"The Church the Prophets Saw"

"The Church the Prophets Saw" THE CHURCH THE PROPHETS SAW
Lecture by E. R. Harper, February 20, 1950, at Abilene
Christian College (7:30 p. m.)

I want to thank Brother Morris for the things just said. I want to thank him and his school for the invitation to come tonight and to enjoy this splendid fellowship with so many fine Christian men and women and with our neighxbors and with our friends who have gathered here. Truly in the providence of God we should rejoice tonight. We live in the finest country upon this earth. We live in a land where millions would love to live if they have an op¬portunity. We live where we have freedom, where we have liberties, where we have the opportunities of worshipping God, and that without being afraid. We live in the land where we can have Christian education, where we can have Christian men and Christian women to guide the destiny of the souls and hearts of our children. I am truly grate¬ful, therefore, for the privilege that has been given to me tonight to talk to you about the greatest institution this world has ever known, the church of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. I approach the subject humbly. As I look out upon this audience I see so many that I have known throughout the years who are more capable of delivering the lesson on “The Church The Prophets Saw,” than am I. But for our lesson this evening I am reading from Matthew the sixteenth chapter, and as we read 'it we find the Lord saying this as he is talking to his disciples having come from an extended journey in that country. Beginning with verse thirteen it says, “When Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist, and some Elias, and others Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto Jiim, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.” In this is the promise of the building of the church of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. When I say to you good people tonight, who are assembled here, that we have had much confusion concerning this grand and glorious institution, I but speak that which all of us understand and know to be the truth. When we talk about those ideas that have been in the world and in the hearts and minds of men concerning the church of Jesus Christ as an ‘‘after¬thought,” as a “substitute” for a plan that had failed, I know that you understand such has been the teaching throughout the world. Hence, tonight in my lesson, on the “Church The Prophets Saw,” if I can humbly, I want the audience assembled here to know that we are not in a substitute; we are not in a makeshift. We are this hour in the very thing for which my Lord and yours came to this earth to establish. We are tonight in that which the prophets saw and we are a part of that about which they prophesied. And if I shall be able to establish that in your hearts this evening, then I feel that our coming together shall not have been in vain. That you may see that the prophets did see the church we are in, I am inviting your attention now to the reading in the third chapter of Acts, verses 21-24,. The apostle Peter is speaking upon that occasion, and in order to appre¬ciate this, we will have to understand that which had taken place. They had come to the city of Jerusalem. It was the day of Pentecost. They were there waiting for the Holy Spirit to come. When the Spirit descended upon them, they began to speak as the Spirit gave them utterance. This was noised about through the city. When the mulitude came together, they heard these men speaking, every man in his own tongue. They had never seen, neither had they ever heard anything like this. When they looked upon these men and heard this, they began to marvel, and they were amazed. They accused them of being drunk. The apostle Peter made known unto them, that these men are not drunk¬en men. He declared unto them it is the “fulfillment” of the prophecies of the Old Testament. He quoted the prophe¬cy of Joel showing that these were the things that should come to pass in the last days. As they stood before this great multitude they preached the first sermon in the name of Jesus Christ ever delivered upon this fearth. Men heard that sermon, they were cut to their hearts, and being cut to their hearts, convicted of their sins, they cried out, What shall we do? There came the answer that has been ringing for nearly 2,000 years. The answer came from heaven that day. That answer was, “Repent and be bap¬tized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.” You’ll remember that the record said, three thousand were added that day. And thus the church of Jesus Christ, about which I am talking tonight, had its birth upon this earth.

They had gone to the temple and as they were before the beautiful gate of the temple Peter and John performed a miracle that attracted the attention of the people. They came together. It was then that Peter was able to say unto them the things that I am reading to you this night. In the third chapter when they had gathered and Peter had commanded them to “repent, therefore, and be converted that their sins might be blotted out,” he then went back to the prophecy of Moses and it reads like this: “For Moses truly said unto the fathers, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you like unto me.” He said, concerning that prophet, “him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass that every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people.” It’s the next verse that too many times wei have overlooked; it is the nextVerse my friends, that will tell us definitely that we are in that which the prophets saiv. Therefore, it is not a makeshift, it is not a substitute. I bid you, therefore, to listen to it kindly. He said, “Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that folloiu after, as many as have spoken have likewise fore¬told of these days.” Not of some other day, not of a day down yonder in the far distant future when our Lord is to return, but he said they foretold of these very days in which they were then. And he simply meant they saw the day of Pentecost: They saw these multitudes as they became con¬verted to Jesus Christ; and the prophets from Samuel, and those that followed after as many as spake, said the Bible, foretold of these very days.

