I have been thinking a lot of the Church of Jesus Christ lately and, while I've not written in a bit, I'll likely be using for the next spell of blogs quotes from Dr. Owen on the church. One of my early experiences in the reading of Dr. Owen's Latinate and serpentine English was, once I'd become accustomed to his style, to be given a larger vision of the glory of God. During my seminary years, one of my professors recommending taking on one theologian as your specialty and Dr. Owen has never failed, for all of his prolixity (I probably picked that word up from him), to expand my views of the world as explained and described by God's Word. These quotes are among those from Chapter 16 of Rick Daniels' The Christology of John Owen (yet another pastor whose writings have ministered to me). What follows is a paraphrased (due to archaic words) selection from the works of Owen; volume 8, page 230, as selected by Rick.


Men looking upon the church do find that it is a fair edifice indeed, but cannot imagine how it should stand. A few supporters it seems to have in the world, like crouching clowns under the windows, that make some show of under-propping it: -- here you have a government official, there an army, or so [remember that he speaks as the chaplain to the Protector Oliver Cromwell, whose army were largely Independents, and which army for a short time gave the Independents considerable power in government]. The men of the world think: "Can we but remove these props, the whole would topple to the ground." Yes, so foolish have I been myself, and so void of understanding before the Lord, as to take a view of some props that appeared to be of good quality for holding up this building, and to think, How shall the house be preserved if these should be removed? . . . . when, lo! suddenly some have been manifested to be only posts of ornamental plaster, and the very best to be held up by the house, and not to hold it up. On this account the men of the world think it no great matter to demolish the spiritual church of Christ to the ground:--they encourage one another to the work, never thinking of the foundation that lies hidden, against which they dash themselves all to pieces. I say, then, Christ, as the foundation of this house, is hidden to the men of the world,--they see it not, they believe it not. There is nothing more remote from their apprehension than that Christ should be at the bottom of them and their ways, whom they so much despise.

We've all known or known of pastors who have fallen or friends who seemed such solid believers who have walked away from the Lord. We've had also had those dear gifts of the Lord, in pastors, leaders, and godly men and women, who had represented to us what our churches have been all about and who are now with the Lord. And we have a world around us in which new and articulate adversaries speak out with freedom against the Church. Some even speak of the coming election as if the next president could bring apocalyptic changes that might destroy the American church. Only twelve years after the sermon from which this passage was preached, it seemed the Church of Christ in England would disappear when Charles was restored and the many believing pastors were ejected from their pulpits and distanced from their beloved congregations. Yet the gospel of Jesus Christ and His Church, against all who would prophesy otherwise, still stands. Our own local church faces a time of much change after so many evidences of God's faithfulness. And it is hard to imagine how things will be in five years from now, hard to imagine even what next year might look like. However, our Lord has said that the gates of hell would not prevail against His Church. And when he spoke those words, only moments later he would have to say to the leader of the disciples, "Get thee behind me, Satan." He said those words before the one who ran finances for his closest band of 12 would betray him to the authorities, before the spokeman Peter would betray him, before the whole group would sit desultorily after the crucifixion, before the road to Emmaus walk when his disciples had assumed all was lost ("we had hoped"), and before the crew had gone back to their old occupation of fishing. And yet these poor building materials were the very ones he used to create the most world changing organization of the first century, indeed any century. We are all of us less "pillars" that hold up the building and more "ornamental plaster" that is held up by the building. He is the invisible foundation that holds up the building; and on that foundation alone is our church, and is my life, secure. And there, regardless of what future circumstances seem to threaten, is hope, real, substantial hope.

Fading is the worlding's pleasure all his boasted pomp and show; solid joys and lasting treasure none but Zion's children know.