The Lord Jesus Christ "is the head of the body, the universal Church." The Lord Jesus Christ is the principle of creation and redemption. Raised on the Father's glory, "in everything He [is] pre-eminent", especially in the universal Church, through whom He extends His reign over all things.

Now the Church is his body,
he is its head.

As he is the Beginning,
he was the first to be born from the dead,
so that he should be first in every way;
because God wanted all perfection
to be found in him
and all things to be reconciled through him and for him,
everything in heaven and everything on earth,
when he made peace
by his death on the cross. - Col. 1:18-20 -

In the four Gospels of the New Testament, the term Church is found in Matthew 16:18. Thus, the best explained by the fact that the universal Church as the body of the Lord Jesus Christ did not begin until the day of PENTECOST and after the ASCENSION of Jesus Christ.

Jesus put this question to his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" And they said, "Some say he is John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets". "But you" he said, "who do you say I am?" Then Simon Peter spoke up, "You are the Christ" he said "the Son of the living God". Jesus replied, "Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man!" Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven. Then he gave the disciples strict orders not to tell anyone that he was the Christ. - Matt. 16:13-20 -

That the universal Church began on the day of Pentecost may be explicitly explained: ( 1 ) Christ Himself declared the universal Church to be yet future. ( 2 ) There could be no Church until it was fully purchased with the Lord Jesus Christ's blood. ( 3 ) The universal Church was founded upon the Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, and as such an accomplished fact was not possible until Pentecost.

That will explain why I, having once heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love that you show towards all the saints, have never failed to remember you in my prayers and to thanks God for you. May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a spirit of wisdom and perception of what is revealed, to bring you to full knowledge of him. May he enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see what hope his call holds for you, what rich glories he has promised the saints will inherit and how infinitely great is the power that he has exercised for us believers.

This you can tell from the strength of his power at work in Christ, when he used it to raise him from the dead and to make him sit at his right hand, in heaven, far above every Sovereignty, Authority, Power, or Domination, or any other name that can be named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. He has put all things under his feet, and made him, as the ruler of everything, the head of the Church; which is his body, the fullness of him who fills the whole creation. - Eph. 1:15-23 -

The word "Church"(Latin - ecclesia, from the Greek - ek-kalein, to "call out of") means a convocation or an assembly. It designates the assemblies of the people, usually for a religious purpose. - "And if you want to ask any more questions you must raise them in the regular assembly." - Acts 19:39 - Ekklesia is used frequently in the Greek Old Testament for the assembly of the Chosen People before God, above all for their assembly on Mount Sinai where Israel received the Law and was established by God as his holy people. - Ex. 19:1-25 -

By calling itself "Church" the first community of Christians believers recognized itself as heir to that assembly. In the Church, God is "calling together" his people from all the ends of the earth. The equivalent Greek term Kyriake, from which the English word Church and the German Kirche are derived, means "what belongs to the Lord". - CCC 751 -

On the day of "Pentecost" also known as the "Feast of Harvest". This feast was observed early in the third month on the 50th day after the offering of the barley sheaf at the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It included a holy convocation with the usual restriction on manual labour.

The Book of Numbers, chapter 28:26-31 describes the number and nature of offerings and the Book of Deuteronomy, chapter 16:9-12 describes those who were to be invited to this feast. Israelites were to be reminded of their bondage in Egypt on that day.

The early disciples, believers, and the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ who were gathered in Jerusalem for observance of this feast, encountered and experienced the outpouring of God's Holy Spirit in a miraculous way.

In my earlier work, Theophilus, I dealt with everything Jesus had done and taught from the beginning until the day he gave his instructions to the apostles he had chosen through the Holy Spirit, and was taken up to heaven, He had shown himself alive to them after his Passion by many demonstrations: for forty days he had continued to appear to them and tell them about the kingdom of God. When he had been at table with them, he had told them not to leave Jerusalem, but wait there for what the Father had promised. "It is" he had said "what you have heard me speak about: John baptised with water but you, not many days from now, will be baptised with the Holy Spirit." - Acts 1:1-5 -

When Pentecost day came round, they had all met in one room, when suddenly they heard what sounded like a powerful wind from heaven, the noise of which filled the entire house in which they were sitting; and something appeared to them that seemed like tongues of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak foreign languages as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech. - Acts 2:1-4 -

On that day, [Pentecost] the Holy Trinity is fully revealed. Since that day, the Kingdom announced by Christ has been open to those who believe in Him: in the humility of the flesh and in faith, they already share in the communion of the Holy Trinity. By the Lord Jesus Christ coming which never ceases, the Holy Spirit causes the world to enter into the "last days" the time of the Church, the Kingdom already inherited though not yet consummated. - CCC 732 -

The love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given us. - Rom. 5:5 -

The mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit is brought to completion in the universal Church, which is the Body of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Spirit. This joint mission henceforth brings Christ's faithful to share in His communion with the Father in the Holy Spirit. The Spirit prepares men and goes out to them with His grace, in order to draw them to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit manifests the risen Lord to them, recalls His word to them and opens their minds to the understanding of His Passion, Death, and Resurrection. He makes present the mystery of Christ, supremely in the Holy Eucharist/Holy Communion/Holy Mass, in order to reconcile them, to bring them into communion with God, that they may 'bear much fruit." - CCC 737 - John 15:8,16 -

The gathering together of the People of God began at the moment when sin destroyed the communion of people with God. The universal Church congregation is, as it were, God's reaction to the chaos provoked by sin. Sin is also viewed as estrangement or alienation, from God. In this case, the saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ includes the reconciliation of sinners to God, through His universal Church. The initiative in this reconciliation work is taken by God. By all His actions, the Lord Jesus Christ prepares and builds His Church.

