The Church Part 5

VI. The concept of a church/congregation in this world for the glory and service of God did not start in the book of Acts. God has had a visible church/congregation in this world ever since the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt (EXO 16:1-2 c/w ACT 7:38). That church under the Sinaitic Covenant would also be His nation and kingdom on earth. EXO 19:5-6. A. Remember that the word “church” is “the naturalized equivalent of Latin ecclesia.” 1. ecclesia: A Greek word for a regularly convoked assembly; chiefly applied to the general assembly of Athenian citizens. On the introduction of Christianity it became the regular word for CHURCH, q.v. 2. ekklesia (SRN G1577): a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place, an assembly. (Thayer’s Dictionary of the New Testament) 3. This was a significance of the exodus: God was calling His people from their homes in Egypt to assemble with Him in the wilderness for worship. EXO 5:1-3. 4. This also marked a shift in the manner in which God was to be worshipped. B. From a standpoint of approaching God in religious service and worship, history may be divided up into three distinct periods: 1. Pre-Moses. From the fall of Adam up until the the exodus of Israel, the service of The Church 6-9-24 Page 9  God was observed in very simplistic form. It was not congregational in nature, and about the only furniture that was required was an altar. a. There was a time, place and proper manner: the elements of divine service which span all ages. GEN 4:3-5. b. Sacrifice was offered by a head of the family, often a prophet (Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) or a priest, e.g., Melchizedek. GEN 14:17-20. c. At the place of service, God communed with the worshipper. GEN 28:10-22; 35:1, 6-7, 9-15. d. In this era, divine service was essentially family and private, not a calling out to a distinct public assembly. 2. The kingdom of Israel under the Sinaitic/Mosaic Covenant. From the exodus up until the day of Pentecost (and with tailings until 70 A.D.), the first format of “called-out assembly” congregational worship existed as a divine institution. Now the individual was to dislodge himself from his home to go to a designated place of public worship no less than three times each year for appointed feasts. EXO 34:23-24. a. An appointed priesthood (the house and lineage of Aaron) was established for the offering up of sacrifices with their brethren the Levites as helpers and teachers. b. A specific place for service was established (replete with carnal furnishings and carnal ordinances), first in the tabernacle which was moved from place to place, later in the temple in Jerusalem. Both were called “the house of God.” 1CH 6:48; 2CH 3:3. c. Offerings were not to be made anywhere else, nor by anyone other than priests. The average church member/citizen was restricted in access to the house of God. d. Specific, detailed rituals and ordinances were to be strictly observed. e. Exclusion from the nation of Israel meant exclusion from full fellowship with God. f. Communion with God was found in the Holy of Holies, where the ark of the covenant was kept and where the High Priest alone could enter. EXO 25:21-22; 29:42-43; 40:33-34; 2CH 7:1-2; HEB 9:6-7. g. During this era, synagogue worship also developed where people could assemble for public prayer and exposition of the Scripture but not for the offering of sacrifices. PSA 74:8; ACT 15:21. h. An overview of the Old Testament shows the program of God transitioning from a Levitical emphasis to a Davidic emphasis as God was preparing the way for the son of David, King Jesus, and His New Covenant order. 3. The gospel church made up of Jew and/or Gentile. With the coming of John the Baptist, a new order of service was introduced in fulfilment of prophecy. MAL 1:11; 3:1; 4:5-6 c/w MAT 11:13-14; LUK 16:16; JOH 4:20-23. a. The old system was on the way out, to be displaced by the next phase of the kingdom/church. MAR 1:14-15. b. The nationalistic church/kingdom of the Mosaic Covenant was going to be deprived of its status before God in favor of something else: the gospel church which is the house of God. MAT 21:43 c/w LUK 12:32; 1PE 2:5-10; 1TI 3:15. c. This kingdom/church would not be set aside nor destroyed. DAN 2:44 c/w MAT 16:18-19; EPH 3:21. The Church 6-9-24 Page 10 d. At the death of Jesus Christ, God openly showed His abandonment and abolition of the Old Covenant system which revolved around the Temple. MAT 27:50-51. e. At Pentecost, God proved His intentions by filling the local church at Jerusalem with His presence in the form of the Holy Spirit, as He had done in Moses' and Solomon's days. The Holy Ghost fell only on this group of about 120 disciples, whose names were numbered together and who were conducting church business. ACT 1:15-2:4. f. NOTE: Multitudes had been baptized by John the Baptist and the disciples of Jesus (MAT 3:5-6; JOH 4:1-2) but the Holy Ghost only fell on the infant church to indwell it. g. Contrast the ministerial restriction at the indwellings of the tabernacle and the later temple with the power of the apostles on the Day of Pentecost. EXO 40:34-35; 1KI 8:11 c/w ACT 2:4-47. (1) The Holy Ghost had not come upon a lifeless compartment but upon living believers who had personally witnessed the resurrected Son of God’s victory over death and the powers of darkness. (2) The apostles had recently been told that they would receive power at this time. ACT 1:1-3, 8. (3) Combining their eyewitness experience with their knowledge of the promise of power and the effectual working of that power in them, their minds were flooded with spiritual understanding that put ancient prophecies and present events in full and accurate perspective. (4) Truly, the gospel was preached “...with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven...” (1PE 1:12). (5) The Spirit of truth would co-endure with the N.T. form of the church. JOH 14:16-17; MAT 28:19-20. h. NOTE: This was the reformation of the church of God which had existed since Moses (HEB 9:10). The Protestant Reformation, for all its good points, was still nevertheless the reformation of Catholicism and retained much of the doctrine and ecclesiastical structure of that system. The Church 6-9-24 Page 11