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That the Church is "the Temple of the Living God"--peculiarly
"His workmanship;" that its construction has been in progress
throughout the Gospel age--ever since Christ became the world's
Redeemer and the chief corner stone of his Temple, through which,
when finished, God's blessing shall come "to all people,"
and they find access to him.--I Cor. 3:16,17; Eph. 2:20-22; Gen.
28:14; Gal. 3:29. That meantime the chiseling, shaping and polishing of consecrated believers in Christ's atonement for sin, progresses; and when the last of these "living stones," "elect and precious," shall have been made ready, the great Master Workman will bring all together in the First Resurrection; and the Temple shall be filled with his glory, and be the meeting place between God and men throughout the Millennium.--Rev. 15:5-8. That the Basis of Hope, for the Church and the World, lies in the fact that "Jesus Christ, by the grace of God, tasted death for every man," "a ransom for all," and will be "the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world," "in due time."--Heb. 2:9; Jno. 1:9; I Tim. 2:5,6. That the Hope of the Church is that she may be like her Lord, "see him as he is," be "partaker of the divine nature," and share his glory as his joint-heir.--I John 3:2; John 17:24; Rom. 8:17; 2 Pet. 1:4. That the present mission of the Church is the perfecting of the saints for the future work of service; to develop in herself every grace; to be God's witness to the world; and to prepare to be kings and priests in the next age.--Eph. 4:12; Matt. 24:14; Rev. 1:6; 20:6. That the hope for the World lies in the blessings of knowledge and opportunity to be brought to all by Christ's Millennial Kingdom--the restitution of all that was lost in Adam, to all the willing and obedient, at the hands of their Redeemer and his glorified Church--when all the wilfully wicked will be destroyed.--Acts 3:19-23; Isa. 35. |
