New Wine

So that he who blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of truth, and he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten and are hidden from my eyes. -- Isaiah 65:16

This chapter in Isaiah is a warning to those who would abandon humility and succumb to spiritual pride, and it is in keeping with the warning given by John the Baptist in Luke 3:8, “Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father. For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.”

It doesn’t matter if the subject is God’s Chosen People, a Christian nation, a church, or an individual, God does not “need” any particular institution, channel, or vessel in order to accomplish His purposes.   There are those who preach and teach otherwise, who will say that if you or I fail in our calling, the consequences are dire.  I do agree that I will answer for my management of the time and resources I have been given.  That alone is pretty frightening when I think about it in light of all the silly stuff that distracts me sometimes. 

Nevertheless, my understanding and the view I have is based on passages like these quoted.  God will work it out no matter the mountains He has to move.  We can choose to be part of the process of clearing obstacles, or we can get in the way and be obstacles ourselves.  

We can’t say God doesn’t care.  He wants us to be vessels that He can bless and fill with His goodness.  He delights in those who seek Him.  But our disobedience cannot thwart the long-term destiny toward which the kingdom advances.  David’s sins and failures created great suffering and loss and ruin in his own family and even in the nation, but Jesus still came of the house and lineage of David.   

You’ll sometimes hear someone say, speaking motivationally, that we are always only one generation from losing our Christian heritage or losing our freedom or something along those lines.  That’s true from the human perspective.  It pains my wife sometimes when she thinks that someday she will not be here to make sure her yard and her trees are properly maintained and her house not kept as clean as she would have it.  I think my own generation has failed in its stewardship of the liberties that cost so much to obtain and maintain in this country.  We wonder what will happen if the beacon of American freedom goes out.  What if the “city on a hill” goes dark? 

I hate to think that such a thing could happen, but the truth is that it is not entirely unlikely, certainly not impossible.  They may cut down the Tree of Liberty, but they will not kill it.  It will live and sprout again, perhaps from the stump or perhaps from some hidden root we cannot now envision. 

How much more certain then is the triumph of the kingdom of God.  As seen in and confirmed by history, the more Christians are persecuted, the stronger and more beautiful becomes the Bride of Christ.  The deeper Christianity is forced underground, the higher it will grow in truth. 

We ought not let what we see on the news and in the world disturb and dismay us.  God will have a people, and He has an eternal kingdom that cannot be shaken though the earth itself split in two. 

Jesus Has Not Left the Building

But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children's children,
to those who keep his covenant
and remember to do his commandments.
The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,
and his kingdom rules over all. 

-- Psalm 103:17-19

This is something that I am going to try and keep in mind as we move into a new year -- really, I think, a new era:   God is in control.   We have a King, and we are citizens of no mean city. 

In the coming weeks and months, there will be pressure on us all the time with endless fear-mongering in the news cycles.  It will be hard not to worry, at least part of the time.  The nearest thing I have to a resolution is to fret less — but I'm not going to fret about being fretless, more or less.  Instead I will try to focus on God's grace and goodness in my life and on the troubles of the day, which, as Jesus said, are sufficient in themselves.

I have a little project started that — if it works out, and that is definitely IF — I will be sharing more fully here.  In the interim, my intent is to slightly increase my posting frequency with a corresponding decrease in verbiage — a verse or quote of the day kind of thing.   

Thy Kingdom Come

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. -- Matthew 4:17

Before Jesus was baptized, His cousin, John the Baptist, came in the spirit and power of Elijah calling on his hearers to "repent for the kingdom heaven is at hand".  After the resurrection, Jesus gave instructions to His disciples and "to them he presented himself alive after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God" (Acts 1:3 -- emphasis added).  Many of the parables we read relate to the kingdom, and Jesus spoke often about it, as if were vitally important. 

If a person didn't know better, he might get the impression that the whole of history, the Incarnation, the death, burial and resurrection of Christ and the establishment of the Church was intimately related to the kingdom of God.  Of course, that is silly since no one ever talks much about the kingdom.  No, the important doctrines have to do with whether or not we can dance and drink beer.  The kingdom is heaven or something.  It's all in the sweet by-and-by -- or maybe the sweet buy-and-buy.  Or maybe not.

