The Body of Jesus Christ #5

Thank you Fred and greetings to everybody. We're looking at the topic and that topic is why the body of Christ is important to all mankind in God's Plan for mankind as we understand. Today we're addressing part two of The Church.

Matthew 16:18—Jesus said: "…I will build My Church, and the gates of the grave shall not prevail against it."

That means Jesus was saying that he would be there, he would protect the Church until the conclusion of why the purpose exists. And it exists today, the Church that Jesus built, which He established and put the foundations down in 30AD. The Church we know from Ephesians is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets! Jesus Himself is the chief cornerstone It all hinges on Him! He built the Church and God the Father through Him, used the apostles and prophets and Jesus Christ to build the Church of God.

What we can note from John 17 is that God the Father actually gave the early disciples and apostles to Christ. They belong to God the Father, but the Father gave them to Christ. In Jesus' prayer, it shows that not only that, but all those who come to believe and obey Jesus Christ, the prayer is also to them for protection! So that the Church and the goal that Jesus had in mind and that Jesus was going to accomplish would in fact be accomplished.

Now in Acts the 20 we can read that Paul was heading to Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Pentecost. That was his desire. So he bypassed Ephesus and from Miletus he called for the elders of the Church, and this is what he had to say to them.

Acts 20:28: "Take heed, therefore, to yourselves… [a warning message to all who are elders, leaders in the Church] …and to all the flock… [Why?] …among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to feed the Church of God, which He purchased with His own blood."

Hence, Jesus said, 'I will build My Church because I have purchased this.' And today He is still purchasing people out of this world, out from under Satan's rule, into the Body of the Church. That's an important statement, which we're going to see more about.

Jesus made the statement, and Paul records this for us in the book of Hebrews; here He's talking to His Father:

Hebrews 10:5: "…You [the Father] have prepared a body for Me.'"

Verse 9: "Then He said, 'Lo, I come to do Your will, O God.'" And he did!

• He completed the will of God
• He completed the work that God gave Him to do

Because of that, He then became the starting point where He was able to begin to lay the foundation and to build His Church. Not some other church of this world with some other name, but the Church that He purchased with His own blood called The Church of God!

That Church is in existence today; almost 2,000 years later it is still alive and flourishing. There is a lot of history that has yet to be fulfilled for that Church, The Church of God, before the days of the Church are completed.

They will be completed as we know, as we understand, on the Day of Pentecost, that Christ Himself shouts out with a voice and those in the grave and all who are there that Christ has called will hear His voice and the resurrection occurs on that day!

As we know, once the Marriage Feast has taken place, the Bride of Christ is married to Christ, then they return to the earth and Christ is going to take over all nations, along with the saints, to rule all nations.

The Church, the Bride, become kings and rulers with Christ, under Christ, over all the nations that Christ is now King of kings and Lord of lords.

So Christ's body, "…You have prepared a body for Me.'"

Now we consider the fact that, yes, God gave Christ a body, but He's also given those whom He's called—US—a body also, that we may walk in the footsteps of Christ and do our Father's will.

Let's add a point here:

• Where are we going to find the history of the Church?
• Can we turn to the books written by men and women to find out the history of the Church that Christ said, I will build,?

or

• Should we look to those whom Christ used to establish the Church?

We can turn to a lot of the histories written by men, but the problem is they have left the history, the foundation of the history, which is recorded not only in the New Testament. Even the foundations go right back into the Old Testament. It's so important to understand that.

If you want to establish the history of where the Churches that Christ built, we must begin with the foundation of the Holy Scriptures. No other records can be trusted. And where they have been written, if we check them against the Scriptures and they don't agree, then we can see it's just so much:

• noise
• false reports
• thinking of the minds and reasonings of mankind without the guidance of God's Word

So we need to be very careful when we're reading what is called the history of the Church. They may have some points right, but mostly the history of the Church goes back to Rome. And it all moves out from Rome to other churches like Church of England. Now Church of England, Church of Rome, are they the Churches Christ built? Well, the Scriptures show that that's not the case.

Quickly, let's turn back to Isa. 8 and see something very important. Here we have an information given by God the Father by inspiration through the prophet Isaiah as to the foundations of the Church in the New Testament. We remember quite well:

Isaiah 42:21: "The LORD is well pleased for His righteousness sake; He will magnify the Law and make it glorious."

