Baptist History, Heritage & Distinctives –Historic Baptist Ecclessiology – Part 9 of 11

Thomas E Kresal Admin · February 12, 2020

Baptist History, Heritage & Distinctives –Historic Baptist Ecclessiology – Part 9 of 11

8. “I Am With You Alway”

“Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” (Matt. 28:18-20.)

Practically all Christians recognize that Jesus was speaking here to His church. The only real question is, what kind of church was it?

Of course, an imaginary “invisible” church cannot go anywhere, it cannot disciple any nations, it cannot baptize anybody in any way, it cannot teach anybody anything, and being nonexistent, it would not know the difference whether the Lord were with it or not.

But an organized assembly of baptized believers, such as Jesus had constituted His disciples, can do what He commanded and in doing so can claim the promise of His continuing presence–and it is the only organization on earth that can do so,

Jesus promised this kind of church that He would always be with it, even to the end of the age. But He could not be with it unless it existed to be with. Therefore if Jesus spoke the truth He has had His churches in the world ever since and He has been with them all the time–and so it will be to the end of the age.

Thomas E. Kresal from: “Ten Bible Proofs of Baptist Perpetuity” by Rosco Brong http://baptisthistoryhomepage.com/brong.sermon.bapt.perpet.html