Bonhoeffer’s Discipleship Part II – Reflections (14)

 

Let’s continue to consider what Bonhoeffer writes about what I’ll term intercessory suffering. I’ll quote Bonhoeffer from our previous reflection:

 

“Even though Jesus Christ has already accomplished all the vicarious suffering necessary for our redemption, his sufferings in the world are not finished yet. In his grace, he has left something unfinished in his suffering, which his church – community is to complete in this last period before his second coming” (page 202, italics mine).

 

We “are permitted to bear what others are spared …There is a specific amount of suffering which has been allocated to the body of Christ” (page 203).

 

In Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free, F. F. Bruce writes, “He [Paul] seems to have held that the more of these sufferings he personally absorbed, the less would remain for his follow-Christians to endure. “I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake," he writes to the Colossians, “and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church” (Colossians 1:24). To the same effect he tells his friends in Corinth that “if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation (2 Corinthians 1:6)”” (page 139).

 

Intercessory living and suffering is very much the theme of 2 Corinthians, and it is indeed the theme of Christ Jesus, in His life, His death, His resurrection, and His Presence within His Body, His Church, His Temple. The Suffering Servant of Isaiah, such as we see in 52:13 – 53:12, continues to live within His Body. If we are indeed joined to our Lord Jesus in organic unity, ought we not to expect His Nature of self-sacrifice and self-giving to live within us and through us?

 

“God so loved the world that He gave…” God gave, and God continues to give, and as He gave Jesus, so He gives us. Jesus says, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21). What is it about this we don’t understand?

 

The theme of intercessory living is found throughout the New Testament, yet we don’t see it. We read Colossians 1:24 and gloss over it. We read 2 Corinthians 4:12 and gloss over it. We read 1 John 3:16 and promptly ignore it. Galatians 2:20 might as well be written in Martian, it is so alien to us.

 

For you see my dear friends, if these passages are not realities within us and our congregations then we would be better off if they did not exist – for they represent our high calling in Jesus Christ, to know Him in the power of His resurrection and the koinonia of His suffering (Phil. 3:10) – if they did not exist we would not be guilty of rejecting them.

 

To teach a vicarious understanding of the Cross and Atonement, without teaching a corresponding vision of our life in Christ, of living and suffering with Christ, in Christ, and through Christ for the sake of others, is to present a truncated message of the Cross. The Cross is our sacramental portal into the koinonia of the Trinity, as individuals and as God’s People. To confine our teaching of the Cross to Jesus dying vicariously for us, is to teach less than what we see in Scripture. (Consider the dimensions of the Cross in Romans, especially from 5:12 – 8:39.)

 

We cannot understand the mystery of the Cross anymore than we can understand the mystery of the Trinity. We can touch the Cross and be touched by the Cross, we can live in the Cross and the Cross can live in us. As we follow on to know Jesus Christ in His depths, we will all (I do believe) have experiences and moments when we see things and hear things which we may, with Paul, term, “inexpressible words [and images and ideas], which a man is not permitted to speak.”

 

In his sermon, The Wonderful Tree, Geerhardus Vos says concerning the soul and God, “There is an inner sanctuary of communion, where all else disappears from sight, and the believer shut in with God gazes upon his loveliness, and appropriates Him, as though outside of Him nothing mattered or existed. These may be fugitive moments, and they may be rare in our experience, but we surely must know them, if God’s fruit-bearing for us is to be a reality in our lives” (Grace and Glory, page 26, italics mine).  

 

A doctrine of the Cross without the experience of the Cross, without living the Way of the Cross, is dead letter, a tragedy indeed. As Bonhoeffer has written, the Cross frees us to suffer for Christ and others, it gives us the liberty to lose our lives so that others may live.

 

In the American church, we have become so far removed from the Christ of the Cross and the Cross of Christ, we have become so pleasure oriented and self-centered, we have so bought into individualism, that what Bonhoeffer writes, what Paul writes, and what I am writing, seems like a different Christianity, a different Gospel – why we might even say that it goes against our entire way of life of consumerism and pleasure and striving for the self.

 

Yet, I can recall as a lad hearing men and women still talk about these things, still value them, still call others to follow Jesus and respond to Him by losing their lives for His sake and the Gospel’s (Mark 8:34ff).

 

Biblical Christianity is partaking of the Divine Nature through and in Jesus Christ. Biblical Christianity is, in its essence, supernatural – it is Other than we are, or we might say that it is Other than we were, for we are being transformed into Christ’s image and we are new creations in Him. It should not surprise us if we experience things, such as suffering on behalf of others, that we cannot understand – we are learning a new Way of living in Jesus Christ and with one another.

 

We may not understand Colossians 1:24 or 2 Corinthians 4:12, but we can ask God to make them real in our lives, we can ask God to teach us to know the koinonia of the sufferings of Jesus Christ, we can ask God to teach us intercessory living and intercessory prayer, we can ask God to teach us to bear the suffering of others in our hearts and minds and souls and in the depths of our spirits. We can ask God to implant the Cross in the core of our very being. (And in our congregations!)

 

If we do these things, if we desire these things, then let us not be surprised if the Holy Spirit prays and intercedes through us “with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26) for we will have crossed the divide between religion and the Kingdom, between childhood and sonship, and we will be learning to follow the Lamb wherever His goes, including to the sacrificial altar we know as the Cross.

Bonhoeffer’s Discipleship Part II – Reflections (13)

 

“In the community of the crucified and transfigured body of Jesus Christ, we take part in Christ’s suffering and glory. Christ’s cross is laid upon the body of the church - community” (pp. 201 – 202).

 

Now Bonhoeffer moves into the realm of suffering for Christ, but it is not suffering in the way we typically think of it. The Biblical suffering of which he writes has two distinctive elements most of us are unfamiliar with; one is that we truly are sharing in Christ’s sufferings, the other is that we are suffering on behalf of others – that is, we are bearing the suffering of others, we are even suffering so that others may not have to suffer, as Christ suffered so that we would not have to suffer.

 

“No greater glory could Christ have granted to his own; no honor could be more astonishing for Christians than to be granted the privilege of suffering “for Christ”’ (page 202).

 

Bonhoeffer tells us that through the work of Christ we are now freed to exist for Christ “in death and suffering.” This is not what we are normally taught in church, on the radio or online, or in books. Our mentality is that we are freed to do what we want to do, to pursue a pain-free life, to accumulate pleasure upon pleasure, to get what we want and to keep what we get. We may have a bifurcation in which we subscribe to correct doctrine, in which we are expected to believe what we are taught, or at least give ascent to it, but we aren’t really expected to “take up our cross” and follow Jesus, denying ourselves, losing our lives for His sake and the Gospel’s (Mark 8:34 – 38).

