In meditation 46 we discovered that God aims at preparing Christ’s Body for ‘the wedding feast of the Lamb’ and for being with Jesus forever.
That raises the question: how will God prepare Christ’s universal Body for that divine wedding celebration at the end of the ages?
In the following texts we will see that God - Father, Son and Spirit - prepares Christ’s universal church for that glorious end-of-time wedding celebration of the Lamb. We will note that He does that on a minute scale: one local church at a time within its own geographical and cultural setting!
That is truly, breathtakingly divine!
God has an eye for universal perspectives as well as for the local situation of the smallest church at any time and in any geographical situation. Jesus even said: "Where two or three gather together because they are mine, I am there among them." (Matthew 18:20)
The apostle Paul writes to the followers of Jesus in Ephesus (modern Turkey) that Jesus Messiah wants to transform their local Christian community into his likeness to prepare it for the future universal wedding celebration of the Lamb:
"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word (i.e. the Bible), and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless."
(Ephesians 5:25-27)
To the messianic community in Corinth (Greece) Paul discloses the reason for his commitment to their church. He wants to prepare them for that future wedding celebration of the Lamb:
“I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. For I promised you as a pure bride to one husband, Christ.”
(2 Corinthians 11:2)
The apostle Paul shows the churches in Galatia (modern Turkey) that his passion to see them transformed into Christ-likeness actually drives him, as he labours for their well-being:
“My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you...” (Galatians 4:19)
Paul commits a crucial part of his letter to the Christians in Ephesus to the theme of local communal transformation into Christ-likeness.
In chapter 4 he mentions the task Jesus himself gives to the (Christlike) leaders of the churches whom he himself appoints:
“He [Jesus Christ] is the one who gave these gifts to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.
Their responsibility is to equip God's people to do his [God's] work...” (Ephesians 4:11-12a)
In the following verses Paul explains what this work consists of: “... to build up the church, the Body of Christ, until we come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God's Son that we will be mature and full grown in the Lord, measuring up to the full stature of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:12b-13)
The apostle continues to explain this transformation process in Christ-likeness:
“Instead, we will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.
Under his direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly.
As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.” (Ephesians 4:15-16)
Furthermore, Paul makes clear from what kind of traits a church breaks free when it grows in Christ-likeness:
“Then we will no longer be like children, forever changing our minds about what we believe because someone has told us something different or because someone has cleverly lied to us and made the lie sound like the truth.” (Ephesians 4:14)
Earlier in the same letter, the apostle shows how God’s Spirit directs the process of Christlike transformation within the messianic community, i.e. the local Body of Christ:
“I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he [God the Father] will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit.
And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him.
May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love.
And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is.
May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it.
Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.” (Ephesians 3:16-19)
By now we understand that not only the universal Body of Christ, but also every local community of Jesus’ followers, is birthed by God’s Spirit.
It is also God’s Spirit who directs the ongoing transformation process into Christlikeness, so that Christ’s entire Body, spanning all ages, will be prepared for the glorious celebration of the wedding of the Lamb.
In meditations 45 to 47, we saw that God’s Spirit aims at changing our individual lives as well as our communal life into Christ-likeness.
As ‘maturing in Christ-likeness’ is the theme of our meditations, we need to focus in the future on both tracks: our individual lives as followers of Jesus and our communal life as the local Body of Christ.
So, join me as we start to follow both tracks.
The Bible verses Ephesians 5:25-27 and Galatians 4:19 are quotes of the New International Version. The other texts are quoted from the New Living Translation.
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