The word “church” is used in so many ways that it is difficult for many to understand what the Church of God really is, as spoken of in Scripture. “Feed the church of God” (Acts 20:2828Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. (Acts 20:28)). “Give none offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God” (1 Cor. 10:3232Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: (1 Corinthians 10:32)). Thus in the New Testament there are three classes on this earth: the Jewish nation, the Gentile world, and the Church of God.
Do we ever find these three classes in the Old Testament? Never; neither in Moses, the Psalms, nor the prophets. Is that a fact? It is. Then what did Stephen refer to when he spoke of “the church in the wilderness” (Acts 7:3838This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us: (Acts 7:38))? If you read the context, you will see that it was the children of Israel, or the nation of Israel gathered out of Egypt in the wilderness. It was one of the two things then on earth, and not the third thing, called in the New Testament “the church of God.” That is quite clear.
I should like to ask, When was it first named in Scripture? It was first named by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 16, but as a future thing. He said, “Upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” It is generally supposed that all saved persons, all believers, from the very first, say from Abel downward, belong to the Church. Do we not read of the Jewish church? Yes, but not in Scripture—only in the books of men who are guided by custom, and who do not examine Scripture for what they say.
Then again we hear and read of the church of Rome, church of England, Wesleyan, and Presbyterian church, etc.
Is this a correct way of speaking? Well, men understand what they mean. But our Lord did not mean any of these when He said, “I will build My church.” No, He did not say, I will build the church of Rome, or any of the churches that men have built. If any one of these was the Church, that would exclude all other believers in the other churches from being saved, as the Church is also the “one body,” and also the bride of Christ. “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:12-1312For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. 13For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:12‑13)). “There is one body” (Eph. 4:44There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; (Ephesians 4:4)). Who are meant by those that are baptized by the one Spirit into this one body, the Church of God? “Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours” (1 Cor. 1:22Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: (1 Corinthians 1:2)). Is it not evident from these scriptures that all true Christians form the one body of Christ, the Church of God? So that if Christ meant any of those bodies of men which claim to be the one body, the Church of God—or, to put it very plainly—if Christ meant that He would build the church of Rome, and that therefore it is the Church of God, this would undoubtedly prove that all outside the church of Rome are not Christians at all.
These remarks would be equally applicable to any other church which assumed the position of being the Church of God. As the Church is the one body of Christ, you cannot be a saved Christian if you are outside that one body.
Would it not then be foolish work to spend our time in trying to prove which of the many churches of Christendom is the true Church, since to do so would also prove that all other true Christians were not members of the body of Christ? This is not our object, but simply to inquire what is the Church, the one body of Christ, who is the Head of the body in heaven.
What is God's thought of the Church? We have already said that the Church is not once named in the Old Testament; was it then an after-thought of God, on the rejection of the Messiah by Israel? Far from this; we shall find that it was the first great purpose of God in giving His Son to accomplish redemption. And though this His purpose was never revealed, but kept hid for ages, yet we have most striking types of the Church, the bride of Christ, in the Old Testament. We will take three of these types, or pictures, of the Church, the bride of Christ. No doubt the Holy Spirit will teach us by these pictures, and help us to understand the New Testament scriptures better.
The first will illustrate the work of our God and Father; the second, the work of the Holy Spirit in gathering this bride; and the third will bring before us the Bridegroom Himself, and very precious details as to how the bride is redeemed and brought to Himself. We refer to Eve, Rebecca, and Ruth. Bear in mind, that we do not seek to prove the doctrine of the Church by these types, but use them to help us to understand the doctrine as taught in the Acts and the epistles.
EVE
In Genesis 2 we have the first Adam as a figure of Him that was to come. God placed him in paradise, the garden of Eden. “And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet for him.” How wonderfully this reveals the thought of God in eternity—His purpose that the last Adam, now in the paradise of God, should not be alone. We then see how God formed the creatures and brought them to Adam, and how Adam gave them their names. But there was not a help meet for him in paradise; not one suited to him; not one like him; not one of the same nature that corresponded to him. The animals were with him in paradise, companions we may say; but there was no real correspondence. No creature was of his nature meet for him—no creature meet to be ONE with Adam.
Mark, this was absolutely the case until “The LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made He a woman, and brought her unto the man.” It is quite true, we could not have seen this hidden type of Christ and the Church if the Holy Spirit had not revealed it in Eph. 5:3030For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. (Ephesians 5:30). Now all is clear.
There was no Eve until Adam had been laid in the figure of death—the deep sleep. Until then he was alone, though in the midst of all creation. The Lord Jesus tells us the very same thing; speaking of Himself, He says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. (John 12:24)). He was there with His disciples, or in heaven in the midst of angelic hosts; but as to His nature, He was and must be forever alone unless He die and be raised from the dead.
The moment Eve saw Adam, she was like him, bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh. It will be so with the second Eve, the one bride of Christ; when she shall be presented to Him, she will be glorious; yea, the moment we see Him, we shall be like Him (Eph. 5:2727That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:27); 1 John 3:22Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)). There was no Eve until Adam in figure died and rose again. Then she corresponded perfectly to Adam—was part of Himself. There was only one meet to be so. And the New Testament carries all this out fully as to the Church, the bride of Christ. To faith, all is now sure; but the presentation in the perfect likeness of Christ has not yet come. Surely all this should prepare us to find something marvelously new and different when Christ, the last Adam, had died and had risen from the dead. And that something is new; that new creation is the Church of God, one with Christ, the Head in heaven. “For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh.” Thus was Eve meet to be Adam's companion and a help meet in the paradise of Eden. And all this was the work of God, according to His own purpose.
And is it so, are all believers, according to the purpose of God, made meet for the paradise of God? Yes, we can all give “thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” (Col. 1:1212Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: (Colossians 1:12)). As this is the first figure of the Church, it is well to note how all is of God. And this answers to Ephesians 1 and 2.
Just as Eve was one with Adam, blest in and with him with every blessing in the earthly paradise, it was God who thus blessed her, and thus placed her the one bride of Adam, who had been dead in figure and was alive again. All was of God—so now of all the saints of God. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” Chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. But all, all is of God. Did God raise Adam from His deep sleep? Then “what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places.... And hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all” (Eph. 1:19-2319And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, 21Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 22And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:19‑23)).
And then the same blessed God has raised us up from the dead: “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:5-65Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: (Ephesians 2:5‑6)).
Yes, the first thought of God in giving His Son, was that He might not remain alone, the Man in the glory of the heavenly paradise, but that He should have a bride, the Church, in His own perfect likeness. Sins and sin forever passed away, she should share in His glory forever with and like Him—having His own sinless perfection, His own very nature. Oh, what will it be to be the companion of the last Adam in eternal glory, in every way corresponding to Him, as Eve to Adam! No other creature in the universe is to have or can have this place. We will next go on in our meditations to the second figure or picture of the bride of Christ. Can you, reader, recognize the hand of God (as in the picture we have looked at for a moment) in your new creation? Then dwell on the purpose of God as to your eternal future.