The Congregation of the Messiah

Warning

Do not read this article if you are spiritually stubborn and stiff-necked, smug and think what you are doing is good enough for God. I intend to show that past religious leaders have set up their customs and traditions to replace God’s plan for mankind. Many devout Christians will not like to hear that they have been led down a path that is in direct conflict with Almighty God. Suddenly discovering that they are not part of God’s plan will bring into question their identity in God and their personal salvation. Consider yourself warned!

The word “church” comes from the Greek word “ecclesia.” It literally means “assembly” or “called-out-ones.” The Greek Septuagint LXX (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament) used this Greek word when it sought to translate the Hebrew words “Kahal” and “Adat.” Kahal means assembly or congregation and is the predominant word. Adat is referencing the place of assembly, but means the same as Kahal. In the New Testament, Adat became the word “synagogue.”

The first use of this Greek word (ecclesia) was when Israel was called out of Egypt in the Exodus. However, the translators of the Bible did not choose the word “church” for the translation. It used the words “assembly” and “congregation.”

In the book of Exodus, describing the children of Israel coming out of Egypt, it is used ten times. Here is the first reference:

Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, “On the tenth of this month they are, each one, to take a lamb for themselves, according to the fathers’ households, a lamb for each household.”

Exodus 12:3

Then, in the instructions for the Passover, it says:

You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to slaughter it at twilight.

Exodus 12:6

The book of Exodus continues to use “congregation” an additional six times more: Exodus 16:3, 17:4, 35:1, 4, and 20, 38:25

The book of Leviticus translates the word “ecclesia” seven times as “congregation or assembly:” Leviticus 4:13–15; 8:3–4; 16:17, 33; 24:14, 16; 24:16

The book of Numbers also translates the word “ecclesia” twenty-seven times as “congregation” or “assembly.”

The book of Deuteronomy finally translates the word “ecclesia” eleven times as “congregation” or “assembly.”

The rest of Tanach (Old Testament) does the same for the historical books of Joshua, Judges, 1 Samuel, 1 Kings, 1 Chronicles, and 2 Chronicles. The book of Psalms and Job do the same. Finally, the books of the Prophets, including Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Micah, Joel, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah, also translate “ecclesia” as “congregation” or “assembly.”

In many instances, the full expression is “Speak to the congregation of Israel” or “the assembly of Israel.” At no time do the translators use the word “church.”

Now, let us reason together the purpose of the Messiah. Did the Messiah come according to Moses and the Prophets for the purposes and promises made to Israel? Or did He come to establish the “Church,” an institution different from Israel?

Let us answer that question right now. The Messiah came to Israel according to the words of Moses and the Prophets.

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses wrote in the Law, and the prophets also wrote: Yeshua the son of Joseph, from Nazareth!”

John 1:45

Even Yeshua Himself made reference to Moses speaking of Him.

For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.

John 5:46

The followers of the Messiah are the true remnant of Israel, the very remnant that the Apostle Paul spoke of the letter to the Romans.

But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; … That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants.

Romans 9:6,8

Paul then goes on to say that Gentile believers also become part of the remnant of Israel and are grafted into the same olive tree (Israel), characterizing the native born as natural branches and the Gentile believers as wild branches. He explained how, as the Apostle to the Gentiles, he was teaching the same Scriptures to the Gentiles that Israel had been taught. He explained that Israel, in that day, had not obeyed God and was under God’s judgment for their disobedience. He also warned the Gentile believers not to make the same mistakes, but instead to learn the lesson of obedience. He then explained that there was a future day coming when this would be resolved and “all Israel” would be saved. This time was called the “fullness of the time of the Gentiles.” Yeshua warned Israel that if they failed to obey Him and keep His Covenant, they would be cast into the nations for a period of time, until “the time of Gentiles is fulfilled.”

But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. See then the kindness and severity of God: to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; for otherwise you too will be cut off. and they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in; for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?

