Shouting Across a Chasm

God has put us in a world where things run very differently form the way they run in heaven. We are called to live by faith that the precepts of heaven will work in a world where the governing principles and beliefs appear very different. We have a phrase for someone who can make things work using the precepts of this world; 'wordly wise'. However God is looking for something else. As the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 and 6 makes clear, Jesus wants us to function in a way that is alien to this world.

Our hearts have been born of the Spirit of God if we have been born again. Our hearts belong to heaven. We are not wholly comfortable with this world. This is to be expected. Paul calls us to set our minds on things above, not on earthly things (Col 3v2). We are asked to pray 'Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven'.

We are told to ask, seek, knock. We are calling across a chasm. God can hear though. We are asking for heaven to be exhibited on earth. We are looking for two worlds increasingly growing apart to be reconciled. We are calling for heaven to be manifest on earth. We may do so mostly selfishly, looking for the provision and security of heaven to be shown in our own lives. We may do so less selfishly, asking that poverty and oppression end for others; for the justice of heaven to be manifest on the earth. Either way is faith, but I am confident that those who rule and reign over most in the age to come will be those who used their faith most selflessly in the present age. They are the ones I would want to have high positions in heaven.

Why does God leave us in a world with frequently hostile ideologies and principles? Partly to show us they do not really work. Peace and fulfillment elude humanity. Dreams prove evasive, hollow and deceptive. Partly to develop a longing for heavenly precepts and peace which will cement our citizenship in heaven when they are fulfilled. He wants to strongly align our hearts with heaven even in the presence of strongly opposing practices and philosophies. It is our faith in the God of heaven which enables us to live a life not conformed to this world. That faith is more precious than pure gold in his sight. 1 Peter 1v7 Romans 12v2

Wickedness or Weakness

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.    (Mat 5:6 NRSV)

Keep awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."    (Mark 14:38 NRSV)

Those whose inner desire is for righteousness, will be fulfilled. They will inherit the Kingdom. We are talking here about true righteousness. God's standards, achieved by God's means.

God knows that we are weak and fearful a lot of the time. However, he does not confuse our weakness with wickedness of the heart.

There are many who, when intimidated, will act against their best conscience. They do not want to, and if the external pressure was removed, they would act righteously. This was true of Abraham in the matter of Sarah his wife when he feared that Pharoah would desire her. He anticipated trouble and told Sarah to tell a lie to keep them out of trouble. He repeated the same tactic again with Abimelech king of Gerar. My mother grew up in Nazi Germany and tells of times when she was told to be quiet about dissenting opinions held within her household for her own good. She obeyed the advice.

God knows those whose hearts are essentially given over to his righteousness, longing for his appearing. They may display moral weakness and compromise, but God sees that they are essentially 'men after his own heart' like David.

Do not allow the Devil and your own thoughts to condemn you concerning failures which do not fully reflect your heart.

For without cause they hid their net for me; without cause they dug a pit for my life.    (Psa 35:7 NRSV)


They repay me evil for good; my soul is forlorn.    (Psa 35:12 NRSV)

There are those who delight in wickedness and cruelty for it's own sake, even when there is no evil being done or being threatened. These people cannot be trusted with heaven because they will misbehave even when there is no reason to. They are originators of evil, rather than complicit with evil. They are wicked.

Woe to you who plunder, though you have not been plundered; and who deal treacherously, though they have not dealt treacherously with you! When you cease plundering, you will be plundered; When you make an end of dealing treacherously, they will will deal treacherously with you.    (Isa 33:1 KJV)

David exhibited behaviour which was wicked when he committed adultery and arranged murder. However God chooses to forgive him. He expresses hot displeasure at what David did, and says that discord will be sown in David's family. However God does not take his Spirit, his salvation or his promises away. David had a heart after him. Since the fall man has had a body, 'the flesh', which is inclined to sin. I do not believe it has to sin, because Jesus walked in a body of flesh and was tempted. He suffered human weaknesses but did not succumb to them (Hebrews 4v15). The New Birth happens when we want God and do not want to sin anymore; at least not in our heart of hearts. Progress in the Christian life happens when we resist sin in the flesh. If we sin after the new birth, there is forgiveness when we confess our sin (1 John 1v9).

An evil man seeketh only rebellion: therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.    (Prov 17:11 KJV)


An evil man seeks only rebellion. He is motivated by rebellion against God in the deepest place of his heart. He is, like Satan, an originator of evil rather than one who is oppressed or tempted by another and responds with compromise and therefore sin. Such a one will reap an eternal environment of evil people. No rest.

And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts.    (Isa 19:4 KJV)

I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.    (Isa 45:7 KJV)
  
This last verse is intriguing. Ultimately God takes responsibility for the existence of evil because he set in motion a universe in which it was and is possible for evil to develop. However he is never the originator of evil.

Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:    (James 1:13 KJV)

He permits evil to overtake evildoers as a discipline and as a warning against the pursuit of evil. He allows evil to infringe on the lives of the righteous to draw them closer to him and to show forth his glory in us to a lost world, assuming we handle it correctly.

God does not hold us responsible, in terms of our eternal destiny, simply for evil deeds committed. He has taken the punishment for these himself. However, he does hold us responsible if we refuse to take his remedy for evil within us. The remedy, of course, is faith in the death and resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ.

Ultimately therefore evil is rooted in rebellion against God. This focuses down for us now, after the fall, on our acceptance or otherwise of a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

What looks like extreme wickedness, such as the case of David in 2 Samuel 11, does not result in David being judged a wicked man. Ultimately, because he has a heart after God, seen in his subsequent contrition and repentance, God sees David as weak rather than wicked. Conversely, there are those whose sin looks less severe, but who have a heart to boundless sin if they thought they could get away with it. They look to have a minor weakness but God can see they are actually wicked.

Someone once said that there are those who wrestle with God hoping to lose, and those who wrestle with God hoping to win. In other words, there are those who see sinful rebellion in themselves and don't want it, and there are those who actually love it and are unrepentant. 

Wonder- Revelation 4 and 5

When I was a child in the UK I used to get a weekly thin magazine called 'World of Wonder'. Within its covers were articles on diverse noteworthy subjects. Everything from architecture through science to outstanding personalities from history. It did instill in me a sense of wonder and curiosity. As time goes on though, this world can get more wearisome as we get familiar with its ways. Things can lose their shine and freshness. It is exciting to watch young children approach life with this innocence and amazement. Two days' ago, I made a flying model plane from polystyrene and cardboard. Esther, our youngest daughter was so excited. When it flew, she shouted 'you are the best daddy ever!' We then made 6 more in kit form and took them into the squatter camp; the kids there loved them too.

For us all, an encounter with God can give our hearts hints of heaven and give us fresh eyes to appreciate the good things about this mortal life. It can moderate and mollify the frustrations of this life by putting this life in perspective.

If you, like me, are prone to being a world-weary cynic, we can approach Bible passages about heaven with jaundiced or tainted eyes. I have only recently been really impacted by Revelation chapters 4 and 5, helped along by some of the material available from Mike Bickle on this subject.

Formerly I read them from a viewpoint a bit like the inhabitants of Duloc in the movie 'Shrek'. The ruler, Lord Farquart, had servants hold up signs telling them how to respond at public events. The signs said things like, 'laughter', 'gasp', 'awe', etc. Similarly, the courtiers of an earthly ruler might brief visitors on correct protocol in the presence of the ruler.   

However now I see that the living creatures, elders and others around the throne of God do not need to be told how to react and respond. They are simply, and continually, lost in the wonder of who God is. That childhood wonder has returned, only probably better than ever. Wonder, as well as love, has surrounded and engulfed their consciousness.

There are facets to God and our future heavenly existence which are, it seems, not fully describable from within our current experience. Our experience here is limited by our mortal bodies and their earthly environment.

At the resurrection, there will be aspects and dimensions of sense, emotion and intellect which God has ordained to await those who look forward to His coming. Not only that, He will be awaiting us, waiting to serve us at table! All regret, pain, frustration and dashed hope relating to this mortal life will dissolve due to the new perspective of eternity.

Let's read this passage asking God to breathe into us the life of heaven as we go. Revelation Chapters 4 and 5

Also    1 Cor 12v4,      1 Cor 2v9,        Luke 12v37

Polishing to a Point

Imagine our knowledge of God as a sharply polished point, a point worked on by tools onto a rod of, say, steel. A scribe, an engraving tool. The tool serves to write on peoples' hearts. Indeed the knowledge of God has power to change our hearts for the better.

Imagine we are working on that point from three different angles. If you are mathematically inclined that means you turn your steel rod through 120 degrees and work at polishing it again.

The sharper the point, the more effective the scribing tool will be.

Remember the scribing tool represents our knowledge of God.

