Guiding His Church

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Another responsibility Christ has is to build, guide and protect the New Testament Church (Matt. 16:18). An earlier quoted verse from Ephesians reveals His role over the Church. Do not miss its message: “When He raised Him [Jesus] from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places…and has put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that fills all in all” (Eph 1:20, 22-23).

Just as Jesus worked through His physical body during His earthly ministry, He now works through His spiritual Body—the Church (I Cor. 12:27). Christ is building His Church to fulfil God’s plan for humanity. The apostle Peter describes this process: “You also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (I Pet. 2:5). (This subject is one of the biggest overlooked and misunderstood in the Bible. You are about to learn much more about it in the next chapter.)

However, human beings cannot join the Church on their own volition—God must call them into Christ’s Body. Notice: “No man can come to Me, except the Father which has sent Me draw him” (John 6:44; also see Jn 6:65).

Christ places His ministers in the Body to teach, strengthen, counsel and edify its members (I Cor. 12:18-28). (More is also coming about this in a later chapter.)

Preparing and Refining a People

Jesus has also been preparing Christians for positions in the kingdom of God. Jesus told His disciples, “In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2-4).

The term “mansions” means “rooms, abode or residence”—or offices. In ancient Israel, the Levitical priesthood served in various rooms in the temple of God; these rooms represented positions of authority. The word “mansions” refers to authority. Christ was speaking of His Second Coming, when He will establish the government of God on earth and give positions of rulership to His followers. God’s servants are being trained now to serve under Christ as kings and priests (Rev. 1:6; 5:10). Recall from I Peter 2:5 that the Church is called “a holy priesthood.”

Jesus Christ is training this advance team of leaders to rule under Him in God’s kingdom—a world-ruling super government. But God will only trust leaders who have been properly trained and proven for such a task.

This leads to another aspect of what Christ has been doing for the past two millennia. Recall the phrase “perfecting of the saints” from Ephesians 4:12. From the start of the first-century Church, Jesus has also been helping the Father in the refining process of all Christians. Hebrews 10:1-39 states, “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all…after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God…For by one offering He has perfected for ever them that are sanctified” (Heb 10:10-12, 14).

The Greek word for “perfected” means “to complete, accomplish, consummate (in character), consecrate, finish, fulfill or to make perfect.” Coupling this with Jesus’ statement in Matthew 5:48, the process of becoming like God—developing holy righteous character—to rule in His kingdom becomes clear.

The greatest work God is doing right now is perfecting His character in true Christians. Christ is described in Hebrews as the “Author and Finisher” of a Christian’s faith (Heb 12:2). Jesus Christ is, in a sense, helping to finish Christians. Again, His continued LIFE makes this possible. Jesus’ other great work in this age is, through the vehicle of His Church, to get His precious truth to as many as possible before the arrival of the worst time of world trouble in history.

“Confirming the Word”

By now you should have a much more comprehensive view on what Jesus Christ is doing. Although He is now in heaven, He will not remain there for much longer (I Thes. 4:16-17).

Before concluding, it is important to examine one final passage in Mark 16. “So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word [what they preached] with signs following” (Mk 16:19-20).

Verse 20 reveals that Jesus Christ worked with the first-century disciples from heaven. In Matthew 16:18, He promised His Church that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” This means Jesus is actively working with His Church today…

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