Speaking In Tongues (part 34)

Subjection to another, that seeking and taking out of the lowest place, which was spoken of and modeled by Jesus, with the strengthening of the church and the emanation of justice as the Creator God sees it (supremely concerned for orphans and widows and lepers and children and all of those considered to be the lowest of all) that flows from one’s spirit-led activities as the measuring stick for true spirituality (not speaking in tongues or the exercise of other specific gifts in isolation, as constructed by one particular church community), is a vital and crucial element of true worship of Jesus and of the Father. 

Therefore, with the ceaseless and nearly inescapable striving for honor in mind, it is finally possible to hear Paul say “If someone does not recognize this, he is not recognized” (1 Corinthians 14:38).  By now, it should be realized that the language of “recognition” is the language of the court of public opinion, of reputation, and of honor.  Again, true recognition, and therefore true honor within the body of the Christ, belongs solely to the Lord of the body.  This is displayed when the one that would sit in the place of honor in the surrounding world or in any other type of association, actively subjects himself or herself to those that would be deemed less honorable outside the body of Christ, serving them with the same type of love and compassion that was displayed by the Creator God’s action of venturing forth to join and serve His creation, and the venturing forth to the cross as the summation and climax of that service.

“So then, brother and sisters,” as Paul writes in the hopes that his message about this particular issue has been properly conveyed, received, and understood, “be eager to prophesy” (14:39a), for this, engaged in by all, will encourage, console, and strengthen the church, while convicting and calling all, even the unbeliever and uninformed, to account for failures to rightly bear the divine image.  “And,” furthermore, Paul tells them that even though it has been problematic and has created a situation that has been antithetical to the true nature of the church, now that you better understand how best to put this ancient religious practice to proper use within the church, and now that you better understand the way that believers are supposed to manifest the Spirit of the covenant God and to respond to activities that manifest the Spirit of that God among you, “do not forbid anyone from speaking in tongues” (14:39b). 

Effectively, having been given their instructions by Paul, and hopefully waking away from this time of gathering with a better grasp on the world-shaking and shaping nature of the activities of the church of the Christ and of its effect on the way that the Creator God intends His world to work, Paul concludes this portion of his heavily rhetorical yet applicable dissertation with “And do everything in a decent and orderly manner” (14:40).     

Seeing God (part 9 of 9)

Now why does this matter?  It matters because of what happens in conjunction with this particular report of the activity of the Son of Man.  Jesus goes on to say that “All the nations will be assembled before Him, and He will separate people from one another like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left.  Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for  you from the foundation of the world.’” (Matthew 25:32-34) 

Paying close attention now, it is possible to learn why they will inherit the kingdom (mind you, this is not about going to a place called heaven, but rather, living in and possessing and establishing the Creator God’s kingdom brought to earth), as Jesus (the Son of Man, the Son of God, the King) says “For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, I was naked and you gave Me clothing, I was sick and you took care of Me, I was in prison and you visited Me” (25:35-36).  This sounds an awful lot like the use of treasure.  Might it be the case that one is supposed to think, at this point, about the construct of purity in heart from earlier in Matthew? 

Matthew goes on to report the response from those to whom Jesus has spoken, as he records Jesus saying “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink?  When did we see You a stranger and invite You in, or naked and clothe You?  When did we see You sick or in prison and visit You?’” (25:37-39)  After Jesus has detailed, and after His hearers have repeated the use of treasure, illustrated by food, drink, hospitality and shelter, clothing, and the gift of self and time, which can now be understood as the demonstration of purity of heart (it is not difficult to see in these things the care that the Creator God demands be given to resident foreigners, orphans, widows, and the poor), the righteous respond most interestingly. 

Just in case it passed un-noticed, the response contains three uses of “see You.”  It is asked, “when did we see You.”  Here there is a demonstration of purity of heart directed towards the King (Jesus, God), followed by a seeing.  There it is!  This is the answer for which we this study been searching.  To seal the deal and close out this study, look at what comes next.  “And the King will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it for Me” (25:40).  Those that give of themselves and their treasure in these ways: providing food, drink, clothing, shelter, and care to fellow travelers in this world that also, however broken and marred, bear the same divine image with which all have been endowed, reveal that they are pure in heart.  Yes, according to Jesus, in doing these things they have seen, and do indeed see God.          

