Solomon’s Temple; David’s Promises

We always call the temple that existed throughout the kingdom years of Israel Solomon’s Temple. I came across an interesting tidbit in 1 Chronicles 28: it says that David was given the plans for the temple directly by Yahweh Himself, and they were passed on to Solomon by David. Curious! God allowed David to see the grand design of the temple, but He died before it was completed as far as we know. That was not David’s first disappointment. Remember that Samuel anointed him as king when Saul was still reigning. David endured sixteen years of running and hiding before he finally ascended to the throne.

Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple shows that he had a clear understanding of Israel’s relationship with Yahweh God, something he doubtless learned from his father. Solomon believed that Yahweh would continue to give provision and protection for His people. It was also clear from his prayer that Solomon understood the conditions under which those promises were made. He knew that Israel had to remain faithful to Yahweh and His commands or the promises would be nullified. He also realized that the nation would undoubtedly fail to fully follow God because his prayer is full of “when” clauses: when your people fail, he said, hear their repentant prayers from this temple. Not if, when.

Obviously, the omniscient God to whom Solomon prayed also knew the people would be disobedient. Regardless of this, He answered Solomon’s prayer by consuming his offering with fire from heaven and filling the temple with His shekinah glory such that even the priests drew back. This is nothing but a demonstration of God’s abundant grace in spite of His people’s repeated rebellion. Christians sometimes mistakenly think that the Old Testament God was a God of law, but the New Testament God is a God of grace. That is not true. Grace was first displayed when Yahweh did not instantly take Adam’s life when he rebelled in the Garden. It is only by God’s grace that the people of Israel ever came into being.

Because all people are prone to failure, God’s plan of redemption had to be founded on grace. The redeeming Seed promised in Genesis three could not have come to earth apart from God’s gracious provision. In the end, God did not just overlook the murderous disobedience of the Jewish leadership in Jesus’ time; He used it to accomplish His gracious purpose. This was Peter’s message on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit made everything clear to him. According to Peter, Joel’s prophecy of the last days came to pass through the “determined plan and foreknowledge of God” who used “lawless men” to execute their Messiah.

The blessing under which Solomon ruled is called the Davidic covenant. Yahweh promised David that one of his descendants would sit on the throne of Israel “forever.” When they became disobedient not only to God but to their Babylonian overseers, the judgment promised through the prophets came to pass and the last Davidic king was taken captive. When Israel returned to the land after seventy years in captivity, Zerubbabel, a descendant of David, was the political leader, but he was never called a king. He was an appointee of the Persian government that released him.

The kings we read about in the New Testament are also appointees, the Romans having taken Judea into their empire. There were a few Jewish kings during the Maccabean period, who took the throne in rebellion against Roman rule, but they were not descendants of David. By the time of the Messiah’s coming, the Herodian dynasty had been granted the right to call themselves kings, but they were puppets of Rome. They were not even fully Jewish, let alone David’s heirs. This may help us understand how significant it was to have the people hail Jesus as “Son of David” when he entered Jerusalem for the final showdown. They were anxious for a rightful heir to take back the throne.

I think it is interesting that the Roman governor, Pilate, called Jesus King of the Jews on the sign he placed upon the cross. He unknowingly announced what the prophets had foretold centuries earlier: David’s true Descendant would be king. We often say that Jesus is at once prophet, priest, and king, and so He is. He came as the Living Word; He ministers in a heavenly temple which no doubt is the pattern that was shown to David; and He reigns forever as King of kings. Although Jesus told Pilate that His kingdom was not of this world, the day is coming when the kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of Our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever.

The old covenant promised a land flowing with milk and honey – flocks, herds, abundant harvests. That covenant also required continual bloody sacrifices to atone for the inevitable sins of the people. The new covenant is built upon better promises according to the Hebrew writer. The atonement for our sins was accomplished once for all when Jesus took His own blood into the true temple in Heaven and offered it to the Father on our behalf. Jesus’ resurrection from the grave is the testimony that the offering was accepted. The torn temple veil testifies to the ending of God’s presence in the temple. That was no real loss, though. The Herodian dynasty had built a magnificent temple, but Jesus called what it truly was: a den of thieves.

The threefold nature of Jesus ministry – prophet, priest, and king – is mirrored spiritually by His body, the Church. His words, which are spirit and life to us, are prophetically passed on to us so we may share His message as ambassadors of the kingdom of Heaven. We become a kingdom of priests under His high-priestly role sharing the good news of redemption through Jesus. We enter the kingdom through His blood and rule at His side as vice-regents of that kingdom. We even share in David’s lineage because we become brothers and sisters of the true Son of David. None of this requires that we wait for the Jews to build another temple for Jesus to come. He has come, and we are His temple. We may still have disappointments as David did, but we need to learn what it means to be living in the light of David’s promises. We rule!

Related Posts: I highly recommend Where is King Jesus? And also Merry Priestly Christmas; For more on the kingdom see Thy Kingdom Come; on trials see Confidence or Craziness

Taking the Name of God in Vain

Almost everyone can quote the third of the Ten Commandments in its traditional English form, “Thou shall not take the name of the Lord Thy God in vain.” The majority of those who can quote it think it forbids cussing. Over the years, people have come up with some creative euphemisms for the phrase God damn: gosh darn, golly gee, doggone, dadgum, or just G-D. They think that by substituting a word for “god” that they have met the requirement of the commandment.

Carmen Imes in her book, Bearing God’s Name: Why Sinai still matters, says that the word “take” is better understood as “bear,” as in bearing a load or an image. Young’s Literal Translation comes close with “Do not take up the name of Jehovah thy God for a vain thing.” Imes suggests that bearing the name means being identified with the named One. A modern understanding of vain in this context would be empty or useless. In other words, if you are going to bear the Name, call yourself a follower of the Name, you had better be sure the things you do honor the Name you bear.

A quick review of where the Name comes from will be helpful. Several times in the Old Testament, “The Name” appears to people as God in human form. When Moses asked what he was supposed to call the being he encountered in the burning bush, he was told to use the name Yahweh. Numerous divine epiphanies are identified as Yahweh throughout the history of Israel. In her book, Imes asks where we find Yahweh in the New Testament. She frankly states that it isn’t there unless you follow the root of the name the angel told Mary and Joseph to call their miraculous baby boy: Yeshua.

Our Savior’s parents would have spoken Aramaic, a version of Hebrew, in their daily lives. Thus, it is likely that the angel who announced His birth would have told Mary, “You shall call His name Yeshua.” We got “Jesus” from the Greek translation where Yeshua becomes Ἰησοῦς pronounced Yaysous, hence Jesus in English. If you translate directly from the Aramaic to English, you have the name Joshua. Our Saviour’s given name was Joshua. Since God regularly gives descriptive names to His special people, it is no surprise to learn that in Hebrew, Joshua/Yeshua means God saves. He does, indeed!

According to Imes, there are two reasons why the name Yahweh doesn’t easily carry over into the New Testament. First, by the time of Jesus birth, the Jews had over one thousand years of substituting “Lord” for the Hebrew name of God out of reverence for Him. Second, the writings of Moses spelled the name he was given for the God of the burning bush YHWH. In ancient Hebrew, vowels were added later to aid pronunciation; Yahweh is as close a guess as any. Jumping to Greek was difficult because there are no letters that correspond with Y, W, or H. The authors of the New Testament, who were mostly Jews, simply continued the long-standing tradition of referring to God as Lord.

Now we are back to bearing the Name. We know it is the only Name by which we can be saved, thanks to Peter’s defiant assertion. We also have a pretty good idea that many, if not all the appearances of God/Yahweh in the Old Testament were probably the pre-incarnate, eternal Son of God. So, it appears that bearing the name of Jesus in the New Testament means exactly the same thing as bearing the name of Yahweh in the Old Testament. One must take pains not to bear the name without effect. And the effect must be to glorify God.

There is another interesting sidelight to the discussion of important names in the Bible. God’s people were known as Israel because their forefather, Jacob, was given that name after he wrestled with the Angel of Yahweh. Jacob means grabber, overcomer, or usurper in Hebrew. That name is a good description of much of what occurred in Jacob’s life. After his bout with the Angel, Jacob the overcomer was renamed Israel, “He who contends with God.” In retrospect, that properly describes what the nation of Israel did throughout their existence. It has been suggested that, “[Israel] is a reference to the Jewish people's ongoing struggle with God, and the obligation they have to explore their faith.”

I can’t think of a better description of the plight of those of us who have named the name of Jesus. Paul made his own struggle plain in Romans seven. He told the Galatians that there would be a continual battle within them between the Spirit and their flesh. After commending the heroes of the faith, the Hebrew author encourages us to, “run with patient endurance the race that has been set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the originator and perfecter of faith.” That “race” by the way is a marathon not a dash.

Imes says that when Jesus asked His followers to pray hallowed be Thy name, “His is prayer implies a personal commitment to honoring that name through a life of faithful obedience. He fulfills Israel’s vocation to bear Yahweh’s name with honor.” So, in one sense, the church, the Body of Christ, is the Israel of God. Our obligation is to represent His interests on earth; we are encouraged to “contend for the faith.” The church is at once the temple of God and His Israel: His contenders. This lends credence to my belief that physical Israel isn’t getting a second chance to accept their Messiah in the last days. They had their chance, and they blew it royally.

This also explains Paul’s comment to the Ephesians that God’s purpose for the church is to “Display His wisdom to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was His eternal plan, which He carried out in Christ Jesus.” (Eph. 3:10-11 NLT) It is our responsibility to bear the Name with all the best intentions and glorify God in the process. If we do that, we will not bear the Name of the Lord our God in vain. I would still recommend that you avoid cussing.

Related Posts: His Name Shall Be Called; There’s Something Fishy About that Name; In Jesus’ Name

Don’t Be a Poser

Some people are going to stand before Jesus on judgment day and insist that they did what He had asked them to do. To some He will say, “Depart from me; I never knew you.” It is not enough to say you know Christ; you must be known by Christ. “I know my sheep,” Jesus said, “and my sheep hear my voice.” The critical part of that is the voice. Jesus speaks to His sheep through His Word. The reason there will be surprised “followers” on judgment day is because many make little or no effort to read and know His Word – to hear His voice. Either through ignorance or malice, they pose as Christians but fall short of the real thing.

People who pose as Christians are not harmless. I think there are two classes of Christian posers. In one case, you have people who are doing what they have been told by other people. The problem is that they have not been told the truth. (See “Lies We Have Been Told”) For example, some people think  regular church attendance is not necessary for believers. If they mean that going to church won’t save anyone, they are correct. However, the Bible does command that we “not abandon our meeting together.” More than this, there are scores of biblical commands to do things for one another that, practically speaking, will only happen regularly in a gathering of believers.

As another example of believing what you have been told, many Christians think that the ground of their salvation is their good deeds. “I’m a good person; God will surely allow me into Heaven when I die,” according to many people. If you hear something often enough, you tend to believe it must be true. This is clearly not Bible truth. “There is none righteous, not one.” “No one good but the Father alone.” “Their deeds are like filthy rags.” That’s what the Bible says. It is also plainly stated that the only way to gain Heaven is to be found in Christ. Salvation is not about what you do but who you know. Naturally, if one truly knows Christ, good works will result, but they are a result of salvation not the cause.

These two examples show how ignorance might cause a person to think they are in Christ, but they may hear Him say otherwise at judgment. The second class of posers is more sinister: they pose as Christians knowing that their position is not biblical. Worse than that, they often deny the Bible’s authority. It baffles me why people would call themselves Christian while denying the only thing that defines Christianity. Ever since the beginning of time, Satan has been trying to get people to worship anyone or thing except the God of the Bible. The biblical record of Israel repeatedly describes the nation’s penchant for idolatry. They couldn’t seem to resist following the gods of the nations surrounding them.

At one point in Judah’s last years before captivity, they were claiming the protection of the Temple of the Lord while blatantly worshipping Queen of Heaven. Through the prophet Jeremiah, they were told that God saw them as the posers they were. He orchestrated their deportation to Babylon as promised. He explained through Isaiah that they had profaned the name of Yahweh by claiming His name while worshipping idols. There are posers today doing similar things. They explain away the miracles recorded in Scripture. They rewrite God’s prohibitions against sexual sins. They deny the historical truth of Jesus’ earthly mission. They erase God’s impending judgment of unrighteousness by preaching only His love. They preach worldly prosperity as the highest good.

These are the idol worshippers of today. They don’t have golden calves or Asherah poles in their homes. However, they worship at the altar of science that denies miraculous intervention. They worship human lust and encourage violation of God’s sacred design for sexuality. They bow to the intellectuals who don’t believe the Scripture is the inspired Word of God. They cater to the god of ease by denying the consequences of unrighteous behavior. They openly worship mammon – material prosperity – in spite of Jesus’ condemnation of it.

I should probably admit that God has been known to use posers for His purposes. Samson had all the marks of God on his life. He was born of a formerly barren mother. He was dedicated from the womb as a special class of person: a Nazarite. He was granted incredible strength which he used to hold back the Philistines in their subjugation of God’s people. However, as the record shows, he was selfish and irreverent in the use of his special gift. God accomplished His purpose through Samson, but he is definitely not a model to be imitated.

We could mention how Abraham posed as Sarah’s brother to protect her from Pharoah. Then there’s the deceitfulness that characterized Jacob’s life: stealing his brother’s inheritance rights and the blessing of their father; the subterfuge he used with Laban to obtain his large flocks. Many of the Pharisees in Jesus’ day were major posers; the Messiah called them what they were: hypocrites. But God used even them to set the stage for what was inevitably to come. Even Judas posed as a true disciple, yet his treachery was used by God to bring the Lamb of God to the sacrificial altar on Calvary.

I find comfort in knowing that in His sovereignty, God can accomplish His will with anyone He chooses. Doubtless, the people Jesus would not claim as His own in spite of their profession also accomplished some good in the world. But as we know, being good is not what earns God’s favor; it’s being known – belonging to Christ. That is why Paul said to the Corinthians, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize regarding yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you, unless you are unqualified?” On the day of judgment, I want to be qualified to hear, “Well done good and faithful servant,” and not “Depart from me [you poser]; I never knew you.” You too?

Holy Cow!

When you read through the requirements for sacrifices under the Mosaic law, you might be overwhelmed by their complexity. It is understandable that the priests would have to butcher the larger animals. Even a whole 60–90-pound sheep or goat would be quite a lift onto the 7.5-foot square altar surface since it was roughly 4.5 feet high. No way a man could heft a 600–800-pound steer that high. The complex butchery comes from the detailed instructions for getting the animal ready for sacrifice. Various parts were set aside for different treatment before anything could be offered to God.

