Presentation Of The Church To Christ And The Saints To The Father

by Prasher, C, Lindsay | Category: Christ's Return - Approaching World Crisis | Jun 1984

The three main scriptures are:

1.". . that He might present the Church to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5:27).

2."Yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish and unreproveable before Him (God): if so be that ye continue in the faith, grounded and stedfast" (Col. 1:21-23).

3."Now unto Him who is able to guard you from stumbling, and to set you before the presence of His glory without blemish in exceeding joy. . to the only God . . . be glory" (Jude 24, 25).

Despite the fact that all three passages allude to the saints being before the holy presence "without blemish" because of the work of Christ, the first emphasizes a different facet from the other two because:

-the first is a presentation to Christ while the other two are to God the Father.

-the first is quite unconditional whereas the second is dependent on continuance in the faith and the third is in the context of possible stumbling.

-the first is strongly collective, relating to the Body of Christ as a whole, but the other two imply individual faithfulness.

Hence there is cause to distinguish between the presentation of the Church to Christ and that of the saints to the Father, though they are both consequent upon the Rapture, discussed in previous articles in this series.

Having made the distinction, there is advantage in looking at each in more detail, commencing with the display of that which will not be complete until the Rapture, namely the Church which is His Body. When the last person is saved and the Body is complete, Christ will unveil to a wondering heaven the glory and beauty of the complete embodiment of those who are His. For at the Rapture the dead will have been raised first and the living will have been changed. Then both will be caught up, having received new bodies "like unto His glorious body" as is recorded in Philippians 3:21. They will be there and in this state by virtue of Christ's redemptive work, and His regenerating sanctifying application of the water of the word. The result? Theirs is the perpetual youth (no wrinkles) of eternal new bodies! Each one has ever been seen by God as perfect in Christ, but on this the first occasion when all will be newly together, the ecstasy will be overwhelming. In effect He says, "I love you dearly, you are mine;" and the loving response will be "You alone have made us one: we are for ever grateful." This is the tremendous theme of Ephesians 5:27, which has the constancy of love between husband and wife as its context. Who but the Spirit of God could have placed such a magnificently perfect example before Christian married partners of the present time?

Turning to the other two scriptures, the emphasis has shifted. The Spirit is encouraging the Colossians to continue steadfastly in the faith and those that are "called," to whom Jude writes, to be on their guard from stumbling, so that they will not be deprived of honour in the culminating assemblage before the rainbow-circled throne. The saints cannot be presented to the Father until there has been a reckoning in respect of past service. As each one's witness and ministry differs from that of another, so the reckoning must be on an individual basis and there will be marks of distinction in the glorious celestial parade for those whose earthly efforts have been deserving of special mention. This conditional honour of distinctive acknowledgement before the Father is in contrast to the unconditional status of membership of the Body at the presentation of the Church to its Head.

The reckoning in respect of past service will be the great objective of the Judgement-seat of Christ. His will be an unerring assessment, when we shall receive the things done in the body, according to what we have done, whether it be good or bad. The process has been likened to refinement of metal by fire in I Corinthians 3:13, in which the dross is burnt up and only the pure metal will be of final value for acknowledgement before the Father.

One feature of the Judgement-seat must surely be that it represents an end of past service with its inevitable failure in part. Even only small reward from Christ will never cloud the joy of the prospect of new service in sinless bodies in a higher sphere.

It might be thought that the marriage of the Lamb referred to in Revelation 19:7 would be associated with the unconditional facet of the presentation of the Church to Christ. However, the emphasis in Revelation 19 is on what the bride has done herself. It is the conditional aspect which is here underlined. She has made herself ready. The fine linen in which she is arrayed depicts the righteous acts of the saints. Is not the Spirit indicating that it is the divine desire that the bride shall be as radiantly adorned as possible, to reflect His glory more perfectly? What a marvellous thought, that, by our good works. as His saints we can play a part in the adornment of the Bride at the "Lamb's great bridal feast of bliss and love" to His greater glory. This is surely a strong incentive to more devoted discipleship in His cause and more willing warfare against His foes.

Prasher, C, Lindsay | Jun 1984
Christ's Return - Approaching World Crisis