His choice, Not ours [conclusion]
Published in Pasugo, July 2005
How the reemergence of the Church of Christ would be fulfilled is …
His choice, Not ours (conclusion)
THE PAST TWO parts of this series have shown evidences that the Church that Christ built in the first century suffered the same fate as that of the other groups of people chosen by God in earlier times. As foreseen by Christ, the Church after the death of the apostles fell into apostasy, was altered from her pure and undefiled form, and has since been divided into factions and denominations. Thus, the “Christianity” that exists today bears little resemblance, if any, to that which was introduced by Christ during His public ministry.
However, biblical history also attests that God has made His policy of setting people apart to serve Him stand in the course of time. Every time a chosen generation of people turns away from God, He chooses and sets apart a new group of people in place of the old. This is evident in God’s election of Noah and his family after Seth’s descendants lost their God-given privilege of being His people; of Abraham and the Israelite nation after Noah’s descendants likewise turned away; and of Jesus Christ and His Church in the first century after Israel’s apostasy.
Consistent with such standing policy of God, a new generation of God’s chosen people would emerge soon after the apostasy of the post-apostolic era brought forth the burgeoning of Christian-professing churches in the world. Their identity, as unveiled through biblical prophecy, is what will be revealed in this final chapter of this series.
‘In the future there will be one flock’
The Lord Jesus Christ, who announced the establishment of His Church (Matt. 16:18) and foretold its apostasy or turning away from the true faith (Matt. 24:9-11), also prophesied its reemergence in future times, saying:
“I have other sheep, too. They are not in this flock here. I must lead them also. They will listen to my voice. In the future there will be one flock and one shepherd.” (John 10:16, Easy-to-Read Version)
The term “sheep” as a reference to God’s people is an Old Testament metaphor (Ezek. 34:31; Ps. 79:13) that Christ Himself used several times when speaking of His disciples or the members of the Church He founded and promised to save (John 10:27-28; Matt. 16:18; 25:31-34). Hence, the Church is also called the flock (Acts 20:28), to which the apostles and their contemporary Christians belonged.
But aside from the members of the first-century Church, Christ mentions of His “other sheep” who were not yet in the flock that was existent during those times. They were to belong to Christ also and would also be led or headed by Him, but they would emerge in some future time and place. Thus, even though the Church after the time of the apostles fell in the way of apostasy, the gathering of God’s people would continue as the Church would again rise at the appointed time and place in the future. The apostles, who likewise foresaw the impending apostasy after their demise, attested to this truth as evidenced by the following pronouncement:
“For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” (Acts 2:39, King James Version)
These were the words of Apostle Peter as he spoke of all those who were promised to receive the Holy Spirit in the entire Christian era. Note that the apostle mentioned here three groups of people, for he declared that the promise is (1) “unto you,” referring to the house of Israel (Acts 2:36) or the Christian Jews of the first century; (2) “to your children,” referring to the Gentile or non-Jewish converts, who were considered as children of the Jews (I Cor. 4:14-15; Eph. 3:6) in the sense that they were the fruit of their evangelical mission; and (3) “to all that are afar off” who were yet to be called into the Church at the time this passage was recorded.
Indeed, the membership in the Church of Christ during the first century was composed of two groups of people – the Jews and the Gentiles who were already called into the fold (Rom. 9:24). And yet, a third group was prophesied to emerge from “afar off” or, as a modern English translation renders it, “in distant times and places” (Acts 2:39, Rieu Translation). They are the very same people whom Christ considers His “other sheep” that in the future “will be one flock” or would also comprise the Church of Christ.
Prophecies revealed
Corresponding prophecies in the Old Testament help us identify where and when these other sheep of Christ or the future generation of God’s people would emerge. As indicated in Apostle Peter’s prophetic statement, they who were yet to be called into the Church would come from “afar off.” Do other biblical prophecies really mention of a people chosen by God from a place called “afar off”?
