The Church of Christ

“(Matt 16:17-18 [WEB]) Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 

First, the foundation of the church, is the supernatural revelation of by Father that Jesus is the Son of God, it is a revelation revealed not by men, but in Spirit and in Truth. 

Secondly, what stood out for me is that Jesus addressed Peter first as Simon Bar Jonah and then as Peter. For many the reason is based on a play of words between a small and big rock, which is true, but for me the reference of Jesus saying to Peter, you are Peter seems significant enough to investigate. Accordingly I found that (Peter, ???) means open or firstborn, indicating that Peter was the first to receive this revelation from the Father and as such the first to be born from above as Jesus mentioned to Nicodemus that we must be born from above. This revelation received from the Father that Jesus is the Son of God will open the way for the church, to be established on the mentioned foundation. In general the strength of the foundation of a structure will determine the type of structure that can be build thereupon, what we need to understand is that each member of the church must be firmly established on the foundation that Jesus is the Son of God. This can not be of human nature but is supernaturally revealed by the Father, and forms the foundation of the unified church of Jesus Christ. In Hebrew it is written that we come “to a community of the firstborn whose names have been recorded in heaven; to a Judge who is God of everyone; to spirits of righteous people who have been brought to the goal; Hebrews 12:23

The reference to the church, firstborn is also a play of words in the sense that it refer to Jesus as mentioned “because those whom he knew in advance, he also determined in advance would be conformed to the pattern of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers; Romans 8:29. For me it is also a reference to all who received the revelation from the Father and not from flesh and blood.

With the mentioned as a background, the metaphors used to explain the church, is so that we as believers can understand the supernatural nature of the Church, Jesus is building. 

The Bride of Christ as metaphor for the church. 

In reference to the church as a bride, the first that come to mind is “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son, Matthew 22:2 

The church is seen as a bride being prepared for a wedding feast, hosted by the King for His beloved Son. The Jewish marriage give us some insight into this preparation based on the “ketubah” or marriage contract that is not a mutual agreement, it is only the wife that agrees to accept the husband’s proposal of marriage and then walk in obedience to the “ketubah”. Paul said “As for husbands, love your wives, just as the Messiah loved the Messianic Community, indeed, gave himself up on its behalf, in order to set it apart for God, making it clean through immersion in the mikveh, so to speak, in order to present the Messianic Community to himself as a bride to be proud of, without a spot, wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and without defect. Ephesians 5:25-27 the [WEB] translation “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the assembly, and gave himself up for it; that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the assembly to himself gloriously, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”

As we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, and His love for us, we willingly submit to His authority over us as He washes us with His Word in preparation to present us to the Father without spot or wrinkle. The literal meaning to be washed by the Word is to be immersed in God’s Word in submission to the authority of Jesus Christ (The Word that became flesh). Paul explained to Timothy that “The purpose of this order is to promote love from a clean heart, from a good conscience and from sincere trust. 1 Timothy 1:5 

Love from a clean heart, a good conscience and sincere trust is the foundation of a good marriage and the church as the bride of Christ should express the mentioned in relationship to our Bridegroom. In this regard, the parable of the 10 virgins in Matthew 25:1-4 show us an example of the mentioned, for what set the bride apart from the bridesmaids in this parable is the love for the Bridegroom. While the bridesmaids where sleeping the bride stayed awake in expectation, founded on love from a clean heart, clear conscience and true believe, waiting on the arrival of the Bridegroom. The bride woke the bridesmaids with joy in the knowledge that the accumulation of the love relationship is at hand.

In conclusion, the emphasis is love, a love relationship that is based on trust. In this love relationship Jesus leads the way, just as a husband lead the way, preparing us as His bride for presentation to the Father. The preparation started when Jesus willingly gave Himself to be crucified so that He could establish an everlasting covenant through His blood with us His bride. Then we immerse ourselves in water as an indication that we submit holy unto Him, to be washed buy His Word in order to present us for Himself before the Father as perfect. 

Peter explained that We as the bride need to accept the condition for marriage and then wait in love from a pure heart, clean conscience and true believe for His coming. 

The Temple of God as a metaphor for the church. 

In understanding the metaphor we need to understand the reference to the Temple of God. The first reference is the Tabernacle, God instructed Moses to build in Exodus 25:8-9 Let them make for me a sanctuary, so that I may live among them. According to all that I am showing you —the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings—you must make it exactly so. God instructed Moses to build a holy place where God can live among His people, those belonging to Him. The Tabernacle was a shadow of the things to come, a blue print of God’s actual plan.

Jesus came to bring God’s plan into fulfilment, the Word God spoke through Jeremiah 31:33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Jesus came so that in Him we could be recreated through Him, so that we could receive the power of the Holy Spirit, God dwelling in us. Jesus explained the process in John 17 with specific reference to John 17:23 I in them and you in me—that they may be completely one, so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me. 

Jesus who gave Himself as a sacrifice to sanctify us as holy, prepared us to be a dwelling place for God in the Spirit, as mentioned in Ephesians 2:19-22 So then you are no longer foreigners and non citizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, because you have been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

But for the mentioned to take place Jesus said in John 2:19 Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 

If we consider that Jesus is the chief cornerstone of God’s building we should be aligned with Him if we want to be part of this building, being build to the glory of God. To be aligned is to be in agreement with Jesus and the Words He spoke.

The body of Christ as a metaphor to the church. 

1Cor 12:11-14 It is one and the same Spirit, distributing as he decides to each person, who produces all these things. For just as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body—though many—are one body, so too is Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks or slaves or free, we were all made to drink of the one Spirit, for in fact the body is not a single member, but many. 

As Paul use the body as an example of how we function in Christ, we must also acknowledge that one part of the body is not more important than the other, the whole body working together bring glory to God who made us. We serve as a body with different gifts, but not one of the gifts is superior to the other for all come from God. The valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37 is a very vivid example of the Body of Christ. These bone where scattered each on his own and could do nothing, but when Ezekiel spoke God’s Word over these bones they became a mighty army. The body of Christ is mighty once we allow Jesus to take up His position as the Head of the body, and we as the body parts adhere to His every Word. We all must acknowledge that without God we are dead, and Jesus is the head of the body, it is His church that He builds by the power of His mighty Word. Once the whole body submit and adhere to the Head (Jesus the Son of the Living God) we become a mighty army, just as the dry bones heard the Word of God spoken through Ezekiel.

Obedience is to hear and then do accordingly. The hand does not question the head of the body, but only do what the head instruct him to do. Just imagine how dysfunctional a body will be if the hand do what ever it wanted to do without adhering to the head, and once the body adheres to the head, the head gets the credit for whatever was done.

Let’s consider the example, if you are playing cricket and the batman hit the ball and your body caught it with the right hand, who gets the glory, your right hand or you? If God does something amazing through His body, who should get the glory, God through His Son Jesus the Christ. 

Jesus is the Head of the body. As mentioned the head directs the body as the body comes into agreement with the head. The concept of calling Jesus the head of the body is powerful because it automatically states He is in control. Just as in the example used above, the body bring glory to the head, so must we bring glory to God through His Son Jesus Christ. We received the Holy Spirit to enable us to be a witness of our Lord Jesus Christ, meaning to bring glory to Him through the way we conduct ourselves as a body. Jesus said in John 17:22-23 “The glory you gave to me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one—I in them and you in me—that they may be completely one, so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me.” 

Jesus as the head of the body called on us to be one under His headship and in so doing we will be His witness, witnessing to the world that Jesus is the Son of God. Again in reference to the example of a cricket player, the whole body works together in submission to the one another under the leadership of the head to catch the ball, if however the left hand competes with the right hand to catch the ball there would not have been any glory, and the left hand would have been disobedient to the head.

Jesus is the Vine and we are the branches. Jesus taught us the mentioned so that we can understand that when God called on us to bear fruit from the beginning, we failed because we as humans were not connected to the source of power that enable us to bear fruit. Now in Christ Jesus we however have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to bear fruit according to our affiliation as in Galatians 5:22-26 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also behave in accordance with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, being jealous of one another. The vine is firmly rooted and draw all that is required by the branches to enable them to bear fruit. 

As the church we are called to bear fruit to the glory of Christ Jesus and our Father in Heaven, the branch itself is not glorified, the vine is glorified. Remember that the branch must be connected to the vine, and as Jesus explained that unless the branch bear fruit it will be cut off and thrown into the fire. 

Flock of sheep. The flock of sheep, is a good example of what is required of us as we follow Jesus. Jesus mentioned that the sheep knows His voice and listens to Him, so must we. The Lord leads us as a church, in the same-way a shepherd leads the sheep. In the days of Jesus, the shepherds led physically by walking in front of the sheep, guiding them. Today however we seem to see a shepherd as someone driving the sheep with a rod or a whip. Jesus used a whip to disperse the money changers in the Tempel, because they were not sheep who knew theirs shepherds voice. Based on the initial background, of the revelation received from the Father, we must be able to hear from the Lord and then obey it.