The Church Age

By Earl Radmacher, Th.D.
President/Professor Emeritus, Systematic Theology, Western Seminary, Portland, Oregon

The first mention of the word church in Scripture is by Jesus, noted in Matthew 16.18 and 18.17. In contrast, however, Christ regularly referred to the coming Kingdom, the focal point of His teaching in continuation with the unanimous proclamation of the Old Testament prophets and His forerunner, John the Baptist: Matthew 3.1,2.

When Jesus stood in Caesarea Philippi at the foot of Mount Hermon and made the remarkable prophetic claim, “I will build My church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”, Matthew 16.18, His description went beyond any visible, physical organization on earth. This prophecy of Christ’s Church is carefully defined by the apostle Paul as a “mystery, which from the beginning of the world (eternity past) hath been hid in God,” Ephesians 3.9.

Thus, the Church is not a continuation of Judaism, nor is it to be identified with Israel. The future tense, Matthew 16.18, and the mystery, Ephesians 3.1-10, require the establishment of the Church to commence after the earthly life of Christ. But where can we place the beginning historically?

The Lord Jesus, Who was designated to be the Head of the Church, had commissioned the Holy Spirit to be the key to the beginning of the Church, the body of Christ. In the upper room, during His passion week, Jesus taught His disciples concerning the Holy Spirit: John 14.17. Just a few days before the Feast of Pentecost, the resurrected Christ reminded the apostles of the Father’s promise that “ye shall be baptized with the Holy (Spirit) not many days hence,” Acts 1.5. Shortly after, God breathed on these same disciples in special preparation for their upcoming ministry as the foundation of the Church, which was to come, Ephesians 2.20, and said to them, “Receive ye the Holy (Spirit),” John 20.22.

Therefore, the precise event which inaugurated the Church on earth was the advent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. On this day, the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, from His position of authority as Head of the Church, joined all believers into one body and placed them in the care and safekeeping of the Holy Spirit during their sojourn on earth: 1 Corinthians 12.13. This event was celebrated with miraculous signs and wonders appropriate for such an awesome occasion: Acts 2.1-12.

Just as the beginning of the Church was the object of significant prophecies, so the completion of the Church will be supernatural and spectacular. Also, just as the Church itself was a mystery hidden in God until the revelation in the New Testament, so the completion of the Church is a mystery: 1 Corinthians 15.51,52.

About five years earlier, Paul had stated the same truth to the Thessalonians concerning the rapture of the Church: 1 Thessalonians 4.15-17. “Our gathering together unto Him,” 2 Thessalonians 2.1, will include all who by faith are in Christ Jesus. It may occur at any moment. There is no prophesied event which must take place before the Lord Jesus returns for all believers, those who are ready and those who are not, Matthew 25.1-13. Thus, the apostle John exhorts, “And now, little children, abide in Him; that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming,” 1 John 2.28.