Assembly Versus Kingdom--Part 4

Jesus Christ gave the disciples—Peter, James and John—a foretaste of the kingdom. The two saints that had passed out of time into eternity—Moses and Elijah—experienced a foretaste of the kingdom. The Son of God personally appeared in His Kingly glory (Matt. 16:27-17:13), and His majesty and splendor were admired by men from both eternity and time.

The preview of the kingdom cannot apply to the assembly, because of its connection with the second advent of Christ and His kingdom. Therefore, the disciples were charged to keep it a secret until after the death and resurrection of Christ. He said, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ” (Matt. 16:19, 20). “As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, Tell the vision to no one until the son of Man has risen from the dead. And His disciples asked Him, Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first? And He answered and said, Elijah is coming and will restore all things; but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands. Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist” (Matt. 17:9-13).

The transfiguration was both a reality and a representation of the future advent of Christ. The vision is given to encourage all saints who are heirs of the kingdom to share with Christ His reproach while we wait for the glory of the kingdom. As John the Baptist was the forerunner of Christ’s first advent, Elijah will be the forerunner of His second advent (Mal. 4:5, 6).

The King James Bible says that God’s action in heaven is contingent on what Peter and his successors do on earth. However, the Greek text says the opposite. “And I am also saying to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I shall continue to build (progressive future active indicative of oikodomeo) my assembly, and the gates of Hades shall not overpower her. I shall give (future active indicative of didomi) to you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens; and whatever you may bind (aorist active subjunctive of deo) on the earth shall have already been bound (periphrastic future perfect passive participle of deo) in the heavens, and whatever you may loose (aorist active subjunctive of luo) on the earth shall have already been loosed (periphrastic future perfect passive participle of luo) in the heavens” (Matt. 16:18, 19—translation of Greek text). The verb about which there has been much debate is called the periphrastic future perfect. There are three places—Matthew 16:19; 18:18; and John 20:23—where this inflected form is used, and its use has buried the Arminians.

If the King James Bible contained the correct rendering of the Greek periphrastic future perfect, the doctrine of sacerdotalism would be established. The King James Bible clearly says that God’s action in heaven, whether it be to bind or loose, is contingent upon the actions of Peter and those who succeed him. The fact is that men have nothing to do with the sovereign God, who has chosen who will be saved. Furthermore, the Son of God redeems only the persons chosen by the Father. Coming to the Holy Spirit, no Christian can fail to see and acknowledge that it takes all three Persons of the Godhead to accomplish salvation. The Father elects some; the Son pays the sin-debt of the chosen; and the Holy Spirit applies what the Son of God has done on behalf of the chosen ones.

The assembly is neither visible nor invisible only; she is both. If we were to say the assembly is wholly visible, it would be like saying Christ is purely human. As the human nature of Christ is the only manifestation of God, the local aspect of the assembly is the only manifestation of the invisible principle of life.

Both Christ and His assembly are mysteries to the world. The Greek word kosmos is a noun used nearly 200 times in a variety of meanings. It is used more by John in his five books and letters than any of the other apostles. It is used to describe the universe, the earth, inhabitants of the world system—good or bad, world affairs, etc. Check the following verses to get the idea—John 1:10-13; 29; 3:16; 15:19; II Corinthians 5:19; and I John 5:19.

It is the responsibility of God’s people to search the Scriptures for their defense against the apostasy of the last days. For example, the Roman Catholic Church of our day teaches that she is infallible to her people. Page 65 of McGuire’s New Baltimore Catechism and Mass says, “Sovereign Pontiff, he has the highest place and greatest authority (power) in the Church—the Pope, Our Holy Father…. The birthday of the Church was Pentecost Sunday (fifty days after Christ’s Resurrection). On that day, the Holy Ghost began to dwell in the church and thereby give it life. He will stay with it until the end of time. This is why the Church is able to teach, to sanctify, and to rule its members as Christ wished it to do. Christ is the invisible (cannot be seen) Head of the Church. He is personally represented now on earth by our Holy Father, the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, who is the visible (can be seen) Head of the Church. The apostles were the first bishops of the Church. But Saint Peter was the chief of all the apostles. Christ made him the first visible head of the Church, and the chief teacher and ruler.”

