The Two Fates

     "That ye may be blameless and pure, the sons of God, without fault, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world [alt: as stars in the universe]." Philippians 2:15

     We are stars shed from the blood of the sun, the sparks of a greater flame that is infinite and glorious, sending us flying upward into the pitch black sky of night. We are in constant rebellion against the dark: we will not conform to its shades and secret sins. Like a new caretaker purchases a rotting old building and begins by replacing a bulb in a dark alleyway: the roaches flee and the caretaker begins his repairs. So we too, having been purchased by God through His blood and pain and having our old deformities set right, we shine in the dark places as our master sets to fix the whole.

     God did not call people to merely escape from Hell; He has called us to bear the fruits of His fire. Read Galatians 5:22-23. There are the fruits of the Spirit; there is the result of being one with the consuming fire. If you have not these things, then you are still a dead ember lying lifeless on the ash heap of the world. A fire is coming for you and your kind, but you will not survive it.

     Hence are our two fates: to burn or to burn. To be filled up by the fiery Spirit of God like an overfilled cup or to be drowned in an infinite ocean of His fiery wrath. To the burning Love or the burning Wrath you must flee. The choice is yours; the results are eternal.

-Jon Vowell (c) 2009

The Return of the King II: Earnest Expectation of the Creation

"Let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein. Let the floods clap their hands; let the hills be joyful together before the Lord, for He cometh to judge the earth. With righteousness shall He judge the world, and the people with uprightness." Ps. 98:7-9

"The earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God...because the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God." Romans 8:19-21

The return of the King and subsequent redemption thereof is not a private event for man but a universal event of all creation. Sin has unleashed the consequences of Death and its corruption into the furthest extents of the universe, even the parts to which we have never been nor ever will; yet even those parts ring with the "earnest expectation" of the restoration of the rightful order.
Do we function on the level where we consciously consider that the universe is not even half of what it used to be or could be? That neither are me? "The whole creation groans and travails in pain" (Rom. 8:22), for the Fall has corrupted its glory, our glory, and nothing is as it ought to be. The universe is smarter than us, however; it continues on in earnest expectation. We, on the other hand, are forgetful creatures, and our expectation dulls into a kind of apathetic resignation and contentment. We are lulled to sleep by the dull and static hum of the fallen world, and it is high time that we wake up.

-Jon Vowell

The Gospel

"[Lucifer is] the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms, that made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof, that opened not the house of his prisoners." Isaiah 14:16b, 17

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath appointed me to preach good tidings to the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, [...] to comfort them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.... I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall be joyful in my God...." Isaiah 61:1, 3a, 10a

"For this purpose the Son of God was manifested: that He might destroy the works of the devil." I John 3:8b

To see Jesus as a social revolutionary is an injustice and a crime against the Gospel. To see Him as a mere statement of Divine sentimentality is a blasphemous hatred against the Gospel. To see Him as a cash cow, a cosmic ATM, is to rob the Gospel of all power and glory. To see Him as the liberator from cruel governments of men is to be as confused and disappointed at His coming as the Jews who eventually killed Him were. If you see and preach Christ as anything less or other than the propitiation for the Sin of the world, as the revelation of God's holy wrath and loving kindness, as the only mediator between God and man, as the Destroyer of all evil and corruption caused since the Fall, and as the Kinsman Redeemer of all men who have fallen, then you blaspheme and disgrace the work and name of our Lord, and we have no part in you, for what fellowship has light with darkness? Indeed, if you preach any gospel other than that which proclaims the forgiveness of sins and atonement of men back to God through the shed blood of Christ, then you are merely adding to the darkness that already blinds so many. Every breath you breathe that carries with it your false gospel sends unholy fog across the souls of men, furthering their natural obscurity, so that the true light is even harder to find. In the end, you will be one of the ones mentioned in Matthew 7:21-23; you will have your reward.

The lost and lonely people of this dying world do not need a social revolutionary. They do not need beautiful phrases of sentimentality. They do not need a cosmic ATM. They do not need a usurping liberator. They do not need a guru, an enlightened one, a homeboy, a co-pilot, or a moral mentor; they need a savior. They need the awesome and terrible truth that God is there, He is not silent, and He has come to us, "His arm [has] brought salvation...the Redeemer [has] come to Zion." (Isaiah 59:15, 20) This world needs good news that transcends and outlasts all cultures, kingdoms, fashions, and fads; news that is good no matter what social, cultural, political, or religious environment you live in. This world needs a saving truth that is the same for all at all times no matter what happens, and that truth has always been: God is, God loves, and God can be found.

"We have seen God's Glory:

Not beautiful words and phrases,

But Redemption based on the

Blood of Christ..."

-Jon Vowell

This Is Redemption: Glorification

"Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee, and the Gentiles shall come to thy light...because He hath glorified thee. [...] The Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory." Isaiah 60:1-3a, 9b, 19b

For proper Christian living, it is essential to have a proper understanding of God's children as they are now and as they will be. As to what they will be, Scripture clearly teaches that upon Christ's return, God's immediate presence will glorify His children with His glory (like a million mirrors reflecting the rising sun at dawn), and that glorification will be the redemption of all things (see Romans 8:18-23). When Christ returns, and the presence of God is revealed to all, the world and universe will become as it were a great star, with all Sin and corruption being burned away forever, and God's children will be the roaring coals of that holy fire.

As to what they are now, they are still "the light of the world," because the Light of the World (i.e., Christ) rest within them by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. That same glory of God that heralds and causes the redemption of all things is with us now, because the glory of God is God, and He is with us by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Though His presence in us is not yet manifested in its perfection, it can still be seen by the actions it leads us to do, attitude that it produces in us, and the gospel that it preaches through us. Until the veil is lifted and we are made actual manifestations of God's glory, we are to be living pictures of that yet future state were (as T.S. Elliot put it) "all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well."

"Redemption is

The glory of the Lord

And the Glory of the Lord..."

-Jon Vowell

The Great Return II: God as Redeemer

"For ye shall go out with joy, and be lead forth with peace. The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; and it shall be to the Lord for a name of renown, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." Isaiah 55:12, 13

The redemptive power of the gospel will forever stand as testimony to the glorious character and nature of God. To those who embrace the gospel, to the creation that will feel its effects, God will be known as Redeemer. His wrath towards His people will become a fading memory, and Redemption will be our song (Isaiah 54:7, 8). The redemptive power of the gospel is ultimate and final proof that God is exactly Who the Scriptures reveal Him as: Holy and Love--He has removed the curse and blight of Sin, and has set us free from it.

"Instead of the thorn...instead of the brier," all will be as it was before the Fall, all will be restored and made new, and such a great returning shall be the theme of His children. Think on this. Mankind was created for a great romance (i.e., adventure) with God, and the music of our existence would have two eternal notes: God is our Creator, God is our Lover. Unfortunately, that romance was 'interrupted' (so to speak) by the Fall. Once all has been restored, we will continue forward, but we will have an added a note to the music of our existence: God is our Redeemer. Let all the children of lesser gods howl in fear and despair, for we who have tasted the sweet waters of redemption know against all of their ragings that there is a God who is Holy and Love, who punishes Sin and saves the sinner, and we have seen His glory.

"The Gospel stands

Like a star undaunted

Mid the blackest of the night.

It stand for this

Sure testimony

That there is such a thing

As Light..."

-Jon Vowell

The Gospel in the Context of the Trinity

"For thy Maker is thine husband, the Lord of hosts is His name; and thy Redeemer [is] the Holy One of Israel, The God of the whole earth shall He be called. For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God." Isaiah 54:5, 6

The idea of God as a romantic (in a relational and not literary sense) strikes many as unconventional, especially men (God is my husband?). Imagery aside, however, the thing to grasp here is that God desires communion with you: to love, to have and to hold. Regardless of gender, all people desire to be desired; whether for beauty or strength, all people long to be wanted by another. The desire for communion with others is a fundamental element of humanity, and the Bible tells us the shocking truth that the terrible and glorious Almighty desires to commune with us.

