THE CHURCH FROM GOD'S PERSPECTIVE (part 1)

THE CHURCH FROM GOD'S PERSPECTIVE (part 1)

 

Lately I've been thinking a lot about the "church", as we have come to know it in my lifetime. I can see clearly that it does not resemble the church we read about in the book of Acts, which must have been the Church Jesus said He will build. (Matt 16:18) I have read books like "Rediscovering God's Church" by Derek Prince, a man I greatly respect as a solid Bible teacher, and enjoyed his outline of what the church should look like. So I have tried to imagine what God had in mind in the very beginning for a family on earth that would show forth to the world a picture of His Kingdom, and how it should function. In this series of articles I will attempt to describe, as best I can, what I think might have been His plan.

 

In (Gen 1:26-28) we read about the creation of Adam, and later God brought forth from Adam's side a mate, so they could be a family and reproduce children. This union of Adam and Eve, as a "one flesh" couple became the very first family, which I consider to be the first picture of a "Church" from His perspective. It seems that God has always wanted a family on planet earth to represent Him and be, as it were, an extension of His Family in heaven, that we refer to as "The Trinity". We know from reading Genesis chapter three that Satan disrupted this plan by introducing sin into this first  human family (Rom 5:12). But God set in motion His plan to "reverse the curse" brought on by this disobedience on the part of Adam and Eve to His direct command to Adam to not eat of the fruit of one tree (Gen 2:16).

 

The first stage of this plan was to establish a family on earth that He would call His "chosen people" (Israel), which started out by calling a man named Abram, to leave his family and country, and journey to a "promised land" that God would show him. God later changed his name to Abraham, and through his son Isaac and grandson Jacob, who had his name changed to Israel, He established the nation through which He brought into our world the promised "Messiah". (Gen 3:15)We know from reading the NT scriptures that this promised Messiah was none other than Jesus the Son (John 1:1-14), who became the "last Adam" (1 Cor 15:45), who through His death on the cross accomplished our redemption, by reversing the curse brought on by the first Adam. This curse affected the entire creation (Rom 8:18-25). (To be continued in part 2).

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer