- The Church Is Built Accurately Upon the Heavenly Pattern.
Heb 8:5 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.
When Moses was about to build the tabernacle , God cautioned him to accurately construct it in accordance to specific blueprints that He would show him.
The Lord has a particular pattern of construction for the New Testament church and specific blue prints for every local congregation.
The word “admonished” is defined as “God’s divine instruction according to His revelation.” The NT church must be built carefully step by step according to God’s direction.
Rev 5:5 And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened:
The NT church must be “an example and shadow of heavenly things.”
The blessings of God will fall upon any church in proportion to how accurately it has been copied in accordance with His pattern shown in the mount of revelation.
- The Church as a Vehicle for God’s Glory
Eph 3:21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
The church’s most important job is to bring forth the glory of the Lord into all of the earth, and throughout all eternity.
John 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
Revival comes when Jesus is lifted up above all.
Through God’s glory men are ushered into eternal salvation, physical and emotional healings take place, and people are set free from demonic oppression.
God communicates Himself to His church out of His glory. Spiritual callings are discovered, believers become trained in spiritual gifts, and revivals of cities that change civilization are carried out.
Civilization’s most essential requirement, and its most desperate need, is to be capable of beholding an invisible God, who desires to make Himself plainly evident, through Jesus Christ in His glory.
The key to all of humanity’s needs, past, present, and future, lie locked in the Person of Christ. To the proportion that the invisible Christ becomes visible to mankind by His glory, is to the exact proportion that all of mankind’s needs will be met and answered forever.
The church of Jesus Christ is one of GOD’S PRIMARY UNIVERSAL INSTRUMENTS, which makes Him visible in the fullness of His glory.
Ephesians 3:10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
Through the church might be made known the full scope of God’s will and ways to angelic and demonic realms.
- The Church as a Vehicle of The Praise of God’s Glory
Eph1:12 That we (the church) should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
God’s glory manifested through the church becomes one of the primary ways that the world praises God. The more glory, the more praise. The more glory, the more that Jesus Christ will be lifted up, and draw all men unto Him.
- The Church is a Habitation of God in the Spirit
Eph 2:22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
A dwelling place is an abode where God will feel totally at home, and will have full rights to do as He pleases.
- The Church Is God’s Receptacle Where He Funnels Everything Into
Eph 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
8 Wherein he hath abounded toward us (INTO US) in all wisdom and prudence;
The church is the receptacle into which all of the blessings, the presence of God, and God’s inheritance, is funneled into, and manifested by.
- The Church Is The Fullness of God
Eph 1:22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
23Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
Fullness: Picture a bottle filled with Coca Cola. What is the Coca Cola? Is it the bottle, or is it the liquid inside of it? Coca Cola is every ingredient that is mixed in its required quantities and precise order, to lawfully recognize and labeled it as this reality called Coca Cola. This is the fullness of Coca Cola!
The fullness of Coca Cola is the essence and nature of this liquid, which makes it to be Coca Cola and nothing else. The fullness of God describes the very essence, the reality, and the evidence of who God is. It is every attribute and characteristic that is required, to make God, God apart from anything else.
The church is the fullness of God! The Lord has called upon the church to manifest Him in His very essence and reality. This is called the glory of God, or allowing the invisible God to become accurately identifiable
The church is not only Christ’s body, but is an entity that is filled by Christ and can fully manifest Him. The church is the instrument through which God works. The church is what makes Christ complete.
- The Church is The Holy of Holies
Eph 2:19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
20And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
The church is the holy of holies of the Lord. As the Holy of Holies, the church is the dwelling place of God. As the Holy of Holies, the church contains the Ark of the Testimony.
It is able to and must furnish full evidence with all supporting facts which define the reality of whom God is. It must manifest Him in His fullness, so that the jury of the world has enough evidence to reach a verdict to accept or reject the gospel.
- The Church is a Man
Eph 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
As the fullness of Christ is revealed and we come to know and understand, we all grow up into the maturity of God by the communication that the Lord gives to us out of His revelation. A perfect man is a full-grown man. The church as a full-grown man, who is Christ Jesus, can fully bring forth the glory of God and subsequent revival.
Jose and Mary Alvarez 