Daniel in interpreting King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream concerning the
fourth kingdom which was to be the Roman Empire said, “And in the days of
these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be
destroyed…and it shall stand forever” (Daniel 2:44).
The Lord’s kingdom or church was to be established during the time of
the
Roman Empire
.
Another Old Testament prophesy concerning the establishment of the
Lord’s church is Isaiah 2:2-3. “Now it shall come to pass in the last days
that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the
mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to
it. Many people shall come and
say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of
the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His
paths.’ For out of
Zion
shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem
.” What is the Lord’s house
that was to be established? Paul
writes to Timothy, “but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how
you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the
living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15).
So the Lord’s house that was to be established in the last days was
the Lord’s church. When did the
last days occur?
Peter described what was happening on Pentecost of Acts 2:16-17 as the
last days when he said, “But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God’”.
The Day of Pentecost of Acts chapter 2 was the beginning of the last
days or the Christian dispensation.
After Jesus was baptized we read, “From that time Jesus began to
preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew
4:17) and when Jesus sent His apostles out on the limited commission He told
them, “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at
hand’” (Matthew 10:7). The
Lord’s kingdom or church was at hand or soon to be established.
When Jesus asked His apostles, ““But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the
living God” (Matthew 16:15-16). In
response to Peter’s confession, Jesus then said, “On this rock I will
build My church” (Matthew 16:18). Notice
Jesus says, “I will build My church”.
The word “My” is a possessive pronoun, which shows that the church
belongs to Jesus. Also notice that
the word “church” is singular, in that he only promised to build His one
church. He did not promise to
build any of the many denominational churches with their differing creeds,
doctrines, and worship. If the
Lord didn’t build any of the differing denominational churches we have
today, then who built them? Men
did. We read in Psalms 127:1,
“Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who built it”.
Also Jesus says in Mark 7:7, “And in vain they worship Me, teaching
as doctrines the commandments of men.” If
something is vain it is empty, worthless, or useless and does one no good.
I would not want to be a part of a church where my labor and worship
was in vain.
In Mark 9:1 Jesus is teaching, “And He said to them, ‘Assuredly, I
say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till
they see the kingdom of God present with power’”.
Notice that the kingdom or church was to “come with power”.
Later Jesus told His apostles to “tarry in the city of
Jerusalem
until you be endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:4).
Then He tells them, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit
has come upon you” (Acts 1:8). Here
we see that the Lord’s kingdom or church was to come with power and the
power was to come when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles.
Next in Acts 1:26-2:4 we see the power and the Holy Spirit coming on
the apostles. After Matthias was
selected to replace Judas, “And he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord
in one place. And suddenly there
came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole
house where they were sitting. Then
there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one
sat upon each of them. And they
were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as
the Spirit gave them utterance.” “Then
fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the
apostles” (Acts 2:43).
The Lord’s kingdom or church was to come with power and the power was
to come when the Holy Spirit came on the apostles.
So we have seen that both the power and the Holy Spirit came on the
apostles on the Day of Pentecost of Acts chapter 2, so the Lord’s kingdom or
church came on that day. Peter on
the Day of Pentecost was asked, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?
Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be
baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins…Then those
who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand
souls were added to them…And the Lord added to the church daily those who
were being saved (Acts 2:37-38, 41, 47).
On the Day of Pentecost of Acts chapter 2 the Lord started adding saved
people to His newly established church. The
Lord only adds the saved to His church. There
are not unsaved people in His church. How
does one become saved so he can be added to the Lord’s one true church?
Jesus says, “He that believes and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark
16:16). One need help to
misunderstand this. Many people
laugh and scoff at what the Lord says one must do to be saved, but their
laughing will cause them to be lost. Any
church that had its beginning before Pentecost of Acts chapter 2 is too early
to be the Lord’s church. The
many different churches that had their beginning down through the ages after
Pentecost of Acts chapter 2 are too late and cannot be the Lord’s one true
church.
The Lord only established His one church.
Ephesians 4:4-6 says, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you
were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one
God and Father of all”. There is
only one God even though there are many false gods.
There is only one body. What
is this one body? We read in
Ephesians 1:22-23 concerning Christ that He is the “head over all things to
the church, which is His body”. Since
there is only one body and the body is the church, then there is only one
church that belongs to Christ. But
just as there are many false gods there are many false bodies or churches.
Jesus is “the Saviour of the body” (Ephesians 5:23).
Jesus is only going to save His one body, which is His one church.
The Lord will not be saving anyone in the many churches that men have
established.
Most of the denominational churches were established by men in the past
300-400 years. They are all false
churches. Even by their names they
don’t even claim to be the Lord’s one true church.
Their names give glory to men such as Martin Luther, places such as
Rome, races of people such as Greeks and Russians, days such as Pentecost and
the Sabbath, the methodical way of doing things, the apostles, baptism, rocks,
the Greek word EPISKOPOS meaning overseer, the Greek word PRESBUTEROS meaning
elder, etc. But no glory is given
to the Lord. Are they ashamed of
Jesus? Jesus says, “For whoever
is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him
the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father
with the Holy angels” (Mark 8:38). Those
of whom the Lord is ashamed will be lost.
Christ only established His one church, the only one that claims to be
His. The apostle Paul in writing
to the congregation of the Lord’s church at Rome while on his third
missionary journey and having been in a number of different cities where he
had helped to establish congregations of the Lord’s church says, “The
churches of Christ greet you” (Romans 16:16).
As we have seen from the scriptures, Christ only established His one
church, the
church
of
Christ
on the Day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2 in 33 AD.
If you are not in the Lord’s church, please don’t wait until the
Day of Judgment to find out what you have been doing is vain.
Jesus says in Matthew 7:22-23, “Many will say to Me in that day,
‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your
name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me,
you who practice lawlessness!” “I
never knew you” is the worse thing that will ever be said to an individual.
If a person is lost in Hell he will only have himself to blame.