Depending on the translation you have, in my Scripture studies I found there are 70+ verses in the Bible's Newer Testament that use the phrase "the church."
The number "70" is important in the Bible. Interestingly, there were 70 nations who populated the earth after the great flood. This is shown in Genesis 10.
Not only that, 70 people in Jacob's family traveled to Egypt (read Genesis 46:26-27). Those 70 became the multitudes of Israel living in Egypt (see Genesis 46:27; Exodus 1:5 and Ruth 4:11).
During the exodus journey out of Egypt's slavery back to the Promised Land, there were 70 elders and leaders of the families invited to the top of the mountain to The LORD'd first supper (see Exodus 24:1 or Numbers 11:16).
Dictionary.com gives a history lesson on the word church:
Here's the paradox. You can find religion in the Bible.
The Exodus story is also the proof that foreigners and sojourners of the nations can be grafted in and adopted by their choice to follow and join the ranks of God's children in the assembly congregation of the God of Israel.
They all came up out of Egypt's slavery together.
Stephen never knew a new religion.
You can read about Stephen's faith from the witness of the Hebrew Scriptures he spoke about:
If we look into the Greek version of these words of Matthew 16:18 and Matthew 18:17 we can see Yeshua's words are translated using the Greek term "ekklēsia" to describe the assembly and congregation `edah עֵדָה that extends from one end of the Bible to the other.
As already noted, the Strong's concordance shows us that fact. Not only that the concordance' matches the Hebrew word `edah 149 times and `qahal is seen 123 times in the Hebrew Bible.
Wow!! There's more to the Greek word "ekklēsia" than you may have thought.
The first English translation of the Greek manuscripts of the Newer Testament we have today were completed by William Tyndale. He was an amazing linguist who was gifted and fluent not only in Greek as well as Hebrew but also in French, German, Italian, Latin, Spanish too.
Tyndale's translation of available Greek manuscripts was the first to be printed in English in 1526... despite what you may have learned, the King James crew came on the scene many years later. Not only that, Tyndale's translation was the first to make use of a printing press despite what you may have heard.
Yes, believe it or not, William Tyndale gave the English speaking world the word "Passover" direct from the Hebrew Bible.
You can also view it online in a copy of Jugge's Tyndale New Testament. The website Bibles-Online notes:
"The 1552 Jugge's Tyndale New Testament. One of the earliest available New Testaments by William Tyndale. It is based on his final lifetime revisions. This New Testament was most assuredly the edition that the great reformers in Geneva would have used in preparation for the 1557 Geneva New Testament. The Jugge editions were printed during the brief reign of the reformer boy King Edward VI."
Incredibly, Tyndale's translation did not have the word "church" in it as a name to reflect the believers of Messiah. Instead, his focus was on the "called out assembly" just as the Greek 'ekklēsia' intended.
The church didn't like Tyndale. One reason is because he understood that the Greek "ekklēsia" linked directly to the Hebrew word "qahal." There's no word "church" except for two instances within Tyndale's translation in Acts 14:13 and Acts 19:37. But hold on to your church hat and grab a pew, because in both cases Tyndale's use of the word church isn't what you thought and it reveals why the church leaders of his day sought to destroy him:
Tyndale referred to the word "church"
as an assembly of pagans, NOT believers in Messiah!!
Look for yourself... just click here. There is a reason Tyndale did this, so don't give up on the first English Bible translator just yet.
Luther's writings that opposed religious church traditions caught the public eye in Germany and his writings contained truth, but he eventually mixed truth with lies and he too turned against the Jewish people.
Does that still describe you? If not, are you a Gentile?
Paul taught this asking: "Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” 1 Corinthians 3:16
Let's look closer to Stephen's witness just before his death:
Indeed, as you have seen this is the exact perspective of Stephen the first martyr for His belief in the Messiah of Israel.
Paul wrote:
Peter is writing to five people groups but he is not writing to people that are "native" to the areas of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia or Bithynia, but rather to people that were not originally from those regions of Turkey.
We must also consider the seven epistles from Paul. His famous letters were written to: 1) the Romans, 2) Corinthians, 3) Galatians, 4) Ephesians, 5) Philippians, 6) Colossians and 7) the Thessalonians.
There is a shared group that received these letters of encouragement. The Galatians received a letter from each witness to Messiah. These two letters were sent to those living in the land we now call Turkey, a land that also contained the ancient cities of not only Galatia but Ephesus, Pontus, Bithynia and Cappadocia. We may call it Turkey, but history calls it ancient Anatolia. It was founded by none other than the Hittites at the time frame of Abraham’s journey from Ur.
The Assyrians stormed into this area and took over about 400 years after the Hittites arrived… this happened near the time that the families of Jacob were baking bricks in Egypt. They were the 12 families that had descended from the 70 that had sojourned to Egypt as, you guessed it... "strangers".
So, if we look back to the time window of 722-734 BC when the “Assyrians” assaulted Northern Israel and took them captive as slaves… we have to ask just who were the Assyrians? Some of them were the ancient Hittites. But where would the Assyrians have taken their booty of slaves from the ten tribes of Northern Israel?
Back home, that's where. They would have taken them to the areas that Peter wrote his letters to.
Consider these words:
Salvation is to the Jew first (Romans 1:16), and it's clear, Peter was following the instruction of his Master, Yeshua the Messiah when he wrote his letters.
Many confuse the "fullness" of the Gentiles" thinking it only means a time of full measure or count of Gentiles. But is that a surface of Paul's deeper message as he taught of Jacob's prophecy about Ephraim in Genesis 48:17-20.
Might the fullness of the Gentiles refer to those keeping the way,
the Torah walk of the Jewish Messiah?
Was Paul was revealing an amazing prophecy written by Moses of the time we are in today as the nations (aka non-Jews) are returning to the Jewish roots of their faith.
After all, that word fullness in Greek is plērōma and a key meaning is “keeping” and in Deuteronomy we see it 7 times as the Hebrew word shamar: to keep, guard, observe.
Today, a remnant among the nations are returning to the Jewish root of the faith because:
Jesus said He came to gather lost sheep into the Kingdom of God, not lead a group to switch the Sabbath or a Sunday "church" service. The service we are to do is the service of Messiah as the body of Messiah wherever we are. That service in the wilderness of life, not in a pew.
Please, please don't get me wrong, the mission of the Messiah, in His own words is to "restore" the assembly, the lost sheep, the people that God calls out in the name that He has given to them... "Israel", the people that have been scattered and lost in the wilderness around the globe, adopted back into the ways of The Lord Elohim, the God of Israel.
