The Bible On Unity and Catholicity in Churches

Let's face it, many churches have grown pretty lax about their liturgy today; some of them have such a loose understanding of just what this means that they do not even look like true churches. When Paul reproved the Corinthians for failing to see to it that their women covered their heads in worship, he added "If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we [the apostles] have no other practice; nor do the churches of God."

This clearly implies that the apostles built churches according to one single pattern, so that ALL the churches of God had the same practices in the worship and government of the Church. For all the churches of God did the same thing when it came to head-coverings. They did this because the apostles only taught one pattern of worship. To put it crudely for the sake of clarity, the apostles trained ministers to have a cookie-cutter church, which conformed in every way to the practices of the others. The churches looked and sounded identical. This is a priestly order the apostles carefully followed, that of the priesthood of Melchizedek (the Lord Jesus). This is why Paul introduced 1 Corinthians 11 with praising the Corinthians for keeping the [apostolic] traditions, which the apostles had obtained from Christ. For the Lord Jesus taught them all things concerning the kingdom of God for 40 days after he was raised up, as Luke outlines.

They were steeped in the training they got from the Lord Jesus, beginning from Genesis and in all the law and the prophets, he showed them all things. So they memorized his words (with the help of the Holy Spirit as Christ promised), and passed them down unaltered to the leaders they appointed in the churches everywhere. Thus all the churches had one and the same dominical and apostolic liturgical pattern. It is because they have "one Lord" that they also have "one faith" and "one baptism." You will notice that "the faith" shortens the "Christian faith" or "the faith of Jesus," and that baptism being a sacrament is a matter of worship (liturgy).

So the fact that Christians have one Lord leads them to have one set of doctrines, and one set of liturgical practices only. The Revelation confirms this emphatically and repeatedly with its seven-fold picture of the Church taken from Exodus and 1 Kings.

Revelation 1:10-18:
I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day [This tells us right away that the text is about Christ and the Church, concerning holy things, matters between God and his people] and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last:
[This book concerns a uniquely transitional time, the end -- last days -- of one era, and the beginning -- first days -- of another, and Christ is the cause of both; this is why He is also called here the BRIGHT morning star -- for Venus both pre-signals sun-down, the day's end, and sun-up, a new beginning] and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

[These churches are -- for their symmetry, nay identity, one. But one what? The most obvious answer is one Presbytery, which is composed of seven churches, at the midway point between the eastern and western Church -- it situates right between Europe and the Middle East as a gateway or centrepiece. This is "every presbytery" a federal representation of the whole catholic Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, who redeemed them from every tribe, tongue and nation on the face of the earth.]

And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.

[This description of the Lord, as a priest after the order of Melchizedek, shows that he is both King and Priest, and that his mission of redemption is the reason for his shining strength -- this means that he shows Himself mighty to save, unstoppable against the kings of the earth.]

His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; [this is from Isaiah, regarding the redemption of sinners] and his eyes were as a flame of fire [fire here symbolizes purification and piercing knowledge, which he displays in his comments to the churches]; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. [Many waters in Daniel are many peoples, those redeemed will be from every land] And he had in his right hand seven stars: [The stars are God's people in glory, he redeems and keeps them by oath -- the source of His priesthood and of theirs -- The Lord Jesus has sworn that they will not fail, and He will uphold them; the right hand is that with which one swears an oath as does the angel in Rev. 12] and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: [This is the Word of God preached as we know from later texts in this book] and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength [Christ empowers his people to preach the Word with great authority and clarity, as with the spirit of Elijah in John the Baptist]. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

[John here prefigures what will happen to the saints who preach with power. Like John the Baptist, they are beheaded, but then raised up to life, to reign as kings and priests in the land where they were killed, as its new rulers to replace the "kings of the earth." Jesus' own example provides the pattern for his people. He was a preacher who was martyred, raised up again, and then made king over the kings of the earth.

Here is that three-fold self-reference by the Lord -- Rev. 1:5-6 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness [witness and martyr are the same Greek word], and the first-begotten of the dead [first one raised from the dead], and [consequently] the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

[Here, we learn from the word "AND" that what befell Christ also comes upon His people. For a student, when he is fully trained, is LIKE his Teacher. God's people are priests after the order of Melchizedek (priests AND kings - this was impossible under the Older covenant priesthood, and only two priesthoods are mentioned respecting the saints]. So Jesus is 1. faithful witness-martyr 2. Raised up from the dead following his ministry 3. Ruler of the kings of the earth

Psalm 2 adds that He rules them with a rod of iron, meaning via the Law of the Lord precisely; and this same promise the Lord offers to His people in Revelation 2 (i.e. "even as I overcame and sat down [on a kingly throne] twith my Father")

The same pattern comes upon the saints in the book of revelation, and here John (or the Lord) opens its major theme.

