Elder Oscar B. Mink
Formerly Pastor - Sovereign Grace Baptist Church
Texarkana , Texas
FOREWARD
PREFACE
CHAPTER
ONE THE BAPTIST
BRIDE
CHAPTER
TWO AN OLD TESTAMENT
PICTURE OF THE NEW
TESTAMENT
BRIDE AND GROOM
CHAPTER
THREE JESUS, THE
MISSIONARY BAPTIST BRIDEGROOM
CHAPTER
FOUR SOME OTHER
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BRIDE
CHAPTER
FIVE THE MARRIAGE IN
HEAVEN
CHAPTER
SIX THE
BRIDAL CITY
CHAPTER
SEVEN THE MYSTERY OF THE
CHURCH
CONCLUSION
The Baptist Bride!! What an awesome truth. The Bride of Christ is a
Baptist Bride, chosen, prepared, arrayed, and made ready for this role, and
fitted to this prescribed end and the consequent glory that shall be
experienced.
Surely, those who are Baptists
should be aware of this great future, and they should be properly and
submissively conducting themselves as befits the Bride that is soon to be
wedded to God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Imagine the consummation of this
stupendous event, when Christ shall take unto Himself His Bride, whom He has
chosen, purchased, ransomed, and prepared. Could any other be found to be
suitable to be married to Him, Who is the Perfection of all that is called God?
In this brief work, Elder Mink
has done a masterful job of presenting The Baptist Bride. With much humility,
he has reached into the Scriptures and has literally plucked for our reading
joy these many jewels of truth. His style is, as usual, an in depth searching
of the numerous "thus said the Lord". His frequent use of these
precious Scriptures has authenticated his writing, thus diminishing the ability
of the many and varied gainsayers of the world to find legitimate fault with
the thesis that is set forth. Scripturally, I see little room for fault
finding, for who among men can stand against God and His Word?
There is, to be sure, much
controversy among professing Christendom concerning this subject. But I would ask
those who hold opposing views to read this book with a willingness to measure
every precept by the final authority, the Bible. When God has established a
precept, He faithfully and consistently maintains that position, and in this
matter, it is evident that God does not change, nor does He modify His plans.
God is not a pragmatist. He operates on principle. Absolute principle.
Clearly, those who may disagree
with the position that Elder Mink holds on this subject do so because they are,
generally speaking, not Baptists themselves. Many claim to be Baptists who, in
reality, are simply Protestants in disguise. Thus, the exclusivity that God
exercises in the choice of a Bride for His Son is not well received by
non-Baptists. And this, humanly speaking, is understandable. To such, the idea
of a Baptist Bride is not pleasant, for it excludes them from participation in
the "Brideship". It leaves them out.
A careful, prayerful, yearning
for truth attitude should be exhibited by all who claim to be Christian. If
this be the case, then one must either submit to the Bible and all that it
teaches on this subject, or be found to be in rebellion against God. Again, a
careful, prayerful yearning for truth will produce an attitude of acquiescence,
and the truth will prevail.
May God, in His abundant grace,
be pleased to lead every reader of this work to study it carefully and
prayerfully. To do so, we believe, will yield the peaceable fruit that
manifests proper relationship and proper fellowship with God and with His Word.
Wm.
Doyal Thomas
March 24, 1994
All four of the Gospels and the Apostle Paul agree that God chose and
sent John the Baptist to prepare the way for Israel's Messiah, Who would, by the
sacrifice of Himself, prepare the way of the Gentiles (Isa. 42:6,7; Luke 2:32;
Acts 13:24,25, 46-48; Heb. 9:26). John was a friend of the Messianic Bridegroom
(John 3-29), and people from all regions round about came to hear John preach
(Matt. 3:5). John preached repentance for the remission of sins, and he made
repentance a prerequisite for baptism (Matt. 3:7,8). Even though the ministry of John the Baptist was brief,
it was in length of time sufficient to accomplish the purpose for which he was
sent by the sovereign God of heaven and earth; and that express purpose was to
baptize the penitent and make disciples for Christ.
John was Israel's last prophet
(Luke 16:16), and it was John who verbally introduced the gospel age (John
1:29,36). With the martyrdom of John and the crucifixion of Christ, the law of
Moses reached its terminus, and Israel as a theocratic nation was set aside.
However, God has not left Himself without a witness in the earth, for Christ
took the disciples which John had made for Him, and with them established His
church (John 1:35-49). John, speaking of the church which Jesus started, said:
"He that hath (present tense) the Bride is the Bridegroom" (John
3:29). Just prior to Christ's departure from earth, and His ascension unto His
heavenly Father, He gave His Bridal church the age long promise of His
perpetuating power and comforting presence. (Matt. 28:18-20).
God, the Creator of heaven and
earth, has determined that His beloved and nail scarred Son have a supremely
magnificent wedding, and heaven's marriage hall is gloriously decorated, and
there is nothing lacking in this infinitely superb arrangement. But how about
the Bride? Is she fully prepared for this awesome event? Affirmed. "...
The marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready".
(Rev. 19:7).
New Testament Baptist churches
are not bibliolatrists; they do not worship the Bible, but they worship the
infallible Author of the Bible, that is GOD. And they honor His counsel
with the utmost sincerity. Their blessed Head and Groom has admonished them,
saying: "Prove all things: hold fast that which is good ... Speak thou the
things which become sound doctrine ... Try the spirits whether they are of God:
because many false prophets are gone out into the world" (I Thes. 5:21;
Titus 2:1; I John 4:1).
The Lord's Bridal church
appreciates intellectual acumen, but New Testament Baptists know the natural
intellect is restricted in its perception to carnal matters. Official
Conventions, Associations, and Councils are not a stay against error, but are,
in fact, promoters of compromises that are insidious and hurtful to the cause
of God and truth. The primary purpose of the Lord's Bridal church in this world
is to glorify her Groom, and in order to achieve this exalted end, her autonomy
must NEVER be compromised. Therefore, the church must take the strictest heed
to the Word of God, and be ready to give any and all men that asketh a reason
of the hope that God has given it.
The Romanists', Protestants',
and Bapto-protestants' distortion of the facts of ecclesiastical history,
wherein the origin and perpetuity of the Lord's Bridal church(es) are not
merely obscured, but obliterated, has not made scriptural Baptists obdurate or
deficient in love for depraved mankind. However, New Testament Baptists know it
is not their incessant perpetuity, nor their countless martyrdoms, nor their
evangelicalism, nor their commendable confessions and creeds that merits God's
approbation. But it is their tenacious adherence to His infallible word, and
the rejection of the ecclesiastical inventions of men, that has won for them
the glorious "Well done" of their loving and faithful Groom.
CHAPTER ONE - THE
BAPTIST BRIDE
John 3:29 - "He that hath the Bride is the Bridegroom ... "
The words of the text were spoken by the first Baptist, whose name was John,
and I call your attention to the textual terms "Bride" and
"Bridegroom", for the thrust of this message will be a consideration
of the ecclesiastical Bride and her Bridegroom. There cannot be a fully orbed
study of Christology without giving a large place to ecclesiology. Hence, the
text necessitates a study of the Lord's church and her glorious head, Jesus
Christ. Ecclesiastical
scholarship so-called, in the majority part, agree that the terms
"Bride" and "Bridegroom" used in our text are metaphoric
references to Christ and His church. But in conceding this, they have bought no
favor with God, for their notion as to what the Lord's church is, and what the
Bible teaches it to be, is as far apart as the east is from the west, and is,
therefore, a great detriment to church truth.
Scholarship, no matter the
science, must be anchored in truth. If not, it is scholarship falsely
so-called. Many allow that Augustine, Luther, and Calvin were scholars in the
science of soteriology, that is, in the way God saves His people. This I
disallow, and to support my variance, I ask one question: "Why did they
sprinkle infants and call it baptism?". The simple answer is: They
believed in sacramental salvation, and sacramentalism is antithetical to the
scriptural doctrine of salvation by the free and unmerited favor of God.
The Lord's church and the Bride
of Christ are one and the same. But in saying this, I haven't said very much,
for all of professing Christendom gives unreserved credence to that contention.
