Sovereignty is Hilarious

"And [God] will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss [i.e., whistle] unto them from the end of the earth: and behold, they shall come with speed swiftly..." Isaiah 5:26

This verse should invoke two sensations in us. The first should be what Israel and Judah would have felt: a sense of dread, or at least a sense of seriousness, for God has summoned the nations to punish Israel and Judah with destruction (vs. 27-30).

Paradoxically, however, the second sensation should be one of humor. "...and [God] will whistle unto them..." Can you imagine the picture? God summons the nations like a man summons a dog. There is no question of Who is master and who is servant.

Look at God's dealings with Satan in relation to Job (Job 1:6-12; 2:1-6). You could almost swear God is telling Satan to "sic 'em!" Satan, however, is apparently still on a leash (see esp. 1:12 and 2:6). The terror of God's judgment (or testing) is augmented by its juxtaposition to the humor of His sovereignty.

Perhaps this is why God laughs when "the kings of the earth set themselves...against the Lord." (see Psalm 2:1-4) Who are they kidding? Can a river rise above its source? Can the moon shine without the sun, or shine more than what the sun gives it? Can kings rise above the King of kings? The true inner workings of sovereignty and freewill are beyond us, but this one thing we know: God is in control, and to try and rise above that control makes even the Most High crack up.

The Presence of God

"Then said [Isaiah], Woe is me! For I am undone...for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." Isaiah 6:5

Contemporary Christendom has utterly destroyed this truth about the presence of God (perhaps absent-mindedly, like paving another brick in the road to hell). Coming into God's presence today means being flooded over by the feeling of some abstract "ooey gooey goodness." Such sentiments are shallow nonsense that rob us of the true nature and full awe-inspiring view of the presence of God.

Do not get ahead of me. I am not saying that the belief that God's presence is full of joy and pleasure is untrue. Of course His presence is full of joy and pleasure (see esp. Psalm 16:11). I am not saying that they are not there, but that they are not all that is there. That is the lie that Contemporary Christendom has beaten to death over our own heads.

Coming into God's presence (whether at church during official worship, or at home, or driving the car, or anywhere else God finds you) is not coming into the presence of joy and pleasure; it is coming into the presence of the Truth, i.e., all things true, all things real, Source, Perfection, Wholeness; the presence of unclouded, illuminating REALITY. Coming into God's presence means stepping into the sphere where you see all as God sees: no illusions, no darkness, just what is real.

Oh, and in case you're wondering: yes, I am a Platonic Christian (but not a Christian Platonist).

"Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving," says Psalm 95:2. Why should we? Because after verse two are verses three through eleven, which are a resounding list of who God is, who we are, and what He has done for us, i..e, nine verses of comprehensive and comprehended reality.

But the comprehension of what is real is why God's presence is not merely joyous. "The Truth hurts," so it has been said, and the presence of God brings sorrow as well as joy. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God," (Hebrews 10:31) i.e., into the hands of Living Reality. Look at Isaiah again: he sees God "high and lifted up," and cries "Woe is me!" In the presence of Reality (in the presence of all things true/real), Isaiah sees himself (and his people) as they really, truly are, and it shatters his heart.

The truth lost today about God's presence is that it is the presence of all things true/real. Contemporary Christendom has lost this by stripping God's presence down to one aspect of God: joy, or love, or mercy, or whatever. What is produced is the wussy "grandfather" God, and subsequently a wussy Christianity, made up of wussy Christians who would fade like chaff in the fire if they every set foot into the presence of the Living God. How absurd it is that we sing with a happy-go-lucky feeling, "Open the eyes of my heart, Lord! I want to see you high and lifted up, shining in the light of your glory!" When we sing such things, do we really know what it is we are asking for? I daresay if we did, we would take this whole business of worship, and Christianity in general, more seriously.

Of course, that is my point. I am not saying "take the fun out of it," but "take the frivolousness out of it." Nothing in Christianity (or anywhere else, for that matter) is done or taken seriously; or better yet, nothing is taken or done with a sense of the sacred, and that is what I am calling foul over: the loss of the sacred. God's presence is whittled down to coming into the presence of Dr. Feelgood instead of coming into the presence of the One who the woman at the well testified, "He told me all that ever I did." (John 4:39)

The loss of the sacred has turned Christianity into a massive self-help organization, Christian worship into a pep rally, and God into one of many helps for your life. (God, by the way, is not a "help" in your life; He is an overhauling of your life with His).

