The Church (2)
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Israel is illustrated as a Bride and God being the groom.
God is deeply in love with Israel
Isaiah 62:5 (NKJV)
For as a young man marries a virgin, So shall your sons marry you; And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So shall your God rejoice over you.
God is rejoicing over Israel as a Bridegroom rejoices over a bride. God has great happiness and pleasure over Israel.
Faithfulness and loyalty in the marriage relationship between God and His covenant people is a primary theme in the Old Testament.
We see God always remains faithful
For your Maker is your husband, The Lord of hosts is His name; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth.
For the Lord has called you Like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, Like a youthful wife when you were refused,” Says your God.
“When I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed your time was the time of love; so I spread My wing over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine,” says the Lord God.
“Then I washed you in water; yes, I thoroughly washed off your blood, and I anointed you with oil.
I clothed you in embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of badger skin; I clothed you with fine linen and covered you with silk.
I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your wrists, and a chain on your neck.
And I put a jewel in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head.
Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate pastry of fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful, and succeeded to royalty.
Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through My splendor which I had bestowed on you,” says the Lord God.
God promised protection Israel, He promised engagement.
He washed Israel off, it says that she had the foulness of blood on her.
He promised to adorn her to decorate her.
He promised not just enough to give by but to lavish her with the best.
Israel became a queen he put a crown on her head, earrings in her ears, jewels in her nose. She was very appealing . We see that under reigns of David and Solomon Jerusalem became a magnificent city (cf. 1 Kings 10:4–5).
Israel had the finest of food, pastry of fine flour, honey oil.
She didn’t have the honey you get from food lion but the honey you get from weagmans.
She had fame, riches, ate good , and dressed exceptional, love By God. What else could you ask for!
Israel went from rags to riches. But things took a turn Israel commited adultery with God.
Israel was unfaithful and prostuited themselves.
Jeremiah 3:1 (NKJV)
“They say, ‘If a man divorces his wife, And she goes from him And becomes another man’s, May he return to her again?’ Would not that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the harlot with many lovers; Yet return to Me,” says the Lord.
“But you trusted in your own beauty, played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it.
You took some of your garments and adorned multicolored high places for yourself, and played the harlot on them. Such things should not happen, nor be.
You have also taken your beautiful jewelry from My gold and My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images and played the harlot with them.
You took your embroidered garments and covered them, and you set My oil and My incense before them.
Also My food which I gave you—the pastry of fine flour, oil, and honey which I fed you—you set it before them as sweet incense; and so it was,” says the Lord God.
Hosea also speaks about Israels harlotry.
Jesus calls Himself the bridegroom in his metaphor.
And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.
And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.
But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.
While identifying the church as His bride.
For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
Paul considered Himself to be the father of this Corinthian church. And as there father he has betrothed them to Christ.
Jesus like a father given there daughter over to marriage.
But Paul give them to One husband not many husbands.
Eph 5:22-33.
The image of the Church as the bride of Christ may strengthen the doctrine of Christ’s deity since this covenant relationship parallels the Old Testament concept that the people of God were married to Yahweh.
The Body of Christ
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
We are One Body because we have been Baptized by One Spirit.
Only One Spirit has put into The Body of Christ.
Key point : The Spirit of God is the creator of the church. Thats how you know you're a member is by the Spirit of God. The Spirit is Who unifies us . and it doesn’t matter of your nationality ( Jew or Greek ) or your station in life ( bond or free ) if you have The Spirit of God living in you, you are apart of the church.
Three major truths are presented about the body of Christ.
The church is a self developing body.
Members of the body of given special gifts and are appointed to special service.
3. The body is a living union or a organism.
Ephesians 4:11–16 (NKJV)
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,
but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—
from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
Believers are not only strongly encouraged to serve God in different capacities but also equipped to do so.
And thats done by the Body of Christ.
vs 11
Satan’s attack throughout history
Satan’s attack throughout history
practical
Paul warns its readers to be aware of the “ fiery darts of the wicked one, and the wiles of the devil .
Eph 6:11 “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”
Eph 6:16 “above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.”
this idea of the “full armor” may stem from Paul being tied to a Roman soldier while in prison awaiting trail . ( Acts 28:16,20 )
Wiles - methodia , same word for method, schemings , technique
without the armor of God believers will fall victim of schemes which satan has been using for thousands of years.
Paul is urging believers to stand. Believers are not made to advance against the devil or try to devise a plot to beat the devil . but to put on the the armor of God .
I was talking to one gentlemen who would always try to do things to stop sinning . He was put on this blocker on his phone there was a work around .
Satan has always attacked the work and God’s workers throughout the centuries.
Satan battle with Jesus started at the garden of Eden and continued throughout the course of the Bible Gen 3:15 .
Continued with the advent of Christ, his death , burial, resurrection and ascension . and the intensity of the struggle increased 1,000 fold .
During the first few centuries of church history the devil attacked the doctrine of the Deity of Christ.
Then after satans defeat at the first council of Nicaea 325 AD, satan attacked justification by faith .
But he didn’t take into account the actions of Martin Luther and the reformation .
Then satan lashed out on the inspiration of scriptures , this reached a high point during the final years of the nineteenth century and early years of the 20th century . The God raised up great Christian institutions, like Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and other Bible centers .
Satan goes for one more final blow which is the church . Satan boldly and brazenly declared all out war on the Bride of Christ. The most disturbing part about all of this is that the devil has been successful in deceiving a number of both professing and possessing Christians into joining his ranks .
If I where the Devil ( Written on a Baptist Bulletin in 1971)
If I were the Devil i would viciously attack those four divine institutions so graciously given by God to man, namely, the institutions of marriage , human government , the nation Israel , and the church.
Concerning the church , I would continue to attack it from the outside ( just to keep in practice ), but would concentrate the bulk of my evil efforts from within. “ The church is dead” would become my creed and cry. If I were the devil I would do my upmost to convince professing christians that the local church is finished! Not weak, not ineffective , but dead and decaying! I would encourage them to dig a hole, carve an epitaph, and bury it as quietly and quickly as possible . If I were the devil! ( Baptist Bulletin 1971)
This is exactly whats happening in the church today .
Theres a movement thats against the organized church/ local church .
You ever hear a person say they don’t like organized religion ?
They believe everyones thoughts are the same and valuable , theres no delegated authority, no structure , everybody shares there thoughts about God . No Pastor teacher
No one wants to be accountable, and no one wants to be vulnerable . Independence isn’t Liberty . Everyone wants to be independent .
Theres a reason why Satan wants to come up against the local church . So there begs the question what is the local church ?
