28: 19) The Gospel to be taught was indeed “good tidings of great joy to all
peoplen- Jew and Gentile, bond and free, rich and poor, male and female- uli
people. But how many have received the Gospel Message? has God been at-
tempting to convert the world in this Age? If not, what work has He been do-
ing? The Apostle Peter tells us that “God did visit the Gentiles, to take out of
them a people for His name.” (Acts 15: 14) He did not take all of them, but has
been taking out or selecting from among them ( selection again, you see) a
people to bear His NAME.
(Illustration of a gentleman selecting a wife to bear his name-not any woman,
nor every woman, but his choice. Make comparison of the Bride of Christ, said
by the Apostle to be “espoused as a chaste virgin.”)
Another figure used by the Apostles to signify the intimate relationship exist-
ing between Christ and those whom He selects to bear His name is that of the
“head” and the “body.” Christ is “the HEAD over all things to the Church,
which is His Body. “(Eph. 1:22,23) But not all who name the name of Christ
will bear His name and share His glory as “heirs of God and joint heirs with
Jesus Christ.” Only the faithful overcomers will be so favored, “To him that
overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in
My Throne.”-Rom. 8:17; Rev. 3:21
(Refer to the type of lsaac and Rebecca, the latter as the bride becoming the
joint-heir with lsaac of all his father’s riches. So the Church is to be Joint-heir
with Christ.)
This (Christ, and His Bride. bearing His name) is the “Seed of Abraham” to
whom pertains the Promise made away back here (point) to Abraham-“In
blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply THY SEED as the
stars of the heaven and as the sand upon the seashore; and in thy Seed shall all
the nations ofthe earth be blessed.” Gen. 22:17, 18
The Apostle tells us, in referring to the type of lsaac and Rebecca, that those
things were an “allegory”-not that such persons as Isaac and Rebecca did not
exist, but that, while those events really transpired, they were typical, or repre-
sentative, of the union between Christ and the Church; and that as Isaac was
the “seed of promise” through whom a blessing would come, and through
whose natural seed part of the Promise will be fulfilled, so Christ, as the real
Seed of Abraham and Heir of the Promise, becomes the Agent through whom
all the families of the earth will be blessed. This the Apostle shows in the third
chapter of Galatians, verse 16″and
to thy Seed, which is Christ ;” and if we
read down to the 29th verse we shall see that ail who are Christ’s (all who are
of the people taken out for His name) become joint-hein with him in the Abra-
hamic Promise. It reads, “If ye be Christ’s, then are YE ABRAHAM’S SEED,
AND HEIRS according to the Promise.”