Page 2 - The Church and Education PDF Pro

The Church and Education
By Dr. Kris Bjorgen

Chapter 1: Before the Church Began

Connect.

Have you ever read about the church in the Old Testament? Maybe the tabernacle was the
church in the Old Testament. The Mosaic law of the sacrifices and the various feasts are
difficult to fit into what we know as the church in the New Testament. If you traveled back in
time to meet the prophet Isaiah, and had a little talk, and if you asked him about the church,
he probably would look at you as if you were crazy! He would not know what you are talking
about. Today, we want to start our study of the church looking at the church from the
vantage point of the Old Testament prophets and characters. Were they looking forward to this new
model for worship and fellowship? Let’s find out….

The Old Testament era

Before Pentecost and the initiation of a New Covenant, the concept of the church was a
mystery. But in the Old Testament, the idea of a special called out group of people is clearly
revealed. In Lev. 4:13, Moses wrote, “And if the whole congregation of Israel sin through
ignorance, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly…” The Hebrew word for
assembly means to “call” or “assemble.” It is an assembly of those who are called
out or specially chosen. In a sense, Israel is a unique group of people called out
from the rest of the nations to be a holy people. They were called to be holy so that the
world would know who God is. In this same sense, Israel was the “church” or assembly of
specially “called out ones” so that the nations could come to God long before the actual
“church of believers” was instituted by Christ.

God made special promises to the children of Israel. He unconditionally promised that the seed of
Abraham would be a blessing to all nations (Genesis 15:18-21). God gave the rite of circumcision as the
specific sign of this covenant (Genesis 17:9-14). In this covenant, God promised Abraham’s seed a land
(Genesis 12:1), He promised to bless Abraham’s descendants (Genesis 12:2), and He promised a blessing
and redemption (Genesis 12:3). These special covenants were made specifically to the children of Israel
and God’s covenants are sure and have been and will be fulfilled literally to Israel.

There are those today who say that the church introduced at Pentecost is now the recipients of those
promises made to Abraham. If this claim is true, then God’s unconditional covenants are NOT reliable or
true. We know that God has and will keep His promises to Abraham, literally!

God also unconditionally promised David through Nathan the prophet in 2 Sam 7 that the Messiah
(Jesus Christ) would come from the lineage of David and the tribe of Judah and would establish a
kingdom that would endure forever. The Davidic covenant is unconditional because God does not place

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