Israel, the Church in the Wilderness
Acts 7:38
38 He was in the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to us (NIV).
Act 7:38 "This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us (NKJV)
Acts 7:38 This is he that was in the church in the wilderness… (KJV).
In the previous article (Part 9), we began to explore different definition platforms that can be used to define church. There is no one singular definition of church in the word of God. It is God’s tendency generally to define things through multiple platforms. The principle is that a matter is established by two or three witnesses (2 Cor 13:1). God Himself is multi-dimensional. He is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Not only so, His nature is multi-dimensional and yet not schizophrenic. We know this because God said “the Lord your God is one”. “One” here is not just numerical (there is Father, Son and Holy Spirit), “one” here speaks of integration, consolidation and coherence. In God, things exist multi-dimensionally and yet they are also coherent (i.e. they do not oppose or contract each other, look at Creation, Rom 1:20). God’s message (gospel) is not “yes” and “no”, i.e. it has no contradiction even though the Bible was written by different sources (Prophets and Apostles) that lived in different historical times (Heb 1:1). His promises are many but they are “yes” in Christ (2 Cor 1:18-20). God has multi-dimensional wisdom (Eph 3:10). There are many laws and yet really there is One Law, such that if you keep one law and stumble at another law, you have broken the entire law (James 2:8-11). So in God, things exist in multiplicity and coherence all at the same time. To God, multiplicity does not produce conflicting interests, views and opinions. The Human Body defines the very nature of Christ in that the Body has both multiplicity and coherence (we are called the Body of Christ), 1 Cor 12:12&27. This, in fact is one thing that as church we have to grow into. The Bible teaches that we must come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son (Eph 4:13) and that this will be a key sign of our spiritual maturity in Christ.
So therefore in defining things, we always have to consider different and yet non-conflicting definition platforms so that we can understand the whole. In this context, we are defining church through the lenses of the Nation of Israel, the church in the wilderness.
Ephesians 2:12
12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. NIV
We are told that this church actually had citizenship; that they were not simply defined by a church service on Sunday. They took the law (God’s Word) and used it to develop a System of Citizenship, so that for them the faith went beyond an experience in the Temple and spoke into the very nature of human existence. It spoke into how they administered law, how they did economics, how they raised their kids etc. For us today, we go to church for “spiritual nourishment” and then go back to Babylon to live life. We still use Babylon’s (World’s) systems of life in a day when God is calling us out of her (Rev 18:1-4).
God’s idea is to give us His City, His System of Citizenship so that we can express the faith not only in the meeting but in the very structure of our citizenship in this earth (Rev 21).
Our Citizenship is defined from Heaven
Philippians 3:20
20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, NIV
And so we have our citizenship – our state of existence – and this is defined not from Babylon but from Heaven. We explored in the article of Part 9 that heaven is a place from which human life is defined. The word says, “let your kingdom come, let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. This means that heaven is a real place that is ordered according to the will of God. It has design to it; it has a particular arrangement to it that comes directly from the mind of God. We said that heaven is not just geographically up but it is spiritually up. Heaven exist in a higher dimension of spiritual consciousness that we, mortal beings cannot touch in our current mortal state. We can feel heaven through our prophetic senses and we communicate with heaven in our hearts and every time we pray, and yet we can not see it through our physical eyes. From time to time, God gives us heavenly encounters through prophetic means, visions, trances etc. Paul actually saw it one day and he saw a dimension of God that was not permitted to be taught in this mortal dimension of life (2 Cor 12:1-6). Jesus was taken up to heaven in his immortal human body (Acts 1:9-10). The disciples looked at him until He disappeared from before their eyes; the word says, “a cloud hid Him”. We know that this is not a physical cloud that He was taken up into. God manifested Himself through Clouds in the Old and New Testament. He led the people out of Israel as a Pillar of Cloud (Ex 13:21&22). In Luke 9, a cloud appeared and enveloped Jesus and the disciples, and a voice came from the cloud (Luke 9:34). And so both in Old and New Testament, God manifested Himself through a cloud. This is the dimension of God that we will be taken up to (1 Thes 4:17).
Consider the following scriptures on the whole issue of the Cloud:
Exodus 14:19
19 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel's army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, NIV
Exodus 24:15-16
15 When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, 16 and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud. NIV
Exodus 33:9-10
9 As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the LORD spoke with Moses. 10 Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to his tent. NIV
Numbers 12:5
5 Then the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the Tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When both of them stepped forward, NIV
Numbers 16:42
42 But when the assembly gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron and turned toward the Tent of Meeting, suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the LORD appeared. NIV
Deuteronomy 1:33
33 who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go. NIV
Deuteronomy 31:15
15 Then the LORD appeared at the Tent in a pillar of cloud, and the cloud stood over the entrance to the Tent. NIV
Exodus 40:34-35
34 Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35 Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. NIV
Exodus 40:36-38
36 In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; 37 but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out — until the day it lifted. 38 So the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel during all their travels. NIV
Leviticus 16:1-2
1 The LORD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they approached the LORD. 2 The LORD said to Moses: "Tell your brother Aaron not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud over the atonement cover. NIV
Numbers 9:15-16
15 On the day the tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony, was set up, the cloud covered it. From evening till morning the cloud above the tabernacle looked like fire. 16 That is how it continued to be; the cloud covered it, and at night it looked like fire. NIV
1 Kings 8:10-12
10 When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the LORD. 11 And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled his temple. 12 Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; NIV
Nehemiah 9:19
19 "Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the desert. By day the pillar of cloud did not cease to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take. NIV
Psalms 78:14
14 He guided them with the cloud by day
and with light from the fire all night. NIV
Isaiah 4:5
5 Then the LORD will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over all the glory will be a canopy. NIV
Isaiah 19:1
1 An oracle concerning Egypt:
See, the LORD rides on a swift cloud
and is coming to Egypt.
The idols of Egypt tremble before him,
and the hearts of the Egyptians melt within them. NIV
Ezekiel 10:3-4
3 Now the cherubim were standing on the south side of the temple when the man went in, and a cloud filled the inner court. 4 Then the glory of the LORD rose from above the cherubim and moved to the threshold of the temple. The cloud filled the temple, and the court was full of the radiance of the glory of the LORD. NIV
Matthew 17:5
5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!" NIV
Luke 21:27
27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. NIV
Acts 1:9
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. NIV
1 Corinthians 10:1-2
1 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. NIV
Hebrews 12:1-2
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. NIV
Revelation 11:12
12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here." And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on. NIV
Revelation 14:14-16
14 I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one "like a son of man" with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, "Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe." 16 So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested. NIV
None of the scriptures that we see above communicate the idea of a cloud being a natural element. So therefore we are not physically flying into a cloud in space. The cloud symbolises God Himself; the full manifestation of God. And so Paul teaches:
1 Thessalonians 4:17
17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. NIV
What Paul is saying here is that we will be taken into the fullness of God’s nature and presence. The “air” does not simply mean space but a spiritual dimension; consider also Eph 2:1-2 and Eph 6:12.
Our Citizenship is defined from Heaven (cont…)
The word says, “in a flash, in a twinkle of an eye” (1 Cor 15:51&52). As we said earlier, this will not be a physical flying away into the natural clouds but an instant translation into another dimension of life called, “immortality” in the Bible (1 Cor 15:53&54, Rom 2:7, 2 Tim 1:10). The Bible teaches us that there are immortal human bodies (1 Cor 15:38-44). This is the body Jesus had after the resurrection. He could be touched and yet He could walk through the walls (John 20:19-20, John 20:26-29). He could still eat (Luke 24:40-43) and yet He could manifest Himself before 500 people all at once (1 Cor 15:3-8, Acts 1:3). The body is immortal and yet it has flesh and bones (Luke 24:37-39). Clearly, this immortal human body operates by a different set of physics. So therefore heaven is real. Our citizenship is defined from there.
Our citizenship needs to be built and developed until it can be recognised by the nations of the world:
Esther 3:8
8 Then Haman said to King Xerxes, "There is a certain people dispersed and scattered among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom whose customs are different from those of all other people and who do not obey the king's laws; it is not in the king's best interest to tolerate them. NIV
This is, in fact, our prophetic destiny:
Isaiah 2:1-3
1 This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:
2 In the last days
the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established
as chief among the mountains;
it will be raised above the hills,
and all nations will stream to it.
3 Many peoples will come and say,
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths."
The law will go out from Zion,
the word of the LORD from Jerusalem NIV.
The nations will not be coming to the church service but to established “ways” of citizenship. We have to organise ourselves as a nation in order to impact nations:
1 Peter 2:9
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. NIV
Deuteronomy 4:5-8
5 See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. 6 Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." 7 What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him? 8 And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today? NIV
Becoming a nation does not in any way mean that we have to lose our “spirituality”. Note in Deut 4 that the nations will see both our spirituality (nations will say: “God is near them”…“whenever they pray to Him”) and our citizenship (“our righteous laws, wisdom and understanding”).
Church is therefore not just called to build only the spiritual part of human life but the totality of life. God made man (Gen 1:26). In making man, God made spirit, soul and flesh (Gen 2:7). God made nations and so He pioneered international relations (Acts 17:26). God made the world (the kosmos), an entire system of life (Acts 17:24, Rom 1:20). This system was only corrupted by man later (Rom 5:12).
