OUR ASSEMBLY IS NOT WITHIN BUILDINGS

Author, Nora Ladner

Zecharia 8:9
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets, which were in the day that the foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built.

Ephesians 2:19,20
19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;

Psalm 11:3
If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

Notes:
The “Church” as we know it today, is that same synagogue pattern of building which was present when our Lord Jesus Christ walked on this earth 2000 years ago.

“Church” in the form of curia (that which is now operative in Christianity) is not the scriptural “Church” eccclesia. The Lord is calling His people, who want to follow after Him, out of curia and into His ecclesia, into the liberty of the children of God. Into the church which He Himself is building. This pattern was already existing in the early church. He called them to come out of their institutionalized church / synagogue patterns, to follow Him.

History is repeating itself and has done so in every generation. Even before the establishment of curia by the Catholic Church, there have been those who understood and walked with Christ outside of that curia Church pattern.

Ecclesiastes 1:9
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

Jesus does visit us in the churches / congregations today and ministers to us just as He did when he entered the churches / synagogues, 2000 years ago. This is His mercy and His grace unto us. It is in no way a confirmation that we are walking in a way that is pleasing to Him.

The doctrines tought on how to walk in Christianity, being church members, tithing, etc., is not the same as walking in Christ and being in a “Church” is very far off from being “His Church”, which is that assembly of:

Hebrews 12:22-29
22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
27 And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
29 For our God is a consuming fire.

Note:

In the above letter to the Hebrews, Paul is speaking of the same church or temple that John speaks of in:

Revelation 11:19
And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

God has called us to be an assembly of people:

The word “multitude” also means assembly (Strongs 06951).

Genesis 28:3,4
3 And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude (= assembly) of people;
4 And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham.

Strongs for “multitude” 06951 lhq qahal {kaw-hawl’} from 06950; TWOT – 1991a; n m
AV – congregation 86, assembly 17, company 17, multitude 3; 123

1) assembly, company, congregation, convocation 1a) assembly
1a1) for evil counsel, war or invasion, religious purposes 1b) company (of returning exiles)
1c) congregation
1c1) as organised body

That assembly already has a church government. What we have today are governments of churches, with each institution / denomination ruling according
to its own doctrines and traditions and now uniting in ecumenicalism and through this joining themselves to the World Counsil of Churches all in preparation for the evolving One World Order.

The Word teaches in Phillipians 3:20 that our conversation is in heaven. “conversation” means in:

Strong 4175
1) the administration of civil affairs or of a commonwealth
2) the constitution of a commonwealth, form of government and the laws by which it is administered
3) a state, commonwealth
3a) the commonwealth of citizens

I see in the scriptures that the administration, constitution and form of government and its laws, were very different in the early church from those that are presented to us in the different patterns of Christianity that exist today.
These scriptural forms were the patterns, left for the later generations of that assembly of believers to follow.

Ezekiel 43:10-12
10 Thou son of man, show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern.
11 And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, show them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them
12 This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.

Exodus 25:40
And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount.

1 Timothy 1:16
Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.

We see in the scriptures that the unity in the scriptural doctrine did not allow for carnal divisions without a strong rebuke by Paul. See what “division” then ment to the believers and still means today:

1 Corinthians 3:3,4
3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

1 Corinthians 1:10-13

10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
11 For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house
of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
12 Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.
13 Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?

Today we have many more names than they had with which the believers identify and say “I am of” such as: I am of the Catholic faith; I am of the Protestant faith; I am of the Baptist faith; I am of the Pentecostal faith, etc.

Where then are the Pauls of our day which will stand up and rebuke this carnality? Could it be that many ministers and believers of today want to please men instead of our Lord?

John 12:43
For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

Or that they fear what man might do to them.

Proverbs 29:25
The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.

Just because believers have not all come into the unity of the Spirit and of the faith (Ephesians 4:3,13), does not mean that God has changed His ordinances to suite the flesh. Neither does scripture show that He was interested in saving and protecting the synagogues / church institutions. But He is interested in saving and protecting His ecclesia from them. He is uniting it acording to His patern, in and by His Spirit. He is opening the spiritual eyes of His chosen to see the fallen condition of what is known as the “church” which is busy uniting itself in an ungodly Babylonian unity with no understanding of the unity of the faith and of the Spirit refered to in scripture.

