The Church's One Foundation

The Church's One Foundation      song #623

 

The Church's One Foundation

Is Jesus Christ her Lord.

She is His New Creation

By Water and the Word.

From Heaven He came and sought her

To be His holy Bride

With His own blood He bought her,

And for her life He died.

 

Elect from every nation

Yet one o'er all the earth;

Her charter of salvation,

One Lord, one Faith, one Birth;

One holy Name she blesses,

Partakes one holy Food,

And to one Hope she presses,

With every grace endued.

 

     1. The Church is what God says She is.

    If you want to worship with a Spirit-filled church, be a Spirit- filled person (Romans 8:8-11).  Christ changed how human beings relate to God, not how God relates to human beings. The Church, visible and invisible, is God's mystery now revealed.  She - the Church - has the task of showing JESUS to the world.  She is given life by the Holy Spirit, clothed with His power and blessed with His promise of faithfulness: "I will never leave you nor forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5).

    "And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever."  Daniel 2:44

    "He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins."

Col 1:13-14

    "For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-- whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free--and have all been made to drink into one Spirit."  1 Cor 12:12-13

    "Unity, not unvarying uniformity, is the law of God in the world of grace, as in that of nature. As the many members of the body compose an organic whole and none can be dispensed with as needless, so those variously gifted by the Spirit, compose a spiritual organic whole, the body of Christ, into which all are baptized by the one Spirit.—Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

    > Everyone has at least one spiritual gift. <

    2. Elect from every nation.

    "...praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved."  Acts 2:47

    "And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women,"  Acts 5:14

    "After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"  Rev 7:9-10

    And there was a great crowd. This time John sees the Church Triumphant [God’s people in Eternity] as they live forever in the presence of God and his Throne. Notice that the Redeemed in Eternity are a Great Crowd, so many of them that they cannot be counted! THE WORK OF CHRIST IS NOT A FAILURE!

They are from EVERY race, tribe, nation, and language (see Col. 1:23). All those Jews who accepted Christ are included in this number (compare Acts 21:20). White robes. Symbolic of being free from guilt, of being holy, and of great happiness. Palm branches. Symbolic of happiness after a victory.  Our salvation. They shout their praise to God and to the Lamb. Note they look to GOD AND CHRIST as the source of their salvation.  All the angels. The chorus of heaven and Creation joins in the song of the Redeemed, as they praise God and the Lamb (compare Rev. 5:11).

                "I beheld -- the angels: who form the outer circle, while the Church, the object of redemption, forms the inner circle nearest the throne. The heavenly hosts ranged around gaze with intense love and adoration at this crowning manifestation of God's love, wisdom, and power." —Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary