Seeing the Invisible (6)

Below is a note I sent a friend this morning, this is what "seeing the invisible" looks like in my life and marriage. I'm reminded of Hebrews 11:27, Mose endured as seeing Him who is invisible. 

In thinking about our conversation yesterday…

 

Paul writes that we are to endure hardship as good soldiers of Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 2:3). I suppose this is the way I was raised in Christ, raised to lose my life for Him and others (Mark 8:34 – 38). Not that I’ve always lived this way, but it is the way I was taught. In addition to Watchman Nee’s Normal Christian Life, I think I may have given you Andrew Murray’s Abide in Christ, and I think I gave you Discipleship on the Edge by Darrell W. Johnson. None of these books are focused on “me, myself, and I,” they are all centered on the Christ of the Cross and the Cross of Christ.

 

While I don’t think of having a particular life verse, if I had to choose one it might be Galatians 2:20, and a life passage would be Mark 8:34 – 38. When I was in the Army (and I imagine it was the same for you in the Navy), we never began our days with a group hug and our sergeants asking us how our feelings were that day. We were there to serve, to obey, to function as a team – we were on mission.

 

So with us…we are here to worship God, build one another up in Christ, and go to the world with the Gospel – the stool has three legs.

 

Our greatest temptation, perhaps, is to avoid the Cross. Friends do not let friends avoid the Cross. Friends do not counsel friends to escape the Cross. Peter insisted that Jesus not go to the Cross and Jesus said, “Get behind me Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting our mind on the things of God, but man” (Matthew 16:23).

 

I was never taught, nor have I thought, that God was interested in making me a better version of myself, He is interested in bringing me to the end of myself and transforming me into the image of Jesus Christ as a new creation in Him (Rom. 8:29; Gal. 2:20; 6:14; Col. 3:1 – 4).

 

While Vickie and I realize that there is emotional and psychological trauma and stress associated with what we have experienced – we do not deny that for a moment – we also realize that we must look to Jesus to walk with us through this. No doubt He uses others to walk with us – Paul and his friends “despaired even of life” (2 Cor. 1:8) but they also saw God working in them for the blessing of others (2 Cor. 1:4, 9).

 

In addition, we both know that we are closer to leaving this pilgrimage today than we were yesterday – and we are living in the light of that knowledge; we will be in the Holy Presence of Jesus sooner rather than later – we are in the portal that transitions us from this life into the glorious Life to Come in Christ and with the saints.

 

Around 1999 I was visiting a friend, Dan Smick, in the hospital in Boston. Dan was married with two young sons, both under 7 years old. Dan’s liver was failing as a result of cancer treatments and he was hoping for a liver transplant – in essence Dan was dying, he would go to be with Christ in a few months. Dan was the director of the Marketplace Network in Boston, a ministry similar to Needle’s Eye in Richmond.

 

As I entered the hospital room Dan was asleep, so I sat down in a chair next to his bed and was quiet. When he awoke and saw me he smiled and said, “O Bob, I’m glad you’re here. I was just thinking about some ways to share Jesus with others. Let me talk to you about them.”

 

I will never forget this. Dan was dying, sure there was still hope for healing, but it was slim. Dan had a wife and two young sons, and he loved them deeply. Dan could have been feeling sorry for himself on many levels, but instead he was thinking of how to share Jesus with others.

 

When we face hardships, when we face pressure and pain, the question should not be, “How can I get out of this?” It should be, “How does Jesus want to reveal Himself to me through this? How can I share Jesus with others through this? How is God using this to transform me into the image of His Son?”

 

I really can’t imagine living any other way.

 

Just some thoughts…

 

Bob

Seeing the Invisible (5)

 

 

“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 Cor. 4:18).

 

“For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).

 

Returning to 2 Corinthians 4:6 (see second reflection in this series), when Paul sees creation, he sees through and beyond creation to God. Creation becomes a sacramental experience in that through creation God comes to Paul and Paul comes to God.

 

“That which is know about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understand by the things that are made, so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:19 – 20).

 

As we have considered, when Paul read Genesis Chapter One he saw through the account of physical creation into the invisible, and seeing the invisible he saw the New Creation in Christ Jesus, he saw God shining in the darkness of our hearts to bring the light of the knowledge of His glory in Jesus Christ.

 

In Romans, we read that if we knew how to “see” creation, a vision which has been robbed from us (at least in the West), we would see not only the power of God but also His Divine Nature, or as some translations have it – the Godhead. Paul writes that these things are clearly seen. We can hardly say that today, whether we are speaking of the world or the professing church.

 

It is not the norm for us in the West to deeply see and understand God when pondering creation. Many of us see creation as something to be dominated, used, and exploited, and many of us simply don’t care about creation unless it affects us financially. This is not the same as seeing a Creator in creation, this is about us gaining understanding about the very Nature of God as we ponder and experience Creation.

 

An irony of this is that while there is a segment of the professing church that insists on the world being created in six 24-hour days, that this segment does not typically teach us to see in and beyond Creation to the Divine Nature, it does not connect Creation with experiencing God, it does not connect Creation with having an deep internal knowledge of God. Paul writes, “That which is known about God is evident within them.”

 

To believe that God created everything in six 24-hour days, without also seeing the Nature of God in and through Creation, without also knowing the One who shines in our hearts, without becoming New Creations in Jesus Christ, means nothing. It may, in fact, be dangerous. It may be dangerous because it may lead us believe we are something when we are nothing, and it can certainly be dangerous for others to think that believing in a certain Creator is akin to knowing the Trinity, that it is the equivalent of a relationship with God.

 

This is much the same as when some folks place emphasis on the historicity of Noah’s Ark. Believing that the account of Noah’s Ark is historical, whatever you think the scope was, means little or nothing if we do not know Jesus as our Ark, if we are not bringing others into the Ark of Jesus Christ.

 

If we have not encountered Jesus Christ and have come to know Him, if we are not New Creations in Him, it doesn’t matter how often we’ve had an “ark encounter,” for we are still seeing things that are visible. The things that are seen are temporal, including Noah’s Ark, including the present form of creation, there is a deeper reality – beyond the veil – for us to see and in which we are called to live in Christ.

 

I may convince the world that there was a real Noah’s Ark and a real Flood, but if I have not convinced the world that Jesus is the only Ark that matters, and that they must seek refuge and life in Him, then I have convinced people of nothing of eternal consequence.

 

Psalm 19 portrays the complementary witness of Creation and the Word, Creation came through the Word and the Word is revealed through Creation. In verses 1 – 6 we see Creation speaking, in verses 7 – 11 we see the Word, in verses 12 – 14 we see our response.

 

“The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge” (vv. 1- 2). In other words, there is a continuous manifestation of the glory of God in creation. However, most of us are not oriented to Creation, we see the natural world as something to be consumed, not as something of which we are stewards. Hence, as we kill Creation we kill ourselves, our children, our grandchildren. What we have is never enough, we must always have more, we must always consume; and if we consume one another and consume the planet – so be it. We have gone mad.  

 

Last year as I read through Psalms, I noted every psalm that referred to Creation. This included the heavens, the sky, trees, animals, the oceans; it was comprehensive. While I may have missed something, I found that 115 psalms, out of 150, incorporated Creation in their prayers and songs to God. If we were to remove all references to Creation from Psalms, Psalms as we know it would cease to exist.  This is how central Creation was to our fathers and mothers who walked with God – this is how central Creation has been to the saints who have centered their worship in Psalms through the ages.

 

In and through Creation those who have come before us saw God. In and through Creation prior generations have come to God and have known God coming to them. While there is most certainly an experiential element to this, that is, we experience God, there are also elements of wisdom and the knowledge of God, hence Paul’s statement in Romans 1:20 that we can know the “invisible attributes” and “eternal power and divine nature” of God through Creation.

 

No doubt there are regions of the world where men and women and young people continue to see and know God through His Creation, but we in the West have sealed ourselves off from this precious communion and knowledge. We have erected an iron dome over our collective consciousness, we have hung (ironically) an iron curtain over our minds and raised multiple generations in this darkness – and this very much includes the professing church.

 

Paul looked at Creation and saw the invisible, he saw that which is eternal.

 

What do we see?

Seeing the Invisible (4)

 

 

“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 Cor. 4:18).

 

“Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer” (2 Cor. 5:16).

 

What does it mean to “know Christ according to the flesh”? What does it mean to no longer know Him that way?

 

Perhaps Christ’s appearances after the Resurrection can help us with this.

 

Mary heard His voice and saw Him, yet she didn’t hear His Voice or see Him, thinking Him to be the gardener. Only when Jesus spoke her name was He revealed to her (John 20:14 – 14).

 

The two disciples on the road to Emmaus enjoyed an extended walk and conversation with Jesus, one in which their “hearts were burning” while Jesus “was explaining the Scriptures,” yet they did not know who He was until they recognized Him “in the breaking of bread” (Luke 24:13 – 36).

