Isaiah Roman

The Church in the Wilderness

God does not change as time passes because He is eternal;¹

“I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.” – Deuteronomy 32:40

He is infinite; omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent. These are properties God alone possesses. There is no creature either angelic or human that approaches such magnificence, glory or excellence. God alone is “of Himself,” the uncaused, first cause.

“This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him in Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living words to give to us.” – Acts 7:38 (LITV)

When Israel was sent out of Egypt, passed through the Red Sea and into the wilderness beyond, God sent a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day² to lead the people towards the land promised to Abraham³. This was a foreshadowing of the time to come when the Christian Church would be lead by the witness of the Holy Spirit (the comforter) as God continues to work out His plan of salvation for the entire world. The Church, which was to be instituted with Jesus as the head would begin a calling out of a peculiar people, similar to the purpose given to the children of Israel in Old Testament times. Both the Jew and the Gentile are saved by the same Messiah⁴.

The Church was set to wandering across the face of the earth to prepare the world to receive the second appearance of the Son of God, in glory, to reign over the earth eternally⁵.

The authority and the salvation of the church is the Son of God. The adhesive that binds the church together is the Holy Spirit⁶. Even though the church is splintered into hundreds of shards, all those who have been reborn of the Spirit are still held together by that unbreakable, indestructible bond.

For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only [The Holy Spirit] who now [restrains, keeps down] will [restrain, hinder], until [the Holy Spirit] be taken out of the way.” – II Thessalonians 2:7⁷

This passage of scripture speaks of the period that Christian theologians refer to as the Church Age. According to the fulfillment of prophecy, the church has fallen fall heir to spreading the word of God across the earth, but the Church Age will end approximately two thousand years after its inception.

The Apostle John wrote, “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not” – John 1:10. The Jewish council rejected Jesus as the Christ or Messiah they had been expecting. Then, as Jesus prophesied, Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed by Titus in 70 AD; Temple sacrifice ceased.

The Church is now and has for almost two thousand years been following its unalterable, unerring course. We are all now in the time of the “church in the wilderness” prefigured by the Children of Israel wandering in the wilderness. Peter speaking to the rulers of the Jews said, “This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.” – Acts 7:37 He was quoting the Prophet Moses in Deuteronomy 18:15.

Shortly after the churches began to spread over the middle east, Europe and toward India there were schisms. Heretics began to go out from among the Apostles right from the very beginning⁸. The road of the history of the church is dotted with pot holes and bumps representing the heresies that have sprung up from time to time. Sometimes these heresies were dealt with by church councils. Sometimes these heresies were created by church councils. Yet, there has always been a faithful remnant which has keep the faith pure.

Despite all of our own attempts at destroying the Truth of the Word, and although the church has been fractured and fragmented in almost every decade since its start; the Word remains. We have all been warned that the end was to be marked by certain things for the Christian to be aware of and to look for. When the Bible says “as though to deceive the very elect” it does not say that the elect will be deceived, it just says that the elect will see these events as amazingly close to the truth, because the elect know that Satan is “the most subtle of all the beasts.⁹”

Jesus and the Apostles prophesied of the end time and the things that would take place. The Church Age will end. The Holy Spirit, which now binds and keeps the world in subjection will be removed. When this happens there will be a seven year span called the “tribulation” or the “time of Jacob’s trouble.¹⁰” The last half (3 1/2 years) of that period is referred to as “the Great Tribulation¹¹” which is marked by certain terrible and horrifying events, brought about by the final witness of God to this earth.

Thessalonians 2:8 tells us what Revelation 13:4 also reveals; when the Spirit is removed, a strong charismatic leader (the “son of perdition”) will arise out of the mass of human society promising a time of peace and a “golden age of man.”

During this tribulation the temple at Jerusalem will have been rebuilt (most likely on the ancient Temple Mount)¹² and animal sacrifice will be observed. This sacrifice will be taken after the pattern of that Temple worship established in the kingdom age of Israel. The sons (descendants) of Aaron will be assisted and served by the priests of Levi in the ceremonies.

“Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness” (Acts 14:17). This latter is the work of the Holy Spirit and the living Christ through his death on the cross. As you see these signs begin to reveal themselves, do not concern yourself with worries, success is not the goal of a Christian; being faithful in prayer, obedience and persevering in God’s word is¹³.

If you do not see these things revealing themselves, then concern yourself with this understanding:

Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on [passed His Spirit on to] them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:” – John 20:19-22

“…with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation…the scripture says, Whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed…there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek… the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him…whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” – Romans 10: 10-13

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” – Hebrews 11:1 “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:” – Matthew 28:19 “…and charging them, if you shall confess with your mouth the ‘Lord’ Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.” – Romans 10:9

What those Apostles and early Christians received by eyesight we now receive through the eyes of faith by the promise of God and His Son confirmed by His Holy Spirit.

1. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17).
2. The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them [in] the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: (Exodus 13:21). This is the Son of God in angelic form. (Who makes his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire: (Psalms 104:4). He is referred many times in other places as “the angel of the Lord.”
3. See Job 22: 14; Psalm 68: 34
4. See Romans, chapter 10 as it compares to Deuteronomy chapter 30.
5. Psalm 2; In prophesy this King of kings and Lord of lords was to begin His reign after all the enemies of God are defeated; however, His throne was established under the tribe of Judah which was inaugurated with the ascension of the son of Jesse, David, to the throne of Israel. See Genesis 49: 10; II Samuel 7: 25
6. The Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of God are one, both separate and inseparable. The Son of God is “one with the Father;” These are not multi-gods they are three persons of ONE God (i.e., of the same substance, homoousis), inseparable, infinite, and full of glory.
7. for the secret of the lawlessness doth already work, only he who is keeping down now will hinder –till he may be out of the way, (YLT)
   For the mystery of lawlessness already is working, only he is holding back now, until it comes out of the midst.(LITV)
   For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.(KJV)
   For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.(TNIV)
8. See Acts 15: 24; 1 John 2: 19
9. See Deuteronomy 11: 16; Job 15: 31; Luke 21: 8; I Corinthians 6: 9; 15: 33; Galatians 6:7
10. Jeremiah 30:7
11. Revelations 7: 14
12. The political as well as spiritual struggle throughout the entire middle east revolves around a dispute, who is Abraham’s true heir apparent and entitled to rule the world from that place? Jerusalem is the epicenter of that struggle. The politicians of the world in no wise understand this nor do they seek to know; but, they are all involved in that struggle to their ultimate destruction and death.
13. I Samuel 15: 22