So what are the three directions from which we sharpen the point? What are the three areas which we need to reconcile in order to relate to God successfully? I would suggest these three:

The Righteousness of God; his idea of right behaviour, which we must accept, because he is not going to change it. His righteousness represents the ultimate and eternal demands of God on us, because without holiness we will not see the Lord. God's righteousness is not relative and it is not cultural, His demands are absolute, He is a holy God.

Sacrifice, the path by which our failings and failure to live right are covered until we learn to live right.

Empowerment, the ability and energy to live right.

These themes run right through scripture.

The person of Jesus and his life have completely answered these three issues. The Gospel means everything is resolved; the point is sharp.

Jesus taught the righteousness of God in a very exacting way. The physical act of sin in transgressing the Ten Commandments was outlawed under Moses; Jesus makes it clear that God is after more. He is purity of heart, and that is what he is looking for in us. Reading the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 and 6 makes this difference between action and intent clear.

Likewise, the Book of Hebrews makes it clear that the Old Covenant of Sinai gives an inadequate, temporary sacrificial system which leaves an abiding consciousness of sin. Jesus, however, is a completely effective sacrifice for all sin.

Romans 8v9 and 1 Corinthians 15v45 makes it clear that Jesus, when he ascended, was One with the Life -Giving Spirt. The very nature, power and ability of God Himself is available to us to fulfill His requirements, His righteousness. 

The Law, on the other hand, only takes us part of the way down each of these three roads, righteousness, sacrifice and empowerment.The point is blunt. The scribe cannot write effectively on the human heart.

As explained above, the Law tends to deal with the externals of righteousness. It cannot get to the deep underlying problems of the heart. Jesus highlighted underlying conditions in his teaching; the things that make a heart worthy or unworthy of eternal life in heaven.

Likewise, Jesus offered up, as both High Priest and Sacrifice, a completely effective atonement for all sin for all time, past, present and future. The Law was only a temporary covering, not a remission, for sins for those who kept the rigid and costly levitical sacrificial system.

In terms of empowerment, the Law is weakest. It does not actually help you to live right. it is here that the New Covenant is the most wonderful, because it empowers us with God Himself, as the Holy Spirit.

We need to be aware of and thankful regarding these differences, and how fortunate we are that we are under the New Covenant of Grace! Righteousness, sacrifice and power are effective and abundantly and freely available.

 

Contact or Contract?

That extra 'R' stands for religion. I mean the extra 'R' in the word 'contract' that is not in the word 'contact'.

If you read my last post, you will know that it is not my belief that God was wholeheartedly in the Law. The Law is religion. Yes, the best religion, because there is some glory in it and it tells us a lot about God. However Paul tells us in Galatians and Hebrews and many other places in the New Testament about the limitations of the Law.

Surely God wanted to save me and you passionately and wholeheartedly. Surely he wanted to save us completely?

If I think he is half-hearted then I will be too, I guarantee. 

But God is not like that. His throne is surrounded by beings who are in constant awe and amazement. They are enthralled, in love. If you have any sense, you will not feel that for too long towards someone who is half-hearted towards you. That is human nature. It is also sensible.

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.    (Heb 12:2 KJV)

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;    (1 John 1:1 KJV)

Jesus endured the cross for the joy (read 'enjoyment') of knowing us! God thinks human beings are a supremely good idea, worth going to extreme lengths over to recover our friendship.

For our part, we can have contact with God. John had physical contact with God the Man. We can have spiritual contact with him, which is probably even better. One day we will have physical contact too. One day he will wait on us and serve us, who have been looking forward to his appearance.

Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.    (Luke 12:37 KJV)

If we contact God, we are connected with his resources. Emotional, financial, physical, spirtual, mental, everything.

Add the 'r' and we get contract. The Law was contract.

And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:   (Deu 28:1 KJV)

And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.    (Deu 28:2 KJV)

........there follows a list of blessings covering just about all areas of life 

But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:    (Deu 28:15 KJV)

........there follows a list of curses covering just about all areas of life 

Paul calls Deuteronomy 28:15 'the Curse of the Law'.

Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:    (Gal 3:13 KJV)

We have been rescued from this tit-for-tat contractual relationship with God where failure to keep the rules rigorously results in harsh and broad-based punishment.

