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The church illustrates God's love.
"The bridegroom and the bride"
emphasizes the loving fellowship
between Christ and the church.
"Husbands, love
your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the
word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having
spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and
without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He
that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own
flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For
we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause
shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his
wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I
speak concerning Christ and the church" (Ephesians 5:25-32).
Most Christians take the church for granted. Do you count it a privilege
to belong to the world's oldest and largest institution? There is no other
institution that sets humble Christians on equal ground with kings and
presidents, the rich or famous.
God calls the church his own
people. It isn't the church of our fathers or the church of the apostles;
it is the church of God. Jesus Christ is it's foundation and governs it by
his Word and Spirit. He defends it against all enemies.
Jesus said, "...Upon this rock I will build my church; and
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18).
With this statement Jesus prophesied that His Church would never cease to exist
on earth until His return at the end of the age. This promise has been and
is still being fulfilled.
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