Preaching “just focus on Yeshua” while refusing to embrace the plumbline He brings to His house, when He comes to remove abusers, is not focussing on Yeshua. It is rather focussing some perverse and anemic antichrist of your own machinations.
Focussing on Yeshua means focussing on ALL of Yeshua
If justice begins in the house of G-d, then it begins with those who are designed to execute that justice and decision-making process. Us. Believers who are sober-minded, and walking with Him.
“Stay in love with Jesus” is not enough. Walking with Yeshua, however, in fullness, is precisely the best thing to embrace. Even if it makes some people uncomfortable, and makes people say “that’s unChristlike”.
What is unChristlike is permitting predators in our midst, and refusing to protect victims.
And there are those who will likely want to label me “heretic” for this one. I cannot control how others see me.
The Real Un-Christlike Issue Among Believers: Remaining Ignorant of Iniquity In the Holy Place
Num. 25:6 And behold, one of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the people of Israel, while they were weeping in the entrance of the tent of meeting. 7 When Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand 8 and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped.
Numbers 25:6-8 ESV
What is un-Christlike is proclaiming a better covenant…
While refusing to weave together the principles already given in the biblical text….
Failing to recognize the fullness of the Whole Covenant that stretches from the back to the front of that book we call Scriptures…
Failing to show allegiance to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and those who have been walking with the L-rd for any appreciable period of time refusing to attempt to walk cleanly with Him in this walk, with very little struggle, and an attitude that says “why bother?”, and playing with things that are deadly, especially those sorts of sins that create an ecosystem that enables predators and victims to flourish, because internal heart patters are not governed, and little to no attempt is made to take thoughts captive and make those thoughts obedient to Messiah.
I am all for a covenant that flows from the Love of the King, in which He enables us to walk freely as sons. What I am not okay with is a covenant that allows us to ignore provisions and instructions as to heart attitudes getting ignored in favor of some mysterious better covenant, and acting as thought the L-rd suddenly discovered what heart attitudes were as a result of the Sermon on the Mount.
The L-RD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Genesis 6:5
Delight yourself in the LORD,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4
But the L-RD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the L-RD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the L-RD looks on the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:7
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
Exodus 20:17
“when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”
Joshua 7:21
There is this little pebble in the Old Covenant that most “better covenant” types ignore to their own trouble. It’s called the Tenth Commandment, in Exodus 20:17. It is the Commandment that deals explicitly with the inner desires of the heart.
Messiah is not here to mediate a better covenant. He is here to show us the way that came through the entirety of the covenant etched in His blood from before the foundations of the world.
And that includes the inner desires of one’s heart.
It’s not our problem that the religious leaders of Yeshua’s day ignored the Tenth Commandment’s existence.
It is a problem, however, when a movement takes that ignoring position and forms an entire view of covenant based on shoddy exegesis that leads to a cheap and easy view of grace rooted in some sort of better covenant that abrogates entire chunks of Scripture.
Desire and the internals of the heart were a theme throughout the entirety of the biblical canon.
Here is one more example of the heart responding to not actions but seen looks of desire.
You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love,
lovely as Jerusalem,
awesome as an army with banners.
Turn away your eyes from me,
for they overwhelm me—
Your hair is like a flock of goats
leaping down the slopes of Gilead.
Song of Solomon 6:4-5 ESV
It is the eyes that overwhelm, the eyes that provide a look and a view that leads the lover to be captivated as though he were surrounded with an advancing battalion of fully-armed troops.
Now, that is inflamed godly, within-the-purview-of-the-Tenth-Commandment desire, that will execute in love and affection and that soon.
HaShem came to deal with the entirety of people through the love of the Bridegroom, and it behooves us to see the fullness of what He brought, and the the reality that He completed all the sacrifices that were necessary to reconcile us to Himself.
Beyond that, there are things we individually choose to do, and everyone should be fully convinced in their own thought as to what the outworking of that process looks like.
But if, in our preaching of the covenant, we show we forgot the Tenth Commandment existed, we neglect the very reason David was able to enter in to offer sacrifices…..
It was always about what was going on in our desires and our internals…that flow into actions.
It is not what goes into a man or woman that defiles them. Rather, it is what comes out of a man or woman that defiles them.
Just some thoughts….especially given there are crowds that appear to devote themselves to forgetting the whole tapestry of the covenant the King made with us.
Do not live as if you are unaware of the capacity of the Torah, the schoolmaster, to speak of the things Messiah came to mess with.
Beloved, I would like to invite your spirit forward to connect with me.