There is joy in God's presence, and their is sorrow. There is pleasure, and there is pain. Laughter, and tears. Desolation, and Glory. There is everything that Reality will bring, everything that you can comprehend when you are where all things are clear and unshadowed, everything that you can see in the presence of One who "is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." (I John 1:5)

It is good that we ask to "see God" (that was the blessing Job received for all his trials; Job 42:5). When we do, however, may we know and take seriously and sacredly what we are asking for: pure, illuminating Reality, and all the pleasure and pain that goes with it.

Beyond Unconscious Unreality

"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" Isaiah 5:20

Isaiah has already revealed that Israel and Judah's original problem was unconscious unreality, i.e., a lack of the grasping of truth: they did not recognize that they were "the work of the Lord," and so on and so forth (see Isaiah 5:7, 12). This condition is similar to the Pharisees not recognizing Jesus as the Messiah because their grasping of who and what the Messiah was was off.
However, we now see that Israel and Judah have gone a step further (at least most of them; their is always a faithful remnant left). They have gone beyond unconscious unreality into what we should call conscious unreality. Here is the difference: in unconscious unreality, one rejects the truth because one believes that what one believes already is the truth. Perhaps another name for this would be willful ignorance. However, in conscious unreality, one realizes that what they believe is a lie, but they cling to the lie and reject the truth anyway because they hate the truth. Perhaps we could call this one willful sin. In the first unreality, the truth is rejected because of misconception; in the second unreality, the truth is rejected because of hatred. It is the second that is the most diabolical.
The Pharisees not only suffered from unconscious unreality, but they also stepped into conscious unreality. And it is conscious unreality that is the "unpardonable sin."
Allow me to explain. When Jesus told the Pharisees that they had committed the sin that would "not be forgiven," it was within the context of Jesus having just cast out a demon. The Pharisees very boldly proclaimed that he cast the demon out, not by the Spirit of God, but by the spirit of the devil (Matthew 12:24). Jesus immediately pointed out that such logic is absurd: the devil cannot stand against himself and win. Logic says that only the Spirit of God can repel a demonic presence: the Pharisees should have known that. Instead, however, they claim that Christ has "an unclean spirit," (Mark 3:30). Their hatred for Jesus led them to identify what they should have known as the Spirit of God for the spirit of the devil, i.e., they willfully exchanged good for evil, light for darkness, sweet for bitter.
I assert "willfully" because not only should the Pharisees have known better about Whose Spirit could cast out demons, but also because at that point in dealing with Jesus, their was no excuse for the Pharisees rejection of Christ except that the rejection was willful. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, he heard what Christ said, and believed. The other Pharisees had heard just as much as Nicodemus; the proofs were all around them that this man was someone from God. They should have been convinced, but instead they replaced the good with evil. Therefore, Jesus told them that, because they identified the Spirit of God with the spirit of the devil, they had committed the sin that could not be forgiven, i.e., the rejection of Christ, i.e., rejection of the truth, i.e., willful placement of good as evil, i.e., conscious unreality.
"And this is the condemnation," this is what condemns you to hell, "that the light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light..." (John 3:19). Christ is the light that came (John 1:4, 5, 9), and condemnation is brought by the willful rejection of Christ.
I must take a moment and "demystify" the words "unpardonable" and "unforgivable." Rejection of Christ is "unpardonable/unforgivable" not because it is beyond God's power to forgive (He can save to the uttermost; Hebrews 7:25). Rejection of Christ is "unpardonable/unforgivable" because you are rejecting the only thing that can pardon/forgive you. This sin will not be pardoned/forgiven because your are rejecting your pardon, rejecting forgiveness.
In Paradise Lost, Satan embodies conscious unreality when he declares, "Evil be thou my Good." This is the ultimate evil, to "change the truth of God into a lie," (Romans 1:25a) to know that "they which commit such things [i.e., sins] are worthy of death, [but you] not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." (Romans 1:32)
If anyone asks you what sin condemns them to hell, tell them the rejection of Christ. All sins can be forgiven, except the one that rejects forgiveness. This is why Satan will not be forgiven: his entire will is bent towards "unreality," or (as Dorothy Sayers put it), the "not-God...negation and destruction...He turned away from God, and found it was hell." Conscious unreality is the embodiment of Satan himself.

