In commencing the study of any subject, it is well to know its beginnings—the original intention or plan, and the first step in its history. These we have in the clearest, fullest way, as to the Church, in holy scripture. There we have not only the original intention, but the plans and specifications of the Great Builder, and the early history of the work under His own hand. “ And the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved.” (Acts 2) This is historical. The foundation had been laid, and the work was going on; but the Lord Himself was still the only builder; therefore up to this time, all was real and perfect.
At the close of the Jewish dispensation the Lord added the saved remnant of Israel to the newly formed Church: but at the close of the present or christian dispensation, He will take all who believe in His name up to heaven in glorified bodies. Not one belonging to the Church will be added to the congregation of millennial saints. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (1 Thess. 4:14-1814For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:14‑18).) This will be the happy close of the history of the Church on earth—the true spouse of Christ. The dead raised—the living changed, and all, in their bodies of glory, caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Thus we have the entire limits of the Church defined, and the whole period of her history before us. But we return to the dawn of her day on the earth.
Under the figure of a building, the Lord first introduces the subject of the Church. And so infinitely precious are His words, that we may adopt them as the text or motto of its whole history. They have sustained the hearts and the hopes of His people in all ages, and in all circumstances; and they will ever be the stronghold of faith. What can he more blessed, more assuring, more peace-giving, than these words? —
“UPON THIS ROCK I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH; AND THE GATES OF HELL SHALL NOT PREVAIL AGAINST IT.”
In Matt. 16 the Lord questions His disciples as to the sayings of men concerning Himself. This leads to the glorious confession of Peter, and also to the gracious revelation of the Lord concerning His Church. It may be well to transfer the whole conversation to our pages. It all bears so directly on our subject.
“When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias: and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Here we have the two main things connected with the proposed building—the Rock-foundation, and the divine Builder. “Upon this rock I will build my church.” But who is, or what is, “this rock?” some may inquire. Clearly, we answer, the confession of Peter; not Peter himself, as the apostasy teaches. True, he was a stone—a living stone in the new temple; “Thou art Peter”—thou art a stone. But the Father’s revelation, by Peter, of the glory of the Person of His Son, is the foundation on which the Church is built—“Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” But the glory of the Person of the Son in resurrection is the unveiled truth here. “Flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” Immediately on the confession by Peter, the Lord intimates His intention to build His Church, and asserts its eternal security. “Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
He Himself, the fountain of life, could not be conquered by death, but in dying as the great substitute for sinners, He triumphed over death and the grave, and is alive for evermore, as He said to His apostle John after His resurrection: “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” (Rev. 1:1818I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. (Revelation 1:18).) What majestic, what triumphant words arc these! They are the words of a conqueror—of one who has power; but of power over the gates of hades—the place of separate spirits. The keys—symbol of authority and power—hang at His girdle. The stroke of death may fall upon a Christian, but the sting is gone. It comes as a messenger of peace to conduct the weary pilgrim home to eternal rest. Death is no longer the master, but the servant of the Christian. “For all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours: and ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.” 1 Cor. 3:21-2321Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; 22Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; 23And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's. (1 Corinthians 3:21‑23).
The Person of Christ, then, the Son of the living God in His resurrection glory, is the foundation—the solid, the imperishable foundation, on which the Church is built.
As alive from the dead, He communicates life in resurrection to all who are built on Him as the true foundation stone. This is plain from what Peter says in his first epistle. “To whom coming, as unto a living stone.... ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house.” And further down in the same chapter he says, “Unto you therefore which believe, he is precious,” or “an honor.” (See marg.) May both reader and writer note well these two most precious truths in connection with our “Rock-foundation”—divine life and divine preciousness. These are communicated to, and become the possession of, all who put their trust in Christ. “To whom coming,” not to what coming; it is the Person of Christ we come to, and have to do with. His life—life in resurrection—becomes ours. From that moment He is our life. “To whom coming, as unto a living stone.....ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house.” Christ’s own life, as the risen Man, and all that He is heir to, is ours. Oh! wondrous, marvelous, blessed truth! Who would not desire, above all things, this life, and this life beyond the power of death—the gates of hades? Eternal victory is stamped on the risen life of Christ, it can never more be tested, and this is the believer’s life.
