There is the church in it's natural body in this earth, and there is the ekklēsia revealed through a spiritual body who reigns with Christ in heavenly places. As a new Christian, after serving within a church body for a few years, I will never forget the night that the Lord called me. On this night, I had laid down to go to sleep. I was just about to dose off when, suddenly, I heard the audible voice of the Lord in my ear. He simply spoke my name, "Cindy". When we think of someone calling us, we immediately think of how someone raises their voice to loudly call the name of another, but this is not how God demonstrated "the call" to me. Even as the Lord quietly and gently called me, I stirred up quite a commotion in my response to Him. In the presence of God, we have NO control over our spiritual reflexes. We respond!
'I'M COMING", I yelled. In a moment, I bolted out of the bed like a rocket. I took off running and didn't stop until I was in the living room of our home looking into my husband's face. In that awkward moment, having disrupted our children's sleep, all I could say was, "OK, .........let's all go back to bed now." I stayed up for the remainder of the night seeking God for His purposes in what had just taken place. The next morning, my husband smiled at me and said, "What did the Lord want with you last night?" He knew! The ekklesia, the body, knows itself! The Body knows itself even outside of what "houses" or governs other forms of relationship. Marriage before man is not the same as Holy Matrimony before God. One is sanctified and one is not. One is heavenly and one is earthly. Covenant is revealed through the divine. All that God responds to bears witness of faith through covenant; through Christ, God reveals His original intentions for all relationship.
The Greek word, ekklēsia is derived from the Greek word, kaleo, which means, "to call; to give a name to".
Matthew 1:21
21 She will bear a Son; and you shall call {kaleo} His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
Matthew 1:23
23 Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call {kaleo} His name Emmanuel,” which translated means, God with us.”
In Matt 2:15, kaleo is used in the context of "calling out" in regards to being summoned.
Matthew 2:15
15 He remained there until the death of Herod.This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”
Here, Egypt implies the earthly form of the natural man. In this context, kaleo means "to cause to pass from one state to another state".
After being called out of darkness, in 1 Peter 2:9, kaleo takes on the form of an invitation.
1 Peter 2:9
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
From the formation of the ekklesia, where Jesus performed His first miracle in John 2:2, "kaleo" becomes an invitation to a feast. In the context of John 2:2, the Greek definition for the word "invited" is also kaleo.
John 2:2
2 and both Jesus and His disciples were invited (kaleo) to the wedding.
From the power of the Spirit to the demonstration of ministry, Christ reveals His substance in all who seek to embody his greater works.
My first experience with the ekklesia was with my husband. The next experience was with a female Pastor I met through the internet and had never laid eyes on. Even so, when we came together, the wine flowed and the substance of Christ was known in our midst. My experience with the ekklesia dramatically changed once I learned to cultivate ministry through community. Even in this, when God calls us, as deep calling to deep, we must be prepared to step into the waters that will stop the flow of the natural man. This is especially so when ministry is being demonstrated for the purpose of building greater community.
In Genesis 2:20, the first man, Adam, gave names to all the cattle, the birds of the sky and to every beast of the field. We know the purposes that Adam was naming all that was in creation. To call forth what was in the earth! Somewhere along the line, Adam tripped up on the order of creation that he was to be submitted to.
It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter. There are times to rule as Kings and there are times to be submitted as Priests before God. It's wisdom to discern the times and know the difference! This is especially so when the Adam nature is governing the behavior of a people in specific matters. In Joshua 3:16, the waters which were flowing down from above stood and rose up in one heap, a great distance away at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those were flowing down toward the sea of Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. So the people crossed opposite Jericho.
As we go from glory to glory and from faith to faith, this Priesthood will often be "called" to wade into waters that are to be stopped - all the way to the city of Adam. Even where the Adam nature is being revealed in a people, the last Adam, who is Christ, is faithful to restore us through His quickening spirit in a blink of an eye.
Finally, as in Romans 9:7, kaleo means to bear a name or title.
Romans 9:7
7 nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: “through Isaac your descendants will be named. {kaleo}”
Revelation 4:1 takes on new meaning once we understand what it is to "be called" and to "call forth" creation in it's original form, and in the original purposes that God created through.
Revelation 4:1
Scene in Heaven
4 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.”
Jesus calls us up from where He reigns in heaven. "Come up" means to ascend; to go up. To rise, mount, be borne up, to spring up. We must be continually mindful of our position in Christ as well as our purpose in Christ so that we do not drift away from the Truth.
Grace and peace,
Cindy Allen
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