 

We may admire others who suffer for Jesus, but surely that is not our calling or gift. As someone said, we judge others by their actions, and ourselves by our intentions.

 

“Even though Jesus Christ has already accomplished all the vicarious suffering necessary for our redemption, his sufferings in the world are not finished yet. In his grace, he has left something unfinished in his suffering, which his church – community is to complete in this last period before his second coming” (page 202, italics mine).

 

Bonhoeffer writes that we “are permitted to bear what others are spared” (page 203). Also, that, “There is a specific amount of suffering which has been allocated to the body of Christ” (page 203).

 

Among the passages that Bonhoeffer cites are Phil. 1:29; 2:17; Rom. 8:35ff; 1 Cor. 4:10; 5:20; 13:9; 2 Cor. 4:10 – 12; 1:5-7; 13:9; Phil. 2:17; Col. 1:24; and Gal. 6:17).

 

Consider Col. 1:24: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.”

 

“Always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live 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. 4:10 – 12).

 

The koinonia of His sufferings (Phil. 3:10) is a deep sharing in the Cross as our Way of Life. It includes intercessory sufferings on behalf of others. When we suffer, our suffering is not solely about us, it is so that we may know Christ and bear the hurt and pain and suffering of others. “If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation” (2 Cor. 1:6).

 

We may not see or understand the particulars of our suffering, but we can be assured that it is for the glory of Christ and the blessing of others. No suffering should be wasted. All suffering can be offered up to God for His glory and the blessing of others.

 

Intercessory suffering is a prominent theme of the Bible, for our life in Christ is to be cruciform. We are positively called to suffer on behalf of others, we are called to know Him in the power of His resurrection and the koinonia of His suffering. Suffering is embedded in the call of Jesus to us (Mark 8:34 – 38).

 

Within the Body of Christ we suffer for one another. The Body of Christ suffers for the world. As the Father gave the Firstborn Son, the Father gives His corporate Son. As Christ gave His earthly body, Christ gives His entire Body.

 

“Such vicariously representative action and suffering, which is carried out by the members of the body of Christ, is itself the very life of Christ who seeks to take shape in his members (Gal. 4:19)” (page 203).

 

Of course I don’t really know, but I suspect that the New Jerusalem will be an uncomfortable place for many American Christians, for after all, the Lamb is the focal point of the City, the Lamb is the Light of the City – and it is the Lamb who was slain. The Lamb was slain for “the least of these.”

 

The Lamb will ask why we didn’t care for the least of His brethren. He will say, “But I gave you money, knowledge, the keys to medicine and education and housing, I gave you and gave you and gave you. Why didn’t you use what I gave you for others?

 

“Why didn’t you care for the alien seeking safety and food and care for his family? Why didn’t you care for the children born in your own country, just a few miles from where you lived? Why did you isolate the widows and widowers?”

 

Perhaps most telling of all is when He asks, “Why didn’t you join Me in my sufferings for others? Why wasn’t your heart joined to Mine? Why hasn’t your heart been breaking so that others may be comforted? Why did you enter into this great City more of a stranger than as a son or daughter of our Father?”

 

Well, again, I don’t really know about these things, and yet I do. For we will be held accountable, O yes, we will. Matthew 25:31 – 46; 1 Cor. 3:10 – 15; 2 Cor. 5:9 – 10.

 

If we are not bearing the brand-marks of Jesus (Gal. 6:17), if the Cross is not planted deep within us and emanating from us, if our lives are not formed by the suffering Lamb of God, then what do we really have?

 

We may talk about the Cross, sing about the Cross (though not as in previous generations), we may have crosses and crucifixes hanging in our churches and homes, we may have finely-tuned doctrines of the Cross embedded in our confessions and catechisms, but if the Cross is not our Way of Life, if we are not suffering on behalf of others – as individuals, as congregations, and as movements (if we must have movements) – then something is amiss.

 

The Cross is not only a stumbling block to the world, it is a stumbling block to the professing church (1 Cor. 1:17 – 31; Gal. 2:20; 5:11; 6:14).

 

Peter sought to spare Jesus from the Cross (Mt. 16:21 – 23; Jn. 18:10 – 11). In Matthew Jesus rebuked him with the words, “Get behind Me, Satan!” When pastors and teachers and churches spare us from the Cross, they are not helping us, they are not representing the Way of Jesus Christ.

 

Is the Cross simply something outside us, an external object which we have not touched, and which has not touched us? Or is the Cross of Christ living in the depths of our souls, is it the center of life, the source of life, and is sharing it the object and mission of life?

 

Are we following the Lamb wherever He leads us?

 

I will, the Lord willing, share more on suffering on behalf of others in our next reflection in this series.

A Kingdom of Priests (14)

 Intercession (9)

With the following proclamation, Yahweh proclaimed His glory and His ways to Moses:

 

“Yahweh descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of Yahweh. Then Yahweh passed by the front of him and proclaimed, Yahweh, Yahweh God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:5 – 7).

 

Keeping the above in mind, let’s consider Numbers chapters 13 and 14. Here is the account of Israel sending twelve spies into the Promised Land and, upon their return, choosing to believe the ten unbelieving spies rather than the faithful two witnesses, Joshua and Caleb. While the ten saw the same things as the two, they interpreted what they saw differently – isn’t this the way of life? So often life is not a matter of circumstances, it is a matter of how we respond to circumstances; it is a matter of whether our lives are anchored in the True and Living God.

 

The People of Israel chose to take the counsel of the ten unbelieving spies and reject the command of Yahweh, and the counsel of Moses, Joshua and Caleb; the people chose to return to Egypt. Once again Yahweh tells Moses that He will destroy unbelieving Israel and make a great people from Moses, and once again Moses intercedes for Israel. (Please read the full account of this so that you can see these Divine dynamics; also note the similarities between Moses’s intercession in Numbers 14 and his intercession in Exodus chapters 32 – 34, there is much to see and learn and emulate).

 

The thing I want us to see is what Moses says to Yahweh in Numbers 14:17 – 19:

 

“But now, I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have declared, ‘Yahweh is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations.’

