Origins of the Church
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· 4 viewsThis lesson lays a foundation for understanding that the church was not an invention of New testament writers, but has it's roots in the Old Testament.
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The Church has always been part of God’s plan.
The Church has always been part of God’s plan.
INTRO: The life, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ to the right hand of then heavenly Father were all in fulfillment of the Law and them Prophets.
The Church Jesus said He is building:
And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
is also the fulfillment of Old Testament promises and prophecies. Jesus laid the foundation of the church through the Apostles, with himself as the Chief Cornerstone.
Believers in Jesus from the very beginning saw themselves as part of the continuing story of scripture, ekklesia. They believed they were gathering as the faithful people of God.
Ekklesia is a Greek word defined as “a called-out assembly or congregation.” Ekklesia is commonly translated as “church” in the New Testament.
Today’s Lesson will focus on three points
Understanding that the Church was and is not and invention of man, New Testament writers, but has it’s roots in the Old Testament.
The ongoing presence of Jesus Christ in the lives of His people, and the promise of the Holy Spirit to empower the Church.
Foundational importance of the Apostles
Judas betrayal foretold in the Old Testament
OLD TESTAMENT ROOTS
The Church in the Wilderness
“This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear.’ “This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us,
The words of Steven reveal that the early Church saw itself in continuity with the Old Testament assembly in the wilderness. He gives an historical overview of Isreal as the people of God.
Stephen recounted the failures of Israel in their treatment of the prophets and Jesus. Stephen said God promised He would raise up one like Moses, whom the people would hear.
Referring to when and where Moses spoke to the children of Isreal at Mount Sinai.
especially concerning the day you stood before the Lord your God in Horeb, when the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to Me, and I will let them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.’ “Then you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness. And the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; you only heard a voice. So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone.
The Word of God was, and would remain central to Israel’s identity and life as God’s people, chosen by Him to fulfill a redemptive destiny.
Praise In the Congregation
I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You. You who fear the Lord, praise Him! All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, And fear Him, all you offspring of Israel! For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Nor has He hidden His face from Him; But when He cried to Him, He heard. My praise shall be of You in the great assembly; I will pay My vows before those who fear Him.
declare the name of the Lord
he praised God
he exhorted others
he reminded the afflicted that God has not forgotten them
God hear when we cry out to Him
David said,
Here in this great gathering for worship I have discovered this praise-life. And I’ll do what I promised right here in front of the God-worshipers.
Down-and-outers sit at God’s table and eat their fill. Everyone on the hunt for God is here, praising him. “Live it up, from head to toe. Don’t ever quit!”
Is this not the blue print, example of how we should come before our God?
Prayerfully Awaiting the Father’s Promise
Prayerfully Awaiting the Father’s Promise
The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
Jesus Instructed the Church to wait
The Gospels give account of Jesus choosing and teaching the living stones, that is the disciples. Out of them He chose twelve to be Apostles.
men who would replicate His ministry and message
Jesus told them it was beneficial for His disciples that He go.
And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
The Church Waited in Unity
Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey. And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.
The disciples did as Jesus commanded them. They went back to Jerusalem to an upper room, believed by some to be the same upper room that 40 days prior where Jesus had broke bread with them.
This time Judas was not with them.
They waited in unity! After Christ was taken into heaven, the disciples immediately returned to Jerusalem and had a prayer meeting. Jesus said that they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit in a few days, so they waited and prayed.
You could say this was the first Church business meeting. They had to replace Judas.
Look at what has already happen, their small group of eleven had grown to around 120. And the first order of business was to find a replacement for Judas, new disciple, apostle.
See something here, the failure of one in the congregation did not and does not negate the ministry or mission of the Apostles then, nor the Church now!
The actions of Judas fulfilled prophetic scripture, and informed the followers of Jesus, that nothing Satan brings against Christ and His church catches God by surprise.
The Replacement of Judas
“Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.” And they proposed two: Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed and said, “You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two You have chosen to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.” And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. And he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
Have you ever wondered why twelve (12) Apostle? It’s believed Jesus chose the Twelve to represent the people of God under the New Covenant. Just as the twelve sons of Jacob, represented the people of God under the Old Covenant.
This is indicated in The Revelation by the twenty-four elders seated around the throne of God.
Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads.
Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:
Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
Conclusion
Conclusion
The city’s measurements are a symbolic of a place that will hold all God’s people. These measurements are all multiples of twelve, the number for God’s people:
there are twelve tribes of Israel
twelve apostles who started the church
walls are 144 12x12 cubits 200 feet thick
twelve layers in the wall , 12 gates in the city
height, length and breath are all the same 14,000 miles
The New Jerusalem is a perfect cube, the same shape as the Most Holy Place in the temple. 1 Kings 6:20
The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid it with pure gold, and overlaid the altar of cedar.
Our new home will be perfect!