Yeshua is still calling the lost back into His Kingdom today across the globe. But this work is 24/7/365 and there is no building, no denomination membership or religion to accomplish it:
You too can be a part of "the assembly" - the community of a faithful family to enter into the gates, you too can be a part of the called out ones of the God of Israel, it's an open invitation to everyone to follow Messiah and walk in His ways in spirit and truth just like Abraham.
You don’t have to fill out a membership form or give money. All you have to do is repent, believe, surrender your life and be set free to walk like Yeshua and tell others about Him. He is the Messiah, King of all Israel, both native and sojourner grafted in and yes He does recommend a mikveh baptism to fulfill righteousness. There's no need to worry about choosing a denomination though, your set free in Messiah to follow His walk in God's will.
If you choose in faith to follow the Savior and "walk" in the Scriptures that testify of Him, you will be a part of "the assembly" that seeks to follow God out of slavery to sin. To do this shows love for God and what He has done. It is what the Apostle Paul and James wrote about:
The authority we are submit to as an assembly is our Creator God revealed by the Written Word and the living Torah. Over the span of 19 centuries since Yeshua walked and taught throughout Israel, the traditions of men have added to the faith. Today, the opportunity is to make a conscious decision to return to a scripture lifestyle in action as an assembly before the God of Israel.
As Jesus taught in Matthew 5, the Torah still stands, the commandments are still valid and the Feasts of The Lord are eternal for His ekklēsia.
For me, Matthew 5 teaches we are to honor the Feasts described in Leviticus including the weekly Sabbath and even watch what we eat because God's instruction is there to protect us. For some it means its time to take a last look at Santa's Christmas and wave goodbye to the Easter bunny and Halloween. It means saying hello to the week long celebrations of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Sukkot. It even means seeing Hanukkah in John 10.
The Torah declares there is one law His ekklēsia, that means the Israelite and the same law for the foreigner wishing to follow and worship God. All of us are worth a half-shekel, in essence, that means that there is no separation in the Bible and there is no separation worship for the Jew and non-Jews. Ultimately, that means we are to become one new man, united and restored.
If you do not know your Messiah, it is time for you to know Him. You can return to God's covenant, return to hear and do His word and walk in the faith of His Kingdom path so that you can ready your lamp to show others how to do the same. Yeshua must not only be The Lord our lives as individual believers. He must also receive pre-eminence in the life of our communities, He is the head of the ekklēsia.
Messiah is calling to build His ekklēsia, a “faith community” and as He builds, He uses us as “living stones” loving our neighbor being “built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Yeshua Messiah” (1Peter 2:5).
God is the almighty sovereign God of the whole House, the ekklēsia of Israel.
Each Sabbath day and the Feasts of The Lord are the set apart times which God has appointed for His people to assemble together for “holy convocations” (See Leviticus 23:2). The Hebrew word translated “convocation” (mikra), means a calling together.
YHVH is a loving God and He has provided the way to offer His salvation and eternal life to you and those you know. You can accept His gift of eternal life. Consider carefully what your life consists of, look at it and repent of any willful sin, ask God's forgiveness and accept His gift of love through Messiah Yeshua.
You can do this!
Today is the time. If you know you need to get your life right with God, don’t wait for tomorrow, get it right with Him now!
And, if you can, gather with others in a set apart assembly, an "ekklēsia" to worship Him and study His word, it is the Book of Life.
Believe it or not, there were also 70 talmidim or as we call them today, disciples.
There weren't just 12 that met with Messiah Yeshua before He sent them out to declare repentance in spirit and in power (see Luke 10:1-17 for the proof text).
Bottomline, seventy (70) is an important Bible key and if we look into the Hebrew Scriptures as well as the words of the rabbis we can see that 70 speaks of the nations too.
The word "church" is translated in English Bibles from the Greek word ἐκκλησία which is "ekklēsia."
Bottomline, seventy (70) is an important Bible key and if we look into the Hebrew Scriptures as well as the words of the rabbis we can see that 70 speaks of the nations too.
The word "church" is translated in English Bibles from the Greek word ἐκκλησία which is "ekklēsia."
The odd thing about {ek-klay-see'-ah} is this, the origin for the new English word "church" is not from the Greek word ekklēsia. The reality zone is that the church word origin is kȳriakón and it's time to take on short journey of discovery to uncover what has gotten lost in transliteration, translation and tradition.
Dictionary.com gives a history lesson on the word church:
"Origin of church -before 900; Middle English chir(i)che, Old English cir(i)ce ≪ Greek kȳri(a)kón (dôm) the Lord's (house), neuter of kȳriakós of the master, equivalent to kȳ́ri(o) master ( kŷr(o) power + -ios noun suffix) + -akos, variant of -ikos -ic; akin to Dutch kerk, German Kirche, Old Norse kirkja."What happened?
The Greek word ekklēsia is properly translated as congregation or assembly.
How do we know?
We know from the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible c. 3rd century BC.
The Septuagint is called the translation of the seventy (70) and is referenced by the Roman numerals LXX because it's thought that 72 Jewish men translated it for the Greek speaking planet.
Open the Septuagint and you find that whenever ekklēsia ἐκκλησία is found, it is translated to English as the set apart "assembly" or “congregation” that chose to follow The LORD. But when you turn past the blank page division in most any English Christian Bible translation, you'll find “church” with the rare exception of Acts 7:35-38 and Hebrews 2:10-14.
Why the exceptions?
After all, the original English translation of the Newer Testament by William Tyndale never used the word "church." Tyndale was precise and used the word “congregation” in 1522. So, did the Bishop's Bible. It was put out in 1568.
Today, the Greek word ekklēsia can be found 77 times in the latest NASB Bible edition as church.
The New Strong's Concordance gives some definition. Ekklēsia in that concordance defines this word as:
The assembly of the Israelites...
Wait... are you serious??
The original 1890 Strong's Edition has more insight into the called out assembly from the Greek word ekklesia (ἐκκλησία):
It's from a surname shared within common identity by the members of a family. Yes, a family name.
"a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place, an assembly
a) an assembly of the people convened at the public place of the council for the purpose of deliberating
b) the assembly of the Israelites..."
The original 1890 Strong's Edition has more insight into the called out assembly from the Greek word ekklesia (ἐκκλησία):
"ekklesia {ek-klay-See'-ah} from a compound of 1537 and a derivative of 2564; a calling out, i.e. (concretely) a popular meeting, especially a religious congregation.
(Jewish synagogue, or Christian community of members on earth or saints in heaven or both):--assembly, church. See Greek-- 1537 See Greek-- 2564Did you notice the "kaleo" connection?
kaleo {kal-eh'-o} akin to the base of 2753; to "call" (properly, aloud, but used in a variety of applications, directly or otherwise):--bid, call (forth), (whose, whose sur-name (was (called))."
It's from a surname shared within common identity by the members of a family. Yes, a family name.
In Scripture the family name of God's children is Israel. It was not replaced or done away by a blank page or Acts 2.
Since 1890, the James Strong concordance has been amended and re-published several times. The most recent edition I have was released in 2007. It adds a modern explanation of ekklēsia that does not track well with Mr. Strong's original:
Since 1890, the James Strong concordance has been amended and re-published several times. The most recent edition I have was released in 2007. It adds a modern explanation of ekklēsia that does not track well with Mr. Strong's original:
"in a Christian sense: 1) an assembly of Christians gathered for worship in a religious meeting 2) a company of Christian, or of those who, hoping for eternal salvation through Jesus Christ, observe their own religious rites, hold their own religious meetings, and manage their own affairs, according to regulations prescribed for the body for order's sake 3) those who anywhere, in a city, village, constitute such a company and are united into one body 4) the whole body of Christians scattered throughout the earth 5) the assembly of faithful Christians already dead and received into heaven".
There seems to be an ekklēsia problem.
Why was this changed after Mr. Strong's passing?
Perhaps we should notice that what started in 1890 as coming from the surname of "the called out ones" but is now changed by popular doctrine. How did it morph from pulpit to the pew into: "religious rites, religious meetings, affairs, regulations prescribed"?
Here's the paradox. You can find religion in the Bible.
The translators of the King James Bible originally chose to use "ekklēsia" with its root meaning "assembly," but it was only found in the KJV three times, just three (Acts 19:32; Acts 19:39 and Acts 19:41), yet today the "church" is printed in modern English Bibles. It replaces the congregation or assembly with a church whenever the Greek word ἐκκλησία appears.
What's up with that?
Thank goodness we still have many of the 2,000 year old Greek manuscripts that track the Septuagint.
Thank goodness we still have many of the 2,000 year old Greek manuscripts that track the Septuagint.
Speaking of them, while some seventy citations tie to ἐκκλησίαν or ekklēsia there are only three instances of the Greek word Χριστιανός or Christianós aka Christians.
Those three include references in Acts 11:26 referring to those in the City of Antioch, Acts 26:28 in a reference to King Agrippa and in 1 Peter 4:16 regarding suffering.
The new NIV Bible translates "ekklēsia" with its original Biblical intent as assembly in Acts 7:30 NIV as the Jewish disciple Stephen declared Moses' leadership of the "ekklēsia" of Deuteronomy 18:15 he was so proud to be a part of:
The reason: the sermons of the 17th century taught that "the church" replaced Israel and started anew in Acts 2. That tradition started in the 4th century.
The new NIV Bible translates "ekklēsia" with its original Biblical intent as assembly in Acts 7:30 NIV as the Jewish disciple Stephen declared Moses' leadership of the "ekklēsia" of Deuteronomy 18:15 he was so proud to be a part of:
"This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people. He was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living words to pass on to us. "Why did the word "church" not appear here translated in the usual King James Bible replacement scheme?
According to Stephen, there was no replacement, the big assembly started at Mount Sinai and it's not a new replacement.
Considering the new view of the "church" that prevails today in the form of a new religion, we have to ask a very difficult question for most.
Considering the new view of the "church" that prevails today in the form of a new religion, we have to ask a very difficult question for most.
Have the translators actually "translated" or have they replaced the identity of the assembly called out from Egypt by Almighty God with a 'new' religion and a church never seen in the Holy Scriptures that Jesus read and taught?
Before you slam the door or hit the exit button, open your eyes and keep reading from the 1611 version of the King James Bible that is based on the Textus Receptus and the original translation of William Tyndale 85 years earlier.
The English translators that gave the world the 1611 King James Bible were appointed by none other than King James. He led "the church of England." So much for division of church and state. His team of translators give us their word about "church" direct from the martyr Stephen's perspective.
Just before Stephen was stoned to death, he declared these words as Moses was leading the wilderness "church" err I mean congregation assembly out of Egypt to Mount Sinai. Here's the olde English of 1611 KJV Acts Chapter 7:36-38:
Well, yes it does.
The children of Israel is the original church.
The children of Israel is the assembly of people that follow and believe Almighty God. They are the ones that do what He asks of His children, that's not new at all.
Before you slam the door or hit the exit button, open your eyes and keep reading from the 1611 version of the King James Bible that is based on the Textus Receptus and the original translation of William Tyndale 85 years earlier.
The English translators that gave the world the 1611 King James Bible were appointed by none other than King James. He led "the church of England." So much for division of church and state. His team of translators give us their word about "church" direct from the martyr Stephen's perspective.
Just before Stephen was stoned to death, he declared these words as Moses was leading the wilderness "church" err I mean congregation assembly out of Egypt to Mount Sinai. Here's the olde English of 1611 KJV Acts Chapter 7:36-38:
Hey, wait a minute... are we reading the 1611 King James Bible's book of Acts correctly... do the words of Stephen, the man of full faith and power actually define "the children of Israel" in the wilderness of Mount Sinai 1,500 years earlier as "the church" in the wilderness??"He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signes in the land of Egypt, and in the red Sea, and in the wildernesse fortie yeeres.This is that Moses which said vnto the children of Israel, A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise vp vnto you of your brethren, like vnto mee: him shall ye heare.This is he that was in þe Church in the wildernesse with the Angel, which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who receiued the liuely oracles, to giue vnto vs."
Well, yes it does.
The children of Israel is the assembly of people that follow and believe Almighty God. They are the ones that do what He asks of His children, that's not new at all.
The issue today is that word church has morphed and changed according to a new church replacement doctrine with a new religion tradition.
The Exodus story is also the proof that foreigners and sojourners of the nations can be grafted in and adopted by their choice to follow and join the ranks of God's children in the assembly congregation of the God of Israel.
Paul is misunderstood, but he understood this as the Messiah prophet mission:
"And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God... " Ephesians 2:17-19
The adoption began a few generations earlier with Joseph's two sons Ephraim and Manasseh. Jacob adopted the boys. Their mother was Egyptian and their descendants were also among the mixed multitude witnessed the plagues and feared the name of The Lord, so they chose to walk with Moses and follow the God of Israel into the wilderness. This grafting included the mixed multitude of sojourners, strangers and aliens that left Egypt and chose to follow Jacob's family and join the exodus from slavery.
They all survived slavery together whether native born, adopted, sojourner, alien or stranger.
They all walked through the sea, gathered and stood together, united as one assembly at Mount Sinai to hear the shofar call.
They all saw the thick cloud and consuming fire on the mountain top.
The all said they would do what God would instruct them to to do before He said it.
They all heard God's voice shake the mountain with the covenant of the Almighty Elohim of the universe.
They all ate the same manna and drank the same water from the rock.
They all ate the same manna and drank the same water from the rock.
Three thousand chose to do their own thing and worship a golden idol.
Everyone but one rested on the Sabbath...
Whoa... wait a minute!
This is worth a pause on any religious ground shaking under your feet.
Whoa... wait a minute!
This is worth a pause on any religious ground shaking under your feet.
There's good reason to pause... the congregation, the assembly of family of Israel included the sojourners from the nations that left Egypt together, they all left believing the God of Israel would save them.
Almighty God told them that truth requires two witnesses.
Bottomline, both natural and wild branches are the one olive tree family of the God.
That reality is seen in Zechariah's metaphor image of two lamp stand olive trees described in Zechariah 4:2-14 :
And he said to me, "What do you see?" So I said,
"I am looking, and there is a lampstand of solid gold
with a bowl on top of it, and on the stand seven lamps
with seven pipes to the seven lamps.
"Two olive trees are by it, one at the right of the bowl
and the other at its left."
Then I answered and said to him, "What are these two olive
trees; at the right of the lampstand and at its left?"
And I further answered and said to him, "What are these two
olive branches that drip into the receptacles of the two
gold pipes from which the golden oil drains?"
Then he answered me and said, "Do you not know what these
are?" And I said, "No, my lord."
So he said, "These are the two anointed ones, who standThe whole earth restoration plan of the God of Hosts includes Moses and Yeshua.
beside the Lord of the whole earth."
Yeshua said Moses wrote of me.
"For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me." John 5:46
Paul explained in his letter to the Romans there's both native born and adopted sojourner living in covenant with the God of Israel as one new man in the commonwealth Kingdom of the God.
Revelation backs that up. That's not my interpretation, its exactly what Revelation 11:4 describes:
"These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth."The Kingdom constitution of The Lord of the universe is the very same Torah that is outlined by the Ten Commandments that were heard by the whole assembly and written by the finger of God on stone.
That table of ten contents was expanded by the instructions given to Moses that he recorded on the scrolls so long ago after the golden calf problem.
Here's the thing, Almighty God's promise is that by His Spirit He will inscribe His Torah on our hearts!!
That is the heart of the renewed covenant.
Jeremiah is the prophet that was chosen by Almighty God to deliver this message. It was to be sung for Jacob but Jeremiah shouted out for all to repent. The promise is seen in the words from Jeremiah 31:31 but don't stop with a verse, read the entire chapter:
Jeremiah is the prophet that was chosen by Almighty God to deliver this message. It was to be sung for Jacob but Jeremiah shouted out for all to repent. The promise is seen in the words from Jeremiah 31:31 but don't stop with a verse, read the entire chapter:
"For thus says the LORD,
Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
And shout among the chief of the nations;
Proclaim, give praise and say,
‘O LORD, save Your people,
The remnant of Israel.
Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,
And declare in the coastlands afar off,
And say, “He who scattered Israel will gather him
And keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.
I have surely heard Ephraim grieving,
You have chastised me, and I was chastised,
Like an untrained calf;
Bring me back that I may be restored,
For You are the LORD my God.
Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD,
when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah,
not like the covenant which I made with their fathers
in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt,
My covenant which they broke,
although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD.
But this is the covenant which I will makeWhether recognized by Jew or non-Jew, Yeshua is at the right hand of God as the Prophet like Moses in authority as High Priest and Messiah King of the congregation of Israel, both native born and sojourner.
with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD,
I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it;
and I will be their God, and they shall be My people."
The sad reality is Jewish people have not seen Jesus as their Jewish Messiah because some early church people who claimed to follow Him replaced reality.
They did not talk or act like His Jewish disciples and they dis not understand the first or new covenant.
In fact, their descendant remain telling everyone at church that Moses is old and the Torah teaching of Almighty God was done away on a Roman cross.
If you want to understand what Stephen was saying just before his death when "he saw the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the "right hand of God" you have to look with him and remember the Bible's account of the wilderness story and the ekklēsia that Stephen was proclaiming as his faith when he was stoned to death.
Stephen never knew a new religion.
You can read about Stephen's faith from the witness of the Hebrew Scriptures he spoke about:
And Moses did as the LORD commanded him; and the congregation ( `edah עֵדָה) was assembled (qahal קָהַל) at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Leviticus 8:4In these verses, the word "congregation" is the Hebrew word `edah עֵדָה and the word "assembly" is qahal קָהַל.
Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly (qahal קָהַל) of the congregation ( `edah עֵדָה) of the children of Israel. Numbers 14:5
And the LORD delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them [was written] according to all the words, which the LORD spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. Deuteronomy 9:10
If we look into the Greek version of these words of Matthew 16:18 and Matthew 18:17 we can see Yeshua's words are translated using the Greek term "ekklēsia" to describe the assembly and congregation `edah עֵדָה that extends from one end of the Bible to the other.
As already noted, the Strong's concordance shows us that fact. Not only that the concordance' matches the Hebrew word `edah 149 times and `qahal is seen 123 times in the Hebrew Bible.
Wow!! There's more to the Greek word "ekklēsia" than you may have thought.
The first English translation of the Greek manuscripts of the Newer Testament we have today were completed by William Tyndale. He was an amazing linguist who was gifted and fluent not only in Greek as well as Hebrew but also in French, German, Italian, Latin, Spanish too.
Tyndale's translation of available Greek manuscripts was the first to be printed in English in 1526... despite what you may have learned, the King James crew came on the scene many years later. Not only that, Tyndale's translation was the first to make use of a printing press despite what you may have heard.
Tyndale's translation was completed in 1525 while he was in hiding in Germany and it was finally printed in Switzerland during the Reformation. In it, Tyndale introduced a new word to the English language, it is "Passover" from the Hebrew word "Pesach."
Yes, believe it or not, William Tyndale gave the English speaking world the word "Passover" direct from the Hebrew Bible.
Now, try this on for size: did you know that the word "Christian" only appears three times in the Greek manuscripts? It the word Christianos (Χριστιανός) and it's found in Acts 11:26, Acts 26:28 and 1Peter 4:16.
Tyndale's Bible was published 85 years before The King James Bible of 1611, and the word church (Tyndale spelled it 'churche') only appeared two times as written by one of the world's greatest linguists. You can check his keywords in Tynsdale's New Testament thanks to the amazing people at StudyLight.org © 2002. You can also read Tyndale's New Testament as it appeared in its original print format from "The Matthew Bible".
"The Matthew Bible" also known as "Matthew's Version." It was published in 1537 by John Rogers, under the pseudonym "Thomas Matthew." It combined the Newer Testament of William Tyndale, and as much of the Old Testament as Tyndale had been able to translate before being captured, in-prisoned and put to death by the church.