Reading* again tonight, and this time from the pen of the apostle Paul as he writes to this great church in Ephesus, we hear him telling them how that by revelation he was making* known unto them the things written in this book; and said he I write it down that, “when you read you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Jesus Christ.” There was a time it was a mystery, but now it has been revealed and listen to him; “Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men as. it is noiv revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets.” My friends, there ivas a time in the ages past and gone when they didn’t understand, but the apostle Paul said now it has been re¬vealed. I wonder what the thing was that had remained throughout the generations and centuries, a mystery to the men of God? Is that not the mystery? In the next verse he said this is the mystery. What is? That the, “Gentiles shall be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of the promise in Jesus Christ and that by the gospel.” In all the generations past and forever gone there had been a mystery; the mystery has now been revealed; it has been revealed that it was in the mind of God before he ever sent Christ to this earth, that the Gentiles and the Jews were to be of the same body, and the body is the church (Ephesians 1:23). Hence, the body of Christ, the body that existed in the day of Paul was that body, that church, which God and Christ had in their minds before it ever began; before Christ ever came to earth. As we continue to read we hear Paul saying “whereof I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power; unto1 me who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.” But I beg of you hear the next verse in this great discourse of Paul to the church in Ephesus as he says, “And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God.” This mys¬tery was in the mind of God; it was not an accident; it was not an afterthought; it was not a substitute for a plan that had failed. My friends back yonder before the days when Paul wrote, this mystery, though not explained to men, was in the mind and plan of God in sending Christ to this earth. In verse 11 Paul says “To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Ladies and gentlemen, if the English language can convey anything, any idea to the minds of human beings, it must convey the great and eternal truth that the church of our Lord was a part of the great eternal purpose of God. Being therefore a part of that eternal purpose of God; being a part of that mystery, which in other ages was not made known as it was then revealed, the church of our Lord cam not therefore be a substitute, nor can it be established as a substitute to take the place of a failure upon the part of God to execute his original plan and purpose in sending Christ to this world. We must conclude that Paul was not a Premillennialist but that he believed and taught as do we in this generation, that the church of which he was then a member was the “Church The Prophets Saw.”

PETER ALSO BELIEVES
This time I invite your attention to the words of the apostle Peter. Again I want you to see that these great men of God, all of them, believed that the church of which they were members, and that of which they were a part, was the very thing the “Prophets Saw.” There can be no doubt in our mmds when we hear him say in 1 Peter 1:9-12 “Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Ot which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you” Mind you not should come after the second coming of Christ, but “unto you,” those of that day. But Peter makes it plainer as he continues to write, “Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should folloio. Ah! My friends, this is the grave about which the prophets spake; this is the salvation they sawT; here they prophesied about the death of Christ; here they saw Calvary with Christ our Lord suspended; here Peter de¬clares they prophesied beforehand of the “sufferings of Christ” and also of the “glory that should follow” and that glory is the salvation of the souls of men in the church oi the blessed Lord. Yea, that glory, my dear beloved friends, is that of which we are a part tonight, the glorious church of of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, now no longer a mystery but a. living reality, revealed unto us by his holy apostles and prophets. In the next eerse Peter says, “Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desired to look into.” How men can read this and then declare that God’s original plan failed and the church came as a substitute for this failure is beyond my power of understanding. Here he plainly declares that it was “unto its” they did minister the things which “are noio reported unto you.” It was not to be done at some future date, at the second coming of Christ, but had then, at that time, been revealed and they at that very moment were enjoying the salvation foretold by the prophets. It was being preached, declared unto them by the “Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.” If heaven did not know what was then taking place, how are men to ever know? Yes, we, if Peter spake by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, are in the “Church The Prophets Saw.”

JAMES TESTIFIES
One of the greatest proof-texts to establish the truth of our lesson tonight is found in Acts 15:13-19. They have assembled in the city of Jerusalem to discuss the question of circumcision as related to the Gentile converts. You know the story. Now after the great discussion of the salvation of the Gentiles as given in verses 6-11 where Peter arose and said, “Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe,” we then have this statement by James in verses 13-19, “And after they had held their peace James answered, saying, Men and brethren hearken unto me: Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the ivords of the prophets; as it is writ¬ten, etc., etc.” Time forbids that we enter into this further, more than to say here that James also declares that the Gentiles had been brought in and that the “tabernacle of David had been set up” for that very purpose, verses 16-19, and to this agreed the “words of the prophets.” He con¬cludes his argument by saying “known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. Wherefore my sentence is that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned unto God.” Again inspiration de¬clares that what they were in then at that time, was “What the Prophets Saw.” It was not a “substitute” for a plan that had failed. “To this agree the words of the prophets.”

PETER AGAIN TESTIFIES
In Acts 3:17-18 we have another statement that cannot be answered by those who declare that any part of God’s plan failed. Peter says “And now brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, and did also your rulers.” What had they done? In verse 15 Peter told them they had “killed the Prince of life.” Was this in the plan of God? or was it a “substitute measure” ? Hear him further, “But those things, which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Again in verse 21 he says “Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God had spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” Yes, my friends, this in which we are today, is the “church‘the prophets saw.” Their prophe¬cies did not fail; they came to pass, every one of them. THE CONVERSATION WITH CHRIST As our last scripture to show you that what we are is not a “substitute for a misguided plan;” that it is not to “bridge the gap from Calvary to Christ’s coming,” because God’s plan had to fail, I read to you the conversation that took place between Christ and some disciples of his after his resurrection, the record of which is found in Luke 24:13¬24. This is on the road to Emmaus. His disciples were talk¬ing. He came to them and overheard their conversation. Hear it now, “And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another as ye walk and are sad ? And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? And he said unto them, What things? and they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people. And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which should have‘redeemed Israel: and beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done. Yea, and certain women also of our company made us aston¬ished, which were early at the sepulchre; and when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said; but him they saw not. Then he said unto them, 0 fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things com cerning himself.” Now they begged him to eat with them. They still knew him not. Just why I do not know more than the Bible says, “But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.” As he ate he made them to know that he was the Christ and disappeared from their sight. (Then in verse 32 it says, “And they said one to another, Did not our hearts burn within us, while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the Scriptures?”

