THE ETERNAL CHURCH (part 1)

The first time I recall hearing this term was the title of a book written by Bill Hamon back in 1981. He gives an excellent summary of church history, from the early days of the book of Acts, up to the 1980's when he wrote it. He gives a very good description of the Church that Jesus has been in the process of building now for some 2000 years from His exalted place at Father's right hand. The place He left to become our promised Messiah, our Savior, Emmanuel (God with us), by dying on the cross in our place! He covers the original beginning of the church, it's early days of spreading into all the then known world, it's deterioration through the "dark ages", and it's restoration from the time of Luther to the 1980's. He gives close attention to the causes of the deterioration, and also the various restoration periods, when God was bringing back truth that had been lost during the dark ages. I'm not sure if the book is still available or not, but if you can find a copy, I suggest you purchase it and spent some time studying it's pages! In the past I have written several articles about the Church, and the churches that were formed in various localities, but decided to attempt to share in a series under this title, some of the truth contained in the book by Brother Hamon. I will acknowledge any direct quotes from him, but bear in mind that the basic outline of the truth presented will be my own understanding of these truths based on various sources over many years of studying God's Word.

Let me start with a direct quote from page 5 of the introduction "Jesus came to this earth for a specific purpose. It was not out of compulsion or constraint, but from compassion. He did not come just to save us from hell! He came to redeem us unto Himself. What He saved us for, supersedes anything He saved us from". Here is another quote from page 6 "Jesus is, was, and remains God's perfect Man, and man's perfect God". The greatest desire in the heart of Jesus is to return to our planet to receive His Bride, the Church, to rule and reign with Him for eternity! "He is not going to come for an underdeveloped little sister, nor a wrinkled, blemished, or worn out old woman. When Jesus returns for His bride She will be at the peak of Her beauty and performance". This book declares clearly that Jesus will remain in heaven at the Father's side "until" the Holy Spirit completes the process of restoring the Church to the necessary state of maturity to become His Bride! (Acts 3:21) We all know the church has a long way to go to reach this state of maturity!

Sincerely submitted.

Gramp