In the direct access to God thru Jesus Christ God’s plan was fulfilled and Jesus words to Thomas are complete.

John 14:1-6 (NLT)

Jesus, the Way to the Father

14 “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.”   5 “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”

Peter also confirmed this in his sermon to the religious leaders of Jesus day after Pentecost:

Acts 4: 11-12 (NLT)

Peter and John before the Council

11 For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says,

‘The stone that you builders rejected  has now become the cornerstone.’

12 There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”

With Jesus’ perfect life lived, sacrificial death and resurrection God’s plan of salvation was complete the Church now had a permanent starting point ( cornerstone ) and foundation. The challenge then and today is that when Jesus died on the cross and the veil was torn we were provided direct access to God. Through our confession of Faith in Jesus Life, Death and Resurrection we no longer need an intermediary to go on our behalf to God.

John 4:24  (NLT)

24 For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”

If we come to God in Spirit and Truth then the physical pieces of worship have to take on a secondary place in our mindset of our relationship with Jesus Christ and what it truly means to be a Christian. If our confession of faith is a condition of the heart confirmed in our spiritual identity then the term Church takes on two very distinct views. One is a physical property such as the Temple of the Old Testament and of Jesus Day right thru Paul’s Churches to the street address where our local congregation gathers today. The second is a spiritual identity of Jesus followers that have made a real heartfelt confession that matches Peters in Matthew 16. This view and position of the Church represents the true value and power of Jesus Church today. It is a spiritual commitment that goes with a person where ever they go and does not render God applicable only if there is a formal gathering place for his Word to be heard and lived. The Church then resides in the heart of every believer and opens the power of the Church to Faith and not simply where it is or by what name it is under.