viz. the Jewish hope of an earthly inheritance, it is not our purpose to enter at large; as to the other, it is evident we determine nothing by the fact of both the Jew and the Church being a suffering people to the last; unless it can be shown that each party suffers with a distinct hope of its own; and we believe the solution will be found, not so much in a minute and make-weight adjustment of texts, as in the study, from the writings of Paul of what the Church of God really is; and thus we shall be able to discover, by its well-known features, where it does appear and where it does not.
The Church, in the writings of the Apostle Paul, is a new thing-something specific. It is united to a risen Head, who is called the Head of the Church, as the beginning, the first-born from the dead (Col. 1:18); quickened by the same power which quickened Him (Eph. 1); called into His fellowship (1 Cor. 1:9); built up to its full stature, as a body down here, by an especial ministry given from the ascended Jesus; and presented thus complete, at a certain epoch, as a glorious Church, to stand in the ages to come as a monument of the exceeding riches of His grace. It is a something of itself―a prolonging, speaking with reverence, of Christ personal-indeed, in 1 Corinthians 12:12, it is so called. Tracing in the Epistle to the Ephesians its history and character rather more minutely, we find it in chapter 1. energized by the same power which raised up Christ from the dead, and called “the fullness of Him that filleth all in all,” ―Christ in ascension being its Head, and the power in exercise towards it being then first set forth (compare 2 Cor. 1:9, 10). In chapter 2 it is said to be raised up together and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ (vs. 6); and to lose down here both a Jewish and Gentile character in the flesh (vv. 11, 14). chapter 3 is a treatise on the mystery, in other ages not made known unto the sons of men, of the Gentiles being joint heirs, and of the same body, of which Paul was made a minister, to preach among them, the Gentiles, the unsearchable riches of Christ, with a prayer for Christ to dwell in their hearts by faith, compare Colossians 1:26, 27― “Christ in you the hope of glory.” Observe―there was a prophecy in the Old Testament, that the Jews should be angered by a foolish nation during the time of their rejection of the Messiah (Deut. 32:21), as well as of the Gentiles being blessed in millennial times through the Jews (Amos 9:11, 12); but there was no idea of an heirship, or of Christ having a body during His rejection, in which He should dwell as the hope of glory; nor, indeed, is it even named with reference to the time of His proper Lordship in the millennium. The particularity of the Church consists in its being heir at once of Christ’s sufferings and glory, in consequence of its being identified with Him in His rejection and resurrection. In chapter 4 the apostle speaks of the body of Christ down here as ministered to by gifts flowing from Christ ascended, “till we all come.... unto a perfect man.” This chapter extinguishes the notion of the Church in a disembodied state, being ever in the apostle’s mind, (as is commonly said of a deceased Christian, ‘Such an one is gone to make part of the Church above,’) for the idea is the completion of the Church as a body down here; and then (chs. 5), when thus complete, its presentation as a glorious Church―the union of the husband and wife being but a type of the great mystery―Christ and the Church. As to its blessing, already it is blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, and raised up and made to sit there in Him. The office of the Spirit of God is to draw its affections now towards Christ in the heavenlies, much more will its place be there hereafter. It is unearthly both in its present character and future hopes. Christ is preparing mansions for us in His Father’s house, and will come again and receive us unto Himself; and its birth, separation, building up, completion, and resurrection are all by the One Spirit. The work must be finished with the Church, before, speaking reverently, the Spirit of God enters into another sphere of action.
Finally, it is important to recognize the cry put into the hearts of Christians, that is of the Church, during persecution. It is after the pattern of their Master­ “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do;” who, “when He suffered, He threatened not, but committed Himself unto Him that judgeth righteously.” They have no right to expect deliverance in any public way that is, by any public manifestation on their behalf. True, indeed, the hand of the Lord may be seen in answer to prayer, and for the carrying on of His own purposes, as in the case of Peter and others; such deliverance, however, is not final, but for further suffering; and, peradventure, for martyrdom at the end, for the object of the Lord is not the saving of the flesh, but resurrection; and so we are “strengthened with all might according to His glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness;” and, when at last He comes for them, they are not crying for vengeance, but preparing for the marriage of the Lamb, in watching and keeping their garments. All this will be seen to be important when we contrast it with the Jewish cry.