Then, Peter addressed them: 'The truth I have now come to realize' he said, 'is that God does not have favorites' but that anybody of any nationality who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to him. -  Acts 10:34-35 -

And anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old creation has gone, and now the new one is here. It is all God's work. It was God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the work of handing on this reconciliation. In other words, God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself, not holding men's faults against them, and he has entrusted to us the news that they are reconciled. - 2 Cor. 5:17-19 -

When the work which the Father gave the Son to do on earth was accomplished, the Holy Spirit was sent on the day of Pentecost in order that he might continually sanctify the universal Church. Then, the universal Church was openly displayed to the crowds and the spread of the Gospel among the nations, through preaching, was begun. As the 'convocation' of all men for salvation, the universal Church in her nature is missionary, sent by the Lord Jesus Christ to all the nations to make disciples of them. - CCC 767 - John 17:4; AG 4; Matt. 28: 19-20 -

It is in the universal Church that the Lord Jesus Christ fulfills and reveals His own mystery as the purpose of God's plan. "He has let us know the mystery of his purpose, the hidden plan he so kindly made in Christ from the beginning to act upon when the times had run their course to the end: that he would bring everything together under Christ, as head, everything in the heavens and everything on earth." - Eph. 1:9-10 -

Like the Father, and the Son, the Holy Spirit is at the disposal of the other persons of "a triune God." The Holy Spirit's attitude and ministry are marked by generosity; His chief function is to illuminate Jesus' to glorify His person, and to work in the life of the believer and the universal Church.

From the beginning, Jesus associated his disciples with his own life, revealed the mystery of the Kingdom to them and gave them a share in his mission, joy and sufferings. - Matt. 13:10-17; Mark 1:16-20, 3:13-19; Luke 10:17-20, 22:28-30 - Jesus spoke of a still more intimate communion between him and those who would follow him. "Make your home in me, as I make mine in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit all by itself, but must remain part of the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches, Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty; for cut off from me you can do nothing. - John 15:4-5 - And the Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed a mysterious and real communion between his own body and ours. Jesus answered:

I tell you most solemnly,
it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven,
it is my Father who gave you bread from heaven,
the true bread;
for the bread of God
is that which comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world.

Sir, they said 'give us that bread always' Jesus answered:

I am the bread of life.
He who comes........................
No one can come to me
unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me,
and I will raise him up at the last day.
It is written in the prophets:
They will all be taught by God,
and to hear the teaching of the Father,
and learn from it,
is to come to me.
Not that anybody........................
I am the living bread which has come down from heaven.
Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever;
and the bread that I shall give
is my flesh, for the life of the world.

Then the Jews started arguing with one another: "How can this man give us his flesh to eat? they said, Jesus replied:

I tell you most solemnly,
if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man
and drink his blood,
you will not have life in you.
Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood
has eternal life,
and I shall raise him up on the last day.

For my flesh is real food
and my blood is real drink.
He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood
lives in me
and I live in him.
As I, who am sent by the living Father,
myself draw life from the Father,
so whoever eats me will draw life from me.
This is the bread come down from heaven;
not like the bread our ancestors ate:
they are dead,
but anyone who eats this bread will live for ever. - John 6:32-58 -

It is the spirit that gives life,
the flesh has nothing to offer.
The words I have spoken to you are spirits
and they are life. - John 6:63 -

When his visible presence was taken from them, Jesus did not leave his disciples orphans. He promised to remain with them until the end of time; he sent them his Spirit. "God raised this man Jesus to life, and all of us are witnesses to that. Now raised to the heights by God's right hand, he has received from the Father the Holy Spirit, who promised, and what you see and hear is the outpouring of that Spirit." - Acts 2:32-33 - John 14:18, 20:22 - Matt. 28:20 - As a result communion with Jesus has become, in a way, more intense: By communicating his Spirit, Christ mystically constitutes as his body those brothers and sisters of his who are called together from every nation. - CCC 788 -

The comparison of the universal Church with the body casts light on the intimate bond between the Lord Jesus Christ and His Church. Not only is she gathered around him; she is united in him, in his body. "What the soul is to the human body, the Holy Spirit is to the Body of Christ, which is the universal Church.' - Saint Augustine of Hippo - "To this Spirit of Christ, as an invisible principle, is to be ascribed the fact that all the parts of the body are joined one with the other and with their exalted head; for the whole Spirit of Christ is in the head, the whole Spirit is in the body, and the whole Spirit is in each of the members." - Pope Pius XII - the Holy Spirit makes the universal Church "the temple of the living God."

Didn't you realise that you were God's temple and that the Spirit of God was living among you? If anybody should destroy him because the temple of God is sacred; and you are that temple. - 1 Cor. 2:16-17 -

Do not harness yourselves in an even team with unbelievers. Virtue is no companion for crime. Light and darkness have nothing in common. Christ is not the ally of Beliar, nor has a believer anything to share with an unbeliever. The temple of God has no common ground with idols, and that is what we are - the temple of the living God. We have God's word for it: I will make my home among them and live with them; I will be their God and they shall be my people. Then come away from them and keep aloof, says the Lord. Touch nothing that is unclean, and I will welcome you and be your father, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says Almighty Lord. - 2 Cor. 14-18 -

Glory be to him whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine; glory be to him from generation to generation in the Church and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. Amen. - Eph. 3:20-21 -

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Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless.

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Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -