Leaving Beyond – Grounded In Scripture

Written by: April J. Buchanan

Christ loves His bride. He loves her and gave Himself for her. He chose her, redeemed her, atoned for her, effectually draws her, sanctifies her, has prepared a place for her, and will return for her.

Christ loves His bride. That truth is comfort to her and ought to strike terror in the hearts of those who claim to speak for Him, yet use her for their own sinful and wicked purposes.

Many have entered among her who seek to turn her heart away, to corrupt her beauty, to conform her into an image of their own making. They claim to hear from God and to know what He wants for her. They lead her by a different way, a different word, a different message. They take what is holy and desecrate it. They distort what is beautiful, for unregenerate men cannot stand in the midst of such beauty that reveals the glory of God. She exposes them for what they are.

So they take up the language of her Lord. They ascend to the pulpit, Bible in hand, claiming to hear from God, speaking words that exploit her love and aim to lead as many as will follow away from Him. They work from within with feigned humility, sometimes even sincere, because they are deceived themselves. That does not make them victims. Wolves are not victims. They destroy, devour, divide, and corrupt the church from within. They set hearts against those who warn that he is a wolf, that his teaching is false, that he is leading people away from Christ and after a different Christ, a different spirit, another gospel.

Christ loves His bride.

The wolf has no fear of God. He may have moments of fear when his conscience accuses him, but he silences it. He goes from bad to worse. He gains the loyalty of the gullible, and from the inside he reshapes the church.

Those who truly belong to Christ, having their minds opened to the truth and informed by the truth, begin to see him for what he is. Though they may not yet name him a wolf or false teacher, they recognize that he is in serious error and seek to turn his heart by way of the truth. They meet with him. By the time they leave, he has made them feel divisive and in need of repentance. Ashamed, they try to set their concerns aside, convincing themselves those thoughts are sinful or unloving. But they cannot.

For the Lord loves His bride.

The more they read Scripture and pray, the more clearly they see the contrast between the Word and what is preached from the pulpit. This time, they do not revisit the matter. They begin to see that among those called the church, the ekklesia, the called out ones, there are few who truly belong to Christ and many who are deceived. Not all are among the true ekklesia. The wolf has invited the goats, and now false converts and unregenerate men lead that local gathering astray by a way falsely called straight.

Christ loves His bride.

With grief and sorrow, many of Christ’s own are pushed out and labeled troublemakers. They must go and seek another local body. But now their eyes are open. No longer gullible, no longer ignorant of the reality that wolves, false teachers, and false prophets are not merely historical or distant, but present, just as Christ said they would be.

Perhaps the reason so many cannot rightly mark a wolf is that their own hearts are troubled to do so. They do not understand and have never been taught the truth of man’s sinful condition. They think man needs mere help or improvement, and so they sacrifice Christ’s bride rather than protect her from wolves. They seek to restore the wolf rather than mark and avoid him. They cannot bear to confront firm conviction under the weight of Scripture, for it feels unloving.

Many of them have never truly heard or understood the reality of human depravity, or the depth of God’s grace. They lack conviction because it feels harsh. Many are working in opposition to Christ yet are most deceived, thinking themselves to be doing great and mighty things for God, imagining that He needs them, that He cannot act unless they partner with Him. They do not know Him. They cannot warn of wolves because they do not recognize them as wolves. They think highly of them, rely on them to tell them what God is saying, and believe they themselves are special, unlike others who do not hear from God. They are deceived. They are helping the wolf devour, deceive, divide, and destroy.

And yet, perhaps in God’s grace, they may see the truth. When they see themselves rightly before Him, it will be terrifying and painful. But His grace will meet them in a way they never knew before. They will understand what it truly means to be washed, to be cleansed by another, to know grace so undeserving. They will see how He loves His bride and that He will bring His own out.

She knows she does not deserve it. The things she said and did in His name, which she thought honored Him, made mockery of His grace as she defended wolves and spoke against those who warned of them. She walked not as one worthy of the effectual calling. She has been undone. She has lost much. But it was all worth it. He has saved her, and she is amazed by His grace.

Now she is more careful with her loyalty, her trust, and her faithfulness. She will not give them to those who lead her away from her Lord. She will be faithful, but not to men who exploit faithfulness. She will be loyal, but to her Lord alone. Her devotion belongs to Him alone, and that devotion will bring division.

And not all division is that which God hates. Some division is good. The true from the false.

And when she is set among His people, His bride, the difference is so overwhelming that she wonders how she could not see it for so long, knowing that for a time she too was deceived.

But Christ loves His bride, and He is faithful.