THE ECCLESIA
The Ecclesia
Sunday, November 25, 2012, the Year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
The Greek word, “Ecclesia” – the church-- means assembly; congregation; called out ones; a calling out; a race; lineage; nativity; a governing power; and to call aloud; to call forth from; to cause to pass from one dimension to another; to invite;”(Thayer).
The Church is a spiritual body of believers who are called out from the world system. It is not a building or a sect; not a denomination or organization, but a living organism.
“You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God…and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Mt. 16:16-18).
The false church of Revelation 17-18 is in contrast to the true church of Revelation 19. A true church and false religious imitation are seen throughout the bible as two men and two women:
TWO MEN TWO WOMEN
True Church False Church True Church False Church
Abraham Nimrod Freewoman of Ga. 4. Bondwoman
Isaac Ishmael
Sarah
Hagar
Israel Esau Rachel Leah
Samuel Eli Hannah Peninnah
David Saul Ruth Naomi
Paul of God Saul of Tarsus Esther Vashti
There are many Bible principles and designations for the entire Body of Christ. The Greek "Christos:” means “The Anointed One.” The anointed One revealed in the bible in the New Testament is one new man made up of the Head (Jesus) and a Body (the Church). By comparing the relationship of a natural head with its natural body, one can see the relationship between Jesus Christ, the Head, and His anointed Body, the Church. John 2:21: “He (Jesus) spoke of the temple of His Body”.
1 Cor. 12:12-27: “For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ!”
We are also the Bride of Christ. This is another Bible term for the woman, the Church. The principle here is the living union and relationship between Jesus Christ, the Husband and his Wife, the Church. The Greek word for “Bride” is numphre” (bride or young wife) and is probably connected with the Latin “nubo” which means “To Veil”. The Greek word for veil is exousia which means authority (1 Co. 11: 2-26). The Bride of Christ is both male and female. Our subjection to Christ is understood not in the sense of inequality or inferiority, but in the terms of Christ’s relationship to God.
Rev. 21: 2-4: “I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.”
The heavenly Jerusalem or the New Jerusalem of the New Testament is the glorified community of God or the Church. The Jerusalem which is above (heavenly) is free and the mother of us all is a city that is set upon a hill (Gal. 4: 21-31). We are the City of the Living God. This is another bible term for the Church denoting order and government and thus His protection.
Heb. 11:16: “Now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly; wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared for them a city.”
Heb. 12: 33-34: “You have come to Mt. Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men, made perfect.”
God has claim to the firstborn (Gen. 4:4). The firstborn had a birthright. He became the head of his family and inherited a double portion of his father’s property. Jesus is the firstborn Son and is the Heir of all things. We are joint-heirs with Him and share the rights and benefits of His inheritance as members of the Church of the Firstborn.
We are pictured as the Light of the world. “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.” (Mt. 5:14) “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? We are the Lamp stand.
The Old Testament sanctuary is a type and shadow of the New Testament tabernacle, the Church:
- Each piece of furniture pictures Jesus the Head of the Church”
a. Brazen Altar - Savior, Sacrifice, Justifier, Healer
b. Brazen laver - Sanctifier
c. Candlestick - The Light
d. Shewbread Table - The Bread
e. Altar of Incense - Our Great High Priest
f. Ark & Mercy-seat - King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
- Each piece of furniture pictures the New Testament Church pattern:
a. Brazen Altar - Justification by faith, Divine healing.
b. Brazen laver - Water Baptism, Sanctification.
c. Candlestick - Fruit and gifts of the Spirit, Apostles’ Doctrine
d. Shewbread Table - Lord’s Supper, Five-fold Ministry.
e. Altar of Incense - Spirit-filled Prayer, Praise and Worship
f. Ark & Mercy-seat - The fullness of the Stature of Christ (maturity)
- Each piece of furniture pictures the restoration of the Church:
a. Brazen Altar - Martin Luther (1517)
b. Brazen laver - The Anabaptists (1525) and John Wesley (1738)
c. Candlestick - Charles Parham (1900), The Deliverance
Ministries (started to come forth in the 1940’s)
d. Shewbread Table - Latter Rain (1947-1950)
e. Altar of Incense - Tabernacle of David revelation (1950’s).
f. Ark & Mercy-seat - Continued revelation (1960-2000)
g. Past the Golden Altar - The Glory of God. (2000—until the present)
There are two Greek words for “temple” in the New Testament. The first is “hieron” and means “the outer temple. It is never used figuratively. Apart from the Gospels and Acts in Jerusalem, it is only mentioned in 1 Cor. 9:13 to refer to the natural temple located in Jerusalem. The other word is “naos” meaning “the inner temple, containing the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies; the dwelling-place of God.” It is always used figuratively for the church (individually and corporately). (1 Cor. 3: 15-17; 6:19; II Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:21; 11 Th. 2:4; Rev. 3:12; 7:15; 11:1; 2, 19; 14:15; 17; a5: 5-8; a6:1; 17; 21:22) “I saw no temple therein; for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.”
