Weekly message for 9-6-2020
Meditation of the week: Psalm 91:1-16
Text: Ephesians 1:19-23
Title: The Mystery of Christ and the Church
Apostle Paul testified saying, he wants to let us to know that there is the hope and abundant glorious inheritance given to the children of God in the church of God, and the power in the Holy Spirit that raised Christ from the dead to sit at the right hand of God in heaven.
He also testified that God put all things under the feet of Christ Jesus and gave him to the church by making him head over all things, and the church is the body of Christ and the fullness of the One who fills all things in all.
If the church is the body of Christ, it is a mystical fact that those who believe in Christ Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit to become members of the church, that is, one organism, not an organization, is one body with Christ.
This mystical truth is that after God made the first man Adam in his image and his likeness and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. And 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 a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said. This is now the bone of my bones, the flesh of my flesh, and she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Men. (Genesis 2:7,21-23)
What Adam said to the woman was that his bones and flesh, that is his body were walking toward him. God who heard this and said:
Apostle Paul testified of the mysterious relationship with Christ as a Man and the church as a Woman, reminding us of this word of God:
The Holy Spirit convinced Apostle Paul of a great mystery. In other words, God sent his only begotten Son, Jesus, in the form of a Man, to take away the sin of the world, and to make those who believe in him become the Woman Jesus. For this reason, whoever believes in Jesus, who became Christ, gave the Holy Spirit, that is, the Spirit of Christ, to become one body with Him. Therefore, those who believe in Christ and become members of the church, the body of Christ, become one body by becoming the bones and flesh of Christ spiritually, like Adam and Eve.
Therefore, the marriage system between man and woman in this world is the figure to fulfill God’s mysterious plan to unite heaven and earth in Christ by making God’s only begotten Son, Jesus who leaves the Father in heaven, and marry with Woman that his church. However, in order to reconcile the sinful world because of the devil with him, the LORD God made Jesus die for a while as Adam for the sins of the world shedding the blood of sacrifice, and rise again from the dead. And God gave the Holy Spirit for them that believe in Jesus to make them to get married to Jesus to make them one body with him.
This mysterious truth can be understood when God opens the eyes of understanding by giving the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God.
All the words of God cannot to be understood for the natural man. Only those who believe in Christ and receive the Spirit of God can understand. Apostle Paul testified of this:
That’s right! The spiritual mystery of Christ and the church can only be reaalized by those who believe in Christ and receive the Holy Spirit and have the mind of Christ.
Apostle Paul testified to the Corinthian believers saying, only those who believe in the gospel of Christ and become the children of God are to be married to Christ spiritually:
Apostle Paul said that the Jews, his own people do not realize this great blessing because they do not believe in Christ. And he feels godly jealousy because the Gentiles rather belie in Christ Jesus.
Apostle Paul testified that the church of God, the body of Christ engaged with Christ, is the only one virgin in the world, not ten virgins at all. God sees those who have become children of God by believing in Christ among over seven billion people, regardless of nations and people, as one body including all saints who died in Christ sleeping in the graves. God sees all of them as a pure virgin in his eyes.
While on earth, Christians who believe in Christ and become the children of God and become members of the church, the body of Christ, are living pure lives by overcoming the world in the hope of meeting Christ Jesus, the bridegroom. Concerning this hope, Apostle Paul testified to Titus:
Now, sooner or later, before the Great Tribulation comes, Christ will come down from heaven to give resurrection unto hid bride that is the body of the pure virgin to marry. He will appear with the spirits and souls of Christians who have already died. Apostle Paul previewed this magnificent sight and testified to the suffering members of Thessalonica church:
Apostle John previewed and testified in the Holy Spirit the wedding ceremony of the Lamb, Jesus Christ, where the saints who are brought up to heaven to marry with Christ:
The church, which had been engahed to Christ while living on this earth, shall now become one body forever with Christ through the wedding ceremony, and Christ, her husband, will come down to the earth together with them to judge the world of sin and to help him reign in his kingdom. Apostle John, who previewed this spectacle in the Holy Spirit, testified:
The Church of God will live forever in the New Jerusalem, the heavenly mansion provided by Christ the Bridegroom. After Christ’s Thousand Year Reign is over, Christ will create and fill all things not only on this earth but also in heaven. The Church of God shall be with Christ in filling all things forever and ever. At this time, God will complete the mysterious work that God had planned before the creation of the world:
