Where Are We Going, and Where Does Christ Stand?
Dear Brethren,
There is something I would like us all to consider concerning the scattering of God’s Church and the many years that have followed.
Many of us have spent years searching.
Searching for fellowship. Searching for brethren who believe as we do. Searching for a congregation where we can worship God in peace. Searching for the truth we once knew and the spiritual family we remember.
Some have moved from one organization to another. Others have remained in one place while watching the people around them come and go. Some have become discouraged and stopped attending altogether.
And some have simply grown tired.
I do not believe everyone who is wandering necessarily realizes they are wandering. Nor does everyone who finds himself alone necessarily mean he has wandered from God.
There is a difference between being scattered and choosing to wander.
There is also a difference between searching for fellowship and returning to the foundation.
That difference is what I would like us to consider.
The Lord Was in Their Midst
In Jeremiah 14:9, we read:
“Yet thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not.”
But immediately afterward, in verse 10, God declares:
“Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet…”
Consider what is being said.
The Lord was in their midst.
Yet the people wandered.
The problem was not that God had forgotten where He was supposed to be. The problem was that the people were not remaining faithful to Him.
Now consider the Church.
Jesus Christ is the Head of His Church. He stands in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, which represent the seven churches.
He is the Chief Cornerstone, and His Church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.
That foundation does not change simply because men disagree, organizations divide, or congregations scatter.
And this raises an important question.
When we search for where we belong, are we looking for another place to go, or are we seeking to return to what Jesus Christ already established?
What Were We Given?
During the Philadelphia era of God’s Church, Jesus Christ opened a door through which the Gospel of the Kingdom of God was preached around the world.
Through the work of Herbert W. Armstrong, truths were restored, taught, and preserved.
We were taught about God’s government, His Sabbath, His Holy Days, His plan of salvation, His coming Kingdom, and the purpose for which mankind was created.
We were given an understanding of the Church as a spiritual organism with Jesus Christ as its living Head.
These things were not given to us merely to remember fondly.
They were given to be lived.
To be practiced.
To be preserved.
And to be passed on.
Christ’s instruction to Philadelphia was remarkably simple.
Revelation 3:11:
“Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.”
He did not tell Philadelphia to search for something new.
He told Philadelphia to hold fast to what it already possessed.
And that instruction remains worthy of our careful consideration.
Wandering Does Not Always Look Like Wandering
A person can travel from congregation to congregation while sincerely seeking to obey God.
Another person can remain in the same congregation for decades while gradually forgetting the truths he was taught.
Both conditions deserve examination.
Wandering is not merely physical movement.
It can be spiritual movement away from the foundation.
It can begin when we replace what God has taught with what seems more comfortable to us.
It can happen when we begin measuring the Church by the number of people attending, the size of an organization, or the personality of a minister.
It can happen when fellowship becomes more important than the truth upon which that fellowship should be built.
And it can happen quietly, without anyone intending to depart from God.
This is why we must continually examine ourselves.
Not to accuse one another.
Not to decide who is worthy.
But to ask whether we are still holding fast to what Christ gave us.
There Is a Difference Between Standing Alone and Wandering
Jeremiah 15:17 contains a remarkable statement:
“I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand…”
Jeremiah was alone.
But he had not abandoned God.
He remained faithful to the position God had given him.
This should be comforting to brethren who find themselves isolated.
Being alone does not necessarily mean being spiritually lost.
And being surrounded by people does not necessarily mean being spiritually placed.
We must be careful not to confuse fellowship with faithfulness.
We need one another. God created His Church as a spiritual family, and we should earnestly desire to assemble together.
But fellowship must be built upon the truth.
We should never have to abandon what Christ has given us simply to avoid being alone.
Neither should we become so comfortable being alone that we forget our responsibility to love, serve, and seek one another.
Christ is the Good Shepherd.
He seeks His scattered sheep.
And we should reflect that same concern.
Let Them Return
In Jeremiah 15:19, God declares:
“If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me…”
And then He says:
“Let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them.”
There is something important here.
God establishes the direction of return.
The answer to wandering is not to keep following every new direction.
The answer is to return to Him.
This reminds me of Zechariah 6, where men come from Babylon to the appointed place, and Joshua the high priest stands in his appointed position.
The people come.
They return.
And the work of building God’s House continues.