Tyndale's Bible was published 85 years before The King James Bible of 1611, and the word church (Tyndale spelled it 'churche') only appeared two times as written by one of the world's greatest linguists. You can check his keywords in Tynsdale's New Testament thanks to the amazing people at StudyLight.org © 2002. You can also read Tyndale's New Testament as it appeared in its original print format from "The Matthew Bible".
"The Matthew Bible" also known as "Matthew's Version." It was published in 1537 by John Rogers, under the pseudonym "Thomas Matthew." It combined the Newer Testament of William Tyndale, and as much of the Old Testament as Tyndale had been able to translate before being captured, in-prisoned and put to death by the church.
Rogers added Myles Coverdale's translation of the Old Testament and the Apocrypha, except the Apocryphal Prayer of Manasses. "Matthew's Version" is a vital link in the main sequence of English Bible translations according to Bibles-Online.net
You can also view it online in a copy of Jugge's Tyndale New Testament. The website Bibles-Online notes:
"The 1552 Jugge's Tyndale New Testament. One of the earliest available New Testaments by William Tyndale. It is based on his final lifetime revisions. This New Testament was most assuredly the edition that the great reformers in Geneva would have used in preparation for the 1557 Geneva New Testament. The Jugge editions were printed during the brief reign of the reformer boy King Edward VI."
Incredibly, Tyndale's translation did not have the word "church" in it as a name to reflect the believers of Messiah. Instead, his focus was on the "called out assembly" just as the Greek 'ekklēsia' intended.
The church didn't like Tyndale. One reason is because he understood that the Greek "ekklēsia" linked directly to the Hebrew word "qahal." There's no word "church" except for two instances within Tyndale's translation in Acts 14:13 and Acts 19:37. But hold on to your church hat and grab a pew, because in both cases Tyndale's use of the word church isn't what you thought and it reveals why the church leaders of his day sought to destroy him:
Look for yourself... just click here. There is a reason Tyndale did this, so don't give up on the first English Bible translator just yet.
Tyndale translated the Greek word "ekklesia" meaning the "called out ones" simply as "congregation" and in the olde English of the day he spelled it as "congregacion."
Tindale used the proper English way to translate "ekklesia" in 1525. Check this out:
By the way, the Church of England is never an identity found in Scripture, that's not a stone's throw, its reality. Like Tyndale’s own horrific murder, copies of his English translations were hunted down and burned in public places.
Tindale used the proper English way to translate "ekklesia" in 1525. Check this out:
"And I saye also vnto the yt thou arte Peter: and apon this rocke I wyll bylde my congregacion. And the gates of hell shall not prevayle ageynst it." Matthew 16:18Tyndale’s translation was condemned in England, the reason, the official Church of England disagreed.
By the way, the Church of England is never an identity found in Scripture, that's not a stone's throw, its reality. Like Tyndale’s own horrific murder, copies of his English translations were hunted down and burned in public places.
The sad news is that Tyndale’s use of the word "congregation" challenged the authority, doctrine and name of the Roman Catholic "church" that claimed its new birth at Pentecost in Acts 2.
Tyndale's message got him burned at the stake.
Tyndale's message was don't confuse "church" with the congregation, the "ekklēsia" of the true body of Messiah.
There is more to the story of his murder and you should know it.
Tyndale’s translation of the Greek word "presbuteros" as the word "elder" instead of "priest" also challenged the institutional authority of the "Catholic Church" because Tyndale's translation stripped away the power of Catholic priests granted by the "Church" hierarchy.
Tyndale's message was don't confuse "church" with the congregation, the "ekklēsia" of the true body of Messiah.
There is more to the story of his murder and you should know it.
Tyndale’s translation of the Greek word "presbuteros" as the word "elder" instead of "priest" also challenged the institutional authority of the "Catholic Church" because Tyndale's translation stripped away the power of Catholic priests granted by the "Church" hierarchy.
The word "elder" showed that Catholic priests do not lead the "church." It was the role of the elders, which implied that the power rested in the hands of the people, the assembly of believers, the body of the Jerusalem Passover Messiah and His the congregation, not a religious order of men in Rome.
Catholic Church doctrine was also challenged by Tyndale’s translation of the Greek word "metanoeite" which means "repent" instead the Catholic doctrine to "do penance" by the order of a priest in a black robe in a box.
Tyndale believed that it was through faith that one was saved, not through the penance of deed.
His translation differed from the views of "the establishment" of both the Catholic Church and The Church of England.
Tyndale believed that it was through faith that one was saved, not through the penance of deed.
His translation differed from the views of "the establishment" of both the Catholic Church and The Church of England.
The Catholic teaching was that salvation was granted by priests to those who believed in Jesus and lived accordingly to their "church" doctrine and manmade rules that required one to ask a priest for forgiveness, granted though penances and mandatory participation in seven Catholic sacraments "to earn" salvation granted in a new religion controlled by the establishment.
The Bible never teaches religious control roof the masses.
Religious control is a precept of men. It's much like the issue that Paul addressed in his letter to the Galatians. The reason, religious men involved are in a power play in Galatia. They were telling the former Gentiles that they had to be circumcised to be saved. They were saying that faith was not enough to follow the Torah teachings that Paul taught in synagogues every Sabbath that pointed to Yeshua as the Jewish Messiah of all Israel, whether native born or sojourner.
The religious in Paul's day had their own "house" rules saying the Galatians had to be circumcised to be saved and be accepted as a convert.
The Bible never teaches religious control roof the masses.
Religious control is a precept of men. It's much like the issue that Paul addressed in his letter to the Galatians. The reason, religious men involved are in a power play in Galatia. They were telling the former Gentiles that they had to be circumcised to be saved. They were saying that faith was not enough to follow the Torah teachings that Paul taught in synagogues every Sabbath that pointed to Yeshua as the Jewish Messiah of all Israel, whether native born or sojourner.
The religious in Paul's day had their own "house" rules saying the Galatians had to be circumcised to be saved and be accepted as a convert.
The problem: God never said that, Moses never wrote that and Yeshua never taught that.
So, Paul tried to explain Moses' meeting with God atop the mountain as the King of the universe explained His mercy and grace. Paul knew the truth and he was inspired to convey it from the Exodus story.
Just eight years before Tyndale's English Bible was produced, a German man also strongly disputed Catholic teachings. His opposition was focused on indulgences. Opposing the teaching of the Catholic church, Martin Luther did not believe that freedom from the judgment could be purchased with money by paying a priest. Luther wrote against the practice of indulgences in his Ninety-five Theses of 1517 and five years later, in 1522 he too published his German translation of the New Testament.
