The 'Church Age' didn't begin in Acts 2

Q."Did the Church Age begin in Acts 2?"
A. The answer to that is "No" and here is the rest of the story. The word "church" is a mistranslation of the Hebrew word 'Kahal" which means assembly. There was no such thing as the "church" as it is known today in the Scriptures or in the 1st Century when the "new" Testament was written. The Congregation, another name for Kahal started at Mt. Sinai. In Deut. 18.16 G-d calls the day that Israel gathered around the mountain to receive the Torah as "Yom Kahal", the day of the assembly, or congregation. This assembly was made up of Jews and Gentiles who were to follow G-d's ways. What was seen, not only in the Torah but also the Nevi'im, or Prophets, was that when Messiah came there would be what was called the "Eschatological Congregation" empowered by the Ruach (power) of G-d. Let me explain.

When Adam sinned, he lost his authority to rule over the KIngdom of G-d. He lost the Kivod (glory, radiance), the Shekinah (presence) and the Ruach(power) of G-d. These were to be resstored by the work of the Messiah. These manifestations would appear at times among certain individuals, but not among groups of people. But, the Scriptures predicted a time when they would. In Num 11.14-35 we have the story of Moses asking for help to rule the people. G-d says to bring 70 elders to Him and G-d would take the Ruach(power) that was upon Moses and give to the 70. Two of the elders were not there, but G-d placed the Ruach upon them also. Joshua complains and Moses says that he wished all the people had the Ruach.

This was seen as prophetic. Joel 2.28-29 prophesies about a time when the Ruach will be on many people, and Peter quotes this verse to explain what happened in Acts 2. Shavuot, or Pentecost, is the day that G-d gave the Torah on Mt Sinai, and it was the day Yeshua said to wait for in Acts 1.8-9. Wait for what? The Ruach (power) to upon them, which was part of the restoration. Here is another problem. In Greek, the word for Shekinah and Ruach were both translated by the word "pneuma". But, they are two different manifestations. The Shekinah is "in" us and the Ruach comes "upon" us. That's why in Jn 20 Yeshua breathes "in" them (actual Greek) the Shekinah, wrongly translated "spirit" and then in Acts 1 tells them to wait for the spirit. Why would he tell them to wait for something they already had in Jn 20?

He didn't, the translators didn't understand the concepts. So, this eschatological congregation was now the "empowered" (by the Ruach) congregation , made up of Jews and Gentiles. What they did not see at that point was the "grafted in" concept which was the basis for Paul's teaching, based on the Shema in Deut. 6.4. Another thing which was never seen, nor should it have been, was a "gentilized church" that did not follow the Torah, the biblical festivals, that ate unlean foods and divorced itself from Israel and the Torah of G-d, actually calling themselves "replacement Israel". This" eschatological congregation" was to believe in Yeshua as the Messiah and show evidence of that faith by obedience to the written Torah commandments.

This concept was rejected by the so called "church fathers" and eventually was the basis for the theology formulated and consolidated by Constantine in 325 A.D. This was the beginning of the "catholic (universal) church" and is the "mother church" for every protestant denomination thereafter. In short, The Kahal Israel (congregation of Israel), made up of Jews and Gentiles, began at Mt Sinai, continued up to Acts 2, when in fulfillment of prophecy is now the "eschatological Kahal" empowered by the Ruach. The "church" most see today is counterfeit to this, which actually had its official beginning at the Council Of Nicaea in 325 A.D., headed by a known sun-worshipper named Constantine who remained a sun worshipper until the day of his death.