Spirit, listen to the Word of G-d for you for today.
Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do what is just?
From Genesis 18:25
Spirit, this post is about one of the names of G-d.
That name, “the Judge of all the Earth”, describes G-d in the process of weighing a group of cities for judgment, which simply means “decision”.
And further, Spirit, He is not merely the Judge of one person or people group or one chunk of land. Rather He is the Judge of ALL THE EARTH.
This story of Sodom and Gomorrah and the rest of the cities in the plane was a story about deciding the fate of a piece of land due to, not just the people crying out, but also the land crying out as an entity itself against the distressing injustice occurring within its borders.
G-d can be counted on to hear and handle unjust situations.
He will respond to those who are mistreating others.
He will hear the outcry of victims of all kinds of violence.
He will act and judge and decide switfly when violence happens to his kids.
So, spirit, I bless you to rest in the king’s judgment, and to depend on Him to act with justice.
His idea of justice May differ from you idea of justice, but He will act.
I bless you to trust the King is not slack concerning His promises to act.
I bless you to let go of your ideas of justice and to take on the King’s ideas of justice.
I bless you to rest and observe when a case is taken up by the Judge. I bless you to get curious as to how the Judge handles cases of injustice. And I bless you to watch when justice is rendered in a case that is not yours.
I bless you to not fall apart when the Judge renders a verdict that does not align with your idea of justice.
I bless you to get to know the love of the Judge for you. And I bless you to feel and know the love and affection of the Judge for the land.
I bless you to hear His voice and to see the memos and papers getting marked and the court orders getting signed.
I bless you, spirit, to help others see the Judge’s process of justice.
I bless you to rest on the earth as the Judge metes out His ruling which will affect not only people, but also chunks of land.
I bless you with that revelation in the name of Yeshua.
Why are we deciding what someone is based on a small set of decisions that are held under a million power magnifying glass?
Where is the Mercy Season Fragrance and tenderness in all of this?
The desire to make news is so devouring that you have to litigate a gymnast’s actions and ask the question of whether or not heroism is present??
And, some ignore the socialist actions of a governing board that refuses to celebrate excellence, but rather attacks excellence?
Or worse yet, we focus of secondary issues, such as whether or not she was good for her decision, and ignore the attacks on her dignity.
This proves the entire fourth estate (a term used for legacy news media) does not have anything better to do with their time except lead us to a place of fostered discord.
And I don’t want their evaluation of her decision.
Rather, I want them and us to celebrate the honed skill of an athlete who is a cut above the rest.
Mediocre journalism has become what the masses thinks is fresh manna, and they don’t realize they are devouring maggoty, stinking bread.
FOX, MSNBC, CNN, ABC, NBC….the whole lot of them are peopled by predators with an agenda that is unredeemed.
And many of our current modalities in the culture are governed by modalities that deny redemption and kill nuance and refuse to make a way for robust discussion.
Picking apart a person that you should be protecting and honoring as the weaker vessel (the way Christ protected and protects us as His Bride) is the summation of what should be in our mouths.
Managing our words, or better yet, STEWARDING our words and communication when it does not matter to us will determine whether or not others hear our heart when it finally does matter. There is a wealth of sound present in the earth, and a landfill of noise given off by the fourth estate
And we will reap what we sow.
The problem here, is how are we enabling sound and clear communication to emanate from us in such a way that it gives life rather than takes it away.
Are we supposed to never speak anything that is negative or indicates our anger? G-d forbid!
But if we are frustrated, let’s really weigh our words and measure them with frugal economy so that they do not spill over into dishonor of others.
Slaves obey…..and they have zero creative will or desire or tools….and they have access only to what their master gives them…..
Sons create…..
I have a few questions for you. And I have hammered and pounded and beaten this drum forever.
Why the impotent focus on what Bezos and Gates do with their money?
Shouldn’t the focus be on unpacking your own stuff?
Is our job to handle other people’s stuff and see to it other people pay “their fair share”, when fairness is not in the Bible anywhere?
Is our job not to unpack the massive amount of treasures G-d has given us?
Or is it to wonder why someone else had any fulfilling OUR vision and OUR plan for their lives?
Your problem is not Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates or Warren Buffett.
Your problem (or problems) are issues that you personally deal with….
Your problem is between your ears…
Your refusal to see what G-d has given you….
Whether or not we realize it, these issues we have been dealing with for YEARS….they already have a slew of answers to them.
I will again mention two things.
We froth at Amazon, Disney, or other company C, and we miss the issues in government, or we froth at government and miss the evil companies.
But it seems we never put the two together.
