[Biblemat] The Establishment of the Church

[Gary Shawn Daniels]

The Establishment of the Church


 

By: Shawn Daniels, evangelist

Church of Christ in Pana, Illinois

 

          The time that the keys were used to open the door to the church is
very important, and needs our consideration.  There are many theories out in
the denominations of the time of the establishment of the church.  One of
the errors is by our Baptist friends, which say that John the Baptist
established the church on the banks of Jordan.  Let's take a look and see
when the church was established.

          If you will take another look at what Jesus Christ said in Matthew
16:18, you will see that Jesus Christ said, "Upon this rock I will build my
church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."  First, we see
that Jesus says, "He WILL", as meaning at a latter time, "build my church".
John the Baptist was already dead before Jesus said this.  So if the church
was already established then Jesus didn't even know it and the Baptist
denomination has more insight than Jesus Christ does.  

Second, we must consider; what is the rock in which the church would be
built?  Some will say that the rock was Peter.  But if Peter was the rock,
then the church was built upon a mortal man - built upon human, which, just
like human, it would eventually die.  If it was built on Peter, then he
didn't know it because he said the stone was Jesus in (1 Pet 2:4-8), and
Paul once and for all settles the argument in (1 Cor 3:11) when he said,
"For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus
Christ."  So we see by the gospel of Christ that Jesus Christ is the
foundation of the Church, and he is the rock - the Son of God as Peter
proclaimed by faith in Matthew 16:18.  

Also, If we would look at the statement of Christ in Matthew 16:18, He uses
two distinct words referring to 'rock'.  One is the word 'petros' which is a
piece of a rock, or a boulder.  Jesus uses this word in reference to Simon,
which he named 'petros' or Peter.  The other word is 'petra' which is to say
a huge mass of rock, such as a cliff side.  This 'petra' was what Jesus said
he was going to use as the foundation of the Church.  His statement is as
follows, "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter (petros) piece of
petra, and upon this rock (petra) massive rock formation I will build my
church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."  As you can
clearly see, Peter is not the same as the Rock.  Jesus statement was
pointing to something larger than Peter.  Peter is a 'chip off the massive
Rock' perhaps, but he's not the rock that was tried.  That was Jesus Christ.


Jesus said, "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it." The gates of
hell (Hades), which is the grave, shall not prevail against the rock, which
is the firm foundation, which is Jesus Christ. Some will think that the
object that the gates of hell shall not prevail against was the church.
Jesus was speaking of the rock as the object.    Hell will not prevail
against the rock that the church was built upon.  Isaiah prophesied in (Isa
28:16) "Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a
foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure
foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste."  Isaiah said that the
stone was tried.  The foundation was laid in Zion, which is Jerusalem, would
be tried, and Jesus did this by his resurrection.  David said of Jesus,
"Have mercy upon me, O LORD; consider my trouble which I suffer of them that
hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death:" (Ps 9:13) and
Paul wrote, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" (1
Cor 15:55) Hell did not prevail against Jesus Christ.  For when he suffered
for us and died, he was raised from the dead taking the keys of hell and of
death.  "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for
evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death." (Rev 1:18)  The
establishment of the Church could not be accomplished until Christ was
resurrected and then ascended back to his Father's right hand to rule his
kingdom, thus being tried. (Dan 7:13-14) "I saw in the night visions, and,
behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to
the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was
given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and
languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which
shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."
Jesus when he went back to heaven to receive his throne at the right hand of
God he went to the Ancient of days, or where it all began, which is heaven.
(Acts 1:9-11) (Rom 8:34) "It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen
again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us."

          If the Church was established before Jesus Christ died, then the
Church was established without Christ purchasing it with his blood, (Acts
20:28) and it would've been founded without a tried stone to lay it upon,
which is Jesus Christ.  See what a mess a person gets into when trying to
turn the word of God around to suit false ideas and vain theologies.

          The Church was not established before his death, but after, and it
was established where the foundation was laid, Zion, or Jerusalem.  Where
the foundation is laid, there must the building start.  Her first converts
that was mentioned is in (Acts 2:41) "Then they that gladly received his
word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three
thousand souls."  This was on that powerful day of Pentecost where the
Apostles were waiting in Zion (Jerusalem) just as Jesus commanded them.
(Acts 1:4) And God clothed them with power from on high, which was the
baptism of the Holy Spirit that he promised them.  And after they were
endued with power from on high, Peter and the rest of the Apostles stood up
and preached to the multitude and convinced them that they were in grave
danger, and that they crucified the Son of God.  After they heard him
preach, they repented of their sins, and were baptized for the remission of
sins.  They were added that day to the newly born church of Christ. (Rom
16:16) Peter made reference to this event as the beginning. (Acts 11:15)
"And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the
beginning."  The Holy Ghost fell came from heaven in like manner as it did
on the Day of Pentecost, and Peter called that day the beginning.  What
other beginning could Peter be referring to than that of the Church?

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.biblematters.net/pipermail/biblemat/attachments/20071115/e241e669/attachment-0001.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/gif
Size: 530 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://www.biblematters.net/pipermail/biblemat/attachments/20071115/e241e669/attachment-0001.gif