(tm) Christ was before Abraham
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He spoke the worlds into existence. He was the Word in the beginning. He was with God and was God. Before the world was founded the Father loved the Son.
Then there came into the mind of the Father a concept of the perfect Church, the Bride and Body of Christ. God proceeded to set in motion the forces that would in time bring a perfect "wife" for the Lamb, a counterpart who herself would be as the Lamb—in His image in every detail. Everything that has happened since that time has been for the purpose of bringing forth the Wife of the Lamb. All of this has come about because of the love of the Father for the Son.
In the book of Revelation the Bride is not termed the wife of the Word nor is she called the wife of the Son of God, nor even the bride of Christ. She is referred to as the "Lamb’s wife" (Revelation 21:9). It is the marriage of "the Lamb" that is to come (Revelation 19:7).
The reason for the terminology is as follows: the Church is created from the Substance of Christ—that which was taken from Him. The Church eats His body and drinks His blood. His body was broken for the Church and His blood was shed for the sins of the Church. It was the Lamb of God who was slain for the Church and whose body was broken and the blood shed.
Because the Church lives by eating His flesh and drinking His blood the Church is united to Him in Substance. The Church is united, or married, to the Lamb whom God gave for her protection, for her cleansing, and for her transformation into life (John 6:54). In this manner the Church is married to the Passover Lamb.
"O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee:"
The world has sought God in many different ways, from the lustful rites of savages to the more refined but no more effective philosophies of scholars. But God cannot be found by the efforts of the flesh just as an ant cannot master algebra. It is impossible for the unregenerate human being to lay hold upon the God of Israel by his own strength.
The world does not know God and is attempting at the present time to construct a social order apart from God. God laughs in derision at the preposterous spectacle of the dust of the ground attempting to thrust aside the wisdom and power that formed it. All of the efforts of mankind to do anything at all without God end in disaster for all concerned.
God Almighty is God indeed and He chooses the time, place, and manner of imparting the knowledge of Himself to the proud flesh of the earth. In His great love He has given us His Son as an offering for our sins.
The gift of Calvary is a perfect gift, entirely worthy of God. Whoever will choose to humble himself as a child can have the gift of God. But whoever attempts to meet God on some basis other than the blood of the cross is traveling down the wrong road. The end is total destruction. We must come God’s way or else perish.
"but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me."
We of the Church know beyond all doubt that Christ came from God. We put all our faith, trust, and hope in Him. We know all the Substance of God is in Christ and that He alone has the authority and power to present us to the Father. Christ is the door to God and there is no other way.
And I have declared to them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. (John 17:26)
"When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory" (Psalms 102:16). We are being built up in Christ in order that we may be able to receive the love with which the Father loves the Son, and may be able to receive the fullness of Christ. The ministries and gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as our environment and circumstances, are all working together to bring us into the likeness of the image of Christ.
As soon as our change has been completed He will appear on the Mount of Olives. We shall appear with Him in Glory and the world will be convinced that Christ was sent from the God of the universe, and that God loves the Church with the same love with which He loves His Son.
We must be made ready, in the meantime, and learn the lessons to be gained from each circumstance in which God places us. People are changed into the image of Christ in the situation where they are, just as the blocks of Solomon’s Temple were fashioned at the quarry. God’s workmen are exceedingly skillful, and in the Spirit’s time the Temple of God will be erected with no forcing being necessary.
When we hear the sound of "hammering" (the sound of a believer being shaped by the various situations in which the Holy Spirit places him or her) we know the blocks are still at the quarry.
God is supervising intently the forming of each block in accordance with the specifications of His master plan. At the precise moment the "blocks" of the Temple of God will "flow together" and the world will know God has constructed His holy dwelling place. No man can assemble the stones of the Temple of God. We can, however, pray to the end that Jerusalem will be made a praise in the earth.
For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. (Isaiah 62:1)
When Solomon’s Temple was assembled it was filled with the Glory of God.
And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord. (I Kings 8:10,11)
In God’s house there are many dwelling places (John 14:2). If Jesus were to be the only dwelling place of God He would have told us. But there will be a multitude of rooms in the great house of God. Jesus went away in order to make ready a place for us. He will return for us in order that we may be with Him where He is.
It is His will that each of us become a home, a room in the Temple of God. Our being joined with Christ in the love of God brings great pleasure to God and Christ, and it is to this end that God has planned and operated all things in the world.
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? (I Corinthians 3:16)
And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (II Corinthians 6:16)
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