And deal with the cohesive whole.
Our excuse? We like either the red or the blue solution. One of two Republicrat solutions.
And we ignore the reality that “what you pay taxes on, you own.”
Meaning, we have paid massive amounts of money into services and companies that have done evil things, and I rarely hear believers attempting to leverage the financial investments in these companies to ask the King to steer these companies in a direction that better aligns with His will.
Further question.
Can we leverage our investment to intercede for that alignment of those companies without coaching G-d as to what his purpose and direction for these companies is?
And we rarely ask Father to shine His light whereever He damn well wants to shine it.
And we rarely down a corporate womb of agreement long enough to ask Father to steer companies or governments because we’d rather talk about the injustice as if a yutz of a businessman can or has gassed Jews.
Or we Yell about the penis-shaped ship long enough to say, “he could end world hunger with those billions.
Forgetting world hunger IS….
Because of mindsets…..
The problem of world hunger and creating the foolish solution of confiscating wealth to end it won’t end it.
You will end world hunger when you end personal hunger.
And you end personal hunger when you stop saying “the answers to my problems belong to someone else”.
And when you stop trying to force people to care for the poor or hungry.
That damn spirit of jealousy that has caused fascists to loot and pillage and burn whole cities is a real problem.
And jailing or interning or concentrating or exterminating a race because you think another race is superior.
Calling for reparations when you fail to heal your own wounds is precisely what gets us to ripping all kinds of things apart.
Failing to understand your Southern brethren because you think you can talk down to him or her and they are backwards…
And using the fire of the world to confront what is ultimately a spiritual problem is how you ensure fractured relationships will continue.
The problem is not billionaires or millionaires.
The problem is misfocussed attention on the gifts and resources of others and a failure to unpack, steward, or use your own.
I just recently pulled out a major cork to some large-scale problem I have been dealing with for 3.5 decades.
And you know what?
I am going to keep on pursuing solutions to problems that have not yet been answered.
Gang, this peanuts of the Billionaires is going to get us nowhere.
The problem is the spirit that wants to keep us blind to our own resources (spirit of Jealousy)
The problem is the spirit that says we have no resources (the spirit of slavery)
The problem is the spirit that says other people are responsible for fixing our own problems (the welfare spirit)
You are not a slave, unless you stop creating and start pointing the finger and expecting that your solution is what Jeff or Bill have.
And world Hunter proceeds from a mindset that I cannot do anything to change my station.
And when Scripture shouts:
HIS DIVINE POWER HAS GIVEN US EVERYTHING THAT IS NECESSARY FOR LIFE
And yet we continue to act as if some people were given the goods and others simply were not….
We can quit making excuses that the solution is someone else’s responsibility….
That is a damn carnal Teacher with selective responsibility or a half-blind, non-principle-weaving and severely-wounded Prophet speaking.
And I simply will not make excuses for the juxtaposition of anyone’s radically-gifted-for-life life and “my problems are solved with their crap”.
This is not how any of this works.
And you won’t work if you think your problems are supposed to be owned by someone else.
Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up: a servant who becomes king, a godless fool who gets plenty to eat, a contemptible woman who gets married, and a servant who displaces her mistress.
Proverbs 30:21-23 NIV
When someone with a spirit of slavery is installed into office rather than a problem-solving son, the earth, the land writhes. It does not settle down at ease.
Sidebar: And for the record, those who think I am a rabid Narnian and a supporter of the Dwarf Trumpkin, I have been an equal-opportunity offender.
Our responsibility is to hunt for an unpack what was placed into us inherently. It’s not to look for someone else to fix our junk.
When we beg for someone else to manage and fix our problems for us, we are robbed of the dignity of developing rich tools to fix the problems with which we are faced.
When people are cut off from anything that enables them to see their own dignity, the dignity that will empower them to fix a problem or set of problems, and to see the gifts and tools that are already in their own hand….
When they believe they do not have unless they or a benevolent rogue take what is someone else’s…..
They enable something far worse than real lack….
They enable the mindset of the spirit of poverty and the spirit of slavery, which leads to envy and jealousy, and as a result, they will never get ahead.
Be careful when a politician sets forth a problem, for you have no idea what their solution is to that problem, and it could involve the drafting of another’s time, resources, or gifts.
“The L-RD said to Moses, “Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me. And this is the contribution that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze, blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, goats’ hair, tanned rams’ skins, goatskins, acacia wood, oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones, and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece.”
Exodus 25:1-7
We often hear the dynamic of financial giving to the church, and frequently, when those gifts are given to the church, she does not steward them well.