If we read Matt. 5-7 we get the principle and the idea of how Christ actually did that, how He magnified the Law. And the particular subjects that He mentions first, there's murder, there's adultery, there's divorce. That's where the foundation is laid, that's where he magnified the law and many, many other laws, as well.

I just want to make these two points. This is Jesus Christ, the Lord God of the Old Testament, giving these words to Isaiah for you and for me to understand today.

Isaiah 8:16: "Bind up the testimony…"

What's the testimony? The Old Testament is the testimony of what God did up until Israel and the Jews went into captivity. Of course, the Jews came back and rebuilt the temple.

However, we also have the New Testament, the writings that Christ gave and inspired to His apostles. So this is the testimony, it's what the prophets wrote in the Old Testament, the apostles wrote in the New Testament.

Verse 16: "Bind up the testimony… [that's the complete Bible] …seal the Law among My disciples."

New Testament language written back in the days of Isaiah. What does that seal mean? This is the seal of approval and this is a command of God!

"Bind up the testimony…"—that's what they did right up until John, when John and his helpers completed the last book of the New Testament, which was Revelation. Rev. was given to John from God the Father through Christ, through the angel who put the words and who put the words of the Bible, complete book of Revelation into the hands of John to record.

That was the final sealing, the binding and the sealing! Can't be broken. This is a seal of God. And we read in the Rev. 22, what happens if anyone wants to break that seal and interfere with and change the word that God has given.

Bind up the testimony—Old Testament—bind up and add to it the writings of the New Testament and seal it with the Seal of God. No man can break that seal.

Oh yes, they can change. They can come in and change the wording. But the original is bound up and sealed by the authority of God and cannot be broken. That's why the Faithful translation of the Bible is so important, because there are so many errors in many of the translations.

What we want to do now is come forward to Col 1 in the New Testament, because here is a very important point that we have been moving toward. If we read the preamble up to this particular point, we get an understanding, for example

Colossians 1:15: "Who [Christ] is the image of the invisible God…"

You look at Christ, you're seeing God the Father, and that's what He said to His disciples.

"…the Firstborn of all creation" (v 15). The first to be born of the resurrection, the man Jesus Christ!

Verse 16: "Because by Him… [that is by Jesus] …were all things created the things in heaven and the things on earth, the visible and the invisible…"—angels and demons, which He created them all as angels! Of course, we know that with Lucifer's rebellion, many of the angels became demons.

"…whether they be thrones…" (v 16)—Satan is the ruler of this world; he's sitting on a throne!

I would take it that his demons also have been given powers under Satan's lordship!

"…or lordships, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him [Jesus Christ] and for Him. And He is before all, and by Him all things subsist. And He is the Head of the Body…" (vs 16-18).

Hebrews 10:5: "For this reason, when He comes into the world, He says, 'Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but You have prepared a body for Me.

You see, Christ was given the body of a man, but He was also given another body. And here it is, the body of the man was physical to be sacrificed. The other body that God has given to him, which is part of that body, is what it says here,

Colossians 1:18: "… the Church…"—and He is the Head of The Body; you can't separate the two. They're all part of the One Who is the Beginning, the Firstborn from among the Dead!

So, there are more to be born by resurrection! And we know that's going to be on a Day of Pentecost in the future!

"…the Firstborn from among the dead so that in all things He Himself might hold the preeminence" (v 18)—Head of the Body, the Church!

Eph. 1—if we get it in the context, then we can see something that is so powerful, something that is so amazing! I was thinking the other day, when we think of the things of God, I thought of the word POW! POW! POW! which is just a short term for the word power!

We really have no idea of the power of God. But He's made that available to you and to me so that we can change our lives from the filth that God called us out of into the glorious existence as His sons and daughters.

Now the context in Eph. 1 is—if you read prior to the verses we're coming to—you see the incredible position that Jesus Christ holds—not just on earth, not just in the created things—but in the entirety of whatever it is in the realm of God.

Ephesians 1:16: "Do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers."

We do; we pray for one another. So many people are struggling with health issues and health problems.

Verse 17: "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him."

John 17:3: "For this is eternal life, that they may know You… [the Father] …the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom You did send."

That you know the Father and that you know the Son in that very deep, intimate, personal, spiritual relationship that God has made available to us through the sacrifice and the blood and the body of Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:18: "And may the eyes of your mind…"—the inner mind!

