they are one and the same. The Old Testament church was not to be
changed but enlarged (Isaiah 49:13-23; 60:1-14). When the Jews are at
length restored, they will not enter a new church, but will be grafted again
into “their own olive tree” (Romans 11:18-24; comp. Ephesians 2:11-22).
The apostles did not set up a new organization. Under their ministry
disciples were “added” to the “church” already existing (Acts 2:47).
(2.) Its universality. It is the “catholic” church; not confined to any
particular country or outward organization, but comprehending all
believers throughout the whole world.
(3.) Its perpetuity. It will continue through all ages to the end of the world.
It can never be destroyed. It is an “everlasting kindgdom.”
- CHURL in Isaiah 32:5 (R.V. marg., “crafty”), means a deceiver. In 1
Samuel 25:3, the word churlish denotes a man that is coarse and ill-natured,
or, as the word literally means, “hard.” The same Greek word as used by
the LXX. here is found in Matthew 25:24, and there is rendered “hard.” - CHUSHAN-RISHATHAIM Cush of double wickedness, or governor of
two presidencies, the king of Mesopotamia who oppressed Israel in the
generation immediately following Joshua (Judges 3:8). We learn from the
Tell-el-Amarna tablets that Palestine had been invaded by the forces of
Aram-naharaim (A.V., “Mesopotamia”) more than once, long before the
Exodus, and that at the time they were written the king of Aram-naharaim
was still intriguing in Canaan. It is mentioned among the countries which
took part in the attack upon Egypt in the reign of Rameses III. (of the
Twentieth Dynasty), but as its king is not one of the princes stated to
have been conquered by the Pharaoh, it would seem that he did not
actually enter Egypt. As the reign of Rameses III. corresponds with the
Israelitish occupation of Canaan, it is probable that the Egyptian
monuments refer to the oppression of the Israelites by
Chushan-rishathaim. Canaan was still regarded as a province of Egypt, so
that, in attacking it Chushan-rishathaim would have been considered to be
attacking Egypt. - CILICIA a maritime province in the south-east of Asia Minor. Tarsus,
the birth-place of Paul, was one of its chief towns, and the seat of a
celebrated school of philosophy. Its luxurious climate attracted to it many
Greek residents after its incorporation with the Macedonian empire. It was
formed into a Roman province, B.C. 67. The Jews of Cilicia had a