Instead, we encounter God as Father. This is possible because of what Jesus did to remove the valid legal basis for our punishment. We will then be able to experience the tender fatherhood of God, rather than seeing him as an angry slave-master, constantly saddened by our shortcomings and misdemeanors. We need to be fully conscious of the total effectiveness of the blood of Christ. Remember that this was a radical concept, even for Jews, when Jesus started preaching it. God as Father! Well, a good father treats his children as individuals, he is sensitive to their state of mind and mood. He does not exasperate them by expecting more than they can give. (Perhaps he might to teach them a lesson if they re being mean and demanding to others!)  He will discipline them but not out of temper, to release his own frustrations, and not to get even. He will discipline them so they learn for their own good. He will be harsh only if harsh is the only way forward. Law has no such sensitivity, even good law. It is proceedural, contractual, impersonal.

God had much more in mind when he made us.

The Law- Administered by Angels

Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring would come to whom the promise had been made; and it was ordained through angels by a mediator.    (Gal 3:19 NRSV)

Now a mediator involves more than one party; but God is one.    (Gal 3:20 NRSV)

I have been talking about exegesis. What about these verses? What do I think?

To understand the Old Testament, we really need the new. We will get really muddled otherwise. The Old Testament seen correctly shows us just how wonderful and powerful the New is.

Galatians, like Hebrews, is a powerful exposition of the supremacy of the New Covenant. Galatians Ch3 is a fabulous overview of the sweep of Biblical revelation. Paul starts in v1-5 by reminding the Galatians that they received the Holy Spirit because Christ was crucified and they believed. They did not receive Him because they observed the Law. No-one observes the Law. Christ fulfilled the spirit of the Law perfectly, but even he did not observe the letter of the Law, see Matthew Ch12 for example.

Galatians 3v7 quotes Hosea 6v6. God desires mercy, not sacrifice. We can see here that the Old Testament itself tells us that God's heart is not really in the Law as a governing system! Psalm 51 v16 tells us the same thing, with David typically expressing things in terms of God's emotions. David says

You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.    (Psa 51:16 NIV)

The same David who inspires us to be close to God's heart, and who clearly found delight in God's presence, here gives us insight into what God does not find pleasure and delight in. Oddly enough, it is aspects of the Law; sacrifice and burnt offering! Now God is in harmony with himself. If he finds no delight in something, it is because it is not his best. The law does not reflect the best heart intent of God!

The Law hinges on man's performance. Mercy hinges on God's performance. God, understandably, prefers his performance in us to our performance without him.

Galatians Ch3 goes onward from verse 6 by explaining that there is a continuity between the situation that existed between God and Abraham and the situation with us under the New Covenant. The Law is portrayed clearly and firmly as a departure from this flow, see v10-13.

The Gospel is concerned with promise. Abraham believed in a God who makes promises. He believed God, and he also believed the promises. The Gospel is primarily about believing in promises. We are exhorted to live in the good of the promises, but we are commanded to believe the promises themselves. The promises are about the total sufficiency of God in our lives, starting with forgiveness of sin and new life symbolized by baptism. Blessing comes to those who believe that God has answered everything.

Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham.    (Gal 3:7 NIV)
 
So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.    (Gal 3:9 NIV)

There is a resonance, a thread, a continuity between Abraham and the New Covenant believer, so much so that the passage says that the Gospel was preached to Abraham, v8. It does not just mean that Abraham was told that all nations would be blessed through him. Abraham was aware that the basic nature of Gospel relationship with God entails faith, and believing. It means walking relationally with God.

Consider Abraham: "He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."    (Gal 3:6 NIV)

In this passage, the Law is portrayed as a departure from Gospel faith. The Law demands righteousness. The Gospel credits righteousness to us because we have believed.

All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law."  Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous will live by faith."    (Gal 3:10-11 NIV)

The Law was given through Moses. It was given to those for whom Moses personally pleaded, the Israelites, the physical seed of Abraham. An analysis of Exodus shows that these people did not have the faith of Abraham. They did not deeply put their hope in the faithfulness of God. They believed they could establish their own righteousness when they were told the rules.

The people all answered as one: "Everything that the LORD has spoken we will do." Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD.    (Exo 19:8 NRSV)

Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.    (Rom 10:3 NIV)

The Israelites at the time of Moses wanted contract. God wanted intimacy. From intimacy comes adoration, and from adoration comes surrender. From our surrender comes a place for the life of God in us. That life shows forth in beautiful, natural righteousness.

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.    (1 John 4:10 KJV)

This is the empowering dynamic behind the New Covenant, the force field which allows righteousness to spring forth. God is the one who alone is able....

....to satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth..    (Job 38:27 KJV)

The tender shoot of beautiful and righteous fruit in our lives comes forth because we have been close to him.

