A. Introduction

God`s plan to redeem man through the church of His son, Jesus Christ was not an after thought as some people may think. It was His plan for eternal purpose. Some people think that God kept Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and when they disobeyed God by disobeying Him, God then proposed an alternative plan to redeem man through the church. Such thinking denies God of one of His attributes which is that God is all knowing - omniscient. What is true and in conformity with Paul`s teaching in the scriptures is that before the creation, of the world, God had planned and predestined that the church would be chosen out of the world for eternal dwelling with Him at the end of time. That it would be that group (the church) that would be purified through the sacrificial offering of the `incarnate son`` Jesus Christ. That in order to be chosen among the purified group, one must be a part of the church through obedience to the Gospel. As many as do so become sons of God and are thus destined to Heaven.

B. Biblical Teachings on God`s Plan to Redeem Man

Gen. 3:15 - tells us of the `seed of the woman who would bruise the head of the serpent while the serpent would bruise her heels. The seed of the woman of course refers to Jesus Christ. Apostle Paul records the fulfilment of this promise of God in Gal.4:4. `But when the time had fully come, His sent His son born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the full rights of sons; And as sons, God sent the spirit of His son into our heart crying `Abba` Father, and as sons we are heirs through Christ. Jesus, Himself said in Jn. 10:10, 28Vs 10: the thief comes only to steal kill and destroy. I have come in order that you might have life, life in its fullness. V28 says “I give them eternal life and they shall never perish no one can snatch them from my hand.” Again in Mark. 10:42, Jesus said `For even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.” Jesus is truly the author of eternal life through his church.

Prophets Isaiah, Micah, and Zechariah (see Isa. 2:23; Mic.4:1-2 & Zec. 1:6) mentioned the place where the church will be built, which is Jerusalem. Micah and Isaiah mentioned the last days. The last days here refer to the period from the first Pentecost after the resurrection of Christ till the end of the world. Daniel, in Dan. 2:44 prophesied that in the days of those kings, will the God of Heaven set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed. Historically the last of those kingdoms was the Roman Empire under which the Church was established. The preceding kingdoms were Babylonian, Medo-Persian and Greek empires. Jesus was more specific about the time he told his disciples in Mk.9:1. He said, “I tell you the truth, some of who are standing here will not taste of death till they see the kingdom of God come with power”. Indeed, all the disciples were there except Judas Iscariot who was replaced by Mathias, when the kingdom of God came with power on the day of Pentecost. That was the establishment of the Church.

The event of the day of Pentecost was as earlier prophesied by Prophet Joel, in Joel 2:28. On that day, the promised Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles and they began to speak in tongues in the native language of the Jews who were assembled for the feast of Pentecost. In the midst of wondering by some and mockery by others, Apostle Peter stood up and confirmed that what they saw was the fulfillment of Prophet Joel's prophecy concerning the outpouring of the Holt spirit on all flesh. The main thrust of his sermon was to tell the Jews that Jesus Christ whom you crucified was raised from the dead and was seated at the right hand of God the Father, and that Jesus is now Lord and Christ. Pricked in their hearts on hearing this, they asked Peter and the rest of the Apostle `Brethren what must we do? The reply from Peter and the others was, “Repent and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus for the remission of your sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:41). Those who gladly received the word were baptized and on that day, about 3,000 souls were baptized and added to them. That marked the establishment of the Lord`s church in Jerusalem. Acts 2:47 says “And the Lord added to the church daily, such as should be saved.” However, when persecution against the church which was in Jerusalem broke out, the disciples were scattered throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria except the apostles. It is quite commendable that those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word of God. This was a fulfilment of the Lord`ss statement to the Apostles (Acts 1:8) “And ye shall be my witness in Jerusalem and in Judaea, in Samaria and to the uttermost part of the earth. The early disciples took the great commission given by Jesus in Matt 28:19 and Mark 16:15-16, seriously, such that Apostle Paul told the Colossians that the gospel had to be preached to every creature under the heaven. (Col 1:23). We will assume Paul was referring this to the then known world, because the gospel is yet to be preached to every creature under heaven of the present world. Whatever is left of the work of evangelism is for us and our posterity.

Edifying members means building them up to grow towards perfection. In Eph.4:11, Jesus Christ instituted in the church certain officers - Apostles, Prophets, Evangelist, Teachers, and Pastors for the equipping of saints for the work of the ministry and for the work of the ministry and for the edifying of the body of Christ; Till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the son of God, to a perfect man - to the stature of the fullness of Christ. God does not tolerate half-baked Christians. That is why the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle to write the epistles to admonish the Christians and warn them about the consequences of sins if they want to make heaven.

CONCLUSION

As the church serve as a grooming ground in the process of selecting candidates for heaven, she has to purify herself for Jesus as the head of the Church to present her to himself as a glorious church and for individual Christians to also purify themselves so as to spend eternity with Jesus and therefore make the purpose of God. The purpose of God is the redemption of man through the Church. Be in the Kingdom of God, the Body of Christ, The Church of Christ, for which Christ is the Head (Col.1:18) for this to be accomplished. May God help us, and the rest of to heed to His calling and remain faithful to this calling, in Jesus name. Amen.