For example, some parts were reserved for consumption by the priests and their servants, the Levites. Since they had very limited flocks or herds, they needed to be fed by the contributions of the worshippers. That makes sense. But it has always puzzled me why God commanded such care be taken with the offal. Depending on the type of sacrifice, the entrails were treated differently. Sometimes they were to be burned outside the camp; sometimes they were offered as a special sacrifice.

The one that has always intrigued me is the frequent designation of the “lobe of the liver” as a dedicated offering. Today, we know this as the caudal lobe, and we know that it has a significant purpose in animal function. We also know that in Canaanite religions, the liver, and especially the caudal lobe, was used for divination. Even the ancients realized the crucial function of the liver, and they apparently surmised that the caudal lobe was special. One assumption that scholars make is that God didn’t want any confusion as to where the Israelites were to get their information: from Yahweh not from the caudal lobe of the liver.

Did you ever wonder why Jews, even today, are known for their beef brisket? Admittedly, the traditions surrounding the brisket stem from the Ashkenazi Jews (the diaspora) of the tenth century and beyond, but that connection has its roots in the regulations regarding sacrificial offerings. From the regulations in Leviticus, we learn that the brisket was often set aside for the priests. Once the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. and ritual sacrifice ceased, the Jews retained an element of the beef brisket’s special significance.

One aspect of the Levitical priestly regulations is really a mystery. Holy items were not to be taken out of the tabernacle (temple) as they retained an aura of holiness that God did not want to spread abroad indiscriminately. It is as if there was a tangible essence of holiness that could rub off on things that were not supposed to be holy. This is doubly hard for me to understand because all through the Levitical directions, Yahweh repeats the assertion that the people are to be holy. More than that, He says, “You shall keep My statutes and do them; I am Yahweh who makes you holy.” God says that numerous times throughout Leviticus. God says He makes them holy.

I struggle with the idea that God makes His people holy but restricts the movement of holy items from the tabernacle (temple). Perhaps it is just a way to emphasize the distinct holiness of the ritual furniture and furnishings. Perhaps it was meant to discourage unsanctioned worship outside of the holy place. Perhaps the holy implements and the holy garments on the one high priest were supposed to remind the people that there is only one God, and one means of access.

Obviously, none of this has any significance for twentieth century Christians. Does it? Hmm. If Christ’s body is the temple corporately, and if believers are a “a royal priesthood,” how many of the details of the temple/tabernacle regulations are we meant to reflect? One thing is obvious: there is still only one God and one way to Him. That is a message that is not accepted by many in modern cultures. There are even so-called Christians who are “offended” by the exclusivity of the biblical assertion that Jesus is the only Way to God. They can’t imagine the loving god of their own creation rejecting pious Buddhists or Hindus or Muslims. That is the same trap the Israelites fell into when they dabbled in the religious practices of the people around them.

It may also be important to remember today that to be holy means to be set aside for a particular purpose. Just as the Old Testament priests were uniquely charged with guiding people to proper worship of Yahweh, the purpose of the church (the New Testament kingdom of priests) is to represent God as the only being worthy of our worship. (See “Thanks for the Complement”) This is no small thing since moderns are just as likely to practice idolatrous worship as the ancients. (See “Who’s in the Temple”) It should make us proud to be chosen but overwhelmed with the importance of the charge we have been given. The church is supposed to reveal the mystery of God to everyone, including the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies.

The New Testament is pretty clear about the necessity of Christian witness. We are commanded to glorify God at all times in all we do. My favorite definition of “glorify” is “make God look good.” In other words, we should live in such a way that people watching us will want to get to know the God we represent. There are ways to simulate the OT priest’s outfit. Instead of a turban with “Holy to Yahweh,” we wear ball caps with crosses or biblical messages. Instead of a breastplate with twelve gems attached, we wear T-shirts with inspirational printing. Rings and bracelets and necklaces can portray Christian symbols. However, none of these things can take the place of living our faith out loud.

Evangelical Christianity does not have the ritualistic formalities of ancient Judaism. It is easy to forget the holy purpose of worshipping and living for a supremely holy God. There are Christian sacraments. The root of “sacrament” is the Latin word “sacer” which means holy. Catholics recognize seven sacraments and elevate the eucharist to an astonishing level of holiness. Most protestants hold two things as sacred: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We are expected to participate in those rites with respect for their holy nature. But the truth is, our entire life is supposed to be a “living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.” Instead of exclaiming, “Holy cow!” I should be able to say, “Holy You!”

Related Posts: Holy Moly!; Sanctify Them

Where is King Jesus?

We have just been through the Christmas season, and if our hearts were right, our reason for the season was the coming of the King. I must admit that the decorations in my house look more like a celebration of the coming of a jolly old elf from the North Pole. (My wife is a Claus collector.) There are a few shepherds and mangers in the mix, but like most Christmas decorations, they lean away from the true meaning of Christmas and into the shiny, silly, worldly version. In our defense, I can only say that our traditions and our memories are so thoroughly steeped in the tree and the presents and the colorful lights that even I have to remind myself what this celebration is all about: the greatest gift ever given in the form of the baby in the manger who became the King on the throne of Heaven and Earth.

Baby Jesus had to grow into His kingship. I know – He was with God and He was God from before the foundation of the Earth. But, in His unique expression as God’s earthbound Son, He had to be born and grow and ultimately become obedient unto death. It was only after His sacrificial death at Calvary that He could ascend to the throne of Heaven. The Bible reveals that because of Adam’s sin, the rulership of Earth was relinquished to God’s arch enemy, Satan. Divine justice required a human payment for Adam’s sin. That was the reason for the incarnation, the baby born in Bethlehem came to die to redeem mankind.

More than that, Paul told the Ephesians redemption was the reason for creation itself! It is truly a mystery, as Paul said, that God would create our universe knowing that His crown of the creation, us humans, would rebel and require redemption. But that is what the Book says. Paradise lost was to become Paradise regained, but only at great cost. The entire sweep of the Old Testament is a record of God moving in human history to prepare for the arrival of the Seed/Servant/Savior, Jesus. The road from Bethlehem to Calvary was posted with signs that the prophets had written centuries before.

One of the most important things the prophets foretold was that the One who was to come would be a king. So, when Jesus finally came, most of the Jewish people were looking for a conqueror king to free them from Roman oppression. They were ready when John the Baptist and then Jesus Himself announced the coming of a kingdom. It was most frequently called the Kingdom of God, but Matthew called it the Kingdom of Heaven. This implied that there was something unearthly about it. Jesus confirmed this when He told Pilate His kingdom was not of this world.

His disciples obviously missed the distinction, though. At the time of Jesus’ return to Heaven, they asked, “Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” I can imagine Jesus sighing deeply – maybe rolling His eyes – when He answered, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has set by his own authority.” Times (χρόνος) or seasons (καιρός) could be translated “dates or circumstances.” He gave them a marker for the date: “When the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” The circumstances would only become clear after the Spirit had, in fact, come.

What became clear after the Holy Spirit guided them into the truth was that the kingdom was to be a spiritual reality. I believe they finally understood what Jesus had meant by saying, “The kingdom of God is within you.” If I could paraphrase what Jesus told the Samaritan woman it would sound like this: “The King of Heaven is a spirit being who requires those who would honor Him as king to do so using their spiritual faculties; physical locations are no longer important to Him.” I think He was trying to make the woman (and us) understand that true human existence is spiritual, and true worship of the One who made us in His likeness must be “in spirit and truth.”

