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There are many prophecies in the Bible, but strictly speaking, the building up of the church is the greatest prophecy. We must all pay attention to when and how this great prophecy will be fulfilled. Beginning with this lesson, we will look at the prophecies in the Bible concerning various aspects of the church, including the church being the mystery in God’s eternal economy, the church being the kingdom of the heavens, the building up and the stages of the church, and the ultimate consummation of the church.
The New Testament reveals that the church is the mystery in God’s eternal economy. According to Ephesians 3:4 the church has a particular title—the mystery of Christ. God is a mystery. He is real, living, and almighty, but invisible. No one has ever seen God (John 1:18a), and therefore God is a mystery. This mysterious God is embodied in Christ; hence, Christ is the mystery of God (Col. 2:2). In Ephesians 3:4 Paul used the expression the mystery of Christ to explain the church as the Body of Christ in God’s eternal economy, indicating that the church is the mystery of Christ.
The believers have Christ, the mystery of God, dwelling in them (Col. 1:27), but worldly people do not realize that He is in the believers. To them, this is a mystery. The all-inclusive Christ is the mystery of the mysterious God. Such a Christ as the mystery of God produces a mysterious Body, the church (Eph. 1:22b-23). Thus, the church is the continuation of the mystery, which is Christ. Mystery surely produces mystery. Christ, who is the mystery of God, brings forth the church, the mystery of Christ. The church, the mystery within a mystery, is the mystery in God’s economy.
In Ephesians 3:9 Paul says, “To enlighten all that they may see what the economy of the mystery is, which throughout the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things.” God is the God who created all things. God’s mystery is His hidden purpose. This mystery was hidden in God throughout the ages, that is, from eternity, but in the New Testament age it has been brought to light to His believers. God’s mystery, God’s hidden purpose, is that God wants to dispense Himself into His chosen people. This is the economy of the mystery of God.
According to Ephesians 1:5 and 9 the motive of God’s creating all things was His desire and pleasure. God’s creation reveals His desire in the universe and manifests His purpose in eternity. Revelation 4:11 says that all things were created because of God’s will. Zechariah 12:1 says that Jehovah stretched forth the heavens, laid the foundations of the earth, and formed the spirit of man within him. This indicates that the heavens are for the earth, the earth is for man, and man with the human spirit is for God. God’s marvelous creation, focused on man, is for man to be mingled with God to produce the church. God created the heavens, the earth, and billions of items in order to have the church. Therefore, Ephesians 3:9 reveals that the church is the mystery hidden in God, who created all things.
The mystery of Christ—the church—“in other generations was not made known to the sons of men” (v. 5). The church, the Body of Christ, was hidden in the Old Testament age. None of the Old Testament saints knew anything regarding this mystery. Adam and Abel, who experienced the anticipated salvation, and Enoch, who walked with God, did not know it. Noah received God’s command to build the ark, but he did not know of the building up of the church. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph likewise did not know this mystery. Moses received the revelation to build the tabernacle, but, not knowing the mystery of the church, he did not know how to build the church. This mystery was also hidden from Samuel, David, and Solomon, who knew how to build the temple but not how to build the Body of Christ. Similarly, none of the prophets in the Old Testament knew this mystery—the church.
John the Baptist received more revelation than the Old Testament prophets. He spoke concerning Christ being the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world (John 1:29), being the One who would baptize people in the Holy Spirit (Matt. 3:11), and being the Bridegroom who would have the bride (John 3:29). However, not even John had a clear vision concerning the church as the mystery of Christ. Hence, in the ages before the New Testament, the mystery of the church was hidden from men. It has been revealed to the apostles and believers only in the New Testament age (Eph. 3:5; Col. 1:26).
