the church will reign with the Lord | Simply Church: God's Prescribed Relationship Between Church and State

Jerald Finney
Copyright © December 19, 2012

Click here to go to “Self-exam Questions: The Coming Universal Church Will Reign with the Lord“

Click here to listen to and/or download Jerald Finney’s audio teaching on “The church will reign with the Lord.“ Note that this audio teaching was significantly revised by this revised article on January 29,2013.

The Biblical Doctrine of the Church has links to the audio teaching of Jerald Finney on this and other subjects related to the doctrine of the church.

Note. This is a significantly revised version of Section II, Chapter 7 of God Betrayed: Separation of Church and State/The Biblical Principles and the American Application.

The Coming Universal Church Will Reign with the Lord

Several so-called universal “churches” were instituted and built by those who did not honor the word of God. Those “churches” killed untold millions of what they deem to be heretics (many of whom were born-again believers who refused to bow down to the false religion-state) while leading multitudes to hell since the initiation of the first such “church” in the early fourth century. Nonetheless, true believers in Christ, even in martyrdom, have always rejoiced in exceeding gladness. They will become members of the universal visible church which will be established at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

As explained in the last article, no universal church exists on earth. Rather, unbiblical “ universal” religious organizations were organized by the god of this world: first the Catholic “church,” then the Protestant “churches,” and many religious offshoots from biblical heresies and apostasies. Due to a lack of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, some believers join or continue alongside the lost members of those organizations. Those believers are out of order. God’s desire is for them to seek out a local, autonomous, New Testament Church—i.e., a church which orders herself according to the principles of the New Testament. Only in such churches is the service of God in biblical order; and properly ordered New Testament churches have continuously existed since Jesus Christ ordained the institution of the church. Jesus said to Peter, “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” (Mt. 16:18).

In spite of the steady movement toward the foretold end time political and religious Babylon, true Christians have the ultimate hope: they will reign with the Lord. This should be a cause for great rejoicing as well as incentive to be responsible members of the body of Christ, to make sure that every effort is made to glorify God, and to assure that the individual, his family and the church he is a member of remains totally under Christ in every way.

The Holy Spirit is now calling out, not the subjects, but the co-heirs and co-rulers of the kingdom:

2 Ti. 2.11-12: “It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us;”
Re. 1.6: “And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen;”
Re. 3.21: “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne;”
Re. 5.10: “And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth;”
Ro. 8.15-18: “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.’ The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us;”
1 Co. 6.2-3: “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?”

“Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” (Mt. 5.10-12).

“But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel” (He. 12:22-24).

Jerald Finney
© October, 2009

Have you ever done an in depth study of the biblical doctrine of the church? Every Bible believer, and especially every pastor, should have done such a study. Every Bible institute and college should give priority to such a study. Did not Christ “love the church and give himself for it?” Included in that study should be a study of the application of the doctrine of the church. In other words, a scholarly spirtual study of the church would require an in depth study of the definition, organization, and purposes of a church. This would require a study of such matters as the organization of churches as corporations, unincorporated associations, corporations sole, etc. and seeking Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3) of churches. Do such devices comport with biblical principles? Is our Lord grieved when such devices are employed by churches? What are the consequences to churches, individuals, families and the nation?

The players below will teach on the biblical doctrine of the church. In conjunction with other audio teachings on other pages of this blog, a spirit filled believer will be given the knowledge to answer all the questions in the paragraph above and more. You may or may not agree with all this teaching, but this study will be invaluable to the Bible believing Christian who wants to do things God’s way. This study is patterned after Section II of the book God Betrayed/Separation of Church and State: The Biblical Principles and the American Application (Ordering information for this and other books is on the “Books” page of churchandstatelaw.com.).

To play, just click the link. To download, right click link and then left click “Save link as.”

1. Introduction to the biblical doctrine of the church (Section II, Chapter 1 of God Betrayed) (The audio opens with a song by Brother Rocky Otwell, “Wilt Thou Be Made Whole?” followed by opening remarks and prayer. That portion of the audio is 5 min. 3 sec. in length. The total length is 14 min. 55 sec.).

2. Definition, organization, and purposes of a church (Section II, Chapter 2 of God Betrayed) (27 min. 22 sec.).

3. The love relationship between Christ and His church (In God Betrayed, but not a specific chapter) (52 min. 16 sec.). This is covered in the booklet which is reproduced on this website at The Most Important Thing: Loving God and/or Winning Souls?) This may be the most important teaching concerning the issue of separation of church and state. The last few minutes of the audio is of poor quality because of technical difficulties that were later corrected).

4. Heresy and apostasy (Section II, Chapter 4 of God Betrayed) (Begins with a song, “In Times Like These,” sang by Rocky Otwell and prayer. Prayer ends at 3 min. 31 sec. Total length of segment is 28 min. 15 sec.).

5. Recent accelerated apostasy in America (Section II, Chapter 5 of God Betrayed) (14 min. 22 sec.).

6. Apostasy at the end of the church age (Section II, Chapter 6 of God Betrayed) (3 min. 30 sec.)(This audio teaching has been significantly revised. Click “Apostasy at the end of the church age” to see the revisions).

7. The church will reign with the Lord (Section II, Chapter 7 of God Betrayed) (1 min. 56 sec.)(This audio teaching has been significantly revised. Click “The coming universal church will reign with the Lord” to see the revisions).

8. Conclusion (Section II, Chapter 8 of God Betrayed) (Conclusion is 5 min. 41 sec. followed by song and prayer. Total length is 8 min. 51 sec.).

I am adding a new study of specific books and teachings on the Bible Doctrine of the Church. Click here to go to that study series.

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For His Glory,
Jerald Finney
Christian and practicing attorney