The
Spirit of the Word
"The words that
I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life."-- Jesus
"The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life."-- Paul
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"THE
MYSTERY OF THE CHURCH"
from the book
Whispers
of the Mysteries (1)
by Ray and Doris
Prinzing
"This is a great mystery: but I speak
concerning Christ and the church!" [Ephesians 5:32].
The Greek word
for "church" is "euclose" from EK, meaning OUT OF; and KLETOS,
meaning CALLED,
thus put together it literally means THE CALLED
OUT.
Jude begins his epistle, "to them that are sanctified by God the Father,
and preserved in Jesus Christ, and CALLED." [Jude 1]. God has apprehended
and called to Himself a people, and we would do well to "give diligence
to make our calling and election sure." [2 Peter 1:10].
In this calling, it means more than just to have "a call of God" upon your
life, directing you into some particular ministry or service, though this
is all good in its place. But the full word ekklesia specifically speaks
of being called OUT OF-- there are realms left behind, and new realms
to enter into, as we go "from strength to strength" and "from glory to
glory."
We realize that the word "church" has come to mean something far less in
modern usage, for many it is almost the same as the word "denomination."
Ask them to gather with you in a Bible Class, and their first question
is, "To what church do you belong?" meaning, "What is your denomination?"
Suppose you had asked this of Peter, on the day of Pentecost, after being
so mightily anointed of the Spirit, preaching to a vast crowd, and having
the joy of seeing 3,000 believe in the message-- "Peter, tell us, what
denomination is this?" What would have been his answer?
You might "join" or "un-join" some man-made group, but THE CHURCH is
not something that can be joined. "The Lord added to the church daily such
as should be saved." [Acts 2:47]. THE CALLED OUT ONES ARE GOD'S. He gives
the calling, and He works it out experientially in each one.
The first time the word "church" is used in the New Testament, is found
in Matthew 16:18, when Jesus said, "-- and upon this rock I will build
My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." The
context reveals that it is upon the solid, divine revelation that HE is
"the Christ, the Son of the living God,'' [Matthew 16:16], that the
church is founded. We observe that the mystery of the church is both
revealed and concealed in this very passage. Because of his tremendous
confession, there are those who believe that Peter was the rock upon which
the church was built, rather than his confession, or rather, CHRIST
Himself, the subject of that confession, HE is the Rock of both
the church and of every individual believer in that body. "For other foundation
can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." [1 Cor. 3 :11].
And the title "Rock" is indeed an evidence of our Lord's divinity; for
"Who is a rock, save our God?" Jehovah was the Rock of Israel. [Deuteronomy
32:30-31]. And lastly, Paul reaffirms this, stating "that spiritual
Rock that followed them: that Rock was Christ." [1 Corinthians 10:4]. (Might
also point out, if Peter had been that rock, when he fell, by denying his
Lord [Matthew 26:69-72], then whatever was built on him must have fallen
also.)
With Himself as the Rock for its foundation, Jesus also clearly stated
that HE was the One who would build the church. "Except the Lord
build the house, they labour in vain that build it." [Psalm 127:1].
The entire work of building is HIS, and if we are in some small
way allowed to be "workers together" with God in this operation, yet HE
REMAINS SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS BUILDING. There is no need to criticize
what God is doing, nor to condemn one another. If we see any present imperfections
and lacks, commit them to God, for He knows His work far better than we
do, and how dare "the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest
thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?" [Isaiah 45:9]. Truly He is building
His called out ones.
There is a specific revelation of HIS HEADSHIP, His position to
the church, that even in this day remains a mystery to the vast majority,
as men would usurp that place, and become "lords over God's heritage."
[1 Peter 5:3]. But for all the deceptions of man, HE IS building
His church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, nor against
the foundation upon which the church stands.
"Gates of hell . . . " some hold that this means, refers to the violence
and power of the devil, and of all the fierce adversaries of Christ, which
would war against the church. But we note that the word "hell" is from
the Greek "Hades', and bespeaks of the unseen state of the dead. Once man
felt terror and dread of this UNSEEN REALM, but now that we know
that Christ is Victor over all, even Hades, we can be at peace, knowing
that HIS PRESENCE PERVADES EVERY REALM, and He is Lord both of the
dead and the living. Considering death as the gate to the invisible world;
we regard this statement of Christ to mean that the church will never die,
nor become extinct, for it is founded upon HIM who is truly LIFE ETERNAL.
Death cannot destroy the hope of the believer, nor can Satan, with all
his host, either in the way of heresy or infidelity. No force of any type
can prevail against the church, so as to overturn it. God's true
church has always remained triumphant!
