Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Is it possible that God will ever have on earth a perfect church? Not just one tiny little congregation out in the backwoods, where its members are isolated and insulated from the devil's temptations, where there's no TV, no Internet, no shopping malls, not even a radio. No, that would not be a fair test. The real question is: Can God ever have a perfect worldwide church--in the world but not of the world--in the midst of all the evil that the devil can produce?
The question itself is controversial with many saying a decided No. "Nobody is perfect, so how can God ever have a perfect church?" If we let Paul's words mean what they say, the answer becomes Yes! He says Christ "gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special ["pecular," KJV] people, zealous for good works" (Titus 2:14).
Then there is Ephesians 5:25-27: Christ "gave Himself" to have "a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing." And there is in Ephesians 5 the idea that this church is to be the Bride of Christ. In fact, the expression "without spot" is quoted from the Song of Solomon 4:7, again speaking of the Bride of Christ at last ready for the wedding.
Christ will not marry some "super-woman"; but the corporate body of His people are brought to view in Revelation 14:1-5, 12, 15, and 16 as a church in whose "mouth was found no guile, for they are without fault before the throne of God." And they finally surface again in 19:7, 8 where the Bride is seen as at last "making herself ready."
But back again to the objection: "Nobody's perfect." Granted; but the fact that there never has been a church "ready" to be the Bride of Christ doesn't mean that it's impossible or that it will never happen. It won't be a "works program" or ecclesiastical promotion that accomplishes Christ's purpose. It will be a "faith trip," something to do with that phrase: "Christ gave Himself."
Here at last will be a group of people who, in a corporate, united sense, have grown up out of their childish understanding to grasp "the width and length and depth and height, to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge," that led Him to "give Himself" for us (see Eph. 3:18, 19). Let's start growing up today!
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 23, 1999.
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