We humans are so bound up in our time/space universe that we fail to see how a spiritual reality can be more real than our physical one. The Apostle Paul encourages us to think of earthly things, material things as temporary (temporal: time-bound) and passing away to be replaced by more permanent things – spiritual things. His explanation to the philosophers in Athens was that the true God did not have a physical existence as represented by their idols and related sacrifices. Rather, he said the true God made the world and everything in it, and that it is in him we live and move and exist.

The teachings of Jesus and Paul are clear: we all exist in God in one sense, but God in us only applies to those who take their place in the Son. Jesus’ disciples must have been horrified when He told them He was going away; then they were mystified when He said it would be better if He went away. What could be better than walking through life in Jesus’ physical presence, they must have asked. The answer came to them with the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. Once they were filled with the Spirit, they understood what Jesus meant by fulness of life – completeness of joy. They soon learned that they also had been given power to do Jesus’ work – first twelve of them, then thousands, then millions of them.

We are among those millions, those of us who have given our lives to Christ, those of us who hail Him as King Jesus. We are ambassadors of the one true King speaking into the darkness of this world, “Be reconciled to your King; escape the darkness and enter the Kingdom of Light.” Today that kingdom is a spiritual reality, true enough. But we look forward to the day when all creation will be remade; heaven and earth will be reunited at the return of the King. But you won’t enjoy Him as King then if you don’t accept Him as King now. It is the question of the ages: where is King Jesus?

                                   

Related Posts: The Virgin Shall Conceive;  Toasting Christmas; Merry Priestly Christmas; Despising the Down Payment; Happy Birthday to Me

Alternate Realities

I have just finished reading Philip Yancey’s Rumors of Another World: What on earth are we missing? Yancey’s thesis is that most people, even Christians, don’t live as if there is another world out there somewhere. They live as if this world is the ultimate reality. It is not uncommon for unbelievers to live as if this is all there is; many assume that when they die, they simply cease to exist. What concerns me, as Yancey suggests, is that many believers act as if there is no life after death – no other world to which they will go when they die.

This mistaken attitude is one of several common misunderstandings that are the result of a failure to think Christianly about everything. Another way to say this is that one’s world-view is not thoroughly Christian – not biblical. Paul said believers are supposed to see this world as temporary, passing away. We are supposed to see ourselves as pilgrims, sojourners passing through this world on our way to another. Rumors of that other world are all around us, according to Yancey. That unbelievers fail to see them is forgivable; that believers miss the truth is not.

First, look at the word reality. The Oxford Dictionary defines it as “the world or the state of things as they actually exist, as opposed to an idealistic or notional idea of them.” The “state of things as they exist” to most people refers to this world. Yancey’s point is that most people, even Christians, believe this world is the only “reality.” To these people, heaven is an “idealistic or notional idea.” To unbelievers, heaven is a foolish notion, but sadly, to many believers it is hardly more than an idealistic hope for something better someday – pie in the sky by and by.

The concept of being in the world as opposed to somewhere else (heaven or hell, for example) appears all over the New Testament. In the Gospels, Jesus regularly warned of a time to come when those who believed in Him and those who did not would find themselves in radically different realities. Believers would be welcomed into His presence while unbelievers would be cast into a dark place with “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Paul wrote of being taken to another reality to receive special revelation. He also told the Corinthians and the Ephesians that believers’ true enemy was not from this world.

While I am not a strict dispensationalist as the word is used today, I do believe that the Bible often refers to ages which have different conditions. The Old Testament prophets spoke of a coming day when the Messiah would usher in a dramatic new age. The New Testament speaks often of ages. This age, the coming ages, and interestingly, Paul equates “world” with “age in Corinthians” and in Ephesians. I believe this is important because it implies that our created reality, the world as we know it is just one “age” or time period in God’s overall plan for us. The resurrection all believers look forward to will be into that rumored “world” Yancey wrote about. I have described previously what I believe about that new world in “When Destruction is not Destruction.”

Most Christians believe they will go to heaven after they die. While I agree with that sentiment in principle, I see the situation differently than some. I believe heaven and earth will become one – a restored Eden if you will. So, the “heaven” that I imagine will be a reality that combines all the best of God’s good earth with all the best of Heaven. It is not so much an alternate reality as it is a perfected reality. Heaven and earth exist for this age as intersecting realities; after Jesus returns, I believe the two will become one reality. I believe the Bible teaches that we must begin to live as if Heaven is real because it is.

 How can we make heaven more real? Hear what A.W. Tozer says: “God is a Person and in the deep of His mighty nature He thinks, wills, enjoys, feels, loves, desires and suffers as any other person may. In making Himself known to us He stays by the familiar pattern of personality. Religion, so far as it is genuine, is in essence the response of created personalities to the Creating Personality, God, [so that Jesus could say] ‘This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.’”

Jesus, the God who created this world, descended from “heaven” and became flesh to show us what true reality is. If we can avoid the notion that Jesus is some far distant historical figure and fully adopt the idea that He lives today, both in us and in heaven, and if we can convince ourselves that He is a person like us in many ways, we may move closer to a proper view of reality. I believe that is the alternate reality we are called to.

Related Posts: The Presence of God; Waiting for Morning; Friendship with the World; Think, People!; Deer Camp Philosophy; Why Am I Here?; Is Heaven a Wonderful Place?

Are You Qualified?

My title is drawn from two commands Paul makes in 2 Corinthians 13:5. Most translations of the Bible read, “Test yourselves… examine yourselves” or they reverse the two imperatives saying, “Examine yourselves… test yourselves”. In the Greek, the first imperative is a different word from the second. Either one may be translated test or examine which explains why translators have difficulty differentiating between them. The difference I find is in the subsequent verses. Paul uses forms of the second word four more times in the next two verses.

This is not just a trivial linguistic issue in my opinion. The first command asks the Corinthians to test or examine themselves “to see if you are in the faith.” What he means is to see if you are truly a believer, one who is “in the faith.” Throughout church history, there has been a debate over how people can know if they are saved – “in the faith.” It is glaringly obvious that the Corinthian church had people who claimed to be in the faith but acted very much like those who were not – like unbelievers. The two letters we have from Paul to the Corinthians are full of correction and rebuke. He certainly questioned the legitimacy of their belief.

One could ask whether the Corinthians believed Paul’s message at first (got saved), but later they stopped believing (lost their salvation). The answer to this question generally comes from one of two perspectives: either Calvinist or Arminian. (I wrote about this in some detail in “Calvinist or Arminian”) The Calvinist position holds that once a person is saved, it is not possible to lose salvation: once saved; always saved. The Arminian view is that everyone makes a conscious decision to be saved and can therefore decide to be “unsaved.”

This passage may be Paul’s entrance into the debate. I say this because of the second word he wrote in verse five. Whereas test or examine is a fair translation of the first of his commands (πειράζω), the word he used in the second command is dokimazō (δοκιμάζω) which may legitimately be translated “qualify.” The fact that he used forms of this word repeatedly in the rest of the passage leads me to think he meant “to qualify” rather than test or examine. An alternative translation of Paul might read, “Qualify yourselves! Or do you not recognize regarding yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you, unless you are unqualified? And I hope that you will recognize that we are not unqualified! Now we pray to God that you not do wrong in any way, not that we are seen as qualified, but that you do what is good, even though we are seen as though unqualified.”