 

“Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of the people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”

 

Can we see what Moses is saying to God, when he says, “…just as You have declared”? Moses is repeating back to Yahweh the very words that Yahweh spoke to Moses in Exodus 34:5 - 7 when God revealed His glory and His ways to Moses. In other words, the glory and ways of God, which God revealed to Moses by what He spoke to Moses, became the basis for Moses’s intercession in Numbers chapter 14.

 

There are those who see the acts of God, and there are those who learn the ways of God. As a holy and royal Priesthood, we are called to learn the ways of God so that we might not only have an intimate relationship with Him, but so that we might also live intercessory lives and engage in deep intercessory prayer.

 

Do we not see the Nature of God in Moses? As Moses sees and imbibes the glory and ways of God, the Way of God, is he not transformed into that image? Does not the Nature of God live in Moses? Can we see Christ in the cry of Moses, “But now, if You will, forgive their sin – and if not, please blot me out from Your book which You have written!”? (Also note Paul in Romans 9:1 – 3).

 

O dear friends, what a tragedy that American Christianity has been traduced into a religion of the Great Self, of “What’s in it for me?” What a greater tragedy that we are exporting this teaching into other nations. Can we not see that this is the spirit of the very antichrist that “takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God” (2 Thess. 2:4)?

 

What of the Gospel of which Bonhoeffer wrote, “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die”? Of Elliot who wrote, “He is no fool, who loses what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose”? Of which Christ proclaims, “If anyone will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me…” (Mark 8:34ff)?

 

Can we see Christ in Moses and Moses in Christ? Can we see the intercessory Christ in us, as individuals and as His People? Are we learning the Way of the Intercessory life of God in Christ?

 

Are we coming to know, to deeply know, the Word of God and the God of the Word? The basis of our intercessory praying and living must be the God of the Word and the Word of God; God has proclaimed His glory and His ways through His Word.

How shall we pray…and live…today?

A Kingdom of Priests (13)

 Intercession (8)

Moses desired to know the ways of God, to see the glory of God; Moses wanted more than to see the acts of God, he wanted to know God intimately. Yahweh promised Moses that when Moses returned to the mountain that He would reveal Himself, in a measure (Ex. 33:20 – 23), to Moses. Thus we read:

 

 “Yahweh descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of Yahweh. Then Yahweh passed by the front of him and proclaimed, Yahweh, Yahweh God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:5 – 7).

 

Let’s note three things before we continue with 34:5 – 7:

 

“Then Yahweh said, Behold, there is a place with Me, and you shall stand there on the rock…” (33:21). This “place” and this “rock” speak to us of our Lord Jesus Christ – it is ever and always in Jesus Christ that we have koinonia with God. Moses experienced a measure, a dimension, of this koinonia and its glory, but a greater glory was coming.

 

“So be ready by morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to Me on top of the mountain.” (34:2). Our lives are to be a continuing offering to God, and this should be an earmark of every morning of every day of our lives (Romans 12:1 – 2). We are not our own, we have been bought with a price, and every morning we should be “ready” and “present our bodies a living and holy sacrifice,” not “conforming ourselves to this age,” but rather we ought to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds," so that we may live out the "will of God, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

 

Carnal Christians, those who live according to the “flesh,” get up in the morning and do what they want to do, setting their own agendas and trajectories. However, those sons and daughters living and led by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:14), acknowledge every morning that their lives are not their own but belong to Jesus Christ, presenting themselves – heart, mind, soul, and body – to God every morning, as living sacrifices in the Christ of the Cross and the Cross of Christ, proclaiming that by the Cross of Christ they are crucified to the world and the world is crucified to them (Galatians 6:14).

 

The third thing to note, is that in Jesus Christ we receive the fullness of God and we “see” the glory of God (John 1:14 – 18; 14:6 – 9). This fullness is ever expanding within us, ever growing, ever transforming us (2 Cor. 3:17 – 18). This means, among other things, that as glorious as Moses’s experience and understanding was (see Exodus 34:29 – 35), that compared to the glory of Jesus Christ and His Gospel, that it has no glory:

 

“For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it. For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.” (2 Cor. 3:9 – 11).

 

The life of Moses is a pattern of “greater things” yet to come, as is the history of Israel (1 Cor. 10:11).  If we are not learning to see beyond the history, then we are not reading and understanding what we call the Old Testament as it is meant to be read and understood (Luke 24:27, 44 – 47), for the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings reveal Jesus Christ.

 

Are we content to just know the acts of God? Or do we hunger to know God and His ways? Are we looking for exhilarating experiences, or are we seeking His Face so that we might know Him intimately? Is our knowledge and relationship with God based on externalities, or are we living in union with Him? Consider the dynamics of the New Covenant:

 

“After those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their minds, and I will write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” (Hebrews 8:10).

 

“Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.” (John 14:23).

 

O that we would know what it is to cry, “Abba Father!” (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6)

 

 

A Kingdom of Priests (12)

 Intercession (7)

"Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight…

 

“I pray You, show me Your glory!” (Exodus 33:13, 18)

 

Moses desired to not just know the works of God, he also wanted to know the ways of God; and in desiring to know the ways of God Moses desired to see the glory of God. Yes, there is indeed a glory in knowing the works of God, but there is another glory in seeing the ways of God. The act of the Cross of Christ is glorious, the heart of God that is manifested in the Christ of the Cross is inexpressible.

 

Can the works of God be separated from the ways of God? Of course not. Can our understanding of the ways of God and the acts of God grow and mature? Of course they can. Children often only see the acts of their parents, without ever growing to know their parents. The same can be said in all relationships – we can see what a person does but not see who the person really is.

 

The Psalmist tells us that God “…made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel” (Psalm 103:7).

 

Paul desired to “know Him and the power of His resurrection and the koinonia of His suffering” (Phil. 3:10).

 

Jesus came to reveal the Father to us, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth…No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him know.” (John 1:14, 18)

 

“Jesus said to him, Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who as seen Me has seen the Father…” (John 14:9).

 

The desire that Moses had, to know the ways of God, to see God and His glory, would have two fulfillments; the first would be an immediate fulfillment in Moses’s own life, the second would be a greater fulfillment with the Incarnation – what Moses desired for himself would have a greater fulfilment in our own lives…assuming that we also desire to know Him deeply, to know not just the acts of God but also the ways of God, and not just the ways of God but the Way of God (John 14:6).

 

Do we know Him, or do we simply see His acts? Are we spectators or are we knowers?