Romans 11:17–24

Now this seems pretty simple. God started with Abraham, promising him that he would have many descendants and that nations would come from him. He then promised Abraham that One would come from him (the Messiah), in which “all of the families of the world would be blessed.”

The Apostle Paul says that this is when the Gospel was first preached by God.

The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU.”

Galatians 3:8

The descendants of Abraham became the people of Israel. When they came out of Egypt, according to the prophecy that God gave Abraham, they were not just an assembly of Jacob’s descendants. Israel was a “mixed multitude” of native born, aliens, strangers, and sojourners who believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

At Mount Sinai, God entered into a covenant with Israel (that mixed multitude) with laws and leadership.

Was it God’s goal only to form a single nation as opposed to all of the other nations? Yes and No. Yes, He formed Israel to be the light for all nations so there would one people who believed in One God. God did not exclude any person unless they rejected Him.

There is nothing in this prophetic story to indicate that God would have the Messiah come and set up a Church, something different from Israel.

So, where does the Scriptures say the Messiah is setting up the Church and not fulfilling the Gospel of the Kingdom called “Israel.”

Let’s turn back to the word “ecclesia.”

In the New Testament Greek manuscripts, the translators do not translate the word “ecclesia” as “assembly,” except in one verse.

This is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness together with the angel who spoke to him at length on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to you.

Acts 7:38

This passage, without a doubt, is referencing Israel in the wilderness.

All other translations of the Greek word are rendered as “church.” The first occurrence is in Matthew, and it is translated as follows:

And Yeshua said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”

Matthew 16:17–19

That is the first reference to church in the New Testament. However, in the Hebrew manuscript of Matthew (not a Greek copy of the Hebrew manuscript), the word in place of “church” is “kahal,” meaning “congregation.”

Yeshua said that He was going to build His congregation (representing all of Israel, including all of the people of the world). But the church fathers have taken this verse to set themselves up and redirect the Gospel for their own gain.

The Church fathers have exploited the Greek version of Matthew and represented the Messiah as no longer the King of Israel, which diminished Israel.

Oh, I forgot the best part! They have gone further in saying that He also put the church fathers in charge, based on His statement with Peter. This is where the Catholic Church claims that Peter was the first Pope, and the reigning Pope has authority over the Church. Protestants argue that the Pope is not in charge of them, but they still claim that Yeshua set up the church here.

Before we go further, let us unpack what Yeshua really said to Peter.

Yeshua told Peter that his confession of Yeshua as the Messiah and the Son of God was the “Rock” (the foundation) for all assemblies and congregations that would follow him. To this day, the central testimony of any believer of Yeshua (Jesus) is that He is the Anointed One sent by the Father for our salvation as the “Lamb of God.” Peter’s name (Cephas) does mean “rock,” and He used that to illustrate what would be the common confession of every believer. This is the confession that Paul spoke to as well.

But what does it say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Yeshua as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

Romans 10:8–10

Anyone willing to do a simple study of church history will discover that the leaders were opposed to Israel and the Jews, and took a multitude of actions to separate themselves and disparage the Scripture’s intent with Israel. This is why the translators took the word “ecclesia” in every other instance of the word (114 times), and translated it as “church.” It was not until 321 A.D. before this took full shape when Constantine issued his edict to not observe Sabbath. In short, while the core books were recognized in the first centuries, the formal, universally-accepted New Testament canon was largely settled by the 4th century and later codified by major councils and the Catholic Church.

If you take every one of these instances and translate the New Testament as “assembly” or “congregation” of the Messiah, it makes perfect sense, and the understanding is consistent with all previous instructions to Israel. All the prophecies line up perfectly as well, especially those of the Messiah returning to restore all things at the end of the ages.

Christianity of today is a morass of confusion and conflict. There are tens of thousands of denominations in five large groups of Catholic, Protestant, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Independent Christians, which claim 2.4–2.6 billion Christians.

They became “Christians” because of the Greek word “Christos,” instead of the Hebrew word “Mashiach.” Christos became Christians and Messianic came from the Mashiach.

