Wilderness Church, Canaan Church, Church of God

In 1 Corinthians 1:2『Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: 』

First, we need to know what the Bible refers to as the church. In the world, the building and all the members of the church who worship in the building are collectively called the church. Therefore, buildings are sometimes called tangible churches and believers are called intangible churches. However, it is unreasonable to call a building a church and to say that all believers are saved believers. The church in the Bible refers to believers who have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, and where the believers gather, the power of God is located. Today, during the coronavirus era, there has been a situation where worship services are offered on the Internet. It is not a church building, but each person worships on the Internet at home. I don't recommend internet worship, but those who claim the building are churches fall into a dilemma in this situation.

Looking at the saints who can be called churches, based on 1 Corinthians 1:2, first that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints. Being sanctified is that you have been set apart from the world. People call the church Ecclesia in Greek. Sitting in a church building does not mean that everyone is a saint who has become holy.

 Because in the church there are those who love the world, not distinct from the world. And, 『with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: 』 Those who call on Jesus Christ contain the confession that Jesus Christ is Lord. So, those who call on Jesus are servants of Jesus Christ. The servant does everything with his master. Only those who are united with Jesus Christ, who died on the cross, can be Jesus' servants. Just calling on the name of Jesus does not mean becoming a servant of Jesus. So, the church is the church who becomes one with the Father in Christ.

From this point of view, we can see that there are three types of churches. Based on the exodus of Israel, it can be divided into the Wilderness Church, the Canaanite Church, and the Church of God. The church (ecclesia), separated from the world, looks like Israel from Egypt. However, some of the Israelites who left Egypt died in the wilderness, some went into Canaan, and some found Christ in Canaan.

The Israelites who were exodus could not enter Canaan, and those who died in the wilderness could be compared to the wilderness church.Joshua, Caleb, and the new people born in the wilderness entered Canaan. Those who did not find Christ are the Canaanite Church. However, the very few who find Christ in the law become the church of God.

The characteristic of the wilderness church is that it did not enter Canaan. At that time, Anakjason lived in Canaan. God said that when he entered Canaan, he would give him the promised land, but most of the people believed the words of ten spies and abandoned God's promise. Today, even in the church, those who do not believe even though they have the word of God's promise fall under this category. When they come into Christ, they are still trying to solve the problem of sin by themselves, even though God says he does not ask for all the sins of the world.

Although the Bible says promises, they are those who look at the problems that occur in reality with the eyes of the flesh. They react to all situations in the flesh. So, the people of the Wilderness Church love to experience miracles and complain a lot. Although they were able to escape from Egypt with the blood of the Passover Lamb, they forsook God's promises with their natural eyes and were destroyed in the wilderness. Today, they claim to have become God's people by relying on the blood of Jesus Christ, but when they look at the word of God's promise with their own fleshly eyes, they are ultimately thrown into the second death.

Although in Romans 8:1-2, 『There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Even if you say,'The people of the Wilderness Church look at them with the eyes of the flesh, so they do not believe the promises of God. The words in Romans 8:1-2 are linked to those in Romans 6:7. Those who enter Christ are those who are united with Jesus Christ on the Cross.

The characteristic of the Canaanite Church is those who believed in God's promises and entered Canaan, but only rely on the law that God gave. Those who entered Canaan went under the guidance of Joshua and Caleb. These two were two of the twelve spies, who believed in the promise that God would give this land, even though they had ananax son. Other than these two, none of the people who had been exodus believed. The word Joshua means "Jehovah saves."

Joshua was an Israelite, but Caleb was a Gentile. The Israelites who entered Canaan were new people born in the wilderness besides Joshua. They accepted the law of God, entered Canaan, and lived by keeping the law.

The two men, Joshua and Caleb, were the two spies at the time, but in view of the premise of the salvation of Israel and the Gentiles, spiritual Israel could not enter Canaan, and Joshua (Jehovah) and Caleb (Gentile) eventually entered Canaan. Through this, we can understand that the Gentiles will be saved first. Physically, Joshua is an Israelite, but spiritually, it means that Jehovah saves the Gentiles first.

The meaning of the name of the man Caleb means dog. Dog is the term Israel used to refer to the Gentiles. In Mark 7:27, ``But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs. This is what Jesus said when a Gentile (Slobonige) woman begged Jesus to heal her daughter when her daughter was demon-possessed. Jesus was trying to test this woman's faith.

When Jesus came to this world, the first people to be saved were paralyzed people, widows, orphans, tax collectors, and sinners who were marginalized from society at the time. This is because the Israelites who kept the law thoroughly considered themselves righteous. So, they are those who have not found Christ. However, orphans, widows, and sinners can be said to be those who have found Christ. The Church of God is those who discover Christ and live only in the Word of Christ. However, today there are people who believe in Jesus Christ and say that they have been saved but are still trapped in the net of the law. They are not the church of God, but the Canaanite church.

Today, the lawful in the church, by still paying tithing, saying church buildings are temples, insisting that the Sabbath (Sunday) must be observed, trying to keep the feasts, or other laws of the law, they sin themselves. These are those who believe that they should look to see if they do not.

The church of God is those who are united with God only in Christ. They are those who are born again of water and the Holy Spirit. They are believers in dying and resurrection together on the cross of Jesus Christ. After all, those who live a life of self-denial are the Church of God.