April 19, 2020

As I have said many times before during worship, I love to be together with the saints of Zion! Although it looks like believers have several weeks of “stay-at-home” orders still ahead, we can know as the Church of God that we are together in a way that is more real than our ability or inability to meet in person. Why is that? Because we are part of his worldwide Body, his kingdom is within us, and his Spirit makes us one, no matter what our circumstances are.

When talking with the Samaritan woman in John 4, Jesus said that it wasn’t about a mountain or a specific place that worship of Yahweh would happen in the coming kingdom. Rather, it was about worshipping “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23). He was taking worship to its truest form, where the Spirit would no longer be in the temple but, rather, in the heart of every believer. It is the kingdom of God, which is the true “mountain,” that fills the earth (Daniel 2:34-45), and all Christians are a part of that, bound together by his Spirit.

Just as Eden was a garden on a mountain meant to fill the earth, and the temple on its mount was to be a place from which healing was to flow to the nations, the Church carries the kingdom to the ends of the earth. This “great mountain” will fill the earth one heart at a time, each aflame with God’s Spirit. There will be no end to this kingdom, and in it, all of creation is made new. We see a beautiful picture of the ultimate fulfillment of this in Revelation 21 & 22, when the Church, the Bride of Christ, comes down out of heaven as a holy city, and the tree of life is there, providing healing for the nations.

So, during this time of separation for all of us, remember that we are still the Church, and we are one in the Spirit. We are part of his kingdom, which is not “on hold” – it is still moving forward and filling the earth, even as we are mostly confined to our homes. We are still able to be “salt and light” to those in our households, neighborhoods, and communities. How we live and show love to those around us matters. We are called to fill the earth with his goodness, each of us in our own unique way, even in this time that is like no other. And soon, we will be able to gather again, and what a gift that will be!

God bless you all,

Matt Weaver, Elder