8 - The Early Church

Conclusion

Image credit - Kobby Mendez - Unsplash.com

1 Corinthians 15 v 54-57

54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.

55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” 

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Colossians 1 v 19-23

19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

 21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour.

22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel.

This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

Satan was once again outwitted by Almighty God. He thought that he had defeated Christ on the cross, but in fact Christ had defeated him and had cancelled the sting and power of death! Christ had reconciled all things to God through his death at Calvary.

The cross of Christ was not a defeat; it was a glorious, eternal, magnificent triumph! Heaven would celebrate.

Furthermore, the subsequent departure of Christ to heaven opened the way for the promised Holy Spirit to come and indwell every single believer. This meant that Christ would be present in every believer and provide a living organism through which God would operate across the entire world. A new era had begun.

Satan is not omnipresent; he can only be in one place at a time. Now through the church, God would operate all over the world and Satan would not be able to keep pace with the spread of the gospel.

Spiritual warfare was a real feature of New Testament teaching in the Epistles. Now the church would need to learn how to combat Satan as he develops new tactics to continue to mobilise his schemes as outlined in ‘The thread’.