 

The seven disciples fishing on the Sea of Tiberias did not recognize Jesus at first, and even when they did there was a strangeness about His appearance and their recognition of Him that the Biblical text does not explain. “None of the disciples ventured to question Him, ‘Who are You?’ knowing that it was the Lord” (John 21:1 – 14).

 

What can we learn from these passages about seeing Jesus?

 

Jesus did not appear to His disciples as they expected to see Him; or at least not all of the time. Even after they had seen Jesus, when He appeared again they were not sure what or who they were seeing (Luke 24:37; John 21:4).

 

Yet, throughout His life on earth, Jesus had been appearing in ways that people did not expect, in ways that most could not see, certainly in ways that the religious leaders rejected and which were an element of their motivation to kill Jesus.

 

Jesus healed on the Sabbath, He touched unclean lepers, He forgave sins, He associated with prostitutes, and tax collectors in the service of Roman oppressors. Jesus the Messiah did all of these things and some saw Him while most didn’t.

 

After Pentecost Jesus continued to appear to His followers in ways that they could not see at first. One of the most notable was in the vision He gave to Peter of unclean animals with the command, “Get up, Peter, kill and eat!” (Acts 10:9 – 16).

 

When Paul wrote, “We have known Christ according to the flesh,” he may have been thinking of his persecution of the Church, for in those days he could not conceive of the Messiah being associated with disciples of Jesus, after all, anyone who was hanged on a tree was cursed by God. Paul may have also been thinking of the confusion in Antioch over the Law and grace, a confusion that led to a public confrontation with dear Peter (Galatians 2:11 – 21). The vision that Peter had in Acts 10 was fading from him in Galatians 2. Sometimes we see Jesus and then we don’t, sometimes our wonderful vision of Jesus fades, as does our discipleship and love for Him.

 

This same dynamic is very much alive in our reading and experiencing the Bible. We see this in how Jesus and the New Testament writes engage the Old Testament.

 

Paul, prior to his conversion, would have never seen Galatians 4:21 – 31 in the Genesis account of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar. Paul would have never seen Jerusalem and the covenant it represents as being in bondage, nor would he have seen that the true and eternal Jerusalem is above and is the mother of all of us who live in the faith of Abraham. No doubt, were Paul with us today, he would question our infatuation with geopolitical Jerusalem, our orientation toward the things of earth – things that are seen – as opposed to a Biblical orientation toward eternal things which cannot be seen.

 

Prior to his conversion, Paul would not have seen that in Christ there is only One People, and that this reality is God’s great mystery hidden from ages and generations. He would have considered such teaching worthy of death and would have insisted that the Messiah and Messiah’s Message would never appear this way (Ephesians 2:11 – 3:13). No doubt, were Paul with us today, he would be perplexed at our Jew – Gentile dispensationalism, our preoccupation with certain strains of “prophecy,” our failure to “see” that all of faith are children of Abraham – that there is a true “Israel of God” that transcends race, ethnicity, national origin, or anything that can be “seen” in the natural (Galatians 6:16).

 

In a sense, the New Testament is a picture of God in Christ appearing again and again in ways that we can only “see” by His grace and the Holy Spirit.

 

The Jews had preconceived notions as to how Messiah would look. The broader society of Jesus’ time had preconceived notions. The disciples had preconceived notions (for example, consider Matthew 16:21 – 23; John 6:59 – 69). The Church had preconceived notions after Pentecost. We always have preconceived notions. We expect Jesus to appear in certain ways, we expect Him to appear in the flesh in ways that meet our expectations, that fit our religious forms, that align with our national, political, economic, and social agendas.

 

To live seeing the invisible is to see Jesus Christ above and beyond the natural world around us, and this includes seeing Him beyond our philosophies, religious traditions, our doctrinal distinctives, our national, political, social, economic, racial, and ethnic identities.

 

“For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise” (Gal. 3:27 – 29).

 

If our identity is found anywhere other than in Christ, if our identification with other Christians is found anywhere other than in Christ and only in Christ, then we are living by looking at things that can be seen, and those things are temporal. Nationalism is temporal, denominations are temporal, political orientation is temporal, economics are temporal, our social norms are temporal, our comfort zones are temporal.

 

Not only does Jesus come to us in ways we do not expect, He comes to us in ways that we often instinctively reject. He comes to us as homeless, as a stranger and alien seeking refuge, as naked, as thirsty, as hungry, as a prisoner…and we reject Him at our peril, and it is very much to our peril when we teach others to reject Him! (Matthew 25:31 – 46).