Now, there is a difference between desire and need. God desires communion with us, but He does not need it. Existing as the Trinity, God is in an eternal, perfect communion and society within Himself; He needs nothing more. The flip side of all this is that the truth of God existing as the Trinity is the fundamental reality behind the oft over quoted and misquoted phrase, "God is love," i.e., God's very nature is bound up in communion with others. Thus, we see two facts that emerge from God existing as a Trinity: He does not need to commune with us, for He is in perfect communion always; He does desire to commune with us because it is His very nature to commune with others. Note that the reason God desires communion with us has everything to do with Him, not us. There is nothing in us that merits God's desire; His desire springs from His own nature and nowhere else. Though we are unlovable, God loved us; while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Of course, Christ is the fullest expression and proof of God's love for us (Romans 5:8), and He came to 'make us lovable,' i.e., make us so that we can commune with God. That God desires to commune and whether or not He can commune are two different things. God cannot commune with Sin (for Sin is the rejection of and separation from God), and we are all sinners (Romans 3:23). Thus, unless something drastically changes within us, we cannot commune with God, but are destined to stay separate from Him forever, which is the true meaning of Hell (Matthew 7:23 & 25:41; notice the use by multiple translations of the word "depart"). At the Cross of Christ, however, a transaction was made. Christ, who was and is God, took our Sin upon Himself and in return gave us His righteousness, i.e., God's righteousness (II Corinthians 5:21). Therefore, Christ has (through the Cross) made a way for us to be made lovable, by making us a way to become like Love Himself. Having been 'made lovable,' (i.e., saved) by Christ, commune with God is now possible, but only if we (1) believe that Christ is the only way to be 'made lovable,' and (2) accept such a salvation (for a gift is not yours until you accept it).

Thus, by accepting the salvation found only in Christ, that which separates us from God (i.e., Sin) is done away with, and our communion with Him is restored. It is restored becomes Sin (that which absolutely separates) has been removed, and Love (that which absolutely unites) has replaced it. Therefore, the gospel is about love, romance, about God desiring us and making a way for us to commune with Him. We can reject such communion if we wish, but we do so at our own peril.

"All consuming Love and Passion,

Holy Fire of pain and pleasure,

Draw us deeper still

Into the Light of Your Glory and Grace..."

-Jon Vowell

The Past Reborn

"...for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood anymore." Isaiah 54:4b

The past is one of the greatest demons to ever torment mankind. If there is one ghost no one wants to be haunted by, it is the past. It could be argued that part of the psychological terror that ghost inflict is that they are dreaded embodiments of the evil past, the unholy manifestation of some former failing or sin no longer with us chronologically but still with us actually. To that affect, the past is a ghost that haunts us endlessly, and the greatest haunting pain of mankind is a past action, i.e., the Fall. The remnants of that horrendous aboriginal disaster hovers about corporate humanity and individual humans like a foul wraith (or a foul odor).

"Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (II Corinthians 5:17) One of the glories of the gospel is the realization of the reality that our slate is wiped clean and kept clean by Christ (see I John 1:7 in regards to "kept" clean). The one demon mankind needs slain is the past, full of fears and failures, full of the Fall. Christ deals with our past at the Cross, and thereby gives us a new past, a new legacy, one whose foundation is not the Fall but the Atonement. One of the joys of the Christian is that (because of Christ) God no longer sees them on the basis of the Fall, but rather on the Cross. Thanks to Christ, we are set free from the unholy past and given a new, irreproachable legacy, one that even God Himself can find no fault in.

"May men find in You

Not beautiful words and phrases

But a legacy reborn

Into immutable Holiness..."

-Jon Vowell

The Haunting Pain

"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way...." Isaiah 53:6a

The correct view of Sin is wrapped up in those last three words: "his own way," i.e., not God's way. Sin is anything that is 'not-God,' i.e., neither of Him nor leading to Him. Sin is not doing wrong things; it is doing not-God things, and even seemingly rational, noble, or beautiful things can still be not of God. We err if we think and preach that men are sinners because they act wrongly; men are sinners because they act 'not-Godly'. Mere moralizing can solve wrong actions, which is why Christianity is not mere moralizing; something deeper is needed to deal with a lack of God-likeness. If men behave badly, send them to the moralists. If men are not God-like, however, send them to a savior, someone who can save them from themselves, from their "own way."

