What is the Ecclesia?

In Matthew chapter 16, Jesus begins a conversation about identity by asking his disciples who they think he is. In establishing our identities, God does not first ask us who we are, but who God is. It is first in knowing who the King of the Kingdom is, that we began to know who we, the citizens of the Kingdom are. Peter responds with “you are Messiah, Son of a living God.” This, Jesus declares to Peter, is not a revelation of flesh and blood, but the Spirit. Jesus finishes the conversation by revealing Peter’s identity as one that the “gates of hell cannot overcome.” In knowing who our King is, we know who we, the citizens are. We are the “ecclesia,” people appointed to go throughout the city importing the Kingdom into its streets.