 

Do we see the irony that many of us who make much of Matthew Chapter 24 ignore Matthew 25:31 – 46, which is the continuation of Chapter 24? Do we see the irony that many of us who profess a high view of Scripture, gloss over Matthew 25:31 – 46?

 

Do we not tremble that many congregations insist that their pastors only preach and teach in a way that they expect, a way that mirrors their view of Jesus, their image of Jesus – and that if pastors suggest an image of Jesus, a Biblical image, an image of touching the untouchable and loving the unlovable, that the congregations will, one way or another, do to the pastors what the religious leaders did to Jesus – they will cast them out, torture them, and crucify them.  

 

Faithful pastors in the United States have much less to fear from the world, than they do from the professing church (including other pastors).

 

Learning to know Christ “not according to the flesh,” not according to appearance, is a lifelong journey…we must always be looking for Him, for He often comes in ways we do not expect, even in ways that we may reject. He may come (and indeed He will come!) through people who do not look like us, talk like us, dress like us, eat like us, or see many things the way we do. He may come to us in images and people with whom we have nothing in common, nothing at all.

 

As we experience what it is to know Jesus in Spirit and in Truth (John 4:21 – 24), as we experience what it is to know Jesus beyond the visible, as we experience His coming to us beyond what is seen by the natural eye, then we will learn how to receive others into our lives, we will learn how to touch others in the Name of Christ – we will learn, we will finally learn, to live as the daughters and sons of God.

Seeing the Invisible (3)

 

“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 Cor. 4:18).

 

“Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer” (2 Cor. 5:16).

 

In the previous reflection I wrote that we’d return to 2 Cor. 4:6 in this meditation, but I think instead we’ll touch on the third foundational passage about seeing the invisible, 2 Cor. 5:16, and having done that we’ll then circle back to 4:6. Then we’ll work out way outward into the other sections of Paul’s letter. I hope as we develop this that seeing the invisible will come into focus for you (and me).

 

In 2 Cor. 4:6 we see that when Paul reads the account of creation in Genesis Chapter 1, that he sees through and beyond God creating the physical creation to God creating us in Christ as new creations. He extends this vision to 5:16 when he writes that we no longer see one another based on the flesh, on outward appearance – but we look beyond the flesh, beyond what the natural eye sees, beyond the tent that others dwell in (see 2 Cor. 5:1 – 4), and we see Christ in our brothers and sisters, indeed, we see the image of God in man – even when man is defacing and rejecting that image. “We recognize no one according to the flesh.”

 

This also can mean that when people look good and righteous on the outside “as servants of righteousness”, that they may be Satan’s messengers on the inside (2 Cor. 11:13 – 15). Seeing the invisible can mean seeing Christ in others despite outward appearance; it can also mean seeing evil in others, despite outward appearance. Paul writes of those who have a “form of godliness, although they have denied its power” (2 Tim. 3:5). Things are not always as they seem, they may seldom be as they seem.

 

Why is it that we recognize no one “according to the flesh”? It is because a fundamental change has taken place in our lives – as individuals and as a collective whole:

 

“For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf” (2 Cor. 5:14 – 15).

 

Then we have what follows 5:16, with Paul connecting 5:16 with 4:6 via 4:18, “The God who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” We are now new creations in Jesus Christ, “the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (5:17).

 

Just as Genesis Chapter 1 portrays a comprehensive creation, so the New Creation in Christ is comprehensive, “Now all these things are from God” (5:18).

 

Our basis for not recognizing others according to the flesh continues in 5:18 – 21:

 

God has “reconciled us to Himself through Christ” (5:18).

 

This reconciliation occurred through the Incarnation, and through it God no longer counts our trespasses against us (5:19).

 

When we ask, “How can this possibly be? How can God reconcile us through Christ? How can God possibly not count our sins against us?”

 

God answers, “He [God the Father] made Him [Christ the Son] who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (5:21).

 

We learn to no longer recognize one another according to the flesh, according to visual appearance, instead learning to see one another in Christ, learning to acknowledge one another in Christ, based on our new identity in Him, as new creations. Jesus Christ has become sin for us on the Cross that we might become His very righteousness. (This is both organic and forensic, both imputed and infused – hence we have Romans 3:21 – 26; 4:22 – 25; and also Romans 6:1 – 11; 8:9 – 30).

 

Now, there is more to this than we might think, much more. While this is an exciting way to live, and while there is no Message as glorious as the Message of Reconciliation, there is a challenge that we’d rather not confront.

 

“That they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf” (5:15).

 

We may like to talk about being new creations, we may rejoice in our sins being forgiven, we may be awestruck by the idea that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself – but do we really want to confront the results of this? Do we acknowledge the claim this has on our lives?

 

If we have died with Christ (2 Cor. 5:14; Romans Chapter 6; Galatians 2:20; 6:14), then we are no longer our own, we no longer belong to the old creation, but have been raised to newness of life in Christ and therefore must no longer live for ourselves, but for Him who died and rose again on our behalf.

 

We would rather do without this. Our pastors dare not teach this, they dare not call us to this, they dare not use this as a benchmark for our lives – either individually, as marriages, as families, or as congregations. We expect, we demand, that our pastors and teachers gloss over this passage and others like it, such as Mark 8:34 – 38, for our lives will always be our own to do with as we please and no one has a right to tell us differently or to expect us to change our self-centered orientation.  

 

If we have pastors who insist on seeing us in Christ, if they insist on calling us to live in our identity in Christ as new creations, then there will be conflict – for they will call us out of the Christian entertainment business and the Christian self-improvement and self-help and group therapy business, they will call us to Biblical discipleship, to return to the Cross as our Way of Life in Christ. They will call us to move out of Christian nationalism to live as citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:20); if we obey the Message then we will become Christians without borders – for we will see others not according to the flesh, but according to Christ. (We have a wonderful example of Christians without borders in 2 Corinthians chapters 8 and 9).

 

So we see, I hope, that the Gospel contained in 2 Cor. 5:14 – 21 has the seeds of conflict within it, for to be a new creature in Christ means that we no longer live for ourselves but for Christ Jesus, it means that we no longer belong to ourselves, it means that our change of identity has brought with it a change in our center of gravity. Faithful pastors will hold their people accountable to this calling. They will affirm our identity in Christ, our righteousness in Christ, as well as call us to live out from that identity – not for ourselves, but for Christ and others.

 

Looking at the things that are eternal, seeing the invisible, not recognizing others according to the flesh – leads us to a higher Way of Life, the Life of the Cross.

 

In our next reflection, the Lord willing, we’ll ponder the words, “even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer” (5:16).

 

Postscript: I imagine this is new territory for many of us, and I’m pretty sure that this requires time and prayer and meditation. New territory usually requires these things. Even as I have been writing this reflection, I’ve been seeing new dimensions in Christ Jesus, and what I have known, I have only known in a measure…but I think this is nearly always the case…we know in a measure, only in a measure. Jesus calls us to know Him, not to have all the answers, not to wrap up loose ends, not to speak the final word on the glories of His Kingdom and our life in Him. Jesus alone will speak the final word, and He alone will wrap up the loose ends. I hope you will read these passages of Scripture again and again and again – for they reveal Jesus Christ and your life in Him.

Do Not Be Afraid

 

“Darkness had fallen, and Jesus had not yet come to them” (John 6:17b).

 

O yes, O yes, I remember that night. I was thinking about it when I was on the Isle of Patmos receiving the revelation of Jesus Christ. Considering all the darkness I witnessed in the Revelation, up close and personal, it was, I suppose, inevitable that I’d think about that night on the Sea of Galilee.

 

It was after Jesus had fed the multitude and withdrawn to the mountain by Himself. As evening came, leaving Jesus behind we got into a boat to sail to Capernaum. Sailing at night was normal for us fishermen, I’m not sure how the others felt about it, but Peter, James, Andrew, and I had fished many a night in our business – some nights the catch was great, other nights meagre.

 

You may have noticed that I wrote, “Darkness had fallen, and Jesus had not yet come to them.” You see, we expected Jesus to show up – He had that way about Him; He has that way about Him. O my, how He showed up on Patmos…He showed up in a way I never expected, in a way I wasn’t looking for. But then, isn’t that the way He is?

 

Anyway, the thing is that the sea became agitated, the wind was blowing, we couldn’t use the sail and so we rowed, and it was hard going to put muscle to oar. The waves were rising and falling and tossing the boat, and the brothers that weren’t fishermen were wishing they’d stayed behind. We were asking one another, “Where is Jesus? Where is Jesus when we need Him? Why did He send us by ourselves? Why couldn’t we have waited for Him?”

 

That’s another thing about Jesus. Sometimes He says, “Wait for Me.” Other times He says, “Go on ahead.” That’s crazy isn’t it? After all this time I still don’t understand it, I still don’t understand Him. O there is a lot I know, but it doesn’t seem there is a lot I understand.