In the larger context, Paul had been asserting his qualifications as an apostle. At this point, he told the Corinthians not to concern themselves with his qualifications but to look to their own condition. In the end, the only thing that mattered was if they were qualified as believers. So, the question becomes what Paul says qualifies one as a believer. They claimed to be “in the faith,” or in Christ. Paul insists that to qualify as a believer, Christ must be “in them.” As he said to the Colossians: “Christ in you the hope of glory.”

The important question one must ask is what kind of faith qualifies one to say, “Christ is in me.” Paul told the Roman believers, “But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also make alive your mortal bodies through his Spirit who lives in you.”

This was Jesus’ promise to His disciples on the night He was betrayed. He prayed to His Father, “that they may be one, just as we are one – I in them, and you in me, in order that they may be completed in one, so that the world may know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me.” Just before this prayer for His disciples, He had told them, “If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love…. This is my commandment: that you love one another just as I have loved you.” The quality of faith that proves Christ is in you is a faith that loves selflessly, agape love, the love of Jesus. This reminds me of what James said: “Faith without works is dead.”

It should be no surprise that we are called to obey Jesus; life in Christ is a “long obedience in the same direction,” according to Eugene Peterson. That direction is conforming our life to the life of Christ. In his book Rumors of Another World, Philip Yancey asserts that, “Those who invest their hope in an unseen world prove it by their actions in this world…. putting feet to Jesus’ prayer that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” If we are in Christ and Christ is in us, we must continue His work doing His Father’s will.

None of this should suggest that once I am “qualified” I am good for eternity. In the same way that I had to fulfill continuing education requirements to maintain my teaching certificate (qualifications), believers must continue to affirm their qualifications by continuing to grow up into maturity in Christ. The essential quality of maturity is demonstrating selfless love to a greater and greater degree.

One wonders how this quality of faith affects the quality of one’s life here on earth. Yancey quotes Albert Schwietzer: “The only [people] who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.” It is no coincidence that throughout the Old Testament prophets, the promised Messiah is called God’s Servant. He shocked His disciples at the “Last Supper” by washing their feet and proclaiming that servanthood was to be the hallmark of His disciples. Jesus said He, “came not to be served, but to serve.” I believe that one important qualification for saying you are “in Christ” is servanthood. Are you qualified?

Related Posts: Necessary Obedience; Weak-day Christians

Get Foolishness

The ancient wise king instructed his son: “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore, get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.” A few chapters later he added, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” So, to truly understand what wisdom is, we must begin with the fear of the Lord. To fear the Lord in this context means to honor and respect Him. The best way we mortals can do that is to delve deeply into His Word, perhaps meditating on it day and night as the psalmist recommended.

What we learn through the process of study and meditation is that there is more than one type of wisdom. When Paul described his approach to the Corinthians, he said his message was founded on Christ, “the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom.” Human wisdom is described by James as, “earthly, unspiritual, demonic.” The word James used for “unspiritual” is usually translated as “soulish.” The human soul is comprised of intellect, emotion, and volition. James implies that the wisdom that appeals to the intellect is of this world as opposed to from heaven. More frightening is his assertion that human wisdom can be demonic. That is not surprising since the human soul is often the playground of the devil.

One of the devil’s favorite tricks is to mess with believers’ minds. According to Paul, we are supposed to be aware of his schemes, but too often, that is not the case. In the Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis creates an imaginary dialogue between a demon and his protégé. The subtlety Lewis imagines is evidence of demonic wisdom. He doesn’t suggest tempting Christians with outright unrighteousness; rather he advises getting them to doubt the wisdom of God’s plan. It sounds like the serpent in the garden: “Did God really say…. Surely, he didn’t mean it.”

So, we have Paul saying that the gospel is the wisdom of God. I must admit, at first glance, the gospel seems like a crazy idea. I can’t imagine hearing God say, “I know; let’s send my only Son to earth and have Him killed.” It’s not just crazy; it’s inhumane. What human would sacrifice a child for a bunch of reprobates? We would be inclined to agree with Fredrich Beuchner: “If the world is sane, then Jesus is mad as the hatter, and the Last Supper is the mad tea party.” (from The Faces of Jesus) But since we believe the Bible is truth, and God is all-wise, we must be missing something.

What is it in the monstrosity of the Cross of Calvary that makes it the epitome of wisdom? In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul announced that anyone “in Christ,” meaning anyone who identified with His death in Christian baptism, is a new creation: the old has passed away; the new has come. What does Paul mean by the old and new? The old way, the old covenant, is superseded by the new covenant initiated with Christ’s death. (Heb) The new covenant was instituted to reconcile the world to God, Paul says. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them.” Reconciliation implies a separation that must be reversed. That world-changing separation occurred when Adam rebelled against God and brought “death” to humanity. So, the act of reconciliation requires regeneration. Paul told the Ephesians, “We being dead in trespasses, he made alive together with Christ.” Paul made the astounding declaration to the Corinthians that God had entrusted the message of reconciliation “to us,” adding the analogy of us being ambassadors of Christ, begging the world (unbelievers) to be reconciled to God.

I have mentioned previously that we have the awesome privilege of revealing the age-long mystery of God to the “rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” Add to this our status as ambassadors of Christ to the world and you have the complete answer to the universal question: why are we here? The church is a physical demonstration of God’s love for His creation and a platform for delivering the love-based message of reconciliation to the lost and dying world. Remember, God so loved the world that He [insanely] gave His only Son to save it. The wisdom of God is indeed foolishness to [some] men.

Paul used this idea sarcastically on the Corinthians when he pointed out their false wisdom: “We are fools for Christ’s sake,” he said, “But you are wise.” Satan was apparently using one of his favorite schemes on the Corinthians, inciting their pride so that God’s wisdom looked foolish to them. Here we see another possible meaning for the “new” thing Paul mentioned. Most people who read 2 Corinthians 5:17 believe that the new thing is the creation: us. This is clearly an honest reading. Although creation itself still groans under the weight of sin, Paul said believers rise from baptism to a new life. He counsels us to put off the old man and put on the new. He also makes it clear that this human newness is not a one-and-done deal; we are “being made new,” a present progressive reality.

So, if one of God’s first and best evangelists was considered foolish, even by some who called themselves Christians, it is no wonder that the twenty-first century world thinks believers are crazy or naïve or deluded. We must become firmly grounded in the wisdom of God so that we can stand against the fiery darts of the accuser when we are called foolish. We must take Paul’s approach: if we look foolish it is because we are fools for Christ’s sake. It would be a good thing if more of us embraced foolishness now and then.

Kingdom Cravings

The longest recorded teaching of Jesus we have, the sermon on the mount, is all about the kingdom of God. Almost every line in that sermon describes the behavior of a person who belongs there. Matthew begins with Jesus’ depiction of the character traits of kingdom citizens, the nine beatitudes. They are called beatitudes because each of them starts with the word μακάριος (makarios), which is most often translated blessed. The Latin word for blessed is beatitudo, hence the beatitudes. What Jesus is saying, then, is that people who display these tendencies will find favor with God.

The core of Jesus’ teaching about kingdom people is found in Matthew 6:33. “But seek first his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” The blessedness here is that the physical necessities of life which Jesus had previously been discussing are promised to those who follow the command. It would seem to be a valuable bit of information to understand the commandment and learn how to obey it.