All judgments and decisions are to be made on the basis of what God has said, and not on the basis of what the Roman Catholic Church is saying. Where is the final seat of authority? It is not human reason, because that is subjectivism. The only true Vicar of Christ is the Holy Spirit, who like Him, is absolutely and qualifiedly the “Spirit of Truth.” Christ said, “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me” (John 15:26).

The following quotes are given for the purpose of showing what students of Scripture are facing today:

Augustus Hopkins Strong—“Protestants err in denying reference in Matthew 16:18 to Peter; Christ recognizes Peter’s personality in the founding of his kingdom. But Romanists equally err in ignoring Peter’s confession as constituting him the ‘rock.’ Creeds and confessions alone will never convert the world; they need to be embodied in living personalities in order to save; this is the grain of correct doctrine in Romanism. On the other hand, men without a faith, which they are willing to confess at every cost, will never convert the world; there must be a substance of doctrine with regard to sin; and with regard to Christ as the divine Savior from sin; this is the just contention of Protestantism. Baptist doctrine continues the merits of both systems. It has both personality and confession. It is not hierarchical, but experiential. It insists not upon abstractions, but upon life. Truth without a body is as powerless as a body without truth. A flag without an army is even worse than an army without a flag.”

Phillip Brooks—“The truth of God working through the personality of man has been the salvation of the world.”

Pascal—“Catholicism is a church without a religion; Protestantism is a religion without a church. Yes, we reply, if church means hierarchy.”

J. Vernon McGee—“What are the keys of the Kingdom of heaven? Were they given only to Simon Peter? No, Jesus gives them to those who make the same confession made by Peter, those who know Christ as Savior. If you are a child of God, you have the keys as well as any person has the keys. The keys were the badge of authority of the office of the scribes who interpreted the Scriptures to the people (see Neh. 8:2-8). Every Christian today has the Scriptures and, therefore, the keys. If we withhold the Word, we ‘bind on earth’; if we give the Word, we ‘loose on earth.’ No man or individual Church has the keys—to the exclusion of all other believers. We have a responsibility today to give out the gospel because it is the only thing that can save people. This is a tremendous revelation. Who is sufficient for these things? You and I have a responsibility that is awesome indeed! ‘Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ’ (Matt. 16:20). The Lord made this request because the mere knowledge of who He is will not save you. To find salvation you must know who He is and what He did and accept Him by faith.” (See page 49 of J. V. McGee’s work on Matthew.)

The absolute must for the sincere Christian is to be diligent and unbiased in the study of Matthew 16:18-19 and 18:15-20. Many arguments can be given to show the difference between the assembly and the kingdom, but the foundation of them all is the diversity of the mediating work of the Holy Spirit in the assembly and the unmediating reign of Jesus Christ in the kingdom.

The idea of a present kingdom and authority exercised by men on earth is close to the teaching of Roman Catholics. The assembly and kingdom can be equated no more than imperfection and perfection or the believer in his perishing body and in his glorified body. Furthermore, some Catholics say that the church (assembly) is God’s invisible kingdom on earth, while others say the church (assembly) is the visible kingdom on earth.

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The NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE—UPDATED EDITION is the source of all Scripture quotations in this message, unless otherwise noted.

NOTE—

A letter was received some time ago by this pastor from a man who did not like what he had read in one of my books. He said, “I doubt, sir, at this point of the game that you honor the King James Bible as the inspired, inerrant word of God. No, I don’t mean that so-called historical-stand text—only the original autographs were inspired. I mean that God has given us a Bible in the English language that the Devil can’t touch, modernists can’t corrupt, and professors can’t correct. All they can do is print Bibles they can corrupt.”

My belief is that only the original autographs were inspired. The writer of this letter is guilty of serious errors.

1. He does not know the meaning of inspiration (II Tim. 3:16, 17).

2. The writers of the original manuscripts were the only inspired writers. “Inspired [literally, ‘God-breathed’] is the key word of II Timothy 3:16.

3. The collective, inspired Scriptures were completed before the conclusion of the First Century A.D. Jude 3 states, “…once for all handed down to the saints.”

4. Is the KJB of 1611 another God-breathed Bible given once-for-all the second time?

5. Is there perfect harmony between the original autographs and the King James Bible?

6. Are the copies of the original the same?

Errors were made by uninspired copyists. What about translating made by uninspired translators? The version we use is a copy. It is not perfect because man copied it, and no one is perfect. Just as a defense lawyer does not have to do anything but plant the seed of doubt, false teachers plant the seed of doubt by human reason and appealing to human emotions.