 

I know He loves you and me. I know He never leaves us or forsakes us. I know He is our Good Shepherd. I know His mercy and grace are without measure. I know His peace passes my comprehension. I know His perfect love casts out all fear.

 

I know all of these things, but I sure don’t understand them. I know Him, O how I know Him, but I can’t say I understand Him.

 

Well, darkness had fallen and the sea was throwing us up and down and there were times we thought our boat might capsize. Then we saw Him, walking on the tempestuous water – and we were scared, just plain frightened.

 

Now go figure, if you can. On the one hand we are asking each other, “Where is Jesus?” Then when we see Him we are frightened. What sense does that make? I don’t know if we were more afraid of the storm or of Jesus. I’m shaking my head as I write this.

 

Storms can be disorienting. Storms in darkness can be especially disorienting and cause you to lose your equilibrium.

 

Notice that Jesus was “drawing near to the boat.” Do you think that lessened our fear of Him? No indeed! The closer He came the more we trembled!

 

Yes, as I was experiencing His revelation on Patmos, I truly was thinking about that night on the Sea of Galilee when darkness fell and Jesus had not yet come. I was indeed thinking of the churning of the sea, the howling of the wind, the boat being tossed about like a child’s toy. I saw much darkness on Patmos, I saw churning waters and felt howling winds, and the thunder, the thunder and lightning in Revelation was deafening and blinding – Revelation was, at times, like being in an amphitheater filled with kettle drums whose vibrations shake your very soul.

 

On Patmos, when I first saw and heard Him “I fell at His feet like a dead man” (Rev. 1:17).

 

Then what did Jesus do? Why He touched and said, “Do not be afraid.”

 

That also reminds me of that night on the sea, for He said, “It is I; do not be afraid.”

 

Isn’t He always saying that to us? “It is I; do not be afraid”?

 

When darkness falls but Jesus has not yet come, when the storms howl about us and toss our boats, filling them with water, stretching their seams; when we see images on the ocean that we do not understand, when those around us are panicking, when we wonder what in the world we are doing and how in the world we got where we are…we can be sure that Jesus is coming to us, we can be sure that through the gale force winds and the uncertainty of every moment, when our hearts want to leap out of our chests and we are chasing our breath – we can be sure, we can be certain, we can be confident that Jesus is speaking to us, that Jesus is saying, “It is I; do not be afraid.”

Seeing the Invisible (2)

 

 

“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 Cor. 4:18).

 

As mentioned in our first reflection, I want to connect 4:18 with 4:6 and with 5:16, having done that we will, the Lord willing, work our way outward into the other sections of 2 Corinthians.

 

“For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).

 

To what is Paul referring in quoting God?

 

Of course he is directing our attention to Genesis 1:3, “Then God said, “Let there be light” and there was light.”

 

Did you notice that Paul’s quotation is slightly different in form than Genesis 1:3? In Genesis 1:3 we read, “Let there be light.” In 2 Corinthians 4:6 it is, “Light shall shine out of darkness.”

 

I don’t know if someone has tracked down another version or a variant to reconcile the two verses, but I don’t think they require reconciliation because while the form of the quotation may be a bit different, the content is the same. Genesis tells us that there was darkness, that God said, “Let there be light,” and that God separated the light from the darkness. Paul’s quotation, “Let light shine out of darkness,” gets to the heart of the matter.

 

We ought to take note of this, for we want to learn to look beyond the outside of the seed, outside its form, and look inside; we want to learn to look beyond appearances and see the heart of the matter.

 

“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” (John 6:63).

 

It should not surprise us that Paul writes, “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6) and that he does this in 2 Corinthians, in which he writes that we are not to look at what is seen, but what is unseen.

 

Why does Paul direct his readers’ attention to Genesis 1:3? He does so because the Genesis Creation narrative is our narrative in Jesus Christ, it is our story as new creations in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, the Word, created all things, He is the Light of the world – He is the very Light that shines in darkness! “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overpower it” (John 1:1 – 5!).

 

As the earth came out of the waters in Genesis, so you and I come out of the waters of baptism as new creations in Christ Jesus.

 

Note that Paul continues the Creation narrative in 2 Corinthians Chapter 5, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; new things have come” (5:17).

 

In 2 Corinthians 4:2 – 4 we see darkness, in 4:6 we see Light. Is it the Light we expect? That is, are the results of the “Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” what a reasonable person might anticipate?

 

Verse 7 begins with a BUT, and what a BUTit is!

