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Part II
The
Second
Phase of the Church
Corporate
Relationship Concept
Chapter 12
The Final
Voyage
After our work on earth is done, each Christian
looks forward with anticipation to hearing the Father's voice saying, "Well
done, good and faithful servant." Imagine with me that day when life's
journey is over and we see Him face to face!
And I heard a loud voice from saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with
men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself
will be with them and be their God.
"And God will wipe away
every tear from their eyes; there shall be no
more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and
there shall be no more pain, for the
former things have passed away" (Revelation 21:3-4).
It seemed a day like any
other. Little did we know this would be the day—the day every child of God longs
for; when "homesickness" fades away as we enter our eternal, real home in
heaven with Jesus. Our ship (the
church) sailed into harbor after a long journey.
This had been a particularly rough voyage where we faced turbulent, high seas
and dark, stormy nights. Sometimes in heavy sea fogs, we temporarily lost our
way. The thunder of the sea and the howl of the wind was our constant companion
on many blustery nights, but we survived. It was at those desperate "weary to
the bone" times that the passengers and the crew had pulled together to
make it a success.
Although
everyone knew we would be given enough strength to
survive Satan's attacks, sometimes we had wondered. Then, just when we were
ready to give up, the sea suddenly would calm and give way to a blue
panorama of sky complete with a rainbow and its
arch of purple, blue, red and green stretched across the horizon!
Myriads of fantastic colors would bounce
off the jets of spray pushed up by the
ship's forward motion.
Other times,
gazing across the water as the waves filled with the
red glory of a majestic sunset, our hearts were filled and at peace. God always
gave us hope to carry on.
Many things happened while
at sea, some quite distressing. Friends and loved ones—saints of God—died
from sickness or disease. The pain of their passing was only abated by the
knowledge of
their eternal destination to those fair
shores where tidal waves never beat
the coast or hurricanes batter the shore.
It seemed we
were at sea (in the world) for an eternity. But these times of entering the
harbor we knew would be a safe haven. We were entering the world of the Spirit—
we always knew this was the purpose of the
church—to take believers from the natural world into the world of the
Spirit. During our earthly pilgrimage there
were many times like these when God had broken through and challenged our
finite minds with His eternal purposes and we caught a glimpse of the Spirit
world.
Now, our ship
was approaching the harbor, and we looked forward to a brief respite from our
labors as we rested in God's spiritual care.
Suddenly we are aware of something unusual happening. A bright light
illuminates the sky. Indeed it radiates to the ground,
and the harbor shimmers with its light.
Passengers, and crew alike, run to the rails, eyes wide open.
The ship
draws closer to the shore, and now the light is almost blinding. On the shore,
we see a huge crowd of people—a celebration
is going on! The crowd is dancing and singing songs to the Christ, the
King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. The celebration reaches a crescendo; it is
overwhelming and breathtaking!
The
passengers and crew are straining over the rails and remembering other times
when they had entered a port to refuel. There was never this excitement. Oh,
yes, sometimes, after a particularly rough leg of our journey, when others
thought we had been lost at sea, when we finally returned to port, there was a
celebration. Tugboats and fire boats would
come out to meet us and dignitaries would welcome us. Fireworks would
light the sky and everyone would be excited to see our safe return. But it was
nothing like this!
Suddenly a
loud shout is heard, "The Bride is ready, bring her to the Bridegroom!"
The Bride? The
Bridegroom? Our hearts leap at the words! A warm
glow of ecstasy swirls and surrounds us on
the ship. It envelops us with the realization—we are the Bride! We are
the Bride! Where is the Bridegroom? Where? We feel as though we are gliding,
sailing, carried on the winds. Our outstretched arms tremble with anticipation.
"The Bride has made herself ready." This is not a dream, it is reality.
Everything up until this time has been a dream!
The ship glides into the
dock and we realize it is being decommissioned. The ship is finished. It
will no longer be needed. Neither its structure or the jobs aboard the ship,
such as apostles, prophets, teachers, pastors, will be necessary. The job is
over. The war has been fought. We have arrived at our destination. We are home!
We are no longer pilgrims and strangers roaming the earth. Our heavenly
citizenship will be realized! No more tears, no more death, or sorrow, or crying
or pain.
We disembark
from the ship in a dreamlike sequence. Majestic, celestial beings stand at The
Bridegroom's side in anxious anticipation, singing, "Praise our God, all you
His servants and those who fear Him, both great and small."
The voice of the multitude joins in and sounds like the sound of many waters and
mighty thundering, saying, "Alleluia! For the Lord
God
Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and
give Him glory, for the marriage of the
Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready" (Revelation 19:6-7).
Our voices join the
multitudes in praise and adoration. We will be forever in the courts of
the King—for eternity! We are swept along toward the Bridegroom. We bow before
Him as we hear His gentle voice, "May I come and present you before my Father,
for His approval?"
All the courts of heaven hold their breath as they watch this majestic
scene unfold. We come as one Bride before the throne of God
and kneel down. "You are accepted in the
Beloved," a voice we know melts the crowd of people with its great love
and mercy.
"But we don't deserve this," we say. "How can you accept us?"
"Because," the Father says, "when you reached out your hands of love to one of
the least of Mine, you gave them My love. Well done, good and faithful servant,
enter into the joy of the Lord."
We are entering into the throne of heaven. "But when did I do that, Lord?"
"Remember those cell meetings when two or three gathered together?
You reached out and 'gave a cup of cold water' in My name. I prepared the
way by sending my Son to save you from your sins
when you were cleansed and made white as
snow so that you could become the bride of Christ throughout all of
eternity."
We look back on the ship, and we feel no more sorrow. We will
not miss the storms, the heat, the
exhaustion, the terrible sorrow of having to bury someone at sea.
It was worth it all! It was a small price to pay! The sacrifices of those in
leadership of the church and all those doing the work of ministry were small.
We will live and rule and
reign with Jesus for an eternity! We will have an indefinite, intimate
relationship with Him forever. Words cannot express the joy and wonder of it
all!
Oh, the love of the Father—Who sent His only begotten Son into the world that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life in the
eternal kingdom as the Bride of Christ!
Notes:
1. Larry Kreider,
House to House, (Houston, Texas:
Touch Publications, 1994), p.96.
2. Jim Egli, "A Bird's-Eye View of the Global Cell Church Movement," (Cell Church
Magazine,
Vol.2.No.3), p.5.
3. Larry Kreider, House to House, (Houston, Texas:
Touch Publications, 1994), p.99.
4. Fergus M. Bordewich, "China's Daring Underground of Faith," (Reader's Digest
Association: Reader;s Digest, August 1991).
5. Most of the information in Chapter Three is excerpted from :Saturation Church
Planting: by Bob Fitts Sr. Used by permission.
6. Loren Cunningham, "Caleb Report," Ministries Today, Jan./Feb. 1990
7. Francis Anfuso,
Gary Beasley, Spirit-Led Evangelism, (South Lake Tahoe,
CA: Christian Equippers International, 1986), p.G2.
8. H. H. Halley,
Halley's Bible Handbook, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan
Publishing House, 1965), p.738.
9. Kevin J. Conner,
Today's Prophets, (Portland, Oregon: Bible Temple, 1989), p.25.
10. Harold Eberle, The Complete Wineskin, (Helena, Montana: 1989), p.23.
11. David Blomgren,
Prophetic Gatherings In The Church, (Portland, Oregon: Bible
Press, 1979)
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