Like Job said, 'Lord, I heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you' (Job 42). What does Paul say here?

"…the eyes of your mind be enlightened in order that you may comprehend what is the hope of His calling, and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the inner working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above every principality and authority and power and lordship, and every name that is named—not only in this age, but also in the age to come (vs 18-21).).

King of kings, Lord of lords, only in subjection to God his Father, as we all will be.

Verse 22: "For He… [the Father, has done this for Christ]: …has subordinated all things under His feet…"

I find this next statement just absolutely astounding, and I'm still ruminating on it to fully understand it and comprehend the position that God has placed you and me and the Church in.

Verse 22: "For He has subordinated all things under His feet, and has given Him… [with all His power and glory] …to be head over all things to the Church…"

Here is Jesus Christ Who has all power and glory in the entirety of God's realm and in the creation, and God has placed Him as Head of the Church, which is just a little group of people. The Church of Jesus Christ is not big, it's not large, it's not powerful, but because it obeys the Law of God, because it's a Church that repents, it belongs to Jesus Christ and His power to preach the Gospel into all nations, is made possible.

Because God will take the word of those faithful servants, and He will send that Word out, and God Himself will accomplish the calling of those that He has in mind to become a part of His Family in the Church Age, which will be completed on Pentecost, at the Pentecost resurrection, in what we believe is the very near future, and then comes the rest of the Plan.

Now one more thing I'd like to cover, and that is back to the book of Exodus in the Old Testament. And what we see there is that there were three periods of harvest, and God says to the children of Israel:

Exodus 23:14: "You shall keep a Feast unto Me three times in the year."

And he goes on to show that there was Unleavened Bread.

• What occurred during Unleavened Bread? The Wave Sheaf Offering!
• What did that represent? Jesus Christ!

So they couldn't harvest until the Wave Sheaf Offering was given. Once that was given, then they could go out, and as it says here:

Verse 15: "You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. You shall eat unleavened bread seven days… [which we do during that time] …as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. And no one shall appear before Me empty."

Verse 16: "Also, the Feast of the Harvest of the Firstfruits..."

Ancient Israel, year-by-year, were to keep these festivals, the harvest festivals. They never understood the understanding that we can have now that Christ is here. Once the Wave Sheaf Offering was given, now we find next:

Verse 16: "Also, the Feast of the Harvest of the Firstfruits…"

• that is talking about Pentecost
• that's talking about the resurrection of the saints

but more than that

• it's the resurrection of the Church

This is the third harvest: "…And the Feast of Ingathering… [the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day] …And the Feast of Ingathering And the Feast of Ingathering in the end of the year, when you have gathered in your labors out of the field" (v 16),

• the Church is raised; resurrected
• the Marriage Feast with Christ takes place

Then on the Day of Trumpets, Christ and His Bride—the Church who has made herself ready—without spot, without stain, because in this life we have been perfecting ourselves as Paul so abundantly addresses in the book of Hebrews.

So there are those three festivals. Again, during Unleavened Bread, the Wave Sheaf Offering, Christ, the First of the Firstfruits. Because of Him and having accomplished that, and the Father having accomplished that, then the 50-day count of Pentecost begins the reaping or the preparing of the next harvest, which was the first harvest.

As we say, the Feast of the Harvest of the Firstfruits, which ends at Pentecost. At Pentecost is when the angel comes and reaps that first harvest.

• that's a beautiful plan
• that's a beautiful picture

That is why the body of Jesus Christ is so important!

• the physical body and his sacrifice for the sins of mankind
• the spiritual body, the Church, which Christ is going to be using as kings and priests to reap the rest of mankind at the end of the age

It's a beautiful picture. It's God's plan, and we can read all of that in God's Plan For Mankind Revealed by the Sabbath and the Holy Days!

Scriptural References:

• Matthew 16:18
• Acts 20:28
• Hebrews 10:5, 9
• Isaiah 42-21
• Isaiah 8:16
• Colossians 1:15-18
• Hebrews 10:5
• Colossians 1:18
• Ephesians 1:17
• John 17:3
• Ephesians 1:18-22
• Exodus 23:14-16

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Matthew 5-7
• Revelation 22
• Job 42

Also referenced: Book {truthofGod.org}
God's Plan For Mankind Revealed by the Sabbath and the Holy Days

LJ:bo/po
Transcribed: 7/10/25

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