Friends, we go no further to prove that what we have today is that which “The Prophets Saw.” Here Christ told them it was that which all the prophets from Moses on, as Peter declared in Acts 3, had been telling them should happen. He reproved them for their “slowness of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken.” The same is true today, even in the church; they will not believe all the prophets have spoken and thus we have our division; our hobbies that have rent the body of Christ asunder in our generation.

We now have the apostles Peter, Paul, and James, to¬gether with the Christ himself declaring that what took place back there, nearly two thousand years ago was that which “The Prophets Saw;” that which “They Have Spoken.” It is enough for me. I believe it. Do you? If not then you are forced to deny the Bible and set aside the word of God and declare it false. No, we are not a “sub¬stitute church;” we are not in a church “thrown in, to span the gap from the Cross to the return of the Lord” all because God could not fulfill his promises made to us by his holy prophets of old. They did “See the Church of Which We are Members This Night.”

OLD TESTAMENT PROPHETS AND WHAT THEY PROPHESIED
Seeing now that the New Testament writers, together with the Christ, all spake of the things which were then
taking place as being that of which the prophets spake we are naturally interested in knowing just what these prophets said would come to pass. If they prophesied con¬cerning the church or the kingdom of Christ just where is that prophecy and what was its meaning? THE TWO-FOLD MEANING
If I can this evening go back to their prophecies and establish this one truth, namely: that the prophets had in mind the “two-fold idea” of both the “church and the kingdom,” then with the testimony of Christ, Peter, Paul and James stating they were speaking of and the apostles were in that very thing of which the prophets spake, I have therefore proven beyond a shadow of doubt that the pre- millennialists are wrong and the church in which we are today and of which the apostles were members during their time, is the church of which the prophets spake; is the “Church The Prophets Saw.” I intend to do just that this evening and I therefore invite your attention to what the “Prophets Spake.”

2 Samuel 7:12-13
You will recall that Peter said in Acts 3:24 that “all the prophets from Samuel and those that followed after as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.” Hence we begin with 2 Samuel 7:12-13 where Nathan said to David as recorded by Samuel, “And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”

Here we have the promise of the “kingdom’s being set up” which all Bible scholars declare to be the “kingdom of Christ on David’s throne.” But in this same connection it also says, “And he shall build an house for my name.” It is my purpose tonight to show you that the expression “house” in these prophecies refers to the “church.” Hence in this prophecy of Nathan to David, recorded by Samuel we have the “two-fold idea” of “Both” the “kingdom and the house—the church.” That we may see this is true I now turn to Paul’s letter to Timothy and hear him say¬ing in 1 Timothy 3:15, “That you may know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the “house of God which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the ytruth.” Here the “house of God is the church.” If the “kingdom,” in 2 Samuel 7:12-13 refers to the “Kingdom of Christ upon David’s Throne” then the “House built for his name” can be none other than the “church of the Lord over which he is the head.” Hence when Nathan looked down the stream of time and saw the seed of David living upon this earth; when he saw the “kingdom erected, set up” and given to the seed of David, after that Seed—the Christ, had gone back to the right hand of God, he likewise saw the “house of God—the church of the living God” existing at the same time. That this is the truth no man can deny!

ISAIAH SAW THEM BOTH
Our next prophet to speak in behalf of the truth of our lesson is the grand old prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah chapter two and verses 2-4 we have this reading, “And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the moun¬tains and shall be exalted above the hills and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob: and he will teach us of his ways, and we shall walk in his paths; for out of Zion shall £o foi'th the law, and the word of the Lord from Jeru¬Salem. As understood by all scholars, mountain when used as it is here used, refers to “governments.” That you may know this is true I would urge that you read Daniel 2:34»35 where he shows the “stone cut out of the mountain became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.” Then read verses 44-46 of this same chapter and see that this stone refers to the “kingdom that is to be set up during the days of these kings.” Yes, “mountain” here as used by Isaiah refers to the “kingdom of Christ upon David’s throne;” and the same kingdom as spoken of by Nathan. But at the same time there is the “house of the God of Jacob.” Therefore, Isaiah saw not the “kingdom alone,” minus the church, the house of God; he saw both the “house of God” and the “kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.” That this is true there can be no argument. It does not admit of argument. If the kingdom here is the “kingdom of Christ” on David’s throne, then the “house of the God of Jacob” is the “church of Christ” over which he sits as head.

