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What Do the Scriptures Teach
Concerning the
Church?
To Us The Scriptures Clearly Teach . . . .
- That The Church is the Temple of the Living God" -- peculiarly
his workmanship; that its construction has been in progress
throughout the Gospel Age -- ever since Christ became the world's Redeemer
and the Cheif Corner Stone of this Temple, through which when finished,
God's blessing shall come to "all people" and they find
access to him
(Gen 28:14; 1Cor 3:16; Gal 3:29; Eph 2:20-22).
- That meantime the chiseling, the shaping, and polishing of consecrated
believers in Christ's atonement for sin, progresses; and when the last of
these "living stones", "elect and precious," shall have been
made ready, the Great Master Workman will bring all together in the First
Resurrection; and the Temple shall be filled with his glory, and be the
meeting place between God and men throughout the Millennium
(1Pet 2:4-9; Rev 20:4,6).
- That the basis of hope for the Church and the world lies in the fact
that "Jesus Christ by the grace of God, tasted death for every man."
"a ransom for all," and will be "the true light which
lighteth every man that cometh into the world," "in due time."
(John 1:9; 1Tim 2:5-6; Heb 2:9).
- That the hope of the Church is that she may be like her Lord,
"see him as he is," be "partaker of the divine
nature," and share his glory as his joint-heir (John 17:24; Rom
8:17; 2Pet 1:4; 1John 3:2).
- That the present mission of the Church is the perfecting of the saints
for the future work of service; to develop in herself every grace; to be
God's witness to the world; and to prepare to be kings and priests in the
next age (Matt. 24:14; Eph 4:12; Rev 1:6, 20:6).
- That the hope for the world lies in the blessings of knowledge and
opportunity to be brought to all by Christ's Millennial Kingdom -- the
restitution of all that was lost in Adam, to all the willing and obedient,
at the hands of their Redeemer and his glorified Church -- when all the
willfully wicked will be destroyed (Isa 35; Acts
3:19-23).
A New Creature
The Scriptures are clear: It is a new creature that counts; to be a new
creature is everything; membership in Christ is everything. But getting
into Christ is an individual matter and is not effected by any device,
institute, or organization that we as the Lord's people may form. We are
accepted into Christ by a personal knowledge of God and by hearing the
call from him to believe on his dear Son and to surrender all to him.
This is the only way of becoming enrolled as a member of Christ's
church.
Z.W.T. January 1, 1895