THE PARENTHETIC ECCLESIA

PARENTHESIS (Greek) PARA, ( beside) EN ( in) THESIS, (a placing)
A word or passage INSERTED in a sentence which is grammatically complete itself, without the sentence.  This refers to God placing the Body of Christ into His Salvation plan along with the natural branch Israel.


ECCLESIA (Greek) literally OUT-CALLED.
A called out company, such as the council in the wilderness Acts 7:38 called out of the nation of Israel and those called out of all nations to be the body of Christ. Eph 1:22

The Parenthetic Ecclesia is a called out body of people from all nations. Specifically called out by God, inserted in His program, with His first called-out-ones, Israel.

As "Church" has lost its true significance, and "Assembly" fails to convey the idea of an OUT-CALLING, we transliterate the Greek; for the adjective, ecclesiastical, which is already recognized in English. The nearest in English would be the Invisible Church.

THE ORIGIN OF THE ECCLESIA

The Ecclesia had its origin in the mind of the Omniscient God before the disruption of the world. Ephesians 1: 3,4. It did not exist on earth until after Jesus' death and resurrection from among the dead, and His ascension; and was manifest through the apostle Paul - Acts 13:2 and Romans 1: 1-7

The writer to the Hebrews states that "By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible." Hebrews 11: 3. This reveals to us the change in God's administration of the ages as a result of Israel's national refusal of the Kings proclamation of the Kingdom. God has come in afresh, and through the revelations given to Paul, has readjusted the ages to suit the conditions of this present dispensation of grace, brought about by the apostasy of Israel.

What the Ecclesia (the Church) is not.

It is not a denomination, or a material building, neither is it a continuation of the Jewish Dispensation under another name.

God has not finished with His beloved people, the nation of Israel, the scriptures show abundant proof of this. Paul says "For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins." Romans 11. The Messiah said that "the law and the prophets are as far as John" Luke 16:16

If the scriptures put Moses and the law in one dispensation and Christ and grace in another, let us respect the Divine order and not mix together what God has put asunder.

It is because some religious bodies believe that the so called Christian church is but another phase of what they call the Jewish Church, they insist on 'ceremonial rituals', retaining a priesthood and the commandments and Sabbaths etc, claiming that all the so called Old testament promises of riches and glory on this earth have been transferred to the Christian church. This is definitely unscriptural and leads to wrong teaching.

It is not the kingdom.

John the Baptist came proclaiming "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" Matthew 3:1-3 The Messiah, also proclaimed the same, commissioning the apostles to continue His message, but to whom?

He said "Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Matthew 10: 5-7.

As Israel rejected the promised Messiah according to the scripture "Into His own He came, and those who are His own accepted Him not" John 1:11. Their kingdom of heaven promised through the prophets was postponed. There cannot be any kingdom until the "Nobleman" who has gone into a "far country" to receive the kingdom, returns. Luke 19: 11-27.

The Ecclesia, the invisible church of today is never associated with the Kingdom of Heaven in the scriptures. It is compared to "God's House" 1 Tim 3: 15. To a "temple" 1 Cor 3: 16,17, and to a "Body" 1 Cor 12: 27-31 but never a kingdom.

Christ, that is the risen Lord, is the Head of the Ecclesia "And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all." Eph 1:22-23 He is never spoken of as its King. Its relation to Christ is to be that of a "Bride". Ephesians 5:23-32