Spiritcode

From the Cross to the Grave

Pontius Pilate asked the Centurion to command an escort of guards around Jesus to take him to Calvary, or Golgotha, which means The place of the Skull. One of the Centurion's men put the beam on Jesus' bleeding shoulder as they left the yard and went into the crowded street. The already large crowd continued to grow, some of them followers and friends, others bitter enemies, and yet others who were just confused and angry. Jesus staggered and buckled under the weight of the beam but he continued to drag it behind him. It was the custom to write a description of the crime committed on a clay plate and fix it to the top of the cross. Pontius Pilate had written an inscription that read, “THE KING OF THE JEWS”
An angry voice called out above the crowd “Who wrote that stupid inscription?” 
One of the temple priests shouted back “It should say ‘He said he was king of the Jews’”
Pilate stepped forward  “I wrote that inscription and it stays  as  it  is,”.

A few paces further on Jesus staggered again but this time fell headlong to the ground. Some women rushed forward to help him and the Centurion recognized Mary, as she tried to reach out and help her son and he was touched with compassion for her. He could see blood flowing freely from Jesus now and he knew that he had to keep him on his feet. He must not let Jesus die here on the street. A burly lumbering man who, by the look of his clothing was visiting from some other region, kept close by Jesus as he stumbled forward, and the man balked now and again, as if to reach out and grasp hold of the beam, only to pull back. The Centurion called out to the man.
“You, help him. He is too weak to carry that on his own.”
The man from Cyrene leapt forward and took the beam. The peace that surged through his heart overcame the strain of the heavy burden, as he strode on into endless time. The trek to Calvary, with its frequent stops took just under an hour from the time the Centurion picked Jesus up in the yard. The process of crucifixion had begun, but it would take many more hours on Calvary for Jesus to die.

John saw Mary walking falteringly up an incline with her companions and he went over and helped her. She saw him coming, and turning, she reached her hand out for him to help her up the slope. Mary asked John to stay close by her, and he assured her that he would. 
John didn’t know where the others were - he just knew that they were hanging back from the crowd a little, and like them he did not comprehend the fulness of what Jesus actually wanted to achieve - Their beloved leader whom they didn’t fully know how to follow.

As John and Mary reached the flat terrain at the top of Calvary they could hear the dull clink of hammers beating against metal, bone, and timber, mingled with the muffled sound of pain. Two other criminals were already hanging on crosses either side of the hole where Jesus pole was to be fixed, but these two men were tied to their crosses, not nailed. Jesus was finally hoisted up and then the pole was crudely dumped into the hole prepared for it. Some time was spent securing its placement so that it stood erect and stable in the rocky ground. A range of utterances rushed from the mouths of people standing watching when the cross fell into place and when the nails tugged on the body they were pinned into. Some of the sounds were stifled cries of shock and dismay while others were more like startled yells of alarm. But overriding these noises was the swelling chant of taunts and slogans coming from the crowd.
Then the priests and the leaders of the Jews joined in the chant. “You were pretty good at saving others, but you can’t even save yourself.  If you are the Promised One, our Messiah, then come on down from that cross and prove it to us. Weren’t you going to pull down our temple and rebuild it again in three days? Well why not get yourself down from that cross?”

John winced when he heard Jesus splutter as a soldier tried to push a sponge of sour wine and myrrh into Jesus' mouth. Jesus turned his face aside and refused the swab. Centurion ordered the soldier away and the man joined the other soldiers who were throwing dice to see who was going to keep Jesus’ robe. Dust was spitting itself into peoples' faces on this strangest of days and gusts of wind blew as storm clouds raced faster than usual across the sky, causing a flickering of sunshine and deep shadow. As Jesus hung there the criminals beside him were weakening, groaning in their pain, when one of them turned to Jesus. He had earlier on joined the choir of obscenity, picking up the ugly chant with gusto. He now wanted to have his last few words of bravado heard in this dark prison of life and death he had made for himself.
“They're telling you to get yourself down, but how about us? That would be a real miracle, even I would believe you.” He was delighted with the impression this made on the crowd, as they clapped and cheered him, but the man on the other side shouted at him angrily.”
“Are you mad? Don't you even fear God? Don't you know who this is? We deserve to be here but he doesn’t. He has never done a wrong thing.” He then turned to Jesus and said.
“Lord, will you remember me when you are in your mighty kingdom?” Jesus turned his head and looked at him with love and said,
“Today you are coming home with me to Paradise.

John put his arm around Mary's shoulders as she looked on, with tears rolling down her cheeks and her countenance numbed from all expression. John tried to shield Mary from watching but she pulled away from him. She remembered tending his little body when he was a baby, that life that was part of her life. It was then that Jesus looked down at his mother standing next to John. He spoke to her through parched lips.
“Mother let him be your son.” His head then turned towards John.  Mary looked at John and clung on to his arm.
“Son let her be your mother.”
John stood with her and watched her son's life draining from him. As they stood shielding their faces from the biting dust that came in bursts, and their eyes from the intermittent dazzle of the sun, they were astonished to see the sun dimmed and the dazzle become a weak gleam. High noon surrendered to a deep darkness which remained for three full hours. Darkness took over that day, in those last hours and put a stop to some things. Shouts of bravado that just moments ago would have roused bold echoes now hung hollow in the still air, and those mockers that had stood close to the action at the foot of the cross now slid back into the crowd.

Lucifer was watching from the headquarters of darkness above, waiting impatiently to hurl darkness at the one who was the sum of all goodness and light upon the earth. His darkness would have to wait its turn in the gloom for three more hours. Even the carrion crows and the ravens hung in the air queuing up to eat, because it was the tradition to leave the bodies hanging on the crosses to rot. Lucifer was exhilarated with the absolute certainty of this impending triumph, and he desperately wanted to close this chapter, shut the book and throw it onto the vast heap of his destruction. His plan was to attack the mind of Jesus, that place in all of humanity which he had chosen as his battleground. He would attempt to wrench all hope from his heart and plunge him into despair, where he assumed that Jesus would have no way back into his hope or his faith, let alone his love.

There were Angels suspended within this pall of sadness that shrouded the desolation below as Heaven waited in eternity and three hours of darkness passed on earth.

Then Lucifer shot himself like a dart into the one that hung between two criminals on a lonely plateau of the place of the Skull. The gigantic spirit of Jesus absorbed the full impact of Satan as all hell's hateful fury hit him, and as every vile thing ever done by countless millions of crippled hearts down through the ages and for the ages to come assailed his being. Thunder cracked and the earth began to shake. The magnitude of this kind of collision, the sum of all sin hitting the sum of all innocence, shakes all created things.. 
A swirling sea of fear clawed at him and sought to pull him under but Jesus hoisted his faith above the fear with absolute trust in his Father's love. His great spirit swallowed every vile accusation that Satan hurled at him, and he took them all into himself and locked them safely within his vault of perfect love. He owned it all. He had become the reservoir of all evil in one moment of time, yet he was completely innocent of any one wrong deed. So he rallied his strength once more, but another missile of horror careened into him more powerfully and more deadly than anything before, sweeping over him and submerging him into an impotence and a canceling of all hope. It was black and fathomless, nothingness. It was like annihilation. This was the cup that he told Father he would accept, but he did not know it would be like this. He called out to Father;
“Father, Father, why have you forsaken me?”
The source of this horrific thought was not Father God, but darkness had assailed the human heart of Jesus, the Son of Man, of the lineage of David, and in an instant he knew the answer to his question. He had not been forsaken by his Father, but in his humanity he had experienced forsakenness for a moment, so that no living soul from this time on would ever have to feel forsaken by God again because of their human weakness. He was actually living out the prophetic fulfilment of the first verse of Psalm 22 spoken by David. 
From this first verse and through many of the next nineteen verses David prophesied the agony of Jesus as Son of Man upon the cross, with such utterances as;
7. All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
“He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”
Yet you are he who took me from the womb, you made me trust you at my mother's breasts.
On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother's womb you have been my God.
Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help. They open wide their mouths at me,
like a ravening and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.
For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet—
I can count all my bones—
they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots…

And then we see the within the agony of the Son of Man the resurgent faith of the Son of God declaring in the following verses;
19. But you, O LORD, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid!... Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!
I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! For he has not despised or forsaken the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him. 
As he hung there he embraced the tragic weakness of humanity and touched the feelings of forsakenness for every human soul throughout all ages. The vast bank of love that filled heaven filled his heart and went out to a beloved humanity. He looked at the mocking faces standing round the cross and he loved them. He sent his voice into a waiting heaven and cried out.
“Father forgive them – they don’t know what they are doing.”
He had done it. It was finished. The Plan OF SALVATION could now be put into effect.

Jesus had something more to say but his throat felt parched and he wanted to speak with strength.
“I'm thirsty,” he croaked out.
The Centurion, who was ever there on duty, called the soldier over who had shoved the sponge in Jesus' face earlier.
“Give him the wine sponge” he ordered.
The soldier jumped to the command and put the sponge up on a pole to Jesus, who could now say loudly and clearly what had to be said in his last moments.
“Father into your hands I now offer my Spirit.”
Then in one last gasp he shouted loudly for all about him to hear. “It is finished!”
Then he died. And he and we were placed securely in The Father's loving hands.

Who brought about the death of Jesus? Was it Jesus, His Father, The Jews, The Romans, our sin? All of these played very significant parts, and there are Scriptures for each of their roles. But it was finally Jesus;

John 10:15… and I lay down My life for the sheep… 17. Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This command I have received from My Father.”
John 12:23 But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.

At the moment of his death the cosmos convulsed. An earthquake tore a searing gash into the mountainside and people were toppled off their feet. Rocks split apart and the graves and tombs on a nearby hill cracked open. People ran in fear from the place, but they did not know where to go. At that moment there were priests in the temple about to sacrifice the Passover lamb. At the very moment that the knife pierced the sacrificial animal the priests were thrown off their feet by the earthquake. The temple shook as huge stones fell from the parapets and the great veil in the temple proper, which separated the place of God’s presence from the rest of the temple was lightning torn from top to bottom. The priests fled in panic as tempest swirled through the city.

Lucifer’s dark mind was being assaulted by a force he had not felt before. It was a desperate feeling of failure and futility. What was going wrong? Jesus was dying with a magnificent hope, not a dark and dreadful despair. The offering of Jesus’ spirit to Father God had released a tangible power into the universe. Lucifer turned to the three dark archons who always accompanied him and shouted. “Let's get out of here, something’s wrong.” He tried to flee back into the darkness but a huge bolt of lightning from the throne room gathered him up and catapulted him downwards. He was traveling face down at a furious speed, and for a split second he thought he saw a burning lake beneath him. It struck him with horror, and he believed he must have imagined it. He was turned on his back and drawn up with the same speed into the darkness above, and then turned back onto his face as he found himself again being plummeted downwards.

The carrion crows were in for a disappointment that day. They were not to know that the next day was the Sabbath, and that it was against temple law for dead bodies to be left hanging on a holy day, so all the criminals had to be dead before sundown and taken off their crosses. The two criminals who were tied to their crosses were still a long way from death so Centurion had his men break their legs that they would die quickly. The Centurion then had the task of ascertaining if Jesus was indeed dead. He called over one of his guards.
“Give me a lance,” he commanded.
He took the shaft and instructed the guard on how to plunge it into Jesus body, under his heart, where the pericardial sac would have amassed his body fluids if he had expired. Water gushed out and the Centurion knew the day's work was done. He knew that this man was indeed the Son of God.

Pilate had received a report that Jesus was dead but he wanted to confirm the certainty of this from the Centurion whom he knew was there at the time.  This was because Pilate had been told that someone from Arimathea, a man called Joseph, was making arrangements for the burial. The Centurion confirmed all this and that also this Joseph was a very wealthy man and wanted Jesus buried in his own tomb that had just been hewn out in a prestigious place in Jerusalem, practically in the temple itself. He told Pilate that some women followers had a shroud prepared and anointing oils and spices.

Pilate asked if Jesus had to be clubbed to death, and the Centurion said no, and explained that they we had to club the others, the ones who were tied, but not Jesus who was nailed, and that it was hardly surprising after the beating he was given. He told Pilate that Jesus died without them breaking one bone of his body.
(Psalm 3:20 He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.)
Early the next day Pontius Pilate received a visit from the leaders of the temple priests and lawgivers who were anxious that the followers of Jesus might conspire to take his body from the tomb and try to fabricate a story that he had been resurrected, because they had heard that he had said he would come back to life after three days. They insisted that guards be placed at the tomb to prevent this from happening. Pilate advised them to appoint their own temple guards at the tomb, and they agreed to this.

So now we go from the cross to the grave.

The Prince of Darkness now realized that this man’s body, which had just been destroyed on Calvary had contained no fault or sin, and therefore could no longer be kept captive in this lower world. Jesus again recalled what had been written in the Psalms. You will not let my soul rest in the grave, you will not let your Holy One see destruction. (Psalm 16:10)

As Jesus hung on the cross and offered his spirit to his Father he felt his spirit being lifted up above his body. From there he saw the scene on Calvary and all the people standing around, still looking at his dead body hanging on the cross, and he saw the Centurion call for the lance. He also saw the bolt of lightning and Lucifer being caught in it and hurled downwards. He then began to travel downwards himself, and knew he was on a mission of great purpose. Below him was a place called Paradise, and next to Paradise was a place called Hades (Luke 16:19). 

Jesus descended to these places. Paradise was where there were millions of souls who had been waiting for him from the beginning of time. These had lived their lives on earth in hope, many of them guided by the Commandments through Moses, but many simply by a good conscience. They were locked away from eternity till eternity would now come to get them. He would also visit Hades, the grave, the prison of lost hope.

Lucifer had thought that all he had to do was get Jesus killed as a human being and Jesus would then be forever locked away from human life and from God life. When darkness entered our world at the fall of man human beings began to live spiritually separated in their minds from the Life of God (Ephesians 4:17). So Lucifer had laid claim to the ownership of physical death and spiritual separation of every human being. From that time of separation the Prince of darkness, the Prince of the power of the air, the god of this world, held sway over the minds of men (Ephesians 2:2). But death and spiritual separation could not demand payment for something it did not own. It did not own the perfection of the sinless life of the very virtue of God resident in Jesus’ body. The moment Jesus died the cosmic law of sin and death was being overturned to make way for a new cosmic law to soon come into effect, The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. This would be the new Law of Life for humanity, joined as one Spirit to God’s Spirit, a New Creation life for a people who would live by faith and not by sight, not in the false self with its mindset of separation but living as the True Self in the Spirit, with a conscious mindset of Oneness with Jesus, through the Holy Spirit. To be continued…

 

Mystery of suffering

Paul’s mission in life started as a religious mission for the Jewish religion and ended up becoming a spiritual mission for the whole of humanity. As Saul the Jewish Pharisee his mission was one of persecuting Christians wherever he could find them. 
We see the record of the transformation of the religious mission of Saul into the spiritual mission of Paul in the Book of Acts. It is the account of him going to Damascus one day to get Christians and to haul them back to Jerusalem for imprisonment and punishment and death, when he gets struck down by a blinding flash of light out of the sky.
Act 9: 4 When Saul fell to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And Paul said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting (to cause suffering and even death).
6. Astonished and shaken up by what had happened to him he said ‘Lord what do you want me to do?’ The Lord said ‘Get up and go into the city and I will tell you what you have to do.’
7. The men who had been travelling with him stood by, speechless, because they heard a voice but did not see anyone.
8. Saul then picked himself up off the ground and when he opened his eyes he found he couldn’t see a thing, so his companions had to lead him by the hand into Damascus.
9. He stayed blind for three days, and neither ate nor drank anything the whole time.10. The Lord then spoke to a man called Ananias in a vision, and said ‘Ananias’, and he answered ‘ I am here Lord’.
11. The Lord said ‘Get up and go to Straight Street, to the house of Judas, and ask for a man called Saul, whom you will find praying.
12. Saul has seen you in a vision, coming in to lay hands on him, so that he might get his sight back again.’
13. Ananias answered,’ Lord I have heard about this man from many people, and how much evil and destruction he has brought upon the Christians in Jerusalem.
14. And he has obtained authority here in Damascus from the chief priests to imprison anyone who calls upon your name.
15. The Lord answered him ‘So do now what I have told you, because he is a chosen vessel of mine, to bear my name before the nations, and before kings, and the children of Israel.
16. I want to show him how many things he must suffer for my name’s sake.
17. Ananias did as he was told and went into the house and laid hands upon Saul and said ‘ Brother Saul the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on your journey here has sent me to you for you to receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit
18. Straightaway it was as though scales fell from his eyes and he could see. He stood up and became baptized.

Jesus had just asked Paul ‘Why are you causing me suffering?’
Saul did not realise it at the time, but Jesus was telling him that by his persecuting the Christians and causing them such suffering, he was actually causing Jesus to feel the same suffering that they were going through. Whatever feelings of sadness or grief that they went through, he did too, and whatever feelings of joy and peace and love and compassion that Jesus felt, they could touch those feelings too, deep within their hearts, spirit to Spirit. 
Saul did not yet know or understand this profound and beautiful mystery so Paul’s first question to Jesus was ‘Who are you Lord?’ 