The church as the mystery of Christ was not made known to the sons of men in other generations. In the New Testament age it was revealed first by Christ in the Gospels and then by the Holy Spirit in the Epistles to the apostles and prophets. Paul in Ephesians 3:5 says that this mystery “has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in spirit.” This mystery, which was hidden throughout the ages in God, who created all things, and was hidden from the Old Testament saints, has been revealed in the New Testament. In Romans 16:25-26 Paul also speaks of “the revelation of the mystery, which has been kept in silence in the times of the ages but has now been manifested, and through the prophetic writings, according to the command of the eternal God, has been made known to all the Gentiles for the obedience of faith.” This mystery, which has been kept in silence in the times of the ages but has been revealed in the New Testament age, is mainly of two aspects. One aspect is the mystery of God, which is Christ as life and everything to the believers that they may become the members of His Body (Col. 2:2); the other is the mystery of Christ, which is the church as His Body to express His fullness (Eph. 1:22b-23). Therefore, Christ and the church are the great mystery (Eph. 5:32).
The book of Romans first says that the believers have been baptized into Christ (6:3), that Christ has been wrought into the believers (8:10), and that the believers have put on Christ (13:14). Then it reveals that the believers are built together in one Body to express Christ in the local churches (12:4-5), with all the saints in all the churches loving one another and fellowshipping with one another to express the Body of Christ for the fulfillment of God’s mystery (16:1-16). The eternal God, through the apostles and prophets, has made known this mystery, which was once kept in silence, to all the Gentiles for the obedience of faith.
Colossians 1:26 says, “The mystery which has been hidden from the ages and from the generations but now has been manifested to His saints.” From the ages means from eternity, and from the generations means from the times. The mystery of the church was hidden from eternity past throughout the Old Testament times, but in the New Testament age it has been manifested to all the believers in Christ. This indicates that the saints today have the position and privilege to receive that which was not revealed to God’s people in the Old Testament age.
Since the church was a mystery not made known to the sons of men in the Old Testament age, the Old Testament prophets did not, strictly speaking, clearly mention any direct prophecy concerning the church. The church as a mystery is altogether a revelation in the New Testament.
However, when Paul speaks in Ephesians 3 concerning the church as a mystery, he points out that “in Christ Jesus the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the Body and fellow partakers of the promise through the gospel” (v. 6). Fellow heirs indicates that in God’s New Testament economy the chosen, redeemed, and regenerated Gentiles and the believing Jews are fellow heirs of God, inheriting God. Fellow members of the Body indicates that the saved Gentiles and the saved Jews are fellow members of the one Body of Christ as His unique expression. Fellow partakers of the promise shows that the Gentile believers and the Jewish believers are fellow partakers of God’s promise given in the Old Testament concerning all the blessings of God’s New Testament economy. Therefore, although the church as a mystery was not made known to the sons of men in the Old Testament age, it cannot be denied that God prophesied, through the Old Testament prophets, that He would gain the Gentiles as His children, that they may manifest Him and partake of the promise.
In Genesis 22:17 Jehovah promised Abraham, “I will surely bless you and will greatly multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens and like the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.” God promised Abraham that his descendants would be like the stars of the heavens and like the sand which is on the seashore. This indicates that Abraham would have two categories of descendants, one heavenly and the other earthly.
According to the revelation in Galatians, Abraham’s earthly descendants are the Jews, whereas his heavenly descendants are the New Testament believers. In 3:29 Paul says clearly that the New Testament believers are also Abraham’s seed. According to typology, Abraham has only one seed, Christ (v. 16). Since the New Testament believers are one with Christ, they become Abraham’s seed out of faith, heirs according to the promise that they may inherit God’s promised blessing. Abraham’s natural descendants belong to the earthly Jerusalem, to the covenant of law under the slavery of the law. However, his spiritual descendants belong to the heavenly Jerusalem, to the covenant of promise under the freedom of grace (4:22-26). Faith in Christ, who is the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit, enables God’s chosen people, according to His promise, to become Abraham’s heavenly seed as “the stars of the heavens” (Gen. 22:17).
God in Christ enlivened the church from the position of death, raised her up together with Christ and seated her together with Him in the heavenlies, the highest place in the universe (Eph. 2:5-6). This was accomplished when Christ ascended to the heavens, and it has been applied to the believers by the Spirit of Christ ever since they believed in Him. Christ as the life of the believers has saved them into a position that is far above all God’s enemies, to become God’s heavenly people. Thus, as God’s heavenly people, the believers’ commonwealth exists in the heavens, far above all earthly things and their usurpation (Phil. 3:20).
