Jesus Created His Church to be an Continuing Extension of What He Had Incarnated!
Jesus Created His Church to be an Continuing Extension of What He Had Incarnated!
I have created and distributed freely a number of essays as well as a two-volume Biblical catechism, “Blueprint for a Revolution: Building Upon ALL of the New Testament.” In them I have described in considerable detail the mighty results of the Holy Spirit of God that Jesus released into this world. In his “first phase” Jesus caused it to flow through Himself alone. Then He expanded that ministry through His chosen apostles. And then, when He had returned to His Father, He released that Pentecostal explosion into the world through the greatly expanded “Body of Christ” that He had called “MY Church” (Matthew 16:18)!
Before He left them, He promised that He would even be able to INCREASE His powerful ministry among them:
“Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and GREATER works than these he will do; because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in My name, this I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it” (John 14:12-14).
Protestants have long ceased to take seriously that what Jesus had first granted to Peter He had expanded to His whole Church:
“Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give YOU [singular] the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever YOU [singular] bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever YOU loose on earth will be loosed in heaven’” (Matthew 16:16-19).
But later on:
“At that time the disciples came to Jesus … and Jesus said… ‘Assuredly, I say to you, whatever YOU [PLURAL!] bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever YOU [PLURAL!] loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them‘” (Matthew 18:1,18-19).
We are to remember that Jesus is also the precise scientist who engineered and spoke into being our unbelievably complex and microscopically small cells, created things like gravity and nuclear fusion, and invented the ABILITY to speak with words! HE is the one whose words “LET There be light” produced that light! Those above promises that He gave to His church should carry the same weight with us that nature gave to His command about LIGHT!
These heavenly “signs” that started with Jesus (e.g. John 3:2) and then spread magnificently into the Spirit-filled members of His church are described throughout the gospels and the Book of Acts:
- The personal and communal experience of having the Spirit of God coming INTO you in the same way that He did into Jesus at His baptism (Luke 3:2, John 1:32),
- The powerful bond of love and loyalty that He created among all who shared in that surrendered trust in Jesus and His received Spirit, so that they YEARNED to “have all things in common” with each other! (Acts 2:44ff, 4:32ff, 2 Corinthians 8:13-15).
- Their formation into a tightly-knit society, a “NEW Israel” living under the discipline and ruling authority of apostolically appointed men in local congregations (Acts 2:42; 15:1ff).
- The “gifts of the Sprit” that He brought into the community by way of each Spiri-filled member: “Tongues’, prophecy, healing, resurrections, discerning and casting out of evil spirits, “words of knowledge.” ”So to one a word of wisdom is given, by the Spirit; to another a word of knowledge, by the same Spirit; to a different one faith, by the same Spirit; to another presents of healings, by the same Spirit; to another workings of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits; to a different one kinds of languages [“the language of … angels” of 1 Corinthians 13:1)], to another interpretation of languages. However, the one and the same Spirit produces all of these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills (1 Corinthians 12:8-11).
Jesus HIMSELF had been the literal union of Heaven and Earth within his own body. What HE called “MY Church” is now seen to be an extension of what had been done by Him in His human body! His church was an extension of His Incarnation of Heaven united to Earth! “Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in My name, this I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it” (John 14:12-14)
“But IF I cast out demons with the finger of God, SURELY the kingdom of God has come upon you.” (Luke 11:20) What was true of Jesus becomes true by the Spirit-given ministries within His Church!
AND that extension even includes the authority to forgive or withhold forgiveness of sins!:
“Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’ And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If YOU forgive the sins of any, they ARE forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they ARE retained” (John 20:19-23).
Protestants seem to have cut off THEIR nose to spite what they saw on the ROMAN CATHOLIC face: Runaway sons deriving themselves of an authority that they had seen being abused within their father’s home!
How can anyone imagine that the authority to forgive sin should be limited to the twelve apostles any more than would be the need to cast out evil spirits or to heal sick bodies? Jesus Himself had expanded that authority beyond the twelve (Matthew 18:15-17). And Paul commanded that the congregational leadership had that responsibility and obligation (1 Corinthians 5:1-5). Reformation created hatreds and passions have caused Protestants to FUNCTIONALLY neglect the extent of the seemingly “nuclear energy” that was being promised by Jesus to His “disciples” (Matthew 18:1). They have reduced both the authority and the responsibility that should be exercised within their churches. “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will deliver the one who is sick, and the LORD will raise him up; and if he has committed sin, it WILL be forgiven him. Confess your transgressions to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed” (James 5:14-16). No matter how valid your complaints against Catholic legalism may be, those among those Catholics who are hungry to do the will of God are more faithful and more disciplined in honoring that apostolic command than you are!
But, what about that commonly claim: “Those Holy Spirit gifts were only needed until the Biblical canon was confirmed!”
First of all, did Jesus or His apostles ever make that claim? NO!
Did any of His promises or commands ever imply that they were limited to some initial period of time?
Did any of the earlies churches every assume that? NO!:
- The Didache (late first century)
“But permit the prophets to offer thanksgiving (i.e., at the Eucharist) as much as they desire” (Ch. 10; this text also provides evidence for the continued existence of prophets).