 

I meet few professing Christians who speak as if they know the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In fact, I have hardly ever met professing Christians who talk to me of Jesus; they talk of church, of programs, of music, of preachers and pastors, of a "Christian" worldview, but they seldom talk to me of Jesus. Most of the Sunday school sessions I’ve endured, and most of the small groups, have been places where Jesus and the Father and the Holy Spirit are spoken of as strangers, as a God who has been read about but never really known. People will talk about the works of God, but hardly ever of the ways of God, hardly ever of knowing God.

 

How can this be? How can this be with people who have been “going to” church for decades? What have we done? How is it that this condition does not appear to bother us?

 

As we will see with Moses, knowing the ways of God enables us to move into a dimension of intercession not available to us if we only know the works of God.

 

Well, I’d like to write a bit more now, but we have a hurricane coming our way and I’d better post this while I still can.

 

Love and blessings…Bob

 

 

 

A Kingdom of Priests (11)

 Intercession (6)

Continuing to reflect on Exodus chapters 32 – 34:

 

“Aaron said, ‘Do not let the anger of my lord burn; you know the people yourself, that they are prone to evil. For they said to me, Make a god for us who will go before us…’” (Exodus 32:22 – 23a).

 

We are, I think, all prone to idols. While we may see our individual propensity to idols at times, there are other times we need to mutually guard one another – in fact, if we aren’t living in accountable relationships in which we warn one another of idols, I don’t see how we can make this pilgrimage. We cannot ascend this mountain by ourselves, we must be roped to one another, we must warn one another of danger.

 

Most idols look good, they appear very very good. Many idols start out as good, even instruments of blessing and salvation – consider the bronze serpent in the wilderness. We make Nehustan’s (Num. 21:6ff; 2 Kings 18:4) out of anything and everything. As I write this I’m thinking of having coffee with an acquaintance a few years ago, he brought a book about leadership to give me. His large church had latched onto this book and its approach to leadership and had made it the center of its focus, teaching, and preaching.

 

Whatever the merits of this book may have been, it did not merit the absorption of a congregation - only Jesus Christ merits our absorption. Why were the pastor and church leadership excited about this book? Because it promised results – pragmatic results are what we normally look for, they are what we have become addicted to, they are what we need to achieve in order to sustain our churches and our ministries; visible results have become our validation – not the centrality and worship of Jesus Christ. Let me say again, most idols look good, religious, and promise results.

 

Will we be like Aaron and acquiesce in idol worship, even teaching people to make golden calves? Will we go along to get along?  

 

Note this statement in Exodus 32:25, “Now when Moses saw that the people were out of control – for Aaron had let them get out of control…” Responsible leadership, a responsible priesthood, does not give people what they want, it gives them what they need – and that is a continuous focus on the True and Living God.

 

The people said to Aaron, regarding Moses (32:23), “Make a god for us who will go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

 

Could it be that this is our attitude regarding Jesus Christ? Could it be that, since His ascension into heaven (Luke 24:50 – 51; Acts 1:9 – 11), we have been functionally saying, “For this Jesus, we do not know what has become of Him?” Have we made idols that make sense to us; success, entertainment in the form of lyrics that focus on us and not Christ, personal comfort, marketing our wares instead of sacrificially witnessing for Jesus Christ? The epistemology of this world and age instead of Biblical – Holy Spirit illumination (1 Cor. 1:16 – 2:16; John 14:16 – 17; 15:26 – 27; 16:13 – 15)?

 

Are we a priesthood that is faithful to our Great High Priest, our Lord Jesus Christ? Or, are we as Aaron, giving people what they want and teaching them to make idols?

 

A Kingdom of Priests (10)

 Intercession (5)

As we continue to consider the intercessory life of Moses, and work toward yet another pinnacle of his intercession for God’s People, there are more things to be seen in Exodus chapters 32 – 34. These three chapters provide a foundation and a framework for a life of intercession and intercessory prayer, yielding glory and riches in our Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, as I hope we will see, they provide a great Cornerstone in intercessory living and praying.

 

I hope you will make these chapters a subject of meditation and allow them to soak you and bathe you, and then seep out through the pores of your skin into your daily living – may they become the fragrance of our daily lives in Jesus Christ.

 

Here are some observations to incorporate into our ponderings:

 

“Then Yahweh smote the people, because of what they did with the calf which Aaron had made.” (Exodus 32:35). While Moses’s intercession prevailed with God earlier in this chapter, for God did not destroy all of Israel and He did not make a great nation out of Moses (32:9 – 10); there was nevertheless accountability, there were nevertheless judgmental consequences for those who had sinned. Judgment belongs to God and not to us, punishment (whether given or withheld) belongs to God and not to us, to be forgiven by God does not mean that we are absolved of the temporal consequences of our sin – these consequences may be mitigated, they may be held in abeyance, or we may experience in them in full, these are things beyond our control or full understanding. We are called to be intercessors, not arbiters.

 

“Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, ‘Depart, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, To your seed I will give it.’” (Exodus 33:1). As we noted previously, Moses appealed to Yahweh’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Exodus 32:13) as he pleaded with God for Israel. Now we see God referring to this same covenant. What can we learn from this?

 

Scripture is one of the two great foundations of intercession, the other, as we shall see, is the character, essence, Nature of God as revealed in Scripture. When we know God’s Covenant, when we know His promises, then we can appeal to Him on the basis of His Covenant and promises; that is, we can intercede with God on behalf of others according to His Word. Informed intercession is intercession imbued with the Bible, with the Word of God. Just as a wise lawyer appears in court before the judge with a knowledge of both  statutory law and common law, so the wise intercessor appears before the Throne of Grace and Mercy with an understanding of God’s Word and His Ways.

 

Also compare 33:1 with 32:11. In 32:11 Moses says to God, “…Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt…” While in 33:1 God says to Moses, “…you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt.” Whose people are they? Well, of course they are both God’s people and Moses’s people – are not God’s people our own people? And should not our people be God’s people? God’s people may not be such that we want them, and they may be such that it appears that God does not want them – but at the end of the Day God is faithful to His Covenant and so ought we to be too. Just as we didn’t choose our natural family, we can’t really choose our spiritual family.

 

In Exodus 33:7 – 11 we see that Moses had a “tent of meeting” that was “outside the camp” in which “Yahweh would speak with Moses…face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend.” Do you and I have a “tent of meeting”? Or does the preponderance of our spiritual life take place “within the camp”? Do we have a special place where we commune with God?

