IT IS THE BODY OF MESSIAH, the CHRIST

Yeshua, Jesus laid down His soul and physical life for the salvation of all mankind. "Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father." John 10:17,18

God raised Jesus from the dead due to His sinless nature, and seated HIM at His right hand among the celestials. "...God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way." Ephesians 1:20-23

This called-out body could not have been in existence before there was a Head, for God does not create incomplete things.

"For just as the body is a unity and yet has many parts, and all the parts, though many, form [only] one body, so it is with Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. (made to absorb, to receive into the mind ) . Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it." 1 Corinthians 12:12, 27-31 (NKJV-AMP)

It is not an ORGANIZATION.

The fact that the body is made up of living members shows that it is not an organization.  An organization is made up of distinct units, like doors and windows etc. in a building, that can be removed or replaced, without destroying the integrity of the building.

It is an ORGANISM.

The human body is an organism. You cannot remove an eye, without destroying the integrity of the body, and causing a mutation.  "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are One" John 10:29-30

But why call this Ecclesia, the body of Christ?  What is the body for?

THE MANIFESTATION OF MESSIAH'S or  CHRIST'S PERSONALITY

"In the last of these days, ( i.e. the Law and the days of the prophets. ), God speaks to us, Israel, through His Son". Hebrews 1:1-2

"The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, Israel" John 1;14

The Word, that was God, had a "a body adapted for Him". Hebrews 10:5

In Jesus, this brought God's word to the level of the people of Israel, to lead them into the Kingdom of Heaven (Spiritual Life). Jesus, the Messiah said to them, "If you had known Me, you would also have known My Father. From now on, you know Him and have seen Him.
The declarations which I am speaking to you, I am not speaking of Myself, now the Father is remaining in me, He is doing His works" John 14:6-10

The only way God spoke to the Jews in those days was through a human body, so they could see and hear God's words through Yeshua, Jesus. So, today, the only way Messiah, the Christ, who is at the right hand of the Majesty on high, can manifest and speak to this world, to call out His chosen people, is through His BODY, the true believers in the world today.

This is what Paul meant when he wrote, "For to me to be living is Christ" Phil 1:21 as long as Paul was living; he was manifesting Christ and His word.

THE PERFECT MAN

If Christ is the Head, and the Ecclesia is the body, then the two should make a perfect mature man. This is God's desire not only for the present time, but also for the future.

"..and He (Jesus) indeed, it is, who gifts are [varied; He Himself appointed and gave men to us] some to be apostles (special messengers), some prophets (inspired preachers and expounders), some evangelists (preachers of the Gospel, traveling missionaries), some pastors (shepherds of His flock) and teachers. ...that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ's own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him." Ephesians 4 :10-16

Paul says further of the Ecclesia, under the figure of a building and temple, of which Christ is the Chief corner stone, "In whom the entire building BEING connected together, is GROWING into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you, also, are BEING BUILT together, FOR God's dwelling place, in spirit." Ephesians 2: 19-22

Here we see that the SHEKINAH GLORY manifested God's presence with Israel, in the tabernacle. Exodus 29:45

Shekinah means 'to dwell', a word not found in the Hebrew writings, but one employed in the late Jewish times to denote God's dwelling among His people. So now, in this dispensation of God's grace, when Israel, nationally is out of fellowship with God, and there is no Temple, the Ecclesia (called-out ones) is 'the habitation of God' on earth in each believer individually, where He can manifest Himself and His word through the Holy Spirit to the world.