In light  of eternity

The biblical concept of the Church as existing in two distinct but interconnected states—the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant—is a profound scriptural truth. It encapsulates the ongoing spiritual journey of Christians and the ultimate goal of eternal life in the presence of the Triune God. As the writer of Hebrews exhorts, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12:1-2).  

The Church Militant: Running the Race

The Church Militant comprises the community of believers currently living on earth. Hebrews 12 was written to such believers but it relied on those who had already passed into glory as the context (Heb 11).  We are akin to runners in a grand race, encompassed by a “cloud of witnesses”—the faithful men and women recounted in Hebrews 11, the “hall of faith.” Their examples encourage us to persevere even when faced with challenges. Their striving was directed towards a goal, a goal that Jesus, their Savior and ours, secured for all of us.  It is important to note that this passage (Heb 11-12) and the rest of Scripture sees God’s people as one people united in Jesus.  God’s people in all of time is the church: Jews and gentiles, one people in Christ.

From this vantage point, death is not the absolute cessation of life but rather the passing of the physical body, allowing the disembodied soul to enter into the presence of God in a unique, but not a final manner. The magnificent promise of Jesus is that at the resurrection, we, like Him, will be given new bodies fit for the new creation, a realm where sin is entirely eradicated. Until this momentous event at the culmination of the present age (last days), we as members of the Church Militant will embody several key characteristics:

• Engaged in spiritual warfare: We contend against the world, the flesh, and the devil, resisting temptation and striving to align our lives with God’s will.
• Striving for holiness: We pursue a life of virtue, seeking to deepen our relationship with God through prayer, the sacraments, and acts of charity.
• Spreading the Gospel: We proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to others through both our words and our actions.
• Serving the needy: We actively express our faith by serving those in need, recognizing the presence of Christ in the faces of the poor, the sick, and the sinner.

The Church Triumphant: The Finish Line

The Church Triumphant consists of all those who have completed their race and crossed the finish line into Heaven, which signifies being in the very presence of God. Heaven is where God resides; God defines heaven, not the other way around. Remember the Garden of Eden? God was present there too and then we were kicked out of God’s presence because of sin. That is the beginning of death which culminates in the dying of the body.  These departed souls now revel in the Beatific Vision—the direct experience of God’s presence. They share in the triumph over sin and death by Christ and their lives stand as a testament to the victory of Christ on their behalf.

This intermediate state can be challenging to grasp, as it doesn’t involve the body as a medium of experience. The acts of seeing, feeling, touching, smelling, and hearing are no longer performed through our physical bodies. However, this doesn’t imply that the soul lacks awareness or understanding. God possesses no ears yet hears, no eyes yet sees with greater clarity than we do. He perceives the sweet fragrance of our sacrifices and prayers without a nose. The concept of a disembodied soul is not unusual in this context, though it is not the ultimate or preferred state for humanity. In His wisdom, God created mankind and endowed us with bodies to inhabit a world that He also imbued with physicality. He has employed this physical world to reveal much about Himself, who is fundamentally non-physical. God is Spirit.

God the Father, in an act of profound love, took on flesh, embracing physicality, to redeem those ensnared in rebellion. Herein lies the immense pain and the root cause of death. It arises as the cost of sin; sin necessitates death. Death, therefore, is not an inherent aspect of life but a consequence of rebelling against God. For the believing Christian, this rebellion and its consequences were borne by Christ. Those who die in Christ hold a sacred anticipation of being resurrected, just as He has already been raised.

This leads to the following characteristics of the Church Triumphant:

• Eternal communion with God: They bask in the fullness of joy and peace in God’s presence, liberated from all pain and suffering.
• Perfect holiness: They are freed from all sin and imperfection, mirroring the flawless image of God.
• Intimate knowledge of God’s mysteries: Their understanding of God and His works is complete, surpassing anything we can fathom in our earthly state.
• Active participation in God’s work: They join the heavenly hosts in praising and serving God, fulfilling His purposes in ways we can only imagine.

One Church, United in Faith: The Westminster Confession of Faith Perspective

The Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) beautifully articulates the unity between the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant:

“The communion of saints is…a spiritual union between Christ and all believers, whereby they…have fellowship with Him in all His graces, sufferings, death, resurrection, and glory… The saints…by profession of the same faith, and obedience of the same commands, living under the same Head and partaking of the same divine presence, and all to one another in love, and to mutual edification… All saints…are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” (WCF 26.1-2)

This profound connection is grounded in our shared faith in Christ and our common pursuit of holiness. We are all part of the same body, striving towards the same goal—eternal life with God. The Church Triumphant serves as a constant reminder of this goal and a source of encouragement for us in our earthly struggles. Their victory is our victory, and their joy will one day be ours as well.

As members of the Church Militant, let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. He secures the saints who have gone before us and fills us with the hope of Heaven – His Presence –  let us run the race with perseverance. One day, we too will cross the finish line and join the Church Triumphant in eternal glory but until then we still enjoy the presence of God (Heaven) just mixed with the present evil age we now inhabit.

Rev 7:14 … “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 “For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. 16 “They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; 17 for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”

Come Lord Jesus, Come.