Page 31 - The Rapture Question by John F. Walvoord

The Raplure Question: Revised and Enlarged Edition
significant that Allis, when attempting to show that revelation
concerning the church as the body of Christ was partially
revealed in the Old Testament, did not once mention Colos-
sians 1:26-27 for the obvious reason that this passage expressly
contradicts the thought of partial revelation of the church.
That the church is in mind is made clear by Colossians
1:24, where the body of believers indwelt by Christ is
identified as the body and the church. The revelation here
given ofthe indwelling Christ was predicted by Christ Himself
in the upper room in John 14:20 and also is mentioned in His
prayer in John 17:23. The truth is described as “the glorious
riches of this mystery.” and the fact of the indwelling Christ is
called “the hope of glory.”
Not only does the revelation of the present position of
Christ indwelling the believer stand in contrast to anything
that existed in the Old Testament, but it also is quite distinct
from anything predicted for the millennial kingdom. In the
Millennium, the glory of the Lord will be manifest to all the
earth, and His dwelling is with men. But never does the
prophecy envision the Messiah as indwelling men. In the pres­
ent age in which the church is in the world, the glory of the
Lord is veiled, and His presence is the basis of hope for future
glory. In the Millennium this hope will be fulfilled and be
distinct from either the Old Testament order or that of the
present age.
Christ the fullness of the Godhead bodily
The revelation given in the first chapter of Colossians is
enlarged in Colossians 2:9-19 where Christ is presented as
One in whom “all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily
form,” with the result that those who are indwelt by Christ
also “have this fullness” (Col. 2:9-10), or are complete. Christ
is presented as the “Head, from whom the whole body, sup­
ported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as
God causes it to grow” (Col. 2:19). Here again the mystery is
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