He then asked Jesus ‘What do you want me to do?’
We read that Paul was given an interesting job description by Ananias – suffering – and to bear the name of Jesus before nations and Kings and the Children of Israel, for their transformation. For the rest of his life Paul would live a journey of the unfolding revelation of who this man was, who as God, felt the deep inner sufferings of all those who called him by his name. 

This was to become the purpose and reason for living for Paul, that he might know him, this man Jesus, and to know that this man had suffered for him, and that this man knew him as he truly was, in his deepest feelings.  Paul would come to know that this was to become a two-way thing, this fellowship of one another’s sufferings and feelings, both sad and glad, that this bond of loving friendship would grow and last forever, that this was the reason for the creation of and the ongoing existence of all of humanity from, and for, all time. 
Paul accepted this invitation of a life of shared suffering. Paul shares in his epistles the  many things he suffered outwardly in his body in his ministry to the nations, to kings and to Israel, and at a deeper level he shares the things he suffered inwardly. He tells us he was afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed, but not driven to despair, persecuted, but not forsaken (2Corinthians 4:8). In each of these sufferings, the affliction, the perplexity and the persecution he states that he was able to transcend these things. 
How was this? 
It was because he had a Friend with him, the man Jesus Christ, who shared every feeling of vulnerability with him and gave him not only comfort and solidarity, but who, because of their shared life of the Holy Spirit within, Paul received Divine strength. 
This was the way Paul came to have his question answered of ‘who are you Lord’ and this understanding of ‘who are you Lord’ gives every one of us the answers to all the questions that can be asked.

The first question that God asked anyone in the Bible was ‘Where are you Adam?’
This was because Adam and Eve had listened to the serpent by disobeying God’s commandment about eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil they went their own way into darkness and independence and they felt shame and guilt and separation from God. They were told by darkness  ‘don’t trust God to deal out what is good for you, instead work out what you want for yourselves that is good for you – more power and freedom and independence, fame and glory, all by yourselves because you really don’t need God any more.

God pursued them into their dark hiding from him and from themselves and said ‘Where are you Adam? Where are you Eve? Where are my friends that used to want to walk with me every day?’ 
God is still looking for that friendship.
God knows where to find us now – He finds us in the spirit to spirit, heart to heart, mind to mind, will with will, friendship with Jesus.
They ate from the wrong tree. They had sinned, ‘missed the mark’ (Hamartia – sin). Humanity missed the mark then and still does. Missing the mark was walking away from a trusting and loving friendship with God. The Bible is clear that we all would have done that same thing.
but one day the right tree would be offered to us all freely – Jesus, the Tree of Life. 
Then we would be able to hit the mark, not just the recovering of the walking in the garden like Adam and Eve, but being one with God in Christ, in a perfect friendship. That is the mark, the target, the goal. It always was and always will be. When we miss that mark we bring upon ourselves all of the unnecessary hurt and pain and suffering in this world of ours.

Through Jesus, that tree of life, there would come a New Covenant of grace and mercy and forgiveness. The New Covenant shows us how we can come to know God and have that loving trusting friendship with him forever.
Hebrews 8:10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts,
(This is the heart to heart, mind to mind, will with will, understanding of the core inner values for loving relationships between us and God, and us and one another, like not stealing from one another, or cheating, lying, violence and anger, unfaithfulness and, coveting etc. These things no longer separate us from God but through the Holy Spirit, are transformed into virtues as we trustingly share with him our failures and weaknesses in these areas and know we have forgiveness and mercy – a taker becomes a giver and unfaithful becomes faithful. … 
they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.
For I will be merciful toward their unrighteousness (human failings),
and I will remember their sins no more.” 
All of the blessings of the new Covenant come when we aim in the right direction for the right target (and hit the mark).

When Paul wrote to his favorite church, the Philippians, he addressed them as ‘My brothers and sisters whom I love and long for, my joy and crown…’who shared in my  
needs and my distress above all other churches’ (Phil 4:1,14). Paul’s feelings of love and compassion for these people who were dear to him are on display here, and so is his open hearted vulnerability as he acknowledges their compassion for him in his distress and his needs. This is where lives can touch one another, even from a distance. He goes on to share with them this same heart for togetherness in his quest for knowing Christ and sharing in the fellowship of his sufferings.
Philippians 3:10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship (koinonia – partnership, sharing, communion) of His sufferings (pathema, pathos- the deepest feelings, passions of the human heart), becoming like him in the form and pattern of His death and dying, if by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

When Paul said ‘That I might know him, and the fellowship of his suffering, he was not just stoically accepting or looking for suffering, he understood that he was touching the feelings and emotions, of Jesus as both God and as a human being, and that is how he got to know God. Paul continually experienced The Holy Spirit working deeply with his spirit in this mutual understanding or compassion. The word compassion simply means ‘common passions’ or shared feelings and sufferings.

And just like Paul, we get to realize that God is deeply compassionate and profoundly tender and infinitely patient and that he waits for us to bring our feelings to him and to share them with him and to realize that he has felt them himself and understands them. And in the meantime he never stops unfolding to us who he is. We can then find grace to understand more clearly the sufferings of others, to bring the compassion and comfort that brings healing to our souls. That kind of healing grace and love puts God on display in the sharing of our lives together.

When Paul saw that that this bond of loving friendship would grow and last forever, and that this was the reason for the creation of and the ongoing existence of all of humanity from before all time and for all time, he determined to make this his goal in life. As Paul hit the mark in this way he was continually amazed at what God did to display his supernatural power towards him and through him. He learned to accept the sufferings of his outward life, giving thanks in all things as he became continually renewed in his inner life of faith and hope and love. This is the life to which we too are invited to share.
This is hitting the mark, and it is with the assurance that we are not alone. We have Jesus with us and we have one another, and for this we give thanks. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mystery of One in Christ

About 2000 years before Jesus was born God took Abraham and Sarah and chose them to be the parents of a Nation and a culture that he would set aside to reveal himself to, and for about 1500 of those 2000 years that Nation would be trained up in the Jewish religion.
God invested his love and wisdom and truth and power and discipline into them. It was as if a nation were kidnapped and put in custody for 2000 years as a test case for humanity under the caring government of a true and just God.

They represented, in their good and bad responses and reactions to God’s investment in them, how the rest of humanity in its entirety would respond and react to a God who would claim them all in due time by joining his life to ours in the person of Jesus Christ, the Jewish Messiah. He wants to reveal himself to all of us and invest his love and wisdom and truth and power and Fatherly discipline in all of us. Humanity in total has always been the object of God’s passionate love, and when the Jewish Christ/Messiah was born into the earth he brought the fulness of God into all of humanity, not just from that time and into the future, but also redemptively all the way back to Adam and Eve and Noah and Abraham. After Jesus died on the cross he took the keys of hell and death in his resurrection and opened the gates of Heaven for all those people that existed before Christ’s death. 
The Scriptures are clear; We have always been in his sights, but unfortunately he is not always in ours.
The apostle Paul grew up in the Jewish religion as a true authority in the Way of the Jewish faith. He was then taken by Christ to become the true authority to the rest of humanity in the new Way of the mystery of Christ/Messiah. 

Paul understood the profound differences between us all and yet the stark sameness of us all. He speaks to us about himself, who once thought as a child and then grew up to think as one who has come of age. As a very small child we all have the potential to become formed into whatever national and cultural and religious traditions and temperamental thinking it is that grows us. 

Is it any wonder that as adults we all contend with each other about what is right and wrong concerning just about any aspect of our adult perceptions of spiritual reality and truth?
This is why Paul wrote to the Church in Rome which had Christians from every national and cultural and religious persuasion on earth and was able to say;

Romans 14:1 Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don't see things the way you do. And don't jump all over them every time they do or say something you don't agree with—even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department. Remember, they have their own history to deal with. Treat them gently.

Let us look at Paul’s journey of experiencing the almost humanly impossible pathway of getting everyone to agree with his understanding of the mystery of being One in Christ. After He had dramatically succeeded in converting non-Jews from all over Asia Minor and Greece into the mystery of Christ in us and us in him, through the Gospel, he determines to go to Jerusalem to persuade the Jews to believe in his revelation of God through Jesus Christ their Messiah.