 

Jesus tells us that we ought to enter into our closets to commune with God. This does not mean that we shouldn’t have public fellowship with God, for we are called as Christ’s Body, but it does tell us that there is indeed a place in our lives that ought to be sanctified as a Holy of Holies and not for public display. Make no mistake, the fruit of this intimate communion should be public, but the intimacy that produces the fruit is experienced in places known only to the Father and His sons and daughters…in the invisible.

 

Many of us have the propensity to substitute religious activity for communion with God. We think that doing the work of God is the same as intimacy with God, we think that “ministry” is the same as koinonia with God and with one another. We deceive ourselves in this thinking, and vocational ministers are especially susceptible to this self-deception; I write from experience. Vocational ministers can be so busy with the “work of God” that they fail to experience deep relationship with God; when this happens, is the “work of God” really the work of God? Is it not something of our own doing, our own making, our own sustaining?

 

Jesus says, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent” (John 6:29). He says, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). The work of God is that we believe – we must believe in Christ the Son before we can “do.” We must abide in Jesus Christ if we are to bear fruit, for apart from Him we can do nothing.

 

We must learn what it is to leave the crowded camp and to go away to our Tent of Meeting and commune with the Holy Trinity. Yes, there will always, always, be activity to engage us within crowds of people, within congregations, within communities – and we can become addicted to this activity, our egos can come into play, we can think that we are indispensable to everyone…even to God. We can think that if we were to leave and go away to the Tent of Meeting to spend time with God that everything will fall apart – and the more we buy into this deception, the greater its hold will be on us. Perhaps even worse, this is what we will model for others.

 

Where is your Tent of Meeting? Perhaps a chair in a room in your home? Perhaps a special walk in the woods? Maybe the seashore? Your front porch early in the morning?

 

Of course we can take our Tent of Meeting with us, for wherever we go our hearts go with us and it is within our hearts, our souls, our minds that we meet with the True and Living God.  

 

Are we modeling the Tent of Meeting for others? For our congregations, our families, our friends, our neighbors? Or…are our lives declaring that it is not really necessary to know God in the Tent of Meeting…that activity is what really matters, that it is up to us to sustain the work of God, that if we were to spend time with Him in the Tent of Meeting that everything else would fall apart? Are we confusing ourselves with God?

 

Many years ago I arrived rather early in the morning to see a pastor and his wife. They were glad to see me and made me comfortable in their living room and brought me coffee. Then the husband said to me, “Brother Withers, please excuse us. We have not yet had our morning prayers together. Please be comfortable and we will be back.” With those words they retired to their bedroom, to their Tent of Meeting.

 

This occurred around 1969 and, as you can see, I still remember that morning. This husband and wife set and example for me…what example am I setting?

 

What about you?

A Kingdom of Priests (9)

 

Intercession (4)

 

“On the next day Moses said to the people, You yourselves have sinned a great sin; and now I am going up to Yahweh, perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.

 

“Then Moses, returned to Yahweh, and said, Alas, this people has sinned a great sin, and they have made a god of gold for themselves. But now, if You will, forgive their sin – and if not, please blot me out from Your book which You have written!” (Exodus 32:30 – 31).

 

Our Intercessory Life in Jesus Christ, the call of the holy and royal Priesthood which has been placed upon us in Christ, is that which impels us to offer ourselves in Jesus Christ in place of others, it causes us to cry out with Moses, “…and if not, please blot me out from Your book which You have written.”

 

Who can bring about such things other than the Holy Trinity living within us…living within us as individuals and within us as the Body of Jesus Christ?

 

This Intercessory Life is to be manifested in both our prayers and our daily living – it is to be heard in our words and witnessed in our actions; the heavens and the earth are to kiss each other in unity, harmony, and expression.

 

Consider and compare Paul with Moses:

 

“I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could pray that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of mf brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh…Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.” (Romans 9:1 – 3; 10:1).

 

Do you think that if we loved others as Moses and Paul that we would be reluctant to tell others the Good News of Jesus Christ? Do you think that if we loved others as Paul and Moses that we’d be an introverted people, obsessed with our own happiness and temporal desires, intent on self-preservation? Or would we be a people living Christ’s Intercessory Life?

 

Jesus said, “Take my Life for their life.” Moses said, “Take my life for their life.” Paul said, “Take my life for their life.” What are we saying? How are we living?

 

Now let me make what may seem at first a quite outrageous statement, we are making a grave error if when we read what Moses said, “…perhaps I can make atonement for your sin,” and think, “Well, that isn’t for me to do, only Jesus can do that.” This is an error and it is a repudiation of the holy and royal Priesthood that we are in Jesus Christ, our Great High Priest, for He calls us to participate in His Priesthood, and this means, in some Way, participating in His Atonement not only as those who are the recipients of the Atonement, but also as those who participate as priests and offerings – we mediate the Atonement, in Christ, to others as we serve as priests and sacrifices.

 

Consider Colossians 1:24, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.”

 

Now I think that to get a glimpse of what Paul is saying is akin to hearing words which it is not lawful to utter (2 Cor. 12:4). To attempt to speak of what Paul is saying and experiencing is akin to the Levites uncovering the holy things of the Tabernacle while in transit and therein profaning them. What I mean is that we really can’t explain everything in our life in Christ; we can’t explain or define the Trinity, or the Incarnation, or the Atonement, or the Eucharist; nor can we explain or define Colossians 1:24.

 

However, this does not mean that they cannot touch us and that we cannot touch them, for we are called to Life in the Trinity, and this Life is ineffable, numinous, and majestically transcendent. When we speak of these things we speak in awe, acknowledging both their transcendent glory and the limitations of our speech and vision.  

 

We are called to experience the “koinonia of His sufferings” (Phil. 3:10). This means that we drink His cup of sufferings, that we are “conformed to His death” as we are also “conformed to His image” (Phil. 3:10; Rom. 8:29). Paul writes of our “suffering with Him” and of our being “glorified with Him” (Rom. 8:17).

 

In one of the Grand Paradigms of Scripture, 2 Cor. 1:3 – 11, we see our call to intercessory living, “But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer…”

 

Perhaps there is a sense in which we can measure the faithfulness of the professing church, or conversely its apostasy, by our measure of intercessory living in Jesus Christ.

 

What do you think?

A Kingdom of Priests (8)

 

Intercession (3)

 

In some respects, the record of Moses and Israel in the Wilderness is a record of Moses’s intercession for the People of God. Moses is an image of our Great Intercessor, our Lord Jesus Christ, who not only laid His Life down for us, but who also lives, constantly making intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25). It is this Image, the Image of the Firstborn Son, that we are called to be transformed into – and this includes living an intercessory life and a life of intercessory prayer.