Your view of Sin affects your view of the gospel and, consequently, its presentation. The Gospel of Christ is 'good news' because it deals with something deeper and more necessary than the superficial fact that men behave badly. Christ's gospel cuts to our fundamental being, i.e., we should be like God, but we are not. We should be holy as He is holy, but we are not. The haunting pain of mankind is not that we do wrong but that we know (somehow, someway) that we are wrong, that we have strayed from the true way to our own way, and we have become lost in the worst kind of prison, i.e., ourselves. The gospel is good news only when it is set in that context. Christ has come so that we may lose ourselves and regain God, lose our way and regain the true way.

"We are wrong and

You are Right.

You took our wrong

To make us Right.

You became like us

So we could be like You..."

-Jon Vowell

Christ the Offender II: What This World Needs

"...He hath no form or comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from Him. He was despised, and we esteemed Him not." Isaiah 53:2b, 3

The Jesus we are presented with today is nothing like the Jesus of the Scriptures. These days Jesus is God's happy helper, out to bring many sons to glorious health and wealth. Meanwhile, the Jesus of the Scriptures was offensive and hated because He came as a sword to annihilate the peace and stability of the content and comfortable. The Jesus of the Scriptures was God walking amongst fallen men, revealing at every turn that He was nothing they wanted and yet all that they needed.

The lost and lonely people of this fallen world do not need another happy guru bringing great tidings of great self-help books; what they need is God, and the knowledge of His scandalous and glorious Gospel. Fallen man does not need to be made more amiable; they need to be shocked to their sense. Shock and shake them out of dark apathy with the offensive knowledge that they are sinners, separated from God, damned to Hell, and that Immanuel has come to accept their unconditional surrender and crush them so that they can be made whole, kill them so that they can be reborn. Do not give men scratchings for their itching ears; tell them something a man would be glad to believe.

"Keep me clear from

Anti-Christs

Who steal the glorious power of

The Gospel.

Deliver us from their evil..."

-Jon Vowell

Christ the Offender

""Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" Isaiah 53:1

The Bible never said that its claims would seem sensible (or even rational) from a purely human perspective. Indeed, its claims are equally true and outrageous. The Redemption of Christ, the very core theme of the Bible, is called a stumbling stone to some and foolishness to others (I Corinthians 1:23), and there is a reason Jesus said that the way that leads to life is narrow and few would find it (Matthew 7:14).

Of course, the Christian faith is rational; apologetics and Christian philosophic thought are not invalid; Christian Existentialism is not our sole view. That Christianity and its doctrines are outrageous does not in any way steal from the fact that they are true. What needs to be noted here and remembered is that we are in error if we think that Christianity and its doctrines (especially the terrible doctrines of the Cross and the Atonement) are easy for fallen man to swallow, namely because the heart of Christianity (i.e., Jesus Christ) states with unblinking authority, "Nothing you do or are can save you." That cuts right across fallen man's rationale, which is a mode of thinking that starts with man and only man. Fallen man's reason starts with man and nothing else; Christianity's reason starts with God or nothing else, and fallen man cannot accept such a premise, a premise that demands of them to come as humble sinners and nothing else. For fallen man, stepped in rebellion, understanding the nature of a sin offering or of hypo-static unions is not the real stumbling point; bowing the knee is.

The very thought that man is not enough is scandalous, outrageous, but true. At the end of the day, whatever the arguments (or lack thereof), it is never reason that keeps men from God (for God is the source of reason); it is pride that keeps them, keeps them from getting to God by going through Christ, the only name whereby men might be saved. Men might accept our claims more easily if it were not for Christ, for Christ demands absolute surrender to His salvation, and such a thing is anathema to fallen mankind's ultimately irrational thinking.

"May the gospel we preach

Offend and inflame.

May it burn the hearts of men

Like hot coals on their heads..."

-Jon Vowell

The Shield Against the Death Strike of the Universe

"Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner; but my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished." Isaiah 51:6

I have addressed elsewhere that the universe is dying and taking us with it, and that as such artificially produced immortality is a fairytale for grownups. If the universe goes down in flames (or freezes, or crunches, or "runs away"), then we go down with it. I would like to state here that such a position is not only thoroughly rational, but also (as should be expected) thoroughly Christian. "Heaven and earth shall pass away," says our Lord. Christianity has always asserted that, even if there was no apocalypse, the universe would perish anyways.
"My salvation shall be forever." Christianity has also always asserted that there is an immortality beyond our universe, an immortality given by the hands of Infinity Himself. Thus is the biblical teaching, and thus is the Christian doctrine: there is a God who is there, infinite and personal, independent from and yet involved in this universe that He has made, and He has brought immortality (read: salvation) to us in the palms of His nail-scarred hands. We reject such a gift at our own peril, for it is not a choice between one belief and another, but between the real and actual clinging to either the infinite-personal God who is there and not silent, or the dead and dying universe that will fade away. In its place will be a redeemed and restored universe, with all deadness removed; will ye be among the dead?

"All things are made new
Only in You.
Outside of you, all things wax old,
Like filthy rags..."
-Jon Vowell

This is Redemption: The Greatest Need

"[God] will make [Israel's] wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord...." Isaiah 51:3b
"So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than the beginning...." Job 42:12a
"And He that sat upon the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new....'" Revelation 21:5a

Redemption is restoration, and restoration is the greatest of human needs. Though the unbelieving man or woman may be a bit fuzzy on the particulars, there is nonetheless an underlying uneasiness within the human race, a restless certainty that all is not well. Now, two things need to be said about that last sentence: (1) This is not abstract psychology; it is a rugged fact of humanity: to be human is to know that something is wrong. Perhaps one does not know exactly what, how, or in what way things are wrong, but they know there is something wrong. (2) This is not stating the obvious. People may say, "Sure the world is messed up; just look at the news," and they are right. However, that people know that something is wrong does not merely mean that they know that bad things happen; it means they have a disturbing feeling that things are wrong, that at rock bottom all things (good, bad, and neutral) are wrong, damaged, abnormal, not the way it ought to be. It is not just bad things that feel wrong, but all things that feel wrong, including ourselves. Whatever or whoever has been wronged and it whatever way, it is the greatest human desire that things be rectified and reconciled.
God satisfies this greatest of human needs by telling us in his factual, propositional, revealed Word exactly what went wrong and how it can be fixed, i.e., the Fall and the Cross: a real, space-time evil that mankind perpetrated and thus inherited; and a real, space-time solution that God instituted and mankind can either accept or reject. Acceptance means restoration: of man to man, man to himself, and man to God. Rejection means...well, nothing. Things stay the same, i.e., things stay wrong; and mankind is left unsatisfied.

"Our greatest need, oh God,
Our greatest need is You,
With us; us back to You.
Our greatest need, oh God
Is Immanuel..."
-Jon Vowell

In Touch With Reality

"O Lucifer, son of the morning...[thou] that made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that would not release his prisoners." Isaiah 14:17
"That thou [i.e., the Messiah] may say to the prisoners, 'Go forth,' to them that are in darkness, 'Show yourselves.' They shall feed along the roads, and their pastures shall be in all desolate heights." Isaiah 49:9
"For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil." I John 3:8b

Do you believe that God is in the business of unraveling all of Satan's evil? Do you believe that God seeks and will have the eradication of suffering and death? Do you believe that redemption means the world becoming like a star, and all the traces and effects of Sin will burn away? Do you believe that redemption is as much now as it is the future? Do you look for redemption in your present day circumstances? Do you believe that the Cross has set all things upon the objective reality of redemption, or is darkness your only view? It is the strength of the Christian to be able to realize and claim the truth that darkness is real, but it is not the end. At the bottom of all things, the reality of evil has been undercut, and it will fade away; even today it is happening, if you will only look for it. Are our eyes filtering all through redemption, or is everything merely material, nonsensical?
You remember past evils; do you remember the good that God worked out of them? You acknowledge the power of man's fallenness; do you acknowledge the almighty power of God's grace? You have seen the ravagings of Sin; do you see the reality of Redemption? If we focus solely of Sin, we will despair. If we focus solely of Redemption, we will daydream. If, however, we focus of the reality of Redemption working within a world of Sin, then we shall live like the children of God. We are ever aware of a great upheaval that has taken place within the very framework of the universe, an upheaval whose effects flash here and there now and again, which will one day be fully unleashed in purging fury (Romans 8:18-23).
The good news that we have is this: God has struck Sin at its very core, and all evil will die with it; if ye be evil, then repent! Perhaps you preach this news; do you believe it? Do you believe that Redemption is the reality that is consuming Sin off the face of the earth, or do we sequester Redemption to merely salvation experiences: ecstatic moments in time, and nothing more? For every moment that Redemption is not our reality, we will become fearful, bitter, angry, and cynical. The children of God are never to be these things; we are the never naive nor despairing flames in the night who believe in and point to the reality of the Sun. We are the children of the Burning Heart. Do you see the Fire that purges away all evil; or do you know only the night, and forget the light given to you? If the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

"Holy light of the world,
Save us from ourselves:
We are out of touch.
Take us out of our shadows
And up to Your Reality..."
-Jon Vowell

The Weapon of God

"[God] hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand hath He hid me. He hath made me a polished arrow; in His quiver hath he Hid me...." Isaiah 49:2
"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword." Matthew 10:34

The Jewish hope that the Messiah would be a weapon in the hand of God was most certainly fulfilled, but not as they had imagined. The Romans did not fall; the Gentile empire did not crumble. Instead the Jewish beliefs about God crumbled (I Corinthians 1:23), and all precious loyalties were challenged (Matthew 10:35-38). The Messiah had come to kill, but apparently to kill His own followers (Matthew 10:39). It was the price that would have to be paid, and Christ demonstrated it in graphic fashion: the pathway of life lies through the gateway of death. All things must be made desolate before they become glorious.
"When the law came, sin revived, and I died." (Romans 7:9) "The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ." (Galatians 3:24) Salvation is an impossibility unless we realize that we are lost; glorious redemption is a myth if there is no desolate damnation. It is the stern claim of God that in order to feel wonderful, you must first feel dreadful; in order to find Him, the weapon of God must shatter us apart completely, until there are no more delusions left, no deceptions, no masks, just the wretched, blind, naked, miserable self handed over to God in surrender. If we are to be lifted up by God, we must step down from our pedestals, for it is the broken and dirty things that God has come to make His children (Luke 19:10). Only sinners can received grace; Pharisees cannot (Luke 18:9-14). Redemption belongs to the broken and desolate things of the world, for they alone recognize and accept it when it comes.

"Sword of Heaven,
Missile of God:
Shatter me! Batter me!
And make me whole..."
-Jon Vowell

That's Where the Joy Comes From

"I am the Lord...who teaches thee to profit, who leads thee by the way that thou should go. O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! Then thy peace would have been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea...There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked." Isaiah 48:17-19, 22
"Every good and perfect gift is from above..." James 1:17

The heart of man will ever sick to satisfy itself, and ever and again it will tumble into every side eddy and distraction under the sun. We must learn: there is no such thing as peace and happiness outside of God. All joys are joyous because they point unto Him. Taken for themselves apart from Him, they become hollow and empty, and no wonder. Nothing that is good can stay good when it is separated from the Good; nothing that is joyous can stay joyous and apart from Joy.
"O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments!" The directions and decrees of God are not the limitations of a tyrant; they are a map for those lost in the woods, a map that leads them to the Good, i.e., Himself. To be "free" (so called) from His direction is to remain lost, and lostness is most assuredly not freedom--there is nothing "free" about being caged forever in confusion and chaos. However, to be loosed from that cage, to be set on the pathway out of the woods, the pathway that finally leads home, that is the only freedom that deserves to be called such, they only good and joy that there is, for such freedom is from God and leads us to God.

"Only Light of the world,
Source of all Joy:
Light up the pathways,
Lead wandering hearts to You,
Lead all the wanderers Home..."
-Jon Vowell

The Critical Moment

"...I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me; I girded thee, though though hast not known me..." Isaiah 45:4b, 5

Ignorance of the presence of God is not synonymous with His absence. We know that this is true of believers, but apparently it is the same with non-believers as well. The beauty of the will of God is that even those who do not know it are not necessarily outside of it. To be outside of it requires willful rejection after comprehension of it. Cyrus apparently neither knew of it nor had rejected it; he was apart of it all along.
God does indeed lead people through their ignorance to the realization of Himself, and that is the critical moment. Read John 3:19. Men are not condemned for merely rejecting the light, but for rejecting it after they have seen it, i.e., realized it. It perhaps goes without saying that meetings with God are critical moments, yet we treat them so lightly in spirit, and that to our hazard. On this side of the objective reality of redemption, the critical moment for the non-believer will be in regards to salvation; for believers, it will be in regards to deeper communion with Him. We reject either to our peril.

