The Lord said, “I will build my church” (Matt. 16:18) – not a Methodist church, Baptist church, Community church, etc. The people of Israel were brought out of Egypt by the great work of deliverance wrought by the hand of Moses. The same way, the believers in Christ are delivered from the power of Satan and the world by the Lord Jesus Christ, the heavenly redeemer, by the power of His cross (Rom. 1:16; I Cor. 1:18; Gal. 1:4; Col. 1:13). All those who are thus delivered are the Ecclesia (Acts 2:47; Acts 14:27). They are added by the Lord to His body, the Church. No man or institution can add people to the Church; it is the work of the Lord and we are his coworkers only – Acts 2:47; II Cor. 6:1.

There are different names given in the Scriptures for the Church. Four are noted below:

1)

2)

3)

4)

All these names reveal different truths concerning the eternal relationship between the Lord and the believers.

As life keeps the human body together in health and harmony, Church, the Body of Christ can be together in health and harmony only by the work of the Holy Spirit. Human wisdom and the organizational techniques built on that wisdom cannot keep the church alive and in harmony within herself and with the Lord. Life of God should freely flow through it! This Body needs to be under the headship of Christ (Col. 1:18; Eph. 5:23).

Then, as the human body needs to be fed, the church also needs to be fed. Apostle Paul instructs the elders of Ephesus saying: Take heed … to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood (Acts 20:28). As such, it is not just teaching, but feeding that is very important for the wellbeing of the church. Preaching or teaching may not always result in feeding. There are many Christians who have the form of godliness, but deny the power thereof …. ever learning, and are never able to come to the knowledge of the truth (2 Timothy 3:5,7). They are those who are in need of being fed. Feeding is done only when the Holy Spirit works.

Church is God’s house/habitation. After He chose and redeemed a people for Himself, the Lord proclaimed his desire to dwell among them (Ex. 25:8). This plan of God will one day be fully accomplished as declared in Revelation 21: 3: “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God”. Church is the spiritual house of God built with lively stones – the born again believers (I peter 2:5). It is the city of our God … the city of the great king … God is known in her palaces (Psalm 48:1-3). When you are in the midst of God’s people, you are in His house. That is an awesome truth!

Church is also the Household of God. By the grace of God, through faith in Christ Jesus, we are made the children of God (Gal. 3:26; John 1:12; Rom. 8:16; 9:26). It is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is a mystery that God the creator of heavens and the earth is our Father (Isaiah 9:6; Matt. 6:9; John 20:7; 2 Thess. 2:16; Phil. 4:20). Then, as children we are the joint-heirs with Christ (Matt. 25:34; Rom. 8:17). All the believers, as the members of the household of God are precious to the Father. Often in his epistles, Paul called the fellow believers as Brethren (Acts 11:29; 15:3; Rom. 10:1; I Cor. 16:20; I Thess. 4:1). This truth should encourage us – His children – to love and honor one another as the members of the same household.

Church is also called the Bride of Christ. Apostle Paul says: Husbands love your wives, even as Christ loved His church … This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church (Eph. 5:25). In Rev. 19:7-8, we read: The marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. This picture tells us that the love of Christ for the church is beyond human understanding (Eph. 3:19). It is an everlasting love. All the attributes of love as mentioned in I Cor. 13 can be found in their totality only in the love that Christ has for the church. This loves emanates from the eternal love that the eternal Father has for the eternal Son. The Lord said, As the father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love (John 15:9). In His high-priestly prayer as recorded in John 17, the Lord said to the Father: The love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them (John 17:26). Here is a glorious truth that the Father and the Son and His bride, the church, are bound together by that eternal love. This reality will be clearly seen and experienced by the church when she gets to be with the Lord as promised in John 14:3; Rev. 19:7; 22:9.

The Lord loves us with an everlasting love (Jer. 31:3). This love is described in the book of Song of Solomon as a parable. The notion of some people that this book is meant just to teach husbands and wives to enjoy true love for each other, is nothing but blindness to the mystery of the love of the Son of God towards His bride, the church. As Scofield says, this book has nothing for the consumption by flesh. Here we see the peculiar love – love that passeth understanding – of Christ for His bride (Eph. 3:19).

For all the believers in Christ, the Lord has given a wonderful promise that nothing in heaven or in earth can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:37).

Loss and Recovery of Church Truths Through the Centuries:

For centuries, the formal Christianity has been infested with perverted doctrines. Spurgeon rightly said: “The word church has suffered very much from the hands of men. Ecclesia, a chosen assembly, has actually by natural debasement of the tongue of priests has come down to mean a building”.

But thank God, through the centuries, there have been sparks of the vision of the true church given by the Holy Spirit through some of His faithful servants. This work may be called Reformation. We should note that reformation neither started nor ended with Martin Luther. Through the centuries, unknown to the historical records of man, the work of reformation – bringing the vision of the true church to the believers, has been the work of the Holy Spirit. Dr. Austin Sparks of the Honor Oak Fellowship, England, says, “The Lord at various times raised and used faithful servants to enable the church to recover the lost truths. The recovery of the great foundational truth of Justification by Faith was initiated by John Wycliffe, the morning star of reformation and was later fully recovered by Martin Luther and his contemporaries. But soon human hands molded this movement into a ‘church’ with all the outward elements of a religious order resulting in great spiritual loss. The ministry of recovery of church truths continued through God’s servants like John Wesley, George Whitefield and others who taught the doctrine of ‘personal holiness – internal and external”.

Further recovery of the lost truths concerning the believers being the Saints and Priests (priesthood of all believers), and observance of the Lord’s Table as an important and necessary part of worship service on the Lord’s Day, were recovered through the ministries of other chosen servants of God. Some of them are: Brother John Nelson Darby of England (1800-1882); Brother Watchman Nee of China (1903-1972); and Brother Bakht Singh of India (1903-2000). These are only a few names among others whom the Lord has used for the purpose of further raising the church to the place He has intended for her in His heart. We believe, this work of the Holy Spirit will continue until the day the Lord will come for his bride, the church (Jude 1:24).

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

Ephesians. 3:9