 

In Exodus Chapter 32, in response to Israel’s making an idol in the image of a calf, we read:

 

“Yahweh said to Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people. Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation…

 

“Then Moses entreated Yahweh his God, and said, O Yahweh, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?...

 

“Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever…

 

“So Yahweh changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.” (See Exodus 32:9 – 14).

 

What can we learn about intercession in this passage? What do you see? Are there some foundational intercessory principles in Exodus Chapter 32?

 

Consider verse 10 when Yahweh says to Moses, “Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation.”

 

How did Moses respond? Was Moses excited about the idea that God would make of Moses a great nation? That Moses and his descendants, his seed, would supersede the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? What an opportunity to rid himself of these people who didn’t appreciate him and the call that God had placed on his life. What an opportunity to be exalted by God. What an opportunity to do things “the right way.”

 

Don’t we get tired of others getting in the way of God? Of our purpose and destiny? Of our agendas?

 

How might we have responded? How would we have been tempted? How did Moses respond?

 

“Then Moses entreated Yahweh his God, and said, O Yahweh, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a might hand?”

 

What kind of question is this for Moses to ask God? “Why are you angry?” O come on Moses, just look around you, just think back to all the trouble Israel has given you (and there is more to come!). These people, whom God has delivered from Egypt, and whom God desires to bring into the Promised Land, have made a golden idol and are worshipping it even as you and God speak, and you are asking Yahweh why He is angry? Are you crazy? Do you not “get it”?

 

But Moses is not thinking about his own honor or glory, he is thinking about God and God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – Moses is thinking about God’s Covenant and God’s glory. Moses has not forgotten that when Yahweh first appeared to him at the burning bush that He appeared to him proclaiming, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6).

 

And so in Exodus 32:11 – 12 Moses appeals to God’s glory and testimony and implores God, “Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people.”

 

Then in Exodus 32:13 Moses appeals to God’s Covenant, “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel [Jacob]…” Moses is saying, “Remember the burning bush, remember how You revealed Yourself to me. Don’t consider me or my descendants, don’t think about making a great nation of my people – these are my people – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are my people, these worshippers of a golden idol are my people. You have given me to them as Your servant and their servant and I will not abandon You, Your glory, or Your Covenant…and I will not abandon them.”

 

There is yet more to come regarding intercession in Exodus 32, and we’ll pick this chapter back up in our next post. For now, consider that Moses was seeking the glory and honor and testimony of God, and the welfare of God’s People, before Moses’s own glory and honor. Moses put the interests of God and God’s People before his own, or we could say that Moses’s interests were at one with God’s interests and the welfare of God’s People.

 

Moses was attentive to Yahweh’s revelation of Himself at the burning bush as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – and as Jesus points out, this meant that God is not the God of the dead but of the living. Moses saw himself in communion with God and the People of God – the transcendent People of God – how else could Moses “see” the things he saw, and be obedient to the heavenly vision and commission?

 

As the call of Jesus Christ makes clear (Mark 8:34 – 38), those who follow Jesus Christ give up their lives for Him and others – there is no middle ground. The cult of “me first” leadership that prevails in much of the professing church is pagan and represents apostasy – it represents false shepherds and prophets and priests and elders making merchandise of the People of God. Intercessory leadership is not expecting to be served, but to serve and to give our lives as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:25 – 28).

 

Let us not to be so foolish as to speak of leadership or leadership principles unless our conversation is rooted in the Christ of the Cross and the Cross of Christ.

 

As Moses demonstrates, intercessory living is seeking the glory of God and the welfare of His People as our Way of Life in Jesus Christ…for indeed, this is the Way of Jesus (1 John 3:16).

 

A Kingdom of Priests (7)

 

 Intercession (2)

 

“And He saw that there was no man, and was astonished that there was no one to intercede…” Isaiah 59:16a.

 

“I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one.” Ezekiel 22:30.

 

Intercession is at the core of the Royal Priesthood of Jesus Christ, for it flows from the Nature of God, and those in whom His Nature lives, in Jesus Christ, are intercessors by Nature. The Bible tells us that “God is love” (1 John 4:16). Love is self-giving, it is self-sacrificial; when intercession is necessary, love is intercessory.  God’s response to man’s sin was immediately intercessory – Genesis 3:15. Prospectively, in eternity, the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world; hence before the Fall we see the intercessory Lamb.

 

Sadly, we are convinced we are turkeys and not eagles and the image of soaring in the heavens is alien to us, the idea of living in the Throne Room as we walk the earth is foreign to our thinking and way of life.

 

For those of us who recall the View Master, it is as if someone gave us a View Master device but then also gave us one-dimensional slides to put in the device – thwarting the very purpose of the View Master. If we didn’t know any better, we’d think that our experience of the View Master was normal and we’d not relate to what those people who had three dimensional slides were talking about when they described what they were seeing. This, my dear friends, is the difference between living in the glories of Romans 8 and living as if we were still slaves in Egypt. This is the difference between living in the Priesthood of Jesus Christ with it roots in the heavenly Throne Room, and living as earth dwellers.

 

In the Isaiah passage above, Yahweh is astonished that He can find no intercessor. In Ezekiel, Yahweh is looking for a man or woman to build up the wall and stand in the gap before Him, on behalf of the people of the land, and He can find no one.

 

Now let’s be clear, intercession has to do with both words and deeds; it encompasses intercessory prayer and intercessory living – in terms of intercessory living consider Colossians 1:24; Philippians 3:10; 1 John 3:16, and ponder 2 Corinthians 1:3 – 11, noting verses 6 – 7. In the Incarnation we see Jesus Christ living the Intercessory Life and praying intercessory prayer, such as John 17. Since the indwelling Christ is within us, since the Incarnation continues within us, our individual lives and our collective Body Life ought to display the Intercessory Life and ongoing intercessory prayer of Jesus Christ – for as the Head is, so is the Body.

 

One of the challenges in intercessory prayer and intercessory living is that of identification. We must first be citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:20) and live and intercede from a place of transcendence in Jesus Christ, otherwise our living and praying will be fractured by this world’s perspectives and agendas. Let me try to illustrate this.

 

I have seldom been in an actual prayer meeting, that is, I have seldom been in a gathering of Christians in which we actually pray, rather than talk to one another. Also, often when we do pray it isn’t that we pray and intercede for others, but rather that we pray for our own political and social and religious agendas to be adopted by others – that others will “see the light” and adopt ways of thinking that please us. In other words, rather than praying and interceding for others, it is as if we are praying against others.