Nor is His church without a continuous flow of divine revelation. Manmade
systems dwell in the past, and when they have milked out the last drop
of glory from former days, they just carry on with their own zeal and program.
But in God's called out ones there abides the Eternal Flame of divine revelation,
and He leads them "from faith to faith." [Romans 1:17]. He is "bringing
many sons unto glory," and He is "sanctifying" them until they are "ALL
OF ONE: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying,
I will declare Thy name unto My brethren, in the midst of the church will
I sing praise unto Thee." [Hebrews 2:10-12].
For reasons of illustration and pondering, we find that the ekklesla can
be said to be threefold in its dimension, corresponding to body, soul,
and spirit, or; the body of Jesus, the body of Christ, and the Lord's body.
While the word "church" is a New Testament term, we find it applied to
that "CALLING OUT" which began long ago, when Israel was called
out of Egypt, thus becoming God's "called out ones" passing through the
wilderness. "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and CALLED My
son OUT of Egypt." [Hosea 11:1]. And so Acts 7:38 refers to them as
"the church in the wilderness." And this beautiful type, calling Israel
out of Egypt, was also fulfilled in our Lord Jesus Christ, who was taken
into Egypt, "and was there until the death of Herod; that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have
I called My Son." [Matthew 2:15].
Egypt has long been recognized as the type of the world, and we surely
have been CALLED OUT of the world through the inner voice of the
Spirit. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all
that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes,
and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the
world passeth away, and the lust thereof but he that doeth the will of
God abideth for ever." [1 John 2:15-17].
The first dimension of our call deals with the realm of the flesh, as God
calls us OUT OF, or, out from among those who serve the world in
all the lust of the flesh. Jesus also prayed "I have given them Thy
word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world,
even as I am not of the world. I pray not that Thou shouldest take
them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil."
[John 17:14-15].
To be CALLED OUT, and yet not "taken out" makes for a real testing
process. Being yet somewhat held in bondage by the world, we groan
for release, and this works for our purification. Of Israel it is written,
"To whom (Moses) our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them,
and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt." [Acts 7:39]. Yes, God
calls us out of the world, yet for a while leaving us in the midst of this
world's system, to see whether our heart will cling to and retain a lust
for the things of the world, or if we will forsake it, and truly follow
Him with all our heart.
One thing is certain, as soon as you declare that the world cannot satisfy
the desire of the heart, you alienate its sympathy and affection, and receive
its condemnation. "If ye were of the world, the world would love its own:
but because ye are not of the world, BUT I HAVE CHOSEN YOU OUT OF THE
WORLD, therefore the world hateth you." [John 15:19].
How well spoken are the words of one who wrote:
"O world, with all thy
smiles and loves -
With all thy
song and wine,
What mockery of human hearts
-
What treachery
is thine!
O World, there's fever in
thy touch -
And frenzy in
thine eye;
To lose and shun thee is
to live -
To win thee is
to die!
Most of Christendom's preaching has been to this dimension of the church,
calling them out of the world, to serve Christ. It has also immediately
brought them into a wilderness, where they wander-- far too often in a
maze of confusion, with law after law laid upon them, not divine law, but
the laws of tradition and creed, and various standards of men. So there
is another depth we would perceive in this being called out of Egypt. Revelation
11:8 speaks of a realm "which spiritually is called ,Sodom and EGYPT,
where also our Lord was crucified." While Jerusalem was the city where
our Lord was crucified, it is not the geographical location, but all that
the city represented, that we are interested in, and so consider:
Paul drew a clear line of distinction, which clarifies the point, when
he said that there was a realm which gendered to bondage, "and answereth
to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem
which is above is free, which is the mother of us all." [Galatians 4:25-26].
"Jerusalem, which killeth the prophets, and stonest them that are sent
unto thee." [Luke 13: 34]. The whole religious system of this world is
spiritually called EGYPT. They have forms and ceremonies, the laws
and bylaws, creed and dogma, yet they fain would kill all the prophets,
rejecting the message of truth that is brought to them, for such threatens
the very foundation of their system. THE ROCK is not their foundation,
man, with his own kingdom-building, is their foundation.
OUT OF
this "spiritually called Egypt" God is calling a people, and adding thereto
day by day.
Whatever dimension of our being CALLED OUT, however, it is all based
upon divine revelation. When God says, "Get thee out of thy country, and
from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will
shew thee." [Genesis 12:1]. Until God quickens this call within, and
causes us to hear His voice, we have no basis for our action. Any effort
of trying to leave Egypt on our own will fail, and we'll fall back into
her ways, fulfilling the desires there of, because HE has not yet begun
His work within.