I know therefore tonight that the church of which I am a member and of which you are members is not a “substitute;” it is not a makeship; it isn’t to bridge the gap made possible by the failure of God to fulfill his promises to us by the prophets of the Old Testament. God did not lie; His prophets did not prophesy falsely. “It came to pass” as they said it would. No wonder Peter said. The prophets as many as spake from Samuel down, spake1' of these very days in which he was then living.” They saw those days; they understood it to refer to those tfery days; and they had in mind the glorious kingdom of Jes&S Christ, at which tpme they “saw the called out of this world;” they “saw the church of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”

MICAH AGREES WITH ISAIAH
Time forbids a long discussion of Micah’s prophecy for it is the same as that of Isaiah, almost word for word. He refers to the “mountain of the Lord” and also the “house of the God of Jacob.” You will recall that it says “it shall be exalted above the hills.”

These prophecies of Isaiah and of Micah forever kill every vestige of hope for the “future kingdom advocates.” Here this “mountain of the Lord,” the kingdom of Christ on David’s throne, is to be. established in the “tops of the mountains and is to be exalted above the hills.” Here the “mountain” in which it shall be established, and the “hills” above which it shall be exalted, are the “kingdoms and nations of this earth.” Hence, the kingdom of Christ must be established during the existence of these governmerits of this earth and not after they have been destroyed. It is to be exalted above them that they may come into the kingdom of Christ; into the church of the living God. Hence after the nations of this earth have been destroyed there will be no need for the kingdom of Christ for it is to cause men to say, “Come ye and let us go up to the moun¬tain of the Lord; to the house of the God of Jacob.” Now why? “And he shall teach of his ways and we shall walk in his paths.” Ah, friends, tonight this kingdom, this glorious church of our Lord of which these prophets spake was to be established during the governments of this world that they might be brought to Christ. Let us exalt this “Church The Prophets Saw” by living lives that will lead them into this marvelous kingdom of Jesus Christ. THE RELATIONSHIP OF EACH
Just here let me pause long enough to say this concern¬ing the church and the kingdom. If we understood the relation that each sustains to the other we would have no trouble in understanding this entire question. The proper understanding of the church and the kingdom is a death blow to all premillennialists. The church simply means the “called out of God.” The word from which we get church means an assembly, a called out group. When applied to the Lord’s people it is the “called out of the world of sins to serve the Lord.” Now the Lord did not leave this “called-out number” without a system of gov¬ernment. He placed over them the Lord Jesus Christ as their king. Hence the “church” is the group called out to serve God and the “kingdom” is the government that rules over the called out—the church. We see plainly then that the church, the called out, has a government and that government is the “kingdom of Christ on David’s throne” and Christ sits this night at the right hand of God as the “governor (Matthew 2; Matthew 6, Acts 2:33, Hebrews 12:1-4), and as Lord of Lords, King of Kings, the ONLY POTENTATE” (1 Timothy 6:15). We therefore thank God tonight that we are in the “Church The Prophets Saw,” that we are the “King¬dom of Jesus Christ” as he sits at the right hand of the Father ruling and reigning over us as the “called out of this world to serve the living God.” The Kingdom Daniel Saw. In Daniel the second chapter we have the interpretation of the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar. There stood before him an image; that image, was a great image; it was an image that represented the rule of the entire earth. He saw these governments as they passed one by one until they came to the last and the last of these king¬doms is the Roman Government under ihe Caesars. During this last kingdom, that of Rome, Daniel said there shall be another kingdom and the God of heaven shall set it up, for said he “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand forever.” This, my friends, was the same kingdom of which Nathan spoke, to which Isaiah and Micah referred for there is but one kingdom promised m all the Old Testa¬ment to the seed of David, and that is the “Throne of David” promised to Christ Jesus our Lord. You can find no other kingdom promised to the seed of David. Hence Daniel saw this kingdom set up and “filling the whole earth” that was seen by all the other prophets. It is the kingdom of which we are citizens; it is the. kingdom of which Paul spake in Hebrews 12:28 saying “Receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved;” Daniel said “That shall stand forever.” The Two Fold Idea in the New Testament. We turn now to the New Testament. I want you to see that the same “two-fold idea” that was in the Old Testa¬ment is also in the New. If I can get you to see that, I believe I can establish within your hearts and within your minds the fact that we are this mght what God had in mind when he sent Christ to this earth; that we are the “Church The Prophets Saw—The Kingdom of Jesus Christ on David’s Throne.”

I now invite your attention to the statement mg.de by Christ in Matthew 16:18-19 when he said. “I will build my 
church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it and I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Here we have the same “two-fold idea” as found in the prophets. We have the proimse of both the “church” and the “kingdom,” Christ being the author of the state¬ment. It has to be right. It can’t be wrong.

ACTS, CHAPTER 2
We now turn to Acts, chapter two. It is the memorable Pentecost day; it is nine o’clcok on Sunday morning, the first day of the week; the Apostle Peter, together with the eleven, is speaking. He has told them of the death, burial, resurrection, and exaltation of Christ at the right hand of God. He has told them of his having been made both Lord and Christ. They were cut to thei* hearts as the result of his sermon. I wonder why! Here is what he said as he goes back to Nathan’s promise to David in 2 Samuel 7:12, “Men and brethren let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet and knowing that God has sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his (David’s) throne.” Just what did he have in mind? Hear him as he says fur¬ther “He seeing this before spake of the Resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither did his flesh see corruption.” Here we have the fulfillment of 2 Samuel 7 and Psalms the IGth chapter as it all referred to Christ Jesus our Lord, the seed of David and the right¬ful heir to his throne.

