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164 cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church [ecclesta] will I sing praise unto thee.” (Heb. 2:11, 12) Thus the transfer of the term ecclesia or church is made from the Israelite congregation to the Christian congregation, CALLED OUT *In the simplest meaning of the name, ecclesia means an assembly, which has been summoned or ealled forth whether by the proper official authorities or not. When the Ephesian religionists of the very catholic worship of the goddess Diana rioted against Paul and crowded into the city theater, it was an unofficial assembly. “Some therefore cried one thing, and some another: for the assembly [ecclesia] was confused; and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together.” After some two hours of this, the city recorder took charge and called the irregularity of the assembly to their notice and told them the right way, saying: “But if ye enquire any thing concerning other matters, it shall be determined in a lawful assembly [ecclesia]. For we are in danger to be called in question for this day’s uproar, there being no cause whereby we may give an account of this concourse.” “And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly [ecclesia].” In this ease the rioters that had come forth from their homes and business places returned to them, until the next regular or irregular assembly.—Acts 19: 29-41. *In the case of the Israelite congregation in the days of Moses it was peculiarly fitting to speak of them as an ecclesia or called-forth assembly. At the burning bush near Mount Horeb Jehovah said to Moses: “Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.” (Ix. 8:10) By Moses Jehovah God said to Pharaoh of Egypt: “Thus saith the Lorp God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.” (ix. 5:1) When the Israelite escapees from Egypt finally reached Mount Sinai in Arabia, Jehovah said to them by Moses: “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.”—-Ex. 19: 3-6. 7 Tt is evident that the Israelite congregation was officially called out of heathenish Egypt by the Supreme Power, Jehovah God. So, by his special miraculous deliverance of them, they were His calledout assembly or ecelesia. By Jehovah’s act they were, 5. What is the simplest meaning of “ecclesia”? Illustrate, G6, 7. How did the term wevelesia” fit Israel quite hterally? She WATCHTOWER Brooxiyy, N. Y. in fact, separated from all the world, of which Egypt was only a dominant part. Jehovah God set before this church or ecclesia the hope of becoming a kingdom of priests to him by virtue of faithful devotion and worship toward Him. About 480 years before this he had called out their forefather Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees to go into the Promised Land to which he was now leading them. God had promised that in Abraham’s son Isaac he would make his seed or descendants a multitudinous assembly of people. So when blessing his own son Jacob, Isaac said: “And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be an assembly of people.” (Gen. 28: 3, marginal reading) Now, here the Israelites were indeed an assembly of several million, and they had been called ont of Egypt to be Jehovah God’s congregation. Also they were the descendants of the patriarch Abraham, who had been called out of Ur to be separate thenceforth from Chaldea and the rest of the world. So the term ecclesia fitted them quite literally. * However, at Pentecost A.D. 33 the Israelite nation ceased to be the assembly, church or ecclesia of Jehovah God. Who from then on should be his church God indicated by pouring out his holy spirit in fulfillment of His own prophecy of Joel 2: 28, 29. With the exception of a God-fearing remnant that eonseeratedly followed in the footsteps of God’s Son Jesus Christ, the Jewish nation was cast off, and the faithful remnant that believed God’s prophecies became the small start of his anointed church or ecclesia. The prophecy at Joel 2: 28-32 clearly said that the outpouring of his spirit would not be on Jewish flesh alone but upon all that should call upon Jehovah’s name through his Christ. And hence the church or ecclesia of God was foretold to be not only of one-time Jews but also of one-time Gentiles, heathens or pagans. (Acts 2:16-21) From then on the Jewish believers and the Gentile believers in Jehovah and his Christ were to be united in one assembly, church or ecclesia. * The Israelite congregation of old time was called out of Egypt because they were the offspring of Abraham, who had been called out of Chaldea. In the same manner the Jewish and Christian believers in Jehovah that follow Christ’s footsteps are called out of this world. Both Chaldea and Ligypt foreshadowed this world out of which they are called, and they are spiritually the descendants of Abraham by reason of faith in Jehovah God and his Christ. “Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.” (Gal. 3:7, 8) 8. When did Israel cease to be it, and who became the church? 9. How is the Chriatian church, Jew and Gentile, a called-out company?