However, if you or I say: "The Bride of Christ is a Baptist Bride",
we had better be equal to the test, for the ecclesiastics of the contrary part will
turn on us with verbal slander, inspired of Satan.
The Baptist contention that each
local church was (is) an autonomous entity, and that scriptural baptism
demanded immersion, brought the fury of the papal church upon them, and
millions of them during the dark ages were viciously tortured and burned at the
stake. When the so-called reformation came in the early 16th century, the Roman
church was joined by Protestants in her effort to annihilate all Baptists. Both
Romanism and Protestantism were permeated with the spirit of legalism, and
Baptists suffered the two-pronged brunt of their unyielding intolerance.
The riots in the German city of
Munster (1535-6 A.D.) were provoked by Thomas Munzer, a militant leader of the
peasants, who was a Protestant. He never claimed any ecclesiastical union with
the Anabaptists. The tumult was more political than religious, for it primarily
had to do with the unfair treatment of the peasants by the German government.
It has never been denied by Baptists that there were Anabaptists in the city of
Munster at the time of the riots, but Baptists deny the accusation that they
took part in the peasants' insurrection against the German government. One
reason among many is, the Anabaptists at the time had a strong aversion to war
and getting their church involved in political or civil matters.
To quell the riots in Munster,
Catholic and Lutheran troops united and fought side by side in freeing the city
from the fanatical Thomas Munzer. But along with Munzer and his followers, all
Anabaptists in the city were to be destroyed, and so they were. (For an
in-depth study of the Munster Anabaptists, see: A HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS, Vol.
1, Chapter 13, by J.T. Christian.)
"Zwingli drowned Anabaptists
at Zurich in horrible parody of their insistence about adult baptism."
(CHAPTERS IN CHURCH HISTORY, Pg. 146, by P.M. Dawley). Contemporary
"Protestant Popes" hate Baptist baptism as much as their militant
predecessors, and if it were not for civil restraint, Baptist blood would once
again redden the earth. The
Baptist Bride doctrine has its root or origin in the New Testament. Romanism,
Protestantism, and Protestants with a Baptist name laughingly object to that
statement, saying: "There was no such thing as a Baptist church before the
fifteenth century. Moreover, the church is universal and invisible." I am
caused to wonder how Rome and her daughters murdered fifty million invisible
Baptists. The only thing I know about the invisible church is, that I know
nothing about it. I know very little about invisible things, and nothing about
that which has no existence.
There is an adage that says:
"You do not change the nature of a thing by calling it something other
than what it is". Example: How many legs would a horse have if you or I
called the horse's tail a leg? It would still have only four legs, because
calling it something that it is not does not change the thing. Another example:
Sprinkling is sprinkling, no matter how many people call it baptism. It is
still what it was, and that is sprinkling. Rantizio will never become baptizio
in any language.
Baptist churches went by various
names through the first fourteen centuries of their history, and most of these
names were given them by their enemies, the purpose being to deride them. They
have been called Montanists, Novationists, etc. The name that prevailed for the
longest period was "Waldenses", but none of the names ever changed
the fact that all the while they were Baptist churches.
There are no five-legged horses,
and there are no invisible brides. When the Lord comes for His Bride, He will
find that she has persevered through time, and she is joyously ready for the
consummation of her age long espousal to her loving Head and Bridegroom. I do
not mean to imply that the rapture is split, but I do emphatically say: The
Bride will be the first to welcome His coming, for she shares an intimacy with
Christ that no other people can ever experience.
While the heavenly Bride and
Groom are not one and the same, there will not be a greater oneness in
eternity, other than the tri-unity of the Godhead. So it is, the Bride of
Christ is going to live closer to the throne of God in glory than any other
people. James and John, the sons of Zebedee ( Matt. 4:21 ), will not sit the
one on the right hand and the other on the left (Matt. 20:4); but they will sit
very close to the throne of the Groom, for they are a part of His blood bought
Bride (Acts 20:28).
The Bridalship of the Lord's
church has no expiration date, for her heavenly Spouse has promised her that
the gates of hell would not deter their betrothal, much less destroy it (Matt.
16:18). One of the pre-nuptial vows the Lord made unto His beloved Bride before
He went away was, "I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that
where I am, there ye may be also" (John 14:3). The long and many centuries
wherein the Bride of Christ has atrociously suffered has not bedimmed her hope
of His coming, nor put any wrinkles on her brow. She is as radiant today as
when she walked with Him along the shores of Galilee and sat at His feet in the
Mount. She is as faithful today as she was when He first went away, for she has
never been identified with the harlot system, and she will, in due season, be
presented to Christ "a chaste virgin, arrayed in fine linen, clean and
white" (II Cor. 11:2; Rev. 19:8).
The common vow which is most
usually a part of marriage ceremonies in this world reads: "Til death do
us part", but this vow cannot apply to the Bride and Groom of our text (
John 3:29 ); for the Groom (Christ) is "alive forevermore" (Rev.
1:18), and speaking of His Bride and the wedding in heaven, He says: "...
His wife hath made herself ready" (Rev. 19:7). There is nothing that can
in any degree inhibit the marriage of the Bride and Groom of our text. And in
spite of Satan's efforts to adulterate the Bride, the Lord is going to present
His Bride to Himself "not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing
...". (Eph. 5:27).
"Unto Him be glory in the
church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end" (Eph.
3:21). There are many God glorifying, Christ exalting, and church edifying
truths in this brief text of Scripture, from which I will mention a few:
1. Christ glorifies God by being the Head of the church.
2. The church is edified by the
unceasing presence of Christ with it.
3. God's glory in the church is
eternal, "Throughout all ages, world without end".
4. The Bride of Christ is given
a written guarantee from the pen of Divine inspiration, of an endless
perpetuity, for Christ the Groom is ever present with her, and He has made the
church the primary medium of God's glory in the world.
CHAPTER TWO - AN OLD TESTAMENT
PICTURE
OF THE NEW
TESTAMENT BRIDE AND GROOM
The Old Testament is replete with types of the ecclesiastical Bride and
Groom of the New Testament. However, for the sake of brevity and space, I will
mention only one at this time, and that is the marriage of Abraham's son,
Isaac, to Rebekah. The whole chapter of Genesis 24 is given to this marriage.
In this marriage arrangement,
Abraham is a type of God the Father. Isaac is a type of Christ. Eliezer,
Abraham's faithful servant, is a type of the Holy Spirit (Gen. 15:2). And Rebekah
is a type of the spotless and blemishless Bride of Christ. This is the greatest
love story in the Old Testament, and it should never be overlooked or passed by
in any study of the New Testament church.
Abraham's faithful servant,
Eliezer, is sent by Abraham to find a particular bride for Isaac. The aspect of
this particularism is seen in the words of Abraham to his servant, wherein he
said: "... Thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the
Canaanites, among whom I dwell: But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my
kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac" (Gen. 24:3,4).
Abraham's servant was given
means whereby to identify the bride of Isaac (Gen. 24:43,44), and Rebekah
passed every detail of the identification test, including being a member of
Abraham's family, for she was the granddaughter of Abraham's brother (Gen.
24:15). Abraham, the type of God the Father, did not choose his whole family to
be the bride of his son, but he chose one from his family, the beautiful Rebekah,
and she became the bride and wife of Isaac.
Baptism is the first ordinance
of the church, and it is the paramount identification of a New Testament
church. Paul admonished the Corinthian church, saying: "... Keep the
ordinances as I delivered them unto you" (I Cor. 11:2). If a church does
not pass this first and all important I.D. test, she is a false bride, a
harlot, an enemy of the blood bought and virgin Bride of Christ. When a person
professes faith in Christ, and petitions one of the Lord's churches for
baptism, the church does not ask the petitioner: "Have you been
immersed?" But she asks the would-be member: "Do you have New
Testament Baptist baptism?". The question may be asked in a more direct
manner, but to ask it in a less straightforward way may allow membership
without scriptural baptism. BAPTISTS BEWARE!
There is not the least inference
in Scripture which teaches that regeneration brings one into a Bridal
relationship with Christ, but it does experientially make the subject a member
of the family of God (Eph. 3:15; Rev. 19:9). Being born again does not make one
a Baptist, but it makes him/her a proper candidate for Bridalship, or
membership in a New Testament Baptist church.
