THIS IS THE TRUE CHURCH

PART TWO

The True Church is not a local assembly. It is the Bride of Christ ~ the Body of Christ.  It is the Church that will one day be taken from this world at end of Church age. Some call this secret catching away the Rapture, others term it differently. In today´s culture there seem to be many and varied theories about the time period of the snatching away.

The Church is not some irrelevant institution of human construction. It is neither  a man-made organization that is designed to take advantage of people. The Church was established by Jesus Christ Himself. In Matthew 16, Jesus took His disciples to an obscure place in the land of Israel called Caesarea Philippi. It was a secular Gentile place. The nation of Israel had turned its back on Jesus, and thus He took His disciples to a very non-jewish place to explain to the disciples what Jesus had in mind.  

Jesus said, “I will build My Church, and the gates of hades (the powers of the infernal region) shall not overpower it. Or be strong to its detriment or hold out against it.’   Then He said to the disciples, “I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; and whatever you bind (declare to be improper and unlawful) on earth must be what is already bound in heaven; and whatever you loose (declare lawful) on earth must be what is already loosed in heaven.’

Notice several things about the statement of Jesus. “I will build My Church’. Recognize that He is doing it. Christ Himself is the initiator of the process. He is the the One begins, establishes, and builds the Church.  The phrase, “I will build’ has a continuative sense in the original Gree. It means, “I will build it, continue to build it, and keep on building it.’  Jesus does not say,  “I´m going to start the Church and then stop it at some point.’ Or “I´ll build it only so far and then take My hands off it.’

Jesus was making it very clear what He meant. He said, “This is My Church, and I am going to build this Church to the glory of God. I will keep on doing it until the trumpet sounds, the archangel shouts, and you are raptured out of here.’  Until the Rapture (snatching away) occurs, we as Christians know what we are supposed to be doing.  We are fulfilling the great prediction of Jesus Christ. He was saying, “I will do the building. I will initiate it.  I will keep on doing it. I will sustain it. And the gates of Hell will not be able to stand up against it. I will send out the Church to take the message of salvation to the entire world.’ It is the message of the loving God that reaches from the glory of Heaven and sends the Son of God into the human race. He knew that He must go to earth wrapped in swaddling clothes, and grow up to be the Messiah. He also knew that the day would come when He would sacrifice Himself on the hill of Calvary. He came for a purpose and that purpose was to save the world from their sins. He lived, He died, He rose again!

Jesus could come at any moment, to take His children home to God. Are you ready? If not, consider the consequences and weigh them in the balance. Tomorrow may be too late, so cry out to God, for forgiveness and repent before it is too late!

Tara Hart © 2007