The principle of the vine and the branches also reveal the Gentile church as spiritual Israel grafted into the vine of natural Israel. The Vineyard reveals the principle of fruit-bearing. Wine can speak of the joy of the Lord. In the midst of the vineyard is the tower for the watchman, the oversight ministries, who watch for the soul of the sheep (Isa. 5: 1-2).
“Now will I sing to My well beloved a song of My beloved touch His vineyard. My well beloved has vineyard in a very fruitful hill; He fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst o fit, and also made a winepress therein; and He looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.”
Holy Nation is another New Testament term for the church. The Kingdom was taken from the natural nation and given to the church to bring forth the fruit thereof. The Church is Abraham’s Seed, the circumcision, the spiritual Israel of God, and the New Jerusalem until the time of the fullness of the Gentiles come in, then the Holy Spirit will again graft in all of Israel.
Romans 11:25-29: “I would not have you ignorant brethren of this mystery, less you should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles have come in. So all Israel shall be saved; as it is written. There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is My covenant to them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes; but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.”
We are Christ’s and thus the seed of Abraham, who is the pattern of all those who walk by faith. Romans 9: 6-8: “”For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel; neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children; but in Isaac shall your seed be called. That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.”
We are lively, living stones. This is akin to “Zoe” which is used to speak of the divine, incorruptible life of God. the members of the church are living stones built up (edified) together into the spiritual house of the Lord of which Solomon’s Temple (built up of natural stones was a type and shadow.) (1 Kg. 6:7; 1 Pet. 2: 1-5).
The House of the Lord is another term for the church as the sanctuary, and the temple, and the dwelling-place of God. This building of God is a habitation of God through the Spirit and a spiritual house or abode not made with hands. (Jn. 14: 1-3; Heb. 3:5-6; 11 Ti. 2:20).
The overcoming church means to subdue or conquer; overcome or prevail. This is another designation for the glorious church which is coming forth in the victory of Jesus. We shall overcome as He overcame.
The prayers of Jesus (Jn. 17) will bring us from the unity of the Spirit to the unity of the faith. Sectarianism and exclusivism in any form is not of the Spirit of Christ.
The New Testament church government deals specifically with the structure, order and government of the New Testament Church as revealed by the pattern and principles of the New Testament. Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.
There is a term known as “covering”. This term is a broad-based and many-faceted Bible principle. The major concepts are that of protection, refuge, security and balance. The word has been abused and/or carried to unscriptural extremes. However, we cannot omit and throw out the word altogether.
- A covering in general for the Body of Christ ---the blood and the cloud.
- A covering for the individual believer –the garments of salvation.
- A covering for the natural family – divine order in family roles. The order of authority: Jesus, man, woman, children.
- A covering for the spiritual family, the local church – all elders, deacons, and saints are under the protection of the Lord Jesus. The ministries of Eph. 4:11 in the whole Body of Christ universal as they speak the same thing, and are submitted one to another in the love and fear of God.
- A covering for the operation of the gifts and manifestations of the Holy Spirit---Word of God and valid oversight.
- A covering for the ministry – garments of priesthood, cleansing, calling of God, anointing, measure of faith.
- A covering for entering into the Presence of God ---proper principles of prayer, praise, and worship.
- A covering for God Himself---the veil, cherubims, the mercy-seat, or His glory. He ever speaks as One.
1 John 1: 5-7: “This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth; But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus christ His son cleanses us from all sin.”
The New Testament Church is a local assembly that is founded upon and presently moving in and practicing the pattern and principles of New Testament divine order of what the local church is to be in all areas. A New Testament Church is a body of people:
- Who have come together for a Kingdom purposes to establish the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in Heaven.
- Who are structured according to the New Testament pattern.
- Who are living the life-style of New Testament living.
- Who are all involved in New Testament purpose and Kingdom living.
“Jesus' prayer in the garden becomes for Christians, a picture of the church in action---a place where fears can be verbalized, pronounced, stripped down, and denounced; an escape from the wordless darkness of suppressed frights. A healthy church is where our fears go to die. We pierce them through with Scripture, psalms of celebration and lament. We melt them in the sunlight of confession. We extinguish them with the waterfall of worship, choosing to gaze at God, not our dreads and the circumstances of the world.” (Max Lucado – Fearless)
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries, Inc.
Scripture from K.J.V. I entered into the labors of Kelly Varner with J. L. Dutton, The Tongue of the Learned, and Max Lucado, Fearless. Comments and conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the views of those whom I entered into their labors.