Acts 2:41 - "Then they that
gladly received His word (gospel), were baptized: and the same day there were
added unto them about three thousand souls." Baptism in this text is a
secondary action, whereby they who had "received His word" (i.e., the
gospel) were "added" to the church.
Acts 2:47 - "... The Lord
added to the church daily, those that, were being saved." Weymouth,
Williams, Beck and some others do not use the word "church" in their
translation of this text, but they all use a term which indicates or signifies
the same, i.e., "their number". The point being made and emphasized
in this text is that of repetition, for they were having a day by day revival,
in which souls were being saved, and "added" to the church by
baptism.
Acts 5:14 - "And believers
were the more added to the Lord ..." Note the repetitious verb,
"added", and notice also that they were "believers" before
they were "added to the Lord". They were "added to the
Lord" in the sense of becoming subject to His ecclesiastical Headship, and
thus being added to the Groom, were to become a member of His church and Bride,
to whom He has promised His perpetual presence (Matt. 28:20 ). Being born again
and being added to the Lord's church are two separate actions of and by the
Holy Spirit. By the first action (regeneration), He adds to the family of God;
and by the second action, that is scriptural baptism, He adds to the Lord's
blood bought church.
Eph. 3:14,15 - I (Paul) bow my
knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in
heaven and earth is named." Abraham had a large family, and it was to his
family he sent Eliezer to get Isaac's bride. The family of God is one thing,
and the Bride which He has chosen for His Son is another. In the realm of
nature, there is no problem with this, for the graphic distinction between the
bride and her family is readily acknowledged. The Father, as Head of His family
and representing His family, gives the Bride away. So it was with Rebekah's
father and family. They sent her on her way to become the bride and wife of
Isaac. God the Father had His family on earth for four thousand years before He
sent the Holy Spirit to bring forth from His family a Bride for His Son.
All who contend the church did
not exist prior to the day of Pentecost (Acts 2) must do away with a lot of Old
Testament typology that vividly pictures Christ and His church. Boaz and Ruth
are beautiful and striking types of Christ and His church, but this shining
representation of the New Testament church must be relegated to oblivion if
Christ did not have His ecclesiastical Bride before Pentecost (Ruth 4:10-13).
However, there is abundant and indisputable evidence in the four Gospels
attesting to the fact that Christ not only had His church before Pentecost, but
that it was a faithful and functioning church.
In Luke's gospel, we are given
the account whereby Christ called Peter, James, and John from their fishing
business. The Lord encourages them, saying: "Fear not, from henceforth
thou shalt catch men" (5:10). See also Matt 4:19 ; Mark 1:17 ; John 4:1,2
. With the calling of these first three disciples, Jesus had His infant church.
But it did not long remain in this stage, for with quick succession the other
nine disciples were called and added to the church.
No doubt, there is some variance
of thought among pre-Pentecostal Baptists as to how many of the original twelve
disciples the Lord called before He actually had His church. However, while I
am convinced the church had its birth with the first three disciples of our
Lord, it is not a question of great import. All New Testament Baptists know
that the church existed during the early ministry of Christ, for the church was
witnessing and baptizing in the beginning of Christ's ministry (John 1:45;
4:1,2).
The contention that the New
Testament church existed prior to the Pentecost of Acts 2 is an unmitigated
truth, for as Paul says: "God hath set some in the church, first apostles
..." (I Cor. 12:28). And the account wherein the apostolic office
originated is recorded in Luke 's gospel (6:13), and it reads on this wise:
"And when it was day, He (Christ) called unto Him His disciples: and of
them He chose twelve, whom He also called apostles". The church had to
exist at the time for the Lord to "set" the apostles in it.
What happened on the day of
Pentecost was not the incorporation of the church, but the empowering of the
church for its worldwide and age long mission (Acts 1:8). The baptism that John
the Baptist and Christ spoke of (Matt. 3:11; Acts 1:5) was not a baptism by the
Spirit in the Spirit, but it was a baptism of the church by Christ in the
Spirit (Acts 11:14). The Holy Spirit is the element into which Christ the
Administrator immersed His church. Church membership applicants are baptized in
(en in the Greek) water (not merely "with" water) by the authority of
the Lord's church(es).
Prior to Pentecost, He had given
His church disciplinary authority (Matt. 18:17) and the universal and age long
commission to evangelize the earth (Matt. 28:18-20). The truth is, the church
had the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper before Pentecost, as well
as a democratic form of government (Matt. 28:19; John 4:1,2; Luke 22:15-20; 1
Cor. 11:23-25; Acts 1:21-26). The deaconship is about the only thing the
post-Pentecostal church has that the pre-Pentecostal church did not have (Acts
6:2,3).
Isaac DID NOT marry Rebekah and
all of her family. And that ecclesiastical marriage which God the Father has
planned for His Son in glory will soon be consummated, and the church which
Jesus bought with His own blood will, after these long and many years of
betrothal, become the married Bride of her faithful, loving, and nail scarred
Groom. At this glorious occasion, the ecstasy of the family of God will be
second only to that of the Bride, and the family of God will shout, saying:
"... Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us rejoice, and
give honor to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His Wife hath made
herself ready" (Rev. 19:6,7).
The Song of Solomon (Canticles)
gives great typological emphasis to the doctrine of Baptist Brideship, but we
must leave the Old Testament picture album with all of its beautiful portraits
of Christ and His virgin church and take up the theme with its literalness in
the New Testament.
CHAPTER THREE - JESUS, THE
MISSIONARY BAPTIST BRIDEGROOM
Let me restate our original text. "He that hath the Bride is the
Bridegroom ..." (John 3:29). The verb is in the present tense, and it
bespeaks possessiveness. The words of the text were spoken by John the Baptist,
and in this same text, he identifies himself as a "... friend of the
Bridegroom". In this friendship, John's joy was fulfilled, and his
decrease was the increase of the Bridegroom. And God gloried in that fact.
Just recently, a Campbellite
said to me: "The name of your church is not in the Bible". I have
read the Bible with scrutiny and at great length, and as yet, I have not come
across the name of the founder of the church commonly known as Campbellites;
that is, Alexander Campbell. I found "John the Baptist", but not
"John the Methodist". In my reply to the Campbellite, I said: "I
am a Baptist, and everybody who knows me knows that I am a Baptist. When I
baptize a person, every observer knows that that person comes out of the water
a Baptist." Jesus knew that Baptist baptism was not merely important, but
essential, to the ecclesiastical honor of God. So, He went to the first Baptist
preacher, John the Baptist, and He was baptized by him in the river Jordan. I
asked the Campbellite: "What does that make Jesus?".
Jesus was a Baptist preacher,
and the Sovereign and exclusive Head of His church. Being a Baptist, He would
not be satisfied with just any Bride. So it was, Jesus established His church,
the first Bridal church, from, or out of, the disciples of John the Baptist.
John the Baptist was sent from God, and his mission was to preach repentance,
and to prepare the human building blocks from which Jesus would build His first
church. The life of John the Baptist on earth was brief, but the powers of
darkness could not terminate him before his mission was complete; which mission
was to baptize Christ and make disciples for Him (Matt 3:13-15; John 1:29-37).
Speaking of false churches, we can in truth, say: "All roads lead to Rome and
the Pope". But concerning the Lord's church, there is but one road. It is
straight and narrow, and it leads to Jesus Christ and the new Jerusalem (Rev.
3:12; 21:2,10).
"He that hath the Bride is
the Bridegroom ...". There has not been a day, no, not an hour, since the
constitution of the first Baptist church, that Christ has been Brideless; nor
shall the heavenly made betrothal ever be in danger of being terminated.
Notwithstanding, the devil and his bride (Rev. 17:1,15,16; 19:2) have
incessantly tried to bring it to a bloody climax. But the all glorious and
Sovereign Head of His Bride made a promise to her before He went away, wherein
He said: "The floodtides of hell shall not prevail against my beloved and
faithful church" (Matt 16:18).