"To know You and be known.
Yet before I knew You,
You knew me..."
-Jon Vowell

The Definition of Redemption

"Thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel, 'Fear not, for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine." Isaiah 43:1

It is a crying shame today that we find the word "redeem" to by only synonymous with "rescue". There is an element of rescue in redemption, to be sure; but that is not its fundamental meaning. At bottom, "redeem" means "to claim," or "to reclaim." It implies the idea of ownership. If you "redeem" something, then that something becomes yours. You have not merely rescued it; you own it as your own.
"I have redeemed thee...thou art mine." That is the definition of redemption: not "we are set free," but rather "we belong to God." In the redemption of Christ, we are not unbound from sin and made independent agents; we are unbound from sin and bound to God. We have been "bought with a price," says the Apostle Paul, and purchase implies ownership. "Ye are not your own," says God, "I have redeemed thee. Thou art mine." To be unbound from Sin is to be bound to God; to leave off one master is to submit to another. We cannot escape this; we can choose which master, but we must choose a master. The question is, to who or whom will you belong to: God or Sin? To who or whom will you be bound: Life or Death?

"Unto You I now belong.
To be free from You
Is to be lost in sin..."
-Jon Vowell

When He Comes Again

"I have for a long time held my peace; I have be still, and restrained myself. Now will I cry like a woman travailing in birth; I will destroy and devour at once." Isaiah 42:14

An oft cited "air-tight" attack against God (either His character or His very existence) is that if He really was there, and really was good, then He would step in and fix this mess of a world right now. That He does not proves that he is either weak, callous, or both (or simply not there at all). Perhaps the problem of evil would not be such a problem if there was a clear example of God solving it in the here and now.
People who makes such claims are nonsensical, however, and here's why: they ave no idea what it is that they are really asking for. God stepping in is not a deus ex machina, a one shot fix-all-that-ails-you; it is the end of the world (we Christians like to call it the "apocalypse"). As Lewis put it, when the director steps onto the stage, it is not the end of the play's problems; it is the end of the play. When God "steps onto the stage," it is not merely the undoing of evil; it is the undoing of everything, the complete recreation of all things by the unleashing of His presence through all things that are of Him; and anyone or anything not found in Him (through being in Christ) will wither away into outer darkness. God's literal return to earth will literally when Heaven on earth, which means that all that cannot abide in Heaven (i.e., Sin, and everything bound up in it) will not abide in the end either. Therefore, clamoring for God's return so as to fix all evils is nonsensical because His return does not mean Heaven for all; it will mean Hell for some. There will be redemption; there will also be damnation.
That God is holding His peace and restraining Himself in the face of Sin (the only true pollutant in this world) is not proof of weakness, callousness, or nonexistence; it is proof of His love and patience. He is (oh, the very thought of it!) allowing us more time, more time to become one with Him in Christ. If God wanted to (if He was the atheist's desired "practical" God), He could usher in the end right now, and have every right to do so. Instead, however, He allows days, months, and years to go by. We would be wise to realize that such a stalling is in favor of our salvation. If He did as you wished and finally returned, with you outside His fold, then it would be the end of you as well as the evil world.
"Now will I cry..." There is a "payday someday," a day of reckoning, a day when all that men have done will be answered for. The only question is, are you one of those men? Are your sins covered by the blood, or are they wide open before the eyes of God? When our Lord steps on the mountain again, will He find you innocent, or will you be one of the guilty that He claws out of the earth and holds up against a ruby sky? When He comes to "fix all," will you be something that He "fixes"? In asking God to solve all our problems, are you blissfully unaware that you may be one of the "problems" that He solves"?

