Bill Hamon - The Eternal Church: A Prophetic Look at the Church--Her History, Restoration, and Destiny

The Word of God declares that Christ also loved the church, and He gave Himself for it and that the Church was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 5:25; 1:4). Jesus paid the ransom price for His Church through the shedding of His lifes blood on the cross of Calvary. Jesus desired the Church so strongly that He came to this world and submitted Himself to all the humiliations and limitations of mortal man. He suffered, bled, and died. He endured indescribable agony in body, soul, mind, and spirit. Hebrews 12:2 reveals that it was for the joy that was set before Him [that Jesus] endured the cross. The Church is the joy that was set before Him. Everything Jesus did while in His mortal body was for His Church. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever (Jn. 3:16). Jesus came to purchase those whosoevers and then He sent the Holy Spirit to gather them together into one Body of believers called the Church.

The Church Is Not a Second Choice. The Church is not a second choice of Gods. The Church was not planned and instituted only after Israel rejected her Messiah. The Church was included in Gods eternal plans in the eons of past time, before the foundation of the world. Some say the natural race of Israelites is Gods first love, that He sent His Son to redeem them, but they rejected Him; therefore God instituted the Church as a secondary business until He could get back to His main business with Israel. In his book, Destined for the Throne, Paul E. Billheimer makes some emphatic statements concerning the role of the Church in Gods eternal universal plan.

The human race was created in the image and likeness of God for one purpose: to provide an eternal companion for the Son. After the fall and promise of redemption through the coming Messiah, the Messianic race (Israel) was born and nurtured in order to bring the Messiah. And the Messiah came for one intent and only one: to give birth to His Church, thus to obtain His Bride. The Church thenthe called-out body of redeemed mankindturns out to be the central object, the goal, not only of mundane history but of all that God has been doing in all realms, from all eternity.

Billheimer presents the cosmology that the creation of the universe and all history related to mankind down through the ages has happened for the sole purpose of producing the Church. He projects the idea that the entire universe in its totality is cooperating with God in His purpose to select and train His Church as His eternal companion. The entire universe is ordered for this purpose, for all things belong to the Church and are for her benefit (see 1 Cor. 3:21-23 AMP).

The Destiny of the Church. We may conclude that God definitely wanted a Church. His ultimate purpose for the Church is to be an eternal companion of His Son. All power in Heaven and earth has been given to Jesus. He is King of the universe and head over all things to the Church. When the Church-Bride becomes eternally joined to the Son, then they will sit down together on the Fathers throne (Rev. 3:21).

When a man and woman are joined in marriage, God calls them one flesh. The Father will look upon Jesus and His Wife as one. The Bride will equally share Christs reign and will perform and relate to God as one with Christ Jesus. It is my belief that the Church, because of her relationship to Jesus Christ, will become a part of the sovereign eternal headship that perpetuates Gods dominion throughout His universal domain. If we are His children, we share His treasures and all that Christ claims as His will belong to all of us as well! Yes, if we share in His suffering, we shall certainly share in His glory (Rom. 8:17 Phillips).

Yes! Jesus personally declared, (Mt. 16:18). Notice the implications of each word:

Membership a Prerequisite. All the promises of the Bible that refer to the saints ruling and reigning with Christ are qualified by a prerequisite of membership in the universal Body of Christ. Christ does not work on planet earth apart from His Church. The Church is His earthly body of expression.

Gods Promises Are to the Church. To get in on the promises you must become a living member of the Church, the corporate Body of Christ. The Church is going to fulfill all things, regardless of what the world and certain individual Christians do. The called-out Ecclesia will perfectly fulfill Gods eternal will (see Eph. 3:10-11, 21). This does not mean that every person who starts out in this race is going to win. Everyone who runs this race to the end will win the prize (see Phil. 3:14), but those who stop along the way or turn back will not rule and reign with Christ and His Church. The Body can make it without certain members, but a member of the Body cannot make it without staying in the Body.

God works with the Church as a whole in the fulfilling of His overall purpose for the Church. However, the Church consists of particular members who must be dealt with and ministered to on an individual basis. It is the perfecting of each member that makes the whole Body perfect.

One ManOne Church. God never did create a being called people. He created a person, one man. The Church is viewed as one Man, for the Church is destined to be a perfect Man (Eph. 4:13). The Church is one Body made up of individual members.

The Bible was written to the Church and for the Church (most books of the Bible begin with To the Church or To the saints). The Bible is for the enlightenment and the edification of the Church. It is the power and wisdom of God. It is the power used to bring other members into the Church. The promises of God concerning the present work and future ministry of the Church are not to individuals, but to the Church. For an individual to participate, he or she must become and remain an active, lively member of the universal Body of Christ and must work for its overall fulfillment.

Catching the Heart-Throb of Jesus. If ministers of the Church would catch the heart-throb of Jesus, their efforts would not be in promoting their pet doctrines, denominations, revelations, or experiences, but would be in building up and unifying the Church. Jesus loves every member of His Church whether we do or not. There are truths that cannot be compromised and experiences that should not be denied just for the sake of getting along, but this does not excuse the hardheaded, narrow-minded, bigoted, self-righteous, unteachable, coldhearted, and indifferent attitudes held by some ministers of the Church and members of the Body of Christ.

Those who have been justified by faith, who have trusted in the blood of Jesus for the cleansing of their sins, and who are filled with and are walking in the Holy Spirit are members of the one and selfsame Body. If we become exclusive and separate ourselves from the Body in general, we cut ourselves away from Gods work, for His greatest love and main work is with the universal, corporate Body of Christ, the Church.