Seeing the Invisible (1)

 

 

“We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18).

 

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

 

There is a sense in which the Christian life is life lived seeing the invisible. Preeminently, in this sense, it is life lived seeing the invisible God, living in Him as He lives within us. Hebrews 11:27 tells us that Moses “endured, as seeing Him who is invisible.”

 

This can be a hard thing to think about and experience in our materialistic society and church, nevertheless it is the life in Christ to which we are called. It is the life of faith in Jesus.

 

What is it to live “looking at the things which are not seen”? What is it to look through and beyond the visible world? I’d like to explore this with you through the lens of 2 Corinthians, beginning with three verses and working our way outward from them, to see what we can see. These verses are 4:18; 4:6; and 5:16.

 

Let’s read 4:18 again, but this time we’ll add a portion of its immediate context:

 

“Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Cor. 4:16 – 51).

 

It will be helpful if you will read at least 4:13 – 5:10 to better see the immediate context, I have quoted just a few verses since this is a blog and space is limited. 

 

How do you think 4:18 relates to its context?

 

In other words, how do Paul and his friends view the “momentary, light affliction” they are experiencing? How do they “see” the “decaying” of the “outer man,” their “earthly tent which is their house”?

 

To put it another way, how do Paul and his friends view hardship and tough times? How do they think about death, whether it is death due to persecution, or death from their bodies simply wearing down and giving out?

 

We may not need much help in thinking about the good times in life (though how we think of them is more important than we realize), but most of us would likely agree that we can use help thinking about tough times, including that great unknown for many of us – perhaps for all of us in one degree or another – death.

 

If we only see what the natural eye sees and what the heart and mind convey to us through natural seeing, then what might we expect as we approach death? If the experience of our physical senses is our sole experience, then what might we expect when we face sickness or hardship (physical, emotional, psychological)? That is, how do we think about these things? How do we react to them? How do we help others facing suffering and death?

 

We don’t normally think about these things in our society, which is driven by sensuous appetites and pleasures. Paul warns of false teachers in the church who are “enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things” (Phil. 3:18 – 19).  

 

Regarding suffering and persecution, when Paul looked at them in the invisible, he saw “an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison” (2 Cor. 4:17). Paul saw through suffering, he saw beyond suffering, to the glory of God which was being produced in him, and which was awaiting him in eternity. As he writes in Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us.”

 

Paul was not hoping what he was writing was true, he knew it was true because he saw it; in a sense he could touch it, taste it, smell it, breathe it. Paul and his friends were not looking at things that were seen, but at things which were unseen – and the things that were unseen by the natural eye were things substantive (Heb. 11:1), more substantive than anything that could be seen by the natural eye for they were eternal.

 

No wonder Paul prays for the Ephesians that, “The eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe” (Ephesians 1:18 – 19).

 

Of course, this is how Jesus viewed the cross, “Who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2). Jesus saw through the Cross, beyond the Cross, to the joy that awaited Him in the Father’s presence with us around Him – He saw us as the fruit of His suffering and death…and of His resurrection (John 12:24).

 

The mocking crowd, the leering religious leaders, the Roman soldiers, saw the Cross one way, Jesus saw it another way. Even the dear weeping women and other disciples at the Crucifixion saw the Cross one way, while Jesus was seeing it another way. Jesus was seeing the invisible, while others were seeing what their eyes saw – some as a tragedy, others as the successful result of their conspiracy, others as just another day at work.

 

What can we learn about seeing the invisible from 2 Corinthians 4:13 – 5:10?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Revelation - Letter to a Friend (10)

 

Revelation – Letter to a Friend (10)

 

“This in-between time [between the first and final comings of Jesus] that John calls “the tribulation” is a battle for “the soul of the world” that will “shock God’s people out of their complacency.” (The Revelation of John, James L. Resseguie, page 72).

 

“Christians are part of a countercultural kingdom that opposes the ways of the dominant culture represented by Babylon.” (italics mine).  (Resseguie, page 73).

 

This can be a difficult message for professing Christians in America to comprehend, indeed, we can react strongly against it – for our core identity is not found in an exclusive and monogamous relationship with Jesus Christ as His Bride, but rather in a culture dominated by nationalism, economic success, pleasure, entertainment, athletics, and personality (as opposed to character). Since we have been raised in this environment, both within and without the “church,” how can we possibly know anything different?

 

Some of us may wonder at the atheism of certain philosophies and political systems, but we do not question our own syncretistic idolatry. Is it better to believe in no god or in a false god? Is an Imperial Cult better than no cult? Does it really make any difference how our souls are poisoned? Babylon has many faces, as does the Beast.

 

I’m not sure about God’s People being “shocked out of complacency,” would that it was so. Those “Christians” who profess a high view of Scripture seem to be leading the way into the depths of Babylon, or else are passive observers – I suppose fearing to speak a prophetic and timely “Word”.  Strangely, when insightful words are spoken, they tend to come from those who are not associated with the Evangelical movement. (Has this movement become a Nehustan?)