Hated (part 6 of 7)

Even before the Mosaic covenant that came to Israel at Sinai, what had been Israel’s responsibility?  According to the Abrahamic covenant, it was to be a light to all peoples that they might reveal the glory of their covenant God, which would be done through the demonstration of divine blessings that would come from their living as their God’s covenant people---exemplifying divine blessing.  After the exodus, they would show forth this covenant by keeping their God’s Sabbaths, reverencing His sanctuary, and by not worshiping idols.  Through this, their God would show Himself, through Israel, as the Lord of all creation. 

This could engender hate in two ways, and this entails a shift from history to philosophy, attempting to make an appropriate application of these words.  The first way that could engender hate would be based on the fact that humanity, beginning with Adam, has been rebellious, not wanting to submit to its Creator God, and certainly not wanting to have their self-erected gods dismissed.  Therefore hate is directed towards those that reveal a God that rules over all and demands (deserves?) unswerving allegiance. 

The second potential reason for being hated is their presentation of themselves as the Creator God’s chosen people, through covenant, and then not living in a way that reflected that idea and which did not honor the blessing---by engaging in idolatry or by turning inward so as to keep their God’s blessing only for themselves and excluding those that they felt were unworthy of the covenant.  The second reason is quite compelling.  Can this be applied to the words that Jesus directed towards His disciples, which His disciples would in turn purposefully direct towards His church?  Perhaps. 

What is a fundamental obligation of the person that claims to be in Christ?  Is it to judge people, to regulate their lives, and tell them how to live?  No.  A thousand times no!  Unfortunately, this is what usually generates hatred.  However, is hatred that stems from doing that which Jesus has not obligated His followers to do, really the hatred of which Jesus speaks?  Probably not.  Beyond that, are people going to hate believers, or would they have so fiercely hated and persecuted the early followers of Jesus if all they spoke about was escaping off to a heavenly island of peace and bliss following death?  Again, probably not. 

So why would there be hate?  Well, as it was for Israel, so it would be for the new covenant people of the Christ’s church, as such people went and go about the business of their primary obligation to proclaim that Jesus is the Lord of all, and that all are subject to Him and to His rule, without exception.  Quite naturally, this can produce hatred, as it attacks the root of what seems to be mankind’s primary problem, which is the misuse of the divine image, as that divine image bearing is turned into self-worship and a thirst for power rather than being exercised in the reflection of the Creator God’s glory into His world. 

Suppression Of Truth (part 6 of 6)

Here again, one simply finds passion misdirected to that which dishonors, springing from self-idolatry, rather than to that which acknowledges and honors the Creator God.  In a sharp and revealing contrast to the shame that was said to have been experienced by Adam and Eve when their eyes were opened and they realized what they had done and that they were naked, Paul insists that mankind’s course of dishonor and idolatry would quickly reach the point at which “Men committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error” (Romans 1:27b). 

Indeed, it would appear to be the general argument of Scripture that, because of the corruption that occurred at what is recognized as the fall of man, which is pointed to as the time at which the truth of the covenant God and of man’s purpose in this world to honor the Creator rather than self began to be suppressed, that death began its long reign.  Borrowing the language of the Apostle, this was a due penalty indeed.  With this in mind, Paul goes on to describe the lot of all of humanity, writing “And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done” (1:28). 

Thusly, from time immemorial mankind has been “filled with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice… rife with envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility” (1:28a).  It goes beyond that, as Paul goes on to write, “They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil, disobedient to parents, senseless, covenant-breakers, heartless, ruthless” (1:29-31).  This would certainly seem to run amiss of that which the Creator intended for His specially created image-bearers.  Paul continues, writing that even though all this be the case “they fully know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them” (1:32).  

So yes, because man had been imprinted with/as the divine image, he retains, even in the midst of his self-worship and petulant refusal to acknowledge a god beyond himself.  Here Paul implies that there is still a basic, residual knowledge and understanding of the Creator God’s decree of death for violation of His covenant, though the fallen image-bearers impotently rage against and attempt to deny that decree, along with the just Creator that stands behind it.  In spite of this damning indictment, the reader of the letter to the Romans eventually come to find that, because of the love of God, the Christ died (5:8) for that same humanity just described, which is most definitely a truth that should not, cannot, and will not be suppressed.   

Suppression Of Truth (part 2)

It is said that this suppression of truth occurred even though what could be known about the God of creation had been made quite plain to them (Romans 1:19).  Indeed, Scripture seems to indicate that Adam and Eve had a regular fellowship with the Creator, in His very presence, as it was following their eye-opening fruit-eating that “the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God moving about in the orchard at the breezy time of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the orchard” (Genesis 3:8).  This could be taken as an indication that such was a regular occurrence.  In that time spent with Adam and Eve, it could be presumed to have been the case that it is to be understood that the covenant God made Himself and His ways and His expectations very plain to them. 

