One Pastor’s Struggle to Imagine a Glorious Church
I remember back then that an elderly South American pastor responded to my teaching with great joy at the thought of a glorious church to come, yet he was uncertain about whether such a wonderful thing could become a reality. Not because he couldn’t see it in the scriptures, but because he couldn’t imagine such a blessing actually coming to pass.
He was so acquainted with the mess we’ve made for most of twenty centuries that his vision was stuck there. Even reading the scriptures could do little more than cause him to wonder. Other faithful believers have expressed the same thing to me over the years.
Herein lies the problem: Many true followers of Jesus Christ have become so accustomed to spiritual warfare and the damage it has done that it is difficult to imagine the Church reaching full maturity before the Lord’s return.
Is Anything Too Hard for the Lord?
Oh, how we do underestimate the ability of our God! “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:14)
Notice what God spoke to the Prophet Jeremiah: “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?” (Jeremiah 32:27).
God is the God of all flesh, and He can and has transformed the worst of men and women into those who become great for His glory. Can He also not fulfill His Word and transform this fleshly Church we’ve assembled into a truly glorious one, finally revealing Himself as He really is to the world? Of course, He can! And He will! He said He would! Hallelujah!
Is He not the One who formed us in our mother’s womb? Is He not the one who brings us to adulthood?
Is He not the One who made you and me a new creation by His transforming power through His Son and His Spirit?
Is He not the One who birthed the Church to life from dead men by His Spirit? And is He not able then to bring us to full maturity?
Of course, He is! Of course, He can! And He will!
The Church is a Perpetual and a Perfecting Work
The Church is both a perpetual and a perfecting work of Jesus Christ.
Our Lord Jesus said, “…the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.”
Jesus, using the word “Hades,” meaning death and the grave, was specifically referring to the fact that even death could not prevent His Church from being built. And indeed, that proved to be correct. He rose from the grave, and so will all those who are saved through Him!
However, metaphorically speaking, we find scripture showing that His Church will be a perfecting work as well as a perpetual one, despite great spiritual warfare, and that, in the end, we will be made “glorious” here, before being “glorified” the moment we are called up to meet Him face to face (I Corinthians 15:35-49; I John 3:2)!
Key Scriptures on His Perpetual and Perfecting Work
Hallelujah! Notice the following passages of scripture that tell us of His perfecting (completion) work in His Church, as well as His perpetual work, before we are glorified when we see Him:
In perpetuity until the end:
Matthew 28:18-20
“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.”
Ephesians 3:20-21
“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
In spiritual warfare until the end (already noted).
In spiritual maturity at the end:
Ephesians 4:13
“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.”
Ephesians 5:27
“that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.”
And again, be sure to note that it is not by our might, but by His!
Zechariah 4:6
“This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel:
‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’
Says the LORD of hosts.”
We need only to yield, to follow Him, and to trust Him in order to be a part of it!
