Heavenly Mindedness (24)

 

Continuing our reflections on Geerhardus Vos’s Message on “Heavenly Mindedness” from Hebrews 11:9 – 10:

 

“Next to the positiveness of its object the high degree of actuality in the working of this grace should be considered. Through the faith of heavenly-mindedness the things above reveal themselves to the believer, are present with him, and communicate themselves to him. Though as yet a pilgrim, the Christian is never wholly separated from the land of promise. His tents are pitched in close view of the city of God. Heaven is present to the believer’s experience in no less real a sense than Canaan with its fair hills and valleys lay close to the vision of Abraham. He walks in the light of the heavenly world and is made acquainted with the kindred spirits inhabiting it.

 

“And since the word “actual” in its literal sense means “that which works,” the life above possesses for the believer the highest kind of actuality. He is given to taste the powers of the world to come, as Abraham breathed the air of Canaan, and was refreshed by the dews descending on its fields. The roots of the Christian’s life are fed from those rich and perennial springs that lie deep in the recesses of converse with God, where prayers ascend and divine graces descend, so that after each season of tryst [intimate private time with God] he issues, a new man, from the secrecy of his tent.” G. Vos

 

In the first paragraph above Vos says, “Next to the positiveness of its object the high degree of actuality in the working of this grace should be considered.” Then in the second paragraph we read, “And since the word “actual” in its literal sense means “that which works,” the life above possesses for the believer the highest kind of actuality.” Heavenly – mindedness and the grace within which we live, is real, tangible, and works itself out (is manifested) in daily life. The Biblical view of life is holistic and there is no room in Biblical thinking for the compartmentalization of life that is prevalent in Western culture and philosophy.

 

While there may be legitimate grounds for criticizing church-goers as hypocrites, we are a society of hypocrites in that we are seldom what others see, and have been trained to wear different masks in different contexts and situations and to discount inconsistencies in our thinking and behavior. As we move from compartment to compartment in life we adapt to each compartment and conform to our environments. Hence, putting a “spin” on life and business and religion, which is actually deceit and lying, becomes acceptable because everyone else is doing it – we are a society of liars. This is a far cry from the man or woman or young person living in koinonia with God who will, “Swear to his own hurt and does not change [telling the truth]” (Psalm 15:4c).

 

Consider what the church’s witness would look like if professing – Christians did not compartmentalize life. How could we not witness to Christ and the Gospel wherever we were, in whatever we were doing? Often simply telling the truth is a witness in our society, and a life of telling the truth contributes to a life of witnessing for Jesus Christ. A life of following Jesus Christ, a life of devotion to Christ, a life of heavenly – mindedness, becomes a life of consistent witness to Christ and His Gospel. A life of heavenly – mindedness lifts us above the compartmentalization of society; heavenly – mindedness becomes our biosphere in Christ, it is real, it is actual, and it works itself out holistically in our lives.

 

Vos says, “Through the faith of heavenly-mindedness the things above reveal themselves to the believer, are present with him, and communicate themselves to him.”

 

Jesus says (John 16:12 – 15), “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.”

 

Christ Jesus came to reveal the Father to us; the Father reveals the Son; the Father and Son speak to us of the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit reveals the Father and the Son – there is a revelatory mutuality in the Trinity. When we learn to cultivate heavenly – mindedness we breathe this revelatory atmosphere; we see Jesus in the Psalms, we see Him in Genesis, we behold Him in Isaiah, we cry out with Him in Lamentations – and in doing so we are transformed from glory to glory by the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17 – 18). When we read the many quotations, and “see” the even more explicit and implicit allusions, to the Old Testament within the New Testament – we see the unveiling of the Christ throughout the Scriptures. Jesus sets the stage for this in Luke Chapter 24 as He reveals Himself through the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms; and we see this bursting forth in Peter’s message on Pentecost in Acts Chapter 2 as Peter grounds his preaching in the prophet Joel and the Psalms.

 

As Vos points us to “the things above” he points us to Jesus, always to Jesus. Indeed, Vos’s text in Hebrews Chapter 11 leads us to Hebrews 12:2 with the ringing exhortation that we are to live “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.” God the Father has One revelation and One revelation only, His Son Jesus Christ.

 

Do we wonder what Jesus meant when He said, “I have many more things to say to you”? Do we want to know what these things are? Then let us seek the face of God in Jesus Christ in the Scriptures – in the whole and holistic Bible. Let us seek Him in the Church Fathers who built upon that Foundation. Let us seek Him in the faithful men and women who have preceded us. But all must ultimately and clearly and unequivocally be built upon the whole and holistic Bible – all must unambiguously radiate Jesus Christ.

 

Just as the focus in the Throne Room (Revelation chapters 4 and 5) is God the Father, the Son (Lamb) and the Holy Spirit, with continuous worship and unveiling – so what we seek and receive must draw us deeper and deeper beyond the veil and into the Throne Room (Hebrews 10:19 – 22).

 

Let us remind ourselves that only the Holy Spirit can reveal the things of God to us (1Corinthinans 1:18 – 2:16). Biblical epistemology is Pneumatic epistemology; the natural man, the soulical person, cannot receive the things the things of the Spirit of God,  “…he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned and understood.” For the follower of Jesus Christ, there is no spirituality apart from the centrality and testimony of Jesus Christ.

 

We’ll continue with the above quotation from Vos in the next post…