Christ has a three-fold
ownership of the New Testament church. (1) He created it (I Cor. 12:28). (2) He
bought it with His own blood (Acts 20:28). There has never been a greater dowry
paid for a bride. (3) It is His Bride and Wife to be (Rev. 19:7). Paul,
speaking to one of the Lord's churches, said: "But God, Who is rich in
mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us ... hath raised us up together,
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:4,6).
In this text, Paul is speaking of a present tense experience of the Lord's
churches.
The gospel commission which the
Lord gave His church before He left the earth is clearly delineated by Him in
four different books of the New Testament, i.e., Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15;
Luke 24:46-49 ; and Acts 1:8 . Whatever else the church may be, one thing is
absolutely sure; it is a missionary church. The church has paid a great cost
for her faithfulness to this charge, but she knows her loving Head will reward
her a hundred-fold for her obedience to the worldwide and age long commission
which He gave her in His affectionate farewell to her.
The most heavenly place on this
earth a person can be is in an assembly of one of the Lord's churches, for the
omnipresent Lord has promised to be with His churches every time they assemble
for worship. And worship of their blessed Head should be the supreme purpose of
each and every meeting of the church. This is why I could never understand why
any member of one of the Lord's churches would ignore the scriptural admonition
not to forsake the assembly (Heb. 10:25), and go to a worldly event to have a
good time. A New Testament Baptist church worship service is not paradise, but
it is as close to it as a mortal can come.
Matt. 18:20 - "For where
two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of
them." This is a glorious and comforting promise given to the Bride, by
the Groom, and He that promised is faithful. But let not the Lord's churches
take that "two" or "three" as a standard, and be satisfied
with it. To do so (God forbid) is to be hurtful to the church, and it is to
bring reproach on our nail scarred Groom; for He has made missions and
evangelism the interim work of the Bride.
Christ said to His virgin Bride:
"I go to prepare a place for you ...". And while I am gone, "Go
ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark
16:15). In obedience to this command, the Lord's churches have successfully
withstood the heresies of Arminianism and the slothfulness of Antinomianism.
But in being faithful to her Groom, the Lord's churches have suffered
martyrdoms untold. And the contemporary Bride, while not so viciously
persecuted, is homesick for heaven and desiring the consummation of her
betrothal, joins her prayer to her blessed forerunners, saying: "Even so,
come Lord Jesus" (Rev. 22:20).
CHAPTER FOUR - SOME OTHER
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BRIDE
II Cor. 2:9 - "For to this end also did I write, that I might know
the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things." Speaking of false
prophets, Christ said to His church: "Ye shall know them by their
fruits" (Matt. 7:16). Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica, saying:
"Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God". In the context, he
tells them how he knew they were "the elect of God". The gospel had
come unto them in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance (I Thess.
3:7). Timothy had brought Paul a good report of the Thessalonian church,
whereupon Paul says to them: "Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over
you in all our affliction and distress by your faith" (I Thess. 3:7). 'The
"fruit" of the Thessalonian church was authentic in nature and
sufficient in volume, not only to erase any doubt Paul might have had of them,
but to elicit from him one of the greatest commendations ever accorded a New
Testament Baptist church, i.e., "Knowing, brethren, your election of
God".
John the Baptist, speaking to
his disciples of Jesus, said: "Behold the Lamb of God ..." (John
1:36). John is no longer with us to point out the Bridegroom, but the Lord's
churches are not left without a guide, for they are blessed with the omniscient
Director, of Whom the Lord spoke, saying to His church: "It is expedient
for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come; but
if I depart, I will send Him unto you ... He will guide you into all truth ...
He shall glorify Me: for He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto
you" (John 16:7,13). The "Comforter" Whom the Lord referred to
in this text is the Holy Spirit, and He, in His Overseership of the Lord's
churches, has given them the Divinely inspired Guide Book. And it is through
this ONE and ONLY heaven originated Book on earth that the Holy Spirit makes
the Scriptures "profitable" unto the Bride, for it is through this
blessed medium that she is made intimately familiar with her infinitely
sovereign and glorious Groom (II Tim. 3:16).
A. The first characteristic of
the Bridal church I call your attention to, is: Her origin and Founder. The Bride of Christ, that is the New
Testament church, although amply revealed in Old Testament types and shadows,
had her material and earthly origin in the days of Christ and John the Baptist.
John said: "He that hath (present tense) the Bride is the Bridegroom"
(John 3:29). Christ is both the Founder and Foundation of His church (Matt.
16:18; 1 Cor. 3:11). So, it unavoidably follows, any and all churches whose
origin and founder post-dates the New Testament are of illegitimate birth, having
the wrong date of origin, and they have violated the Foundership of Jesus
Christ. What shall we then say of the Popeish church and her harlot daughters?
We simply say: "They have the WRONG date of origin, the WRONG place of
origin, and, BY FAR, the WRONG originator.
B. The second characteristic of
the Bridal church: Every member of the New Testament church made a verbal
profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, there are no infants
in the membership of the church (Acts 2:41; Acts 8:35-39). "But when they
believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God,, and the
name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women" (Acts 8:12).
Salvational competence is not in
the power of the church, nor shall it ever be, for salvation belongs to the
exclusive province of God's sovereign grace, and it is the fruit of His
unmerited favor (Eph. 2:8). The Lord has given His churches irrefutable
jurisdiction and custody of the ordinances, but as important as the ordinances
of the church are, they have no salvational efficacy. And any affirmation to
the contrary is a mockery of regenerative grace, an adulteration of the
ordinances, and a dangerous deception of the subject.
Romanism and Protestantism are in
error as to the way God saves His people, for they give saviourhood to the
ordinances, and they have, by this grievous error, deceived multiplied millions
of people. Conversely, Baptists hold fast to the truth that God is the solitary
Communicator of saving grace, and they steadfastly contend that every effort of
man to mix creature works with redemptive grace is a blasphemous exercise; and
it aggravates man's condemnation, rather than atoning for it.
C. The third characteristic of
the church: All members of the New Testament church were baptized upon the
profession of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Sprinkling and affusion
(pouring) are religious inventions of men, and they came along centuries after
the Lord established HIS church.
D. The fourth characteristic of
the church: The New Testament church, or Bride of Christ, consists only of
believers who have been baptized by church authority. Having one's name on the church Roll Book
does not necessarily make that person a member of the Bride of Christ. A
marriage license does not make a marriage, and neither does a baptismal
certificate make the holder thereof betrothed to Christ.
Baptists have never taught that
an unbaptized Christian cannot please God; but what they have, and yet teach
is, that every saved person is commanded to be baptized (Acts 2:38). And
failure to heed this commandment is a sin of great magnitude. Scriptural
baptism should be sought without delay by every newly regenerated person, for
it is a symbolic declaration of the believer's faith in Christ and admits the
baptizee into membership of the Lord's Bridal church.
It has been said: "Baptists
have a lot of churchianity, and they have it at the expense of
Christianity". Nothing could be further from the truth, for Baptists, more
so than others, if not exclusively, contend without deviation that a person
first must be a Christian before he can be a church member. And New Testament
churches require of their members a deportment that emulates Christ. The
imperative order with Baptists, and it has always been, first Christology, and
then ecclesiology.
E. The fifth characteristic of
the church: New Testament Baptist churches practice membership discipline.
Baptist churches know the Lord
has given them disciplinary authority, so as to keep their churches pure. And
they further know, if they do not discipline their wayward members, the Lord
will discipline the church for its indifference. Baptists know, it is either
discipline or decay. So it is, their two thousand year history is proof
positive of their perpetual discipline of their erring members (Matt. 18:17).
The term "excluded
member" is a misnomer, for it is actually a contradiction of terms. When a
person is excluded from the membership of a Baptist church, his or her
membership in the excluding church has been eliminated. Exclusion does not mean
the subject is no longer saved; but the awesome fact is, the excluded person is
no longer a member of the Bridal church of Christ. Paul was a great analogist,
and in I Cor. 12 , he used an analogy to show the correspondence of the members
of the human body, to which he likened the church. Nevertheless, Paul was a
strong advocate of excisive discipline, and he admonished this very same church
(Corinthian) to exclude from their membership a man who was guilty of
incestuous fornication (I Cor. 5:8-13). In the physical realm, an amputated arm
is no longer a part of the body. And the church being the spiritual body of
Christ, occasions will arise when the church, for the preservation of its
spiritual health, must, after due process, cut out of its membership any person
or persons who have irreconcilably offended the church.