Often, when the giving of offerings is mentioned, it is most strongly connected with money. However, from the above passage, money is not the only thing to give, the only medium for exchange, nor the thing the L-rd likes the most.
And frequently, churches in the circles I have run in most recently function on an emergency week-to-week basis. There is no slush fund for widows, orphans, or fatherless. There is zero investment in college students’ tuition so as to assist them in avoiding the evils of debt, something Scripture explicitly commands us to avoid. And college students are missionaries, whether or not we like it, and we are responsible to see to it that their monthly support is met. And the church does not often preach or teach giving passages with a view toward garments, textiles, time, presence, or service. And those garments and leather mentioned in the double fractal of seven in Exodus 25 is treated as wealth.
In short, our view of giving is exceptionally narrow, and our view of what consititutes a legitimate need is even more narrow. Moreover, our views of justice are equally narrow. The church, not the government, was designed to be the primary safety net for the poor.
Another View of Romans 13: Past vv. 1 and 2
Romans 13. Let’s crack a piece of this one open in our next flyover, because it is likely to make us a touch uncomfortable.
And, let us bypass the usual griping about vv. 1 and 2.
The text reads:
For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is G-d’s servant for your GOOD. But if you do wrong, beafraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. FOr he is the servant of G-d, an avenger who carries out G-d’s wrath on the wrongdoer.
Romans 13:3-4 ESV
Each of you know that I do not hold Washington as the leadership, because the Constitution, being our foundational set of principles, set the citizenry as the leaders, and our representatives are those who serve us.
Of course, some have a very twisted view of how authority works, which is why we are in the predicament we are in. We bought into the twisted idea that a politician’s moral fiber was not important during the presidency of Bill Clinton, and now we are stuck with the immoral in Donald Trump. Our lack of consistency in dealing with elected officials is legendary.
That said, even were I to humor the idea that the politicians are the closest analogy to Paul’s use of “kings and those in authority” in 1 Timothy 2:1-4, I would say the following.
The king is supposed to be G-d’s servant for good. And if he is corrupted, or better yet, if they are corrupted, then we do not have a servant for good.
The king is supposed to be an avenger who carries G-d’s wrath on the wrong doer.
Earth’s mightiest heroes….
Yes, I went there….
If those in the government have chosen to expend their authority, then they will lose out on the authority given to them, and the L-rd will hand that authority over to those who will steward it, and to those who will be the avengers for good and for justice.
If elected officials continue to bastardize their offices, then at some point, the L-rd will hand the lion’s share of that authority to those who will move the wheels of justice and those who will seek for the river of righteousness to flow like a never-failing stream.
I speak from personal experience. A prophet threatened me and several of my closest friends at the time. She defiled her office, and the L-rd put a stop to that, stripped her of her authority, and gave it to others who would steward it rightly.
For the good of the Kingdom.
Authority can be seated in offices, it can be seated in our position in Messiah, it can be given for special tasks, and it can be earned.
And when stewarded well, the Kingdom is further extended.
And when the Kingdom of G-d is expanded and increased, it will benefit other people.
We were made to extend the authority of G-d in the context of His kingdom.
And kingdoms are not built by slaves who are grasping for ready-made, completed solutions born out of the simplicity of what we think is the gospel.
The Kingdom of G-d is not built on miracles.
It is built on principles.
It is built with a variety of resources, not merely financial, that are woven together.
It is built inclusive of the frame of suffering. You have to have skin in the game and awareness of the building blocks, mortar, and other materials that make up the structures in the kingdom.
And it is built by sons, sons who understand the εξουσια coupled with δυναμις.
By sons who look for the resources, not just some of the resources, but every single resource.
Poverty is not merely lack of financies and money. Poverty is a mindset that refuses to look for resources because it is convinced of the reality of lack.
Relationships are a resource.
Knowledge and knowhow are resources.
Marriage, family, relationships, friendships.
Land, time.
Humility, perseverance.
Keeping at it when you have parts that beg for suicide.
How well can you succeed at being who you are?
Who He designed you to be.
For as many days as remain to you.
Open your eyes. The eyes of your spirit.
Find all of the resources that belong to you.
You need not just money and gold and precious gemstones coupled with the presence and power of G-d. You need wood, fabric, friends, companions, tenderness, time, land, and authority. The principles that are woven together.
We do not help someone out of poverty by permanently giving them liquid resources.
We permanently help someone out of poverty by giving them the drive, tools, intangibles, and connection that reminds them of their purpose and drives them toward that purpose.
There may be a season where we provide finances for them, but that is not a permanent fix. In order to fix the root problem, we have to help them get at the spirit, the clown, the mindset of poverty that they are stuck in, and root that bastard out.
And we must be willing to play our best long game at helping them out and overcoming.
This is why I ask so many questions. Not so anyone can question my motives, but so we can have a framework to discuss artful solutions to emerge from the mindset that is poverty.
It takes not merely a one-time in-the-black monetary surge. It takes perseverence when you have nothing. It takes forward movement when all you have is a two-dollar yellow pad and a nub of a pencil.
There are scads of unlocked resources in between your ears, in between your lungs, and in your gut.
And your thoughts and emotions, coupled together, can work massively.
We are often taught in the church, by too many people, in two broad and broadly opposing segments among Christ-followers that thoughts are primary or emotions are primary.
The first six redemptive gifts do lead with and work out their problems through the mind, while the Mercy leads with and work through their emotions.
And G-d is trying to couple these two with the kidneys and adrenals and create a trifecta of solutions.
And, indeed, a Mercy can work through their mind effectively.
And a Teacher can work through their heart.
As both should. We lack no resources, and neither does our great King and Father who fathers us through that bevy of resources.
And G-d connects with all seven redemptive gifts on the level of the spirit NOT the level of the soul.
Our trouble is that we have such a hard time unpacking the light G-d put into us, and we desperately need to.
So, here is a blessing to that end.
A Blessing With Respect To Resources and Authority
I invite the fullness of your spirit to come front in all of it’s 6-and-1 glory.
White, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Purple…..
Or your chosen color set.
Massively given to parallel the variously named spirits of G-d, led by the confluence of the six called the Spirit of the L-rd, paralleling the Prophet portion.
And I bless you to shine all the confluence of that prismed light toward the path across the stars Father has you on, richly-treasured and endowed with the resources of the King of Glory, for whom the gates open up.
I bless the broken-apart system in your soul and spirit, for those who have parts and those who are the victims of ritual abuse.
I bless you with the love of infinity. I bless you to be safely moored in your desired haven, aboard the ship the King gives you to conduct business and Kingdom affairs.
I bless you like Solomon, who trafficked in a bevy of resources, ivory, gold, silver, bronze, cedar, apes, peacocks, science, proverbs, wisdom, writing, medicine.
I bless you, even in the hardest and worst of seasons, to find something that is of use, and to celebrate that something of use. I bless you to fly with the wings Father gives you. I bless you to synch with the weather Father gives you.
I bless the storehouses of snow, and that Father puts every flake precisely where He wants it.
I bless you with knowledge of the galaxy that Father put into you, and the marshalling together of every resource you have, including the wilderness that is given for your quietness.
I bless the seasons of barley, and the seasons of wheat, and the seasons of both burlap and cashmere.
I bless you to recognize the reality that like the Scarecrow and Tinman in the Mercy continent of Oz, Father has, completed aspect as seen from the present, given you a New Heart and a New Mind.
I bless you to know that you are His son.
I bless you to fight and, with the resource of supernatural strategies, to know how best to allocate your warring resources.
I bless you to know on the battlefield when you are to conserve resources.
I bless you not to react to the clowns and donkeys.
I bless you to RESPOND to your KING’s agenda.
We were not made to react to anything the devil does. Rather, we were made to flow in step with the King’s agenda.
I bless your resources that have been made subject to the negative heads of Leviathan to untwist, and I bless you with the resources that are untwisted and undefiled by the negative heads of Leviathan.
I bless you to fight in accordance with the L-rd’s mandates.
I bless you to find the untapped treasure.
I bless you with the moxie to recognize when it is a season for material and fianancial resources, and when it is a season for immaterial resources.
The Wright Brothers started with a bicycle shop. That bike shop, their day job, financed their mad scientist lair and shed behind the shop, where they ran their experiments. And the city of Dayton MOCKED them at first.
Spirit, at first, people ain’t gonna take to kindly to your thoughts and words.
Do not heed their idiotic kvetching.
Be aligned with the glorious King’s adoration of your initial cries. Even if they sound like infant screams or cries.
I bless you spirit, to grow, as the garden of the L-rd, like the cities of the lush Jordan plain. I bless you to grow like the land of Egypt, which was described as lush and fertile in Genesis 13:10.
I bless you to be comforted with His comfort when others say you are not worthy.
I bless you to ignore the stupidity of others’ soulish counsel.
I bless you to find and execute for the good of others, and as you earn greater authority, even if you are not in elected office, as Deborah, others will come to have you decide their cases.
When other politicians are squadering their official authority, the authority of their offices, I bless you to earn authority and to not squander your authority, so you can steward greater authority, an authority that flows out of love and compassion.
And as you pick up and ask the king to cleanse the authority that others have wasted, I bless you to flourish in the deep places. And I bless you to not just have the authority that gtives you warm fuzzies.
But, rather, I bless you to have measureable, verifiable, sustained change in the areas to which you speak.
Spirit, you are the one in authority that Romans 13 speaks about. May you govern for good, and not evil, or selfishness, or vain ambition.
May all of y’all govern as builders, spirits, collectively, where every politician, including the President, Vice President, and others, have wasted whole swaths of their birthrights.
May you know deep and transofrmational change, and not mere warm fuzzies.
May you experience ROOTED CHANGE in the spirit that is permanent, and in accordance with the finest the kingdom has to offer.
I bless you each with the concordant authority that is each of y’all’s collectively and corporately, and ruggedly individual as well.
May you do the dance between the individual and secret on the one hand, and the corporate and public on the other hand.
I bless you each, spirits, with those blessings, and revelation, in the name of Yeshua ha-Mashiach.
Today, I was connecting with my sons on Romans 1, in my intent to take them through as much as I can of Paul’s letter before the summer is done. I was reading to them the prologue, bit by bit, and making commentary, when the common salutation hit me.
Grace and peace…
I must have read these words at least a hundred times, and recalled a sermon that was stuck in my spirit from elementary school or middle school, when I was there age. Richard Nussel spoke of χαπις and שׁלום. The introductions and greetings to both Jews and Gentiles.
Indeed,
“here is a marvelous example of Paul’s Christianizing whatever he put his hand to. The traditional greeting in the Hellenistic world was chairein–the infinitive of the verb ‘torejoice,’ but in salutations meaning simply “Greetings!” (see Acts 15:23, Jas. 1:1). In Paul’s hands this has now become charis (“grace”), to which is added the traditional Jewish greeting shalom (“peace”).
Gordon Fee, The New International Commentary on the New Testament: The First Episitle to the Corinthians: Revised Edition, Eerdmans, 2014, p.31.
Paul’s idea to cover both groups in his writing, given the middle wall of partition was broken down (Ephesians 2:14), and Father has made one out of the two. And now, we will discuss the liberty that happens when we see the two synchronizing together.
PART ONE: GRACE, THE FUEL FOR MISHPAT
Mishpat is the Hebrew word for justice. I don’t have time to build it out, but if you want further details, see Arthur Burk’s Audio Teaching called A Celebration of G-d.
To sum up that well-executed teaching, mishpat is G-d’s ability to execute.
We have been conditioned to think of grace in many places as “unmerited favor”. And while that is a true idea, it is undeveloped. That is one facet of grace.
<cue sarcasm>No joke, I can only handle hearing one truth expressed a single way a few hundred thousand times before it ceases to be as meangingful.
Church, pget beyond the definitions and the frames of the last 50 years, and step into something new. </sarcasm>
Back on track, David. Tell them the rest of what you heard.
Another facet of grace is found in its Greek word, which is also the root of charismata, which is the word translated “gift”.
A gift is something that you receive from the external world. And it is given, not earned, ever.
But in order to receive that gift, we have to unpack it fully, and only once we unpack that gift does it change our external world.
Grace is therefore the enablement for us to execute. It impacts our outside world. Grace affects how we interact with other humans, ecology, creation, the animals, the plants, the sun, the moon, the stars, the humidity (how many of you have cursed the humidity that causes the citrus groves and lush Floridian ecosystem to be and flourish rather than blessing it to be precisely what Father wants it to be. When we fully receive grace for the gift it is, we can impact, with our authority, more effectively, the world that surrounds us. The mishpat of G-d finds its fullness.
Grace, when we recognize it, and accept its unique flavor for the action of the day, provides the foundation for us to partner with G-d in order to create a sustainable system.
We create with G-d because we are in His image. We partner with Him in order to create with Him. That is, we are designed to be co-creators with G-d. In the image of G-d, we were made to be the thing that most resembles Him on this planet and in this universe, and, as a result, we were made to connect with Him in a way that no other created thing ever was.
And THAT whole recognition and the acceptance of THAT celestial reality of grace…
AND THE ALLOCATION of the reality of grace…
and THAT capacity to shift the terrestrial reality based on our King’s known will (on earth just as it is being DONE in heaven)…
…is the gift of G-d that is not by works so that no man can boast.
When we allow grace to flow, we recognize what needs to be shifted thorugh the use of the principles of Scripture and the principles of life, and those things that need to shift will shift.
Grace is the supernatural enablement given by the Holy Trinity that causes us to execute what He wants executed, and to build what He wants us to build. The Kingdom of G-d is a masculine expression, and it is built by sons.
PART TWO: PEACE, THE GROUNDS FOR EXPERIENCING TSEDEQAH
If grace is the external quality that brings the execution of the Kingdom to the earth, then peace is the internal result of the use of grace in the external. Peace, which in the Hebrew refers best to “wholeness” is when we are made whole as a result of recognizing the grace of G-d in our reality and walking in accordance with that grace. Sometimes the grace of G-d is on you to move to Texas for the next five years because Father has a work that needs to be executed. Sometimes the grace of G-d is on you to be a stay-at-home-parent, not because that is what your kids need, but because that is what Father asked you to do it. Sometimes the grace of G-d is for you to send your kids to public school because G-d has some things to teach them that homeschooling or private schooling cannot teach them. And G-d. Never. Wastes. An. Opportunity. Even one that might seem negative or distressing to you, parent who wants to control everything.
Sometimes, where G-d wants you is to allow Him to work. You find the flow of grace, G-d will overabundantly hammer you to the ground with a massive boatload of peace. If you resist the grace, then the peace will flee from you, though.
And when we walk in the mishpat of G-d on the external, we will experience the righteousness of G-d on the inside of us (tsedeqah).
G-d is just looking for people who have hearts to find His flow of grace so that His peace can overshadow them, come hell or high water.
“But now thus says the L-RD,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
Cush and Seba in exchange for you.
Because you are precious in my eyes,
and honored, and I love you,
I give men in return for you,
peoples in exchange for your life.
Fear not, for I am with you;
I will bring your offspring from the east,
and from the west I will gather you.
I will say to the north, Give up,
and to the south, Do not withhold;
bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the end of the earth,”
(Isaiah 43:1–6 ESV)
He will be with us and partner with us, but we must find that grace in order to experience the partnership with Him and in order to be protected by Him. If we refuse the grace (if G-d has given us grace to do A, when we are seeking to confess the grace to do B, we might find ourselves frustrating the grace of G-d).
But if we will take the grace that G-d gives us, then with that grace, will come the wholeness on the inside.
And when the inside world, and the outside world match in us, when there is grace and peace, then the Principle of Liberty (the Sixth of the Seven Principles) will manifest, and instead of walking as servants or mere slaves, we will be walking as sons.
Hunt for the grace gang, and you will find the peace.
By Eric Hatch
July 2, 2018
As we read Ezekiel’s writings, including most of the last post about it, God would forgive you (if you asked!) for thinking the prophet only describes a God who revels in judgment. However, Ezekiel’s audience finds bountiful hope and a cornucopia of details throughout his book, including amazingly detailed maps and powerful drama. Both continue to provide color in our process of learning God’s true character. We will study the unique way God directs Ezekiel to use plays to explain God’s response to His people’s sin. First, though, we will provide some context for Chapters 40 to 48.
Maps Detail God’s Redemptive Heart
This closing section foretells the merciful plans of the Eternal God of Isaac and Jacob for their descendants. Ezekiel receives The Word of The Lord with boundary lines for how God will apportion the restored land first promised to Abraham and his children. This may seem straight forward – that God has a specific plan to give each tribe a place to build and call home. However, Christians may find these chapters difficult to harmonize with Apostle John’s words in The Revelation and other end-time prophecies.
In this layout of a future kingdom promised by God to the nation of Israel, Ezekiel provides pinpoint, “GPS” cartography, laying out of the boundaries of each tribe of Israel’s allotment of land in a restored and future kingdom. From my view, this detailed description may have provided John with his framework of Jewish apocalyptic writings. Yes, I believe that God directly inspired John’s description of numbers: for example, the 144,000 Jewish converts to Christ during the Great Tribulation period and the New Jerusalem, a city over 1,000 miles wide, and just as long and high (yes, tall enough to stretch into Outer Space). With reformed Temple worship including animal sacrifice, even seemingly after Christ’s “once for all” sacrifice (Romans 6:10), these last 9 chapters may scare away more Christians and theologians than any of Ezekiel’s writings, even the graphic descriptions of 16 and 23!
I will note here that I don’t feel qualified yet to interpret the closing passages of Ezekiel and all of its minute detail. However, we can know for sure that Ezekiel completes his prophecies in the same place as John does in Revelation. At the end of his writings, Ezekiel writes in 48:35, “the name of the city from that time on shall be, The Lord Is There.” Then, as John finishes The New Testament, John writes in Revelation 21:3 this description of the New Jerusalem in language complementary to Ezekiel’s hope-filled name of our future home:
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God.”
With these passages, let us build our hope on The One True God and His desire to reveal Himself in the short-term, when we commune in the spiritual realm, and His promise to live with us in the long-term, when He will physically and perfectly inhabit our new home.
Looking at both John and Ezekiel’s writings, I admit to confusion. I try to understand how God sees present-day rulers in Israel/Palestine, and the ongoing fight for land in The Middle East, and the promise of a perfect nation ruled by “The Prince of Israel”. I also don’t understand when and how the Lord’s coming will occur, as described by John. Nevertheless, God promises His mercy, and He even maps it out in detail because He will fulfill His words. His grace is consummated for all women and men who care for Him.
Profound Plays Tell God’s Tragic Tale
Still, Ezekiel contains an even more uncommon narrative style, when compared to other parts of The Bible: 2 forms of drama. In Chapter 4, Ezekiel acts out a true “One Man Play” among the exiles from Judah in Babylon, preaching each day while laying down outside for over a year (390 days)! To depict God’s wrath on Jerusalem, he also builds dirt dioramas of The City of David and shows in excruciating detail how The Babylonians will destroy Judah.
In the second form of drama, Ezekiel performs as God’s avatar, his direct reflection to reveal how God acts in relationship with His rebellious children. In Chapter 24, God tells Ezekiel of his wife’s impending death, but God requires Ezekiel NOT to mourn her passing. Seemingly the cruelest job of any prophet, God wants the exiles in Israel to understand their deep, ongoing sin. It’s almost like God says to His people, “See, look at Ezekiel. He doesn’t even grieve the loss of ‘the delight of [his] eyes’. Like him, I have no more tears to cry for you. My wrath will be spent.”
This harsh picture of God shows the other side of God’s character, seemingly in contrast to the tender story in Amos about God’s buying back unfaithful Israel. There, Amos, acting in the part of God, marries the prostitute Gomer, who bore children not fathered by Amos. Then, when Gomer returned to prostitution, Amos bought her back, knowing that she still was unfaithful to him.
Both of these examples of “prophet as performance artist” complement each other, similar to the proverbial “two sides of the coin”. We can’t have a coin… without 2 sides! God acts at different times and in different circumstances with wrath toward His children in rebellious disobedience and with mercy toward the sinner. These sets of actions provide more evidence of the significance of reading the writings of Ezekiel.
See, many preachers and seekers of The Lord Jesus Christ (including myself, occasionally) emphasize God’s mercy when responding to sin and unfaithfulness, as seen in the “reality drama” of Amos and Gomer. However, just like the best human fathers, God not only provides mercy, but He also doles out discipline. By reading all of the prophets and their proclamations, we see a glimpse of the true depth of God’s personality. What majesty I see in this nuanced revelation of God’s goodness: just, fierce, forgiving, merciful, and always trustworthy! And I know this about God because I read all of the counsel about Him in scripture.
God Reveals Both His Mercy and Justice
How should this two-sided (NOT two-faced!) picture of God affect His followers and our sharing of His grace with humanity? For one thing, we only understand the character and actions of God as we seek Him in and through His past words in The Holy Bible. For both believers and seekers of The Lord God, we can and should use our studies of the Old and New Testaments to push our awareness of His divine nature. Remember that God doesn’t expect us to somehow discover a jewel about Him after innumerable unfruitful searches in the garbage heaps of Worldly Wisdom. I am, similar to greater minds of the past like Isaac Newton, a follower of Jesus Christ and a person concerned with living my life in the logical world created by Him. Therefore, I “use a metaphor popular at the time [of Newton]: God created two books, the book of Scripture and the book of Nature, and both books are true.” (Seen at https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-book-of-nature-the-book-of-scripture). We need not worry if reality seems hazy at times, whether within one of God’s “two books” or when comparing Nature with Scripture. As we wrestle with the meaning of The Bible, and as we learn more every day about the intricacies of God’s Creation, let us seek to find both what is real and what is holy. As we do, we will know more about how God relates to us and what we must know to follow Him.
Thank you for your consideration… and remember: Holy Spirit is directing us all on a journey to unity in Him, through Christ, bringing us all closer to unity in Heavenly Father. “God, bless those who read this. In Jesus’ name, amen!”
I will share in my next post about more of the somewhat obscure parts of Ezekiel.
