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The Daily Word of Righteousness
The Ruler, #7
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:27)
The Church is not merely a human, social institution made up of well-intentioned members of the local community. The Church of Christ is the expression of the Word of the living God, of the body and blood of Christ, of the resurrection Life of Christ, of the priestly anointing of the Holy Spirit of God.
The Christian Church, with Christ as the illustrious Center, is the Lampstand of God in the earth. The Christian Church is the Prophet of God among men. The Christian Church is the Body of Christ, of Messiah, of the Anointed King.
The Christian Church is the Substance and Spirit of Christ. Its glorious Head, Christ, is in the Church, with the Church, and also in Heaven at the right hand of the Father in the present hour.
Because the Church is the expression of the resurrection Life and Glory of the ascended Lord Jesus Christ, its true Life being Christ who is at the right hand of the Father, it is a sign in the heaven.
A woman clothed with the sun, (Revelation 12:1)
Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners? (Song of Solomon 6:10)
The face of the angel of Revelation 10:1, who marks the opening of the era of the seventh and last trumpet, "was as it were the sun."
The sun, in the Scriptures, speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ. The sun is a fire. It is pure. It is perfect. It is as a "bridegroom" Psalms 19:5). It governs the Day of the Lord. Christ is the "Sun of righteousness" (Malachi 4:2). There is "healing in his wings."
In the Day of the Lord the righteous will "shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father" (Matthew 13:43). The countenance of Christ that John saw "was as the sun shineth in his strength" (Revelation 1:16).
The sun with which the woman is clothed is the fiery righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Body of Christ is covered by the Lord's righteousness and reveals the Lord's righteousness in Heaven and upon the earth. An unrighteous church is not the light of the world, and can never become the light of the world until it puts on the Lord Jesus Christ and makes no provision for the fleshly lusts of the present age.
The horribly destructive error in Christian thinking is that Christ clothes the Church with imputed (ascribed) righteousness while the actual behavior of the believers is of interest but not a crucial aspect of the Divine salvation. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The righteousness of Christ indeed does cover the repentant sinner. But then, as the converted individual walks with Christ, the blazing righteousness of Christ begins to bring forth a new creation of godly behavior. If no new creation begins to be apparent, if no moral transformation is occurring, then the person is not being saved. He has a head knowledge and belief but is not part of the true Church. He eventually will turn the grace of God into immorality, as is happening so often today.
To be continued.