In the sixteenth chapter of Matthew's Gospel, and the thirteenth verse, Jesus asks His disciples, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" The disciples' reply indicates that people have differing opinions on the subject. Jesus then asks them who they themselves think He is. Peter answers this by saying that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God (verse 16). Jesus' response to Peter's profession of faith is the starting point for our present topic:

Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." (Matthew 16:17-18)

    The word rendered church in the New Testament is translated from the Greek word ekklesia, which simply means "an assembly": it is a group of people. But the fact that Jesus speaks of building His church implies that this group of people will have some sort of organization; it will be structured, like a building. So, our task is to search the scriptures, and find out just what the structure of Christ's church is.

    Our first impulse, being creatures of flesh living in a material world, is to look for a physical structure. We want to see some kind of visible organization, preferably with a centralized source of authority, much like a government or a business. We feel comfortable with the idea of some individual person, or perhaps a small group similar to a board of directors, that provides guidance and instruction for the entire organization. That being the case, let us look for the physical structure of the church as described in the New Testament.

    When we look for the visible organization of Jesus' disciples in the New Testament, we will notice right away that they were organized into groups according to where they lived. These local groups were called, interestingly enough, churches. Thus, we see the church in Jerusalem mentioned in Acts 11:22. We see the church that was at Antioch discussed in Acts 13:1. In Acts 15:41, we find the apostle Paul traveling through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. The same Paul wrote to the disciples in Rome: The churches of Christ greet you (Romans 16:16). From these and many similar passages, it is abundantly clear that the people in Jesus' church are organized into local churches. We will look at the organization within the local church in a future issue. But what about the next level of organization? And where is the central human authority that oversees and directs all of these churches? The simple answer is, that there is none.

    Many will wonder at this point, "How can this be? Doesn't someone need to watch over and guide and direct all of these scattered groups?" Or, "How can God be so disorganized?" Such questions as these are perfectly natural. Being physical creatures, we think of things on physical, material terms. But we need to remember that God is not a physical being, as Jesus taught the woman He met at Jacob's well. This woman, being a Samaritan, believed that the geographical center of worship was Mount Gerizim. The Jews, of whom Jesus was one, had their temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. When the woman realized that Jesus was a prophet (John 4:20), she asked Him who was correct, the Jews or the Samaritans. Jesus' reply indicated that geography would no longer matter under the new covenant. Moreover, He added: God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. (John 4:24)

    In fulfilling the Law which God gave through Moses, Jesus revealed that the various material things stressed in the Law were representative of spiritual realities. In the Law of Moses God ordained a fleshly priesthood, a physical temple (which began as a tent, or tabernacle), the burning of lamps and incense, animal sacrifices, and things of that nature. In the new covenant in Christ, we find that all of these tangible things were designed by God as imitations of intangible things. The physical things were the copies, whereas the spiritual things are the real - or true - things. Under the new covenant, we no longer concern ourselves with the copies, but rather the spiritual and the true.

    The incense, for example, was burned before the mercy seat as a representation of prayer ascending before God (Revelation 5:8). There is no mention throughout the New Testament of Christians lighting physical incense. As for the lampstand in the tabernacle (and later the temple), which was to be kept burning continually, it shed a light which was representative of the light of truth and righteousness - the Word of God (John 1:1-18; IJohn 1:5). Now that the true light has been manifested in the person of Jesus Christ, there is no longer any purpose in using physical lights to represent Him.

    Also, under the new covenant all of God's people are His priests (IPeter 2:10) who offer spiritual sacrifices such as praise to God and sharing with those who have need (Hebrews 13:15-16), and in fact devote their lives to God in Christ (IICorinthians 5:14-15; Romans 12:1). Unlike the Old Testament, the New Testament makes no provision for any particular group among the Christians to be set apart as priests. Each and every Christian is called upon to set aside selfish desire and ambition, and give his life to Christ: He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it. (Matthew 10:39) Every one of God's people, then, is set apart unto God, and devotes himself to serving God. The Old Testament priesthood was defined physically: it was composed of the male descendants of Moses' brother, Aaron. The New Testament priesthood is defined spiritually: it is composed of all those who willingly and wholeheartedly devote themselves to God according to truth. The definition of the priesthood is the same as the definition of God's people, the church.