 

ACTS CHAPTER 21 – THE ACCOUNT OF LUKE, THE FELLOW TRAVELLER OF PAUL 
1.And so, after the tearful good-byes of the Ephesians, we were on a ship and on our way. 
3. Cyprus came into view on our left but was soon out of sight as our ship kept on course for Syria, and eventually docked in the port of Tyre, to unload its cargo there. 4 After we located the Christian disciples there, we stayed with them for seven days. They repeatedly told Paul through the Spirit not to set foot in Jerusalem, 
10 and after we had been there for a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 
11 He came to us, took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it, and said, The Holy Spirit says this: This is the way the Jews in Jerusalem will tie up the man whose belt this is, and will hand him over to the Romans and the Greeks.  
12 When we heard this, both we and the local people begged him not to go up to Jerusalem. 14 But because he could not be persuaded, we said no more, except, The Lord’s will be done.
17 When we arrived in Jerusalem, our Christian brothers welcomed us gladly. 
18 The next day Paul went in with us to see James, and all the apostles were there. 
19 When Paul had greeted them, he began to explain in detail what God had done among the non-Jews through his ministry. 
20 When they heard this, they praised God, then straightaway said to him, but do you see how many thousands of Jews there are who have believed, and are still all ardent observers of the law?
21 They have been informed about you- that you teach all the Jews now living among the Gentiles to abandon Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or to live according to our customs. 
(They then proceeded to pressure Paul to act like a good Jew and Paul understood this, as he later explains in 1 Corinthians 9:19…I became as a Jew under the Law to the Jews and a Gentile without the Law to the non-Jews not under the Law in order that I may win them to Christ I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some) – Then they speak sternly to Paul …
23 So do what we tell you: We have four men here who have taken a religious vow; 
24 take them and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses for them to have all your heads shaved. Then everyone will know there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself live in conformity with the law. 
27 When the seven days were almost over, some visiting Jews from the province of Asia who had seen him in the temple area stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, 
28 shouting, Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people, our Jewish law, and this holy temple! Furthermore he has brought Greeks into the inner courts of the temple and made this holy place ritually unclean!
31 Violence broke out and while they were attempting to kill him, a report was sent up to the commanding Roman officer of the garrison that all Jerusalem was in uproar and confusion. 
32 The commanding officer immediately took soldiers and centurions and ran down to the crowd and rescued Paul.
37 As Paul was being bundled by the soldiers into the barracks, he said in Greek to the commanding officer, May I have a word with you? The officer replied, Do you know Greek? 
38 Then you’re not that Egyptian who started a rebellion and led the four thousand men of the Assassins into the wilderness some time ago? 
39 Paul answered, no, I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of an important city. Please allow me to speak to the Jewish people. 
40 When the commanding officer had given him permission, Paul went and stood on the steps and gestured to the people with his hand. They had become silent, and when he addressed them in Hebrew, they kept all the more silent.

CHAPTER 22
1. My Brothers, listen to my defence that I now make to you.  
3. I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated with strictness under your teacher Gamaliel according to the law of our ancestors, and was zealous for God just as all of you are today. 
4. I persecuted this Way of Christ/Messiah even to the point of death, tying up both men and women and putting them in prison, 5 as both the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me because I received from them letters to the officials in Damascus, to bring Christian prisoners who were there back to Jerusalem to be punished.
6. as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon, suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me. 
7. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ So I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’… (The story goes on to mention Paul being made blind and the disciple Ananias praying over him and him receiving the Holy Spirit and his sight being returned…)
17.  “Now it happened, when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I was in a trance and saw Him, Jesus Messiah  saying to me, ‘Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning Me.’ 
So I said, ‘Lord, they know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believe on You. And when the blood of Your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by consenting to his death, and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’ 
24. Then He said to me, ‘Depart now, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles (the non-Jews.) And they all listened to him until that was said, and then the Jewish men raised their voices and shouted, Away with this man from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live! 
25 When they had bound him and stretched him out for the lash, Paul said to the Roman centurion standing nearby, Is it legal for you to lash a man who is a Roman citizen without a proper trial?
27 So the commanding officer of the Roman garrison was summonsed again, and asked Paul, Tell me, are you a Roman citizen? He replied, ‘Yes I am’.
30. He then brought Paul down and stood him before the Jewish religious council.

CHAPTER 23
Paul looked directly at the council and said, My Brothers, I have lived my life with a clear conscience before God to this day. 
2 At that the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to punch him in the mouth.
 3 Then Paul said to him, God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit there judging me according to the law? In ordering me to be struck you are in violation of the law yourself. 
4 Those standing near him said, Do you dare insult Gods high priest? 
5 Paul replied, I did not realize, brothers, that he was the high priest, for I know what is written, ‘You must not speak evil about a ruler of your people’ – Sorry!
6 Then when Paul noticed that part of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, he shouted out in the council, Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am on trial concerning the hope of the resurrection of the dead! 
7 When he said this, an argument began between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided because the Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the body and things of the Spirit, and the Sadducees did not.
10 When the argument became so great that the Roman commanding officer feared they would tear Paul to pieces, he ordered the detachment to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him into the barracks for his own safety.
11 The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said ‘Cheer up Paul, for just as you have testified about me here in Jerusalem, you will likewise testify about me in Rome’.

I can just imagine Paul trying to smile while thanking the Lord and thinking to himself; ’So this is as good as it gets!’ But deep down he knew it was destined to be better than this. Paul knew the greatness and goodness of Christ, and Paul never gave up. 
That is why Paul was able to write;
Galatians 3:28 In Christ's family We are no longer Jews or Greeks or slaves or free or even male or female, but we are all the same; we are One in Christ Jesus.
No longer Jews or Greeks resolves the perplexity about racism, and no longer slaves or free resolves the perplexity about entitlement and privilege, and no longer male or female even resolves the perplexity about gender equivalence. And all the perceptions and the felt experiences of hurt and misunderstanding about all of these are resolved in our faith consciousness of being One in Christ - all humanity in harmony with God in Christ – the ultimate intention. 

These grievous problems are not only a bewildering predicament of our human society throughout history, they are awkward unsolved puzzles that have weakened the church’s testimony of unity and justice and compassion to the world, especially when the Church has been given the very Spirit of wisdom and grace to model the answer everywhere – our Oneness in Christ. 

Our humanity seems to be hardwired from an early stage in life to detect unfamiliar differences in people other than what we grew up with, and to be cautious about anything that falls too far away from under our tree, and that is not unusual. But with maturity and wise guidance and an openness of heart and mind we can learn to appreciate the practicality and harmony of the blending of our differences that reveal to us that we are really all very much the same in so many ways and indeed we have need of one another in those differences. 
Paul wrote that very thing to the church in Corinth.
1Corinthians 12:12 The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.
God sees and appreciates those differences us in, which he himself planned for us to have, and to be expressed through his Spirit. He sees you just the same as everyone else. We see the differences and contend with each other even in the finest shades of differences of opinions or practice. 

Jesus knows each one of us intimately, Spirit to spirit, human to human. He understands
the unique potential and aspirations we each have, and the misunderstandings and the hurts we have all suffered, and the suffering perhaps that we have caused to others. 
So to repeat the last part of the Scripture I read before in Paul’s letter to the Romans about us seeing with understanding the enormous diversity the human traditions and personal histories and experiences of us all
Romans 14:1 Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don't see things the way you do. And don't jump all over them every time they do or say something you don't agree with—even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department. Remember, they have their own history to deal with. Treat them gently…

A longstanding Caveat of discerning caution from Paul
Ephesians 4:13 until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. 
Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with man-made methods and doctrines so clever they sound like the truth.

This revelation of Oneness together in Christ has to start somewhere. 
I believe it starts with a revelation from the Holy Spirit for each one of us that God has made us One with himself through Jesus Christ. That has to come first. That truth needs to be grounded in the truth that each of us is deeply loved by Father God, each one loved as much as he loves his Son (John 17… You have loved them Father as you have loved me…).
This needs to be reinforced and sustained by the truth that each one of us is accepted fully as we are, along with our race and status and gender and shortcomings and limited understanding, and half formed opinions, and the not at all perfect teaching and formation of our thinking, by our institutionalised doctrines and practice and favourite television preachers. 
Otherwise we are left with the fact that God sees us as One in Christ and we see one another as outsiders, the way Peter saw the Gentile Centurion Cornelius, and was reluctant to even enter the man’s house let alone present the Gospel to him. The Holy Spirit did the rest in very quick time (Acts 10).

I have seen some grand moves of the Spirit in my time, and my notion of the next move is that Holy Spirit would rain down and soften our hearts by his love, and give us ears to hear one another and eyes to see one another and hearts that feel for one another.
This flood of grace from Heaven could melt our hearts and bestow upon us a humble innocence that heals our souls. And then we might just get to take that healing power into a broken world.