But there is more than life for every living stone in this spiritual temple. There is also Christ’s preciousness. “Unto you therefore which believe he is precious;” literally, “the preciousness.” That is, just as the life of Christ becomes ours when we believe in Him, so does His preciousness. The principle in both is the same. The life may be viewed as our capacity to enjoy; and the preciousness, as our title to possess our inheritance on high. His honors, titles, dignities, privileges, possessions, glories, are ours—all ours in Him. “To them that believe he is the preciousness.” Ο wondrous thought! “He loved the Church and gave himself for it.” Such then is our Rock-foundation, and such the blessedness of all who are on the Rock. Like Jacob of old, when a pilgrim and a stranger he rested on the stone in the desert, the whole panorama of heaven’s riches in grace and glory passed before him. Gen. 28
CHRIST THE ONLY BUILDER OF HIS CHURCH
But Christ is also the builder of His Church. “Upon this rock I will build my Church.” It is well to be clear on this point, so that we may not confound what man builds with what Christ builds. There must be the greatest confusion of mind, both as to the truth of God and the present state of Christendom, unless this distinction is seen. Nothing is more important to note here than that Christ is the only builder of His Church; though Paul and Apollos, and all true evangelists, are ministers, by whom sinners believe. The Lord’s work in the souls of believers is perfect. It is a real, spiritual, personal work. Through His grace in their hearts they come to Himself, as unto a living stone, and are built upon Him who is risen from among the dead. They have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Such are the living stones with which Christ builds His holy temple; and the gates of hell can never prevail against it. Thus Peter himself, and all the apostles, and all true believers, are built up a spiritual house. When Peter speaks of this building hi his first epistle, he says nothing of himself as a builder. None but Christ has anything to say to this building. It is His work and His only. “I will build my Church,” He says.
Let us now see from the word of God what man builds—what materials he uses, and the way he goes to work. In 1 Cor. 3 and 2 Tim. 2 we have these things brought before us. “A great house” is raised by human instrumentality: but which, in a certain sense, is also the Church, and the house of God. As in 1 Timothy 3:1515But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. (1 Timothy 3:15) we read of “the house of God, which is the Church of the living God.” It is also spoken of as Christ’s house in Hebrew 3:6, “whose house are we.” But the house soon became sadly corrupted through human infirmity and positive wickedness. The authority of God’s word by many was set aside, and man’s will became supreme. The effect of human philosophy on the simple institutions of Christ was soon painfully manifest. But wood, hay, and stubble, can never be “fitly framed together” with gold, silver, and precious stones. The house became great in the world; like the mustard tree, in the brandies of which many find a convenient lodging. Connection with the “great house” gives man a status in the world, in place of being like the Master, despised and rejected. The archbishop stands next to royalty. But the professing Church is not only outwardly great, it is most pretentious, and seeks to put the stamp of God on its own unhallowed work. This is its greatest wickedness, and the source of its blindness, confusion, and worldliness.
Paul, as one chosen of the Lord to do His work, laid the foundation of “God’s building” in Corinth, and others built upon it. But they did not all build with divine materials. The right foundation was laid, and every man was to take heed how he builded thereon. In connection with the true foundation, some might build gold, silver, and precious stones, and others wood, hay, and stubble. That is, some might teach sound doctrine, and look for living faith in all who applied for communion: others might teach unsound doctrine, and receive into the fellowship of the Church, persons in whom was no faith—the mere outward observance of ordinances taking the place of faith and eternal life. Here man’s instrumentality, responsibility, and failure came in. Nevertheless, the builder himself may be saved, having faith in Christ, though his work is destroyed. But there is another and a worse class of builders, who corrupt the temple of the Lord, and are themselves destroyed. We give, for the convenience of the reader, the entire passage. Nothing can be plainer. “According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.........If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy.” Verses 10-17.