“But concerning the apostles and prophets, do according to the ordinance of the Gospel. Let every apostle, when he comes to you, be received as the Lord. … and any prophet speaking in the Spirit you shall not try, neither discern … Yet not everyone who speaks in the Spirit is a prophet, but only if he have the ways of the Lord” (ch. 11; evidence for apostles and prophets beyond those in Acts).
- Justin Martyr (c. 150 A.D.)
“For numberless demoniacs throughout the whole world, and in your city [Rome, probably], many of our Christian men exorcising them in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, have healed and do heal, rendering helpless and driving the possessing devils out of the men, though they could not be cured by all the other exorcists, and those who used incantations and drugs” (“The Second Apology,” Ch. VI).
“The prophetical gifts remain with us, even to the present time” (Ch. LXXXII).
“Now, it is possible to see amongst us women and men who possess gifts of the Spirit of God” (Ch. LXXXVIII).
- Irenaeus (c. 185 A.D., in Gaul/France)
“And so far are they [i.e., gnostic heretics] from being able to raise the dead, as the Lord raised them, and as the apostles did by means of prayer, and as has been frequently done in the brotherhood on account of some necessity – the entire church in that particular locality entreating (the blessing) with much fasting and prayer, the spirit of the dead man has returned, and he has been restored in answer to the prayers of the saints – that they do not even believe this can be possibly done” (“Against Heresies,” II.xxxi.2).
“For some [i.e., of us] do certainly and truly drive out devils, so that those who have thus been cleansed from evil spirits frequently both believe and join themselves to the church. Others have foreknowledge of things to come: they see visions, and utter prophetic expressions. Others still, heal the sick by laying their hands upon them, and they are made whole. Yea, moreover, as I have said, the dead even have been raised up, and remained among us for many years … Calling upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, she (i.e., the Church) has been accustomed to work miracles for the advantage of mankind …” (II.xxxii.4).
“In like manner, we do also hear many brethren in the Church, who possess prophetic gifts, and who through the Spirit speak all kinds of languages [“tongues”/”glossa”], and bring to light for the general benefit the hidden things of men, and declare the mysteries of God …” (V.vi.1).
Statements like the above can be multiplied many times to demonstrate that all during the early period of the Church’s history the gifts and ministries of the Holy Spirit were in existence and were expected to remain in existence. They had never heard the novel modern idea that the signs and gifts were supposed to have ceased when the Scriptures were completed, or when the last of the Twelve had died. Is this not another demonstration that if we would read the New Testament more literally, we would be on the right track?”
Think, for example of His promise: “These signs WILL accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mark 16:17-18). Jesus made it quite clear that the only limit that He had placed upon that promise was that of whatever HE meant by “believe.” So it logically and necessarily must follow that if those “signs” are not being manifested in the way that we see them being fulfilled in the New Testament and succeeding generations then it must mean that there is a defect in WHAT we “believe” and in the “little child” quality of that “belief” (as per Matthew 18:1)!
The absence of such promised powerful ministry by Him surely OUGHT to bring us to our knees in repentance, rather than cause us to come up with clever reasons to justify Jesus’s refusal to honor His promise, no?
God brought the glory of Heaven to earth in His Son and in His Son’s Church!
The Dream:
“Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. Then he dreamed, and behold, a LADDER was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the LORD stood above it and said: ‘I am the LORD God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; … Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.’ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it’ And he was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!’ (Genesis 28:10-17).
The Fulfillment:
“Nathanael answered and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Because I said to you, “I saw you under the fig tree,” do you believe? You will see greater things than these.’ And He said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you all shall SEE HEAVEN OPEN, and the angels of God ascending and descending UPON the Son of Man’” (John 1:49-51).
Jesus is announcing that HE was and still is the “ladder” of Jacob’s vision: the one who is the connection between earth and the glory and the goodness of heaven! When HIS physical body returned to Heavenly glory, it will be His body on earth that represents Him and provides that ladder-like connection! That was His intention and it was fulfilled for centuries!
What was successful for centuries by people like us is capable of being restored by people like us!
Protestants are not used to hearing this kind of “ladder-like” language about what they experience as “our church.” And that is because their leaders do not teach or ACT with that kind of Apostolic and Biblical authority – one of several tragic results of the Reformation! Protestant ideology has also been the source of much of the atomization of Christianity over the centuries, giving each of its members the instinct that they have the right to create their own version of “MY church,” none of which seem to be able to have those supernatural Biblical descriptions applied to them!
Roman Catholics and Orthodox ARE used to hearing and seeing their church functioning with that kind of “ladder-like” authority. But when compared to their departure from of the radical decisions required by Jesus for being His “disciple” – in which departure Protestants also share – there is much arrogance mingled with their application of such heavenly “ladder-like” connection to themselves. Yet they are only claiming what was in fact the teaching of Jesus and His apostles, and the ancient churches!
