The True and Only Christian Mission

The new testament Greek word for 'church' is ekklesia (ek-klay-see'-ah), which literally means "a calling out" (Strong's). Concerning the position of Christians in this present world, the only correct biblical teaching is that those individuals who make up the true church, or, the body of Christ, have been "called out" of it. They are the ecclesia, the called out ones. Christians have 'not' been called to convert or save this world, for Satan is still the acting 'god' of it (2 Cor. 4:4) and it cannot be 'saved' until he has been deposed. Here then is the great error of dominionistic 'Christendom', they have failed to understand the calling out and with many different inner motives have foolishly set themselves to the work of "changing the world". But the scripture clearly teaches the 'wrecking' of this world before the 'changing' of it, and unfortunately the apostate church will find themselves in the middle of that wreck when it comes. The bible refers to that day as "the day of the LORD." Here, Donald Grey Barnhouse, a renowned preacher of the last century touches upon this truth:

"One of the reasons that Jesus was rejected when He here on earth was because people are inclined to look for what they most want to find. The Old Testament has many, many verses about the suffering Messiah, but they are overpowered by the brilliance of the promises concerning His coming glory. When He came to fulfill the first line of prophecies, they failed to recognise Him because they had their minds so full of the blueprint of what they expected Messiah to be. If you wish to understand the psychology of Israel at the time of the coming of the Lord Jesus, think of the psychology of the Norwegians, the Hollanders, or the French under the dominion of Hitler. For Palestine Was an occupied country when Christ was born. It was In the days of Caesar Augustus that there went out a decree that all the world should be taxed (Luke 2:1), and Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem because of that Roman decree. The reason tax collectors were classed with harlots was because they were working for the enemy; during the last War they actually were called quislings, instead of publicans. The people [the Jews] were looking for relief from the foreign enemy. They turned to the Old Testament and found verses which said that a splendid, resistless sovereign would come forth to rule with a rod of iron, and to dash His enemies to pieces as a potter's vessel (Ps. 2:9). They began to look at every possible national leader in terms of this pattern.

When Jesus came forth with His unquestionable supernatural power, they [the Jews] turned to Him immediately with questions concerning His identity. They asked Him the same questions they had asked John the Baptist. Evidently the questions were a sort of check-list to be put to anyone who lifted his head above the ruck of the oppressed. But where John the Baptist confessed freely that he was not the Messiah, the Lord Jesus boldly claimed to be the Messiah. When He failed to act as they thought the Messiah should act in accordance with the second line of Bible prophecy, they [the Jews] rejected Him, and thus refused the first line of Bible prophecy. The Bible is incomprehensible without the realization that Christ came the first time to save individual sinners from their individual sins, and that He must come the second time to redeem society and civilization and government.

The heart teaching of the whole of the Word of God is that man is incapable of redeeming his society, and that the true business of the church of Jesus Christ is to save as many individuals from the wreckage before the final wrecking comes."

DGB (Exposition of the Book of Romans - 1952)

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The first use of the phrase "day of the LORD" in the bible is found in the book of the prophet Isaiah:

'For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low' (Isa. 2:12)