The Holy of Holies (5)

 

 

“Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am” (John 17:24).

 

“If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:3).

 

“If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also” (John 12:26).

 

What does Jesus mean, that we should be with Him where He is?

 

Does He mean that we should all find ourselves with Him in the Upper Room? In Gethsemane?

 

What is it that we should be with Him where He is so that we may see the glory which the Father has given Him, a glory given in love before the foundation of the world (John 17:24)?

 

In John 12:26 we see that if we follow Jesus that we will be with Him where He is. Where is Jesus?

 

We may recall that in previous reflections we pondered the theme of Jesus going and coming, of Jesus hiding and revealing Himself; of us seeing Jesus, not seeing Jesus, and then seeing Jesus again.

 

What does it mean for us to be with Jesus where He is?

 

Certainly we are indeed to be with Jesus in the Upper Room, in Gethsemane, on the Cross, in the Resurrection, in the Ascension, sitting with Him in the heavenlies. Yes, we are to be with Jesus as He teaches, casts out unclean spirits, heals, feeds the hungry, touches the untouchable, loves the unlovable, and has compassion on humanity. We are to know a transcendence in this koinonia with Jesus, a fellowship with Him and in the communion of saints as we live in Jesus and He lives in us.

 

And this brings us to what it means that we be with Him where He is, for He is in koinonia with the Father, in unity with Him. We see His glory when we join that Divine fellowship and unity, when our biosphere is the Trinity, as we are being “perfected into one” (Jn. 17:23). As we live in the Holy of Holies, as we discover the ground of our being in God the Trinity, as we realize that Jesus Christ is truly our Author and Perfecter, that He is truly our Alpha and Omega, our Beginning and our End, our First and our Last – then we are with Him where He is, beholding the Father, beholding the incomparable glory of Jesus Christ, which the Father has bestowed upon Him, and which He (mystery indeed!) bestows upon us (Jn. 17:22).

 

And here, my friends, is the dance of the ages, the song of the ages; hidden from ages and generations but now revealed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that the Father should bring many sons to glory through the glorious Firstborn Son Jesus Christ, and that He should bestow His inheritance in the Father upon His brothers and sisters, and that we should all, in Him, give ourselves for the life of the world.

 

To be with Jesus where He is, is to live in intimacy with the Father, in loving communion with the Father, in sweet adoration of the Father. To be with Jesus where He is, is to keep our eyes on Jesus, fixing our minds and hearts and souls on Jesus, and in so doing to be transformed into His image as our way of life, as our source of life, and as our destiny in life.

 

To be with Jesus where He is, is to look upon one another as the saints of God, purchased and washed by the blood of the Lamb, perfected in Christ Jesus, made complete in Him. We no longer bring accusation against one another, we do not expose one another, but as Christ’s holy priesthood we cover one another in the confession of the Cross, the Atonement, the New Creation in Christ. The priesthood of Christ covers, we are mediators in Him, we sing the song of the redeemed and teach others to sing it. We baptize in water and the Spirit, not in sewage and the flesh.

 

To be with Jesus is not to wait for another day, though we do anticipate a glorious Day beyond comprehension, but it is to live with Him where He is today, right now. He comes to us every day, He brings us to Himself every day, He draws us deeper into the Trinity every day – we do not wait to participate in the Trinity – the Trinity is our very life today!

 

This is to live in the Holy of Holies; to know the love of God with one another, the unity of God with one another, the glory of God with one another, to experience the joy of God with one another. John Chapter 17, the Holy of Holies, is ineffable for the veil has been rent and we now have free and complete access to intimacy with God in Jesus Christ…always in Jesus Christ.

 

There are holy things and places in John Chapter 17 that cannot be spoken of in human language, but they can be experienced in Jesus Christ and with one another.

 

To “see” John 17 in some measure, to enter into the Holy of Holies, is not to arrive at the end of the Gospel, but rather at the purpose of the Beginning. The rending of the veil was not so that we should enter the Holy of Holies and arrive at the conclusion of our journey, but rather that we might finally get to the Beginning (or perhaps the End of the Beginning?) of our journey, of our glorious eternity in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit…with one another.

 

Right now, this very moment, are we with Jesus where He is?

 

 

 

Bonhoeffer’s Discipleship Part II – Reflections (32)

 

 

Part II of Bonhoeffer’s Discipleship (popularly known in America as The Cost of Discipleship) consists of six chapters, Preliminary Questions, Baptism, The Body of Christ, The Visible Church-Community, The Saints, and The Image of Christ. We’ve arrived at The Saints and Bonhoeffer begins the chapter by declaring that the saints are God’s holy ones on this earth (pages 235 – 237).

