0942. The Church Hid From Seers of Old

The Church Hid From Seers of Old

"Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow" (1Pe_1:11)

The Old Testament writers never saw the Church nor the Church age. The Old Testament has, of course, much valuable teaching for the saints of today; for the events of old are recorded to us as types that we might profit thereby.

Old Testament writers gave us the Word of God, and that Word is "profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished," but that Word does not give us either an outline of the Church age, nor the particular mission of the Church during its age.

Old Testament writers as they looked down the years, prophesied the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow, but they did not include this present age. The Church period is a great parenthesis, in God's plan, revealed only after the Lord had come and had been rejected of men.

The Church was in olden times a mystery. It was hidden from other generations. Let us see how this mystery is set forth in Scripture.

1. That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs was a mystery. Eph_3:5-6 : "Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy Apostles and Prophets by the Spirit; "That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the Gospel."

The Apostle Paul felt his particular task to preach the Gospel among the Gentiles and to make all men see the fellowship of the mystery, which, from the beginning of the ages had been hid in God. Compare Eph_3:8-13.

2. That the Church should be the Body of Christ, with Christ indwelling, was a mystery. Col_1:24-27 : "Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His Body's sake, which is the Church: "Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the Word of God; "Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints:

"To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."

The above quotation is rather lengthy, but it clearly teaches that Paul was called of God to fill up the Word of God, concerning the Church, Christ's Body a mystery hid from ages and generations. Paul was also called to reveal the glory of this mystery, which was Christ in us the hope of glory.

That there are types and mystical messages in the Old Testament applicable to the Church, we are sure; but the men of old never saw the Church nor the application of these typical truths to the Church.

We know that there are certain Psalms where men have written the Church into chapter headlines, but this by no means establishes the fact that the Psalms themselves speak of the Church, or that the Psalmist saw, in vision, the Church of Christ.

Over Psalms 122 some one wrote: "David professeth his joy in the Church." However David was professing joy in Israel, and the Holy Spirit was speaking of Jerusalem whither the tribes go up to worship the Lord.

When Christians clearly accept the distinctions between Jew and Gentile and Church of God (which the Bible differentiates in 1Co_10:32), they will cease going back into Judaism and Judaistic rites to find distinctively Church doctrine.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR