By Minister Jose Urbina,
“Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.” Isaiah 43:7.
Without a divine revelation of what the Church of God itself is, it is not so easy to understand what being called by my name consists of. Divine revelation grants us a different vision from those who do not have it. When one has that revelation, one can understand not only who Jesus is, but also who his people are. The prophet Isaiah prophesied in Judah, but his prophecies applied to both the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. In this chapter, He tells us long in advance about God’s purpose in giving his name to the Church that would be established by the Son of God. It is no secret to anyone that God in Christ called the first members of the Church of God. And he called them to leave the world of fishermen and the world of religion so that they would be exclusively his people. These calls would be called by my name (The Church of God), which is what Jesus refers to when he says: “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name…” John 17:12. Keeping them in your name is putting them under the protection of God, identifying them as the Church of God. However, we must understand that the purpose of the gospels was not to focus on the Church, which the apostle to the Gentiles would focus on at his time. Since it was a mystery that was not declared neither to the prophets nor to the apostles of the primitive Church. Rather, it was a privilege to be revealed by the one who considered himself the least of the apostles, when he said:
“Unto 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; 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, who created all things by Jesus Christ:.” Ephesians 3:8-9.
In other words, something had been left hidden, possibly because Judaism was so ingrained in itself, that the apostles of the early Church continued to think that the gospel of grace should be allowed to operate alongside Judaism, as before marginalizing the gentiles. Without realizing that the apostle, Paul was entrusted not only with the message of salvation but also with the dispensation of the hidden mystery, to tear down the residue of religious legalism inherited from Judaism. That although the transition from law to grace was somewhat traumatic for the early Church, it had to be recognized that the apostle Paul had something that the other apostles did not understand and that lent itself to legalists misinterpreting them. According to what the apostle Peter says, referring to the apostle Paul when he says: “And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.” 2 Peter 3:15-16.
If the apostles of the early Church were confused about the universality of the gospel of grace, it was because Judaism was still deeply rooted in them and they forgot or overlooked what Jesus said to Nicodemus: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.“ John 3:16.
And the commission entrusted by Christ before his departure: “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Acts 1:8.
What sense would there have been in a commission to the ends of the earth if the Jewish nation was so small. In addition, the prophet Isaiah declares that the mission of those called by His name (The Church of God) was to clarify all those who were blind in this regard when he says: “Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears. Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth.” Isaiah 43:8-9.
In order to make the first things heard, we cannot ignore the prophetic connection, now that we already have the revelation of the New Testament. In addition, the apostle Paul begins by calling the Church of God by his name by saying:
“For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:” Galatians 1:13.
“Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both their’s and our’s:” 1 Corinthians 1:2
“Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:” 1 Corinthians 10:32.
Although at present there are many religious movements with the name of Church of God, the term “The” Church of God makes it unique and exclusive of its kind.