We may further observe on the Lord’s words, “upon this rock I will build my Church,” that He had not begun to build it yet, He is telling them what He is going to do. He does not say, I have built it, or I am building it, but I will build it; and this He began to do at Pentecost.
But there is another truth most intimately connected with the history of the Church, and linked up with its condition and character, on the earth, that we must notice, before proceeding with its actual history. We refer to the truth contained in the expression, the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
This leads to the “great house”—already referred to—of outward profession. At the same time, we must bear in mind, that though intimately connected, the kingdom of heaven and the great house are quite distinct. In title, the world belongs to the King. “The field is the world.” His servants are to go on sowing. In result, we have “a great house,” or Christendom. But when all that which is merely nominal in Christendom shall be swept away by judgment, the kingdom will be established in power and glory. This will be the millennium.
While still speaking to Peter about the Church, the Lord added “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” The Church, as built by Christ, and the kingdom of heaven as opened by Peter, are widely different things. It is one of the great but common mistakes of Christendom, to use the terms interchangeably, as if they meant the same thing. And theological writers in all ages, from assuming, as a basis, that they are the same, have written in the most confused way, both as to the Church and the kingdom. The expression is dispensational, just as the similar phrase, “the kingdom of God,” is moral. But unless we have some acquaintance with the dispensational ways of God, we can never rightly divide His word. That which Christ Himself builds, and that which man builds instrumentally, by means, it may be, of preaching and baptizing, must not be confounded. The Church which is Christ’s body is built upon the confession that He is the Son of the living God, glorified in resurrection. Every truly converted soul has to do with Christ Himself, before it can have anything to say to the Church. The kingdom is a wider thing, and takes in every baptized person—the whole scene of Christian profession, whether true or false.
Christ does not say to Peter that He will give him the keys of the Church, or the keys of heaven. Had He done so, there might have been some show of reason for the evil system of popery. But He merely says, “I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven”—or of the new dispensation. Keys, we know, are not for budding tern-pies, but for opening doors; and the Lord honored Peter to open the door of the kingdom, first to the Jews, and then to the Gentiles. (Acts 2:1010Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, (Acts 2:10).) But the language of Christ about His Church is of another order. It is simple, beautiful, emphatic, and unmistakable. “My Church.” What depth, what fullness there is in these words: “My Church!” When the heart is in fellowship with Christ about His Church, there will be an apprehension of His affections towards it, which we have no power of expressing. As it is, we love to linger over these two words, “My Church!” but who can speak of the measure of Christ’s heart that is therein revealed? Again, think of these other two words, “This rock.” As if He had said, “The glory of my Person, and the power of my life in resurrection, form the solid foundation of “My Church.” And again, “I will build.” Thus we see in these seven words, that everything is in Christ’s own hands, as “to the Church which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.”
THE OPENING OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.
The administration of the Kingdom, the Lord, in an especial manner, committed to Peter, as we see in the early chapters of the Acts. The term is taken from the Old Testament. See Dan. 2 and vii. In chapter 2 we have the kingdom; in chapter 7 we have the king. The phrase, Kingdom of Heaven, occurs only in the gospel of Matthew, where the evangelist writes chiefly for Israel.
The bringing in of the kingdom of heaven in power and glory on the earth, in the Person of the Messiah, was the natural expectation of every godly Jew. John the Baptist, as the Lord’s forerunner, came preaching. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. But in place of the Jews receiving their Messiah, they rejected and crucified Him; consequently, the kingdom, according to Jewish expectations, was set aside. Nevertheless, it was introduced in another form. When the rejected Messiah ascended to heaven, and took His place at God’s right hand, triumphant over every foe, the kingdom of heaven began. Now the king is in heaven, and as Daniel says, “the heavens do rule,” though not openly. And from the time that He ascended until He returns, it is the kingdom in mystery. (Matt. 13.) When He comes back again in power and great glory it will be the kingdom in manifestation.