Oracles

"This is he that was in the church in the wilderness," Acts 7:38.

(That's how the King James Version renders the passage.) So, who was in this church? Moses. What wilderness church? Well, it's talking about the hundreds of thousands (millions?) of people collected at Mt. Sinai. After their deliverance from slavery in Egypt, Moses received the living oracles of God there. But church? How can there be a church centuries upon centuries before Christ? Nothing here about deacons or evangelism or Sunday school or ... Exactly the point. (We already noted elsewhere that in Bible language the word, church, just means assembly, right?) Moses met with the people assembled, collected, congregated to hear the oracles of God. Just like Jesus meets with the people whom he delivered from death, now gathered together, collected, assembled by his living Word. Even if it's only two or three congregated in his name. Sky kingdom.

Today, with a brother or sister, we meet to hear the living and active word. To joy in the God of our salvation. And, together, we give thanks that we may be part of the congregation of Christ.