This makes me feel like a little dot in a big picture and that’s okay, as long as Jesus is the big picture, because that makes a little dot feel big enough to be part of anything Jesus wants it to do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Politics and God's Government

POLITICS AND GOD’S GOVERNMENT 

The Book of Isaiah is a story is of a people who are meant to live in hope, turning to God, waiting for God, and being surprised by God’s goodness to them. 
After Solomon, the kingdoms of Israel and Judah were divided. There were 20 kings of Israel in the north and not one of them did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and of the 20 kings of Judah in the south, only eight attempted to do what was right, and King Uzziah was in the top five of these. The Bible says of him;
“Uzziah set himself to seek God … and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper.” (2Chronicles 26:5)

Isaiah begins to speak a message of warning and encouragement after King Uzziah dies (in Isaiah chapter 5), because when the King died God’s people turned away from trusting in God. Isaiah’s constant message of turning back to having hope in God all comes to a focus in Isaiah’s words of warning for their presumptuous attitude and desire for political power and control.

Isaiah 30:9 a people who lie, A people unwilling to listen to anything God tells them. They tell their spiritual leaders, "Don't bother us with irrelevancies."
They tell their preachers, "Don't waste our time on spiritual impracticalities.
Tell us what makes us feel better. Don't bore us with obsolete religion.
That stuff means nothing to us. Quit hounding us with The Holy One of Israel."

Therefore, thus says the Holy One of Israel, because of your rejecting me so that you trust in a headstrong dictator and rely on him, therefore, may this guilt be for you like a bulge in a high wall which suddenly breaks up and collapses. It shall break up like a clay vessel being smashed (That dictator was Pharaoh – worldly power)

Those words were said to God's people during a time when they had become tired of waiting for God to do something, and God was waiting for them to demonstrate that they trusted him. 
Israel and Judah’s kings had been playing politics for generations, siding with different nations against other rival nations. At this time God’s people were putting their trust in the worldly powers of Egypt and Assyria and playing them off against one another. But none of the nations could help God’s people or provide safety for them as they were only interested in using Israel to strengthen themselves against their enemies, and Israel had taken on a political role among the nations instead of taking on their role as God's spiritual representative, his servants, to exercise his Government in the world. They had rejected his government and authority over them. They had demanded that their spiritual leaders and prophets exercised political power instead of exercising God’s Government.

Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulders…. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end,

The Bible says the Government will be upon his shoulders, not the politics. Government and politics are two different things. 
Politics is exercised by people in a state or nation, no matter what happens to be the lawfully recognized form of Government of the day – one governance, much politics, and God in the midst.
Politics Comes from the Greek word Polis which means the State and its citizens. Politics describes the strategic conflict between competing power bases within the states or nations – it is mostly people power, not God power. These political agencies and influence include the political parties, the media (all kinds in that zoo), special interest groups and lobby groups. We take the politics on our shoulders, and we are all involved in some way because we are the people, the citizens, but the Government is always upon his shoulders – God is in charge of history. When we personally are under the Governance of God – The Lordship of Christ, we can bring that into the political arena, whether it is the media or lobby groups, in a God Governance way. God gives his people a voice.

Romans 13:1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.
Psalm 75:6 For promotion comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south. But God is the Judge: He puts down one and sets up another.

Government means the recognised management of authority and responsibility for justice, law and order, and the care and well-being of the citizens within a state or nation. 
We bring ourselves under the Government and authority of God’s Word. If obedience to that authority is at odds with the recognized local authority we obey God but accept the legal consequences of the local authority. as Peter and John did when they preached the gospel in Jerusalem. 
Act 4:18 So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”
Acts 12.3. This account tells the story of Peter and James being arrested by Herod who was an agent of Roman Governance (Caesar), for preaching the Gospel. Herod put James to death, and the people applauded him, so he arrested Peter, however God needed Peter out of prison so he sent an angel to release him. 
James and Peter did not organise a political protest, they took the governmental consequences and we see the two ends of the spectrum of their eventual end – death for James and miraculous liberty for Peter. The Government is upon God’s shoulders.

We saw the warnings of God to his people in the previous Scriptures in Isaiah 30:9 where he rebuked them for playing politics amongst the nations, and the threat of sending the Assyrians from the north to bring judgement upon them unless they gave up their independence and turned back to trusting in him. 

In the following verses of Isaiah 30 we see the desire of God’s heart of purpose of blessing for obedience for Israel, but a warning for disobedience; 

Isaiah 30:15 For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel “In returning and rest you shall be saved, in quietness and in trust and confidence in me shall be your strength.” But you were unwilling…

16. You've said, 'Nothing doing! We'll rush off on horseback!'
And God says to you ‘You'll rush off, all right! Just not far enough! And You've said, 'We'll ride off on fast horses!' 17. And God says ‘Do you think your pursuers ride old nags? Think again: A thousand of you will scatter before one attacker. Before a mere five you'll all run off. There'll be nothing left of you—a flagpole on a hill with no flag, a signpost on a roadside with the sign torn off."

But then comes the encouragement of God’s faithfulness to us. (Israel/Church)

18.' The lord waits to do good to you. He is almighty in power and is kindhearted towards you in your weakness. He is a God of true justice and right order in everything He does. If you wait for Him - with Him waiting for you - great things will happen to you as my people.' 

Verses 15 and 18 contain two of the clearest expressions of Isaiah’s message that God had been calling upon Israel/Judah since the days of King Uzziah.

It was now turn around time…

He called for a willingness on the nation's part to turn inward to its faith and to rest on God's grace and promises, but Israel were putting their trust in political power instead of in God. 
It would require quietness in the midst of turmoil and trust that God would control the great forces that were devastating the nations. That would be a courage or daring of a very different kind to their political strategies. The church today cannot trust in politicians to save them either, but we can trust in God to save politicians. The Bible tells us to pray for our leaders for this very reason.

1 Timothy 2:2 Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can live godly lives, in the way our Savior God wants us to live.
4. He wants not only us but everyone saved, I mean everyone, to get to know the truth…
8. Since prayer is at the bottom of all this, what I want mostly is for men to pray—not shaking angry fists at enemies but raising holy hands to God.
(Not weaponizing God’s name politically – the Third Commandment)

The final blessing in verse 18 is dedicated to those who are willing to listen and who wait; 
Vs.18.' The lord waits to do good to you. He is almighty in power and is kindhearted towards you in your weakness. He is a God of true justice and right order in everything He does. If you wait for Him - with Him waiting for you - great things will happen to you as my people.' 

He repeats to them that He will do good to them. He acknowledges that He has allowed them to go through tough times of disorder, adversity and suffering, and that He has even used it all for his purposes, but that now it is time for rest and peace to come to them, and that when they cry out to Him he will hear and act.

God had to wait till his people had come to that place of honestly admitting that their efforts and their wayward leaders and prophets had not brought them the freedom and safety and happiness they thought it would. They didn’t get the results they expected.
This is something that we all have to learn- the hard way- That God arranges history, not us – the Government is upon his shoulders. He actually waits for us! So what is He waiting for? He's waiting for us to wait for Him!
So why don't we wait? Well, just like them - we feel we can't just sit around and do nothing - we have to think of something to do. 

God certainly wants us to do the best that we can, and to be agents of godly change, taking on our role as God's spiritual representatives, his servants to the world. He is waiting for us as Church wherever and however it exists, to wait for him and on him, for our eyes to be opened to the opportunities that he places us in right in the midst of our day to day lives – family, friends, work, sport and recreation and the creative arts, health care and compassionate counselling, media, education, wherever he is setting us up to bring his wisdom and faith and love into any situation. His blessing and his power waits to be demonstrated. So pray for rulers and all who govern.

 

 

1

 

A Living Hope

A LIVING HOPE 

1Corinthians 13:13 So now faith, hope, and love abide (remain, continue eternally), these three; but the greatest of these is love.
The greatest of these is love – beginning with God’s love for us, because it causes the faith and the hope to exist. God’s love is the beginning and end of all things. That is the source of the hope that we can live in at all times. That is the reality of a living hope.

Everybody needs some kind of hope
Everybody on the planet goes through difficult circumstances and situations of uncertainty and danger and loss, and some people make it through better than others. Those who do best in coming through these experiences are those who have clung on to some kind of hope. 

