Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Romans. Tonight is study 25 of Romans, chapter 1, and we are going to read Romans 1:10-13:

Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you. For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.

In our last study, we were looking at Romans 1:10:

Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.

We looked at the phrase, “if by any means,” and we saw that when it is used it signifies something of great importance. We also looked at the phrase “at length,” which can be translated as “at the last,” and we discussed how the latter translation would fit well with this journey that the Apostle Paul was praying about, “if by any means now at the last I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you to Rome.” We spent some time discussing Acts 27, as it details that journey Paul took as a prisoner onboard a ship that was sailing to Rome. Then a great storm arose at sea and, ultimately, broke the ship. So the ship was made shipwreck and could not advance any further in its journey. All that were on board had to flee the ship, with some swimming and some clinging to pieces of the ship, and they all made it safely to the island of Malta. The Bible tells us in the book of Acts that there were 276 men onboard the ship, and they all made it safely to Malta.

The number “276” is one of those special numbers in the Bible. If we break it down, it breaks down to “12 x 23,” and, of course, the shipwreck is a spiritual picture, as a ship in the Bible typifies the corporate church. And the shipwreck, like the broken ship of Tarsus we read about in the Old Testament, points to the destruction of the churches and congregations at the time of end when the wrath of God was poured out upon them as judgment began at the house of God. The number “12” points to “fulness,” or we can break it down “3 x 4,” representing God’s “purpose, plus the furthest extent” of the church age. And the number “23” represents judgment, and that number is a figure of the Great Tribulation, which was an exact 23 years long to the very day, from May 21, 1988 through May 21, 2011. It was 23 full years or 8,400 days. As I said, the number “276” is extra special, as Mr. Camping pointed out, because if we add “1 + 2 + 3” and all the way up through the number “23,” it totals “276.” So there is an extra emphasis upon the number “23” in that way, also.

So Paul’s journey, which he prayed to God about, was of great importance and it was “at the last,” and he was beseeching God that it would be a prosperous journey by the will of God. We were wondering, in our last study, how could it be a “prosperous journey” when the ship was destroyed, and it took an especially long time to get to his destination of Rome. It was a disastrous situation. Historically, that could be argued, but remember that the Bible is a spiritual book, and that voyage that Paul took to Rome was a picture of coming out of the churches and congregations. So the book of Acts, from Acts 21 until the end, is dealing with the great truth that the Lord had sealed up until the time of the end, the end of the church age. Once we reached the time of the end, God began to reveal the information that the Spirit of God had departed out of the churches, and the “daily,” as it is called in the book of Daniel, was removed, and the abomination of desolation was set up. Satan entered into the congregations to be used as an instrument of destruction by God Himself. God also revealed during that Great Tribulation period the necessity for His elect people to come out of the churches, and that is what “going to Rome” really points to, and that is what the shipwreck points to, as we could not stay in the churches because they would not get us to the desired haven of the new heaven and new earth. We could not use that “vessel” any longer. We had to come out, so God helped to paint that picture by causing Euroclydon, that vicious storm that rose up. The ship stuck fast and could not move, and if anyone had stayed on board, they would have perished. They would have died. God arranged historical circumstances that forced all the mariners and prisoners onboard the ship to get out. They had no other option after the waves began beating the ship and breaking it apart. They had to get out of that ship and flee, and that is the command we find in the Bible: “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation…stand in the holy place…then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains.” Or, there was the command in Luke: “depart out of the midst.” It was a command to leave the churches and to go out into the world, and Rome typifies the world.

But before arriving in Rome, they all made it safely to Maleta or the island of Malta. One of the first things we read in that account about the Apostle Paul…(and I mention this a lot because we need to understand that Paul was a pattern of them which believe, the Bible tells us in 1Timothy)…and the Apostle Paul, while on Malta, gathered a bundle of sticks for the fire, and the word for “bundle” is the word for “multitude.” He gathered a multitude of sticks and put them on the fire, pointing to the great multitude that God would save outside of the churches and congregations. And, of course, Satan would come against that, so a venomous beast latched onto Paul and he just shook it off into the fire. The natives of the island watched intently to see if he would fall down dead, because they knew that if that kind of beast bit him, he would die because it was poisonous. But nothing happened, and that signifies that Satan could not harm the elect children of God outside the churches and congregations; God would protect His people and they would, indeed, accomplish the sending forth of His Word to save the great multitude.

That is where the idea of this prosperous journey comes in. Yes – on the journey to Rome there was a disastrous shipwreck, but because of that, the spiritual picture is that Paul and the others went to a location where God would work to save. Actually, when they were on that island, Paul healed many of the natives and he was very well respected for doing so. That also would be a picture of God’s salvation program operating outside the corporate church. So, yes, spiritually, the voyage to Rome identifies with leaving the churches and congregations, and leaving behind the churches that were being totally destroyed, with not one stone being left upon another, according to what we read in Matthew 24. It was completely destroyed. They could not get back on that ship and sail anywhere – the ship was destroyed. That is the genuine condition of all churches today, but in their blindness, ignorance and stubbornness, those who heard these things continue to inhabit the churches, thinking it can take them to heaven, but it is not going to take them anywhere, except what God says in Deuteronomy 28, that very awful chapter where from verse 15 to the end, it describes the judgment of God upon sinners, especially sinners that take God’s name, and it says in Deuteronomy 28:68:

And JEHOVAH shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.