Psalm 133: 1-3
1 A Song of degrees of David.>> Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
2 It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even
Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments;
3 As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for
there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.

The early church strove for the unity of the Spirit and of the faith. Today the churches strive for their own growth of membership and programs to keep the members occupied with. There is the ecumenical movement which is birthing an unchristian unity to the which many free evangelical and charesmatic churches

are joining themselves to. As a very well known minister once rightly said: “I see many ministers who are not near to God getting very near to the devil.”

Where then are we, the ecclesia, now?

The Father has a place where His church / temple dwelleth. In heaven.

Ephesians 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

Philippians 3:20,21
20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

Ephesians 2:6
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

Who is the house / temple of God?

1 Corinthians 3:17
If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

Colosians 3:1
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

1 Peter 2:4, 5
4 To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God,
and precious,
5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 6:19
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

Ephesians 5:23
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.

Colossians 1:18
And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

Does God want a substitute or an alternative for His way?

Joshua 22:19 (The name Joshua is the Hebrew for the Greek, Jesus.)
Notwithstanding, if the land of your possession be unclean, then pass ye over unto the land of the possession of the LORD, wherein the LORD’S tabernacle dwelleth, and take possession among us: but rebel not against the LORD, nor rebel against us, in building you an altar beside the altar of the LORD our God.”

2 Chronicles 2:6
But who is able to build him an house, seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him? who am I then, that I should build him an house, save only to burn sacrifice before him?”

Psalm 111:1
Praise ye the LORD. I will praise the LORD with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation.

Acts 7:48,49
48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, 49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?

Ephesians 2:19-22
19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

In His Church, He alone is the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls. He alone is the High Priest and Minister of His tabernacle which He builds according to His pattern:

1 Peter 2:25
For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

Hebrews 8:1-13
1 Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;
2 A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.
3 For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer.
4 For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law:

5 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount. (I see Jesus crucified on the hill of Golgatha, that is the pattern shown on the mountain.)
6 But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.

He did not enter into the earthly patterns, but into the heavenly where He is now seated.

Hebrews 9:23,24
23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

Hebrews 11:9-16
9 By faith he (Abraham) sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:
10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations (The foundations of the apostles and prophets Ephesians 2:19,20-quoted on first page), whose builder and maker is God.
11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.
13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

Hebrews 12:1,2
1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

We do not forsake the spiritual fellowship

1 John 1:3,4
3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

1 John 2:18,19
18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even
now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

Seven times is “they” mentioned in verse 19. Who are these “they”? Jesus Himself told us:

Matthew 12:30
He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
(“against me” = anti-Christ)

God said these words to the congregation in the wilderness:

Numbers 14:35
I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me (against me = anti-God, Christ): in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.”

Paul warns in:

1 Corinthians 10:1-11
1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

John writes that there is a “great city…where our Lord was crucified” This is speaking of a Jerusalem which is spiritually called “Sodom and Egypt”. This is a religious Jerusalem which was against Christ. This Jerusalem held fast unto its pattern of traditions and missed out on the move of the Spirit. It did not allow the Lord to gather them like a hen her chicks. The consequence was that her house was left to her desolate.

Revelation 11:8
And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

2 Timothy 4:3
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

Acts 20:30
Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.

The Lord warns that “they” will come “of your own selves”. That means “they” will have truth. Wolves in sheeps clothes. They will use the truth that “they” have, “to draw away disciples after them”. We are called to follow The Truth, not a truth.

Malachi 3:1
Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.

Church of the living God, it is now the time to arise and enter into that city which is to come and whereof and wherein we must now be. The prayer of our Lord Jesus must be fullfilled:

John 12:26
If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

Hebrews 13:13,14
13 Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. 14 For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.

The Bride and the Mother

Galatians 4:26
But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

Revelation 21:9-27
9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.
10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
11 Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
12 And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: 13 On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.
14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.
16 And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.
17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to
the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.
18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.
19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;
20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.

23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.
25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. 26 And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.
27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

THIS IS OUR PRESENT CONGREGATION that we have been gathered into, IT IS NOT FUTURISTIC:

Author: Nora Fernandez Ladner
www.ladner.ch/nora/welcome.html