For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.    (Isa 61:11 KJV)

I love the KJV for the evocative poetry!

So why the Law? It was a package to meet the Israelites as they were, in their unbelief. Moses pleaded their case to God because they would not listen and believe. So God gave the Law as a supervisor to hold them together as a people and to discipline them until they can see their need for the Gospel.

For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them (the Israelites under Moses); but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.    (Heb 4:2 KJV)

It is interesting that the writer does not see God as excusing the unbelief because Jesus was not yet incarnate. God can read all the attitudes of our hearts. 

Wherefore the law was our (the Israelites') schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.    (Gal 3:24 KJV)

The best the Law can offer in terms of righteousness is to set forth God's behavioural requirements. In this respect, the Ten Commandments still stand. The best the Law can offer in terms of ritual is to make us aware of heavenly realities, of our eternal advocate and his sufficient sacrifice.

So it is my belief that the Law did not flow directly from God's heart. It was a response to the pleading of a mediator, Moses. And because God will not perform directly that which is not fully upon his heart, the Law was administered (Greek diatasso; arranged thoroughly, set in order, often translated 'ordained') by angels.

To quote Witness Lee, 'The Law is God's secondary economy'. (RV footnote)

   

Exegesis-How do we proceed?

Exegesis then is the drawing out of meaning, wisdom, concepts, advice, conclusions, from the Bible as the Word of God.

Both a tenacious clinging to orthodoxy and an excessive need for novelty have their dangers.

The doctrine of God as Trinity is a reasonable conclusion adopted from the Bible, as is the Rapture of the Saints. Neither word is present in the text, but both are reliable inferences. To get these concepts from the Bible we have to read the New Testament thoroughly and think a little. Creeds like the Nicene and the Westminster Catechisms are further examples of distillations of Biblical concepts. Both are widely respected and useful. 

Now there is a danger of making unreliable inferences from the information we have. But if we don't try, we won't discover anything new. In the case of Biblical exegesis, the information we have is...the Bible....of course....plus our experiences, direct, here-say, or reading we have done.

In the secular field I would say that the theory of evolution is a 'discovery' based on existing evidence. I believe it to be incorrect for explaining our origins.(see my blog www.creationandlogic.blogspot) Returning to Scripture, it is clear that some historic statements by church leaders are based on unbalanced inference from the Biblical text. Pope Gregory VII supposedly used scripture to justify 'articles of faith' such as the following;

'It may be permitted (to the Pope) to depose emperors'

'(The Pope) himself may be judged by no-one'

'The (Roman) Church has never erred, nor will it, to all eternity....'

There is also a danger in sticking too doggedly to existing orthodoxy. For one thing, the sort of stuff above, once seen as new Biblically-based thought, can become unchallenged orthodoxy.

Another example about orthodoxy from the secular field. I hear that the recent financial crash was at least partially due to bankers slavishly using a formula called the Black-Scholes equation to evaluate the value of financial products called derivatives. This was orthodoxy. The inventors of the formula got a Nobel prize. It was accurate enough when used within certain constraints, but became highly inaccurate in extreme conditions of trading. Traders could defend themselves by saying the used the accepted formula. This was an appeal to orthodoxy.

Now in the last post I said there is room for orthodoxy. There are certain things that are so clear in Scripture that they must be accepted. It is clearly perverse and evasive to try and deny them, yet there are those who do, such as Jehovah's Witnesses. But there are a lot of other areas where opinions are subjective. We need to be selective about what we take on board. There are some conclusions I have come to where I am keen to state that what I am saying is my opinion for you to consider, and no more than that.

In any case, we will never reduce God to a formula that fits in our head. If we could, we would not need to consult and submit to a living Being. We would not have to learn by engaging with others. We would know what God wanted from our clever formula.

Questions arise in our minds and we like to search Scripture, and read existing opinions, in order to get an answer. If you are like me and do this a lot, I think it can be helpful. God is not against us asking questions if we really want the answers.

People who like to see something new in the Scriptures are good for the Body provided we do not take their opinions as automatically authoritative, like the Pope wanted his followers to in the examples above. Preachers and teachers are likely to make mistakes at times. God can use them to bring new revelation and understanding. But we must test what is said and hold to the good.

Teaching on healing, prosperity and positive confession has blessed the Body. However, often it has been presented in a simplistic, formulaic way. But don't throw it out altogether because of that.

Martin Luther was a man who challenged orthodoxy. Most of his conclusions were valid. His starting point was Scripture. He questioned orthodoxy of the day and went to the source material.