Triumph Of Jesus (part 7)

The procession had wound through the city.  The crowds had cheered the triumphator and his army, while mocking the defeated foes.  Finally they reached Capitoline hill.  It is here that the exalted general and his armies would pay homage to the one from whom they received the power to conquer, and where those conquered would face the image of mighty Jupiter, realizing that the great god of Rome had overcome their pithy deities. 

The defeated army was forced to part, to give way to their king and to his bedraggled generals.  They were marched through the midst of their men, bound in heavy chains.  Then they were forced to trudge through the midst of the army that had broken the spirits of their fighting men and hastened their demise.  Finally, they were presented to the triumphator, who dragged them, by their chains, up the steps of Jupiter’s temple, where he would force them to participate in a sacrifice in honor of Rome’s supreme deity before employing them as gruesome examples of the eternal might of Rome. 

It was reported, quite comically I might add, that the king had attempted to infiltrate the ranks of Rome’s army, promising some of Rome’s soldiers all of the splendor and treasures that his kingdom had to offer, if only they would turn their backs on Rome, leave their posts, fight for him, and encourage others to do the same.  Comical, for what king could offer something that glorious Rome could not provide?  Surprisingly and tragically, some had been won over to his side.  Traitors!  They too had been identified and captured.  Infamy would come upon them and their fates would not be dissimilar to the one that wooed them.  I’m sure they wished that they had not joined his side. 

They had renounced the marks that had been placed on their bodies, identifying them as members of the Roman legion.  As part of their disavowal of Rome, they had scraped those various marks from off of their skin.  This new mark, they were told, the one that showed that they had left the side of Rome, would cause them to be honored by their new people and their gods.  They had genuflected before gods that were doomed to fall.  They had even consented to worshiping that king as if he was a god in the mold of blessed Caesar.  How absurd.  Now, that same mark, an anti-mark really, was one of ignominy.  It branded them as traitorous rebels.  Many have attempted to mount campaigns of propaganda against Rome, against its emperor, and against its gods.  All had failed.  All will fail!  Futility indeed. 

The white bulls were offered in sacrifice.  Then, the king and his generals were brought forward, with the generals forced to take a knee.  The very dagger that had been used to slit the throats of the sacrificial bulls was placed in the hands of the triumphator.  With one swift motion, each of the generals, in turn, was dispatched from this mortal existence---their immortal souls sent to wander the underworlds in punishment for their crimes against the empire of the son of god.  Then the king himself, who had attempted to stand against the power of almighty Caesar, was forced to kneel before the altar of Jupiter.  He was forced to bend his knees, acknowledging the being who is supreme over all.  Having done this, the triumphator, having had one of the fasces placed in his hand, drew back, swung the axe, and decapitated the now permanently fallen king. 

Suppression Of Truth (part 3)

Building on what has been said then, not only would glorifying the Creator God have consisted of Adam and Eve (the original image and covenant bearers) following His direct command, but through disobedience they would, apparently for the first time according to the story told in Genesis, fall short of His glory as well (sin), thereby losing the ability to adequately and properly and perfectly reflect the glory of their Creator into the world. 

Though this was supposed to be rectified by the call of Abraham and Israel, this expected rectification would ultimately be left undone until Jesus placed a foot on to the stage of history.  Clearly then, Adam and Eve can be understood to have not been thankful for the responsibility with which they had been charged, nor the exalted position with which they had been blessed.  Continuing to allow an overplay between the first chapter of Romans and the beginning of the Scriptural narrative, with the influence of the serpent, their thoughts did indeed become futile.  It could certainly be said that their thoughts were turned towards themselves and away from that which was their God’s purpose for them. 

It could even be said that the inward turning of thought was the beginning of futility, along with being the beginning of idolatry, as Adam and Eve were convinced to focus on themselves and that which they could gain for themselves (becoming like God, knowing right and wrong), rather than on what their God had done for them and what it was that they were supposed to be doing in and for the world, and for His glorification. 

In consideration of the statement from the Apostle Paul that “their senseless hearts were darkened,” could it not be said that, prior to the ill-fated taking from the tree and the subsequent fall, that they had no sense of nakedness, no sense of shame, no sense of fear, no sense of the knowledge of good and evil, no sense of remorse, and no sense of guilt?  Now and quite unfortunately, following the cataclysmic act of the fall, these senses were all present, having been darkened by the presence of sin---falling short of the glory of the Creator God (bearing His image in and for the world).  The insistence of Scripture is that prior to this paradoxical livening and deadening of their senses, they lived in a conscious state that were devoid of these things, but with what had been done, that condition was darkened by an evil presence. 

