What is the church? Awaited to be fêted.

What is the church?  And what can we liken it to in Genesis 45 still?

"Come down to me and do not delay. You shall settle in the land of Goshen so that you will be near me, you and your children and your grandchildren, and your flocks and your herds and all that you have. And I will provide for you there..."

i know people who don't get the Old Testament.  They don't like it.  They think it portrays an angry God, so unlike Jesus.  But Jesus is all through out it!  It is the Old, the First, Testament, Testimony!   We are to read it looking ahead, because God was giving hints and shadows and foretastes of all to come in it.  Joe sat down on a throne and from there, through all his sufferings, he had come to a place of humility and love for those who had wronged him.  And when given the opportunity, he saved them!  He loved them!  He brought them to himself, where He was enthroned, and ate with them and fed them and cared for them all the days of his life!  

Not unlike some other guy i know.

"...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the originator and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."  Hebrews 12

"And on this mountain Yahweh of hosts will make for all peoples a rich feast,
    a feast of aged wines, fat filled with marrow, filtered aged wine.
And on this mountain he will destroy the face of the shroud,
    the shroud over all peoples,
    and the woven covering over all nations.
He will destroy death forever,
    and the Lord Yahweh will wipe off the tears from all faces,
    and he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth,

for Yahweh has spoken.

And one will say, on that day,

“Look! This is our God! We have waited for him and he saved us!
    This is Yahweh; we waited for him!
Let us be glad,
    and let us rejoice in his salvation.”  Isaiah 25

The unlike Joe's brothers who had no idea what was coming, we have not one, but two Testaments set before us, the church therefore are those who endure the sufferings and afflictions and shame of their little crosses here for the joy set before them THERE!

What is the church? Asked to suffer.

What is the church?  And what can we liken it to in Genesis 22?

"And he said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” And he said, “Take your son, your only child, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains where I will tell you.”"  

Does God, who gave you everything you have, including you, have the right to ask for it back?  Thank God, you say, that He doesn't test all of us in this way anymore!  But does He?  Many parents have had to wrestle with the question, "Is God good?"  or "Is God trustworthy?" after the loss of a child?  After something terrible has happened to their child?  God is all powerful.  Things we disdain to even put a price on matter to God.  Buy one, get one-sparrows matter to him and not one dies but by his permission.  Not one hair from your head falls without his noticing and approving the loss.  You think He didn't know a child would die?  Didn't ordain it?  Didn't bring it about?  The God who brought the universe into being and maintains it by His mere word?  Please. 

So if it's not a question of authority or power then it comes down to Eve's question.  Is God good?  Is God good in this?  Job asked it.  Anyone who suffers has to ask it.  If God asks you to do something hard, to give up something crucial, something treasured, something we think we can't live without, our lives, to follow him somewhere painful, will you obey then?  If so, why?  i sense we'll be camped out here for a few days but for today...

The church are those who hear the voice of God and obey it, because they know Him and trust Him.
"Whenever he sends out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. And they will never follow a stranger, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.” John 10

Stranger in a strange bed

The air is too thick

the welcome too thin.

came in from the cold

must have let it in.

the sheets are too clean

can’t shake the smell

of being a guest

in my own hotel

the silence’s too loud

there’s no sense of place

sealed in a capsule

tumbling through space

the bed is too soft

it’s freshly turned dirt

from the hole she dug

to bury her hurt

the distance too great

we’re too far apart

no man’s land between

and walls round her heart

we are two people

one swore we to be

now there’s a stranger

that stranger is me.