The Church Our Mother

How does God want us to relate to the church?

“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus” (Rev 12:17).

The dragon is Satan (Rev 12:9). The woman is the church (Eph 5:23). The devil is angry with the church and goes to make war with the remnant—the last—of her seed. And what does the seed mean? The Lord told Abraham that his seed—his children—would be as the stars of heaven (Gen 15:5).

Commenting on our text, Ellen White says, “The people of God, symbolized by a holy woman and her children, are greatly in the minority. In the last days only a remnant exists. John speaks of them as those that ‘keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ’” (Spirit of Prophecy, 4:276).

Father and Mother.
Who is your Father? God. Who is your mother? The church, for she is “the woman” whose children we are. Paul tells us, “Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all” (Gal 4:26). But that mother is not only in heaven, she is on earth. Through the sacrifice of Jesus, the family in heaven and the family on earth are one. Paul speaks of the Father, “of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named” (Eph 3:15). We are baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is a wonderful thing that you and I are permitted to share that name. But remember that as members of God’s great family we not only have a Father. We have a mother. God is our Father; the church is our mother. She is “the mother of us all.”

In that wonderful vision recorded in Revelation 21, John the Beloved was shown the heavenly Jerusalem. The angel said, “Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife” (Rev 21:9). The new Jerusalem, represented as a bride of Christ, is the capital city of His kingdom. But a mere mass of gold and pearl has no attractions for Jesus simply as a pile of material. He has His heart set on filling that city with the citizens of His kingdom.

The city is just the setting; the real thing is the people, His church, a large part of whom are still here in the world. There are some in heaven. Enoch is there, and Moses and Elijah, and the multitude who went with Jesus at the time of His resurrection and ascension. Around the throne of God they stand as evidence that Christ can take human beings that have known the curse of sin and bring them into the home of light. They have walked with God here, and they walk with Him there. How beautiful is the thought that “the church of God below is one with the church of God above. Believers on the earth and the beings in heaven who have never fallen constitute one church” (Testimonies for the Church, 6:366).

Note: Commenting on the parable of the ten virgins, The Great Controversy presents an apparent difficulty to the view that the church is the bride: “The bride represents the holy city, and the virgins that go out to meet the bridegroom are a symbol of the church. In the Revelation the people of God are said to be the guests at the marriage supper. If guests, they cannot be represented also as the bride” (p. 427).
It will be helpful to recall that symbols are sometimes used to represent more than one object. (Compare the meaning of “leaven” in Matt 13:33 and Matt 16:6.) So we should be able to accept the plain statement that in the parable of the ten virgins the church is not the bride, and also accept the equally plain statements that in other settings the bride represents the church. Note the following from the Ellen G. White comments in the SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, pp. 985-986: “God is the husband of His church. The church is the bride, the Lamb’s wife” (Letter 39, 1902). “The church is the bride, the Lamb’s wife. She should keep herself pure, sanctified, holy. Never should she indulge in any foolishness; for she is the bride of a King” (Letter 177, 1901).

Jesus’ Attitude.
If we are like Jesus, what will be our attitude toward the church? We’ll love the church, as He loves the church. Notice Ephesians 5:25: Christ “loved the church, and gave himself for it.”

Ellen G. White reminds us that

“Christ honored the marriage relation by making it also a symbol of the union between Him and His redeemed ones. He Himself is the Bridegroom; the bride is the church, of which, as His chosen one, He says, ‘Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee’” (The Ministry of Healing, p. 356).

If there is anyone who thinks that the church can be ignored and God can be dealt with directly, leaving the church aside as such, such a one does not understand Father. In a properly united home, no child may love one parent and despise the other. If one of the children should say, “Well, I’ll listen to you, Father, but I don’t want to listen to mother,” what would father say? He would say, “Listen, she is your mother; she is my wife; and when she says something I want you to pay attention. I love and respect her.” That is Christ’s message for everyone concerning His church. He loves the church, and He wants us to love her.

Who Is the Church?
Someone may say, “Yes, but what do you mean by the church?” I’m dealing with some very practical things, because ahead of us lie great issues. Do you ever get mimeographed material through the mail? I get a sheet once in a while that presumes to tell me that the church, God’s church, simply means faithful souls, no matter whether they belong to some organization or not. And in support of this they will quote The Acts of the Apostles, page 11, which reads, “From the beginning, faithful souls have constituted the church.”

Certainly faithful souls constitute the church. But nothing in this statement teaches that they are to be unorganized or disorganized in order to constitute the true church.

“Like a mighty army moves the church of God.” It is not a disorganized mob; it is a well-organized army. And concerning the remnant who receive the Latter Rain and go forward to give the Loud Cry, Early Writingsrecords that “they moved in exact order, like a company of soldiers” (p. 271).

Organization Essential.
One of the greatest powers to keep out uprisings will be thorough organization. In fact, it is essential.

“Oh, how Satan would rejoice if he could succeed in his efforts to get in among this people and disorganize the work at a time when thorough organization is essential and will be the greatest power to keep out spurious uprisings and to refute claims not endorsed by the word of God!” (Testimonies for the Church, 9:257-258).

God wants His people today thoroughly organized, as they were when they were led out of Egypt. We need both Father and mother to keep us straight.

“Some have advanced the thought that, as we near the close of time, every child of God will act independently of any religious organization. But I have been instructed by the Lord that in this work there is no such thing as every man’s being independent” (ibid., p. 258). We need the church and right organization.

Church Authority.
In Matthew 18, Jesus gave instruction to His disciples concerning church discipline. If someone is not doing right, he is to be labored with, first alone (v. 15), then “one or two more” are to be brought in to labor with him. And finally, if he will not hear them, verse 17 says, “tell it unto the church.” To carry out this instruction there must be a definite organized body to whom the matter can be referred. And, if the erring one “neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.” God has given His church—His organized church—authority. Jesus says, “Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (v. 18). You see there is something more to this than merely faithful souls all over the world with no organization.

God has a church in this world with authority. He has given her a commission to care for, to nurture, and to discipline the sons and daughters who are the children of God the Father and of the church, the mother. We honor our mothers in the flesh who bore us and nursed us tenderly.

Let’s listen to mother, for she is dear to the heart of God.

And so we should think of the church as the one that, under God, has brought to us the gospel of grace and the knowledge of this glorious message. God wants us to acknowledge her as the bride of Christ and the mother of each one of us.

Danger of Independence.
But suppose I say, “I know what Father wants. I’m not going to wait to find out what mother thinks about it at all. I’m just going to do what I believe Father wants me to do.” Will that please the Father? No! Ellen White once wrote to a certain man who had been studying the prophecies and had found what he thought was new light. She advised him to submit it first “to brethren of experience,” and “if they see no light in it, yield to their judgment; for ‘in the multitude of counselors there is safety’” (Testimonies for the Church, 5:293; see pp. 291-295). If that instruction were followed today, it would save a great deal of confusion.

Let’s listen to mother, for she is dear to the heart of God; and her Husband, who is the Head, has given her authority. He will not bless those who seek to by-pass mother and ignore her, saying, “I’m just going to deal with Father. I’ll read the Bible, I’ll read the Spirit of Prophecy, I’ll pray all by myself. I’ll investigate anything I feel impressed to and come to my own conclusions. I don’t need advice or warning. I can tell if something is wrong.” What a perilous path! Do you remember how sin entered this world? Do you remember somebody who just wanted to investigate? Did she find an answer to her own satisfaction? Yes, she did, but did it lead to joy or to woe? to truth or error?

Infallible Church?
No, we do not say the church is infallible; we do not say that the church never makes a mistake. Do you believe that the brethren are always right in their counsel? These are fair questions, and they deserve a fair answer, an inspired answer:

“God alone is infallible” (Selected Messages, 1:37).

Because we believe this, we’re not Roman Catholics. Pope Gregory VII introduced the idea that the church is infallible, “that the church had never erred, nor would it ever err.” But the Lord’s messenger aptly adds,

“The Scripture proofs did not accompany the assertion” (The Great Controversy, p. 57).

So we do not need to take the position that the church is infallible; in fact, we dare not take that position, for it is not what the Bible teaches. But when we say that the church is not infallible we are admitting that the church—the majority of the church—could be mistaken on some point. We have to recognize that human beings are human beings, and when they give counsel, it can be mistaken. It has happened.

But all this does not lessen the force of what we are studying together. When He selected mother, God knew that she was not infallible. God didn’t choose His church because its members individually or collectively were infallible. Jesus knew all about you and me, and He knew all about the church. But “from heaven He came and sought her to be His holy bride.” And if we will think of the church as Jesus thinks of her, we will love her as Jesus loves her and we will listen to her with deference and respect. This will please Him.

Danger of Authority.
Father has cautioned mother against the Roman Catholic idea of thinking that the church is infallible. Paul warned against the apostasy which was already working in the apostolic church (2 Thess 2:1-8). By the searchlight of prophecy, Paul discerned that this apostasy would eventually result in the mystery of iniquity when man would sit in the temple of God, in the place of God, “showing himself that he is God.” That is what the papal apostasy is. It is the church putting itself in the place of God. It is mother trying to take Father’s place. That does not work well in any family.

There is a divine harmony in heaven’s plan of organization, in individual families and in the church. Mother has plenty to do in the place to which she has been assigned by heaven. When she seeks to get out of that place and to fill Father’s place it is just too much. When the Roman church thought itself able to tamper with the law of God, it stepped clear out of the divinely-appointed place of mother and attempted to take Father’s place, and God disowned her.

Today in the true church we are warned against any such thing creeping in. Remember there was a short time when the early church was pure; but this spirit of human authority coming in to take the place of divine authority brought the papacy. And today we’re warned against it. Satan

“works to restrict religious liberty and to bring into the religious world a species of slavery. Organizations, institutions, unless kept by the power of God, will work under Satan’s dictation to bring men under the control of men; and fraud and guile will bear the semblance of zeal for truth and for the advancement of the kingdom of God. . . . If men resist the warnings the Lord sends them, they become even leaders in evil practices; such men assume to exercise the prerogatives of God—they presume to do that which God Himself will not do in seeking to control the minds of men. Thus they follow in the track of Romanism” (Testimonies for the Church, 7:180-181, emphasis supplied).

Every one of us as children needs to remember to respect God’s authority and to respect the authority He has committed to His church. Every one of us as a part of that church which exercises authority over its members needs to be careful lest we start taking over Father’s side of the authority, by seeking to assume the prerogatives that belong to God alone. The warning is clear on both sides.

Ancient Example.
The book of Exodus provides a striking example of the proper attitude toward God’s truth, God’s church, God’s movement. The hero of this story is Moses. (Some people down here today are going to sing the song of Moses.) In Exodus 32 we see Moses on Mount Sinai getting the directions for the sanctuary. Down on the plain, Aaron is in charge. The people have gotten restless and are asking for a golden calf. And finally they get what they want, because Aaron seems to believe that the voice of the people is the voice of God.

Did the majority of the people want the golden calf? Oh yes, a great majority. Was Aaron a popular leader? Yes, he was! Things were going well except for the complaints of a few people who thought God was being dishonored. (Some of them lost their lives in standing against the apostasy; see Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 316.)

Upon the mountain Moses knew nothing of all this. He was shut up with God. Finally the Lord told him, “Moses, these people down there have made a golden calf and they’re dancing around it and having a riotous feast! They have gone back into Egyptian idolatry. And Moses, I’m so grieved with them, so disappointed, so displeased, that I’ve reached the point where I’m going to destroy all of them. Moses, I’m going to let you be the nucleus of a great reform movement which will take the place of these apostate people.”

And what did Moses say? Did he say, “Lord, they’ve already made me a lot of trouble, and if you see that the time has come to disown them and put them away, then, Lord, I’ll do my best to have some people that never disappoint You”? Is that what Moses said? No. Moses had caught something of this love that Christ has for the church. Down on his knees—on his face—he pled for Israel. He reminded the Lord of His promises; he reminded Him of what the heathen would say if that movement, that church, should fail; and finally in his desperate love for those people, he said, “Lord, if You can’t forgive them, blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy book” (see Ex 32:32). Read chapters 32–34, and get that picture of Moses—offered the opportunity to become the nucleus of a new movement, but instead interceding for Israel. Did God hear his prayer? Was Israel saved? Did the movement go through? Yes!

So today, whatever weakness or worldliness we may find in the church, let us never think that those who are ready to leave the movement or denounce the movement have the spirit of Jesus. Thank God, there will be those today like Moses who will intercede on their knees for Israel. They will draw God and His church together in the arms of faith and love. And they will sing the song of Moses.

Jesus’ Desire.
Look at Jesus in Gethsemane. What was the great burden of His heart? It was that His church and His Father might be brought together in a union that could never be dissolved. But Satan pressed upon him the terrible temptation that if He held onto His church He would lose God forever. On the other hand, He could let go of His people and go back to heaven and be with His Father. And what did Jesus do? He wouldn’t let go of either one! With the hand of Faith He clung to His Father, even though He couldn’t see Him; with the other hand, Love, He clung to His people, His church, and He wouldn’t let go! As He engaged in that mighty struggle, in the garden and on the cross, it seemed that He would be torn apart. He was torn apart—His heart was broken. But He wouldn’t let go of either one.

Those who understand something of that broken heart in Gethsemane and Calvary will share with Jesus the consuming burden for the church and God to stay together. They will never consent to any separation. With one hand on God and one hand on the church, they will pull together. The result will be that while in the coming crisis there will be a “mighty sifting” (Testimonies for the Church, 5:80), yet the church will go through triumphantly.

Those who sing the song of Moses will also sing the song of the Lamb—the brokenhearted Lamb, the Lamb in whose blood the church is purged. Heart to heart with Jesus here, they will be closest to Him through eternity.

Lessons for Today.
This message is not merely for tomorrow. We are even now in the shaking time referred to in Early Writings, pp. 269-270. We are entering the day described in Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 80, when there is great perplexity and confusion, every wind of doctrine is blowing, and there are gods many and lords many. And I fear for those children of the church who are too ready to ignore what Father has said, just do what mother does and listen to what mother says; and what God has said through the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy, we’ll let mother answer for.” Likewise I’m afraid for those children who say, “We’ll listen to Father and we won’t pay very much attention to mother.” I fear for those who seem to be so ready to find some excuse, if not to defy the voice of the church, at least to ignore it.

God help us. It’s a narrow road that we must walk. We are in the time when these very problems that we are studying must drive the true people of God to their knees, seeking for that light and blessing which will enable them to find their way amid the confusion of voices that say “lo here” and “lo there.”

Personally, I need Father, and I need mother. I must have them both to help me on the heavenward way. And I love them both. In the words of that sweet old hymn,

I love Thy kingdom, Lord,
The house of Thine abode:
The church our blessed Redeemer saved
With His own precious blood.
I love Thy church, O God:
Her walls before Thee stand
Dear as the apple of Thine eye
And graven in Thy hand.
For her my tears shall fall,
For her my prayers ascend;
To her my cares and toils be given
Till toils and cares shall end.
Beyond my highest joy
I prize her heavenly ways;
Her sweet communion, solemn vows
Her hymns of love and praise.
Sure as Thy truth shall last,
To Zion shall be given
The brightest glories earth can yield
And brighter bliss of heaven.

When Mother Errs.
Now some very practical considerations. Suppose mother makes a mistake. What should we do? In the home, what would you do with your own mother if you were old enough to understand right from wrong and you saw her making a mistake—wouldn’t you plead with her? I hope you wouldn’t “tell her off” or stand up in impudence and say, “I know what father said, and mother, you’re not doing it!” I don’t think father would appreciate that; and I know mother wouldn’t appreciate it. Thank God, there is a better way. Plead with your mother. And who will have the most influence with her? The loving, respectful child, not the impudent one who is watching for a chance to prove that mother is off the track.

In this last generation, because we have special needs, because we are to reach special heights, Christ has sent His church, the mother and her children, some special messages. Have you read them? You will find many pages in Testimonies for the Church that deal with the church as a group. And many pages deal with the individual members. Here are the love letters of the great Father above, written to mother and the children. Wouldn’t it be a good thing for mother and the children to be reading them every day—to get them into our minds and into our hearts, and get them into action, doing what they say? As we do that, we’ll make Father happy. How glad He is when He sees His church busily reading the messages He has sent from heaven and carrying them out in the life.

May God greatly bless every one of us as we endeavor to fill our homes and our hearts with these precious messages. Thus we shall be helping to answer the prayer of Jesus that His church may be prepared for His coming. How wonderful it will be to share in the glad reunion when mother and all the children are at home with Father forever.