Heavenly Mindedness (17)

 

Continuing with the section of Vos’s message that we began with in post 15 of this series:

 

“In the city of the living God believers are joined to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, and mingle with the spirits of just men made perfect. And all this faith recognizes.”

 

In the above, Vos is taking us to Hebrews 12:22 – 24: “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.”

 

I’d really like you to consider what comes before this passage; so I hope you’ll read this in your Bibles. Here is the broad brush, but you will need to fill in the texture by actually reading the Bible:

 

Hebrews Chapter Ten (and remember, there were no chapter divisions in the original manuscripts) concludes with a focus on suffering for Christ, a warning to be faithful to Christ, and the statement that, “For you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.”

 

Hebrews Chapter Eleven portrays men and women who by faith suffered for Christ, were faithful to Christ, received a measure of what was promised, and who endured.

 

Hebrews Chapter Twelve begins with, “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also [as this cloud of witnesses did, the people represented in Chapter Eleven] lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…”

 

Do we see how Chapter Eleven is bracketed by an emphasis on “endurance”? Among other things, Chapter Eleven is an example of endurance, life is a marathon, not a sprint – faith is a way of life, not a “one and done” event. Living in Christ is living “in” Christ, He is our Source of Life. Christ is not ancillary to life, He is not an additive, He is not an enhancer – Jesus Christ is life itself, He is our All in All.

 

Then Chapter Twelve focuses us on Jesus and His sufferings and His endurance, “He endured the cross.” Then the focus shifts to God disciplining us so that we might be partakers of, that we might share in, His holiness. This comes with a warning not to give up when things get tough, but to strengthen ourselves and one another, and not to be bitter, but to seek peace with all men and holiness, and not to sell our birthright, as Esau sold his birthright. Then we are reminded that we’ve not come to an earthly mountain, as did Moses, but that we’ve come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God.”

 

My point in all of this is that there is a progression leading us to “Mount Zion and to the city of the living God…”. This progression includes endurance, suffering, a rejection of the world, an embracing of the Kingdom, a confession of pilgrimage, a focus on Jesus, and the discipline of our heavenly Father. (I imagine that we could go to the Psalms of Ascent and find this dynamic progression.) This progression is enveloped by heavenly-minded faith, a faith cultivated and nurtured in Christ through all the vicissitudes of life.

 

Our awareness of having come to the City of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, is an awareness that, I think, usually dawns on us. We get a glimpse here and there, a sense now and then, a glimmer, a ray of light; sometimes we may have an overwhelming vision, a burst of heavenly glory may descend on us; but what draws us and sustains us are not the fireworks, as spectacular as they may be on occasion, but rather a sense and vision of the unfolding glory of God and Jesus Christ as revealed by the Holy Spirit. The attraction of Jesus Christ in the heavenly Jerusalem becomes a way of life for us; this way of life produces endurance in us and obedience to the will of God through suffering and discipline.

 

Just as babies are not born speaking their native language, but require exposure to speech and the actions that are connected with speech, including body language, in order to develop facility with speech and thought; so we ought to experience our own progression and development of heavenly-mindedness in Christ, in which we learn the thinking and speech and ways of the heavenly Jerusalem. This is one of many reasons why the Bible, the Word of God, is essential to life; for when the Bible is in us we learn the language of Zion – and this includes its syntax and grammar and images.  As an example, a person who knows the language of Zion loves the words “in Christ” as well as “one another;” these terms do not represent abstract ideas, they represent the essence of life.

What does your pilgrimage look like today?

 

I’ll return to this quote from Vos in the next post.