 

We will talk about things that need changing, and people who need changing, and then we say a prayer or two in the confidence that God realizes that our agendas are the best agendas and that He must absolutely agree with our thinking. Surely God is a conservative, or a liberal, or a moderate, or a capitalist, or an American, or a Republican, or Democrat…the list goes on. Naturally, quite naturally, God has also adopted our doctrinal distinctives, our denomination, our special emphasis, our form of music…we seem to assume these things are so.

 

Ah, but to be an intercessor, to live an intercessory life, means that we belong to Jesus and His Kingdom; it means that we hear the Father’s Beloved Son and represent Him in our words and actions. This means that the Divine Life within us transcends the present evil age, it transcends the agendas of mankind, it recognizes no geopolitical borders, it realizes that no national flag or constitution embodies the Kingdom of God – and so the sons and daughters of God live as strangers and pilgrims on earth, and in a world-system that is in rebellion against the Father and Son (see Psalm 2 and Daniel 2). We are in the world but we are not of the world – and the “left” is as fallen as the “right” and the “right” is as fallen as the “left” and the seduction of one is as dangerous, if not more dangerous, as the overt opposition of the other.

 

And this means that “the Son of Man has no place to lay His head” is just as true today as it was when Jesus first spoke the words 2,000 years ago. The man or woman or people who will live an intercessory life and live a life of intercessory prayer will find no place of rest in this world – and yet will carry the burdens and sin of this world to the Throne Room, and from the Throne Room will carry the love and mercy and grace of God to the world – to the “right” and the “left” and all who are in between.

 

Can you hear the call of Jesus Christ to enter into His intercessory life? Can you hear the call of the Royal Priesthood to live a life of intercessory prayer?

 

O dear friends, the world does not need to be reconciled to this agenda or that agenda, it needs to be reconciled to God; 2 Corinthians 5:16 – 21.

 

 

 

 

 

A Kingdom of Priests (6)

 

Intercession

In discussing the glorious High Priesthood of our Lord Jesus, the writer of Hebrews says (7:23 – 25), “The [former] priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing, but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Therefore He is able also to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

 

To intercede is to speak to one person on behalf of another person; but it is more than that, it also has to do with the nature of the speaking. It is the difference between making a casual request on behalf of someone and imploring on behalf of someone. Making a casual request, or making a request without investing ourselves in the request is one thing, but to invest ourselves deeply in the request and to make that request ongoing is another – the latter are characteristics of intercession. Intercession pursues an answer until it receives it – whether it be hours, days, months, or years.

 

Within intercession, there are I think, varying intensities, heights, and depths. Perhaps this is due to our human frailty, for we can only sustain certain intensities for so long – otherwise we will breakdown under the burden. We can intercede for our nation throughout our lives, and there may be periods of intensity in this intercession, but to carry intercessory intensity for our nation throughout our lives, without periods of rest, is likely more than we can bear. We can only live in Lamentations for certain seasons. 

 

Intercessory prayer is a burden, it is hard, for when we speak to God on behalf of man we carry man’s sin, frailty, evil, and destruction with us; we carry the needs and pain of others, we move beyond earthly gravitational forces and into the Throne Room to be with our Lord Jesus, our merciful and faithful High Priest.

 

Paul writes in Romans 8:26 – 27, “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to [the will] of God.”

 

If the Spirit intercedes for us with “groanings too deep for words,” we should not be surprised that, when we intercede for others, earthly language can fail us. As a royal priesthood, the priesthood of which Jesus is the Hight Priest, we are called to an intercessory koinonia in the Trinity, for we intercede as Jesus intercedes, we intercede as the Holy Spirit intercedes.

 

Years ago I was meditating about my prayer life, pondering it, evaluating it as best I could in the light of God’s Word; when the Father spoke to my heart and said in essence, “Why are you pondering your prayer life, when you should be thinking about living a life of prayer?”

 

In the same fashion, we are called beyond engaging in intercessory prayer to living intercessory lives; for to be sure, those saints who live intercessory lives will engage in intercessory prayer as a way of life in Jesus Christ.

 

The kingly and holy priesthood of the Church, the Body of Christ, is an intercessory priesthood for that is the Nature of our High Priest, His life on earth and beyond is an intercessory Life and that very Life lives in us, His brothers and sisters, His brethren.

 

May I suggest that our failure to understand the nature of things often leads to fragmented thinking and vision? Theologians and philosophers use the word “ontology” when referring to understanding the nature of things, and some of these folks deny there is such a thing as an actual “nature,” but that is for another time. Some natures we cannot fully understand, but we can glimpse them. We touch and glimpse the Trinity, we even share in the koinonia and Life and Nature of the Trinity – in some way and in some measure – but at the end of the day, even at the coming of the Great DAY, God is God and we ain’t God – God is ineffable and we are not.

 

We say the same thing of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, we can touch Him, fully God and fully Man (1 John 1:1 – 4); and even as His Incarnation continues in His Body, even as His Church is indeed His fulness (Ephesians 1:22 – 23), such things remain beyond our total comprehension – such is the Divine Mystery of the fulness of our salvation. After all, if the peace of God surpasses our understanding (Philippians 4:7) and if our joy is inexpressible (1 Peter 1:8), then what can we possibly say when we come to contemplate the Nature, the Essence, of God?

 

The intercession and High Priesthood of Jesus Christ is rooted in the Incarnation. Consider Hebrews 2:17 – 18; 4:14 – 16; and 5:7 – 10. What do you see in these passages?

 

Once again, we see that Hebrews is the great Incarnation book of the New Testament, it gives us a theology, a way of thinking, of the Incarnation that helps us see Jesus, the New Covenant, and heavenly things…and our participation in them.

 

O dear friends, we are called to an intercessory Life in Jesus Christ and with one another. Our heavenly Father has placed the Nature of such a Life within us, in His Son Jesus Christ, our merciful and faithful High Priest.

 

 

The Persecuted Church in China and Pastor Wang Yi

Below is a letter written by Pastor Wang Yi. How would we respond in a similar situation? How are we challenged by this letter, both in terms of our witness at home and our support of our brothers and sisters abroad?

The following letter can be found at http://www.chinapartnership.org/blog/2018/12/my-declaration-of-faithful-disobedience

China Partnership Editor’s note: Over 100 members of Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, China, were arrested beginning Sunday, December 9. At the time of publication of this translation, arrests are still being made. Among those taken away were Pastor Wang Yi, senior pastor of Early Rain, and his wife, Jiang Rong, who have not been heard from since Sunday.

