The Church has always been a Family.

In this Bible study I aim to show that the Church has always been a Family; that Family has always been the basic ‘building block’ of God’s Church.

It mustn’t surprise us that the family, both natural and spiritual, is the primary target of the spiritual forces of evil. In this article I will show how the Church has always been a Family, from the very beginning.

Family, in the beginning.

In the very first chapter of Genesis we see God creating ‘male and female’ and commissioning them to ‘be fruitful and multiply'.

God created human beings in His own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said,

“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
(Genesis 1:27-28)

The Family Model.

In the second chapter of Genesis, God provides the model to be ‘fruitful and multiply’, the Family.

Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother and unite with his wife, and they will become a new family.
(Genesis 2:24)

Throughout Genesis, we see God’s plan unfolding through the family; from Noah to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and his twelve sons, the patriarchs of the nation of Israel.

Two Family-Principles in the Torah.

In Deuteronomy, God gives us two ‘Parental Principles’ in which loving parents, not a professional priesthood, are responsible for the spiritual growth and maturity of their children.

1. Parents are a living example of God’s Divine Law.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might and love your neighbour as yourself.
(Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18)

2. Parents teach their children by demonstration.

Diligently teach your children to obey God's laws; talk of them in the morning, as you go about your day, and before you go to bed at night.
(Deuteronomy 6:7)

Family in the Abrahamic Covenant.

When God called Abraham, he promised that he would bless his family and that, through his descendants, ‘all the families of the earth would be blessed’.

I will make you into a great nation, 
I will bless you and make your name great,
so that you will be a blessing ...
through you, all the families of the earth will be blessed.
(Genesis 12:2-3)

Family and the Nation of Israel.

Family was the basic building-block of the nation of Israel; every person recognised by their family, clan and tribe.

Take a census of the entire Israelite community by their clans and families.
(Numbers 1:2)

All the children of Israel must camp under their standard with the emblems of their family.
(Numbers 2:2)

You will inherit the land by lot according to your clans.
(Numbers 33:54)

The Family Order in God’s Kingdom.

During its first four hundred years as a nation, Israel functioned as a theocracy in which God was the King of Israel and the nation was governed by tribal elders, Levites, prophets and judges; each fulfilling specific roles and responsibilities within God’s theocratic government.

1. Tribal elders represented their clans and families.

Tribal elders were responsible for the government of their respective tribes.

So Moses told the people the words of the LORD and gathered seventy men, the elders of the people, and placed them around the tent. Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. As soon as the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied. But they did not continue doing it.
(Numbers 11:24-25)

2. Levites administered God’s Law.

The Levites did not receive an allocation of land within Israel but were, instead, given towns distributed throughout Israel. Their role was to teach the Law to Israel and to serve at the tabernacle and, later, at the temple.

They will teach Jacob your rules and Israel your law and they will put incense before you and whole burnt offerings on your altar.
(Deuteronomy 33:10)

The Levites were the custodians of God’s commandments; Levites teaching the parents and the parents teaching their children.

3. Prophets were God’s representatives.

Whenever Israel strayed from God’s commandments, He commissioned prophets to admonish the nation and call them back to obedience.

The LORD sent a prophet to the people of Israel and he said to them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. And I said to you, ‘I am the LORD your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you have not obeyed my voice.”
(Judges 6:8-10)

When Israel ignored the prophets and continued in their apostasy, their enemies invaded the land and oppressed the Israelites.

4. Judges were God’s deliverers.

When Israel repented of their apostasy and cried out to God to deliver them, God appointed judges to deliver them from their enemies and govern Israel for the duration of their lifetimes.

The LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them.
(Judges 2:16)

When the judges died, the authority usually reverted to the tribal elders. However, in some instances, a series of judges led Israel but there was never a dynastic succession of judges.

Notwithstanding the fact that God was King, the tribal elders did try to appoint a king to ‘rule over them’. For example, after Gideon’s victories over the Midianites, the elders wanted Gideon and his sons to ‘rule over them’, but he replied;

“I will not rule over you and nor will my son rule over you; the LORD will rule over you.”
(Judges 8:23)

For four hundred years God was King and Israel a theocracy.

Next Bible Study.

In the next bible study we will consider 'Israel's BIG Mistake' and the disastrous consequences that followed.

There has never been a better time to be a disciple of Jesus Christ!