Just eight years before Tyndale's English Bible was produced, a German man also strongly disputed Catholic teachings. His opposition was focused on indulgences. Opposing the teaching of the Catholic church, Martin Luther did not believe that freedom from the judgment could be purchased with money by paying a priest. Luther wrote against the practice of indulgences in his Ninety-five Theses of 1517 and five years later, in 1522 he too published his German translation of the New Testament.
Luther's writings that opposed religious church traditions caught the public eye in Germany and his writings contained truth, but he eventually mixed truth with lies and he too turned against the Jewish people.
Luther hated the fact that the Jews of Germany wouldn't respond to his version of the gospel because they would not convert to a his Christianity that required they all give up their Jewish heritage from the Bible.
When his evangelical efforts at conversion failed, he became extremely bitterness that impressed the insanity of Hitler 400 years later.
The thing is, Luther's form of gospel was not unlike the men that Paul labeled as the party of circumcision. Luther insisted that every Jew turn his back on his family heritage and convert to a new religion. In Luther's view, after conversion, they were no longer a Jew despite the fact that Jesus, rather Yeshua was a Jew, a rabbi and King of the Jews. Luther forgot the words Jesus gave the woman at the well:
Luther's words were so vehement, Hitler's Nazis quoted Luther as justification for the mass murder, genocide and grave tribulation of the Jewish people that we call the Holocaust (Ha-Shoah in Hebrew).
Luther's published "On the Jews and Their Lies" in 1543. In it he proposed the horrific, incomprehensible atrocities Hitler carried out including setting synagogues on fire, destroying Jewish books, prohibiting rabbis from teaching, confiscating Jew's homes, businesses and money.
Luther wrote these vehement anti-semitic words: "We are at fault in not slaying them" so the Nazi's carried them out.
Enough on Luther and Hitler, back in England the Greek words translated in William Tyndale’s English New Testament revealed that a believer had to repent of sin with a sincere heart, and God would forgive in His great mercy.
Tyndale's apostolic translations from available Greek manuscripts differed widely from John Wycliffe's translation from the Latin Vulgate that had preceded Tyndale's English translation by some 125 years.
As we've have seen, Tyndale's translation opposed Catholic tradition because his English Bible revealed to its readers that one did not have to earn salvation by conversion to a new religion, instead his translation revealed that salvation and eternal life is a promise given by God to all that believe in faith and choose to walk like Messiah walked, not follow new "church" doctrines requiring sacraments and indulgences.
The truth cost Tyndale his mortal life.
The question before us is what is the "church" and is it new?
"Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews." John 4:22To understand the protest of the "Protestant Movement" we have to look closely at Luther's essays and teachings against both the Catholic Church and the Jewish people, because in his anti-Semitism he began to write against the Jewishness of Jesus and people fell for it hook line and sinker.
Luther's words were so vehement, Hitler's Nazis quoted Luther as justification for the mass murder, genocide and grave tribulation of the Jewish people that we call the Holocaust (Ha-Shoah in Hebrew).
Luther's published "On the Jews and Their Lies" in 1543. In it he proposed the horrific, incomprehensible atrocities Hitler carried out including setting synagogues on fire, destroying Jewish books, prohibiting rabbis from teaching, confiscating Jew's homes, businesses and money.
Luther wrote these vehement anti-semitic words: "We are at fault in not slaying them" so the Nazi's carried them out.
Enough on Luther and Hitler, back in England the Greek words translated in William Tyndale’s English New Testament revealed that a believer had to repent of sin with a sincere heart, and God would forgive in His great mercy.
Tyndale's apostolic translations from available Greek manuscripts differed widely from John Wycliffe's translation from the Latin Vulgate that had preceded Tyndale's English translation by some 125 years.
As we've have seen, Tyndale's translation opposed Catholic tradition because his English Bible revealed to its readers that one did not have to earn salvation by conversion to a new religion, instead his translation revealed that salvation and eternal life is a promise given by God to all that believe in faith and choose to walk like Messiah walked, not follow new "church" doctrines requiring sacraments and indulgences.
The truth cost Tyndale his mortal life.
The question before us is what is the "church" and is it new?
Let's look to more witnesses, this time from both the Strong's and Vines concordances that show us the word "ekklēsia" is derived from two Greek root words. They are: "ek" and "kaleō". So, just what do these words mean?
Strong's tells us that "ek" means: "out of, from, by, away from."
Vines tells us: "The primary meaning of ek is "out of," e.g., Matthew 3:17, "a voice out of the heavens"; 2Corinthians 9:7, lit., "out of necessity."
Strong's also tells us that "kaleō" means:
Strong's tells us that "ek" means: "out of, from, by, away from."
Vines tells us: "The primary meaning of ek is "out of," e.g., Matthew 3:17, "a voice out of the heavens"; 2Corinthians 9:7, lit., "out of necessity."
Strong's also tells us that "kaleō" means:
1) to call a) to call aloud, utter in a loud voice b) to inviteTo call out by name... and Vine's tells us that "kaleō" means:
2) to call i.e. to name, by name a) to give a name to 1) to receive the name of, receive as a name 2) to give some name to one, call his name b) to be called i.e. to bear a name or title (among men) c) to salute one by name
Call, Called, Calling: derived from the root kal--, whence English "call" and "clamour" is usedTogether, the two Greek words at their root mean the ones called out by name.
(a) with a personal object, "to call anyone, invite, summon," e.g., Matthew 20:8; 25:14; it is used particularly of the Divine call to partake of the blessings of redemption, e.g., Romans 8:30; 1Corinthians 1:9; 1Thessalonians 2:12; Hebrews 9:15
(b) of nomenclature or vocation, "to call by a name, to name;" in the Passive Voice, "to be called by a name, to bear a name." Thus it suggests either vocation or destination.
Now let's look and see what "assembly" means in Hebrew, the language of the Bible. To learn, let's go back to the wilderness journey of the "assembly" whose destination was the land promised to Abraham.
The "assembly" in the Hebrew Bible is the word קָהֵל "qahal". Strong's says "qahal" means "assembly, company, congregation, convocation". Today, we also call this a "community."
Now, from a third witness: the Believer's Study Bible from Thomas Nelson, tells us, "the word...ekklesia....is a compound word coming from the word kaleo, meaning 'to call,' and ek, meaning 'out of.' Thus...'the called-out ones.' Ephesians 5:23, "This is the same word used by the Greeks for their assembly of citizens who were 'called out' to transact the business of the city.
The Greek word ekklesia occurs 115 times in the Greek New Testament and 74 times in the Septuagint and it refers specifically to the assembly of Israel, assembled before God,. The first use of ekklesia in the Septuagint is Deuteronomy 4:10, when all Israel and the sojourners with them were assembled at the rock of Mount Sinai to receive God's covenant. In Deuteronomy 9:10 and 18:16 this time is called "the day of the assembly."
