In Matthew 16.15-18 Jesus engaged his disciples in a discussion of his identity. But as his response to their confession that he was the Son of God, he turned the conversation to a Bible truth of fundamental importance – both then and now:
… on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. – Matthew 16.18
In Part 1 we noted several metaphors from scripture that give us some sense of what this church really is. We noted that the Greek word ekklesia means “assembly” – so the church is a gathering of people. It is not a church building, or an institution, or an organization. The church is people.
In this second part we advance the idea of one of the two senses in which the church is discussed in the Bible. Here we consider the church in the universal sense – that is, when Jesus said he would build his church, he was referring to people who would become his disciples throughout the ages, not limited to a certain location or time. All of these people God would add to the church (Acts 2.47), in all places, throughout all time. The Hebrew writer talks about church as a kingdom that cannot shaken, writing this:
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. – Hebrews 12.22-24