The Church Part 6

4. reformation: Restoration (of peace). 2. Improvement in form or quality; alteration to a better form; correction or removal of defects or errors; †reparation, rebuilding. a. Christ put us back into peaceful relations with God. COL 1:20. b. His sacrifice took away the enmity that separated both Jew and Gentile from God, making a new form of church possible. EPH 2:15-16. c. The event of Calvary made way for the process of improvement. Without the New Testament in the blood of Christ, the form of the church could not be altered but because of it, it had to be altered. HEB 7:12. d. The reformation (HEB 9:10) Christ initiated was a large-scale remodeling job which (as is typical) involved some confusion, rough edges, time and testing before a quality, finished structure took shape. e. It may be observed that the project blueprints (the apostolic revelations) were being made at the same time the N.T. church was under construction. f. It is for this reason that there seems to be some “awkwardness” in the transitional period of the church from Moses to Christ: it was a time of weaning minds away from a long-standing order to a new one. Even the apostles under the Holy Spirit took a little time to put the pieces together. The Church 6-9-24 Page 11  ACT 11:1-2; 15:5-6. g. The First Century saw overlap when there were essentially two phases of God's kingdom/church program on earth co-existing and the commissioning of Paul to be the apostle to the Gentiles was a major dynamic shift in fulfilment of the words of Jesus in MAT 21:43. See ACT 13:46; 28:28. 5. While the apostles were spreading the gospel and building N.T. churches and changing the form of service, we still find some carryover from the O.T. service. (ACT 15:19-21; 18:21; 20:16; 21:17-26). God didn’t slay the Mosaic institutions all in a moment; He let them die on the vine. HEB 8:13. 6. God had promised to bear with Israel until the destruction of Jerusalem. DAN 9:24-27. a. Between about 30 A.D. and 70 A.D. the N.T. form of the church was blessed with miraculous signs and wonders which were primarily designed for the benefit of His children among the Jews, to effect their conviction or conversion. MIC 7:14-16 c/w ACT 7:36; JOH 4:48; 1CO 1:22. b. Indeed, as a testimony to His mercy, many thousands of Jews were converted owing to God’s longsuffering. ACT 21:20; 2PE 3:9. c. The Master of the house did, though, finally shut the door. LUK 13:23-30. C. The ministry of John the Baptist was designed to put people into the kingdom of heaven. MAT 21:31-32 c/w LUK 7:29-30. 1. Some attempt to dissociate baptism from church membership and suggest that that kingdom to which men were joined by baptism could not be the church, since Jesus Christ spoke of the building of His church in the future tense in MAT 16:18. a. This assumes that something which will be built cannot have already been under construction. b. But consider 1CH 17:7-16; JER 22:13-14; EZR 3:10-11; 4:3. c. The building of the church of Jesus Christ was already underway in its foundations by the time Jesus said, “...I will build my church...” (MAT 16:18). 2. An interesting example from God's dealings with King Saul may help explain how God could suffer two inherently opposing systems to co-exist. a. Saul was anointed king over Israel (1SAM 10:1), and for a while prospered in the office. (1) Saul, though, was not careful to keep the commandments of God and fell into disfavor with God as a result. 1SAM 13:13-14; 15:22-23. (2) The kingdom was legally rent from him that very day and given to another. 1SAM 15:28. (3) God then had Samuel anoint David king, at which time the Spirit of God departed from Saul. 1SAM 16:1, 13-14. (4) God's favor and the crown now rested upon David. However, David did not formally assume the reins of the kingdom at that time. Saul was allowed to fulfill his years as king, though it was an empty shell routine. He died a miserable suicidal death. b. Likewise, Israel was appointed (chosen) to be God's kingdom/church; His standard-bearer in the world. They fared well in that office for a while, but like Saul, were headstrong against the commandments of God. After repeated warnings by the prophets, God finally sought another nation to be the standard-bearer: the N.T. church. The Church 6-9-24 Page 12  (1) At the crucifixion, God manifested His abrogation of the O.T. church by rending the veil of the temple which closeted His dwelling place in the Holy of Holies. (2) At Pentecost, the Spirit of God filled and indwelt the new standard- bearer, which for a period, like David, co-existed with the former. (3) Israel and its temple, like Saul, continued to go through the motions in an empty-shell routine (MAT 23:38), fulfilling the appointed years and ending in a suicidal destruction in 70 A.D. (4) Remember that Daniel had declared that the kingdom of God, once it was set up in the days of the Roman empire under King Jesus would “...never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people...” (DAN 2:44). Not only would it endure, it would not change hands as it had from Israel to the gospel church. (5) God is willing and able to graft Jews back into the kingdom if they turn to Christ but He is not willing to revert the kingdom to natural Israel and its abolished system of divine service! ROM 11:18-24. c. The analogy of Saul and David fits this to a tee: co-existing powers for a season until the abrogated power was taken out, never to recover it once it had changed hands. (1) The place for Saul’s house thereafter was at David’s table, which Mephibosheth wisely recognized. 2SAM 9:6-8. (2) The place for Jews is at the Son of David’s table through repentance, faith and baptism into a church of Jesus Christ. ACT 2:38-41. (3) The gospel church is the rebuilt tabernacle of David which was void of Levitical appurtenances and carnal sacrifices, not a rebuilt temple of Solomon full of both. ACT 15:14-17. The Church 6-9-24 Page 13