What is the Church?
“Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God…on this Rock I will build my church (ecclesia) and the gates of hades (the grave) shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:16-18)
The word translated church is “ecclesia”, a Greek word meaning “called out”. The church includes all people destined to be called out of the grave into immortal life because of what Jesus did for them at the cross.
“But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the First-fruits of those who are asleep (in the grave). For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive…The last enemy that will be abolished is death…that God may be all in all.” (1 Corinthians 15:21-28)
Christ is the Rock, the Cornerstone, and the First-fruits of those called-out of the grave. All humans die and will be called out of the grave (hades) to walk in an eternal, immortal, spiritual body - a new creature.
“For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens… if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come….God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5)
“But someone will say, How are the dead raised?...It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So also it is written, the first man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam became a Life giving spirit…Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly…flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery…when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory.” (1 Corinthians 15:24-26; 35-54).
The new humanity will be made into the immortal image of God and His Son - the church (those called out of death into abundant, never ending, spiritual life).
"You should not be ashamed, then, of the testimony of our Lord, nor yet of me, His prisoner, but suffer evil along with the good news in accord with the power of God, Who saves us and calls us with a holy calling, not in accord with our acts, but in accord with His own purpose and the grace which is given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, yet now is being manifested through the advent of our Savior, Christ Jesus, Who, indeed, will abolish death, yet now illuminates life and incorruption through the good news of which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the nations...I am not ashamed, for I am aware of Whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to guard what is committed to me, for that day." (2 Timothy 1:8-12)
So, like the Apostle Paul, I am persuaded that I and my family will be among the church - the called out!