 

Paul immediately reminds us that the treasure of the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ is found in earthen vessels, frail vessels, vessels subject to breaking, shattering, cracking, leakage. What does being a New Creation in Jesus look like?

 

“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our body. For we who live [that is, we who have the Light of Christ and the glory of God!] are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you” (2 Cor. 4:8 – 12).

 

Sounds like a good time, doesn’t it?

 

Is this not one of many reasons why Paul writes that he and his friends don’t look at what is seen but rather at what is unseen? To read 4:8 – 12 and not to see beyond the outer cover of the seed being sown, is to despair, to be confused, to even perhaps reject the Cross which we are to daily embrace and to love.

 

We are going to return to this passage in our next reflection in this series, but for now, I hope we will see that when Paul reads Genesis Chapter One, that he sees beyond the outer, beyond the visible, and he sees Jesus Christ; he sees the story of our becoming new creations in Jesus Christ. Paul sees, in Genesis, the process of transformation into the image of Christ which he portrays in 2 Corinthians, for example in 4:7 – 5:15, what we might term sanctification and spiritual formation. (He introduces Eve and the serpent in 2 Cor. 11:3!)

 

When Paul reads and ponders Genesis Chapter One, he sees the invisible.

 

After God said, “Let there be light,” there was still work to be done. After God says, “Let there be Light in Susan, John, Christine, Pete, Martha, and Patrick, there is still work to be done.

 

As we ponder the invisible and as we learn to see it and live in it in Christ, let us recall:

 

“The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:17 – 18).

 

What does this transformation look like?

 

It looks, in part, like 2 Corinthians 4:7 – 18.

 

 

 

Which Direction?

 Here is a quote from T.S. Eliot's Play, The Family Reunion.

Which direction are you taking?

Your family?

Your church?

"In a world of fugitives, the person taking the opposite direction will appear to run away."

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?

 

 

 

 

The King and His Bride...and the Shepherds: Conclusion

 

Months passed into years…and then one cold and snowy night, with the wind howling and the temperature plummeting…in a wooden house with rags stuffed between holes in the walls and small fire in a cast iron wood stove…with men and women and children huddled under worn quilts and blankets…with the Betrothed between two grandmothers to give her warmth…there is a knock at the door.

 

An aged and stooped pastor slowly rises and makes his way to the door…and then…and then…as he opens it…light fills the room, falling on the faces of all and warming them…caressing them with tenderness, and transforming them from weary to hopeful, from hopeful to joyful.

 

The Betrothed has her eyes closed, her face is wrinkled, her pulse weak, she sleeps in sorrow. A resplendent figure enters the room, and the eyes of all but the Betrothed are fixed on Him…and they know…they know who He is. With rising anticipation, they watch Him quietly walk to the Betrothed between the two grandmothers. The grandmothers? Well, they feel like giddy teenage girls again, for they know what is coming.

 

The King nods to the two grandmas and they leave Her side. Gently the King lifts the old quilt from his soon to be Bride.

 

He whispers, “Ishshah, My Beloved.”

 

“Come my dear, we have work to do.”

 

 --------------------------------------------------------

“Many shepherds have ruined My vineyard, they have trampled down My field; they have made My pleasant field a desolate wilderness” (Jeremiah 12:10).

 

“Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture! Declares the LORD” (Jer. 23:1).

 

“I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding" (Jer. 3:15).

 

“For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:2 – 3).

 

Well pastor, elder, deacon, trustee, teacher, small group leader, which will it be?

 

Which shepherds will you be found among when the King returns for His Bride?

 

Robert L. Withers, May 2, 2026

Ezekiel 33:1 – 9.

 

 

 

 

The King and His Bride...and the Shepherds: Part Three

 

From this point forward every day brought new delegations to the pastors, new offers for them to lend the future queen to various ventures (all of course with the very best intentions, for the greater good; and if the pastors should benefit, well, so much the better.)

 

The pastors formed their own company, King and Queen Enterprises. They had a marketing department, a fashion department, they launched a music industry, a construction company, an entertainment division, an investment firm. They used the images of the King and Queen to be on their letterhead and marketing material.

 

They kept the betrothed so busy and in motion that she could no longer think, all she could do is what she was told to do, with the learned pastors saying, “We know best. Trust us, we know best.”

 

Her ladies-in-waiting, who served out of love for both her and the king, were replaced by women from the City of Fashion, the City of Marketing, the City of Politics, and the City of Dollar. Her food was laced with sedatives one meal and stimulants the next meal. She was never allowed to rest. She was never allowed to contemplate the return of her beloved King. Her heart was never permitted to behold Him.