What a beautiful picture of restoration.
We do not need to invent another foundation.
Jesus Christ is already the Chief Cornerstone.
We need to return to Him, to His Word, and to the truth He has given.
Remember What God Has Given
Jeremiah 15:4 mentions Manasseh, whose name carries the meaning of causing to forget.
He was the son of Hezekiah, whose name means the Lord strengthens.
Think about those two meanings.
God strengthens.
Yet man forgets.
Is that not something we should all examine?
Have we forgotten the strength that brought us this far?
Have we become so accustomed to the scattering that we now consider wandering normal?
Have we become content simply finding somewhere to attend, without asking whether we are holding fast to the foundation?
Laodicea is described as neither cold nor hot.
It believes itself rich and in need of nothing, yet Christ reveals its spiritual poverty.
Philadelphia, by contrast, has little strength.
But it keeps Christ’s Word.
The difference is not outward prosperity.
It is spiritual faithfulness.
We do not need to appear strong.
We need to remain faithful to the One who strengthens us.
The Wanderers Have Not Been Forgotten
There is another passage I would like us to remember.
Jeremiah 15:5 asks:
“For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or who shall go aside to ask how thou doest?”
How many scattered brethren are waiting for someone to ask how they are doing?
How many have suffered quietly?
How many have lost family, friends, fellowship, employment, health, or stability?
How many have become weary from years of searching?
Brethren, these people are not simply names on membership lists.
They are people.
They are families.
They are children growing up without the fellowship their parents once knew.
They are elderly brethren who remember a Church that gathered together as one spiritual family.
They are people who still pray, still study, still observe God’s Sabbath and Holy Days, and still hope for the return of Jesus Christ.
Some are strong.
Some have little strength left.
But Christ has not forgotten them.
And neither should we.
We should be careful about how we speak of the scattered.
Not everyone who is away from a congregation has abandoned God.
Not everyone who is searching is rejecting the truth.
Some are sincerely trying to find their way back.
Others may not yet understand what returning means.
Our responsibility is not to condemn them.
It is to speak the truth in love, to encourage repentance where needed, and to help one another remember what God has given.
The Promise to Philadelphia
Now consider the wonderful promise Jesus Christ gives to Philadelphia.
Revelation 3:12:
“Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out…”
Think about that.
Jeremiah describes a people who loved to wander.
But Christ promises the overcomer a place from which he will never again depart.
A pillar is established.
It is placed.
It belongs to the building.
And Christ says:
“He shall go no more out.”
What a promise to those who have spent so many years searching for where they belong.
No more scattering.
No more wandering.
No more separation.
No more displacement.
No more wondering where the family of God has gone.
The promise is permanent placement in the House of God.
This is what we are preparing for.
Not merely membership in an organization.
Not merely attendance at services.
Not merely the comfort of familiar faces.
But eternal life in the Family of God.
And that promise belongs to those who overcome.
Brethren, Let Us Return
I am not writing this letter to tell anyone that I have all the answers.
Nor am I writing to establish myself as the place to which others must return.
I am writing because I believe we have been given something precious, and I do not want us to forget it.
I want us to remember what Jesus Christ established through the Philadelphia era of His Church.
I want us to remember the Gospel we were taught.
The government of God.
The truth restored.
The spiritual foundation.
The purpose of our calling.
And the Family into which God is preparing to bring us.
I want us to remember one another.
Especially those who are weary.
Those who are isolated.
Those who have been overlooked.
Those who have become discouraged.
And those who are still searching.
Let us not make wandering our permanent condition.
Let us not become so accustomed to the scattering that we forget what it means to be gathered.
Let us examine the foundation.
Let us preserve what is precious.
Let us repent wherever we have departed from God’s Word.
Let us hold fast to the truth.
And let us seek to be where Jesus Christ stands.
Because the ultimate promise is not that we will spend eternity searching for where we belong.
It is that Christ will establish us permanently in His Father’s House.
The people wandered.
Christ calls His people to hold fast.
Those who have departed are called to return.
And those who overcome shall go no more out.
May God strengthen each of us, wherever we find ourselves today, and help us remain faithful to the foundation He has established.
With love and concern for all the scattered brethren,
Your brother in Christ,
Timothy Kitchen
“Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.”
— Revelation 3:11
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