God’s Purpose for His Church

The church is God’s appointed agency to save lost men and women. Its mission is to carry the gospel to the world. Through the church eventually everyone, including even “the principalities and powers in the heavenly places,” will see the final and full display of God’s love. (Ephesians 3:10.) 4TC 7.2

In the Scriptures, there are many wonderful promises about the church. 4TC 7.3

“My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.” Isaiah 56:7. 4TC 7.4

“Can a woman forget her nursing child,
And not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you.” Isaiah 49:15. 4TC 8.1

The church is God’s fortress, His city of refuge, which He holds in a world in revolt. Any betrayal of the church is treason against Him who has bought mankind with the blood of His only Son. From the beginning, the church has been made up of faithful people. In every age the Lord’s watchmen have faithfully given His message to their own generation. God has sent out His angels to minister to His church, and the gates of hell have not been able to prevail against His people. Not one opposing force has risen to counteract His work that God did not see ahead of time. He has not left His church forsaken, but has outlined in prophecy what would happen. All His plans will be fulfilled. God inspires and guards truth, and it will triumph over all opposition. 4TC 8.2

Feeble and defective as it may appear, the church is the one object that God regards above all others. It is the theater of His grace, in which He delights to reveal His power to transform hearts. 4TC 8.3

Earthly kingdoms rule by physical power, but Christ banishes every instrument of force from His kingdom. His rule is to uplift humanity and make it more noble. God has filled His church with various gifts and has given it the Holy Spirit. 4TC 8.4

From the beginning God has worked through His people to bring blessing to the world. God made Joseph a fountain of life to the ancient Egyptian nation. Through him God preserved that whole people. Through Daniel God saved the life of all the wise men of Babylon. These deliverances illustrate the spiritual blessings offered to the world through the God whom Joseph and Daniel worshiped. Everyone who will reveal Christ’s love to the world is a worker with God for blessing humanity. 4TC 8.5

God desired Israel to be like wells of salvation in the world. The nations of the world had lost the knowledge of God. They had once known Him, but because “they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, ... their foolish hearts were darkened” (Romans 1:21). Yet God did not blot them out. He decided to give them the opportunity to become acquainted with Him through His chosen people. Through the sacrificial service, Christ was to be lifted up, and all who would look to Him would live. The whole system of types and symbols was a condensed prophecy of the gospel. 4TC 8.6

But the people of Israel forgot God and failed to fulfill their holy mission. They clung to all their advantages for their own glorification. They shut themselves away from the world in order to escape temptation. They robbed God of service, and they robbed other people of a holy example. 4TC 9.1

Priests and rulers became satisfied with a legal religion. They thought their own righteousness was more than enough. They did not accept the good will of God as something apart from themselves, but connected it with their own merit because of their good works. The faith that works by love could find no place in the religion of the Pharisees. 4TC 9.2

God declared about Israel: 4TC 9.3

“I had planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality.
How then have you turned before Me
Into the degenerate plant of an alien vine?” Jeremiah 2:21. 4TC 9.4

“For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel,
And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant.
He looked for justice, but behold, oppression;
For righteousness, but behold, a cry for help.” Isaiah 5:7. 4TC 9.5

“The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them.” (Isaiah 5:7; Ezekiel 34:4). 4TC 9.6

The Savior turned from the Jewish leaders to entrust others with the privileges they had abused and the work they had scorned. God’s glory must be revealed; His kingdom must be established. The disciples were called to do the work that the Jewish leaders had failed to do. 4TC 9.7