Let us now turn to the blessings promised to the literal seed of Abraham. The Jew as such, ever was, and ever will be, for the earth. Palestine (under enlarged limits to those which they have ever yet possessed Gen. 15:18) is theirs forever (Gen. 13:15; Ex. 32:13). They have never yet had it under the New Covenant nor with the true David as their Messiah. They have hitherto been a rebellious race, although with an elect seed among them. It is clear, from Zechariah 8:2, 8, that there are yet mercies intended for Jerusalem―mercies which cannot, by any stretch, of figure, be entirely spiritualized. From the same prophet we learn that these mercies are to be preceded by local judgments (12. & 14:1, 2, 3). It is also plain, from Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11, that during this time Anti-Christ — or, at all events, some wicked prince-will set up the abomination of desolation there, on which occasion (Matt. 24 15:16) the disciples of Christ are desired to flee. It is evident then, that disciples are in Jerusalem at the time. The inquiry, therefore, may be made, who are these persons? If they are Christians, it is certain that the Jewish temple has been rebuilt, and that Jewish worship is restored― “When ye shall see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place.”
Considering the character and condition of the Church of Christ, as portrayed in the Epistle to the Ephesians, we may well ask, how is it possible that Christiana can have to do with the acknowledgment of the Jewish temple, whilst Jesus in the heavenlies and the heavenly Jerusalem claim their allegiance and influence their hopes? But next, why should we find them in Jerusalem at all in such numbers that a commandment should be given them to flee? And again, is fleeing from trouble on earth, when resurrection is our final place, characteristic of the Church? Certainly, one would suppose, that persons told to flee at the very crisis of danger and subsequent judgment, are destined to fulfill some purpose on earth. If then we believe that Palestine belongs to the Jews, that they will return there in unbelief, receive the Anti-Christ, and make a covenant with him to their eventual judgment―that amidst the general apostacy there exists a godly seed among them, who are to be spared in the judgement as the nucleus of the future regenerate nation; we may readily conceive how appropriate are such directions for their conduct, whenever the awful crisis shall arrive. In the book of Psalms, too, there is continual allusion to these latter-day desolations of Jerusalem, annexed to which are petitions for deliverance, with vengeance denounced upon their persecutors. (Consult such Psalms as 44. 46. 48. 74. 76. 79. &c.) Such a cry is unsuitable to the Church, whose expectation being heavenly, knows its place, and looks not for deliverance or settlement on earth. Thus we see the importance of distinguishing between the operations of the Spirit at this present time, for “there is one body and one Spirit,” and His operations at the time, when He puts a cry into that godly seed, who are intended for earthly blessing―a cry, we say, for final vengeance against their enemies; and this is surely the way in which many of the denunciatory Psalms are to be understood. Now this understanding of what the Church is, has, among others, two very useful results.
1st. Whatever be our opinion of the coming of the Lord for the Church (1 Them 4:18-17), as distinct from the Church’s coming with Him (Rev. 19:11-14; Zech. 14:5) ― and we wish to make every allowance for the difficulties of the question we are enabled to discern the distinctness of the Lord’s dealings with the Church and with the Jew, as well as the difference which exists between their character and standing. Otherwise, in the examination of the crisis of the latter day, we shall have no distinguishing feature to enable us to separate the one from the other, and shall be groping our way amid scenes of sorrow, with no certainty as to who the actors are.
2nd. It brings us into acquaintance with our position of separation down here. It is something of itself―unique. Godliness with us should not be the learning of a few maxims, by the which we are to get on safely in the world, as, alas! is too often all that is made of Christ. A little acquaintance with Him will do this. But the knowledge that Christ is the Bridegroom of the Church, produces a voluntary resignation of things around us, for the better hope. We are mourning for One who is away, and whom we are expecting to return. We are not like David, a ruler and a saint at the same time―the one calling being at variance with the other; but our calling down here is according to our saint ship. Oh! that we had more of these holy affections, and more sense of the honor put upon us, as called to fellowship with Christ’s sufferings and rejection.