It is possible for a New
Testament Baptist church to err in its practice of membership discipline, for
Baptists, as individuals and as churches, know they are far from being
infallible and may unjustly exclude a person from church membership. Such
action is exceedingly rare, and when the church discovers it has erred in this
regard, immediate and expeditious measures should be taken by the excluding
church to correct the matter, making null and void the action whereby the
person was excluded. The person wrongfully disciplined by the church is not
reinstated to membership, for, in actuality, his membership has never been
otherwise than intact. In forty years as a Baptist, I have only known of two
cases in which a person's name was unjustly deleted from the membership roll of
the church. And in both cases, the erring church discovered its mistake
and, with eagerness, corrected it; and the tarnish on the names of the two
people was joyously eradicated.
The problem is not so much with
the excluding church and the person excluded, as it is with sister churches
taking into their membership a person or persons whom they know has been justly
excluded from the membership of a New Testament Baptist church. Such a
practice, if persisted in, cannot help but bring painful discord between the
churches involved. Furthermore, such disrespectful action on the part of the
receiving church goes a long way in negating the autonomy of both the excluding
and receiving church, for it gives the excluded person an undue liberty, which,
in turn, gives him some measure of advantage over his membership church. The
baneful philosophy of some pastors claiming to be New Testament Baptists, is:
"No circumstances should bar the receiving of any person who applies for
membership, for if a person cannot worship with one church, he should be able
to worship with another". This is a glaring contradiction of the Bible
doctrine of church discipline, and the transgressing church will, in due
season, find her way is extremely hard.
F. The sixth characteristic of
the church: The Lord's Bridal church recognizes the authority of the local or
immediate New Testament Baptist church as the highest ecclesiastical authority
on earth, and that there are no courts of appeal beyond its God ordained
jurisdiction. The God given autonomy of the church is unquestionable.
To emphasize the authority which
the Lord had vested in His church, He verbally reiterated it, saying unto her:
"... Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and
whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt.
16:19; 18:18). That is in essence to say: "Every scriptural action of the
church, whether it brings increase or decrease, is underwritten by the power of
heaven itself'. However, I restate, it does not include any action of the
church which is contrary to the Scriptures. Therefore, EVERY CHURCH AND
PASTOR should know how to rightly divide the word of truth (II Tim. 2:15).
By the third century, many false
churches, who usurped and denounced the authority of the churches of Christ,
had come into existence. And it was of these counterfeit churches the
first ecclesiastical hierarchy was formed (A.D. 251). The Papal office, with
its decretive power, was instituted in the year 606 A.D., and Boniface III
became the first Pope. For the next nine hundred years, the Papal office of the
Roman church assumed ecclesiastical Governorship of the earth. And any and all
churches who would not recognize the Papal Headship must be, by any means
necessary, brought to submission, the one alternative being extinction.
Many of the Lord's churches were violently erased from the earth during this
dark and fearful time, but the powers of darkness failed to eradicate the
Lord's betrothed. And there was a remnant of God's elect churches
providentially preserved during these cruel and bloody centuries, and the
offsprings of these churches are known today as New Testament Baptist churches.
Calvin believed that Divine
authority had been given the church to establish the Kingdom of God on earth,
and that he was God's chosen instrument to this end, the early fruits being
Calvinistic and theocratic Geneva. But he was wrong in thinking that he had
been chosen of God to lead the church in bringing in the theocratic kingdom,
for neither the church, nor any creature, is to be the instrument whereby the
theocratic state is to realize its origin or inception. The work of
establishing the thousand year theocracy on earth belongs exclusively and
auspiciously to the King of Kings, Who is the Bridegroom of the church.
It is God that presents the
Kingdom to His Son, Who is the Head and Bridegroom of His church, and His
Bridal church shall share His throne with Him (Dan. 7:13,14; Rev. 3:21). It has
never been the mission of the church to convert the world, but it is the
mission of the church to preach the gospel to the world (Mark 16:15). And the church
further knows that kingdom building, theocratic or otherwise, has never been a
prescribed part of her earthly labors. Baptists have always believed in
separation of church and state.
The Amillennialist and
Postmillennialist theories of the parousia of Christ will reach its absolute
terminus with the premillennial "shout" of the Groom from mid-air (I
Thes. 4:13-18). And all the saved who are of this erroneous persuasion, whether
they be in the church, or out of it, will be, of all the saints on the earth at
that time, the most surprised at the Lord's premillennial appearing. They will
at that time, and with great joy, fully embrace the Premillennial doctrine of
the rapture and Christ's second coming to earth (Rev. 20:4-6).
The marriage supper of the Sovereign
Groom and His virgin Bride (Rev. 19:9,17) is the primary event that initiates
the Millennium; and it gives universal recognition and honor to the Brideship
of the Lord's church, which has gone by the name "Baptist" for the
last five hundred years. The rank and power of the Bride is eternally
subordinate to her beloved Groom. Yet it will be ineffably glorious, for her
binding and loosening faithfulness during her bitter tenure on earth will be
recognized and, henceforth, made perfect.
G. The seventh characteristic of
the church: The New Testament church, through her two thousand year history has
kept, and yet keeps, the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper as was
delivered unto her by the Head of the church, which is her Bridegroom. The keeping and observance of these two
ordinances is, and was, infrangibly given to the Lord's Bridal church; and NO
deviations in the observance of the ordinances are allowed. Baptism and the
Lord's Supper are, in their every aspect, restricted to the local church.
H. The eighth characteristic of
the church: The New Testament church, which is unmistakably the Bride of
Christ, had only one mission. And that was to be faithful to her Redeemer and
loving- Head, the faithfulness of which included the carrying out of the Great
commission (Matt. 28:18-20).
I. The ninth characteristic of
the church: By love serve one another" (Gal. 5:13). This is the last characteristic that I will
mention at this time, and it is, by far, not the least. Christ said to
His church: "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another;
as I have loved you, that ye also love one another" (John 13:34). Paul,
who was mightily used of the Lord in the establishment of His churches, wrote
to the church at Ephesus, saying: "And be ye kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath
forgiven you" (Eph. 4:32). That is a lot of forgiveness, and it would
enhance the spirituality and progress of the local church if its members would
keep this truth in the forefront of their minds.
The New Testament church was
originally, and is today, local and visible in nature. It is a functioning
organization, whose Divinely given authority is age long and cannot be
successfully breached.
CHAPTER FIVE - THE MARRIAGE IN
HEAVEN
Rev. 19:7 - "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him:
for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself
ready."
"The marriage is
come!" The betrothal period has expired. Joyous anticipation has become
reality, and all sorrows have faded into everlasting obscurity. The Bridal
chamber is made ready, and every detail has, in perfect minuteness, been taken
care of. Beloved little flocks, your troubles and trials are eternally behind
you, and the joy of that royal day will erase all negative remembrances from
your mind. Eph. 5:25-27 -
"Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave
Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the word, That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without
blemish." The marriage has come, and the Bride is ready. Her virginity and
maidenhood has been preserved by tenacious adherence to the word and conjugal
promise of her loving and faithful Groom.
The Bride knew that this most
glorious of all days had been approaching since her Groom left the earth, and
this bright prospect enlivened her patience and comforted her in suffering. All
of her earthly adversities and afflictions were preparing her for this great
day, and now she is ready, dressed in fine linen, clean and white (Rev. 19:8).
The Bridegroom, ere He left the
scenes of time, gave His Bride many "I will" promises, one of which
was: "I will come again and receive you unto Myself" (John 14:3). I
call your attention to the term "unto Myself' in the text. It is a
term which denotes special endearment and designed exclusiveness. It is not addressed
to Abraham, nor to Moses or David, nor to an archangel, but it applies solely
to Jesus Christ, the Bridegroom. It is to Him the Bride is to be gathered. And
with Him, she shall eternally experience an intimacy that is infinite and
cannot in so great a degree be experienced by any other. Nay, not Israel, the
elect angels, nor the family of God, but it is unto "Himself, and to none
other, that Christ the Bridegroom gathers His virgin and precious Bride.