A kingdom is a realm of dominion -- a place where a king has authority and rules by edict, statute and decree. A kingdom has subjects or citizens, those who are born into the realm and live under the king's rule.  There is no better system of government than a monarchy -- provided, of course, that the monarch is wise and good.  I believe I was first offended by a similar statement somewhere in Dune, but I have come to accept that it is true.  The reason we have turned from monarchies is because anyone wise enough and good enough to do the job probably has sense enough not to want it.  We are then left with the merely clever, the ambitious, the warped, the weak, the wicked, the greedy, the domineering, and the foolish -- but enough about Congress.

The first qualification for a king, having primacy even over wisdom and goodness, is that he love his kingdom and his subjects.  Though a monarch be foolish and vile by nature, if he truly loves his people and his land, when the weight of responsibility is laid upon him, he will strive to become wise and good.

We are citizens of the kingdom of heaven.  We travel through this strange land as pilgrims and adventurers, and, like Jake and Elwood, we are all on a mission from God because scattered across this world, sown like seeds upon the wind, there are others of the kingdom.  They are our brothers and sisters, separated at the first birth, destined to be reunited in a second one.  We all need to be found and told us who we are, to have the veil drawn back and to comprehend that our sense of unease and alienation makes sense for this world is not our home. Once we have come to recognize our citizenship in the kingdom, we realize that there are many more like ourselves to be found.

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.  And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opening and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.  And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”   The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.  And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.  -- Mark 1:9-13   

The Spirit immediately drove Him out into the wilderness.   This happened to Jesus after He was baptized and declared to be the Son of God.  Something similar happened to you and to me.  God said, "I am going to plant this child of mine in the world."  The Holy Spirit caught you up, and you were sown into a time and place, into a family and a situation that He chose for you.  For many of us, it was a period of being lost in the boonies.  It happens once in the flesh.  But then we are awakened, and, like Jesus, it happens again as we are born of the Spirit. 

I have been out here in the desolate places, harassed by the enemy and by the non-kingdom forces and entities that run wild in this world system.  But there are those who come around, messengers from my Father, to remind me who I am, to assure me that I have a purpose, that this wilderness is merely a trial that I must pass through.

The desert places will cleanse our vision and open the doors of our perception to the realities of the kingdom, putting us back in touch with our Lord.   And then we, too, become messengers, agents of awakening that the children of the kingdom might be born from above.   Everything is about the kingdom, about the restoration of God's sovereign rule over His own chosen ones. 

When the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ, how will that kingdom look and how will it operate? 

Unexpected Anticipation

Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at Your presence — as fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil —to make Your name known to Your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Your presence!

When You did awesome things which we did not expect, You came down, the mountains quaked at Your presence. — Isaiah 64:1-3

"You did awesome things which we did not expect". Isaiah realized that while God was not ripping open the material heavens and invading earth like a super-warrior, He was ripping open the "sky" of Isaiah's conscious mind and pouring Himself into the world through the prophet and his words.

The Incarnation is the ultimate manifestation of God's invasion for the rescue and redemption of humanity. It, too, was an unexpected and awesome thing. Certainly Christ's entrance into the world has made the mountains — often a metaphor for worldly powers — and the nations tremble and quake. The world has been in an upheaval since Christ came to bring — not peace, but a sword and a winnowing, purging fire. And that will continue until the Kingdom is all in all.

I was taught that the 'world' as such would get worse and worse — more sinful, more violent, more anti-God, and specifically more anti-Christ until, at some point, Christ would return in secret to snatch out His people. Subsequent to the removal of the Bride, God's wrath would consume the unrighteous in terror and judgment. Though I have my problems with Dispensational eschatology, there is truth in this view. There can be no doubt that a separation of the righteous and the unrighteous, of the Kingdom people from the worldly is not only necessary, but constantly taking place.

(Whether there will be an actual Rapture as believed by Hal Lindsay, my family, friends, and millions of others, I do not know. In keeping with what Jesus told us in Acts 1:7-8, it is not my problem. I trust Jesus now and do my best to obey Him. As best I can figure, if the Rapture does take place, I'm in a position to go up, same as Hal. Meanwhile, I'm still here.)

