Finding Jesus in the Bible…So We Can Follow Him in Life
Bible Reading Plans
- Plan One: New Testament Only
- Plan Two: New Testament + Psalms
- Plan Three: New Testament + History
- Plan Four: The Entire Bible – Year 1 of 3, Year 2 of 3, Year 3 of 3
Don’t know which plan? Go to A Christ-Centered Bible Reading Plan: Quick Start.
Extras
Verse of the Day, Audio Capsule, and Video Minute
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The One True Church
Chapter 27 – The One-Generation Church
The one true church was a one-generation phenomenon. The kingdom of God, on the other hand, is an eternal phenomenon.
The church was to precede the coming of the kingdom. Hardly anyone disagrees with that. The kingdom of God was to last forever. Hardly anyone disagrees with that either. The church would give way to the kingdom of God. Again, hardly anyone disagrees. What’s in dispute is how long the church age was to last.
Institutional Christianity says that the church age is still going on – almost two thousand years after the generation of which Jesus was a part. But Jesus set a different expectation – one that called for the kingdom of God to come before His generation had passed away. Recall that He said:
Matthew 10:23 “But whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next; for truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes.”
Matthew 16:28 “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
Matthew 24:34 “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.”
Notice also the “Truly I say to you” prefaces. Jesus obviously expected to be doubted on this point.
Jesus’ statements explain the sense of urgency that can be seen throughout the epistles of the New Testament. We do not see the apostles preparing believers for a permanent church that would last for centuries. Rather, we see them preparing believers for the kingdom of God in their lifetimes.
God was birthing something through the New Testament church: the kingdom of God. And it cannot be that God would prepare His people for a birth that would come long after the designated time. What pregnant mother wants that?
God would not disappoint those expecting the outcome of a gestation process He Himself had designed.
Isaiah 66:9 “Shall I bring to the point of birth and not give delivery?” says the LORD.
“Or shall I who gives delivery shut the womb?” says your God.
Another way of looking at the church-to-kingdom transition is that the church was the scaffolding used to build a structure. By its very nature, scaffolding is temporary. Once the structure is complete, the scaffolding is no longer needed.
Paul put it this way:
1 Corinthians 13:10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.
The believers in Corinth could know that Paul was speaking of the coming of the kingdom of God because he referred to it so often throughout the first letter. Here are some examples:
1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.
1 Corinthians 10:11 Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
1 Corinthians 11:26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
Note that in none of these verses is Paul addressing some future generation. Neither does he use wording like “you or your descendants.” He’s addressing that generation. His generation. Jesus‘ generation.
The one true church lasted only a generation…because that’s all the time that was needed to bring in the kingdom. It’s the same reason human gestation lasts only nine months: that’s all the time that is needed.
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