1 Kings 7:48-50

And Solomon made all the vessels that pertained unto the house of the LORD: the altar of gold, and the table of gold, whereupon the shewbread was, And the candlesticks of pure gold, five on the right side, and five on the left [Here, we learn that the churches and the law of the Lord go together in some sense; in Revelation we learn that this signifies their kingship over the nations in the resurrection; for this is that by which they shall rule with a rod of iron; Revelation has only 7, not 10. The reason for this is the emphasis upon the priesthood of believers and of Christ], before the oracle, with the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs of gold, And the bowls, and the snuffers, and the basons, and the spoons, and the censers of pure gold; and the hinges of gold, both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, to wit, of the temple.

[These are the very same bowls and censers which show up in the Revelation in the hands of the angels, by which they pour out God's wrath in 21 steps -- which is actually three sets of 7. That by the testimony of two OR THREE witnesses is every matter established. Now each set of seven in the revelation actually turns out to represent a 7-fold version of what is portrayed. So these are actually 3 judgments from God, each of which is expressed in a seven-fold manner. For example, the 7 churches are THE catholic CHURCH; the seven promises -- if you isolate them and then line them up next to each other, you will see this -- are really simply 7 ways of promising one glorious truth -- the resurrection of all believers in Jesus to be kings and priests "with Him." With him signifies not His immediate personal presence, but their representation of Him -- for he has appointed them, and nothing will be more obvious than that when they rise from their graves and begin talking -- preaching the same message as that which they held when they died in faith. For they still have "One Lord, one faith, and one baptism."

These are presented in the Bible by way of typology earlier, where Esther and Solomon are the types of Christ, and of those in Christ (the Church), in the resurrection. The promises of Revelation, which Christ gives to believers, make this clear enough.

Now when Solomon was crowned, it says in Chronicles that "Solomon sat down on the throne OF THE LORD." It does not say, the "throne of Israel," or some other expected title. Solomon reigned on behalf of God as His appointed (adopted) son. At the coronation of the king it was pronounced "You are [now] my [adopted] son; this day have I begotten thee." Kings were seen as uniquely the sons of God. Therefore, when Luke retraces the genealogy of Christ to "Adam, the son of God," he implies the obvious -- Adam was the appointed ruler of planet earth with his wife. They were in charge by default if by no other means, and yet God clearly had ordained this. He said, take dominion over the birds, creatures and fish (i.e. rule them).

If only Adam had known -- serpents taste like chicken. And he had all the plants and herbs he needed to make a great barbecue sauce.

Thus, biblical sonship already entails the kingship of believers with their priesthood. It is the job, we learn from the example of Josiah, of both kings and priests to set the House of the Lord in order, to follow just so the liturgical pattern set forth in God's word for all his churches.

Thus, when Paul reproved the Corinthians for deviating from this pattern, he said, "the rest I will set in order when I come" [to see you personally]. To compel the believing people of God to do all according to the pattern Jesus gave to the apostles for the worship and government of the Church is to set in order the seven lampstands.

Exodus 39:37 forsees this happening -- in referring to the lampstands -- "The pure candlestick, with the lamps thereof, even with the lamps to be set in order ..."

The churches are to be set in order. Their purity depends upon this.

Exodus 40: 4 and 22-23 read:

And thou shalt bring in the table, and set in order the things that are to be set in order upon it; and thou shalt bring in the candlestick, and light the lamps thereof.

And he put the table in the tent of the congregation, upon the side of the tabernacle northward, without the vail. And he set the bread in order upon it before the LORD; as the LORD had commanded Moses.

Precise liturgy is a divine command. It must proceed according to divine "command." All things had to be set and carefully adjusted just so, if anything is plain from reading the excruciating details of the making of the tabernacle of Moses. This is not different in the New Testament, and is often called the "Regulative Principle of the Worship and Government of the Church."

Since this one principle is to govern every Church, they should look identical -- for the 7 lampstands look not one whit different one from another. Nor did the 10 lampstands of Solomon's making. In worship, diversity is idolatry, because it is a thing the Lord never commanded, and ought not to be done in all the Lord's House. The fact that it is HIS HOUSE means we need HIS permission by way of commandment, authoritative example, implied command (via the principles of the Word), or other form of divine warrant recognized in the Word itself as amounting to a divine command (as from the logical force of several commands taken together in their proper context).

Diversity of liturgy in God's house is plainly UNWANTED, or else the Lord would have said it. Thus it says, "one Lord, one faith, one baptism." If the Church is to be holy, catholic or one, it MUST BE apostolic in doctrine and liturgy. This can only come by faith (golden lampstands are golden for a reason). Apostolicity needs a warrant from the Word, or else the practice in question must be abolished. The "twelve" as the apostles are called, together with the Scripture-writing prophets form the foundation of the Church (Eph. 2:20), which is what makes it the "pillar and ground" [foundation] of truth (1 Tim. 3:15).

This means they form the foundation of the Church because they wrote the canon. There is no apostolic or prophetic voice apart from the canon.

