This month I would like to look at the Church again but from a totally different perspective.
I have written before that we spend so much time these days talking about “the Church - the Church” but it’s not about the Church it's all about the Kingdom.
The church is part of the eternal Kingdom of God and our work on earth today is to bring the Kingdom of Heaven into our sin sick world. THAT is what the Church is all about!
However, when all of that is finally done, there is a wonderful eternal future awaiting the Church…
So let’s lay aside all of our ideas and experiences of Church and let’s get the vision of the ultimate destiny of the Church.
Let’s see the heavenly vision – the Church in eternity.
The book of Revelation gives us that vision of the Church. In fact at the beginning of Revelation it says this is the revelation of Jesus which God gave him to show US what must soon take place. (1:1)
In Rev 21 John saw a new heaven & new earth – this is the ultimate eternal state for God and for us. John is shown this vision of the Church – like a CITY – the New Jerusalem and also like a BRIDE. That’s how we know it’s the Church because in other places the church is described as a bride and Jesus is the bridegroom.
Let’s start with the vision of the Church as the eternal CITY first.
How do you describe the indescribable? How do you put into words something that humans have no concept of? The only way you can do it is with words and ideas that we can understand to a degree.
So this new Jerusalem city comes down out of heaven onto a newly created earth that has no sea.
The city is vast: It covers 2 million square miles or 3 million square kilometres – it’s nearly twice the size of India.
How do you describe the indescribable?
It’s fabulous – shimmering with brilliant light and see-through gold and built on solid blocks of 12 different kinds of precious stone - 2 million square miles in area!
How do you describe the indescribable?
What is this city? It’s the Church! All the Old Testament people of God and all the saints put together! And what happens?
God himself – the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb live in that city with us – forever!
There are 12 gates to the city – no one is confined there - we are free to come and go anywhere in the new heaven or the new earth – forever!
It’s an exclusive city. Only those who are pure and holy can live there – there will be nothing to defile it - and therefore there will be nothing but pure joy and everlasting life for the people who live there with God in their midst.
Even in this fabulous description of the new heaven and earth and the new Jerusalem there is a reference to those who will not be there (21v8, 27).
21v7 It’s those who overcome who will inherit all this – we need that vision - of what someone has called the sweet by and by - but the reality is that we are living in the nasty now and now - where the church is far from being a glorious shimmering city.
We should not be surprised by this because Jesus is still building his church – and I don’t know if you’ve ever been on a building site – but it’s a bit messy. The reality is the church can be quite messy while it’s being built - but out of the ground there begins to emerge what will eventually be a beautiful shimmering city!
Furthermore Jesus said the devil would try to come against the church that He is building BUT he said the gates of hell will not prevail against it. The strategies of the devil. What are his strategies?
Well his name begins with a D and many of the things he uses to come against the church begin with a D too! Let’s look at the devil’s deadly D’s – these are the only negative words I will write today – and the reason for doing so is to EXPOSE the devil’s tactics to come against the church – but remember he can only take what we allow him to take. So here they are:
Deception, Destruction, Disease, Death, Depression, Despair, Disunity, Domination, Deflection, Desertion, Discouragement, Doubt, Disobedience.
Then there’s persecution, temptation, sin and the list goes on.
Many strategies he uses to try and destroy the church – but we are still here – Jesus is still building His church and the devil will not win!!!
But we have to overcome him - it’s those who overcome the devil, the world and the flesh who will be in that glorious city of everlasting light.
In His messages to the seven churches Jesus makes promises to those who overcome & to the last church – the church in Laodicea he makes the biggest promise: “To him who overcomes I will give the right to sit with Me on my throne” 3:21
We are destined for the throne!
How do we overcome? – well the book of Rev 12:11 tells us how – we overcome by:
The BLOOD OF THE LAMB
Blood stands for life – Jesus gave his life to overcome – sin – death – hell – the devil – the world so we overcome all of them by the power of his blood by the power of His ENDLESS LIFE - his victory over them all.
The WORD OF OUR TESTIMONY
What is a testimony? It’s a declaration of the truth. In a court of law people have to give testimony – swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
The court hears testimonies from as many people as possible and has to decide what is true and what is not. Our testimony is the truth of God’s word – it’s the absolute truth - it’s the whole truth. Truth sets us free. Truth stands against the lies of the devil.
NOT LOVING OUR OWN LIVES unto death
This is a key to overcoming – if we love our own lives – if we hold on to this life – if we love the world, we are holding onto something that is imperfect – there is only One who is perfect – Jesus – if we hold on to Him we can overcome anything!
Let’s turn now to the metaphor of the Church as a Bride (21v2).
Jesus is the Bridegroom and the Church is the bride.
It speaks of all of us who are saved by Jesus being eternally and intimately united with him in glory forever.
Just as a bridegroom prepares and provides a home for his bride to live with him for the rest of their lives so we will be joined to Jesus and enjoy his home for all eternity and he just happens to be the richest landowner of all time – he doesn’t just own planet earth – he’s got the title deeds to Jupiter and Mars and all the other billions of stars and planets in the universe!!!
In view of all THAT what does that mean to the church today? In the nasty now and now?
Well once again Rev 19:7 gives us the answer…
Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.
A bride gets herself ready for her wedding day. It takes a lot of work but it’s exciting and it’s worth it!
I’m so glad that in this modern day and age we can have video made to capture all aspects of the occasion of the wedding day. My children have seen the one we had made and when my son was a little boy he was most upset that he wasn’t in it!!
Well there’s a part of the video that I’m not in either - the part where the bride is making herself ready.
In the video my bride was already dressed in her beautiful dress which she designed herself and her friend was putting the finishing touches to her hair and then to the really lovely headdress of fresh white flowers – she looked fantastic – the bride had made herself ready with a lot of hard work and a lot of help for her friends.
That’s what we should be doing – yes we’ve got to get on with our every day lives
But we are destined for the throne!
We are the bride of Christ. He is our glorious bridegroom and we haven’t got much time – the wedding day is coming!
If we keep that before us – just like a bride will be preparing for her wedding day for months even years in advance then that will determine what we do and what we don’t spend our time and energy on now!
I close with the closing words of Revelation:
The Spirit and the bride say come!
He who testifies to these things says “Yes I am coming soon.”
Amen Come Lord Jesus!
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people Amen!