Discuss Gaffin’s statement: “the locus of Christ’s ascension-power is the suffering church.”

The ultimate promise of Christ’s ascension is that we, as his church, will walk the same path of suffering as he did as we are brought into perfect union with him and his death and resurrection. We can not partake in the beauty and hope of his resurrection without first being married to his death and suffering.

John the Baptist foretold of this suffering to come in John 1: 32-34, when he said, “The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.” This baptism with the Holy Spirit will truly be a propitiatory event as Christ will take upon himself the suffering that we should endure and cover us up with his righteousness uniting us with Christ. If we are united to Christ and are to gain everlasting life it will only come at the expense of this life and the uniting of our lives to his death and suffering.

Paul experienced this suffering throughout his ministry as he was forced to bare many hardships and pain, so that he could also bare witness to the risen Lord, Jesus Christ. He expounds in 2 Corinthians 12: 10, “That is why for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” This strength comes from the sufficiency of God’s grace as seen earlier in 2 Corinthians 12. As we are united to Christ’s sufferings and hardships, his grace, his power, his love are seen through our lives.

Finally, we see that our salvation only comes as our lives are united to Christ and life becomes intertwined with death. In similar passages of Luke 9 and Mark 10 Jesus Christ says, “…and whoever wants to be first must be a slave to all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” In order to gain life, we must die and must suffer. We must always act in contradiction to the old man, the sinful nature that seeks to preserve life and comfort at all cost. Jesus Christ calls us to forsake our comfort, to forsake our lives for a life of service to those around us. We are to take up his cross daily and follow him in suffering, in death, but ultimately in hope and life. For being united to Christ’s death, also means being united to Christ’s resurrection, which is our ultimate hope. Even in our daily suffering for Christ, there is hope that is made perfect in our weakness and fragility. That is how Christ’s ascension-power is realized through the suffering of the church.

According to Clowney, what is the structure of Christ’s church (be specific)?

Edmund Clowney provides the marks of the Christ’s church as the orderly worship of God, the proper administration of the sacraments and the faithful observance of church discipline. The marks of the church are realized through the preaching of God’s word, through the discipleship of God’s people and through the mission of God’s people to the world.

First off, our God is a God of order as seen through creation and through the giving of his law and word to his people. God does not call us to worship in any way other than one that is pleasing to him. Clowney quotes Calvin on this subject as focusing our worship on only what the Bible says is appropriate and not adding anything more to it than that.

The second mark of the church is the proper administration of the sacraments. Because our worship is meant to be orderly and because God has given the honor and responsibility of the means of grace to his officers of the church, they must exercise that responsibility properly. The means of grace while a blessing for God’s covenant people, are also a curse for those that would not know the Lord. God has established within his new covenant assembly the responsibility to administer the sacrament of baptism or the sign and seal of faith in Christ, and the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper as an ongoing participation in the covenant promises.

The third and final mark of the Christ’s church according to Clowney is the faith observance of church discipline. All church discipline should be carried out in such way to lead a sinner back to the life saving grace that is only found in Jesus Christ. This observance can be carried out through the proper withholding of the sacraments, but is only done so to lead one to repentance and humility. Again, this a great responsibility that Christ has given to his church to mark it has his.

We will see these marks of Christ’s church as the faithful, biblical teaching of God’s word is heard, as God’s people are nurtured and disciplined in their sanctification process of becoming more and more like Christ and as those that call on the name of Christ as their savior share this message in word and deed with the world to bring about healing, love, hope and ultimately saving faith in Jesus Christ’s name alone.

How is the New Testament church related to Old Testament Israel?

There is continuity between the people of God in the Old Testament and the people of God in the New Testament. This relationship is established through the coming together or assembly of the people, the fulfillment of the promises to Abraham, and in the coming of the King of Israel to establish his earthly kingdom.

The definitive historical event for Israel’s covenant assembly or quhal was established at Mount Sinai in Exodus 19 when God said to the house of Jacob, “out of all the nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” God set this people, this assembly apart for himself to establish his covenant relationship with them as he promised to preserve them. This continuity is preserved in the New Testament with the coming together of God’s covenant assembly or ekklesia when in Matthew 16 Jesus Christ says, “I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.” Jesus Christ fulfills the promises to the Old Testament people of the assembly by preserving for himself the people of the New Testament assembly.

This preservation was promised to Abraham in Genesis 17 when the Lord said, “You will be the father of many nations…I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants.” The Apostle Paul reveals to us in Galatians 4 that being united to Christ has made us sons of the free woman, the true sons of Abraham. Jesus Christ has fulfilled his promise to Abraham in the New Covenant sons of Abraham with the grafting in of Gentiles into the family of God.

Finally, Jesus Christ is the coming of the true King of Israel as he forever binds his Lordship to his New Covenant people, the Church. In Matthew 18: 18 - 20, Jesus Christ once again reveals his kingship to forgive or loose and to bind or judge those on earth as he promises this to his new covenant assembly. The son of David has brought about the fulfillment of his promises to return and bring with him the Kingdom of Heaven as seen throughout the Gospel of Matthew.

The uniting of the Kingship of our Lord Jesus Christ to the Kingdom of Heaven, together with the fulfillment of the promises to Abraham and the parallel between the Old and New covenant assemblies grafts the new covenant believers to the covenant made with God’s people in the Old Testament. The church of today calls on very same God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to bring about salvation to the world and make Abraham a true father of many nations.