Now these three elements, the altar of gold, the table of the showbread, and the lampstands (here candlesticks, as with revelation) -- each of these has applied to it uniquely the phrase "set in order," from the description of them found in Exodus 39 and 40. These were constructed under Moses originally, at the able hands of Bezalel, son of Ahisamach, and Oholiab his servant. What do these three elements have in common? Worship. The altar is the place of sacrifice. The table of the showbread somewhat obviously finds its counterpart in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. And the lampstands form a picture of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church -- with its liturgy set in order.

The Church can no more have diversity of its liturgy than it can have diverse Gospels to preach. If anyone preaches a different Gospel, Paul has a word from the Lord for them. It begins and ends with an "a." How can we regard the worship of the living God any less? The Reformers held that the worship of God was the one area of biblical teaching more important than even getting the Gospel straight. Now that's something. Where do you suppose they got that idea? "Whatsoever you do, whether in what you eat or in what you drink, do ALL THINGS for the glory of God."

To set them in order required them to follow exactly the divine pattern which was given to Moses from Mount Sinai. Just so, King David received the divine pattern for the making of the Temple from the Lord, which he gave to Solomon for the building of it, together with all manner of treasure for its building. Moses was told, and Hebrews repeats for us the divine command: "See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the Mount." You will notice there is no place in the word where it says regarding the liturgy, "you figure it out," "Use your own wisdom," or "just wing it."

The notion of one single [liturgical] pattern to which all churches of Christ must outwardly conform finds its teaching in Genesis [for the Lord set the creation in order and then had the tabernacle and Temple modeled upon it], all through the canon. Some of the textual features of these passages before us today, which make this clear are:

The very fact that only one pattern is given and there are many churches. This implies that all churches have the identical liturgical pattern; for "different weights and different measures, the Lord detests them both." He has but one standard and many churches which must follow it.

Second, each of the lampstands or candlesticks was made of identical features; there was supposed to be no difference in principle by which you could tell one lampstand from another; for they were of the same weight, size, shape, and color. They were all composed of pure gold, which signifies the faith of the community of saints before God.

Exodus 25:31 confirms that these were to be identical by divine design:

"And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same."

The purity of the churches depends upon the biblical integrity of their liturgical obedience to the Word of God.

Exodus 25:9 forms the general instruction under which all the work of the tabernacle was to proceed, including the making of the lampstands (above) --

"According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.

"Even so" means just precisely as ordered, without deviation from the pattern. What is the point of having a pattern if you can deviate from it?

Third, Revelation tells us plainly that these lampstands are the churches -- or seven-fold Church -- of the Lord Jesus. He walks in their midst, standing (as it were) exactly equadistant from each of the churches.

Fourth, he reproves and/ or praises all of them, treating them with no favoritism, but according to the special characters of each. These result from their IMPERFECTIONS -- sins -- which when eliminated would make them glorifed (which the brilliant beauty of the gold displays) and identical. This shows that liturgical diversity results from SIN, which is to be removed, so that the lampstand itself is not removed from Christ's presence.

Whole churches, even denominations, can be removed from His immediate presence. Even nations are to Him as a drop in the bucket for smallness. There is only safety in repentance and faith in Jesus, which requires conformity to the heavenly pattern God has given.

Fifth, All believers in Jesus share in one and the same priesthood. In the Bible, each priesthood has an exact order -- a priestly order -- in which all things holy have a precise divine design. It is the duty of the priests to conform all things under their charge to this order.

Sixth, it is the duty of kings to set the church of the Lord in order under their jurisdiction. The original Westminster Confession of Faith confirms this, leaning to passages like 1 Chronicles, where King Josiah has the praise of the Holy Spirit for setting in order the Church of the Lord and holding the most biblically faithful passover ever, since the days of Samuel the prophet and priest.

Technically precise liturgical fidelity is not considered undue fastidiousness in the Word. Just the opposite. It is considered loyalty to God and such fidelity displays holiness, and zeal for God. The one who treats the worship of God lightly is the one the Scripture points to as the slacker, who either shows a lack of concern about God's glory, or simply does his ministerial work incompetently, or half-heartedly.

2 Chronicles 34:33 says of King Josiah by way of summary:

"And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all that were present in Israel to serve, even to serve the LORD their God. And all his days they departed not from following the LORD, the God of their fathers."

The next chapter continues (2 Chronicles 35: 1-3):

Moreover Josiah kept a passover unto the LORD in Jerusalem: and they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. And he set the priests in their charges, and encouraged them to the service of the house of the LORD, And said unto the Levites that taught all Israel, which were holy unto the LORD, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel did build; it shall not be a burden upon your shoulders: serve now the LORD your God, and his people Israel ..."

Verse 18 summarizes Josiah's fidelity to God thus:

"And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this passover kept."

Thus the Holy Spirit heaps praise upon Josiah for his great zeal in pursuing the commandments of God to their least detail, to see to it that the worship of God proceeds only according to the divine commandment.

Today's lesson? Go ye and do likewise, according to what the Lord has commanded. See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you in the Word. The catholicity of the Church of Jesus Christ, and its purity, begins here. For the law of the Lord is perfect; and the commandment is a lamp for our feet, and a light for our path.