As Deity, or the God-man, Christ
is going to present His meek and faithful Bride to Himself in the marriage
chamber of glory, and her radiance will be second only to that of her glorious
and incomparable Groom. By this heavenly marriage, the Bridal church is
elevated to the very highest and solitary place that shall ever be accorded any
of God's creatures. But let us note, the Scripture says: "... Blessed are
they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb" (Rev. 19:9).
It is the universal consensus that a Bride does not need an invitation to her
own wedding, but she has much to do with preparing the guest list.
Now, I ask: "If every saved
person is in the Bride, where does this great host of guests come from?".
Regeneration does not put one into the church, but it does, experientially, put
the regenerated person into the family of God. Jesus said, speaking of
His elect people: "I am the door of the sheep" (John 10:7), and there
is no other door into the family of God. But the door into Brideship, that is,
the church, is scriptural baptism.
A sarcastic critic of the
Baptist doctrine of Landmarkism, asks: "Seeing that your churches have
only one door into the church, that is, baptism, when a person is excluded from
a Baptist church, what door does he go out? Do you unbaptize him?" It is
true, there is only one door of entrance into a New Testament Baptist church.
But the Omniscient Architect, Who designed the ecclesiastical building, put an
exit door in it, over which is written: DEFIANCE OF CHURCH AUTHORITY. "And
if he (any infractor) shall neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as
an heathen man and a publican" (Matt. 18:17). Paul was much upset with the
church at Corinth for condoning incestuous fornication, and he criticized the
church for its dereliction in the matter. He admonished the church, saying:
"... Put away from among yourselves that wicked person" (I Cor.
5:13). The church heeded Paul's admonition and excluded the impenitent
fornicator. This discipline proved to be corrective, and Paul, in his
second letter to the Corinthian church, advised the church to receive and
restore the man to membership, for he had repented of the reproach he had
brought on the church (II Cor. 2:6-8). Biblically prescribed discipline is a
laundering detergent, the use of which keeps the church clean and unspotted.
Now, let us return to our
consideration of the marriage in heaven. The rapture of the saints and the
sealing of the 144,000 Israelites are, in proximity of time, very close, if not
simultaneous (Rev. 7). The message of these Jewish witnesses during the seven
year tribulation period will be the means of turning a numberless host unto
Christ. But their tribulational ministry does not add one person to the church,
for the church, at this very time, is attending her wedding in heaven. The
tribulational saints are a part of the family of God, but they are not in the
Bridal church, nor on the wedding guest list.
The Lord speaks to the
tribulational earth, saying: "And the light of the candle (i.e., the
church) (Rev. 1:20) shall shine no more in thee; and the voice of the
Bridegroom and of the Bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy
merchants (religious entrepreneurs permeating the earth with the harlotry of
the ecumenical church) were the great men of the earth; for by their sorceries
were all nations deceived" (Rev. 18:23). The voice of the Bride is not
heard during the seven year tribulation period, for the simple reason that she
is at the time getting married to her beloved Groom in heaven.
The ecclesiology of the
tribulation period will be Catholicism writ large, for the Protestant daughters
of mother Rome have reunited with her; and she has united with the Dictator of
the one world government, the personal antichrist. The Romanistic doctrine of a
universal, visible church will, at that time, cover the earth, as waters cover
the sea. But this doctrine will be, as it has always been, a rogue, for it robs
the faithful and shining Bride of Christ of her precious family and beloved
wedding guests. But this can never be, for her Sovereign and protective Groom
has ordained otherwise, and she shall be blessed with family and guests.
Baptists should give a priority
to their church membership, second only to their personal and private
relationship to Christ; for without a faithful relationship to the Lord's
church, all other relationships suffer. The question may be asked: "How
about a Baptist church member's relationship to his family, should not that
relationship come first?". The bond and ties of family members should be
exceedingly strong and carefully preserved. A husband's love for his wife
should equal that of Christ's love for His church (Eph. 5:25), and the wife
should submit herself unto her God given husband, even as unto the Lord (Eph.
5:22). Christ was, and is, pro-family, for, in His dying hour, He committed His
mother unto the care of His beloved disciple, John. Godly parents will have a
super abounding love for their children, and children should obey their parents
in the Lord (Col. 3:20).
In the above and foregoing
statements, I am not equating the church with Christ but the church is His
blood bought Bride; and He has, with His relationship to her, elevated her
above that of His family. The person who is saved by the free and unmerited
grace of God, and then added to His church by scriptural baptism, should, if
the need arises, forsake all (family, friends, etc.) to be faithful to the
Lord's blood bought and precious church (Matt. 10:38; Mark 10:29,30).
Heb. 12:22,23 - "But ye are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the
city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an enumerable company of
angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written
in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made
perfect."
Let us notice the phrase in the
text which reads: "The general assembly and church of the firstborn".
The advocates of the universal church doctrine read this statement on this
wise: "The general assembly; the church of the firstborn". But that
is not what this text says, for they omit the word "and", which is a
conjunction. And things which are the same do not need a conjunction to
unite them, for they have never been separated. So, let us not evade or avoid
the compound and intrinsic nature of the inspired separating element
("and"), much less cast it asunder.
The "general assembly"
and "the church of the firstborn" are two distinct and separate
bodies. The Lord is not betrothed to the "general assembly", but He
has entered into a marriage contract with His church, and this contract will,
in due season (which appears to be short), be consummated. The "general
assembly" is the family of God, which He has, in great part, begotten
through and by His Bride.
The Lord said to His Bride,
while He was as yet on the earth: "In My Father's house are many mansions:
if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for
you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive
you unto Myself: that where I am, there ye may be also" (John 14:2,3).
There would be no need for "many mansions" if all the saved were in
the Bride, for one city is sufficient for His Bride; and Christ went away to
prepare the Bridal city, a city of incomparable splendor. This city is the home
of the "living God", the throne city, and the capital city of all the
ages to come. This all glorious city will be the institutional home of the
consummate Bride.
Every Baptist church departing
this God hating earth with faith in the promise of the Groom (John 14:2,3) will
realize their eternal citizenship in the Bridal city, and they will, through
the unending millenniums, sing the nuptial song which expresses the devotion
and dedication of the Bride and Groom to each other (Heb. 2:12,13). Every
faithful husband and father loves his family, and his children are more
precious to him than life. However, the husband has a peculiar love, a love
which belongs exclusively to his wife. It is not a question of more or less
love, but of kind and manifestation. The manifestation and variance in the
husband's or father's love is of equal quality in both directions, and is the
basis, or guarantee, of mutual respect in the whole family, even though this
respect is different in kind (Eph. 5:28).
The Groom's respect for His
Bride is made inviolable by oath, and in the sense of love and duty, they
become one flesh and share an intimacy that is special and peculiar to a
faithful marriage. Love and attention will be given by the father unto his
whole family, but the time and attention he gives to his faithful and loving
bride is conspicuously more than what is shown to his family in general.
Baptists have been accused of
being too churchly. Some people have gone as far as to say: "Baptists
worship the church, rather than God". These charges are utterly
groundless, for Baptists are not churcholatrists, but like Paul, they are
jealous over the church. This great Apostle said to one of the Lord's churches:
"I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one
husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ" (II Cor.
11:2). Generally speaking, the fault with Baptists is not loving the church too
much, but loving it too little.
Rev. 21:2 - "And I John saw
the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a
Bride adorned for her husband."
At this juncture, I will mention
a few other things which the Bride of Christ knows about the city which is her
future and eternal home.
1. Jesus the Groom is the light
of the city (Rev. 21:23).
2. The kings of the earth bring
their glory and honor into the Bridal city (Rev. 21:24,26). So, the unavoidable
conclusion is: All the redeemed are not going to live in the city. The earth is
not annihilated in the conflagration at the end of the millennium, but it is
eternally purged from the curse of sin. And in this infinite purgation, all
finite substance is everlastingly destroyed. God's elect millions shall live in
their immortal bodies on the earth, which has been made new by sanctifying fire
(II Pet. 3:12,13; Rev. 21:1). The Bridal city will occupy a large part of the
renewed earth (Rev. 21:10-27).
