Christ the Builder of His Church
by Fred G. Zaspel

            In 1982 the Marxist government in Ethiopia closed all of the Meserete Kristos Churches and put their leaders in prison. It was the beginning of a terrible time of Christian persecution. The church went underground and continued meeting in homes. After the overthrow of the Marxist government in 1991, the church resurfaced to discover that they had grown tenfold from 5,000 to 50,000 believers.

            Amazing, isn’t it? But this is a great part of the history of the Christian church — advance through persecution. The church was still in its very infancy when it found that the society around it dd not approve. In Acts 4-5 its leaders were hauled before the authorities, whipped, and threatened with severe persecution if they continued to preach in the name of Jesus. Yet we read that in the aftermath that “the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly” (Acts 6:7). Throughout the book of Acts and on through the centuries it has been the same — “advance through storm” as one famous church historian put it. Through Roman emperors and Russian Czars and Marxist tyrants and societal paganism it seems that every attempt the adversary has made to stamp out the gospel flame has resulted only in spreading the sparks to begin new fires. Russia, China, Viet Nam, Ethiopia — consistently, history has witnessed up to our own day the advancement of the Christian gospel at the hands of those who sought only to extinguish it.

            Observing all this forces us to recall that the church is not merely a human enterprise. In Matthew 16:18 Jesus said, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” The success of Christ’s church is a cause the Lord Jesus has taken upon himself. He reigns as universal Lord, and in the exercise of his sovereign rule his church moves forward. “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it” — every attempt has proven futile.

            Isn’t it reassuring to know that the success of the gospel lies in Christ’s hands and not ours? Certainly, we are responsible to be faithful, and we must recognize that it is largely through the faithfulness of his people that Christ carries on his work. But ultimately, the success or failure of the gospel does not lie in our hands but in his. To me, that is a very comforting thought. I have seen in the pages of history and in my own life and experience enough failure to expect the whole gospel enterprise to come to a screeching halt. But no, Christ rules over even our failures, and we may be assured that his plan is not one step behind the divine schedule.

            The Roman empire and emperors — Nero, Diocletian, and all the worst of them — are all gone. But the church is still here. In our own generation we have seen the fall of communism, one of the chief persecutors of Christians history has ever produced. Twenty-five years ago we would not have believed it, but it is dying. And Christ’s church is still here and thriving, “by schisms torn asunder, by enemies distressed,” but still alive and well. In communist China today the church is thriving in staggering proportions — fifty years ago who would have thought it? Christ’s promise to build his church has not fallen to the ground. His church building program is right on schedule.

            What is true of the church collectively is true of each believer individually. The Lord Jesus Christ has promised to keep us all until that glorious day when the entire redeemed church is gathered to sing its collective praise to him whose reign of grace has triumphed in final victory over all his enemies — to the salvation of his people and to the glory of the Triune God.

            And recall how this victory was won. It was won through awful persecution — through a cruel and unjust execution of an innocent man on a criminal’s cross. God has a habit of this. He takes the world’s worst and sovereignly works through it all to accomplish his own good pleasure for us.