The Lord is, even at this moment, coming down and pouring into the world through us. When we as individuals accept this, both worldly powers and satanic principalities are shaken. We cannot expect the various antichrists and the Prince of the Power of the Air and his hierarchy to accept the casting down of their dominions without a fight. We should be prepared.

So if you have been raised with Messiah, seek what is above, where the Messiah is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God — Colossians 3:1-3

Trouble ahead, trouble behind.
Don't you know that notion just crossed my mind

Shattered

"My king, as you were watching, a colossal statue appeared. That statue, tall and dazzling, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was terrifying. The head of the statue was pure gold, its chest and arms were silver, its stomach and thighs were bronze, its legs were iron, and its feet were partly iron and partly fired clay. As you were watching, a stone broke off without a hand touching it, struck the statue on its feet of iron and fired clay, and crushed them. Then the iron, the fired clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were shattered and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors. The wind carried them away, and not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. – Daniel 2:31-35

The king has a dream which he could not remember. He called for his counselors to come and tell him both the dream and the interpretation. Only one man, Daniel, was found who could do this. Daniel begins by describing the image and the events of the dream. He goes on to explain that Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom is the golden head of the dream statue. Other kingdoms will follow Babylon in history, not evolving, but becoming weaker and baser over time. In the end, a relatively worthless empire represented by clay will dominate.

The kingdoms of this world are not getting better but worse. There may be temporary spikes – as America was for the first 150 years or so – but the trend is downward. The statue, for one thing, is upside down. The heaviest element, gold, should be the foundation. As it is, it is top-heavy and inherently unstable. I noticed this while watching The Dark Knight. At one point, as the Joker is giving his speech to Dent in the hospital, my wife turned to me and said, “You know, a lot of the stuff he says is right.” The world is full of the false, of things that make no real sense, of the upside down. We’ve gotten used to looking at it this way. We have come, to a great extent, to accept that this is way things are. Thus we sometimes cannot figure God out. We don’t understand what He is doing or why because it runs so counter to the ways and means we have come to accept as reality.

In the dream a stone is cut from a mountain without hands. A stone? Not only is it nondescript, it is worthless even compared to the fired clay. It is not, by the world’s estimation a precious stone – just a piece of rock. Yet it comes rolling toward the statue, strikes the image in its feet of clay. The whole structure falls and is completely shattered to pieces small enough to be blown away on the wind.

That rock is Christ and the wind is the Holy Spirit. The rock began to grow, to fill and overwhelm the vision. That’s the Church, the Bride of Christ.

God reminds us that what the world disregards and counts as inconsequential are the real and the true and the eternal. It will outlast gold; it is worth more than silver. It is more resilient than brass and stronger than iron. Unlike clay, it is a firm foundation.

A Land of Hills and Valleys

For the land you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated by hand as a vegetable garden. But the land you are entering to possess is a land of mountains and valleys, watered by rain from the sky. It is a land the LORD your God cares for. He is always watching over it from beginning to the end of the year. – Deuteronomy 11:10-12

The land of Goshen where the Israelites had lived probably encompassed the vast delta of the Nile River. There was always water. It is no wonder that the Egyptians viewed the Nile as a god for it must have seemed to them that they drew their very lives from it. They irrigated not just their patches of onions and melons, but their grain fields with its waters.

The time has come for us to move from surviving by our own hand to living by the hand of God. We have been dependent on the world’s system long enough – perhaps too long. It is time to move into our inheritance in the kingdom of God, to possess our own land, living not as tenants but as kings and priests.

The move requires us to leave behind our old comfortable idols. In those days we trusted in what we could see. The river was before us. There was no doubting it. It will not be so in the land to which we are traveling. We will be completely dependent on God’s care and concern. If rain does not fall, we will fail. From day to day we will not see the showers coming. We will need faith.

It is not surprising that the Lord Himself taught us to pray, “Give us today the bread we need for today.” He instructed the Israelites to gather manna only sufficient for today’s meal; do not try to hoard it until tomorrow. Depend on Me.

In the kingdom we are to trust in God alone and to trust Him in the now. Yesterday we were talking about hearing His voice in our moment by moment decisions. That is another facet of this same dependence and trust. The last thing Jesus told the believers before His ascension was not to worry about the times or the seasons. He reiterates what He had told them earlier, that is, to take care of today’s business today and leave tomorrow until it is today. Sow and reap according to His guidance and direction. Do not be swayed by the externals, by voices of fear and despair. Sow your seed in accordance with the seasons of the kingdom.

It may be dry right now, but the eyes of the LORD watch over you and the rains will come. The furrows will be softened, and the dead, dry ground will bring forth in abundance according to the seed we have planted.

Matthew's Genealogy of Jesus

In reference to Rick’s question about Matthew’s use of numbers in the genealogy of Christ, I will toss in my two cents. I can answer all your biblical questions.*


Abraham receiving the promise of a kingdom initiates an Age of Preparation. David fulfills the promise in an earthly sense and initiates the Age of the Kingdom which ends tragically with the Babylonian exile. The Age of Exile is again an age of preparation – not for an earthly king and kingdom but for the establishment of the heavenly kingdom and the coming of the King of glory.

I think fourteen signifies preparation, as it is the “double seven”, with seven symbolizing divinity and completion. It is the length of an “age”, an era, an epoch. I hesitate to use the word “dispensation” since it has other connotations.

Three, of course, would be indicative of the Trinity. Abraham represents the Father who prepares for the Son, and David the Son who prepares for the Kingdom – or the Bride. (Remember, David, though he brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, was not allowed to build a temple for it. He could only make preparation.) The age of exile and return represent the Holy Spirit as He makes preparation for an entirely new paradigm with the apocalyptic arrival of Jesus. The Messiah becomes the pivot point of history – not only being the ultimate Word for revealing God, but explaining and fulfilling the types and shadows in the Law and the Prophets.

I’m sure that’s not the only way to look at the genealogy and its divisions but it is one possible view.

I'll throw something else out here that kind of goes along with this. There's a great story related in Genesis 24. I won't go into all of it now, just touch the high points. Abraham, the Father, is intent on getting a wife for Isaac, the Son. He sends his eldest servant, his steward -- symbolic of the Holy Spirit -- to the town of Nahor where members of his family still dwell. The servant goes and finds Rebekah -- representing the Bride of Christ -- and brings her back to Isaac. There you have, in a single chapter in Genesis, pretty much the whole of spiritual history summarized.




*Disclaimer: Answers may be made up on the spot and cannot always be expected to be correct or in anyway related to any sound theology, homiletics, hermeneutics, or neutered hermits.

All That Belongs to the World

Do not love the world or the things that belong to the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. Because everything that belongs to the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s lifestyle – is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does God’s will remains forever. -- 1 John 2:15-17

It is a view that sounds strange in the ears of many. It would seem to argue for a hermetic, ascetic existence.

John the Baptist wore rough clothing and lived for the most part in the desert. He lived on clean insects and honey. He fit the popular profile of a prophet, but the religious elite accused him of being a madman. Then there is Jesus, at ease with sinners and secular sophisticates who attended the best parties, often as guest of honor. The religious derided Him as a glutton and a drunkard.

The nice thing about the Apostle John is that he explains his terms. As I emphasize – probably too often – the world is not synonymous with the planet. It is more like the administrative system that is in place. God’s system is called the kingdom in contrast to the world system. Jesus tells us in Luke 16:15, “What is highly admired by people is revolting in God’s sight.” The values of the world run contrary to kingdom values.

John specifies the elements of the world system – “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of one’s lifestyle”. It sounds bad to us because of the connotations that weigh so heavily on the words “lust” and “pride”. Let’s try to look at it from a materialistic point of view. The lust of the flesh can be thought of as appetite. It is natural and necessary. We like to look at pretty things. We like for people to admire our stuff. What’s wrong with any of that? Obviously nothing is wrong with eating when you are hungry, drinking when you are thirsty or having intimate relations with your spouse. It is when our appetites rule us, when all pleasure in life is derived from satisfying cravings, when we our worth comes from what we have, where we live, what we know, who we know, etc. Can there be contentment, genuine peace and joy based on the elements of the world system?

Speaking for myself, the answer is no – not on a long-term basis. Once awakened – how ever that may happen – real rest is impossible apart from God. My only choice now is to do the will of God, wherever I find myself. If I were to try to turn back to the world system I would find it necessary to drug myself with more and more, and I would still be miserable every time I stopped.

A friend of mine was a very successful businessman and also a Christian who gave generously to others and often preached evangelistic meetings in various local churches. In some ways he seemed to buy into the “word of faith” message of health and prosperity. He often spoke of believing God for healing and financial blessings. He built his dream home, drove nice cars and wore the most expensive clothes. He prayed for the sick in his meetings and taught on what some might call "giving to get".

Shortly before he planned to retire from business and devote himself to full-time ministry, his health began to break down. He was diagnosed with an unusual, incurable illness – somewhat similar to ALS, Lou Gehrig’s Disease. He reached a point where controlling his movement became impossible. The last time I was in his office, he apologized for not being able to stand up to greet me. The last time I saw him alive, he was flat on his back in a nursing home, unable to do anything for himself, his body immobile except for sporadic tremors of pain. He had been in that condition for over a year at that point.

He could still speak and his mind was clear.

He spoke of the goodness of God.

He was the epitome of a man able to walk the line -- to use and enjoy material blessings, yet see them for the transient, passing things they were. Many had wondered what he would do in the face of adversity. He did well. The things that impressed people really meant nothing to him. He was truly “a man of faith and power.”

Living in the Kingdom Age

Most of us in the western world live a reasonable comfortable existence. Despite the current fuel prices, we have a great deal of disposable income for new digital cameras, big screen TV’s, cell phones, and mp3 players. For someone sitting in their home theater room or even on their balcony with their favorite beverage a little complacency and self-satisfaction might be understandable.

Material wealth is nice. I’ve been without money and I have had money. Having money is, all other things being equal, better. But often all other things are not equal. How is it that a guy like Hunter Thompson blows his brains out, but some poor old guy in a wheelchair squeaking by on a meager Social Security check toughs it out to the end? How is it that rich men go through women like crap through a goose while some old farmer weeps beside the casket of his wife of sixty years? Why do some people seem at peace with themselves when everything is coming apart around them while others are freaking out or living on Prozac?

Our materialist friends think that this is all there is, and, the more healthy ones at least argue that “this” is enough. The argument is that, qualitatively, there is no difference between the state of mind that is permanently terminated and the state of mind that goes on forever. Eternity is in a moment.

Eternity is in a moment. I have never been comfortable with Pascal’s Wager. I think Pascal was a brilliant man, but possibly he was fooling himself a little with his reasoning. As Lewis says, we need to believe something because it is true. Paul says, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” He was arguing against the idea that the Christ had not been raised from the dead, as some in his day were arguing.

Materialism is hardly a new philosophy. When Jesus walked the earth in His Incarnation, the Sadducees claimed there was no resurrection. Some people only believe in the ephemeral, passing “reality” of this life. When it comes to God and eternity, materialists are Missourians. I think some materialists are honest and really just can’t believe.

What I think many fail to realize is that they do see God.

Consider the world as it was Before Christ.

Consider the world today.

Despite many setbacks and failures, Christ’s promise of a coming kingdom is being fulfilled. God’s revealed moral law has made us better people. The concept of an orderly universe, arising from the mind of the Creator, moved men like Newton to begin to formulate and describe the physical laws. Life science began to move forward when Pasteur proved that life could not arise from the inorganic. Countless people have been healed and had their lives extended (including me) because Fleming discovered penicillin.

Jesus told His disciples that they would do “greater works” than He had done. He healed the sick, raised the dead, walked on water, and multiplied bread. We often wonder how we would top that -- not realizing that science and technology are God’s gifts to us. Indeed, we speak and mountains move.

Although Christ laid the foundation for the kingdom by reconciling all men to God, He left it for us to advance the kingdom, to expand it. Though we have often misunderstood and gone down wrong roads, the mystic Body of Christ has advanced, almost in spite of ourselves for much of history. The kingdom will be established.

I meant to take another track, but I am out of time.