So where do people generally find this regular kind of hope? 
The answer is they find something or someone, perhaps even themselves, to believe in, and our natural skills and experience can give us hope or confidence, for a while at least. And in this world there are many random things on offer to believe in and it can seem like a guessing game because the certainty of a person’s hope depends upon the reliability and credibility of what they believe in, and nothing in this world is certain, or lasts forever. There are also superstitious and religious teachings that Paul cautions the Church about, to not be ‘tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of teaching, by human cunning, or devices {the word for that is kubeia = rolling the dice – what are your chances with this one?}… Ephesians 4:13) Some new method on the internet maybe, about how to get God to answer your prayer – These things just lead to disappointment, and there’s too much of that. I believe that the need that God desires to meet in each of us, is to be drawn closer to him - rather than just for a sincere cause - no matter how righteous it may seem to that person. (We will get to prayer later) 

A certain hope
However for a Christian, life cannot be a random guessing game. Our hope is based on our faith in God’s loving goodness toward us.  
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the basis (hypostasis – basis – that which undergirds something and causes it to stand) of things hoped for, the assurance of unseen things (things=pragma – activity {of God}). So;
Faith is the basis of hoping – the assurance of the unseen activity of God. 

God’s love is for you – All the time
Your faith is for God - and it blesses him (Hebrews 11:6)
Your hope blesses you – because you can now live a life knowing that someone is personally thinking about you continually, working life out for you far better than you can for yourself. That is a living hope that lasts forever.

Hope is something we cannot live without, and we need the certainty of real hope as the anchor to our soul – hope that lasts, and strengthens our soul. 
Hebrews 6:18 That we might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place of his presence behind the veil, where Jesus the forerunner has entered for us.

What is the veil and how does that relate to a sure and steadfast anchor of hope?
That veil hung in the temple in Jerusalem in the time of Jesus, and it signified the separation between the people and the presence of God, the Ark of the Covenant. Behind that veil was the most holy place, and only the High Priest could enter into that presence once a year on the Day of Atonement. When Jesus died on the cross that veil was torn from top to bottom and the earth shook, and the rocks upon the mountains round about were split. This was an act of God from Heaven telling us that Jesus was the forerunner for us in entering though the torn veil, and breaking down the separation between God and man from that time on – Through his love, forgiveness and mercy, through Jesus our living hope.
Jesus lived each day on earth and went through by that veil because it had no hold over him and created no separation for him, even though he was tempted in all things as with us. He was the first of the New Creation.

That veil is called ‘the flesh’ in the Bible 
Hebrews 10:19 Therefore, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the veil, that is, through his flesh, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, and let us resolutely affirm the declaration of our hope without hesitation, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. 

However that veil for us today is the mindset of the separated-self, called ‘the flesh’ in the Bible. The flesh can generally be described as our humanity in the form of its basic instincts, good and bad, or the ’old man’ or ‘old nature’ that started with Adam when he ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and experienced separation from God. Jesus came ‘in the flesh’ but he lived ’in the Spirit’ and experienced no separation from his Father. Our flesh, our veil, stands between us and the presence of God until we go through by faith into what Jesus did, in making us partakers of his divine nature through his death and resurrection and sending the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The separated-self mindset (the flesh) is a negative and distorted self-consciousness that has found ways to cope with all of the things we struggle with in life. There are the struggles of the past – the disappointment and loss, failures and errors. And there are the uncertainties of the future – the anxiety, perplexity, and danger. Our assurance of faith that we are now a new creation in Christ and the unfailing hope in God’s love and good will for us gets us through that veil of separation and into the living presence of God, where all things become new.
When we go through the veil of negative self-consciousness in this way, we experience the positive God-consciousness of faith hope and love in our soul. 

How do we push through the veil?
The first thing we need to do is to reflect upon the love that God has for us. God’s love for us is not a passive love, it is the activity of his goodwill towards us at all times.
Our attentive reflection brings his love into the central focus of the present moment of what is happening. It shifts all the past disappointment and loss out of the way and puts them out of mind. It moves the uncertain future and anxiety out of the way and puts them out of mind. It leaves us only with the reality of the love of God for us – a love that is eternally creative and powerful and purposeful for us 
Psalm139:17 How precious are your thoughts to me O God! 
This is always the starting point. The consciousness of God’s love for us then generates the faith and the hope.

Our prayers
It is from this place of faith with the peace of God ruling in our hearts that we bring our prayers and petitions into God’s presence with a real faith in his love and faithfulness to us. We trust his love to attend to our needs and the needs of others according to his good will for all of us. Real hope and real faith operate through the love of God.

Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two mentions two prophetic fulfillments of Old Testament Scripture. The first was from the prophecy of Joel, that wrapped the whole world up in the love of God because the Holy Spirit would be poured out upon ALL flesh, which means that humanity is now ‘In Christ’, not just ‘In Adam’. The second was from Psalm 16 that wrapped the whole world up in a living hope like David had, who was able to dwell in the presence of God because of the hope of God’s love in his heart.
Psalm 16:7 My heart instructs me in the night seasons. I see the LORD always before my face, for He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken. Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my speech was glad;
Moreover my soul also will rest in hope. You have made known to me the ways of life;
You will make me full of joy in Your presence.’

Pentecost was the first great move of God’s Spirit coming to humanity and making history in the Earth, causing us to become a New Creation. There have been many outpourings of the Holy Spirit since, and I pray that this new and certain hope in the love of God for us is going to be the essence of the next move of God’s Spirit in the earth.
This is something that will soften people’ hearts so that their souls will be rescued from the false hopes and disappointments. This will bring a sure and certain hope in God’s healing love to us, Spirit soul and body.

Commandment 2 episode 3

Commandment Two 

Paul OSullivan and Scott Kardash  uncreated.podbean.com

Is idolatry a rare occurrence these days or does it abound prolifically in today’s world?
Do idols have supernatural power?
Does everyone have a self image?
How does a person develop a self image?
What does it mean that God is a jealous God?

Exodus 20:4 `You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, The Lord your God am a jealous God 
For Israel the golden calf was a confused concept of what Israel thought to be God Himself. It was a substantial thing made of wood and gold plated because they had to relate to something tangible that they could make themselves. Their concept was shaped by their past experience.

Our working model self image is an outcome of what is reflected back to us by others throughout our life - of -who -we -are, which has a mixture of either helpful and loving feedback or harmful and negative feedback. This working model of a self image is incomplete and distorted however it is perceived. Its perception of itself is flawed. It is always looking in a mirror at itself and doesn’t know who it is seeing.

We can be tempted to make a better self image for ourselves by having a better position in life, by way of a more prestigious job or status of some kind, and life can become an endless pursuit for this kind of self-worth

The truth is we have been created in God’s image to become the unique person we were created to be. To find that we have to go on a journey of trust in God to reveal to us our special giftings and abilities as well as our shortcomings

 

Justice and mercy

JUSTICE AND MERCY 

Micah 6:8 ‘He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?’

The prophet Micah had a burden for justice to be seen amongst God’s people Israel. In chapter three Micah opposes two groups in Jerusalem, the spiritual and the secular authorities. First, he opposes some of the other prophets, because they were misleading the people and unjustly using their position and power for their own advantage. He said the prophets ‘lead my people astray’ (Micah 3:5). The second group against which Micah speaks are the political leaders and rulers in Jerusalem ‘because they eat the flesh of my people’, that is, financial extortion and oppressive control over the people. In all these passages it is clear that what motivates Micah is concern for this unjust use of power against his own people.
JUSTICE
Jesus also had a burden to see God’s justice amongst his own people, Israel, and like Micah, Jesus confronted the religious political power base of his day, the Scribes and Pharisees. Jesus told them they were ignoring the most important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith (Matthew 23:23). 
The Bible tells us that when he was threatened and insulted he did not threaten and insult back again but committed himself humbly into the hands of his Father, who judges righteously on our behalf – He settles the score – His way in his time. (1Peter 2:23). Jesus didn’t have to fight against injustice because he knew where to find true justice – it comes when you put things into God’s hands. That is why Jesus talked about turning the other cheek, loving your enemies, doing good to those who hate you – all those Scriptures that annoy everyone. They’re especially reinforced in the new Testament (Matthew 5:39, Romans 12:19)

This is not the way that we in our entire human history have ever organized our system of Justice, which follows the simple reward and punishment model that we see everywhere.
The Scriptures that talk about that in the New Testament are about the need for law and order in society, honouring the king, obeying the laws of the land, being subject to magistrates. This is because they have the authority under God to protect all of us by punishing the evil doers and approving of those who do good, so that we can live an ordered peaceful life ... (Romans 13, 1Peter 2.14). That common justice ultimately belongs to God.
God even said in the Old Testament that the consequences of peoples’ evil deeds will catch up with them in due time because justice ultimately belongs to God.
Their foot shall slip in due time; For the day of their calamity is at hand, And the things to come hasten upon them because vengeance is Mine, and recompense. (Deuteronomy 32:25)

But Jesus made it clear that the Law was not only about judgment of good and evil but the most important aspects of the law were justice, mercy, and faith (Matthew 23:23).
That is because God didn’t create us just to devise a judgment system to deal with good and evil and maybe enjoy a relationship with us on the way. He created us to enjoy a loving relationship with him as his children and to unfold the amazing mystery of his mercy and forgiveness to deal with the problem of good and evil on the way. 