Here we have the resurrection of Christ, we have the throne of David, and we have Christ “raised to sit on that throne,” and in verses 33-36 it is declared that he has “been exalted” to the “right hand of God” and shall “sit” there as both Lord and Christ until his enemies have been made, his “footstool.” Now in the last verse it says, “And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” Friends, we have in this chapter, Christ raised to sit on David’s throne, exalted to that position at that very hour, and also the Lord, while on David’s throne, adding to the church. What could be plainer than this? It is the same ‘‘two-fold idea” of the Old Testament prophets. Here they exist at the “same time” to the “same people!” Yes, those in Acts, chapter two, are “The Church and Kingdom The Prophets Saw” and no man can scripturally refute the truth of this argument.

Acts 8:12
But this time we turn to Acts 8:12 and we shall find the same “two-fold idea” of the church and kingdom. It reads as follows, “But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized both men and women.” Can any one deny these were citizens of the Kingdom? Of what kingdom? There was only “one ever promised” and it was that of David with Christ, his seed, sitting as its king. You find another; you bring the prophecy that tells of another! You find the prophet who told of a “universal kingdom upon which Christ was to sit as the seed of David before his second coming, which kingdom is not the kingdom of David.” Find in the pro¬phets the two-fold idea of the premillennialists today, that of the “universal kingdom of God with Christ sitting on a universal throne” and the promise of “David’s throne with Christ sitting as its king after his second coming.” Unless this can be done then their arguments must fall and their position must be wrong. Show where in the Old Testa¬ment one single prophet ever prophesied that Christ would die to sit and reign today on a “universal throne of God” which throne is different to the “throne of David.” It can’t be done and they go down in defeat. But we read in Acts 9:31 these words, “Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria and were edified.” They did what? “The church in Samaria had rest.” Yes, there was the “church” in Samaria. Hence, we again find the “two-fold idea” of the prophets. We have here in Samaria, at the same time, both the “kingdom and the church.” People became members of each by “faith and baptism.” Yes, they too were the “Church The Prophets Saw,” as well as the “kingdom of the Lord.” It can’t be wrong. It has to be right. It is not some far fetched idea of a “universal throne” which has been ush¬ered in to take the place of a failure of the part of God, either. It is the “kingdom of which the prophets spake” in the Old Testament and everybody should know it is. Find another kingdom spoken of by the prophets! If you can’t then surrender your error.

Colossians 1:13-18
Turning now to Paul’s letter to the church in Colosse chapter one and verses 13 to 18 we have a chapter that is too plain to be misunderstood if we want the truth. Paul said to them, “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son.” It was the “kingdom of Christ; it was the “kingdom of God’s dear Sonth at kingdom was the “throne of his father David;” it was the “kingdom seen by Nathan in 2 Samuel 7:12-14; Isaiah 2:1-4 and Mi. 4:1-2; Matthew 3:1-4 and spoken of by Christ in Mark 1:15.” It was not a substitute for a plan that had failed; it was not some “universal throne” about which they speak. It was the “kingdom of God’s dear Son” and that is the “throne of David.” But asks one, Brother Harper, this is not the “Church The Prophets Saw,” this is the “kingdom.” Let us now read verse 18 and we hear Paul saying, “And he is the head of the body, the church; who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence for it pleased God that in him should all fulness dwell” But you may ask, is this the “Church The Prophets Saw?” Read with me now verse 26 of this same chapter and it says, “Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints; to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, etc., etc.” and in Ephesians 3:6 Paul explains this mystery as follows, “That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.” Yes, it is the same “mystery” of the generations of the prophets and in that mystery was the purpose of Gcd to bless both the Jew’ and the Gentile in the church.

Hence we have the same twro-fold idea as that of the prophets. You have both the “kingdom of Christ” and the “Church over which Christ is head,” to the same people at the same place and at the same time. Again we see the church is not a “substitute for the failure of God” as the “future kingdom advocates” are forced to teach. It is God's purposes fully and completely fulfilled and not one thing has fa’iled.to come to pass; “all has been fulfilled.” Find just one!

