Month: April 2021

When someone asks you what church you belong to they generally want to know what denomination you belong to. Are you Catholic or are you a Protestant? If you are a Protestant what denomination are you? In the first century the “church” consisted of those people who believed in the gospel of Christ who met regularly in each others homes to worship the Lord and study the teachings of Jesus.

The New Testament defined the “church” as the body of believers in the gospel of Christ and over the last 2000 years the church has evolved into different denominations with slightly different doctrines. As long as a church holds to the core beliefs of the gospel of Christ it is considered a Christian church and its members are saved. If a church departs from the gospel of Christ that church is a cult and its members will feel the wrath of God on the last Day.

Psalm 89:5 – And the heavens will praise Your wonders, O Lord; Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the saints.

Jesus Christ is the author of Christianity and the head of the Christian church. As believers we are members of the church and collectively we are referred to as the body of Christ. Each Christian is connected to each other spiritually and we are brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. When did we become the Christian church? Some people think the church began with Adam in the Garden of Eden.

Others point to Abraham, the Apostle Paul and to John the Baptist as the starting point of Christianity. Most people point to the life of Jesus Christ as the beginning of the church. Christianity means, “Christ’s men.” and Jesus is certainly the author of our faith and the head of the church from his position in heaven at the right hand of God where he serves as our Advocate and High Priest.

Matthew 16:18 – (Jesus speaking) – And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

However, the “church” didn’t start during Jesus’ lifetime. Jesus made it a point to tell his disciples he had to return to heaven so that he could send the Holy Spirit who would fill them and empower them to preach the gospel of Christ to the ends of the earth. Think about it. There couldn’t be a church in the world until Christ’s death because the foundational message of the church is the finished work of Jesus on the cross where he shed his precious blood for the sins of all men.

Furthermore, there could be no church until Christ arose from the dead to provide the church with resurrection life. No resurrection meant no eternal life for believers and therefore no church. There could also be no church until Jesus ascended back to heaven to become the head of the church and our High Priest. Nor could the church exist without Jesus being at the right hand of God making intercession for us and acting as our Advocate in heaven.

Ephesians 1:19-20 – And what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places.

Finally, there could be no church on earth until the advent of the Holy Spirit. God made us and our bodies are the holy temples of God. After Jesus people no longer had to go to a man-made building or a certain location to worship God. God now comes to us and indwells believers with his Holy Spirit so each of us is a temple of God and we’re free to worship God in spirit anywhere we are and at any time. Our eternal spirits are regenerated, baptized and sealed by the Holy Spirit of God through faith in Jesus.

For all the reasons I’ve mentioned above, it’s evident the Christian church started at Pentecost after the death of Jesus when the Holy Spirit came to earth to indwell all believers from that point forward. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus spoke of the church as being in the future so we know the church was not in Jesus’ lifetime.

Let’s say the “church” is a car. A car can’t go anywhere without fuel to power the engine so we can drive it. In the same way the Holy Spirit is the fuel used to drive the “church” forward. The Holy Spirit is the gasoline that makes the “church” go. There can be no “church” without the active involvement of the Holy Spirit of God. The tremendous growth of the early “church” was due to the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 1:5 – (Jesus speaking to his disciples) – For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

Acts 11:15-16 – (Peter speaking) – And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them (the Gentiles), as upon us at the beginning. Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, “John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

The principal evidence that the church began on the day of Pentecost concerns the baptizing work of the Holy Spirit. The Lord declared that this particular and distinctive ministry of the Holy Spirit was still in the future just before his ascension. We know from Scripture that the indwelling of believers first occurred on the Pentecost following Jesus’ death and this spiritual baptism officially places the believer in the body of Christ. Pentecost is the Jewish festival also known as the, “feast of harvest,” which comes fifty days after Passover and commemorates the end of the grain harvest season.

Since this baptism by the Holy Spirit is the only way to become a member of the body of Christ, which is the church, it’s obvious that the “church” officially began on the day of Pentecost in 33 AD. The Church of God didn’t begin by any announcement but simply by a function of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost when all those believers in Jerusalem were filled with the Holy Spirit of God.

1 Corinthians 12:12-14 – For as the body is is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body- whether Jews or Greeks (Gentiles), whether slaves or free- and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many.