“Seek first” is the main verb; that is the behavior which identifies a kingdom person. Because Jesus had just been talking about physical necessities, it stands to reason that by “first” He meant before considering one’s physical needs. This idea is supported in the following verse when Jesus says, “Do not be anxious for tomorrow.” If we pray according to Jesus’ prescription, “Give us this day our daily bread,” and if we trust the promise of His provision given to seekers, we should be without anxious thoughts regarding physical needs. A few verses earlier, Jesus had touched the same idea reminding His listeners that if God cared enough to provide for the birds of the sky, He would surely care for His believing children.

The Greek word Matthew uses for seek is ζητέω (zeteo). The original language carries a stronger connotation than the English word seek; it means to strive after or to crave. The object we are commanded to seek is not just to be first; it must be that which inspires a consuming desire to find. It may sound circular to say, but a kingdom person is one who zealously seeks God’s kingdom. It is not a back burner issue; it is a priority.

Now we have arrived at the meat of the command: what is the thing that consumes the kingdom person? Of course, it is the kingdom. What does that mean? Although the Greek word for kingdom (βασιλεία) can refer to a geographical setting, throughout the New Testament, it carries a more basic meaning. A kingdom is essentially the people over whom the king rules. So, the command to seek first the kingdom of God means to be consumed with a desire to be ruled by God. If a kingdom person prays a personalized version of Jesus’ model prayer it sounds like this: Heavenly Father, I want your will to be done in my life as it is in Heaven. Echoing Jesus: not my will but Thine be done.

There is a second part to what the true kingdom person seeks diligently: [the Father’s] righteousness. Righteousness is simply that which is right. To fully understand what that is, one must know the standard of right and wrong being applied. I like the way the Strong’s Concordance puts it: righteousness is, “the way in which man may attain a state approved of God.” To seek righteousness is to strive continually to do only those things which please the Heavenly Father.

It all comes down to this: a person who is seeking God’s kingdom desires earnestly to be ruled by Him and to behave in ways that are in accord with His will. Around this central core, Jesus built numerous examples of what that would look like. A kingdom person will think differently about anger, lust, marriage, swearing, retaliation, giving, praying, fasting, and those things which are truly valued. In short, those who enter the kingdom will look different from those who don’t. It is their actions that prove their position in or out of the kingdom.

I must immediately add that it is not perfection in these things that qualifies one for the kingdom. It is diligently seeking, craving these things that gains entry into the kingdom. Perfection in this life is not within our reach according to the teachings of the New Testament. Even the Apostle Paul, whom many would consider a model saint, admitted that he had not achieved perfection near the end of his life. What he said was that he would, “Press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” It is striving, yearning, aching for the end of each believer’s predestined goal, conformity to Christ’s image, that marks the true kingdom citizen.

Chuck Swindoll was right when he said the Christian life is not difficult; it is impossible – impossible without the Spirit’s help that is. Apart from the Spirit, no one can please God. Jesus gives another clue; He said, “Truly I say to you, whoever does not welcome the kingdom of God like a young child will never enter into it.” Childlike trust is one key. The Psalmist gives another: “See if there is in me the [way of an idol] and lead me in the way everlasting.” Idolatry has always been our greatest temptation. By this I mean the tendency to put something else first before God in our hearts. Seeking first the Father’s kingdom and righteousness corrects that misstep.

There is a catch. One cannot be ruled by or follow the wishes of someone unknown. There is only one way to know God and His will: read His Word. According to the polls, the majority of people calling themselves Christians get into their Bible two or three times a month when they go to church. That does not sound like a craving for God. We should not imagine that wanting to do something (seek God) is the same as craving it. It is obvious that idolatry has crept silently into the church just as it did with the children of Israel. What is the idol – that central thing in the heart – that keeps these people from truly seeking, craving God’s kingdom? What do you crave?

Related Posts: Bringing the Kingdom; Childlike not Childish; Happy Birthday to Me

Making Room for Mystery

In the third chapter of his letter to the Ephesians, Paul writes that he was made a steward of a mystery that no one before had been able to understand. The mystery as he states it in verse six is that “the Gentiles are fellow heirs, and fellow members of the body, and fellow sharers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” Beginning with the call of Abraham, God’s plan of redemption was carried out through Abraham’s descendants who eventually became the nation of Israel. It is important to notice that the continuation of God’s plan as revealed to Abraham was that ultimately “all families of the earth will be blessed in you.”

It seems probable that God had intended Israel to share their lessons about Yahweh’s sovereign rule and His covenant love for His people, but instead of spreading Yahweh’s fame, they abandoned Him and followed other gods. Time after time the prophets admonished wayward Israel for their idolatry, and for a while they would repent and return to the Lord. Ultimately, because of their serial disobedience, God had the northern tribes captured and relocated by Assyria and later the southern tribes were taken captive to Babylon. God told them in advance that they would spend seventy years in exile in Babylon before God would release them to return home.

Just prior to, during, and after the Babylonian exile, the prophets of Yahweh began to tell of a post-exile period when the temple at Jerusalem would be rebuilt, and God would once again be worshipped there. It is in this context that the mystery begins to unfold. Many of the prophets spoke of a servant who would come from the line of David and rule from Jerusalem. That part wasn’t hard for the Jews to imagine as they were fastidious about keeping up with their genealogies, and David was promised a king to sit on the throne forever.

The thing that began to mystify them was the scope of the coming king’s rule. While the coming king would rule “from Jerusalem,” the extent of his reign appears to cover all the nations of the world according to many of the prophecies. This should have made sense given the promise to Abraham that his descendants would eventually bring blessings to all nations. To further confound them, even before they could complete the temple, the people around them began to resist their efforts. They eventually completed the temple, but before long, they were once again trampled by more powerful nations. In the period between Malachi and Matthew, some 400 years, Israel was under some nation’s thumb almost continually.

I have been reading the minor prophets in my through-the-Bible reading program, and I am reminded of the many references to the “Day of the Lord.” The phrase has two distinctly different meanings. On one hand, it refers to that glorious day when God’s Servant rules in righteousness from Jerusalem. Other times, it ominously refers to God coming in judgment either to Israel or the other nations. We know that many of the nations called out for judgment were dealt with in the lifetime of the prophets who declared their doom: Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Edom, Moab, etc. The one judgment that didn’t fall was God’s prediction against post-exile Israel. Babylon exacted God’s judgment of Israel the first time, but the later prophecies foretold another catastrophic destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.

The final cataclysmic end of the nation of Israel and its temple was postponed until “the last days” according to the prophets. It is popular, especially in America, to think of the last days as the time before an expected rapture of the church and a seven-year tribulation which ushers in the millennial kingdom. While that may be a possible future scenario, I find the Scripture clearly proclaiming the last days had come at the culmination of the Messiah’s ministry. In the first gospel sermon, the Apostle Peter asserted that Joel’s prophecy of the last days had come to pass on that day. He was referring to the coming of the Holy Spirit and the initiation of the Church of Christ.

Zechariah, often quoted as an end times prophet, is clearly speaking about physical Israel in most of the book. The prediction details neatly fit what did happen when the Jewish religious leaders rejected their Messiah and had Jesus crucified. The mystery continues to unfold as Zechariah slips into apparently apocalyptic language in the later chapters. Jesus quoted 12:7 when predicting His disciples’ abandonment: “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will scatter.” John uses Zechariah twice in reference to Jesus being pierced at His crucifixion, once in his gospel and again in Revelation. It is worth noting that the passage in Revelation is referring to Jesus coming in judgment.

