When true Christians gather together around the Word purely taught and the sacraments rightly administered according to Christ’s institution, they are, as one Lutheran Pastor puts it, a “colony from the future.”
Johann Gerhard in his sermon for Septuagesima, writes:
“Here we hear that the Kingdom of Heaven, i.e., His Christian Church, is compared to a vineyard. By the “Kingdom of Heaven” we here cannot take it to mean the victorious Church in Heaven – which of course is also called the kingdom of Heaven. Instead, we obviously have to take it here to mean the struggling Church upon earth. Here now is why it is most frequently called the Kingdom of Heaven in the Scriptures, particularly in Mat. 13:14,22, and elsewhere; namely, because God the Lord especially initiates His kingdom of grace in the believers here upon earth. Also, what He begins here, He will complete in the believers in the life to come.” (Johann Gerhard, Postilla, page 186)
The one Holy Christian and Apostolic Church on earth is the same as the one Holy Christian and Apostolic Church in heaven! The believers in the life to come are the true believers in the world right now, so long as those believers on earth remain in the one true faith until life everlasting.
When we understand the Church as “the congregation of saints [Psalm 149:1] in which the Gospel is purely taught and the Sacraments are correctly administered (AC Art VII)…[and as] the congregation of saints and true believers” (AC Art. VIII), then a portion of the said Church gathered together at one place on earth is truly a “colony from the future” – a colony of the Heavenly Kingdom, a colony which owes allegiance to the Crowned One!
The True Body and Blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ strengthen and preserve you in the one true faith unto life everlasting!
Johann Gerhard in his sermon for Septuagesima, writes:
“Here we hear that the Kingdom of Heaven, i.e., His Christian Church, is compared to a vineyard. By the “Kingdom of Heaven” we here cannot take it to mean the victorious Church in Heaven – which of course is also called the kingdom of Heaven. Instead, we obviously have to take it here to mean the struggling Church upon earth. Here now is why it is most frequently called the Kingdom of Heaven in the Scriptures, particularly in Mat. 13:14,22, and elsewhere; namely, because God the Lord especially initiates His kingdom of grace in the believers here upon earth. Also, what He begins here, He will complete in the believers in the life to come.” (Johann Gerhard, Postilla, page 186)
The one Holy Christian and Apostolic Church on earth is the same as the one Holy Christian and Apostolic Church in heaven! The believers in the life to come are the true believers in the world right now, so long as those believers on earth remain in the one true faith until life everlasting.
When we understand the Church as “the congregation of saints [Psalm 149:1] in which the Gospel is purely taught and the Sacraments are correctly administered (AC Art VII)…[and as] the congregation of saints and true believers” (AC Art. VIII), then a portion of the said Church gathered together at one place on earth is truly a “colony from the future” – a colony of the Heavenly Kingdom, a colony which owes allegiance to the Crowned One!
The True Body and Blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ strengthen and preserve you in the one true faith unto life everlasting!
No comments:
Post a Comment