3. The wall of the city has the
names of twelve Baptist preachers engraved thereon (Rev. 21:24). The thought
may enter some inquisitive reader's mind: "How does the writer know they
were Baptist preachers?". This knowledge comes from the fact that they
followed the example of their beloved Groom, and they were baptized (not
sprinkled) by the first Baptist preacher (Matt. 3:13-17; Luke 7:28-30; Acts
1:22). The indispensable requisite of the Bridegroom in establishing the first
Bridal church was: Every charter member of it must have been baptized by John
the Baptist, and this Divine criteria was fully satisfied. The first New
Testament church was established of the original two or three disciples (Matt.
18:20; Mark 14-20), or it was composed of the twelve whom He named apostles
(Luke 6:12), all of whom had been baptized by John the Baptist (Acts 1:21,22).
Jesus would not be satisfied with anything less than a Baptist Bride, and
neither should any Baptist -in civil matrimony or church relationship.
The baptism of Jesus superseded
that of John the Baptist, for John's baptism reached its terminus with his
death. But the baptismal ordinance which Jesus gave unto His church is age
long, and it is to be administered by local church authority, and in the name
of the sovereign and holy Trinity. Baptists have been accused of churlishness
concerning their stand on baptism, but Baptists are not churlish in defense of
any of their doctrine. And their courtesy and humility is an incontestable part
of their glorious history. However, Baptists are unapologetically dogmatic in
contending for the faith which was delivered unto them by their Head and Groom
(Jude 3).
The problem stems from lack on
our critics' part to distinguish between churlishness and dogmatism. It is not
audacious or churlish to be dogmatic about that which is clearly and
irrefutably spelled out in Scripture. New Testament Baptists will not
compromise the doctrine which they believe, without doubt, that God has
commissioned them to preach. But at the same time, no Holy Spirit led Baptist
will, by his own design, make his God given doctrine repulsive to others. Then,
too, Baptist hearers need to know and remember that dogmatism and cocksureness
are two different things, for cocksureness is permeated with pride and
arrogance. Dogmatism, when warranted by the Scriptures, brings gratitude toward
God and humbleness in the heart of the saint.
Another question which our
antagonists ask, is: "Will Christ marry each local Baptist church that
ever existed?". I will answer the question with a question: "Will all
the redeemed families of the earth (thank God, there will be many) be in heaven
as they were on earth, or will there be only one family in heaven, that is, the
family of God?". Marriage, family ties, and distinction is good for this
corrupted earth, but not so in heaven (Matt 22:30; Mark 12:25; Luke 20:34,35).
On earth, Baptist churches are distinct and autonomous entities, but not so in
heaven; for there is only one Groom and one Bride, and one marriage in heaven.
Local Baptist churches will lose their ecclesiastical individuality and become
part of the consummate and eternal Bride of Christ. The separate Baptist
churches are not organized into a heaven-wide Convention or Association, but
they become one ecclesiastical or singular body, that is, the Bride of Christ.
And they shall live in the gloriously indescribable city which her loving Groom
has prepared for her (John 14:2; Rev. 21:18).
Baptists have never taught that
Christ loves His Bride more than He loves His family, for they know God's love
is infinite, eternal, and immutable. However, they have correctly and
consistently taught that Christ, while on earth, spent the far greater part of
His time with His beloved church. And they know with absolute certainty that He
has been faithful to the promise of His age long presence with His churches
during their earthly pilgrimage (Matt. 28:20). This may not be a prototype of
the relationship of Christ to His church in the eternal ages, but, seeing that
Christ and His church are going to live without any prolonged hiatus in the Bridal
city, the inevitable conclusion is: He, as when on earth, will be with His
Bride more than with the family of God. Nevertheless, perfect and eternal
harmony will prevail, for jealousy shall never enter heaven's boundless and
eternal domain.
CHAPTER SEVEN - THE MYSTERY OF
THE CHURCH
Eph. 3:2-6 - "If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of
God which is given me to you-ward: How that by revelation He made known unto me
the mystery: (as I wrote afore in few words whereby, when ye read, ye may
understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ). Which in other ages was not
made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles
and prophets by the Spirit: That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of
the same body and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel."
The "mystery" which
Paul refers to in the above Scripture is something other than a revelation that
Gentiles would be saved and share in the blessings of the immortal state. The
declaration of Gentile salvation is many times stated in the Old Testament, and
Paul quotes a number of these references in his epistle to the Romans (Rom.
15:9-12). While there are numerous references in the Old Testament which speak
of Gentile salvation, it was through Israel, God's official body on earth (from
Moses to Christ), that a great host of Gentiles realized their covenantship
with God. But the "mystery" Paul refers to is the New Testament
ecclesia, wherein Jews and Gentiles would be on equal footing, for the
partitioning wall had been taken away by the sacrifice of Christ (Eph. 2:13-16;
Gal. 3:26-28).
Eph. 3:9-11 - "And to make
all (kinds of) men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the
beginning of the world hath been hid in God, Who created all things by Jesus
Christ: to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly
places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to
the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord."
The "mystery" which
Paul refers to is the Lord's church, but it also includes the gospel, which the
Lord commissioned His churches to preach. And it is the proclamation of
the gospel of Christ that brings hope to the hearts of God's elect (Mark 16:15;
Col. 1:23-29).
The gospel was given to Israel
in symbols and types, but, as a nation, Israel was never able to see what or
who their animal sacrifices foreshadowed. Nor could they see or realize that
the Lord would set them aside as a nation and give His glory to another and
different institution; to whom He would give Bridal status, and in whom He
would be glorified throughout all ages, world without end (Eph. 3:21). Israel
had utterly forsaken God, and, in so doing, breached her covenant with Him.
This breach nullified her covenant, but it is not irreplaceable, for God will
make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah (Heb. 8:8).
This reestablishment of Israel is a future event, but God is not left without a
covenant people, for He has made an unimpeachable covenant with a people whom
He refers to as "My ecclesia" (Matt. 16:18). And it is this very same
people He metaphorically refers to as His Bride (John 3:29; Rev. 21:2).
The law which God gave Israel
was both holy and just. But Israel was forevermore transgressing the law and
was never able to see that the law, in and of itself, was never designed to
bring salvation; but it was given to typically reveal the Lamb of God, Who
would be the sacrificial substitute for all of God's people, both Jew and
Gentile. It needs to be said, so as to avoid antinomianism, or any other
erroneous conclusion: It was only the civil and ceremonial law of Israel that
was abrogated. The moral law is eternal and binding forever, for only God can
make a moral law. The moral law was given to restrain the evil nature of fallen
man, and from such restraint, society in general would benefit. A moral law may
be on the statute books of various governments, but no government can make or
unmake a moral law. They can declare it, but they cannot make it.
The New Testament church and its
glorious gospel was hid from Israel, and it is yet today a mystery to that
little and struggling nation. But one day soon, the veil will be lifted from
the mind of Israel, and for the first time, the tribes of Israel will see the
Messiah in all of His majesty and glory. Israel will see the scars of her
redemption and repent of her part in condemning Him to the cross. Israel will,
at the return of Christ to earth, own the veracity of the gospel and own her
secondary position to that of the Lord's blood bought church. Israel will
acknowledge that the affinity of the church with Christ is like that of a
faithful Bride to her loving and protective Groom.
The church and Israel will never
unite and become one body. Neither will the church and the family of God merge
and become a singular institution. Israel, the family of God, and the church
will maintain their God given distinctness throughout the endless ages. There will
be perfect accord and cooperation between them, but. they will never become a
corporation. As the church and its gospel is in our present age a mystery to
the family of God and Israel, it inexorably follows that these separateness of
these bodies in heaven is an enigma to them. Yet, it is truth; otherwise the
many typical references in the Old Testament which depict the church as the
Bride of Christ, and the various New Testament references which give emphasis
to the Bridal relationship of the church to Christ would be without
significance or meaning.
