The church is preparing for the day when…
By Elmer G. Klassen
There is a day coming when Satan will no longer rule this world. He is today the prince and ruler of the air at work in those who are disobedient. He will continue to be able to dominate his heaven and influence this world until the church has been purified and cleansed for her future part in God’s Kingdom.
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is merciful to us who have been born of the Spirit and is giving us, because of the resurrection of Christ, the wonderful expectation of the overthrow of Satan’s kingdom. To us He has given a priceless inheritance which is kept pure and undefiled in heaven. Our inheritance is kept there for us until we have been prepared for the time when our Lord will return and Satan will have to give up his rule of the heavens to Christ’s church.
This present world is giving us trouble and God has planned it that way so that we will become strong in faith and pure in heart. The trial of faith is not only to try us but is to give much praise and glory to our God on the day when there will be a change in the heavenlies and Christ will be revealed in the whole world.
This hope of the day when Satan will no longer control the heavenlies is what greatly encourages us to think clearly and exercise self-control in expectation of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. We place confidence in His return because God raised Jesus from the dead and has given Him power over all in heaven and earth.
This knowledge gives us a sincere love for all who know and believe Jesus Christ. This love for true Christians is the best sign that we belong to the Lord Jesus Christ and are being prepared for the time when God will overthrow the powers of evil and will demonstrate to the world that Jesus is Lord. The ones who are controlling the minds of the inhabitants of this world by the power of Satan through schools and the media will bow their knees to the ones they have denied, slandered and ridiculed.
It is therefore up to us who claim Jesus as Lord to be willing to suffer now in a gentle and respectful way for doing what is right. Christ also suffered when He died for our sins once for all time. Although He never sinned, He died for sinners that He might bring us safely to our place with God. He suffered physical death, but He was raised to life in the Spirit. Christ is now in heaven and is seated in the place of honor next to God with all the angels and authorities and powers bowing before Him. The day will come when all the earth will be forced to acknowledge that He is Lord. Satan will then no longer be the prince and power of the air. It will then be the church reigning with Christ from the heavenlies. In this hour of testings on earth the church is even now by prayer overthrowing kingdoms and destroying the works of the devil (Heb. 11:33).
John A. MacMillan explains it this way in his book, The Authority of the Believer: “The ‘God of the whole earth’ does not purpose to tolerate forever this rebellion against His righteousness. ‘By myself have I sworn, the word is gone forth from my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.’ Ere this can be accomplished, the instigators to human rebellion must be cast down. In this regard the divine method is clear. ‘The powers of the air’ are allowed to retain their seats only while their successors are being prepared. God, having redeemed a people and purified them, has introduced them potentially unto the heavenlies. When they have approved themselves, they will in actuality take the seats of the ‘powers of the air,’ thereby superseding those who have manifested their unfitness and unworthiness.
“This purpose, present and future, is very definitely stated in chapter 3:9-11 [Ephesians]. Here it is revealed as the divine will that ‘now [nun, the present time] unto the principalities and powers in the heavenly places might be made known through the church the manifold wisdom of God.’ The Church is to be God’s instrument in declaring to these rebellious, and now usurping powers, the divine purpose, and in administering their principalities, after they have been unseated and cast down.
“This is further declared to be ‘according to the eternal purpose [prosethin ton aionon, the purpose of the ages] which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ That is to say, God, through all the past ages, has had in view this wonderful plan of preparing in Christ Jesus a people, chosen and called and faithful, whom He might place in these heavenly seats to rule through the ages yet to come. It is spoken of, in the verses just preceding, as ‘the mystery, which for ages hath been hid in God’ one phase of this mystery being the wonderful veiling of the deity of the Son of God in our human nature, that we through Him might ‘become partakers of a divine nature’ (2 Peter 1:4).
“This exaltation of the saints and its object were revealed to Daniel in the first of his own great world visions. In verse 22 of chapter 7, after the coming of the Ancient of Days, ‘judgment was given to the saints of the most High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.’ A little later (v. 27, we read that ‘the kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High.’ This meaning is clear. The saints of the Most High are the overcoming Church, raised to sit in the heavenlies. Below them, and as objects of their care, are the people of Israel, called here ‘people of the saints of the most High.’ Israel will administer the earthly kingdom, and will be head of the nations. But, overall, will rule the exalted Church, as the executive of God.”
God’s great interest at this time is the praying church. This is where the attention in heaven is focused. This is where the action is and where the future is being determined. God’s grace is given to us on earth today because of the prayers of His people and because of the future importance of the true church.
The Bible continuously admonishes us to pray and to praise the Lord. The Bible does not admonish so much to read the Bible, to evangelize or to give sacrificially to missions as it does to praise the Lord and pray, yet this is where most churches fall short. Our hope should be in God more than in seminars and famous speakers. It is better to spend time seeking God alone and with others in prayer than it is to be concerned to have a diploma hanging above our study desk.
Why does God have to continually remind us to pray? It is because prayer makes the difference. If you fail in your Christian life you will fail because you did not pray. If your ministry is not fruitful it is because there are not many praying with you. If your children are not following the Lord, if you can not pay your bills, if your family is all broken up, chances are that your past life has not been a life of prayer and obedience to God. God is allowing trials and disappointments to come our way because He wants us to learn to pray now so that we will be prepared to be what God wants us to be in the life to come.
Praying Churches are the churches where people are changed into the image of God. People will be asking, “What must I do to be saved?” when they meet people praying in church. Unsaved people may know their Bibles; they may be polite and very helpful in church. Unsaved people are sometimes better "people’s persons." They will often even give to missions, but they cannot pray very good, because praying is strange for them. To know God is to know Him in prayer. To know God is to live in obedience to His will. Where there is no witness in the heart that God dwells within it is because of lack of prayer.
Do you want your church to be a praying church? Jim Cymbala did when the church he pastured dropped to 20 people on Sunday morning. The church he pastored was a struggling church and had an attendance of forty or forty-five when he announced that the Sunday morning worship time was important, but more important was the Tuesday night prayer meeting. At first only fifteen to eighteen people showed up. By the time attendance was running 150 or 175 on Sunday morning, the prayer meeting was up to 100. Now the Brooklyn Tabernacle Church has week-night prayer meetings in the thousands with standing room only. We urge you to read Jim Cymbala’s book, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire.
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