Based upon that, could it not be asserted that the experience of Adam and Eve is reflected in the next verse, where Paul writes “since the creation of the world His invisible attributes---His eternal power and divine nature---have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made”? (Romans 1:20a)  Paul’s position is that though they would not have been able to tangibly see or feel the eternal power of the Creator God, it would most certainly have been the case that they would have been brought into an understanding of it by the very fact of their existence, along with that of the world.  They would have understood that power by observing what was all around them---what had been made. 

The Creator God’s divine nature would have been understood, especially by Adam, as having been made in and as the image of God, and undoubtedly having had that communicated to him as he was given the responsibility of naming all of the living creatures (according to Genesis 2:20).  This was part of the exercise of the stewarding authority over the creation that had been delivered to Adam.  Along with that, Adam had been placed in Eden, in the world, to care for it and to maintain it (2:15). 

These two things, along with the command in regards to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, would presumably have given Adam a vision of God’s nature, as part of the bearing of the divine image (which would seem to entail some measure of a shared nature) was the authority over and responsibility for his God’s creation.  It is owing to this direct knowledge of and fellowship with the Creator God, with the explicit commands of that God and responsibilities that sprang from that knowledge and fellowship, that would have left Adam and Eve “without excuse” (Romans 1:20b) when it came time for their God to question them about the matter involving the serpent, the fruit, and their rebellion.      

Following the assertion that there is a lack of any excuse, as one continues to view these verses from the first chapter of Romans through the lens of Adam and Eve and the fall, one goes on to read “For although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or give Him thanks, but became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts were darkened” (Romans 1:21).  Once again, it is appropriate to here reflect on the implied fact that Adam and Eve most certainly knew the Creator God, and in a way that would have been quite unique to them alone.  In the midst of this knowledge and this way of knowing, they still rebelled against Him and ate the fruit.  In that, there was most certainly no glory given to their God.  There was no thankfulness. 

Suppression Of Truth (part 1)

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness – Romans 1:18  (NET)

Immediately after speaking of what he understood to be the mysterious and inherent power of the Gospel (the proclamation that Jesus is Lord of all), the Apostle Paul launches into a statement concerning the pouring out of the wrath of the Creator God, and the connection of the pouring out of that wrath to ungodliness and unrighteousness.  Following that lead-in, the remainder of the first chapter of the letter to the Romans is decidedly direct, as Paul, in his writing here, would seem to have in mind certain individuals or groups of people to which his words are directed.  Rather than analyze in an attempt to ascertain to whom or to what situation the words from verse eighteen through thirty-two are directed, it would probably be better to take into consideration the grand narrative of the Scriptures so as to make an appropriate application. 

So in looking at the eighteenth verse, and contemplating the scope of the Scriptural narrative, one could identify the verse with the presumptive parents of the human race, that being Adam and Eve.  Because human beings were made in and as the image of the Creator God, it should be understood that an aspect of godliness is rightly bearing the divine image.  Accordingly, ungodliness could be considered to be the failure to adequately and properly bear the divine image. 

Righteousness is perhaps best defined as “covenant faithfulness” (faithfulness to the covenant, whatever that covenant may be during the course of the Scriptural narrative), and that particular trait is usually and accurately ascribed to the Creator God, though when humans find themselves attaining to righteousness, it can also be said that they are in a state of faithfulness to the particular covenant that is to govern their interactions with their Creator and their fellow man. 

Unrighteousness then, conversely, is a state of not being faithful to the covenant (covenant unfaithfulness).  When Adam and Eve partook of the “forbidden fruit,” in contradiction of their Lord’s command, they were not faithful to the covenant under which they were tasked to operate.  Consequently, they found themselves in a state of unrighteousness.  This resulted in them not being able to completely fulfill the Creator God’s intention for what was understood to be the pinnacle of His creation that bore His image, and was responsible to play the role of reflecting His glory into the world, stewarding the creation, and constantly reminding the creation of the God that was responsible for its existence. 

According to the Genesis narrative, Adam and Eve, having eaten the fruit, now found themselves unable to attain to the reflection of their God’s glory for which they had been created.  Thus, entering into a condition of unrighteousness, they also succumbed to the condition of ungodliness and they fell short of the glory of God.  This is marked out as the beginning of sin.  With this, the indication is that mankind began to lose its right knowledge of the Creator God; and with this presence of the force of sin that marred and distorted the divine image that was supposed to represent and reveal the Creator, one could say, the truth of the Creator God began to be suppressed.   