This aspect of Messiah’s coming in judgment is also present in Malachi. They were anticipating Messiah’s coming as their deliverance, but Yahweh asks, “Who can endure the day of his coming…. For he is like a refiner’s fire.” The prophet Joel and Isaiah both told wayward Israel to wail, for the day of Yahweh is near. It will come like destruction from Shaddai! As already noted, Joel’s prophecy was fulfilled when Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, and no one doubts the messianic allusions of Isaiah. Finally, Malachi ends his prophecy promising that before the “great and awesome Day of the Lord, I will send you Elijah the prophet.” Jesus said that John the Baptist was the promised Elijah.

Another curiosity in Zechariah is Yahweh’s statement that the area of Jerusalem would be “lifted up.” It is at this point that people from many nations will come to “Jerusalem” where “living water” flows forth, and Yahweh will be king of all the earth. That all sounds very much like what John saw in his apocalyptic vision of the heavenly Jerusalem reported in Revelation. Couple this with the statements by Paul and the Hebrew writer that believers in their day “have come” (present perfect tense) to the New Jerusalem. In their minds, the New Jerusalem was present in their day. Knowing this, it is not hard to imagine that Zechariah’s prophecies have already come to pass.

This is the mystery that was not understood until Jesus revealed it to Paul and the other Apostles – and now to us. It has two mysterious aspects. The first is that even Gentiles (all nations) would be coming to the New Jerusalem. The Jews had resisted this idea throughout their history. The second mysterious aspect is the spiritual nature of the New Jerusalem and the Messiah’s reign. Like many people today, the Jews were stuck in temporal, earthly thinking about God’s kingdom. They didn’t understand that God intended to move from a physical Jerusalem and the physical descendants of Abraham to a heavenly Jerusalem and a spiritual people chosen from all nations, tribes, and tongues.

Although I am fairly confident in the truth of my position, I remain open to the possibility that I may be wrong. My confidence is based primarily on my own study of the Scriptures and the fact that it is in harmony with the doctrine of the church throughout history. Only recently (since the nineteenth century) has the idea of Israel’s special place in the end times become popular. That popularity is primarily an American occurrence, whereas most of the present-day church would agree that “Israel” in the New Testament is all faithful through the ages, not just the physical descendants of Abraham.

I like A.W. Tozer’s suggestion that we “make room for mystery.” There will always be some things about God that remain a mystery. When Jesus came preaching that the kingdom of God had come, there were many who were mystified. Jesus explained His use of parables to His disciples saying, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to those people it has not been granted.” A few verses later He continued: “The prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says, ‘You will listen carefully and will never understand, and you will look closely and will never perceive.’ For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it.” Here is the message for us: don’t be like the unbelieving Israelites; make room for mystery but always seek to understand.

Related Posts: Who are the Other Gods? Heaven Can Wait; Isaiah as a Cautionary Tale

Post Script: The mystery that remains for me is whether God will once again deal with physical Israel in a unique way. I don’t think so, but I must admit that the situation in the Mideast today is curiously similar to the time of Israel’s prophets. Christian Zionists and those who teach a premillennial/dispensational eschatology believe God has a separate plan for Israel in the end times. These people believe the “last days” prophecies refer to a time yet to come. They believe Israel will once again be the focal point of God’s judgment on all nations.

They also believe Paul’s analogy of the olive tree teaches that broken branches (meaning unbelieving Israel) get grafted back into God’s tree. However, Paul makes it abundantly clear in Romans that God’s favor was not granted on the basis of genealogy but because of faith. The true root of God’s olive tree is not physical Abraham but faith like Abraham’s. Israel’s faithlessness (rejecting Messiah) caused them to be broken off the tree; if they (Abraham’s descendants) repent and believe in Jesus as their Messiah, they can be grafted back into the tree of faith.

What Happened in The Fall

The first three chapters of Genesis lay the foundation for the rest of the Bible. A proper understanding of the relationship between the Creator and His creation is essential for a proper understanding of all Scripture. That relationship is revealed in Genesis 1-3. The first two chapters describe God’s original intent: humans were to be His agents, His vice-regents on the earth. The world God made was perfectly suited for the people He made. It was also a place where Creator and created could have fellowship with few barriers. Chapter three tells what happened when Adam and Eve disregarded God’s authority and tried to become independent. God granted them their independence, and that destroyed the perfect fellowship they had with Him and the rest of creation as well.

The penalty for human rebellion was immediate expulsion from the Garden of Eden and eventual physical death, but that was not all. They soon learned that the perfection God had created in Eden had been removed from their existence. They quickly discovered that not only had they lost their fellowship with God, their relationship with each other and the rest of creation was also damaged. The loss of Eden literally went deep into their inner selves: the prophet Jeremiah would later say that the human heart became deceitful and disastrous and beyond their own understanding. This wide-ranging brokenness explains most of what is recorded from Genesis four all the way to the book of Revelation.

The Bible would have been a very sad tale if not for one thing: God did not give up on His creation. God so loved the world, John 3:16 tells us, that He made a way for His broken people to regain the lost relationship they had forfeited. The way God chose to bring about the reconciliation can be a bit baffling if you don’t understand God’s character. Our human heart asks why God couldn’t just forgive the transgression and restore fellowship if He truly loved the world. That could not happen because even though God is love personified, He is also holy and just. His holiness excludes anything unholy from His presence; His justice demands payment for indiscretion.

God could have simply wiped humans from the face of the earth and started over; He came close in Noah’s time, allowing only eight people to be saved. But the Bible teaches that God had a plan for His creation – a plan He formulated even before He made the earth. This is part of the mystery of the ages Paul refers to in Ephesians. It appears that God’s intention when He created the earth was to demonstrate His love, not just to humans but to all His created beings on earth and in heaven. To satisfy His justice and prove His love, He sacrificed the dearest thing any human can imagine: His Son.

About two thirds of the Bible, what we call the Old Testament, lays the groundwork for God’s plan to redeem His chosen ones. The children of Adam and later, more specifically, the children of Israel were taught how to relate to a holy God – a God who could not tolerate unholiness of any kind. The law given through Moses, and the sacrificial system it included were meant to demonstrate in a visceral way that departure from God’s rules brought costly penalties. All the bloody sacrifices required under the law of Moses prefigured a once-for-all sacrifice that would finally redeem God’s fallen world.

Just as the Mosaic sacrifices had to be perfectly formed, without spot or blemish, God’s ultimate sacrifice would also have to be perfect. The only way that could be accomplished was to bring a perfect human into being who could pay the redemption price on behalf of His peers. Anyone born of Adam inherently had the stain of Adam’s transgression and was therefore not qualified to serve as a perfect sacrifice. For that reason, God used a virgin, Mary, to miraculously bring a human to earth who was not a child of Adam but a child of God Himself. This enabled the Son to do what no other human could do: live a life completely without sin – spotless, without blemish – a perfect human.

