The Emerging Church

In the pristine clarity of the early morning’s light he stood gazing about him at the splendor and wonder that enveloped him.

It was morning, though he had yet to distinguish light from the darkness; indeed, he had never known the darkness. It was The morning of the Seventh Day, and he rested. He did not know why – it was more intuition than it was comprehension, since he had only been here for twenty-four hours, although time meant nothing to him, and he could not have recognized even its methodical passage.

The place where he stood gave him clear view of the thing he knew was Perfection. It was beyond glorious and good. It was greater than Imagination could conjure - More majestic than any artist save One could ever dream to paint. The place was called Eden: The Garden of God. A garden created and fashioned by the very hand of God. This was a Place formed by true, immense and all-encompassing Love to provide, to supply the Creator’s creation with everything needed for joy, peace, comfort, security, love, shelter and assurance. Nothing, utterly nothing which man needed had been omitted. It was all there for him, existed for him, the man, hu-man God called Adam. There was nothing to add, nothing to achieve or accomplish. There could be no striving, no effort to accomplish. The Garden was in itself, Perfection. Every tree planted provided sustenance and satisfaction. Every tree was available to him – except the one tree: The tree God had prohibited him from touching, from partaking of, from being distracted by.

Adam did know know why, and it did not occur to him to enquire regarding that solitary tree; all about him was abundance, and around him was the Presence. He knew the Presence to be Father, and more than Father. He knew kabod, though he could not know the word. He knew the Presence of Glory as a new-born infant knows relationship, dependency, a drawing forth, a union with its mother. Without conscious thought, there is knowledge. Without verbal communication, there is communion.

He was at rest on The morning of the Seventh Day, yet he did not know from what he rested. He only knew that this was a day when labor was unnecessary, unknown.

He could not know that another already had launched a diabolical strategy to destroy this Rest, to introduce dull labor, to require harsh employment, to visit Adam with stark and merciless death.

It would have to do with the tree, and it would require another tree to rectify what would be spoiled by the fruit of that first tree.

He stood, gazing once again over the hills that cradled the place of Peace, the city of God – Jerusalem. And He wept. “Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that killed the prophets, and stones them which are sent to you, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not!” In mere hours He would die. He would lay down His own life for the sins of mankind. This Second Adam.

Because of the spoil of a singular tree in another Garden, He would move from the shadows of other trees, in the Garden of the Oil Press to a low hill outside the City gates, and there be fixed to the tree that would heal the damage all mankind had felt since Adam's expulsion from that first Garden.

“And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.”

This Man, this Second Adam, Jesus, had said, “I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

He had spoken of a church – literally, a "circle," since the word He used for the English word "church" was "kyriakon" meaning "the Lord's house," a word the Anglo-Saxons would call "circe" and the French would call "cirque." And He promised He would build His church, and the first elements of that building were laid “When the Day of Pentecost was fully come.” That church, the “Early Church” quickly was filled with the power of His resurrection Spirit. That church grew, flourished, and changed rapidly as it spread to cultures and peoples and the fertile, foreign soil of Gentile hearts.

And then the march of time and the ways of man and the insidious infiltration of Satanic influence invaded the Church. And again the Church was changed. Her original glory – the beauty of her collective Face, the Image of Christ stamped upon her was altered, metamorphosed, transformed – marred. From a work of beauty and grace, the church began to reflect the darkened image of the flesh. Trading power and anointing for political might and man-made schemes, the church became a shell of what it was when astonishment filled the hearts of those gathered in Jerusalem on that first Pentecost after Jesus had ascended to the right hand of the Father. Birthed to become a reflection of the glory of the very King and Creator of all that exists, the church had become a dwelling place of demons and a habitation of wickedness. Blackness, confusion, misunderstanding, filled the House of the Lord. Wandering in directionless confusion, the beauty of the Church was shorn; as the head of a woman is shaved to declare to all that she is a prostitute.

The qualities of mercy, grace, love, nurture and truth became the first casualties. The war for the soul of the Church had begun. It would not require a rebellious and fallen angel called Lucifer to strike the heart of God’s purpose in the earth – man himself would inflict some of the greatest wounds in the heart of the Body Jesus died to create.

And in the latter time, when the generation upon whom the ends of the earth had come, a stirring would be perceived. A rustling of something, long dead would begin to be heard. Here a bone, there a bone; cartilage and sinew would join the rising sound – disjointed, dissonant, discordant, cacophonous yet promising one day to become a symphony of pure melody and harmony. Then flesh would appear, and finally, the ruach, the very breath of God would breathe upon and within and dead bones would live again.

A church would once again Emerge. As Bethlehem heard an Infant cry that Night, so out of the Manger of His preparation would come a Living Body, infant in expression, yet abundant in promise. As Jerusalem heard the sound as of a rushing, mighty wind that Morning, so out of the Strangeness of His doing would come a Living Church, infant again in expression, yet filled with power and potential.

As life moves in a circle, so the manifestation of God's Church moves as does His Kingdom, in a circular fashion, knowing no beginning and having no end. The beginning inseparable and indistinguishable from the ending. The "circe," the "cirque," the "circle" Jesus spoke of when He declared, "I will build My church" is now emerging. The "New" is the "Old." The Latter is the Former. The Last is the First.

This is the Emerging Church. This is the brilliance of the Genesis - of the beginning.

This is the certain and sure eventuality of His purpose, His timing and His enablement. We are the people; members in particular of this generation upon whom the ends of the world have come. We have been called out, chosen and prepared to enter the Harvest Fields of His planting and to reap that which others have prepared, watered, tended, prayed for, hoped and longed to see.

We are they who will bring in the harvest for the King of Glory.