    Understanding the spiritual nature of the church that Jesus built is a key to understanding its structure, because it is a spiritual structure. What do I mean by "spiritual structure"? Well, keeping in mind that every one of Christ's people is a priest, we understand that the Old Testament priesthood foreshadowed the spiritual nature of God's people as revealed through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, when we recall that in the old priesthood there was a special office of high priest, and that it was the high priest's responsibility and privilege to go through the veil (curtain) to the holiest part of the temple and make atonement for the sins of all the people, we begin to wonder whether this office was a foreshadow of someone specific. Of course, we don't need to keep on wondering; the answer is clearly stated in the fourth chapter of the book of Hebrews, and the fourteenth verse, where we are told that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God. So our High Priest is not on earth. Unlike the mortal high priests of the old covenant, Jesus became High Priest according to the power of an endless life (Hebrews 7:16), and so He retains His ministry forever. And the priests who serve under Him are answerable to Him, not to human authority. We need no earthly guide, so long as we keep our minds and hearts fixed on our heavenly High Priest, and follow Him faithfully; For we walk by faith, and not by sight (IICorinthians 5:7).

    Clearly, our High Priest is infinitely superior to any mortal, fleshly high priest. And it is evident that, having such a High Priest, we do not need an earthly supplement. On the contrary, He is the fulfillment of the entire line of fleshly high priests whom God ordained to minister in the physical tabernacle/ temple of the old covenant. If we try to re-establish an earthly priesthood, we miss the point that Jesus has done away with all such things, and we fail to recognize the awesome power of His sacrifice, which completely erases the sin which separated us from God (Hebrews 10:11-18). So then, we as God's people are also His priests, and we have direct access to Him through our High Priest, Jesus Christ. The Hebrew writer sums it up:

Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer. For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. (Hebrews 8:1-5)

    Now we begin to see that the church Jesus built has a spiritual structure. We cannot see the organization with our fleshly eyes, but it is nonetheless organized: Jesus Himself is the High Priest, and all His people obey Him.

    The people were complaining again. This time, they were tired of eating the manna God had given them to eat - food which they did nothing to earn, but was rained down from the sky for them:

And the people spoke against God and against Moses: "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread." (Numbers 21:5)

    It must also be remembered that God's patience did not preclude His teaching them some painful lessons. He regarded the nation of Israel as His son (Exodus 4:23). Like any good parent, God exercised purposeful and goal-oriented discipline to guide His people to think and behave appropriately. And this time, when they again complained about the manna He had given them, was an occasion when they seemed especially to need one of those lessons:

So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died. (Numbers 21:6)

Therefore the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from among us." So Moses prayed for the people. (Numbers 21:7)

    However, the solution which God provides on this particular occasion appears somewhat enigmatic:

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live." So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. (Numbers 21:8-9)

It seems strange that God would have Moses make an image of the very thing that the people were dying from, in order to cure them. The snakes were what were killing the people, and yet God told Moses to raise up an image of these very snakes as an antidote. But, like all of God's solutions, it worked: whoever looked at the snake on the pole survived.

    This, of course, leads us to the New Testament, written some 1500 years after the book of Numbers. Here we see God's ultimate solution to man's fundamental problem:

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:14,15)

So we see that God had arranged the lesson of the fiery serpents to provide yet another foreshadow of Christ. Just as the bronze serpent was hung up on a pole for all to see, so also was Jesus on the cross. Here is another one of those coincidences! How could there be so many stories in the Old Testament, each one very different from the others, yet all parallel to Jesus? There is only one way that could happen, because only God can reveal the future. The snake on the pole, then, provides us one more piece of evidence that scripture is inspired by God.