"When You come
To Balance all things,
How many will be weighed
And found wanting..."
-Jon Vowell

This is Redemption II: God with Us

"Every valley shall be lifted up, and mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places made smooth; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together..." Isaiah 40: 4, 5a

The revelation of God's glory has always been noted as a necessary part of redemption. At least, the language of the Bible seems to garner that image. Somehow, God's ultimate victory will not require one ounce of sweat from His brow.; He will merely "show up," i.e., be manifested, and it is all over. When his glory comes (Isaiah 40:4, 5), when His presence fills the whole earth (Isaiah 11:9), when it fills all of His people (Romans 8:18-21), and shines forth without measure, so that the earth becomes like a star, and all things are consumed into Him, that is redemption, i.e., God with us.
Christ is redemption, not only in action but also in very being, not only in the Cross but also in Immanuel. The presence of God is the presence of redemption, and Jesus is the revelation of God's presence and glory (John 1:14). When he comes again, it will be the same (there is a reason the Christian apocalypse is referred to as a "revelation"). The glory that Christ placed in those who believed will be revealed as He comes bringing the all consuming, crushing presence and glory of God, manifested "as He is" (I John 3:2). The effect will be the same as it was when he walked the dust of this earth:
"Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill shall be made low," the humble shall find their honor, and the proud will crumble to the ground. Jesus once said that those who are "poor in spirit" and "meek" would overthrow the mighty and strong (Matthew 5:3-12), and that the religious elite where utterly abominable (Matthew 25:1-36). Revelation speaks of great and mighty men hiding in caves and crying that mountains collapse on them so that they may hide from the presence of God, and there is always that ominous law (written in both Testaments) that God will give grace to the humble but that He "opposes the proud" (I Peter 5:5).
"The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places made smooth," the "bent" of all things will be returned to their proper place, i.e., towards God. That is what Christ did for us (Romans 5:1-11); it is what he will do for the whole world. In addition, all that was once heart-breaking trials and sorrows can no longer cause us to fall. God's word has told us as much (Isaiah 43:2; Romans 8:31-39; II Corinthians 4:8-10).
These are not mere abstraction; "God with us" is not a mere philosophical theorem. It is an actuality, right now and soon to come. Christ has made (and will make) such things possible. It started with His Cross, it will end with His Coming in glory, but that ending will, in truth, only be the beginning. When the Fall is burned away from every residue of creation's being, the adventure and wonder that is redemption, that is the all-consuming fiery presence of God, will have just begun.

"May the Deeper Life to come
Consume this life of mine now.
May my life be a prelude
To Heaven on earth..."
-Jon Vowell

Love and Forgiveness

"...Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back." Isaiah 38:17

How seriously do we really take the love of God? Do we honestly believe that it aves to the uttermost, that it goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell? Our salvation could have been simple in execution: God could have saved us out of duty or obligation, or out of a demonstration of sheer power. Instead, however, He did it out of love, a love that sent His only Son through the horrors of death and the gates of Hell itself. Elongated stays in the pit of corruption can turn love into a farce. We must recapture the wonder of a love, "for love is strong as death; jealousy as cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame." (Song of Solomon 8:6b) Have we forgotten that God's very nature is bound up in love (i.e., "God is love"), that He is the very essence of intimate experiential knowledge of another founded on intimate communion with that other? Or have we lost that truth behind the mysterious veil that is the word "Trinity"?
How serious do we really take the forgiveness of God? There are two misconceptions that we must do away with. First, God's love cannot be the grounds for His forgiveness. It can be a motive, but not grounds. His love will find a way to forgive, but it is not the reason He forgive us. Get it through your heads and never forget it: God can forgive us because Christ died, and nothing else. Second, God does not forgive like we forgive. That God "forgives" does not mean that he merely overlooks. God's forgiveness is not ignorance, but absolution. In His forgiveness, sin is done away with in its entirety, and we are made before God as though we never sinned. It is an absolute finality, a finality that God's love sought for us and that Christ's death bought for us. God's love and forgiveness are not matters of sentiment. They are heavy things, matters of "deep magic," and yet we carelessly throw them about as worship buzzwords, or live agnostically towards them in practical experience.
Ask yourself: What would happen if you truly lived the weighty reality of God's love and forgiveness? How would your days change if during those abysmal moments you were thunderously struck with the heavy, rugged clarity of this truth: "God loves me, and I am forgiven"? How many strongholds of the enemy would fade like chaff in the wind if we let that truth envelope us everyday? If we let ourselves soak in any of the great truths of God, would we dare stay the same?

"Love takes Eternity in its embrace;
Forgiveness, in its comprehension.
Dare I treat them less than they are...?"
-Jon Vowell