And even when He does call, and we are led forth into the new way, that
doesn't mean we are ready to enter right into the promised land-- to be
filled with His fullness, instantly mature saints. Hence the wilderness
processings, so we become "the church in the wilderness," while He purges
all the ways of Egypt out of us. "The Lord thy God led thee these forty
years in the wilderness, to humble thee, to prove thee, to know what was
in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep His commandments, or no. And
He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna,
which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make
thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live." [Deuteronomy 8:2-3].
But
it is not God's purpose to keep His church in the wilderness, He has another
land before her-- new dimensions of relationship. Once processed and
humbled by her wilderness experiences, she is to be so purified that He
joins her to Himself, into new realms of His glory, as expressed in the
term of marriage. It is with a view toward this new UNION, that
He brought us into the wilderness and all the processing which is so essential
for our development and change, that He might lead us out of the realm
of the flesh, and out of our own soulishness and self-nature, to where
our will becomes one in His will. These things have been a great mystery,
yet they are being unfolded as He becomes our Head. In His headship alone
we find the complete victory over our own nature and desires, and that
which speaks of the very selfishness of our own way. Therefore, God hath
given Him, Christ, to be "the head over all to the church, which is His
body." [Ephesians 1:22].
The "body of Jesus" bespeaks of those who have come to know Him as Saviour,
and are being dealt with on the sins of the body -- natural realm. These
also know Him more as "the man Christ Jesus," than they do on any deeper
spiritual level. So they see Him as a Babe in the manger every Christmas,
and the Man who rose out of the tomb every Easter, etc. It is no concern
of theirs of the paganism mixed into these holidays, or that the whole
realm is part of Babylon's confusion. They respond according to their natural
senses and feelings. They also perceive Him to be "in heaven" and they
wait until that day when they shall see Him to be "in heaven" and they
wait until that day when they shall see Him in literal form again. We rejoice
in this truth, HE IS THE SAVIOUR OF THE BODY, even of our physical
body. He has called us out of the flesh, to be partaker of His divine nature,
and however by degrees this is fulfilled, we praise God for those who have
been CALLED OUT, even on this level.
Paul goes on to write, however, "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members
in particular." [1 Corinthians 12:27]. There is a calling to
COME OUT
of just this natural, carnal realm, where we live in a sense-conscious
state, to receive of the anointing-- to be a part of the Christed ( anointed
) body. Brought out of Egypt and into the wilderness is a specific working
which prepares us for this next dimension.
There is also that revelation of leaving behind all the usurped headship
of denominationalism, etc. giving allegiance to the religious systems,
that we might now give total allegiance and obedience to Christ, to be
led by His Spirit. "For the husband is the head of the wife, even as The
Christ is the head of the church; and He is the Saviour of the body." [Ephesians
5:23].
Do keep in mind, in being called ever onward, one does not leave the blessings
of each realm behind, rather the lesser is always swallowed up into the
greater. Paul uses the marriage union to symbolize a certain aspect of
His headship. Not only is He the Supreme Potentate, to exercise His will
over all, but He is that LOVING AUTHORITY as portrayed in the matrimonial
headship, unto whom the church learns submission. This leads unto the renewal
of the mind, the soul realm. For a wife has her own mind, thoughts, emotions,
intellect, and yet there is a learning to yield and merge into one with
her husband. The renewing of our mind, into the "Mind of Christ" is not
an easy process, but there is a "casting down imaginations, and every high
thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing every
thought to the obedience of Christ." [2 Corinthians 10:5].
"We are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones." [Ephesians
5:30]. There is something mysteriously captivating in the becoming "bone
of His bone, and flesh of His flesh." It bespeaks of a oneness which stirs
deep within. It means being brought past the servitude of the flesh, to
now give complete obedience to Him who is our Head. Thus this call goes
beyond the natural, flesh realm, into the realm of the soul. "And they
that are of The Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and
lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." [Galatians
5:24-25].
The mystery-- that which is known only to the initiated, deepens when we
begin to MIND THE SPIRIT, going beyond the subjection to the laws which
govern the body, to be subject to the INWARD laws which govern the soul,
even the law of the Spirit, i.e. the law of the anointing. For we are "not
without law to God, but under law to Christ.'' [1 Corinthians 9:21].
And we would be careful lest "ye sin against Christ." [1 Corinthians 8:12].
There is an insistence upon our own will and way, after we have committed
ourselves to be led by His Spirit, which is literally a sin against the
anointing. And we learn the hard way what it means for Him to withdraw
the consciousness of the anointing, so that we struggle on in our own efforts,
and fall flat on our face. Then we seek to be totally overshadowed by Him,
and we learn to cherish that oneness with the anointing of His Spirit,
walking in harmony with His will and way. There are many called out of
the world, who know little of this deeper aspect of our calling.