The place: Far East. In Isaiah 43:5-6, there is a mention about God’s sons and daughters who would come “from the east” and “from afar”:
“Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back’. Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth.” (New International Version)
In Hebrew, the equivalent of the word “east” in verse 5 of the aforementioned passage is mizrach as distinguished from kedem. While both terms can be translated as “east,” kedem “is used in a strictly geographical sense to describe a spot or country immediately before another in an easterly direction,” whereas mizrach “is used of the far east” (Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, vol. 1, p. 637, emphasis ours). Justifiably, some Bible translations render the term mizrach in Isaiah 43:5 as follows:
Moffatt Translation: “From the far east will I bring your offspring, and from the far west I will gather you.” (emphasis ours)
Today’s English Version: “Do not be afraid – I am with you! From the distant east and the farthest west I will bring your people home.” (emphasis ours)
Therefore, the appointed place of origin of the next generation of God’s sons and daughters is the Far East. It is there where Christ’s other sheep who would make up the one flock in the future would emerge.
As to what kind of place in the far east the prophesied people of God would originate, another related prophecy states:
“Therefore in the east give glory to the LORD; exalt the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea.” (Isa. 24:15, NIV, emphasis ours)
The time:Ends of the earth. Biblical prophecy indicates not only where but also when the emergence of God’s children in the Far East would take place. Going back to Isaiah 43:6, it is prophesied that God’s people from the Far East would emerge during the period known as the “ends of the earth.”
This prophetic term should not be confused with the end of the world, which is the Day of Christ’s Second Advent. (For if it were so, then how could there still emerge a people of God in the Far East?) Rather, the “ends of the earth,” when used as an expression of time, refers to the period when the end of the age is “at the doors” (Matt. 24:3, 33), which means that the world is at its “ends” or that the world’s end is near.
The signs heralding that the end of the world is near or that the time “ends of the earth” has begun were given by the Lord Jesus Christ as follows:
“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” (Matt. 24:6-8, New King James Version)
The period “ends of the earth” would begin with a war that would be heard across the globe. Such a war was likewise foretold in other prophecies of yore. Isaiah 34:1-2 describes it as one involving armies of different nations upon the whole earth (hence, a world war), while Jeremiah 4:13 and 19 speaks of the same as being characterized by the use of faster and more powerful armaments described as “chariots like whirlwind” and “horses swifter than eagles.” The time when such a war would break out is the time when the prophesied other sheep of Christ or the chosen people of God from the Far East would emerge.
Prophecies fulfilled
As it is God’s will that the Church of Christ would be reestablished in the Far East in these last days in keeping with His standing policy to elect people to serve Him, there is no doubt that the prophecies regarding it would come to pass. And it is in the Church of Christ or Iglesia ni Cristo which emerged in the Philippines on July 27, 1914, that these prophecies have found fulfillment. Coming from us, this conclusion may seem to others as arbitrary, to say the least. Nevertheless, a guided examination of the prophecies vis-à-vis the facts would reveal that ours is not a baseless claim. Consider the following evidences:
The Philippines: Islands in the Far East. The location where this Church was established matches the prophesied place where the other sheep of Christ would emerge. As pointed out in Kenneth Scott Latourette’s A Short History of the Far East, the Philippines is “the only Christian and Europeanized nation of the Far East” (p. 290).
And it’s not just that the Philippines is situated in the Far East that we rightfully deem it as the fulfillment of the prophesied place of emergence of God’s people in these last days. It’s also that this country is made up of more than 7,000 islands. Such a fact amplifies the truth pointed out earlier that the people of God who would praise Him in the end times is also described in the prophecy as “the islands of the sea.”
1914: Outbreak of World War I. The first war of global proportions was the war that broke out in the year 1914, more popularly known in history as the First World War. That war was unprecedented not only because of its scope but also because it was the first war that saw the use of airplanes and tanks for combat. Historians Arthur Boak, Preston Slosson, and Howard Anderson noted:
“The First World War was unlike any war in the past. … This was the first war ‘in three dimensions’, the first war in which cities were bombed from the air and winged warriors fought among the clouds. Of course the airplanes of 1914 were not so fast, so formidable, nor so numerous as those of today. They were really more important as scouts (a kind of aerial ‘cavalry’), photographing enemy movements from above, … the soldiers had to turn themselves into beavers and moles and dig deep trenches.
“… the British had invented the tank, or land battleship – an armored automobile which could move on rough ground because it was built like a tractor …” (World History, vol. 2, pp. 478-479)
Clearly, the war biblically prophesied to signify that the period “ends of the earth” has begun in World War I. Concurrent with its outbreak, the Church of Christ or Iglesia ni Cristo was registered with the American colonial government in the Philippines on July 27, 1914.