Paul also says in Galatians 4:27, “It is written, ‘Rejoice, barren one who does not bear; break forth and shout, you who are not travailing, because many are the children of her who is desolate rather than of her who has her husband.’” This is a fulfillment of Isaiah 54:1, showing that the New Testament believers in the church as Abraham’s heavenly and spiritual descendants multiply much more than the Jews, Abraham’s earthly descendants in the flesh.
In Romans 9:23-24 when Paul speaks concerning God’s selection in His sovereignty and says that God “might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He had before prepared unto glory, even us, whom He has also called, not only from among the Jews but also from among the Gentiles.” He then quotes Hosea 2:23 and 1:10, saying, “As He also says in Hosea, ‘I will call those who were not My people My people, and her who was not beloved beloved; and it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, You are not My people, there shall they be called sons of the living God’” (Rom. 9:25-26). These two verses were originally God’s promise of restoration, spoken through Hosea, to Israel. However, Paul quotes these Scriptures to strengthen a fact in the New Testament that some Gentiles will be selected by God to become His people, the beloved sons of the living God.
In Romans 15:8-11 Paul quotes 2 Samuel 22:50, Psalm 18:49, Deuteronomy 32:43, and Psalm 117:1 and says, “I say that Christ has become a servant of the circumcision for the sake of God’s truthfulness, to confirm the promises given to the fathers, and that the Gentiles should glorify God for His mercy, as it is written, ‘Therefore I will extol You among the Gentiles, and I will sing praise to Your name.’ And again he says, ‘Rejoice, Gentiles, with His people.’ And again, ‘Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples speak praise to Him.’” These words show that Christ has become a servant of the circumcision for the sake of God’s truthfulness, and that He has also become a servant of the Gentiles so that they may glorify God for His mercy. Paul’s thought here is that Christ has brought together the Jews and the Gentiles so that the Gentiles can rejoice with the Jews. Since Christ is the root of the Jews and also the Ruler of the Gentiles, He joins both together to become one Body, one new man, which is His church.
In Isaiah 56:6 and 8 the prophet prophesied, “The children of the foreigner who join themselves to Jehovah, / To minister to Him... / The Lord Jehovah, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares: / Yet will I gather others to Him besides those gathered to Him already.” This reveals that God will gather more people to Him. First, He gathered the Jews, and then He began to gather more people to Him from such places as Asia Minor and Macedonia. Today He continues to gather people to Christ from throughout the earth. The Gentiles who are gathered to Him will be joined to Him and will serve Him.
Although the Old Testament prophecies say that God will gain the Gentiles to be His people and His children in the New Testament age, strictly speaking, there is no definite prophecy concerning the church in the Old Testament. The church as the mystery of Christ was not made known to God’s people before the New Testament age. This mystery was revealed in the New Testament age to the apostles, prophets, and all the believers. We, the New Testament believers, are truly blessed to be able to receive the revelation of the church as the mystery of Christ.
There are many prophecies in the Bible, but strictly speaking, the building up of the church is the greatest prophecy. The church is the mystery in God’s eternal economy, the mystery of Christ. The church as a mystery was hidden throughout the ages in God, who created all things. It was not made known to the sons of men in other generations. None of the saints in the Old Testament knew anything regarding this mystery. The church as a mystery was revealed to the apostles and prophets in spirit only in the New Testament age. Moreover, all the saints today have the position and privilege to receive that which was not revealed to God’s people in the Old Testament age.
Since the church was a mystery not made known to the sons of men in the Old Testament age, the Old Testament prophets did not, strictly speaking, clearly mention any direct prophecy concerning the church. The church as a mystery is altogether a revelation in the New Testament.
Although the church as a mystery was not made known to the sons of men in the Old Testament age, God prophesied through the Old Testament prophets that He would gain the New Testament believers as Abraham’s spiritual descendants like the stars in the heavens, that the Gentiles would become God’s people—the beloved sons of the living God, that the Gentiles would rejoice with the Jews, and that the Gentiles would be gathered together to serve God.
In the New Testament age the church as the mystery of Christ has been revealed. We, the New Testament believers, are truly blessed to be able to receive this revelation—the church as the mystery of Christ.