More on Matters of Life and Death

"Woe unto their soul! For they have rewarded evil unto themselves!" Isaiah 3:9b

The cyclical nature of the universe is inescapable. It is set up in the order of reaping and sowing (Galatians 6:7). It is evident in the life of Israel:

"Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings." (vs. 10)
"Woe unto the wicked! It shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him." (vs. 11)

In both cases, their rewards are a result of "their doings" and "[their] hands." Their decisions are sentences that they pass on themselves. "But I thought blessings and judgments came from God!" That is true. However, God's movements are never arbitrary. They are always a response to something. "If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword..." (vs. 19, 20). God's nature is goodness: He will reward good things to the righteous. God's nature is righteous as well: He will reward evil upon the wicked.
We need to take seriously the fact that our decisions decide our destines. Our choices are not mere results of our reasoning faculties at a point in time; they are the first in a chain of events that will lead to a logical consequence (see Deuteronomy 30:19, 20 & Proverbs 8:35, 36). Individualism is so rampant today that we truly believe that we are not only islands from other people but also from the order of the universe as well. This should not be, because it makes us take our decisions lightly, something we should never do. We have to get back to believing that we are part of the great design of the universe, that though we appear to the naked eye to be puny specks in it all, our decisions are like thrown stones into a pond: no matter how small they are, it is in the nature of the pond to ripple; and no matter how "puny" we seem, it is in the nature of the universe (on all levels: physically and spiritually) to "ripple" in response to what we do.
Do we actually believe that our decisions extend beyond ourselves? That they may have cosmic consequences? Of course not. If we did, we would not make the foolish decisions that we make everyday. May God help us to remember: if we choose God over self or anything else, the Spirit of God is released in and through us, releasing His life to creation, to which all of creation sings. However, if we choose anything (even good and noble things) over God, it is sin, and it releases death in and through us, to which the whole of creation is darkened. Our choices are not independent statements of individuality; they make us conduits of either life or death.
God is NOT a cosmic killjoy. He does not prudishly smash you when you have fun, or pat you on the back when you act like a dull goody two shoes (whatever that means). God's word is not just telling us about morality, but about the nature of the universe. Morality is the icing on the cake; there is something even more important then that, i.e., the fact that our moral/immoral decisions and choices send ripples of either life or death throughout the whole of creation, to ourselves (affect our relationship to our self), to others (affecting those relationships), and most seriously, all the way to the throne of God (affecting the most important relationship of all: our relationship to Him).
It is the power of the Spirit of God in us that helps us choose life. Death comes easy to us (see Romans 7:18-8:4). If only we truly believed our decisions and choices were matters of life and death.

"Unconscious Unreality"

"Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge..." Isaiah 5:13a

"The deadliest Pharisaism today is not hypocrisy, but unconscious unreality."
-Oswald Chambers