JOHN WRITES ON PATMOS—HE AGREES
The last of which I call your attention on this phase of our lesson tonight is John as he writes in Rev. chapter one. Here he says in verse 9, “I, John, who am also your brother and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom of Jesus Christ, etc." There can be no argument here as to John and the “seven churches of Asia” being in the “kingdom of Jesus Christ.” The only kingdom he wras ever promised was that of his father David. Hence this must be the kingdom about wdiich the prophets spake. Here we have the “kingdom of Jesus Christ” and John their brother in that kingdom. 'If this is not the “kingdom Nathan spake about” then what kingdom is this and what prophet ever told of this kingdom of which John speaks and calls, the “kingdom of Jesus Christ?” Since Christ was only promised the “Throne of his Father David” and none other, then it must follow’ that this is that kingdom for John says it is the “kingdom of Christ.” But you may be ready to ask, is the church also in that same section? I answer with verse 11 where John still writing about Christ says, “I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, and What thou seest write in. a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia, etc.” Yes, there wTere the “seven churches in Asia” at that time. In chapter two of Revelation, we have the beginning of the letters John wrote to these churches and we have them named. If you will turn to the 19th chapter of Acts you will find the beginning of the first of these churches, that of Ephesus. It was concerning the establish¬ment of this congregation that Paul said in his letter to the church at Corinth, 1 Corinthians 15:32 that he “fought with the beasts of Ephesus” that the church might live. In Acts 19 we find that they believed in Christ, surrendered John’s baptism, and were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Hence this church began just like all the rest, by preaching the gospel and being baptized that they might be saved. This done and we have the “church” and the “kingdom.” Here as the other places we have the “two-fold idea,” that of the “Church and the Kingdom.” The “church,” the peo¬ple who were called out of the world to serve God; the “kingdom,” the government that ruled over them. We had Christ as the “head of the church” and as the “king over the kingdom.” To the same people, in the same place, and at the same time. Yes, truly it was the “Church The Pro¬phets Saw” and that church was “The Kingdom of Christ” with “Christ on David’s Throne.” It was not a “substitute for a plan gone wrong.” So we must conclude that the church is not just a “vestibule” for the kingdom; nor did the Lord “postpone,” “defer” the establishment of his king¬dom promised by the prophets as Boll and others so teach. We are now and tvere bach there, the “kingdom and the church” promised by Nathan, Isaiah, Micah, Daniel, John the Baptist and Christ. There were no others. No wonder Peter said, “All the prophets from Samuel and those that followed after, as many as spoke, foretold of these days.” What they had said had come to pass and Peter, James, John and even Christ, as we have read to you, have all so testified. Let us be done with this “future kingdom” idea and surrender such men and stand for the truth.

CONCLUSION ON THE PROPHETS
We now are forced to conclude that as we began with 2 Samuel 7 and close with Revelation 1, that we have traced the “two-fold idea” of the “kingdom” and the “church” finding them to be to the same people, at the same time, and at the same place. We found the “throne and king¬dom of, David” and the “house for his Name;” the “moun¬tain of the Lord” and the “house of the God of Jacob” and the “kingdom established forever” becoming a “great moun¬tain, etc.” in the Old Testament. We have the “throne of David—the kingdom of Christ” and the “house of the liv¬ing God—the church” in the New Testament, which king¬dom “cannot be moved—and is to be delivered to God the Father. 1 Corinthians 15:24, at Christ's coming” and the “church which shall last throughout all ages world without end (Ephesians 3:21; “which is to be presented to Christ” (Ephesians 5:26-28). This being true there will be “no age” after the “church age,” there will be no “kingdom age” after Christ’s coming, except “heaven itself” which is “eternity” with God, or banishment from his presence if we do not belong to Christ. Yes, we are the “Church The Prophets Saw” and we are not a “substitute” and the Old Testament prophets were not false prophets and all that God, by them, foretold came to pass... Do not be afraid nor disturbed. Stand for the truth and against error. The Purpose op the Church as the Prophets Saw It I pass from that tonight to another phase of the church; namely, the purpose of the church as these prophets saw 'it. If we can see the destiny and the mission of that institu¬tion, I believe it will bring us closer together. As already stated by Daniel, this “stone became a great mountain, and it filled the whole earth.” You and I tonight are members of that institution. We are a part of that moun¬tain that shall go forth and fill the whole earth. It is going to meet its difficulties; it going to meet men who will try to destroy it; it will meet the beast who will try to take it from the face of the earth. As we face such opposition we need to unite our hearts in love; we need to blend our souls tonight as one man, as one institution, and as one heart. And thus, away from all things that would hinder a united effort to go out in the presence of the world and fight the enemy, we need to be bound together as Christian men and as Christian women. This church now is to spread through¬out the earth, and it is to cover the earth and all men are to hear the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul said that it was for that purpose that he was sent to be a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ. THE MISSIONS OF THE WORLD
I'd like to take you then tonight into the mission fields of this world. I’d like for you to see the “mission” of this institution, the church. Fd love for you to behold tonight the destiny of that church. Fd love on the wings of imagi¬nation to take you to Italy. Fd like for you to see our mis¬sionaries in Italy as they are bowred down in fear and as they are trying to be overcome by the pope of Rome as he sits on his golden throne trying to rule and conquer the world. Fd love for you to think tonight of the Padens who are there, far away from us. They are going through the sorrows; they are going through the heartaches; they are going through the tribulations. We sit tonight in America; toe live tonight in the grandest country upon the face of the earth; toe are here tonight without being afraid, yet our brethren at this very hour may be in' danger of their lives. May I say to you good people this evening, this mountain, this kingdom, this church about which I am talking, of which we are members this evening, that insti¬tution is to go with the gospel into the ends of the earth. I am made to wonder if your hearts have gone to Italy; I wonder if your prayers have crossed the ocean to where these men are, and I wonder another thing: if you realize this night the great danger, that is hovering over the free¬dom of our own America? Do you know, and I speak of it kindly, yet I speak of it with all the power of my being; do you know that the Catholic church defies the world7 Do you know that our liberty stands this night in jepoardy? And do you know that unless this kingdom, unless this church, unless this mountain, this house of God that has been established here upon this earth; unless it unites in the great effort of sending out with the gospel, that our liberties and our freedoms shall be taken away from us? The Catholic church sits tonight happy in the fact that we are - divided among ourselves and divided we cannot stand. But united, brethren, there isn’t a poiver upon this earth that can take from us the freedom that we enjoy this hour. When you go home this evening, when you get upon your knees as you go to bed, you need to breathe a prayer that the pope of Rome who dominates more than half the world, that his poiver might be broken and the church of Jesus Christ, in one united band, without any division among us, united in heart, united in soul, bound together in the spirit of Christ and marching on to victory, may rescue the world from the power and domination and danger of the pope of Rome.