 

“You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4).

 

It is natural to want to be accepted, to be successful, to be affirmed by others, to avoid conflict, to live in peace (at least for most of us). However, if our hearts and souls and bodies belong to Jesus and to Jesus alone, then it is more natural to desire to please Him, to be faithful to Him, to share Him – regardless of the outcome. If we live for Jesus there will be conflict, there will always be conflict – and the absence of conflict means the absence of faithfulness to Jesus our Bridegroom. “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12).

 

On page 73 Resseguie writes that “patient endurance” is the “essential virtue” we need in our countercultural lives of faithfulness to Jesus Christ, calling it the “main Christian virtue” while citing seven passages in Revelation to support this thinking; 1:9; 2:2, 3, 19; 3:10; 14:12.

 

“It is not “dumb passivity,” but active resistance to the battle lines drawn by the beast and Babylon who require assimilation to their values, norms, and beliefs” (Resseguie, page 73, italics mine).

 

“Patient endurance is never a miraculous escape from the ordeal but faithful perseverance through troubled times” (Resseguie, page 73, italics mine).

 

Active resistance takes the form of obedience to Jesus. We offer ourselves to God as living sacrifices, allowing Him to transform our souls – not conforming ourselves to the world but to Christ and His Kingdom (Romans 12:1 – 2).

 

“Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” (Rev. 14:12).

 

Friends, resisting the world, Babylon, and the Beast means that in our obedience to Jesus Christ we are conformed to Him, and Him alone. We are not to be transformed into the image of a Conservative, Progressive, or anything in-between. We are not to be conformed to Fox News, CNN, MSNBC or any other form of media or personality. Nor are we to be conformed into the image of politicians, national or local “leaders,” national or economic agendas (as they are normally expressed). If we are not going against the grain of the movements swirling around us – red, blue, and purple, then we are wearing their colors in some fashion. The only color we are called to wear is the white linen of the righteousness of Jesus Christ – any other color pollutes our souls and destroys our testimony to Jesus Christ.

 

The Son of Man and His Body, the Church, has no political or national or economic or social place to lay His Head on this earth (Matthew 8:20); this was true of Jesus Christ, and it is true of us, His People…assuming we truly are His People.

 

The Scriptures speak of perseverance and endurance, because this is what is required of us to reject the mark of the Beast and follow Jesus.

 

“Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved” (Matthew 24:11 – 14).

 

O dear friends, false prophets are not limited to those who make no pretense to follow Jesus, they are of little threat to professing Christians. False prophets include those who outwardly use the name of Jesus, who carry Bibles, who use the language of the Bible, who use the form of prayer to propagate their agendas of death, destruction, and hatred. False prophets are popular with professing Christians for they give them what they want, while blaming others for the world’s problems, while sowing division and hatred and violence and pride and arrogance among their followers.

 

And here is the thing, many pastors who recognize false prophets within the professing church dare not speak about them, dare not warn their people, for they know (or are pretty sure) that their people will reject them while continuing to follow the false prophets. I do not excuse these pastors, but I do feel sorry for them – very sorry. I know the dilemma myself – it is heartbreaking to see people you are trying to serve in Christ rejecting Him and following the airwaves and demagogues and attempting to conform Jesus into the image of political leaders, a nation, and the Almighty Dollar.

 

 I once asked a congregation why we, American Christians, don’t stop kidding ourselves and replace the Cross with a Dollar Bill. They probably didn’t appreciate the question.

 

It is hard to live among a church and in a society that has lost its mind, that embraces moral, ethical, spiritual, national, and international lawlessness. It is hard to see the spirit of the “man of lawlessness” (2 Thess. 2:3 – 12) embraced by professing Christians and our nation. It is heartbreaking to see the disenfranchised, the alien, the poor, the sick, the homeless, and so many others preyed upon by those who manifest the characteristics of the beasts of Daniel and Revelation. What can we say to the “bodies and souls of men” which are sold in the name of commerce and riches and wealth and pleasure? If it doesn’t affect us, we don’t care.

 

But of course it affects us, either we weep for others, or we offer our souls on the altar of the Beast and Babylon.

 

God tells us to flee Babylon (Rev. 18:4 – 5) and yet we justify her sins, making her sins our sins.

 

Either we will be molded into the image of Jesus Christ through the Word of God, or we will bear the image of the Beast and its mark. God’s Word, the Bible, as it is written (not as the false prophets would have us read it!), is our refuge, our defense and our offense – as we actively obey God’s Word in Christ, as we follow the Lamb we resist  the world, the flesh, and the devil – we reject the Beast and Babylon.

 

There is never any neutral ground, never; there has never been neutral ground in all the history of mankind and there never will be. We are either living for Christ and others, either loving Christ and others…or we are giving our souls and those of our families, those of our children, to the fires of Satan.

 

The Lamb or the Beast?

At whose altar are you worshipping today?