How Christ’s other sheep would become one flock
Could all of this be mere coincidence? Others would think it is so, even if the facts clearly speak for themselves. While it is practically acceptable to many that Christ established His Church in the first century when He was physically present to do so, some find it extremely hard to believe how Christ could have established this Church in the Philippines when it emerged only in 1914, at a time when Christ had already ascended to heaven. But, then again, even this was elucidated by Christ Himself.
In His prophecy recorded in John 10:16, Christ said that His other sheep would listen to His voice, and thus, would become one flock. This is congruent with what He taught in Matthew 7:24 that those who listen to His voice or fulfill the words He speaks are likened to wise men who built their house upon the rock (Matt. 7:24). That rock is Christ (Acts 4:10, 12) and the house built upon the rock is the Church (Matt. 16:18). Therefore, even though Christ would no longer be physically present on earth at the time His other sheep would emerge, they would still become one flock or would make up the Church of Christ by virtue of their hearing and obeying His voice.
But how would Christ’s voice be heard in the future when He would already be in heaven? It would still be possible for Christ’s other sheep to hear His voice even tough He would no longer be on earth to personally preach the gospel to them. For, even during the time of the apostles, after Christ’s ascension into heaven, there were those who spoke on His behalf, such that listening to them is tantamount to listening to Christ Himself. Thus, He declared:
“In very truth I tell you, he who receives any messenger of mine receives me; receiving me, he receives the One who sent me.” (John 13:20, New English Bible)
To listen to the messenger of Christ is to listen to Christ Himself, for what the messenger preaches are the very words or teachings of Christ. Hence, when Christ prophesied in John 10:16 that “in the future there will be one flock,” He also said that there would be “one shepherd.” It is through this one shepherd or messenger that the other sheep of Christ would receive His teachings they needed to obey for them to be established as one flock.
In fulfillment of this prophecy, Brother Felix Y. Manalo preached the gospel of Christ in the Philippines, which resulted in the establishment of the Church of Christ in the Far East on July 27, 1914.
What was meant to be came to be
From its humble beginnings, this Church had grown tremendously to encompass the Philippine archipelago in just less than 50 years under the stewardship of Brother Felix Manalo. That this happened despite the trials and persecution hurled against this Church especially during its pioneering days offers further proof that Brother Manalo is indeed the God-sent messenger we believe him to be. For, in the prophecies concerning the messenger in these last days, God promised:
“I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant’, I have chosen you and have not rejected you.
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isa. 41:9-10, NIV)
Even after the demise of Brother Felix Manalo, this Church continued to grow, defying not only its detractors’ expectations but also geographical boundaries. This, too, happened according to God’s will and purpose. It was prophesied that God’s people from the Far East would also be gathered in the Far West (Isa. 43:5, Moffatt Translation). Small wonder, the Church’s first congregation outside Philippine shores were those established in Hawaii and California – two of America’s Far West states (The World Almanac and Book of Facts, 1976 edition)- in July and in August of 1968, respectively.
Today, this Church has congregations in 85 countries and territories around the world, including Rome, Italy; Athens, Greece; and Jerusalem, Israel, were the Church was originally established in the first century. Indeed, the Church of Christ has come full circle.
Surely, all these cannot be just pure coincidence. Behind all these is God’s mighty hand at work, as He Himself declared in this prophecy concerning His messenger from the east (mizrach):
“Calling aa bird of prey from the east, The man who executes My counsel, from a far country. Indeed I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it.” (Isa. 46:11, NKJV)
The last part of this prophetic passage says it all. What God has declared, He will bring about. What He has planned, He will do. This is how it has always been since the very beginning: God chooses a people for His own according to His own will and choice. More often than not, God’s choice is not the popular choice. And yet, it is His choice that shall always prevail. All that man can do for his own benefit is to concede.
God willed that Christ’s other sheep should emerge from the “islands of the sea” in the “Far East,” in the time called “ends of the earth,” and that through His one shepherd or messenger – “the man who executes my counsel” – they would become one flock, i.e., the Church of Christ.
It is this Church that God has duly elected or chosen to be His own in accordance with the policy that has stood from the beginning. And it is this Church that man should join in order to become part of the last of God’s peoples whom He has set apart to serve Him until the end.
Note: Summary:
posted by candy @ 3:06 PM
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