Hello dear Friends and Readers! Â As I endeavor to study the book of Revelation, it has brought to my mind a new question.
When was “The Church” born?
Seems an easy one, right?! Â A quick internet search will give us an answer: Â Pentecost. Â
But, can we trust that answer?
Chapter 1 of Revelation states that Yeshua has written letters to the “7 churches.”  The churches are named, and we can look them up on a map quite easily.  They are all located in what today is known as southwest Turkey. Â
Okay. Â That seems easy enough.
As I studied the chapter, I began to look up words in the original Greek. Â It is pretty common knowledge that the word used for “church” in Revelation is the Greek word “ekklesia” (Strong’s Concordance # G1577). Â
Okay. Â Still fairly predictable.
Then, a question began to form…
Is there a Hebrew equivalent for the Greek word “ekklesia?”
My hypothesis was that there would not be.  After all, the church / ekklesia was born at Pentecost…right?
Imagine my surprise when a little digging indicated that there IS a Hebrew equivalent for the word church / ekklesia!
So what Deb? Â The Bible was written in Hebrew and Greek. Â Wouldn’t we expect that?
Well, perhaps, yes. Â
But, if the church was born in Acts Chapter 2, at Pentecost, then why would it have been mentioned in the older Hebrew portion of the Bible? Â Why would there have been a Hebrew word for “church?”
Are you following my thought train?
Disclaimer:Â Now, it is at this point that I feel that I must share with you that my methods for digging are not scholarly. Â I do not have a degree in Bible study, and I do not own any expensive Bible study software. Â What I do have is a working knowledge of how to use Strong’s Concordance and a good friend who taught me how to find Greek/Hebrew equivalents using Thayer’s Greek Lexicon. Â (Thank you Kay T)Â Â
I say this to tell you two things: Â
1) Do your own homework. Â What if I’m wrong? Â I share with a pure heart, but I share as a human just trying to figure stuff out and sharing what I find along the way. Â So, this is an instance where “fact checking” is a must.
2) You can do this, too!  The resources I use are free and available on the internet.  I am going to show you how to study this out.Â
So, if this interests you, get your notepad out and your computer fired up because I am going to show you my process.Â
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In part two of this series, we will look at some evidence for answering the question:
Was the Church Born at Pentecost? Â

To learn more about Shavuot, click here.
- Was The Church Born at Pentecost? Part 1 - May 11, 2023
- What Is All That Counting About? - May 7, 2023
- Sha-Vu-What? - May 3, 2023