GERMANY
Let me take your hearts to Germany. I wonder if you have realized that it is the kingdom, that it is this church the prophets saw, that’s to send the gospel to the land of Germany? We have the Gatewoods, the Bennetts and others in Germany. They are doing a marvelous work. But if Germany is ever converted, it is going to be con¬verted by the “church the prophets saw.” If the gospel is ever sent, it is going to be sent by the kingdom of Jesus Christ. They are there, away from America. They have left the beautiful land of America. They’ve gone into foreign fields; they’re sacrificing tonight that the gospel might be carried to Germany. They are burying their dead in foreign soils; they are weeping their hearts out while away from their loved ones, and in a foreign country. Their babies sleep tonight in the soil over which our boys have gone, and their hearts come back this hour I am sure, to their homeland—to this very lectureship; yet they have been willing to make a sacrifice that I haven’t felt able to make. They have been willing to make a sacrifice that you haven’t been willing to make. They have been willing to go into a land where hospitals aren’t as they are here. They have been willing to brave the mighty deep, going to places where medicine can’t be had as it can here and where doctor’s can’t come and protect the lives of their loved ones as they can here in our own land. And yet we sit in America enjoying the blessings, enjoying the pleas¬ures, enjoying the privileges of this great country of ours, not being afraid. We are letting them suffer for the many things the church of our Lord needs to send to the lands across the sea, that the gospel of Jesus Christ might go into their hearts, which things the church here could send.

That’s the thing that Daniel saw. He was this mountain, the church, filling the whole earth, and the mountain is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. He saw somebody carry¬ing the message of the Christ to the lost of this earth. Where, in all this, he saw this generation, is yet to be seen. My prayer is tonight that he saw us in Abilene, having a part in the greatest work the church has before it since the first century.

BELGIUM
We go tonight to Belgium, that brave country ravaged by war, and those of you that heard Sister Noel when she told of her heartaches and the trials and tribulations through which she passed; when in tears she begged for the house of God in America, the church the prophets saiv, just to send them the gospel; and we the people that the prophets saw, and we the church that the prophets saw, let it fall upon deaf ears in most places, and tonight the church in Belgium is suffering. She said, Brother Harper, one of the priests in my home town said to me, “If you lived in the days of Joan of Arc we’d take you into the court square and we’d burn you alive.” She answered back, “You can burn my body but you can’t burn my soul!”
My friends of the body of Christ tonight, we let too many things hinder us, we let too many things come be¬tween us. Hearts that ought to be blended together, souls that need to be united, and a church that needs to know nothing but love and fellowship and mercy and compassion and perfect unity, too many times is rent asunder by hobbiests, factionists, sin and worldliness, and we fail to lift our eyes upon the harvest field and see the mission that was given to the “Church the Prophets Saw.” If we could hear more pleas like that of Sister Noel and could have our hearts touched with the tender message of such sacri¬fice, the church of Jesus Christ tonight is able to reach the heart of every nation upon this earth, and we are able to send the gospel to every soul that lives, who is accountable unto God.

HOLLAND
We come to Holland tonight. Those who have been over there say a wonderful start has been made and yet they are crying for help. America says we can't help. The churches say we have all that we can do, our budget is filled. And yet when we look round about us and see the church buildings as they are surrounded by automobiles, as we walk down the aisles dressed as kings and queens, when we go home and sit down to a dinner a king would be happy to enjoy and then say to ourselves that we have done all that we can do, it causes the blood to chill in our veins. The hearts of people throughout the world are looking to this institution, this church the prophets saw, and are saying, come over .and help us for we are dying; we are lost and our children are 'perishing without the blood of Jesus Christ. Ah! Brethren, let us open our hearts, loose the pursestrings of our pocketbooks and send the gospel to them before it is too late for them and us.

ENGLAND
We go to England, to Scotland and come to Wales, Australia, etc., and there are men here tonight who have been there. There are men who live there that are visiting with us at this lectureship and they are our brethren. They need not only our prayers; they need a united church. They need a united brotherhood and they need a brother¬hood who can be touched and reached with the burden of the lost of England, Scotland and Wales upon their hearts; and the church the prophets saw should arise and become that mountain the prophets saw and fill the whole earth. That institution should cease so many things that are hindering us and we need to unite our hearts and hear these cries and send the gospel to the ends of the earth.