The far greater part of Bible
commentators give synonymy to the church and the family of God; not mere
equation, but sameness. These same commentators compound their erroneous
concept of the church by giving it a mystical nature, which simply means that
the church is not apparent to the senses nor obvious to the intelligence. And
it is not merely obscure, but it is impossible to recognize. It is true, the
Lord's churches fled from the face of Rome's hellish and brutal persecution to
refuges of obscurity and seclusion, but they never became invisible or
mystical. Since John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ (Mal. 3:1; Isa. 4:3;
Matt. 3:1-3), pointed toward the Messiah and said to his disciples: "Behold
the Lamb of God" (John 1:36), many of John's disciples followed Jesus. And
since that time until now, there has not been a day, no, not one, wherein there
was not a visible Baptist church on earth; and the Lord's churches will be here
until their loving Groom calls them to the Bridal chamber in glory.
In a detailed study of the
history of Baptist churches, from our present time unto the church which Jesus
established in Jerusalem, we do not, and cannot, find any destructive
inflection nor a nullifying lapse of continuity. So, it unequivocally follows:
New Testament Baptist churches are still on the earth, and their presence on
the earth is proof positive that they, as well as their ancestors, are keeping
the faith once delivered unto them. This is a mystery to the religious world,
but it is a known and comforting truth to His little flocks scattered
throughout the earth.
One of the many hurtful and destructive heresies of Romanism and
Protestantism is their making sacraments of the ordinances of Baptism and the
Lord's Supper, and their claim that the sacraments are inherently efficacious
and necessary for salvation. This undue magnifying of the ordinances is an
affront to God and a clear denial of salvation by the free and unmerited grace
of God. Every effort of man to mix creature works with the redemptive grace of
God is a dangerous and blasphemous exercise, and it aggravates man's
condemnation, rather than atoning for it.
Redemptive sufficiency has never
been in the power of man, neither is it in the power of any church, for
"Salvation is of the Lord", and that, exclusively. Human volition, be
it ever so sincere, is utterly destitute of saving virtue, and, in its every
exercise, is anti-God. "They that are in the flesh cannot please God"
(Rom. 8:8). The Lord has given exclusive custody of the ordinances to His
church(es), and they are fully responsible for the purity and perpetuity of the
ordinances. But as glorious and important as the ordinances are, they are
utterly impotent in the conveyance of spiritual life, for they are totally
lacking in regenerative grace.
There is NO room for apathy or
indifference in New Testament Baptist churches concerning the ordinances of
Baptism and the Lord's Supper. For the Lord has annexed to the other
duties of the church an awesome responsibility, which is plainly spelled out in
the words of the Apostle Paul, wherewith he admonished the Corinthian church,
saying: "Keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you" (I Cor.
11:2). No deviations!
It was the defense of believer's
baptism that sent millions of our Baptist forebears to the martyrs' stake to be
burned, and to other means of death too cruel to describe. And for contemporary
Baptists to be less strict in their handling of the ordinances, is to cast
aspersion on our glorious heritage, vouchsafed to us by our faithful ancestors.
Every New Testament church is a
Baptist church, but every church going by the name "Baptist" is not a
New Testament church. These are something else, and it behooves every Baptist
church to know the difference. Bible knowledge is attained by Divine
revelation, and Baptists should, with great consistency, seek the wisdom of
God. But we also need intellectual wisdom, or education, so as to manage our
earthly affairs prudently. In both areas of wisdom, Baptists should never be
guilty of belonging to a KNOW NOTHING CLUB. But they should know what it takes
to constitute a Baptist church, so as to know one when he sees one.
In writing this message, I have
tried to avoid abrasiveness; but in our day, Baptist doctrine is, on a large
scale, offensive. Nevertheless, every Baptist must hold to the truth with an
unbreakable tenacity, for to do otherwise, he would offend God and be rebuked
by Him. This rebuke I must at any cost avoid. There is an old adage that says:
"It is better to be divided by truth than to be united by error". I
was comforted by this adage at the outset of this message, and I am, yet at the
conclusion of the message, solaced by it.
All the churches of the New
Testament were local, autonomous, and visible entities. They were not mystical
or invisible, being shut up to the Bible for all spiritual truth, including
ecclesiology. I must ask: "When did the Lord's churches lose their
CORPOREALITY and become mystical and invisible?". I ask this question in
light of the fact that two truths can never be contradictory to each other.
"And the Spirit and the
Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst
come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely" (Rev.
22:17). Do not get sidetracked by the term "whosoever will" in this
text, for no person can come to God by their own will; for the Bible says in
another Scripture: "So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that
runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy" (Rom. 9:16). The edifying point
the reader should not miss in this text (Rev. 22:17) is, that the Holy Spirit,
in our dark and fearful hour, is yet using the Bride (church) of Christ in
calling out God's elect people from the world.
All who would accuse Baptists of
bigotry for their tenacious adherence to the Baptist Bride doctrine need to be
aware of the fact that the Roman Catholic church, with inflexible rigidity, contends
that she is the exclusive Bride of Christ. "The Catholic church
rises as the Bride of Christ, ever fresh and fair ... The church is the Bride
of Christ" (MY CATHOLIC FAITH, Pgs. 111, 149). Baptists are devoted to
their own churches, but they are not bigots, for they are not intolerant of
other churches.
That which is true of
Catholicism concerning the doctrine of the Bride of Christ is also true of
Protestantism. For Protestant churches have no reservation whatsoever in
claiming ecclesiastical Brideship for themselves, and they are stringent in
their claim. All that a concerned reader need do to be convinced of the
Protestant claim of Brideship is to read any of their Bible commentators on the
subject of the Bride of Christ. Albert Barnes, whom Protestants esteem very
highly as a Bible expositor, says: "The church is the Bride of the
Messiah". Barnes, in using the term "Bride" refers to the whole
body of Protestantism, and that to the exclusion of Roman Catholicism and
Baptists, for Baptists have never been, in a denominational sense, Protestants.
(Barnes' NOTES ON THE NEW TESTAMENT, Pg. 280) (See Matthew Henry on the same
subject, Vol. 5, pg. 894.)
The Lord's church is "The
pillar and ground of the truth" (I Tim. 3:15), and on this "pillar
and ground" rests "All the counsel of God" (Acts 20:27). The
soteriology of both Romanism and Protestantism are antithetical to the
"Counsel of God", for both believe in salvation by human works, that
is, by sacraments. What is true of Romanism and Protestantism regarding
salvation by works is also true of the great majority of people going by the
name "Baptist". The only difference is in the brand of works which is
required. These so-called Baptists teach that salvation is, in finality, the
product of human will. Hence, these pseudonymous Baptists are as far from being
the Bride of Christ as their deluded sisters.
The Baptist Bride preaches that
God is absolutely sovereign, and that the only kind of grace proceeding from His
August throne is Sovereign grace. God's grace never leaves His throne begging
or limping, as the false churches claim. But He doeth according to His will in
all of His creation, and every thought to the contrary is an heinous sin. It
was to His Baptist Bride the Lord gave His work, and for this cause, he says:
"The world hath hated them" (John 17:14). But soon, her earthly
pilgrimage will be over, and she shall walk with her beloved Groom in her
spotless gown as the ages roll on and on. So, take courage little flocks, for,
while our Betrothed is meek and lowly, nail scarred, and rejected by
Christendom so-called, He is our Sovereign, sinless, and merciful Bridegroom.
Those loving arms that were stretched out and nailed to the cross of Calvary
will soon again be stretched out. But this time, it will be to embrace
His faithful Bride. And He will, in the sweetest voice she has ever heard, say
to her: "Enter into My everlasting rest for you have borne My yoke
faithfully" (Matt. 11:28-30). And His Bride will "rejoice greatly
because of the Bridegroom's voice" (John 3:29), saying with ecstatic
finality: "MY BELOVED IS MINE, AND I AM HIS" (Song of Solomon 2:16).
Soon, O' so very soon, The Holy
Spirit will say to the Lord's virgin churches:
"... Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him"
(Matt. 25:6). Then, the exceeding bitter trials will be forever over, and the
long and patient waiting of the Bride will be climaxed by the loving voice of
her Groom, saying: "Rise up, My love, My fair one, and come away"
(Song of Solomon 2:10).
"... ALLELUIA: FOR THE LORD
GOD OMNIPOTENT REIGNETH ... AND THE SPIRIT AND THE BRIDE SAY, COME..."
(Rev. 17:6; 22:17).