- 6. The Word out of the Church
Isaiah 2:3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
The mountain of the Lord is the Church; the house of the God of Jacob is the Church; Zion is the Church; Jerusalem is the Church. Each of these terms is a metaphor for the New Testament Church, the people of God who believe in Jesus Christ. The promise is that the Word of God comes to the world’s people out of the Church.
The prophecy is that people will invite people to the Church, saying. “Let’s go to church.” The promise is that God will teach us in the church; God promises that His Word will go out from the church. It is the Word of Gospel that changes lives. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. The Gospel saves, not the Church, but it is the Church that sends out the Gospel.
The Church will preach the Gospel in all the world. People will be invited to the church in all the world. People in all the world will be saved by the Gospel. Because this promise is true there are several implications for us: we need to go to church for the purpose of hearing the Gospel; we need to make sure we are going to a local church that preaches the Gospel (not all do so); we need to invite other people, “Let us go to church to hear the Gospel;” we need to be willing to do all we can to support the true work of the church, which is the preaching of the Gospel to all people.
The promise is being fulfilled: the Church preaches, teaches, translates, publishes, prints, distributes, and converses about the Word of the Lord. The Word of the Lord is disseminated through the people of God, the believers in Christ. The unbelieving world is invited to “go up to the mountain of the Lord.” There the Word goes out, and there the Gospel saves.