CHINA
I would that I had time tonight to come to China with its teaming millions overrun by communism. If we had sent more men to teach the Christianity that we know, they might not be overrun by communism.

JAPAN
I would that I had time tonight, as others have done, to speaR to you about Japan, a fertile field for the gospel, where the church is being established and where men are going with the gospel of peace to make Christians of men who once were our enemies.

You can go south of the border, you can go into Canada, you can go to Cuba, you can go to the dark continent of Africa, on into India and throughout the ends of the earth and the “Church the Prophets Saw” is the only institution that Christ placed upon this earth to send the story to all the world, of a loving Saviour who died for the sins of mankind, to lift men out of sin and bring to them the forgiveness of their sins, that they might live eternally in the presence of God. Talk to me tonight about the churches of Christ having touched the hem of the garment! There are too many things that hinder the people of God. As I look over this audience I see men that have been preaching the gospel for many years. They are my personal friends. I know their hearts, I know they are human, and 1 know thev make mistakes, but they love the souls of men. I know if they could live their lives over they would many times do things differently. I know I would, but we’ve done the best we could. We need, this night, in the mercy of God and m the goodness of God, to realize that we are the “kingdom of our Lord”; that we are “The Church the Prophets Saw.” We are that church and we need to breathe a prayer and say, Father, forgive us of our mistakes, overlook our little¬ness that too many times you have seen in us and get away from us all of the things that would divide us as brethren, and unite our hearts as one, upon the truth and the truth only, and march on to victory. The church of Jesus Christ tonight is the only institu¬tion in the world that can meet the pope of Rome, com¬munism, infidelity, denominationalism, and sin, and drive them to the utmost ends of the earth and meet every argument that they can possibly present. The church, brethren, is a glorious institution; it isn’t something that you need to be afraid of, but with the spirit of Christ motivating us and with unity characteristic of us and with a love for the souls of men burning in our hearts, there isn’t anything that we can’t accomplish with Christ our captain and our king leading us on into fields of activities. THE FINAL DESTINY
May I then bring another thought tonight and that is, the final destiny of this institution that has been established in the city of Jerusalem, that kingdom over which Christ reigns as our “King of kings and Lord of lords.” It’s the “destiny” of this institution that makes it so marvelous and that brings such joy to our hearts. If it didn’t go beyond the grave, there would be no use standing here tonight. The institution of which I am a member and for which I am speaking, and that is gathered here, the mem¬bers of that church individually have helped to make possible this marvelous institution in which we are gathered tonight. An institution for which we are grateful; not a perfect institution, because it is led by human beings, but an institution that has touched the hearts, that has touched the homes, that has lifted up the hearts of many children who have been here. My children sit here this evening. I have three who have been to Abilene Christian College, two of whom have graduated, one now a freshman. I have a son, Paul, who will enter some day, the Lord willing. I have said publicly, may I say it again, money couldn’t buy tonight what the institution has meant to my children. If a man were to say to me, Brother Harper, if you will go back five years ago to Arkansas and there begin where you were, rob your children of the opportunity of sitting in Abilene Christian College, and being led and directed by men who love the Lord and let them be subjected to the things they had to endure in the schools of Little Rock, and let them live and die, robbed of what they have enjoyed here; the world laid at my feet tonight would hold no attraction. I do not mean by this that the school is a perfect institution. But I do mean that it means that to my children, and it can mean that to yours. We must keep A.C.C. both pure and sound. I thank God that as a member of the church I can beg you fathers and you mothers to let’s do that and just remember this, after awhile the destiny and the glory of it is going to be ours to enjoy. When we turn tonight to Ephesians, we find Paul talking about this grand and exalted institution. Paul said Christ is the head of it. In chapter five of his letter to Ephesus, he said not only is he the head of it, the church 'is in subjection to Christ and he said he loved it and he gave himself for it and he bought it. Then he said Christ cleansed it and sanctified it; now why? “That he might present it unto himself a glorious institution, without spot and without wrinkle.” Ah, my friends, the destiny of this institution, the destiny of this church that the prophets saw is to be presented unto Jesus Christ without spot and without wrinkle. It is to be presented to him a glorious church, a holy institution. And then finally in 1 Cor. 15 and verse 24 Christ is to deliver the kingdom unto God the Father and throughout a never ending eternity, you and I, are to live forever and forever in the paradise of God. That’s the destiny; that’s the victory of the “Church the Prophets Saw.” That’s why tonight it is near and dear to my heart. That’s why I am happy tonight that I am a member of that institution. That’s why we beg you to become a member of the church of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Tonight, there may be sonie precious heart who is not a member of the church. You may never have obeyed the gospel and when time shall be no more, and death shall kiss your eyes to sleep, and you take your departure out into the great eternity beyond, it may be that you will not be a part of this glorious insti¬tution. If that is your condition tonight, then while we stand to sing, we invite you-to come believing in Christ and obeying the gospel of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.