So when we see that the Newer Testament tells us that Yeshua said "upon this rock I will build My assembly" in Matthew 16:18, we need to know Messiah did mean He would create a new religion. More than that, we have to realize Jesus was not talking about Peter but about what was revealed to the disciple:
Now we can see that "qahal" and "ekklēsia" are in agreement, in community if you will.
Indeed, all of the Bible declares "the assembly" the "ekklēsia", the "qahal" was first seen at Mount Sinai just as Stephen professed. After all, Matthew tells us Jesus commanded:
He is also the "One" that Stephen was talking about at the right hand of God.
Most Christians tend to call themselves Gentiles in a church building they call “the house of God” with an altar where the preacher stands to deliver a sermon. Yet Stephen tells us there's no building is required:
The "assembly" in the Hebrew Bible is the word קָהֵל "qahal". Strong's says "qahal" means "assembly, company, congregation, convocation". Today, we also call this a "community."
Now, from a third witness: the Believer's Study Bible from Thomas Nelson, tells us, "the word...ekklesia....is a compound word coming from the word kaleo, meaning 'to call,' and ek, meaning 'out of.' Thus...'the called-out ones.' Ephesians 5:23, "This is the same word used by the Greeks for their assembly of citizens who were 'called out' to transact the business of the city.
The Greek word ekklesia occurs 115 times in the Greek New Testament and 74 times in the Septuagint and it refers specifically to the assembly of Israel, assembled before God,. The first use of ekklesia in the Septuagint is Deuteronomy 4:10, when all Israel and the sojourners with them were assembled at the rock of Mount Sinai to receive God's covenant. In Deuteronomy 9:10 and 18:16 this time is called "the day of the assembly."
So when we see that the Newer Testament tells us that Yeshua said "upon this rock I will build My assembly" in Matthew 16:18, we need to know Messiah did mean He would create a new religion. More than that, we have to realize Jesus was not talking about Peter but about what was revealed to the disciple:
Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Messiah, the Son of the living God. And Yeshua answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.At the need of the day, the assembly of the people of God are built on the rock of Messiah the Son of the living God.
Now we can see that "qahal" and "ekklēsia" are in agreement, in community if you will.
Indeed, all of the Bible declares "the assembly" the "ekklēsia", the "qahal" was first seen at Mount Sinai just as Stephen professed. After all, Matthew tells us Jesus commanded:
"These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, 'Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into [any] city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" Matthew 10:5-7Many gloss over the lost sheep of the House of Israel perhaps thinking there's a new Israel but if you deal with the fact that Jesus (Yeshua) is the Moses messenger, He is promised " prophet" that was raised up paying the price for the curse of sin at the crucifixion tree (Galatians 3:3) it may not be so difficult.
"But he answered and said, 'I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel'" Matthew 15:24
He is also the "One" that Stephen was talking about at the right hand of God.
Most Christians tend to call themselves Gentiles in a church building they call “the house of God” with an altar where the preacher stands to deliver a sermon. Yet Stephen tells us there's no building is required:
"However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says: ‘Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me, says the Lord, or what will be My place of repose?" Acts 7:48-9Noah Webster reveals a problem with that word Gentile. His 1828 Dictionary sheds a bright light saying:
"GEN'TILE, noun [Latin gentilis; from Latin gens, nation, race; applied to pagans.]
In the scriptures, a pagan; a worshipper of false gods; any person not a Jew or a christian; a heathen."
Mr. Webster points to the pagan problem of idol practice as being the key Gentile character distinction. They were linked to the heathens, the image-worshippers according to the 1880 McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia:
"As to the religion of heathenism, it is "a wild growth on the soil of fallen human nature, a darkening of the original consciousness of God's deification of the rational and irrational creature, and a corresponding corruption of the moral sense, giving the sanction of religion to natural and unnatural vices."
Paul taught this asking: "Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” 1 Corinthians 3:16
Let's look closer to Stephen's witness just before his death:
"He brought them out, after that He had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years. This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear. This is he, that was in the church {a.k.a. the "ekklēsia", the assembly of Israel} in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the Mount Sinai, and [with] our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us" Acts 7:36-38Wait a minute... what do we do with the sermons that preach that "the church" of called out ones is something "new" that started in an upper room at Pentecost 2,000 years ago? If we look closer, the Bible shows us much more... there is and has always been one body, one assembly, one faith, one family host of the God of Israel.
Indeed, as you have seen this is the exact perspective of Stephen the first martyr for His belief in the Messiah of Israel.
Paul wrote:
"Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Master, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." Ephesians 4:3-6If we continue to look deeply into the Bible's storyline, we have to notice that Peter wrote to five (5) people groups that were living outside of the Promised Land. According to the King James, he called them "strangers". But again, if we look closely at the Greek, we can learn much more about the meaning and depth of the Bible. The word the King James translators used as "strangers" is the Greek word "parepidēmos". 1Peter 1:1:
“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout 1) Pontus, 2) Galatia, 3) Cappadocia, 4) Asia, and 5) Bithynia…Remember, the Greek word is "parepidēmos". Strong's tells us it means: "the people that are living in a land that they are foreigners in."
Peter is writing to five people groups but he is not writing to people that are "native" to the areas of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia or Bithynia, but rather to people that were not originally from those regions of Turkey.
We must also consider the seven epistles from Paul. His famous letters were written to: 1) the Romans, 2) Corinthians, 3) Galatians, 4) Ephesians, 5) Philippians, 6) Colossians and 7) the Thessalonians.
There is a shared group that received these letters of encouragement. The Galatians received a letter from each witness to Messiah. These two letters were sent to those living in the land we now call Turkey, a land that also contained the ancient cities of not only Galatia but Ephesus, Pontus, Bithynia and Cappadocia. We may call it Turkey, but history calls it ancient Anatolia. It was founded by none other than the Hittites at the time frame of Abraham’s journey from Ur.
The Assyrians stormed into this area and took over about 400 years after the Hittites arrived… this happened near the time that the families of Jacob were baking bricks in Egypt. They were the 12 families that had descended from the 70 that had sojourned to Egypt as, you guessed it... "strangers".
So, if we look back to the time window of 722-734 BC when the “Assyrians” assaulted Northern Israel and took them captive as slaves… we have to ask just who were the Assyrians? Some of them were the ancient Hittites. But where would the Assyrians have taken their booty of slaves from the ten tribes of Northern Israel?
Back home, that's where. They would have taken them to the areas that Peter wrote his letters to.
Consider these words:
"Lest you be wise in your own sight, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in." Romans 11:25Jesus, or rather "Yeshua", the Hebrew name that literally means "salvation" sent His disciples to the lost sheep, to the lost people of a congregation called Israel.
