Well said SavannahNow I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. - Jude 1:5
_________________Robert
“And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world.” Heb. 4:3 “… the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.” Rev 13:8
Todd says, "Jesus died before there was any Church." ------------------Not true.
_________________Diane
I’m confused too Diane so you are not alone. I am talking about the NT church that makes up the temple of living stones. Eph. 5:25-26 speaks of Christ dying for the Church. It is not logically inconsistent because a person can certainly die for something that does not yet exist but for which the sacrifice may bring it about. Christ knew that the Church would arise because His death made it possible. Further, his death made possible the sanctification of the church described in v. 26-27. So Christ’s death made the Church, his bride, possible. He knew that those who come to him on His terms will comprise the Church.
_________________Todd
Hi Diane: I dont spend more than a few seconds worrying about how I am heard. For the most part how you are heard depends on your hearers. Please go ahead and respond
_________________Marvin
Hi again Diane:Christ slain from the foundation of the world is a prophetic statement, a revelation of God's intent and plan long before the creation.The old Covenant form of the Elect or chosen ones are seen in Israel, they as God's chosen who lived out their lives looking forward towards a Messiah. Their prophets point towards the future and the revealing of Christ. All this you already know. Israels overall failure to believe and follow their Messiah makes no change whatsoever to the fact Jesus is their Messiah, he is the prophetic fulfillment. Old covenant saints find their perfection in the Messiah as so many believed and were become Christians in the early Church. The Church is an enlargement so to speak of the Israel of God. I say enlargement because God now forms a New Covenant based upon Christ fulfilling the Law and the inclusion of Gentiles as part of the Elect, the chosen of God. The Church both Jew and Gentile comprise the Church, but as was quoted by Savannah, the Elect of God have existed since God's outpouring of grace in the garden of Eden. Hebrews teaches us we have a great clout of witnesses, witnessing the love of God, the working of God, the saving and promise keeping God as we see in the Old Testament. In Christ Israel (the Jews) and the Church all funnel into Christ together as one great corporate body...and this whole body has been redeemed by Christ and perfected by Christ. Those who have "washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb" are those who both looked forward to the Messiah, and those who afterward look back to the Messiah as their redeemer. I hope this clarifies some?