God is pointing out through Isaiah the dangers in lacking a firm grasp of reality. The "knowledge" that God's people lacked was that they were His "work" and "operation," (vs. 12) that Israel was His "vineyard" and Judah His "precious plant." (vs. 7) They did not grasp the reality that they were God's: made by Him, for Him. This lack of knowledge destroyed them.
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge..." (Hosea 4:6) I must say in all honesty that this is the sad fact of the modern Christian, a fact that I see most prevalent right here in Crichton College. There is no search for knowledge, no grasping for and of reality, no want for truth. People blow in with preconceived notions about God and the world, and instead of trying to find the truth about God and the world, they find every thing under the sun that bolsters there preconceived notions against any words of truth. If you hate one denominations way of looking at things, you will find everything out there that proves you right, and the process of seeing if they are actually true (or if there is ANY truth in them at all) never crosses your mind. We would much rather know those things that patronize our already established beliefs, whether they be true or no.
Ask yourself: what would happen if your beliefs (about ANYTHING) ran up against the truth, and your beliefs were weighed and found wanting? What then? Would you increase in knowledge, grasp reality, grow in the nurture and admonition of the Lord? Or would your pet beliefs dominate reality?
Unfortunately, this is the plight of Crichton College (and this generation of Christians in general): we do not want knowledge, we do not want the truth; we want what will succour our way of thinking in the face of truth, because truth would mean change, and change is terrifying.
But therein lies the error: truth is NOT mere change; truth is FREEDOM (John 8:32). Any belief, notion, or idea that comes at odds with the truth is not another "point of view," or "perspective," or "way of looking at it." It is bondage. Freedom is found only in the truth. Everything else is a heaping up of chains upon ourselves.
"Jesus saith unto him, I am...the truth..." (John 14:6) To be of Christ is to be of the truth (John 8:31, 32); to be of God is to be of the truth (John 8:45-47). What delight have we in falsehoods, bondage, and slavery? Why will we continue to succour and feed those things that only chain us down? "Why should ye be stricken anymore?" (Isaiah 1:5a) "Arise, shine..." (Isaiah 60:1a), we are not children of darkness, but of light (Colossians 1:12, 13; I Peter 2:9). How long will we fool ourselves into thinking that sustaining our false, pet beliefs in the light of knowledge is the right way to go? How many more Crichton College students (both honors and otherwise) will read Aristotle, Plato, Freud, Bacon, Milton, Lewis, Sayers, Chesterton, Jung, Paul, Peter, John, etc., not out of a search for truth, but out of a search for what will bolster their comfort zone? If the truth brings desolation, then let desolation come, and with it the glory of freedom.
"...their honorable men are famished, and their multitudes dried up with thirst." (Isaiah 5:13b) How people will starve themselves is amazing! Christ stands ready to feed us with the truth, and we ignore the milk and honey, preferring instead garlic and cucumbers. We shall never be filled.
"Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure..." (Isaiah 5:14a) The presence of death is a sure sign of the absence of the truth. No matter what makes us feel good (even if it seems to heal old psychological wounds), whatever is not of the truth is lies, unreality, and death. Do not work the death sentence on yourself; stay free, "walk in the light, as He is in the light," (I John 1:7) wherever that light may lead you.

More Desolation and Glory

"...for upon all the glory shall be a defense." Isaiah 4:5b

The glory that comes after desolation is marked by the presence of God. The restoration of Jerusalem to glory is not merely superficial: it is not just the restoration of buildings and lands. It is the restoration of a people back to their God.
The glory of Jerusalem is the presence of God, and the glory brought about by the desolation is the return of that presence: "The Lord will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night..." (Isaiah 4:5a). Any Jew (and any Christian with a Sunday School education) would recognize those two images as the presence of God (hint: remember the Exodus?). "And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert [i.e., covering] from storm and from rain." (Isaiah 4:6). The tabernacle was the dwelling place of God, and it will return after (or perhaps, because of) the desolation. God's presence is the glory (and therefore the purpose of the desolation).
The glory that follows desolation is not marked by power, wealth, health, recognition, or sound sleep. Those things may (or may not) come with the glory, but they do not mark it, i.e., they are not its most important and predominant feature. What marks the glory that comes from desolation is the presence of God, and subsequently closer communion with Him. That single feature is the point of desolation and glory, nothing else.
We cheat ourselves if we submit to the desolation for the sake of something and not Someone. Moses, in the wilderness (i.e., in the desolation), asked God to show him "thy way" for one purpose only: "that I may know thee..." (Exodus 33:13). Paul counted all things as loss so "that I may know Him..." (Philippians 3:10). The point of Job's sufferings was not so that his "latter end" would be more blessed than his beginning, but so he could say, "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee" (Job 42:5). The desolation and the glory are to draw us closer and closer to God, nothing more and nothing less.

Bringing Sexy Back to the Return Counter

I have grown increasingly impatient with the use of the word "sexy" today. Just last week, a advertisement flashed across my screen for a movie where it was described as "glorious," "breathtaking," and "SEXY!"
The word "sexy" popped up right when images of a sex scene popped up, which lead me to wonder, "Why are they calling the movie sexy?" I can't be because there is sex in it; to say that sex is sexy is to be redundant.
Of course, the reason movies are called "sexy" is because a part of their nature is sexual, i.e., some of their elements are meant to arouse sexual impulses. This arousal is unanimously considered by the whose-who of the world as commendable, whether it be an element of movies or even fashion (how many times on What Not to Wear does Staci say something to the effect of, "That is sexy!" or "Let's build your sex appeal."). Sex is now a virtue.