Marring Of A Servant (part 1)

His form was so marred he no longer looked human---so now he will startle many nations. – Isaiah 52:15a  (NET)

When one takes a look at the prophecy of Isaiah and the “suffering servant” that has come to carry such a tremendous amount of significance to the understanding of Jesus’ crucifixion and Resurrection, an observer is met with some rather unsettling words.  One learns that the servant will be “so marred” that he will not even be recognizable as a human.  Time can be allocated for a brief and useful analogy here, and say that even though these words, following the lead of the earliest believers, can be rightly applied to Jesus, due to that which He underwent through the ordeal of the crucifixion (including the scourging and the crown of thorns), it is also possible to make words such as these, lifted from their immediate context of course, apply to the whole of humanity. 

Humanity was created in the divine image, but the fall, as it is reported in the Scriptural narrative, marred that image, so much so that what can be seen in self and others can and should be thought of as barely recognizable as human.  Following in the logic of that same Scriptural narrative, it is only when Jesus mysteriously works in and through believers by the Spirit, as He represented and fulfilled the Creator God’s intention for His divine-image-bearing creation, that such an individual can actually be recognized as human. 

Is it not ironic that, in order for this recognition of humanity to take place, through a union with the Christ by faith, that Jesus had to endure an infliction of suffering that would so mar Him that He would be unrecognizable as a human?  The indication of Scripture, and more appropriately the understanding that followed that indication, was that He would be marred so as to provide the basis for the reversal of the marring of humanity, beginning with those that believed in Him as the Christ and cast their allegiance with Him and His kingdom model as and Lord and King of all. 

So the suffering servant of Isaiah would be horribly marred.  Prior to that, however, it can be read “Look, My servant will succeed!  He will be elevated, lifted high, and greatly exalted” (52:13).  Words such as these create an expectation of something different than what is to come, so a reader could be justifiably confused by the next verse, which says, “(just as many were horrified by the sight of you) he was so disfigured he no longer looked like a man” (52:14).  The same one that is to succeed, be elevated, lifted high, and exalted is the same one that will be disfigured and marred.  It is quite the interesting contrast, but compares well with the first part of the fourteenth verse and the horror experienced on the part of the nations at the sight of the covenant God’s people Israel.  The suffering servant, as representative of Israel, is going to be marred and made unrecognizable, because as the embodiment and representative of Israel, he must share in their cursing. 

Here one must recognize that Israel itself could easily be recognized as the suffering servant, marred and no longer recognizable as the covenant people, suffering because they had failed to be the servants of all humanity in their representation of their covenant God. With that in mind,  a question can be asked as to what Isaiah is referring when he writes “just as many were horrified by the sight of you”?  He seems to be hearkening back to the ever-present comprehension and narrative-coloring of the Levitical and Deuteronomic curses, and the statement to be found attached to those curses as Israel wantonly violates its covenant with their Creator God by going after idols, not reverencing His sanctuary, and dis-honoring His Sabbaths, that “You will become an occasion of horror, a proverb, and an object of ridicule to all the peoples to whom the Lord will drive you” (Deuteronomy 28:37).  In this, it can then be seen that Israel itself was disfigured, no longer resembling the nation that the Creator God had drawn out from Egypt and set forth as the representative of His glory and the light to all nations. 

Nebuchadnezzar's Fall (part 7 of 8)

What was involved in Nebuchadnezzar’s return to sanity?  A precursor to this return has already been covered, in that the Creator God said that Nebuchadnezzar would live like an animal until he understood “that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms and gives them to whomever He wishes” (Daniel 4:32e).  This come to fruition when Nebuchadnezzar, sanity returned, can be heard saying “I extolled the Most High, and I praised and glorified the One Who lives forever” (4:34b). 