The “man” that shall not buy you is Christ. The word “buy” means to redeem, and once they “return to Egypt with ships;” that is, by way of the corporate churches that are on all the local street corners. They are the “vessels” or the “ships” where people are onboard, as they are being told, “Come on in, and we will guide you to the Promised Land. We will take you to the kingdom of God!” Tragically, all kinds of people do come in, including families with little children. But they are not being taken anywhere but to Egypt, back to “the house of bondage” and back to spiritual captivity where Christ will no longer redeem them. So that is why we do not look back. There is nothing to look back to. If we have spiritual eyes, we know that when Lot’s wife looked back to Sodom, she was destroyed. Sodom had been destroyed. What are you looking back for? It is gone. Why look back to the churches? They are gone. There is no more corporate church, as far as God is concerned. He has no identification with the Christian churches of the world. He has no more identification with them than He does with the nation of Israel and their synagogue system of worship that ended back in the first century. And God’s relationship with the New Testament churches ended back in 1988. You do not go to the churches to worship God – God is not there. You do not go to the churches to honor God, certainly. It is dishonoring to Him, just as it would be to go to a synagogue and expect some kind of blessing from God. There is no blessing in the synagogues. There is no blessing in any religion and, certainly, not in a Mosque or a Buddhist Temple. At the time of the end, God arranged to work one-on-one with individuals outside of the churches, and that is where He saved a great multitude of people, as it were, “in Rome.”

That is why this journey is of such great significance and importance to Paul, who is a pattern of the believers, God’s elect, at the time of the end. He had to go to Rome and get away from Judaea and Jerusalem, or get away from the churches.

Going back to Romans, it says in Romans 1:10:

Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey…

The word translated as “prosperous journey” is one word. It is a compound word where two Greek words have been joined together. The two Greek words are “good,” Strong’s #2095, and “way,” Strong’s #3598. It is a “good way,” and it is translated as “prosperous journey.” Actually, the Greek word translated as “way” can also be translated as “journey,” so “good journey” would be a fine way to translate it. And “good way” is a word that identifies with Christ, a word that is used in John 14:6:

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

So the “good way” is the way of Christ, and Christ is the Word, so the way of the Word of God is the “good way,” and if we are following that good way, we are on the proper road. It is a narrow road, and it is full of affliction, but we are on the right path that will take us, by God’s grace, into that entry point to the kingdom of God for evermore. Of course, we are already there, spiritually, as we are seated in Christ Jesus in heavenly places, but we are still in our bodies and one whole personality at this point, as we are still alive on this earth as we look to God to finalize these things and bring our new resurrected soul and body into that glorious kingdom of God.

We will look at one more place that uses this word “prosper,” in 3John, where it is used two times. It says in 3John 1:1-2:

The elder unto the wellbeloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth. Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

That is an excellent desire to have for someone, is it not? I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health, even as your souls prospers. That is, because Gaius is wellbeloved, he is a figure of someone that God has saved, and John could be a picture of Christ or God and He has love toward Gaius. And, therefore, Gaius is a type of the elect. God has saved all of His elect at this point, and our souls are prospering. There is no question about that. You and I and anyone whom God has saved are extremely prosperous in our souls. We have been made to prosper by God, even though in our outward situation in this world, we may be anything but prosperous. There may be constant struggles and difficulties, illnesses and a lack of money where you cannot pay your bills, and everything else you can think of, but in our souls, there is perfection. We have received new resurrected souls that cannot sin, and it is the earnest of the Spirit of God – it is the pledge or down payment regarding the fact that He will return and complete what He has started. He will finish the salvation He began in our lives, so that is everything. We have everything, even if we be as the beggar Lazarus, full of sores and wanting to eat of the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. And, yet, remember what happened to Lazarus when he died. He went into “Abraham’s bosom,” and forever and ever from that point, he is prospering, which means he was prospering upon the earth, even in his physical condition. The people of the world did not know it, and he may not have spent much time recognizing it himself, but that did not matter. He was still prosperous in the sight of God and prosperous in reality. And the fact that he will live for evermore is proof of his prosperity.

You see, this is an excellent desire and it would be a good thing to put in a card to someone that is not feeling too well, and send this to them: “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” I am not sure of all that is involved in this, but certainly we would have a desire that the person’s body might be in health as well, and not be ill or sickly. Why? When we trace illness and sickness back, what can it be traced back to? It can be traced back to the fall of man into sin and the curse of God upon him because of that sin, so our desire for others is that they may be in health.

Of course, in this world that will oftentimes not be the case but, ultimately, this expressed desire would identify with the desire that your physical body might be transformed as your soul has been transformed, and that your physical body might be the recipient of God’s grace in the resurrection – that it might rise up a new spiritual body in full health and prosperous, just as your soul has been prosperous since the day God saved you. So this is a wonderful petition, expressing a wonderful desire for Gaius or anyone. This is the idea that this word is showing forth in Romans 1:10:

Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.

It is request that God might prosper my way, the good way. That would also identify with bringing the Word that is able to make one prosper in the soul and to make one prosper, finally, in body on the last day. May this prayer be heard – this is what Paul is requesting in his prayer. And it has much to do with God’s salvation program.

Let us go on to Romans 1:11:

For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;

It says, “I long to see you,” and this word “long” is also a word expressing strong desire. For example, it says in Philippians 1:8:

For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.

The term “long after” is a translation of this same word: “how greatly I long after you all in the bowel of Jesus Christ,” the word “bowels” has to do with mercy. He is going to the Lord in prayer, lifting up and making mention of the Philippians, the Thessalonians, the Romans, and Timothy. These souls are the people of God. They are saints made holy by the workings of the Lord Jesus Christ as He paid for their sins, washing and cleansing them all.

Let us look at one other verse in 2Timothy 1:3-4:

I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day; Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy;

The two words “great desiring” is a translation of the Greek word, Strong’s #1971, translated as “long.” It was a great desire that God moved the Apostle Paul to express: “Greatly desiring to see thee.” He was longing to see them.

We are running out of time, so we will look at this further in our next Bible study.