    Now, in order to see the parallels more accurately, let us consider again the words of Jesus we just read from the Gospel of John. First, note that Jesus said that eternal life awaited whoever believes in Him; clearly, if we believe in Him, we will believe whatever He said, including this:

"Not everyone who says to Me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven." (Matthew 7:21)

    So then, when we look to Jesus with eyes of faith, we must respond appropriately to what we see in order to avail ourselves of the cure. But what is it that He cures?

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace (Ephesians 1:7).

He cures us of sin, against which we are all helpless:

Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly I say to you, whoever commits sin is the slave of sin." (John 8:34)

And we are all trapped in this state of bondage:

. . . for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)

And we would rather not have earned our slave wages:

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23)

Just as the Israelites were helpless against the snake's venom, so are we against the consequences of our sin. Just as the snake bite led to death, so also sin. In fact, sin is the fundamental ailment of mankind, and in Jesus God has provided the cure for all those who will look to Him.

    There is one more peculiarity about the bronze serpent: it looked like the very thing for which it was the cure. But Jesus, the cure for sin, was pure and sinless (Hebrews 4:15). So, how is this

parallel? Well, although He had no sin in Himself, nonetheless He did carry sin with Him to the cross:

[Jesus] Himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness - by whose stripes you were healed. (IPeter 2:24)

In fact, He so fully took on the sins of the world, that the apostle Paul expressed it this way:

For [God] made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (IICorinthians 5:21)

Jesus in effect became sin - the very thing for which He is the cure - on the cross: and thereby sin was punished. In this way, God was able to be both just and merciful, to punish sin while at the same time extending His offer of lovingkindness to the sinner:

. . . to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:26)

In order to be just, God cannot let evil go unpunished. And, God is absolutely just (Romans 3:3-4). But God is also merciful, and because of His love for us, He willed that there be some way we could escape the consequences of our sins. That way is Jesus Christ.

    So now, the imagery is complete. The people were helpless against the snake bite, as we all are against sin: in both cases, God's mercy is required for anyone to escape. The result of the snake bite was death, as is the case with sin. The bronze serpent was raised up on a pole for all to see, as was Jesus on the cross. And Jesus on the cross, like the snake on the pole, represented the very thing for which He was the cure. Thus the incident with the fiery serpents provides us with one more vivid foreshadow of Jesus, a foreshadow written 1500 years before He offered Himself for us.

    A clergyman of a major denomination once told me, "You're a slave to the Bible; you don't love it. That's not right." Evidently, his idea of love is of something that is inconsistent with submission and obedience. That idea is in stark contrast with Jesus' words, "If you love Me, keep My commandments" (John 14:15). Notice that Jesus connects love with obedience. Moreover, He does not say, "some of My commandments," or, "these particular commandments of Mine," but simply, "keep My commandments." Evidently, His intent is that we keep all of His commandments. That is, we are to submit to Him completely. Sounds kind of like a slave, doesn't it?

    In fact, the apostle Paul uses that very expression to illustrate the degree to which Christians are to submit to God:

    Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:15-23)

    There may be some who are now thinking, "It says be slaves to God, not to the Bible." True enough. But if I am going to be God's slave, I need to do what He wants me to do. As the Lord Himself put it, I must keep His commandments. What are His commandments? Where are they recorded? According to Paul:

If anyone thinks Himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord. (ICorinthians 14:37)

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. (II Timothy 3:16-17)

    If the scripture contains the commandments of the Lord, and is indeed sufficient to equip me for every good work, that tells me some things. First, I need to submit to what it says. Second, it tells me that everything I need to know to please God is in the Bible; I do not need to look for any instructions other than those contained therein.

    The Bible, then, is God's word. To say that I am a slave to God, but not to the Bible, is to contradict myself. Jesus Himself calls upon us to express our love to Him by obeying Him, and He saw to it that His commandments were committed to writing. Unless I think myself to be smarter than He is, I will willingly submit myself wholeheartedly to His written word.

    Yes, I do love the Bible, and for that very reason I am a slave to it.