Now it seems, with real conviction, Nebuchadnezzar points to Israel’s God and says, “His authority is an everlasting authority, and His kingdom extends from one generation to the next” (4:34c).  In humility, he adds, “All the inhabitants of the earth are regarded as nothing.  He does as He wishes with the army of heaven and with those who inhabit the earth” (4:35a).  With what would appear to be a mild flourish of self-introspection concerning his previous demonstration of high-mindedness, this king adds, “No one slaps His hand and says to Him, ‘What have You done?’” (4:35b) 

As Nebuchadnezzar’s fall has been shown to have mirrored Adam’s fall (the fall of man), would it not be appropriate to say that his restoration will ultimately be mirrored by mankind’s restoration as well?  This would seem to be an eminently reasonable proposition that possesses the full support of the Scriptural narrative.  If it is true that Nebuchadnezzar’s sanity returned, that he was returned to human society, and that his time spent living like an animal was ended upon his acknowledgment of the Most High, would it not reasonable to take the step of making the same, albeit wider application?  Nebuchadnezzar’s time of living a sub-human existence began with his self-exaltation.  This was true for him just as it was for Adam.  Nebuchadnezzar’s period of time spent living a sub-human existence ended when he confessed that it was the Most High God that ruled.  Does it not stand to reason that it would be much the same for all of mankind? 

Until there is an acknowledgment, on the part of man, of the Creator God, of His rights, and of the failings of humanity, mankind remains in a sub-human condition---not being what the Creator God intends, not bearing the divine image, and not being truly human.  It could be said that such is a state of insanity.  With the requisite acknowledgment like that of Nebuchadnezzar,  humanity is freed from that sub-human state, regaining a long-lost sanity, with a restoration and re-purposing to rightly bear the divine image, so as to reflect the Creator God’s glory into this world, and no longer falling short of the glory of God.

According to the Scriptural narrative, all of which points to the Christ as the revelation of the Creator God and His intentions for His creation, this long-needed recognition and restoration occurs through a believing union with Jesus the Christ, which is achieved through a confession of Him as Lord and King of all.  Effectively, this confession and concomitant allegiance is one that looks to Jesus and says “His authority is an everlasting authority, and His kingdom extends from one generation to the next.”   

This is a statement of faith (loyal allegiance), in recognition of the Creator God’s covenant faithfulness as shown through the Christ, that demonstrates that one has come to the place of a trusting allegiance in the One that perfectly bore the divine image in every way.  

Nebuchadnezzar's Fall (part 6)

Of course, something like this has been previously heard from Nebuchadnezzar, when, following Daniel’s revelation and interpretation of the king’s dream about the great statue, Nebuchadnezzar responded by saying to Daniel, “Certainly your God is a God of gods and Lord of kings and revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery” (2:47).  Interestingly, Nebuchadnezzar’s reported response to the telling of the prophecy of the statue was to build a statue of himself, though made entirely out of gold, whereas in the dream, only the head of the statue of himself was gold, while the rest was composed of different materials. 

In the Daniel story, the prophet informs the king that the various materials used from top to bottom represented kingdoms that would rise up and pass away, beginning with his own kingdom of Babylon.  Nebuchadnezzar’s response, after speaking quite highly of Daniel’s God because of the revelation and interpretation, was to construct the previously referenced image, doing so completely from gold.  This would seem to be an indication that it was his belief that it was in fact the kingdom that he himself had assembled that would never pass away. 

To the construction of the statue Nebuchadnezzar added the requirement for all peoples to bow down and worship the image, doing so as an act of worship towards him and presumably in recognition of what he had now come to think of as his own eternal kingdom.  This, of course, is what precipitated the “fiery furnace incident”, which in turn engendered his proclamation that is recorded at the beginning of the fourth chapter of Daniel.  So it seems reasonable to surmise that there may have been a small bit of disingenuousness in Nebuchadnezzar’s great proclamation concerning Daniel’s God, so the Creator God that had been so gloriously referenced by this great king, seemingly took it upon Himself to make Nebuchadnezzar into a true believer, with the thoughts of his heart eventually coming to match up with the words of his lips. 

Moving on to the thirty-fourth verse of the fourth chapter of Daniel, the reader finds the Creator God’s words to Nebuchadnezzar ringing true.  There it can be read, “But at the end of the appointed time I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up toward heaven, and my sanity returned to me” (4:34a).  Remember, he had been judged and driven from human society.  He had lost his sanity.  He had become, for a specified and appointed time, something less than human. 

These words from Nebuchadnezzar force a consideration of Adam, a recall of his being driven out and his loss of sanity (in a way), as he became (along with all those that followed in his wake) something less than human.  This is said, of course, as one continually bears in mind that man was made as and to be the image of the Creator God, that he might be the reflection of His glory into the world, as well as the being that gathered up the praises of the creation and returned them to their Creator.  Considering this the, truly the failure to rightly bear the divine image---the failure to be truly human---is what it means to fall short of the glory of God.