 

The first sentence of the chapter is a summation of the previous chapter, “The ‘ecclesia’ of Christ, the community of disciples, is no longer subject to the rule of this world. True, it still lives in the midst of the world. But it already has been made into one body. It is a territory with an authority of its own, a space set apart” (page 235).

 

I suppose I should state the obvious for the few that may read this quotation out of context; when Bonhoeffer writes that the church is “no longer subject to the rule of this world” he does not mean that we can do what we please and ignore the governments and authorities of the world, his treatment of Romans 13 in the previous chapter makes this clear.

 

Bonhoeffer follows his opening statement by referencing seven verses which speak of Christians (all Christians) being saints, holy ones, in Christ Jesus: Eph. 5:27; 1 Cor. 14:34; Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:2; Eph. 1:4; Col. 1:22; Rom. 6:19 – 22.

 

Bonhoeffer twice reminds us that this call to holiness was given “before the foundation of the world.” He also writes that, “This is the reason why Christ surrendered his body unto death, so as to present those who are his own as holy, blameless, and irreproachable before him (Col. 1:22)” (pg. 235).

 

He then cites Romans 6:19 – 22 in support of the Good News that the “fruit of being freed from sin by Christ’s death” is that we can now live “in the service of righteousness” (pg. 235).

 

Then our author shifts our focus with the statement, “God alone is holy” (pg. 235). Bonhoeffer moves from his focus on “saints” [holy ones] to the One who alone is Holy. If God alone is holy, how can we be holy?

 

Bonhoeffer has introduced the answer is the seven verses listed above, and he will continue to explore the answer. On page 237 he asks, “How does this come about?...How…does God create a community of saints that is totally separated from sin?”

 

At the top of page 236 he tells us that God is laying the “foundation of a realm of holiness in the midst of the world.”

 

Then we read, “God’s holiness consists in establishing a divine dwelling place, God’s realm of holiness in the midst of the world…” (page 235).

 

In writing of the “community of God’s holy realm,” Bonhoeffer tells us that God has chosen us, made us “the community of the divine covenant,” reconciled us, purified us, and that “this place of holiness is the temple…the body of Christ thus is the fulfillment of God’s will to establish a holy community” (page 236).

 

This reminds us of Ephesians 2:21 in which we see that we are a living building and are being joined together, “growing into a holy temple in the Lord,” being “built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”

 

Peter writes, “You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5).

 

In the chapter, The Visible Church-Community, Bonhoeffer writes of us taking up space in the world, being identifiable, being joined to one another in Jesus Christ, and of being faithful witnesses to the world and support to one another in this witness. We are to be a visible people, not because we have church buildings, but because of our community, our koinonia, in Jesus Christ.

 

Now, in the chapter titled The Saints, we see that we are to be holy as God is holy. We see this pattern in the Pentateuch, first Exodus and then Leviticus. First, in Exodus, we see the People of God called out of Egypt, then the Tabernacle and the orientation of the People to the Tabernacle; then in Leviticus we have the great distinguishing message of God, “You shall be holy for I am holy” (Lev. 11:44; 19:2; 20:7; 1 Peter 1:14 – 16; 2:9).

 

What are our challenges in understanding the Biblical message of which Bonhoeffer writes?  Two immediately come to my thinking.

 

The first is, do I “see” the Church, the Body, the Temple, the Bride as Scripture portrays them, as Christ Jesus sees them?

 

Do I see the Church as an organization (or a group of organizations), do I see it as a building, or do I see us as the Temple, God’s dwelling place in the Spirit (Eph. 2:19 – 22)?

 

The second challenge is, do I “see” the holiness of God (in some measure), and do I see the distinction between the holiness of God and the sin and uncleanness of the world, the flesh, and the devil? Do I distinguish between the clean and the unclean in my own life, and do we as the Church make this distinction? (See 2 Cor. 6:14 – 7:1). Are we living as God’s holy People? Do we even desire to live as God’s holy people?

 

Is our view and vision of the People of God that which is portrayed in the Bible? Are we “seeing” as Paul saw, as Bonhoeffer saw?

 

What other challenges can you think of?

 

Do we “see” that God is establishing a realm of holiness in the midst of the world?

 

Are we participating in that realm?