Jesus didn’t have to fight evil with power and violence. He absorbed the full sum of all of the evil of humanity on the cross, using another kind of power called forgiveness. His last words were ‘Father forgive them for they do not know what they do.’ His death became our freedom from judgment and his resurrection became the powerful way of living a transformed life. Jesus was showing us the nature of the Father towards his children – forgiveness and mercy.

Forgiveness and mercy are not commonplace in our social dealings with each other, because unlike God, we have made forgiveness and mercy conditional upon who deserves it. We have learned that it is more efficient to negotiate our own reward and punishment systems of justice. 
This includes the blaming and shaming and judgement of people against one another that is seen everywhere today. It is a payback power play that invites the same payback treatment in return. It never transforms anyone, it just creates a cycle of further resentment and payback.

Many people align themselves with a group ideology or set of policies and they will blame and shame another group with a different ideology. God sees these people as individuals that he is mercifully and patiently trying to redeem and transform.
If we don’t see these people as individuals in this way we can be blinded to the darkness within our own individual souls that God is also mercifully and patiently trying to redeem and transform.

There are of course wonderful examples all around us of individuals showing compassion and mercy for other people who are weak and vulnerable no matter what group they belong to. This is a startling reminder that humanity is created in the image of God, so that capacity for compassion is very much a reality within every heart. And it is an observable fact that comforting and caring for someone who is suffering softens the human heart that is doing the caring. 

An even greater dimension of that kind of comfort and mercy is ours when we we receive an understanding and revelation of the powerful work of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter who lives within us. The Holy Spirit shows us the compassion that Jesus had for all of for us and that we can have for one another, thoughts of kindness and mercy.

The prophet Zechariah spoke to all of us through a prophecy to Israel about the heart of kindness and compassion we would receive when we would finally come to understand the Father’s heart of  grief that he felt when he sent his only Son to die on the cross for us. Holy Spirit has carried that mercy and compassion from the Father to the Son and to us for one another.

Zechariah 12:10 And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and  mercy, so that, when they look on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child… and from that mourning will flow ‘a spirit of kindness and prayer’ and ‘a fountain of living waters will flow out from them’ (Zechariah 13:1; 14:8).”

WALKING HUMBLY WITH OUR GOD.
Just as Jesus showed a humble trust in committing all justice into the hands of his father against the threats and insults of his enemies, we see how King David also walked humbly with his God.
There is a story of King David which shows that he had an understanding of the balance between his status as a king, and humility. In 2Samuel 16:5 David is accosted by an aggressive person called Shimei. This man cursed David as he rode along, and threw stones at him, from a hillside opposite him, accusing him of being a man of blood, a murderer. David's companions, who were riding on his right and on his left hand side, wanted to take off Shimei's head, saying - 'why should this dead dog curse the king?'. But David showed a Godly restraint and humility and replied to his men along the lines of: 'If God has sent this man to tell me what I'm really like, then I cannot destroy him for that, and on the other hand, if God has not sent him, then God will deal with the matter and even repay me good for this cursing of me today.' 

When we can have faith that humbly accepts that God is at work to show himself just and faithful and merciful on our behalf we find his grace to surrender the power of justice and judgment into his hands. We are mistaken to think that God could never be that generous with his amazing grace to actually bring perfect justice to bear for us. It takes a certain kind of humility to accept it, and not make it all about us and what we deserve. If we can receive that grace we can then live in peace and bring peace into our world.

Episode 2 Commandment 1 - Putting God First

 

FIRST COMMANDMENT – Putting God First. 

Paul O’Sullivan – Go to http://uncreated.podbean.com/  to view complete series

Is it logical to say that if people would have obeyed the First Commandment there would be no need for any other Commandments?

 

This commandment is actually the be-all and end-all of the commandments. It tells us that we should look to no other person or thing than God Himself for our ultimate meaning, purpose, and fulfillment.

 

Are the Ten Commandments actually a Biblical course in character growth?

 

the first commandment begins a logical sequence of challenges to faith and obedience that produce a process of spiritual and emotional growth to maturity.  The next commandment, which deals with the making of images, only becomes relevant when a person has not remained dependent upon God as the source and means and end of his life, and so builds for himself or looks to some other source, or finds some other means of strength that becomes a 'god' to him.

 

How does emotional pain and abuse affect a person’s ability to accept support and comfort?

 

God had to release Israel from bondage before He could give them the commandments. He knew that the bondage had caused bitterness in their souls by reason of their cruel taskmasters in Egypt, and His loving response to them was one of compassion.

God told Moses to tell them of His promises for them, but they were unable to respond. God's most formidable task was to convince them of His love for them, let alone transform them.

 

Why do people resist putting God first in their lives?

 

We can only be transformed when we see the need for that change of heart and mind, and many people do not realise how much they need to be changed, and so they resist it.

 

 

 

 

The Kingdom Within

THE KINGDOM WITHIN   Paul OSullivan    spiritcode.podbean.com
When Jesus was betrayed by Judas and arrested by the temple guards, he was then tried by the Jewish High Priest and the council of elders and then handed over to Pontius Pilate the Roman Governor of Judea. When Pilate questioned Jesus about being King of the Jews he asked him why he had been tried by his own people and why they had brought him to a Roman Governor for trial. He asked Jesus what he had done, and why was he claiming he was their king.
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting for me and not allowing me to even be put on trial. But my kingdom is not of this world.”- John 18:36

Jesus did not ever urge his disciples to protest against Roman authority or consider any hostility towards Roman rule, even though that is what they expected would happen, They were all convinced that the Kingdom would be an outward Kingdom ruled over by Jesus, and that the Roman Empire would be overthrown and that they would rule alongside of him with great power and authority.
But Jesus did not come to try and change the outward kingdom in which his disciples lived; he came to establish the kingdom that would live within them. 

In Matthew 20:20 There was an occasion when Jesus was teaching his disciples principles of the Kingdom of Heaven when the mother of James and John, a woman well known for her religious zeal came before him to ask a request of him. She knelt down, facing Jesus, with her two sons standing behind her. She said she had a favour to ask of him concerning her two sons. She asked if Jesus would give them a special place in his kingdom, to be seated next to him, one on his right hand and one on his left. 
There was a stunned silence and then irate sounds and heated words were hurled at the two sons from the rest of the disciples, and then even at one another, as it became clear that they were all coveting some special position themselves.
Jesus knew he had a difficult situation on his hands, so he addressed the mother first.
“You don’t know what you are asking for. It cannot be done that way.” Then Jesus addressed the men. He told them that what they were all wanting for themselves was not even his to give. He said that Father had given them all to him, and that Father alone gives place and position as he sees fit. He said that if they were to follow him then they must follow all the way. He told them that he had a cup of pain and sorrow that he must drink, and an ordeal of suffering that he must go through. He asked them if they were able to share that with him, instead of some position of importance that they thought they deserved.
They were all sobered by the rebuke, and surprised at the meanness that they had witnessed in their own hearts. Jesus went on to say that they could not behave like the Roman rulers, or their own religious leaders, who use their authority and positions of power to dominate others to get what they want out of them. He told them that true authority was serving one another, not competing with one another, and that he had been sent to serve, not to be served, and to lay down his life for others. 
That day they learned a lot about God and a lot about themselves. 
And it was obvious that they had been secretly coveting and competing for a special place in the order of this new earthly Kingdom that would be happening any time soon.

Jesus had to correct their tendency towards the power plays of political activism, some of them more than others. Peter would not be slow in lopping off the ear of the temple guard when Jesus was being arrested on the night he was betrayed by Judas, and Judas was the most zealous political activist of all who was bitterly disappointed when he realised that that Jesus had planned no imminent earthly Kingdom. James and John were also quite happy to hurl some fire from Heaven against the rejection shown to them once by the Samaritans, their political and religious opponents (Luke 9:54).

Many Christians today have a similar Christian activist mindset to that of those disciples. Jesus had to correct his disciples and prepare their hearts and minds to live in the power of a Kingdom within them rather than seek power in an earthy kingdom around them. 