The translators, all of whom were Gentile Christians, did so to separate themselves from Israel and any reference to Israel. The Church Fathers sought at every opportunity to manipulate the words of the Messiah and the Apostles to designate the “Church” as a new and better relationship with God. They sought to replace Israel with the Church. The Church fathers then sought to develop doctrines to convince Christians that they no longer have anything to do with Israel of the past. This most dramatically took shape in defining the covenants God formed prior to the Messiah as “Old,” and emphasizing the “New Covenant” as a replacement for the “Old.”

To that point, let us examine that New Covenant and how it was given to the Church. First, the prophecy of the New Covenant is given by the prophet Jeremiah.

“Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. For this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD: “I will put My law within them and write it on their heart; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

Jeremiah 31:31–33

Does this prophecy say that God is going to give the New Covenant to the Gentile Nations and establish a church?

No. It was given to Israel.

When the Messiah inaugurated the New Covenant, He did so at the Passover table with His disciples.

Now while they were eating, Yeshua took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is being poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it with you, new, in My Father’s kingdom.”

Matthew 26:26–29

For those familiar with the Passover, we know that the bread He used is the “broken bread” called the “Afikoman,” and the cup He used is called the “Cup of Redemption.” This is the high point of the Passover Seder. The Church abandoned this to call it “Communion.”

There were no Church Fathers present when the Messiah did this. It was a bunch of Israelites; they were the people receiving the New Covenant.

Let’s go even further. When the question arose of new Gentile believers joining this assembly of disciples, such as Peter, James, and Paul, they convened a council meeting in Jerusalem. They questioned as to whether they had to be circumcised or keep the Law to be saved? The answer was clearly given. To join the assembly of believers in the Messiah, it was same requirements as it was for a Gentile to be part of Israel. They had to believe in the God of Israel (the Messiah), abstain from idolatry, keep the dietary laws, and not be a sexual pervert. They concluded that Gentiles could be further instructed to attend a congregation on Sabbath where Moses is taught.

NO one was told to go to Church on Sunday to learn about Jesus Christ.

Are you offended yet? If you are still reading at this point, I commend you. It means that you can see that something is terribly wrong with what has happened in this Church Age.

God did not set us as the Church. Men did that. God is still working with Israel and keeping the Covenant He made with Israel.

One verse spoken of by the Messiah stands out starkly at this point as to where the Church is today.

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; LEAVE ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’

Matthew 7:21–23

I know a lot of Christians who “believe” in Jesus. They faithfully go to church, give, and participate in many wholesome and good activities. They have prophesied, cast out demons, and have done miracles while citing Jesus’ name. They are convinced they have salvation and forgiveness of sins. They encourage others to believe in Jesus as well.

But they also say they are not part of Israel, and they do not have to keep the Commandments of God. They love pork and flaunt it as their freedom from God’s Law.

They forget that Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden because they ate something that God said not to eat. They forget that keeping the Commandments does not save you, but not keeping the Commandments will definitely keep you out of the promised land and the future Kingdom.

That is what Yeshua said to the Gentile believers as well. The Apostle Paul, in his teachings, did not modify or nullify anything in the Law or what Yeshua taught.

There are men in the Church who do not know the teachings of Moses and have twisted what Yeshua and Paul taught, to their own destruction.

Allow me to speak to one final point that churchmen will use to justify their position. They argue that God has worked through dispensations at various times. For example, they say that God set up the Age of Law with Moses, but that He then changed it to the Age of Grace at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit after Yeshua’s resurrection. This is an effort to “allow” all of the prophecies about Israel in the last days that Paul spoke of.

For I do not want you, brothers and sisters, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written: “THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB. THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.” In relation to the gospel they are enemies on your account, but in relation to God’s choice they are beloved on account of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

Romans 11:25–29

It is noteworthy that every time Paul speaks of a mystery, that is the thing that churchmen do not understand.

I am praying that you, the reader, will not make that same mistake.

Article written by Monte Judah

• Scripture references from NASB95