Yes, they ate from the tree.  It is said to have been the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  As the story goes, the serpent told them that if they did so, they would become like divine beings.  The serpent said that their eyes would be opened.  The serpent said that they could have power.  Power?  Yes, because they understood the power of their God; and because this tree was connected with knowledge, it could be said that on display here is the first human premonition that knowledge is power, and they wanted it. 

It is said that part of the motivation for taking and eating from the tree was that not only was the fruit “attractive to the eye” (Genesis 3:6b), but that it was also “desirable for making one wise” (3:6c).  Did wisdom come?  What is to be found in the next verse here in Romans?  “Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools” (1:22).  Fools!  What is it that the Scriptures have to say about fools?  The Psalmist writes that “Fools say to themselves, ‘There is no God.’  They sin and commit evil deeds; none of them does what is right” (14:1).  So what one here observes is that Eve first, and then Adam, desiring wisdom but becoming fools.  In essence and effect, as they cast off their right bearing of the divine image, they declarie that “there is no God.”  Is this not what they were truly expressing in their desire to become like gods, beings that know good and evil? 

Groaning (part 2 of 2)

Continuing his train of thought, the apostle goes on to write, “For the creation was subjected to futility---not willingly but because of God Who subjected it” (8:20).  Again, it seems that what we have here is an echo of Israel’s subjection by the Egyptians.  Just as the story of Israel has the people being subjected against their will, owing to the king that did not know Joseph (with the story indicating his having apparently forgotten what Joseph did for Egypt), so too was the creation subjected to futility against its will, with this presumably owing to Adam’s forgetting of the commands and covenant of the Creator God.  However, in both cases, there is a reminder that the same Creator God remains in control, cognizant of the situation and His continuing purposes.

In Romans, this subjection comes with a hope “that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children” (8:21).  Here, the analogy to Israel in Egypt grows increasingly clear.  Just as Israel was going to be set free from its bondage and returned to their long-looked-for land of promise, so also will the creation be set free from its bondage to death and decay, and from its thorns and thistles, being returned to that state for which its Creator intended it, and which He had originally declared to be good. 

The creation then functions much like Israel in Egypt, and we can grasp that as Paul writes “For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers together until now” (8:23).  Just as the Creator God heard His people and remembered His covenant with Israel’s forefathers, so He also hears the groans of His creation, as it reacts to its futile subjection and oppression and rigorous servitude.  Not only does Paul set forth creation’s groaning like Israel, he also connects the groaning to the people of God in Christ, who have come to be the renewed Israel with a renewed covenant based on its new forefather (Jesus), writing “Not only this, but we ourselves also, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our bodies” (8:23).

As the Passover narrative of Exodus culminates in the redemption and rescue of Israel, together with the destruction of its enemies, so too does the use of exodus language as it is applied to both the creation and the renewed Israel in union with Christ (those that confess Jesus as Lord).  Paul and others have come to understand that through the Resurrection death was defeated; and though all living things still die, death has no ultimate power, as fear has been replaced by hope.  Because of the Christ’s Resurrection, those that believe in Him, join His movement, and share in the kingdom of the Creator God (its means and its purposes) have the sure and steadfast hope and promise of a resurrection to come, when the kingdom of heaven, already inaugurated through the ruling Lordship of Christ, is fully consummated upon His return. 

Though there is an ongoing groaning, because of Christ’s Resurrection, death can no longer oppress.  Through that same power for resurrection, the creation also eventually escapes oppression, expecting renewal.  Just as redeemed humanity regains the image of Himself that had been God’s intention, so too will the creation experience the benefits of God’s covenant faithfulness.  As the Creator God reverses the curses pronounced against man upon his fall, so too does that same covenanting God reverse the curse pronounced upon His good creation.  As God’s work for His people in Egypt began with groaning and progressed through God’s miraculous intervention on behalf of His people, so too can we contemplate and comprehend God’s work for His people---for though we groan, and though the creation groans, we experience His eternal life (the life of the age to come) in the midst of hope because of the miraculous intervention that God performed through His Christ, and when He miraculously intervenes in His world through His image-bearers that bear the name of the crucified One.