The Protestants have virtually REMOVED the divine ladder that connects His church to Heaven, but the Catholics and Orthodox have added and removed many RUNGS to the ladder, when compared to the Apostolic writings and the earliest churches! The fact that the apostles of Jesus DID speak with Christ’s own unchangeable authority should have created among them the humility to not DARE to alter anything that His apostles declared to be the mind of the Spirit, whether great or small. Their Acts 15 decision about circumcision is an example to be followed faithfully about issues that are of great importance. However their ignoring of an apostolically decreed and reasoned discipline for female disciples to cover their heads is an example of, “… He who is dishonest in a very little is [going to be] dishonest also in much” (Luke 16:10). Insisting upon things like the “perpetual virginity” of our holy Mother of Jesus is one such example of adding rungs to their required “ladder”!
His church DOES have the authority to preserve and protect what comes from the mind of God, but that mind does not differ over time! The Church is to create its OWN distinct and independent culture, not adapt to the various cultures of fallen man, whose “god” and “ruler” is Satan (2 Corinthians 4:4, John 14:30)! But instead, for example, they created intricate monarchical hierarchies of one-man rule, similar to the organizations created by man’s political and miliary leadership structures, eliminating the need to have Pentecostal experientially-filled leaders coming to the same “common mind” that His apostles did in Acts 15. Man-made forms of rule (whether autocratic OR democratic) may provide more security to carnal man’s need for having “a king, just like the other nations,” but it also tells the Spirit of Jesus: “YOU are not needed among us!”
All of us tend to accept some degree of rebuke about our need to repent when it come to our personal failures to live up to God’s standards of love and holiness, But I am applying it to our denominational refusals to apply it when comparing ourselves to one another: Orthodox vis-a-vis Catholics! Protestants vis-a-vis Catholics! Baptists in relation to the Church of Christ! Anglicans versus Anabaptists! None of you try to find how you could please God by learning from “THEM” – those with whom you compete for the name “Christian.”
In one of the most passionate prayers to be found coming from Jesus, He proclaimed, “And the GLORY which You gave Me I have given them, that they may BE ONE just as WE ARE ONE: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world MAY KNOW THAT YOU HAVE SENT ME, and have loved them as You have loved Me” (John 17:22-23). It was their “ladder-like” glory AND their unity that would be a sign to the unbelieving world that Jesus came from God and that it was God’s love that was available for them in His Church!
No matter how our professional denominational apologists cleverly justify why “WE” are so much better than “THEM,’ the net effect is that we have brought shame upon the name of our Father in Heaven, upon His self-sacrificing SON, and upon His Spirit of Holiness – and have proven to be allies of the “Evil One” with whom we claim to be at holy war!
We “Protestants” are confident that we have NOTHING to learn from those “saved-by-their-works Catholics” so we don’t even try, even though there are teachings and disciplines within the Apostolic writings that they are more faithful to embrace than we do.. I have addressed such specific shortcomings in previous essays.
And the same holds true with those who assume that THEY are true “Catholics” in the same way as the first “Catholic Christians,” who defined the term as “What has been believed everywhere, always, and by all” (Vincent or Lerins, c. 400 A.D.).
And the Orthodox who seem to be the most confident of all about having preserved the “faith once delivered to the saints” have no trouble about having removed one of the rungs to Jesus’s own “ladder” when it comes to their discipline about divorce and remarriage, allowing up to THREE remarriages! This “adjustment” to both Jesus’s teachings and their OWN earlier teachings, of course clearly implies that the Jesus who is going to be the one who judges us SHOULD have been more compassionate than he was when He judged against the Jewish relaxation of God’s original intent for a life-long union of one husband and one wife. Their apologists seem to have conveniently forgotten their OWN earlier Eastern churches who faithfully maintained His standards prior to their becoming a worldly Constantinian “state church” that needed to lower His standards for becoming and remaining as disciples and members of His body!
The message from Jesus to the Church of Laodicea seems perfectly applicable to ALL of the versions of contemporary Christianity, whether Catholic, Orthodox or ANY of the Protestant versions, including groups that claim to be unique (e.g., Anabaptist, Anglican and Pentecostal):
“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write the following:
‘This is the solemn pronouncement of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the originator of God’s creation: I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot! So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth! Because you say, “I am rich and have acquired great wealth, and need nothing,” but do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked, take my advice and buy gold from me refined by fire so you can become rich! Buy from me white clothing so you can be clothed and your shameful nakedness will not be exposed, and buy eye salve to put on your eyes so you can see! All those I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent!” (Revelation 3:14-19).
I believe that all that JESUS had originally created within what He called “MY Church” has already been restored by Him. But it is justifiably scattered by HIM throughout those fractured remnants of Christendom’s denominations, perhaps as a message which says “until you repent of your love of what I define as “this world” and of your arrogance that you are sufficient to represent Me in and of yourselves, and until you let ME bring you back together under the influence of MY Spirit, you will never enjoy what I have restored and scattered among you! You must all accept that you must “eat the meat and spit out the bones” – eat THEIR meat and spit out YOUR bones that I will reveal to you!
Sadly, however, in your current conditions you provide greater evidence of Satan’s genius to corrupt and divide than you do of representing that holy “LADDER” that Jacob SAW and that Jesus and His Apostolic Church WERE!
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