The power of the Kingdom of God within is the power of God’s love, and it is that love that created us and that sent Jesus to die for us, and it is that love that was sent at Pentecost into our hearts through The Holy Spirit who releases that same love out to others. 
When we live that love out in caring and practical ways is what it means to be a witness to Christ. A witness is not just saying words. It is in being an influence for godliness wherever we are. The word for witness in the original Greek is ‘martus’ which also means martyr, so we need to have realistic expectations about how people will respond to that influence. Our godly influence will either be accepted and honoured or we will be penalised and intimidated.

That love is what Paul encouraged Timothy to focus on so that he would not fear the intimidation of those of corrupt power and influence in the church in Ephesus who were resisting his godly ways and rejecting his faithful teaching of the Gospel. 
2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but the spirit of power and of love and of an ordered mind. 
Paul lived in that love that expresses the Kingdom power and that renews our minds. 
Paul started the church in Ephesus and appointed Timothy to care for the church after he left, and he had written to that church about the powerful work of the love of God in us through the Holy Spirit praying that they would ‘know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that they may be filled with all the fullness of God, giving honour to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to that power at work within us. 
Paul also wrote that ‘the love of God compelled him’ (existemi). It held him together and ordered his life (2Corinthians 5:14). 

The kingdom theme in the New Testament is part of the great cosmic battle of light over darkness, and everything in God’s plan is now according to a new order that flows from the life of God in the person of the Holy Spirit, who is changing us into the likeness of Jesus. That new order of the Kingdom love of God is influencing everything in our world around us and many will respond and embrace the message of the love and light of God, but many will reject it and continue in darkness despite ongoing global shakings and afflictions (Revelation 9:21 tells us that many harden their hearts and will not repent).

So we cannot achieve a perfected earthly kingdom on this earth in this age where every kind of corrupted kingdom authority will fight to maintain its flawed and limited power base. It cannot be perfected until Jesus returns from Heaven to rule and reign, and puts down all rebellion in the earth and in the heavens. And at that time it will come to pass; ‘that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:9).
We finally take our place with him in that new Kingdom.
Until that time of his return, we live in an age where every kingdom on earth is being shaken. The only Kingdom that cannot be shaken is the Kingdom of God that dwells within us. We read that in Hebrews 12:28 … This means that all of creation will be shaken, so that only unshakable things will remain. Since we have received a Kingdom that can never be shaken, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe.

It is good for us to live in this this reality in our soul, our mind and emotions and will. It is the reality of the inner kingdom that can never be overcome, but finally overcomes all others. 
Our life and peace and refuge are found within our faith and trust in God’s love, as we identify as his bride being made ready for him, in purity of heart and faithfulness to his love and protective covering over us. Where he is we are, and where he goes, we go.

 

 

Yielded prayer

YIELDED PRAYER

Our acceptance and patience and trust in God as our Father in times of adversity is the measure of our growth in faith. We do not grow in faith if we think faith is getting what we want simply because we pray for it and think it should happen. 

God allows contrary and painful circumstances to confront us. These things challenge our trust and faith in him as a good and loving Father who wants the best for us. 
Our response needs to be to believe that his motive is to do us good and bring us closer to his heart. 

The examples of faith in the lives of the gallery of heroes from chapter 11 such as Noah and Abraham and Sarah and Moses reveal how they accepted and embraced the circumstances of their lives, believing that God was at work in the unseen world, doing his will through them, and they left the results to God.

Hebrews 11:39 And all of these, though they won divine approval by means of their faith, did not receive the fulfillment of what was promised,
Hebrews 12:1. The faith lives of this gallery of heroes are set before us as a witness of what is meant by yielded faith. We can now throw off the attitude of being weighed down by our problems, and the individual failures and flaws of our human nature. Let us now run the race set before us with a well-timed and measured pace 

Paul writes to the Hebrew Christians who are going through times of affliction and persecution because of their faith and he encourages them to not give up. 

Even when our circumstances are adverse and difficult, our inner life of faith can fill our hearts with hope because it is surrendered to God’s will and is not fixed on demanding a self-determined desire of the soul. Our hope is in the fact that God is working out his perfect plan. He doesn’t need a perfect prayer, just a yielded prayer and a joyful expectation. We always end up enjoying his answers to our prayers rather than our own idea of what we wanted.

Hebrews 12:2. We can keep Jesus in our sights, the one who initiates and completes our faith life. He kept in his sights the joy and happiness that awaited him as he set himself to persevere the ordeal of the cross. He shrugged off the scorn that people threw at him, and finally took his place at the right hand of the throne of God
3. Just think of that barrage of self-centered and evil attitudes that he had opposing him. Compare this to what you are going through before you decide to give up because it is all too hard.
4. You have not yet had to battle against evil to the extent that your life-blood is drained out of your body.
11. This kind of faith challenge does not seems like fun and games at the time; it is painful. But when you go through the pain of it you do end up with the gain of it. You end up experiencing a peaceful harmony with God and with your own soul.

Even when the circumstances are favourable, we can let our faith life down because we can negatively perceive them as not favourable enough. That kind of ungrateful mindset can be destructive and disappointing to our soul and foster a negative perception of God, which is a wrong realty that says that God doesn’t really love me, that I’m a victim, or life is unfair. The Bible tells us to give God thanks in ALL things because that brings us into alignment with his true heart of goodness toward us. We then experience a release of his transforming power toward us, and as we change, our world changes around us, because God is at work releasing his supernatural power that reorders everything in our world into a better place.

So is there a model of the perfectly yielded prayer in the scriptures that can guide us in this? 
YES!

Romans 8:25 …The Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought (which is a necessary thing), but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He (Jesus) who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He (Jesus, see vs.30) makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
And we know that all things work together, (fitting in to a plan) for good to those who love God, to those who are the called (invited) to be aligned with His plan and purpose

This verse tells us that we don’t know what we should pray for. It does not say we don’t know how  to pray – we know that – it is praying to the Father through Jesus (in his name). It is the what that counts as that is necessary for the prayer to be perfect as being in God’s will. We may hardly ever know in our own mind and soul what God’s will truly is, except we sincerely know what we would like it to be.

So the Holy Spirit helps us in this weakness and limitation of ours and he makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. Why would Holy Spirt be groaning? Is he struggling about something going on within us?
Yes he is. This very chapter eight in Romans has a great deal to say about the inner struggle of God’s Spirit within each of us as to what is of the soul and what is of the Spirit.
Romans 8:5 For they that are exercising their soulish self (flesh) the flesh are mindful of the things of the soulish self; but they that are exercised in their spiritual being are mindful of the things of the Spirit.
It is at his point that Jesus enters the picture and takes the prayer baton handed to him by Holy Spirit… . Now He (Jesus) who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He (Jesus, see vs.30) makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Why would Jesus know the mind of the Spirit who is struggling within us concerning this very thing?
Because this is how Jesus operated in partnership with Holy Spirit in his prayer life on earth, as he would only do what his Father directed him to do. Jesus knows the mind of the spirit and he also knows our human soulish mind o he identifies with us in his humanity, having been tempted in all things like us but without sin. That is why he cried out to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane ‘Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me, but nevertheless let not my will but yours be done.’
So we can be assured that this second phase of intercession for us in our prayer, which comes through Jesus will be answered according to father’s plan and purpose for us (Romans 8:34 Jesus is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us…)
It is then that our world changes around us, because God is at work releasing his supernatural power that reorders everything in our world into a better place. 
Vs.28 And we know that all things work together, (fitting in to a plan) for good to those who love God, to those who are the called (invited) to be aligned with His plan and purpose

There are five things that you will find good to bring to remembrance at the start of each day. 

1. Remember that Jesus is still the same.  He never change, even if yesterday everything around you changed. 
2. Remember that his love for you is an everlasting love, and the reason you exist is because he wants to share his love with you today. That is his greatest desire.
3. Remember that he can do all things, and that nothing is impossible for him, who created you, and the Universe, just for you. 
4. Remember that he only wants the best for you, and he will surprise you with his goodness. 
5. Tell him you will not worry or be anxious today, for there is no need for that – he will make life work out for you if you let him.

And here are the Scriptures for those things

1. Hebrews 13:8 ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.’ (TLB)
2. Jeremiah 31:3 ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you to me.’ (NKJ)
3. Luke 18:27 ‘“The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”(NKJ)
4. Jeremiah 29:11 ‘For I know the thoughts I have towards you, thoughts of good and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.’ (NKJ)
5. Philippians 4:6 ‘Don’t worry about anything, but in all your prayers ask God for what you need, always asking him with a grateful heart (Good News Bible)