"These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into [any] city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Matthew 10:5-6
Salvation is to the Jew first (Romans 1:16), and it's clear, Peter was following the instruction of his Master, Yeshua the Messiah when he wrote his letters.
Many confuse the "fullness" of the Gentiles" thinking it only means a time of full measure or count of Gentiles. But is that a surface of Paul's deeper message as he taught of Jacob's prophecy about Ephraim in Genesis 48:17-20.
Was Paul was revealing an amazing prophecy written by Moses of the time we are in today as the nations (aka non-Jews) are returning to the Jewish roots of their faith.
After all, that word fullness in Greek is plērōma and a key meaning is “keeping” and in Deuteronomy we see it 7 times as the Hebrew word shamar: to keep, guard, observe.
Today, a remnant among the nations are returning to the Jewish root of the faith because:
“I ask instead: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says: "I will make you jealous by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation without understanding." Romans 10:19Was Paul's understanding a part of Jacob's blessing given to Ephraim? If so, that was not "a mystery" to Peter either. Peter was a part of the small group that asked Jesus…
“I ask then, did they stumble so as to lose their share? Absolutely not! However, because of their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel jealous.” Romans 11:11
“I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, in the hope that I may provoke my own people to jealousy and save some of them.” Romans 11:13-14
"Is it at this time that you will restore the Kingdom to Israel?” Acts 1:6Notice that Jesus did not correct them and say He was creating a new religion or a Gentile "church." Believe it or not, Jesus did not inspire Peter or Paul to start a new religious system called Christianity.
Jesus said He came to gather lost sheep into the Kingdom of God, not lead a group to switch the Sabbath or a Sunday "church" service. The service we are to do is the service of Messiah as the body of Messiah wherever we are. That service in the wilderness of life, not in a pew.
Please, please don't get me wrong, the mission of the Messiah, in His own words is to "restore" the assembly, the lost sheep, the people that God calls out in the name that He has given to them... "Israel", the people that have been scattered and lost in the wilderness around the globe, adopted back into the ways of The Lord Elohim, the God of Israel.
Yeshua is still calling the lost back into His Kingdom today across the globe. But this work is 24/7/365 and there is no building, no denomination membership or religion to accomplish it:
"For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." Luke 19:10Yeshua is calling the lost back to His Kingdom no to join one of the more than 30,000 different church denominations that in some way elect to believe they are “the Church.” Is it any wonder then that Revelation 21:12 tells us there are twelve gates into "New Jerusalem" named after the twelve tribes of the children of Israel?
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Ezekiel 36:26-27
You too can be a part of "the assembly" - the community of a faithful family to enter into the gates, you too can be a part of the called out ones of the God of Israel, it's an open invitation to everyone to follow Messiah and walk in His ways in spirit and truth just like Abraham.
You don’t have to fill out a membership form or give money. All you have to do is repent, believe, surrender your life and be set free to walk like Yeshua and tell others about Him. He is the Messiah, King of all Israel, both native and sojourner grafted in and yes He does recommend a mikveh baptism to fulfill righteousness. There's no need to worry about choosing a denomination though, your set free in Messiah to follow His walk in God's will.
"My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law.... John 7:16-19The guidebook on how to be set free from religion and having a real relationship with our Creator is the Bible, not a denominational doctrine nor this website for that matter, and 'the teacher' is the Spirit of God:
"Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read…" — Isaiah 34:16
“It was for freedom that Messiah set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery” Galatians 5:1The "book of The Lord" is our instruction manual for living in the Kingdom of God, so pick it up and read it every day and consider that when Jesus spoke these words... the New Testament had not been written:
"Search the Scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." — John 5:39So start at the beginning, search the Scriptures just as we are instructed to do.
If you choose in faith to follow the Savior and "walk" in the Scriptures that testify of Him, you will be a part of "the assembly" that seeks to follow God out of slavery to sin. To do this shows love for God and what He has done. It is what the Apostle Paul and James wrote about:
"So faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love." 1Corinthians 13:13What does all this mean?
"Even so, faith on its own without works is dead." James 2:17
Consider a prayer: Please, God, guide me as to what I should do.
It's time for you to repent and return to God's voice, return to hear and do His word and walk in the faith of His Kingdom path so that you can ready your lamp for your coming assignment.
As Jesus taught in Matthew 5, the Torah still stands, the commandments are still valid and the Feasts of The Lord are eternal for His ekklēsia.
For me, Matthew 5 teaches we are to honor the Feasts described in Leviticus including the weekly Sabbath and even watch what we eat because God's instruction is there to protect us. For some it means its time to take a last look at Santa's Christmas and wave goodbye to the Easter bunny and Halloween. It means saying hello to the week long celebrations of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Sukkot. It even means seeing Hanukkah in John 10.
The Torah declares there is one law His ekklēsia, that means the Israelite and the same law for the foreigner wishing to follow and worship God. All of us are worth a half-shekel, in essence, that means that there is no separation in the Bible and there is no separation worship for the Jew and non-Jews. Ultimately, that means we are to become one new man, united and restored.
If you do not know your Messiah, it is time for you to know Him. You can return to God's covenant, return to hear and do His word and walk in the faith of His Kingdom path so that you can ready your lamp to show others how to do the same. Yeshua must not only be The Lord our lives as individual believers. He must also receive pre-eminence in the life of our communities, He is the head of the ekklēsia.
Messiah is calling to build His ekklēsia, a “faith community” and as He builds, He uses us as “living stones” loving our neighbor being “built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Yeshua Messiah” (1Peter 2:5).
God is the almighty sovereign God of the whole House, the ekklēsia of Israel.
Do you believe God, if so do you follow and seek to honor his Kingdom mitzvot? Do you follow Yeshua the Messiah of Israel? Do you seek to walk and talk like Him? If so, you a part of the congregation (ekklēsia) of the commonwealth of redeemed Israel, an assembly of faith and spirit.
Each Sabbath day and the Feasts of The Lord are the set apart times which God has appointed for His people to assemble together for “holy convocations” (See Leviticus 23:2). The Hebrew word translated “convocation” (mikra), means a calling together.
YHVH is a loving God and He has provided the way to offer His salvation and eternal life to you and those you know. You can accept His gift of eternal life. Consider carefully what your life consists of, look at it and repent of any willful sin, ask God's forgiveness and accept His gift of love through Messiah Yeshua.
You can do this!
Today is the time. If you know you need to get your life right with God, don’t wait for tomorrow, get it right with Him now!
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." John 3:16-17Tell others about His life death and resurrection!
And, if you can, gather with others in a set apart assembly, an "ekklēsia" to worship Him and study His word, it is the Book of Life.
For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them." Matthew 18:20Shalom ya'll.
