The word "glorious" comes from the Greek word "endoxos" which means splendid, noble, gorgeous and honourable. Therefore, in describing a Church in this way, the Glorious Church is a Church that is full of honour, splendor, beauty with the sense of being a bright and shining Bride of Christ - the Bride that is filled with the glory of God. It is a Church that has within it the manifest visible, tangible and personal presence of the almighty God.
John saw the picture of the Bride prepared by God for His Son, "Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" (Rev. 21:2, NKJV, emphasis added).
How the Church is made ready for the Second Coming of the Lord?
In my previous posting we discussed the process by which the Church becomes "a perfect man" (Eph. 4:13). Paul said the five "body building" ministries are necessary to equip the saints for the work of the various ministries; for the maturing and perfecting of the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:12). The perfect Church is a fully grown and perfect man - the Church as His Body demonstrates Christ in all His fullness in every aspect, in every grace, in every gift, in every ministry. In other words, the Church must be equipped to manifest Jesus in His fullness. In my opinion, at the present time we manage to manifest to the world only a pathetic small part of Jesus Christ.
Ephesians Chapters 4 and 5 reveal several distinctive marks of the Church that God is preparing to take it to Himself. It must be glorious, filled with the manifest presence of God, holy, without blemish, coming in the unity of faith, coming to the acknowledgement of Jesus Christ in Headship and Lordship, and coming into perfect maturity of a perfect man.
It is interesting to study the prayer of Paul for the Church (Eph. 3:14 to 19).
".... may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height - to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God".
In my opinion, Paul's prayer will only be answered when the Church comes in the unity of faith.
Preparation of the Glorious BrideA major part of Paul's ministry is to help God to prepare the bride of Christ:
"For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ" (2 Cor. 11:2, emphasis added).
To the Church in Ephesus Paul said, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wringkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5:25 to 27, emphasis added).
There are a number of important points in the above passage which deserve our attention.
1. The two processes of cleansing and sanctifying are closely related but are not identical. It is possible to have purity, or cleanness, without sanctification, but it is not possible to have sanctification without purity, or cleanness. In other words, things that are sanctified are also cleansed. Therefore, cleansing is an essential part of sanctification but not the whole of it. As an example, the blood of Jesus also cleanses us from all sins.
The apostle John said, "But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).
Here John speaks of the cleasing power of Christ's blood, shed upon the cross, to redeem us from sin. We conclude that God's provision for spiritual cleansing always includes these two divine agents - the blood of Christ shed upon the cross and the washing with water by His Word. Neither is complete without the other. Christ redeemed us by His blood so that He might cleanse and sanctify us by His Word.
2. Paul makes it plain that all believers who are redeemed and cleased by the blood of Jesus are not yet qualified to be the bride of Christ. Only those Christians who have gone through the full process of cleansing and sanctifying will be in the condition necessary for their final presentation to Christ as His Bride - a glorious Church, "not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing .... boly and without blemish" (Verse 27).
3. The means by which Christ uses to cleanse and sanctify the Church is "the washing of water by the word" (Verse 26). It is God's Word which is the means of sanctifying and cleansing; in this respect the operation of God's Word is compared to the washing of pure water.
Notice that, even before Christ's atoning death upon the cross had actually been consummated, He had already assured His disciples of the cleansing power of His Word which He had spoken to them:
"You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you" (John 15:3).
We see , therefore, that the Word of God is a divine agent of spiritual cleaning, compared in its operation to the washing of pure water.
Notice that the Word of God means the pure and uncompromised Word of God. I believe any preacher, teacher or pastor who deliberately compromises the Word of God for any reason, is against the will of God to prepare the Church to be the Bride of Christ!
Jesus said, "He who is not with Me is against Me ..." (Matthew 12:30).
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