But what about beauty?

Oh, I'm sorry, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right? In other words, it is subjective. There is no real beauty in the world, just what you say is beauty. Remember, the idea that beauty is a transcendent element that represents a standard to be met is offensive.
Of course, sex is different. Sex is only biological. We can measure it chemically and physically, and observe and experience it in real time. There's nothing transcendent, spiritual, or metaphysical about it. It can't offend anyone (except prudes) because there is no standard to meet (except the one's that Hollywood create).

I'm returning the idea of "sexy is a virtue" to the return counter because "sexy" is a constant reminder of our societies loss of transcendent, objective values. The use of "sexy" as a commendable quality drops beauty and sex down to the visceral, to the merely animal. Beauty is no longer an inherent quality that we respond to on some deeper level than the physical (soul anyone?); beauty is subjective. Sex is no longer the physical and spiritual unity on the two sexes into one whole being, a beautiful picture of self-sacrifice and surrender; sex is merely animality in action.

Perhaps we'll realize that their are higher qualities than the physical, qualities that elevate the physical to the divine. "Sexy," however, is merely the abolition of man. So I want my money back.

Desolation and Glory

"And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she [i.e., Jerusalem] being desolate shall sit upon the ground." Isaiah 3:26

The desolation of Jerusalem is not merely cruelty on God's part. Yes, it is an act of judgment, but His judgments are always juxtaposed with His love: there is always a "rising up" after the "falling down." We like the rising up part; what we don't like is that we must be brought down before we are brought up.
Jerusalem's destiny was to fall (Deuteronomy 31:29) so that in her falling she and all the world might be raised up (Romans 11:25-32). Job was brought down so that he could know God in a new way (Job 42:5), and all was restored to him. There had to be a falling down before the rising up. There has to be desolation before there can be glory, humbling before there can be grace.
Humility is born out of desolation, not self-downing. Humility does not come from you constantly downing yourself ("I'm just an old sinner!" "I'm nobody!" "I'm as dumb as a bag of rocks!"). Such an attitude keeps the focus on yourself, and therefore is a hidden form of pride. Humbling is not brought by self-downing; humbling is brought by desolation, which is to be brought down. We can fight this "bringing," which is why God does say we should humble ourselves (I Peter 5:6). Ultimately, however, God will bring us down; we either submit to the bringing or not. "Humbling yourself" means we submit to the Will that brings us down.
Desolation means an emptying of yourself of anything "glorious," anything that could counterfeit as solid ground for your soul. Desolation leaves you with nothing in you (including your "humility") that you can rely on. Desolation is to be "the poor in spirit," (Matthew 5:3), to be a "spiritual pauper," as Oswald Chambers put it. The desolate soul is the soul that God can raise up to glory.
This is nothing new. Desolation and Glory is the framework for the paradox of the Incarnation. The Incarnation was the desolation of God, an emptying of His glory, the making Himself "of no reputation...and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself..." (Philippians 2:7, 8). (Note: The fascinating part is that God brought Himself down, but we must be brought down by Him. To seek to bring desolation on ourselves is another form of pride because it is claiming to do something only God can do.)
Christ death and resurrection involves Desolation and Glory as well. His death was a "shame" (Hebrews 12:2), it was Him being "made sin" (II Corinthians 5:21) so that He would be raised up to a glorified body and the salvation of the world.
We want the cure without the medicine when we want glory without desolation, the power of God without the sufferings of Christ. The Apostle Paul not only longed for the "power of [Christ's] resurrection," but also for the "fellowship of His sufferings" (Philippians 3:10), and there is no resurrection without the sufferings, no power without that fellowship. Desolation forces us to focus not on ourselves but on our need for Christ, and we can never know the Life that brings the power unless we first know the fellowship that brings the suffering. When God (and God alone) brings desolation to us, we must remember that there must be a falling down before the rising up. Submission to desolation is the pathway to glory. What a beautiful paradox.

"Before God can use a man greatly, He must first wound him deeply." -A.W. Tozer