 

As the pastors’ wealth and power accumulated, they became convinced that the king would not return, at least not in their lifetime. Why not align themselves with the political and national and military powers of the region? Why not endorse them – of course endorse them in the name of the King – why not insist that all people give their hearts to power and might and national identity – rather than allegiance to the King of kings?

 

Well, dear reader…again, my heart breaks.

 

Now to be sure not all pastors and shepherds got caught up in the insanity, but if you had traveled to this land you will not have found them at the royal court – which had become an Imperial Court with an Imperial Cult, with its leader from the City of Dollar and its council from the cities of the World.

 

The faithful pastors could be found walking the streets and looking for the disenfranchised, the hurting, the sick, the refugee, the hungry, and those who remembered the good and kind and gentle King (Matthew 12:18 – 21). These pastors were binding up wounds and carrying the hurting to the inn for healing at their own expense (Luke 10:30 – 37).  These shepherds were giving their lives for the sheep (John 10:1 – 18).

 

And the bride-to-be? She was cast out of her royal lodgings in rags after she was used up by the faithless pastors (they had no shortage of women to replace her as a figurehead). She wandered the streets, eating from dumpsters, sleeping under bridges in cardboard boxes.

 

Yet, as the Father of the Great and Good King would have it, she was discovered by some nondescript faithful pastors in their search for the untouchable and unlovable, and they and their little flocks brought her in and clothed her and fed her and gave her shelter and love and care. Most importantly of all they spoke of her beloved, of the Great and Good King…for they loved Him with all that they had and all that they were.

 

The King and His Bride ...and the Shepherds: Part Two

 

Soon a delegation from the great city of Dollar arrived to speak to the pastors of the royal court. The rulers of Dollar had heard of the betrothed’s appearances at regal balls in the surrounding lands and they had a request. They were not requesting the beloved’s attendance at a ball, but rather a trade festival, for their city was all about commerce and making money – they loved money. They thought that if the queen-to-be would attend their upcoming trade festival that it would attract people far and wide.

 

They also had another request; they had brought with them various products their city was known for and wanted the young woman to try them and to endorse the ones she liked. In return, the leaders of the city would make a payment to the pastors.

 

By this time, the pastors were accustomed to displaying the betrothed to others, and they were enjoying the attention they received when they brought her with them to grand functions. Furthermore, compared to the pastors she was a child, and a trusting child at that. She was convinced that these learned men whom her beloved husband-to-be had entrusted her to meant the best for both her and the king.

 

The pastors saw no problem with the offer from the City of Dollar, instead they saw opportunity!

 

Needless to say, the Festival of Dollar was a great success for the merchants and manufacturers and…to the pastors. Within days of their return to the royal residence in the land of the great and good king a delegation from another city arrived to seek audience with the pastors; they were from the City of Fashion.

 

The City of Fashion was having its annual grand festival in just a few weeks and having heard of the astounding success of the City of Dollar, they had an offer for the pastors that shouted of innovation and opportunity. They would triple the payment the pastors had received from the City of Dollar, plus give the pastors a percentage of the profits from the sale of every dress and gown the betrothed modeled at the City of Fashion.

 

Furthermore, in order to ensure that the young woman displayed fashion in its best light, they brought make-up artists with them, and dress designers, modeling coaches, and dance instructors.

 

The offer was immediately accepted.

 

However, this time there were questions from others within the royal court. While there had previously been murmurings, now the questions were louder, the concerns more forcibly expressed. Why were the pastors doing this? Why were they putting themselves and their agendas ahead of the king and his beloved bride-to-be? What were they doing to her? Why were their bank and investment accounts growing? Why were they not being transparent about their finances? Why were they not paying attention to the welfare of the people? The poor, the widow, the immigrant seeking refuge, the sick, the prisoner, the hungry?

 

The pastors had a stock response, “You don’t understand. These things are best left to us” (John 9:34).

 

To those who continued to protest, the pastors and their servants paid them special visits and suggested that perhaps they would be better off moving to another land, to another kingdom; they need not think about returning.

 

Well, dear reader, my heart breaks as I write this, the visions in my head make me sick as Daniel was sick (Daniel 7:28; 8:27). For by the time the betrothed walked down the runways of the City of Fashion you could not recognize her as the innocent young woman who had once faithfully endured the imprisonment of the evil prince, she no longer looked and moved as the bride-to-be of the great and good king – I will venture no more description – considering our own society it probably would not shock us, but it should.