On the cross of Calvary, Jesus, the Messiah promised by the prophets, bore all the sin of all the sons of Adam past, present, and future. When He died, Jesus paid the price of redemption for all those sins. Paul calls Jesus the second Adam because whereas Adam failed to be obedient and lost Eden, Jesus was perfectly obedient and regained the lost Paradise. Paul refers to everyone born in Adam as dead men walking because the death penalty given to Adam was passed on to his descendants. The death he is referring to is more than physical death; it is more importantly that broken, dead, fellowship with God and the rest of creation. To escape from that death, a person must resign their position in Adam and realign with a position in Christ.

That is what the Bible asks for when it requires belief in Christ for salvation. The Greek word for belief can also be translated trust. When we trust Jesus, we are putting our trust in Him to deliver us from the death we inherited from Adam. The “everlasting life” promised to believers is the life Adam forfeited when he rebelled against God. When the last of God’s chosen people come to faith in Christ, God will finish His redemptive work, and the perfect world Adam left behind will be recreated as the “new earth” promised in Revelation. After the final judgment of all people, the faithful from all ages will enjoy the restored fellowship Adam lost in the Fall. Earth will once again be God’s Garden, and believers will spend eternity in His presence there.

When you look at salvation this way, it becomes clear why it is not one’s behavior that determines their destiny; it is all about belief/trust in Christ. There are many “good” people who will not find favor with God because they have rejected the only One who can deliver them from death, regardless of whatever good they might do. The Scripture plainly asserts that no one can be good enough to merit God’s favor. This is why salvation is called a gift of God’s unmerited favor or grace. Having said that, I must add that true belief in Christ will spark a desire to please Him which will lead to obedience to His commands. This is why James could say that a believer’s works show their faith, and faith without works is dead.

 Millions of people, many of them calling themselves Christians, believe that their good deeds will earn God’s favor. That is not what the Bible teaches. The entirety of Scripture, cover to cover details God’s plan to bring His chosen people back into fellowship with Him – the fellowship He desired in the Garden of Eden. This is why true Christianity is not about religion: rites, rituals, and rules. True Christianity is about relationship – relationship with the Sovereign Creator God. The worst result of the Fall is the loss of that relationship. The good news (aka the gospel) is that restoration of that relationship is available through Jesus Christ. And the result of the relationship with Christ is the opportunity to spend eternity in God’s presence like He intended in the Garden.

Related Posts: The Knowledge of Good and Evil; Second Exodus; Necessary Obedience

Selling Heaven on Earth

At the risk of beating a dead horse and losing my readers, I am going to take one more stab at explaining what I believe the Bible says about Heaven. Several years ago, I shared my surprise with my readers that Heaven is nowhere clearly portrayed as the place believers go when they die. (See Why Heaven Matters) The idea was introduced to me by N.T. Wright, a respected Bible scholar, in his book, Surprised By Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church. His premise is based on a broad view of God’s entire plan for His people from Genesis to Revelation. Wright proposes that God never intended to bring His people to Heaven when they die; rather, His plan is to redeem all creation and repopulate it with all those who choose to trust Him during their life on earth. God wants to restore Eden.

Wright supports this idea by suggesting that our present concept of Heaven as a place to go when we die arose during medieval times. This picture has endured, and the real meaning of the word heaven has been lost to most Christians. Jesus and His disciples understood the kingdom of heaven He proclaimed to be an aspect of rulership or dominion, not a specific place. This might be most clearly revealed in Jesus’ statement, “The kingdom of God is within you.” (KJV). He used “kingdom of heaven” and “kingdom of God” interchangeably. God rules heaven (and earth), so heaven is where God rules.

We don’t get much help from the Old Testament defining heaven. The ancients imagined a three-tiered existence. The first “heaven” was what we might call the atmosphere. The second was outer space. The third heaven was the dwelling place of God; it surrounded and encapsulated all creation. Most often, the OT saints spoke of Sheol as the place of the dead. It sometimes appears as the grave itself and other times as the abode of the spirits of those who had passed on. Occasionally, people spoke of being raised from Sheol at some point, but their final destination was not thought of as heaven.

About three hundred years before Christ, the Jews began to mix ideas from their ancestor’s time in Babylon and the Greek philosophers’ teachings about the afterlife. Putting Zoroaster and Aristotle together, they began to imagine an afterlife in an otherworldly place ruled by Yahweh God. By the time Jesus came to earth, the majority party of the Pharisees were convinced that the righteous would be welcomed by God into His dwelling place after their resurrection from the dead. (The Sadducees didn’t believe in a resurrection after death.)

Jesus played into this thinking with many of His parables and teachings. He often spoke of a king coming from a far country to reward His servants. People were praised for setting aside wealth for a future kingdom. He talked about the bosom of Abraham as an afterlife abode. These were familiar concepts He used to make His point. When He told His disciples He was leaving, He couched His explanation in terms they would understand: “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places; but if not, I would have told you, because I am going away to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, so that where I am, you may be also. And you know the way where I am going.”

Although Jesus indicated that He would be going elsewhere, He did not specifically say heaven. The Greek in verse two could be translated (loosely), “There is plenty of room for everyone where my Father is.” In verse four He added, “And you know the way.” They did know the way; they just hadn’t figured out what it meant that He was the Way, the Truth, and the Life as He said in His answer to Thomas’ next question in verse six. He meant that the way to have eternal life is to be found in Jesus. It’s not about looking for an escape from Earth and its troubles: it’s about being in Christ. Wherever Jesus Christ is, it is “heaven.”

In the “Lord’s Prayer,” Jesus recommended praying that the Heavenly Father’s will be done, “on earth as it is in heaven.” Once God’s will is perfectly done on earth, it will be “heaven.” I believe as N.T. Wright suggested that it is God’s will that His original plan in Eden be reinstated. The prophetic promise of a “new earth” found in Revelation uses a word for “new” that is specific. It means an earth of a new kind, not new as in later in time. The “newness” of the new earth is that it is a place where righteousness dwells. Because only those who are in Christ can dwell there, it will be a place of righteousness. That would be “heavenly.”

It is hard for me to stop thinking of “heaven” as a place of future hope. But I am convinced it is not a “place” with golden streets and pearly gates. Those are metaphors God used to speak into the mindset of the people at that time. Golden streets and pearly gates just sound weird to me. However, a recreated Earth where everything works as God intended sounds wonderful to me. I plan to keep thinking of a “heavenly place” as my eternal dwelling, but when I say heavenly, I mean Earth perfected with all the graces of Heaven. God’s graces. Heaven on Earth!

If you are still reading, I will now explain why I am pounding this issue. I think that there is an opportunity for evangelism in refining our explanation of what happens after you die. I have heard many Christians say they are unsure how they feel about “heaven” if it means floating on a cloud playing a harp for eternity. How do you make that attractive to an unbeliever? The same goes for streets of gold and pearly gates. Can you honestly sell streets paved in transparent gold (?) and city gates made of one gigantic pearl? (Imagine the size of the oyster !?!) However, if in fact, “heaven” is a recreated Earth where everything works like it was intended in the beginning (Genesis 1-2), the afterlife becomes very attractive.

God created humans to live on His Earth, not in His Heaven. (Read Genesis 1-2) I believe that after the resurrection and judgement, Heaven and Earth will be reunited. That is what God intended in the first place. Adam screwed that up; Jesus fixed it. That is our message. Life on earth kinda sucks now, but if you get on Jesus’ side, you get help for the present and hope for the future. That is a message we can sell.

Related Posts: Why Heaven Matters; Is Heaven a Wonderful Place? Heaven is NOT my Eternal Home