In our last article we asked how one would decide which church our of the 2000 plus "churches" is the true church of Christ. We set out that the Bible would be our guide or the standard with reference to the Lord's church.
How is identity determined? How can one identify an object unless he knows something about that object? Identify is determined by certain distinguishing marks, characteristics, traits or features. For instance, when the other disciples told Thomas that they had seen the resurrected Lord, he was hesitant to take another's word for it. He said, "Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe" (John 20:25).
Why did Thomas hesitate to take another's word for it? Because he remembered the Lord hanging on the cross with nails driven through his hands, and he remembered that pierced side. He knew those nails and spear would leave identifying scars that he could see for himself. Then, he would know that he was truly the Christ.
Shouldn't we be just as hesitant to accept what someone tells us about the Lord's church? Paul instructed: "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good" (I Thess. 5:21). That is our plea, and our aim, and to do less is to fall short of God's word.
We can know the divine origin of the Lord's church. It came into being by a divine act of creation. It was not an accident, nor an afterthought on God's part. Rather, it was a part of His eternal purpose. "And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: 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:" (Eph 3:9-11). It was prophecied that it would go forth from Jerusalem. "For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Jere. 2:2-3; Joel 2:28-32). Then we read where this came to pass in Acts chapter 2. We know this is true because Peter said in verse 16, "But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel." He quoted from Joel 2. That is an example of what Paul's instructions to "prove all things." In Acts 2:47 we read where the church, for the first time, is spoken of as being in existence.
We can know that the church belongs to Christ. He said, "...upon this rock I will build my church" (Matt. 16:18). Christ built it and called it his. He is the head of it; "And he is the head of the body, the church..." (Col. 1:18). It is his bride (Eph. 5:22-28; Rev. 21:2). The church wears his name (Rom. 16:16), and not some man-made name. "He is the saviour of the body" (Eph. 5:23) which he "purchased with his own blood" (Acts 20:28). We can know there is only "one body" (Eph. 4:4). Paul said: "...yet but one body" (I Cor. 12:20). It is not possible that there are over 2000 bodies and only one head.
Study the scriptures carefully to see "whether those things be so" (Acts 17:11).
"If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God" (I Pet. 4:11).
Don H. Noblin
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