Colossians 1:15-20
15 He (i.e. Christ) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. NIV
We have traditionally built a spiritual orientation that views God as only building in the “spiritual sphere” and not in the mortal-natural sphere. And so church is supposed to specialise in “theological issues, sermons and things that relate to Sunday” while governments focus on building life and nations. This is not in agreement with the Word of God. We saw that God made the heavens and the earth (Gen 1:1). God made the spirit of man and the body too (Gen 2:7). God did not make man just for the temple, He made a citizen of the earth who would take care of the earth (Gen 2:15). He made nations and therefore pioneered international relations (Acts 17:26). He made the entire world system – with law, economics etc. (Acts 17:24, Hag 2:8). Most importantly, through the Cross, God has reconciled all things back to Himself, things on earth and things in heaven (Col 1:20). So therefore the Cross is not just for Personal-Human Redemption.
Colossians 1:20 …and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. NIV
Note that it says here, “all things” and not just all people. The Cross is a System of Redemption of God’s creation – including individual humans, nations and systems of life. If this is so, then our mandate as church leaders and believers goes beyond the realm of personal-spiritual life into the very structures of humanity. If we fail to do this then we will be failing to proclaim the fullness of the message of the Cross. What becomes clear as well is that the message of the Cross cannot be proclaimed only through Sunday morning. We need other platforms of proclamation so that we can preach the fullness of God’s redemption plan for humanity. Part of our gospel must be to proclaim a Kingdom-based International Relations, Kingdom Economics and basically Kingdom Citizenship in its entirety. This is what Jesus meant when He said:
Matthew 24:14
14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. NIV
Jesus was not only talking about a gospel of salvation to individual humans but a proclamation of the kingdom of God as a System of Life that brings solution to all areas of human life. We can preach the message of salvation to all nations but the end will still not come until the full message of the kingdom is proclaimed.
This means that we have to start to equip and train people as disciples of Christ (Matt 28:18-20) – train these people to understand the fullness of the kingdom of God so that they can in turn go out and proclaim it to individual humans, communities, nations and systems of this world. Some of the aspects of the kingdom of God will be proclaimed through Policy formulation processes, law formulation, international relations, writing of new kingdom-based political and economic ideologies etc. We basically have to create a System of Proclamation that is far broader than the Sunday pulpit. We have to release a massive army of trained believers against Babylon.
Jeremiah 50:2-5
2 "Announce and proclaim among the nations,
lift up a banner and proclaim it;
keep nothing back, but say,
'Babylon will be captured;
Bel will be put to shame,
Marduk filled with terror.
Her images will be put to shame
and her idols filled with terror.'
3 A nation from the north will attack her
and lay waste her land.
No one will live in it;
both men and animals will flee away.
4 "In those days, at that time,"
declares the LORD,
"the people of Israel and the people of Judah together
will go in tears to seek the LORD their God.
5 They will ask the way to Zion
and turn their faces toward it.
They will come and bind themselves to the LORD
in an everlasting covenant
that will not be forgotten. NIV
Jeremiah 51:6
6 "Flee from Babylon!
Run for your lives!
Do not be destroyed because of her sins.
It is time for the LORD's vengeance;
he will pay her what she deserves. NIV
Revelation 18:4
4 Then I heard another voice from heaven say:
"Come out of her, my people,
so that you will not share in her sins,
so that you will not receive any of her plagues; NIV
Jeremiah 50:14
14 "Take up your positions around Babylon,
all you who draw the bow.
Shoot at her! Spare no arrows,
for she has sinned against the LORD. NIV
Jeremiah 50:24-25
24 I set a trap for you, O Babylon,
and you were caught before you knew it;
you were found and captured
because you opposed the LORD.
25 The LORD has opened his arsenal
and brought out the weapons of his wrath,
for the Sovereign LORD Almighty has work to do
in the land of the Babylonians. NIV
Jeremiah 51:58
58 This is what the LORD Almighty says:
"Babylon's thick wall will be leveled
and her high gates set on fire;
the peoples exhaust themselves for nothing,
the nations' labor is only fuel for the flames." NIV
Jeremiah 50:46
46 At the sound of Babylon's capture the earth will tremble;
its cry will resound among the nations. NIV
The message is clear from God that this world system, this world civilisation that looks so majestic, so advanced, so impenetrable will be destroyed. This in fact is no longer a futuristic reality, Babylon is already confused; Babylon is already falling. The world’s advanced wisdom and systems are constantly failing to bring answers to the crises of the time. The rock (kingdom of God) is striking the human statue as Daniel prophesied (Dan 2:31-48). In that day, we’ve got to build a church for God, a people who are truly equipped for the work of the ministry (Eph 4:11-12) because confronting Babylon is not a matter of pulpit, it demands a massive army to be sent into the world (John 17:18, John 20:21) – into a system of life and not just to individual humans.
We therefore have to start now looking into the Word of God not only as a tool for personal spirituality but also as a resource for the development of kingdom citizenship. We have to release an equipped army of believers against Babylon.
Christ cannot come back until all these prophetic realities are fulfilled (Acts 3:21).
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