As believers, as members of the body of Christ, we are, “the church.” As such we have an obligation to fully understand the age-old war between God and Satan and where we are in the historical context (timeline) of this epic struggle between two powerful supernatural beings. This is ultimately a struggle between good and evil. We watched this war play out in the pages of the Old and New Testaments. God gave us his Word to make sure man, his special creation, knew what was going on in the spiritual world; what had already happened, and what was to come.

Genesis 3:15 – (God speaking to Satan) – And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.

God created all the millions of angels in heaven to serve him. God created the angels as powerful eternal beings and Lucifer, as the top angel in heaven, was the most powerful of all. Lucifer became full of pride and enamored of his beauty, power and wisdom and thought he should replace God; that he could be God. Lucifer convinced a third of the angels in heaven to join his rebellion against God. The ensuing war between God and Lucifer began with that battle in heaven. Lucifer and his fallen angels were defeated and thrown to the earth where we know them down here as demons. Lucifer became Satan; who we also call the devil.

Luke 10:18 – (Jesus speaking) – I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

Satan was shut out of heaven so the struggle between God and Satan shifted to earth, which God had given to Adam. Satan tempted Adam to sin against God and when Adam fell for the trap and sinned against the God who made him the title to earth was given to Satan, who became the god of this world. Because of Adam’s sin he fell from grace and was expelled from the Garden of Eden and became a mortal being as were all men who came after him. The sin of Adam was imputed to all men and so all men became destined for eternal death apart from the mercy and grace of God. Since the time of Adam, Satan has bitterly opposed both the work and workers of God. Satan’s goal is to utterly destroy man whereas God’s goal is to utterly save man unto eternal life through faith in his Son Jesus Christ.

Romans 6:23 – For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 4:L8 – Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.

In God’s Word we see the deciding battle between God and Satan occur at Calvary. This was the spiritual equivalent of D-Day in World War II. Just imagine all the millions of angels of heaven and the millions of demons on the earth duking it out in the spiritual realm in and around Jerusalem on that fateful Passover weekend in 33AD. It was a replay of the angelic battle in heaven between God and Lucifer. If we could’ve seen this struggle from our physical world it would’ve made the best war movie ever. Let your mind imagine the three days Jesus was in the earth while the spiritual war between good and evil raged on. In the spiritual world every demon was in hand to hand combat with the angels of God trying to stop the resurrection of Jesus from happening because they knew it would defeat them, defeat death, and defeat the works of Satan.

Romans 5:12 – Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.

Romans 5:17 – For if by one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

Why do you suppose God stationed two angels in the tomb of Jesus, one at his head and one at his feet, both facing the body of Jesus and never taking their eye off Jesus’ body for three days? God put those angels in place to protect Jesus’ body from demons wanting to desecrate it while the war raged on around them in the spiritual realm. The resurrection of Christ was the most important day in human history because it set us free from the ravages of sin; free from bondage to Satan and free from the curse of eternal death and separation from God. It’s fitting that world history is divided in BC and AD based on the life and death of Jesus Christ. God regained title to the earth with the resurrection of Christ.

Romans 5:18 – Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.

1 Corinthians 15:54-55 – So when this corruption has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?”

Before the resurrection of Jesus man was lost to eternal death by their imputed sin from Adam and after the resurrection of Jesus man was saved unto eternal life by the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, through the mercy and grace of God by our faith in his Son Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We know this from Scripture by the fact Jesus went down to Paradise within the earth and personally escorted the Old Testament saints to heaven. God doesn’t allow sin in heaven. The saints couldn’t enter heaven until Jesus Christ came to earth and shed his blood on the cross at Calvary for the forgiveness of their sins as well as for the sins for all men, past, present and future.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead assured the righteous that they would have eternal life in heaven by the mercy and grace of God. Paradise contained Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, David, Noah, all the prophets of God and those who were deemed righteous by God. For further proof of Paradise within the earth look at the book of Samuel. In 1 Samuel 28:11-19, we learn about King Saul going to the witch of En Dor to pull up the eternal spirit of Samuel from within the earth so Saul could consult with him about the impending battle with the Philistines. Samuel was in Paradise along with all the other Old Testament saints waiting for the Lord to come and take them all to heaven.