But there is more, for 1 Corinthians 11:29-30, tells us that there are
many who are weak and sickly among us, and many sleep (premature death)
"not discerning the Lord's body." This is more than the "church in the
wilderness" and more than just being as the "church which is His body"
of Christ, it is going on to where He is TOTALLY LORD of all in us,
and we then "grow up INTO HIM in all things, which is the Head, Christ."
[Ephesians 4:15].
That there is a body within a body is shown in Revelation 12:5, where we
read of the woman "being with child . . . and she brought forth a man child,
who was to rule all nations . . . " This MAN CHILD is a firstfruit company
that come forth out of the whole body, and are become ONE IN THE LAMB.
There is a "headship company," those who have grown up into the Head, to
become so one in Him, that they share His throne, and with Him rule the
nations. "He that is JOINED TO THE LORD is one Spirit." [1 Corinthians
6:17]. These are known as "the church of the Firstborn." [Hebrews 12:23].
There are many who know Him as Jesus, Saviour; and there are those who
know Him as the Christ, The Anointer, and they have received of this anointing;
but there are also those who are coming to know Him as Lord-- both in the
sense that HE has total control over all within them, and then in
the sense that they enter into His lordship-- to know the authority and
dominion of that deeper realm.
Jude writes of these "Lo, comes the Lord in holy myriads of Himself." [Jude
14, Literal ]. They are the HIMSELF COMPANY, the Lord's body. That have
heard and responded to that calling out, calling out, calling out-- to
leave behind the lesser realms, that they might indeed "go on to perfection.
"
The church in the wilderness knows Him as Saviour, for He saves them out
of the bondage of Egypt, calls them out of the servitude of the flesh.
The church which is the body of Christ knows Him as the Anointed One who
anoints them with His own Spirit, to guide them onward into all truth.
The church of the Firstborn know Him as LORD, in His sovereignty.
They become members of Himself, and He will "glorify them with His own
self . . ." [John 17:5]. They are indeed, "a glorious church, not having
spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without
blemish." [Ephesians 5:27].
The church in the wilderness is not "perfect," that is why they are in
the wilderness, for their processings and purifications. The church which
has been anointed does not necessarily signify perfection either, for we
receive the Spirit to work in us to guide us on to that goal. But when
we are totally joined TO THE LORD in one spirit, He will "present
us faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy." [Jude
24].
Yes, He is able to "present you holy and unblamable and unreproveable in
His sight: if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not
moved away from the hope of the gospel." [Colossians 1:22-23].
To speak of the "church" is indeed a mystery that is known only to the
degree we have been CALLED OUT and lead onward-- what we experience, what
is worked into us, we begin to understand. What is on the horizon to yet
be fulfilled, ah, that remains a mystery till He quickens it. But suffice
it for now, to reaffirm, HE HAS BEEN STEADILY BUILDING HIS CHURCH, He has
never turned it over to man, nor given it to denominations; nor has it
ever gone into apostasy. What He has been building through each generation
is a called out firstfruits, a remnant that He receives to Himself, and
through whom He shall reveal His grace and glory at the appointed time.
I do not know the measure of
this, the call, I hear,
The many shades of meaning, the
scope It shall entail.
The heights to which it leadeth,
beyond my gaze to rise,
Though for the present turning,
the path more downward goes.
But this one thing is certain,
to me becoming clear,
That whether it be sunshine, or
storms of fiercest gale,
To follow, Him is vital, I can't
do otherwise,
He sealed me to His purpose, when
my poor heart He chose.
Called out of worldly pleasure,
with all its pride of life,
Called out of kingdom building
which centerized in man,
Called out of all co-joining the
spirit of the world,
To leave behind the passions which
fleshly thoughts enflame.
That He might lead up higher, above
all present strife,
And work in me His purpose which
ages past began.
The building of His kingdom, and
truth to be unfurled,
Conformed unto His image, to bear
His glorious name.
I cannot tell the process whereby
I shall become
A transformed state of being, fulfillment
of the call,
The discipline and testing are
given by His hand,
According to the pattern of purest
love's design.
But when He has completed and rounded
out the sum,
There shall be no part lacking
- remembrance of the fall,
As in His holy presence I clearly
understand
The glory of His calling upon this heart of mine.
____________________________________________________________________
(1)
Prinzing, Ray and Doris. WHISPERS OF THE MYSTERIES. Boise,
Idaho 83705, P.O. Box 5822
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