Foreseeing this circumstance, Pastor Wang Yi wrote the declaration below to be published by his church should he be detained for more than 48 hours. In it he explains the meaning and necessity of faithful disobedience, how it is distinct from political activism or civil disobedience, and how Christians should carry it out. We thank Brent Pinkall and Amy Cheung for their contributions in translating this letter.

Letter from Pastor Wang Yi

On the basis of the teachings of the Bible and the mission of the gospel, I respect the authorities God has established in China. For God deposes kings and raises up kings. This is why I submit to the historical and institutional arrangements of God in China.

As a pastor of a Christian church, I have my own understanding and views, based on the Bible, about what righteous order and good government is. At the same time, I am filled with anger and disgust at the persecution of the church by this Communist regime, at the wickedness of their depriving people of the freedoms of religion and of conscience. But changing social and political institutions is not the mission I have been called to, and it is not the goal for which God has given his people the gospel.

For all hideous realities, unrighteous politics, and arbitrary laws manifest the cross of Jesus Christ, the only means by which every Chinese person must be saved. They also manifest the fact that true hope and a perfect society will never be found in the transformation of any earthly institution or culture but only in our sins being freely forgiven by Christ and in the hope of eternal life.

As a pastor, my firm belief in the gospel, my teaching, and my rebuking of all evil proceeds from Christ’s command in the gospel and from the unfathomable love of that glorious King. Every man’s life is extremely short, and God fervently commands the church to lead and call any man to repentance who is willing to repent. Christ is eager and willing to forgive all who turn from their sins. This is the goal of all the efforts of the church in China—to testify to the world about our Christ, to testify to the Middle Kingdom about the Kingdom of Heaven, to testify to earthly, momentary lives about heavenly, eternal life. This is also the pastoral calling that I have received.

For this reason, I accept and respect the fact that this Communist regime has been allowed by God to rule temporarily. As the Lord’s servant John Calvin said, wicked rulers are the judgment of God on a wicked people, the goal being to urge God’s people to repent and turn again toward Him. For this reason, I am joyfully willing to submit myself to their enforcement of the law as though submitting to the discipline and training of the Lord.

At the same time, I believe that this Communist regime’s persecution against the church is a greatly wicked, unlawful action. As a pastor of a Christian church, I must denounce this wickedness openly and severely. The calling that I have received requires me to use non-violent methods to disobey those human laws that disobey the Bible and God. My Savior Christ also requires me to joyfully bear all costs for disobeying wicked laws.

But this does not mean that my personal disobedience and the disobedience of the church is in any sense “fighting for rights” or political activism in the form of civil disobedience, because I do not have the intention of changing any institutions or laws of China. As a pastor, the only thing I care about is the disruption of man’s sinful nature by this faithful disobedience and the testimony it bears for the cross of Christ. 

As a pastor, my disobedience is one part of the gospel commission. Christ’s great commission requires of us great disobedience. The goal of disobedience is not to change the world but to testify about another world.

For the mission of the church is only to be the church and not to become a part of any secular institution. From a negative perspective, the church must separate itself from the world and keep itself from being institutionalized by the world. From a positive perspective, all acts of the church are attempts to prove to the world the real existence of another world. The Bible teaches us that, in all matters relating to the gospel and human conscience, we must obey God and not men. For this reason, spiritual disobedience and bodily suffering are both ways we testify to another eternal world and to another glorious King.

This is why I am not interested in changing any political or legal institutions in China. I’m not even interested in the question of when the Communist regime’s policies persecuting the church will change. Regardless of which regime I live under now or in the future, as long as the secular government continues to persecute the church, violating human consciences that belong to God alone, I will continue my faithful disobedience. For the entire commission God has given me is to let more Chinese people know through my actions that the hope of humanity and society is only in the redemption of Christ, in the supernatural, gracious sovereignty of God.

If God decides to use the persecution of this Communist regime against the church to help more Chinese people to despair of their futures, to lead them through a wilderness of spiritual disillusionment and through this to make them know Jesus, if through this he continues disciplining and building up his church, then I am joyfully willing to submit to God’s plans, for his plans are always benevolent and good.

Precisely because none of my words and actions are directed toward seeking and hoping for societal and political transformation, I have no fear of any social or political power. For the Bible teaches us that God establishes governmental authorities in order to terrorize evildoers, not to terrorize doers of good. If believers in Jesus do no wrong then they should not be afraid of dark powers. Even though I am often weak, I firmly believe this is the promise of the gospel. It is what I’ve devoted all of my energy to. It is the good news that I am spreading throughout Chinese society.

I also understand that this happens to be the very reason why the Communist regime is filled with fear at a church that is no longer afraid of it.

If I am imprisoned for a long or short period of time, if I can help reduce the authorities’ fear of my faith and of my Savior, I am very joyfully willing to help them in this way. But I know that only when I renounce all the wickedness of this persecution against the church and use peaceful means to disobey, will I truly be able to help the souls of the authorities and law enforcement. I hope God uses me, by means of first losing my personal freedom, to tell those who have deprived me of my personal freedom that there is an authority higher than their authority, and that there is a freedom that they cannot restrain, a freedom that fills the church of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ.

Regardless of what crime the government charges me with, whatever filth they fling at me, as long as this charge is related to my faith, my writings, my comments, and my teachings, it is merely a lie and temptation of demons. I categorically deny it. I will serve my sentence, but I will not serve the law. I will be executed, but I will not plead guilty.

Moreover, I must point out that persecution against the Lord’s church and against all Chinese people who believe in Jesus Christ is the most wicked and the most horrendous evil of Chinese society. This is not only a sin against Christians. It is also a sin against all non-Christians. For the government is brutally and ruthlessly threatening them and hindering them from coming to Jesus. There is no greater wickedness in the world than this.

If this regime is one day overthrown by God, it will be for no other reason than God’s righteous punishment and revenge for this evil. For on earth, there has only ever been a thousand-year church. There has never been a thousand-year government. There is only eternal faith. There is no eternal power.

Those who lock me up will one day be locked up by angels. Those who interrogate me will finally be questioned and judged by Christ.  When I think of this, the Lord fills me with a natural compassion and grief toward those who are attempting to and actively imprisoning me. Pray that the Lord would use me, that he would grant me patience and wisdom, that I might take the gospel to them.

Separate me from my wife and children, ruin my reputation, destroy my life and my family – the authorities are capable of doing all of these things. However, no one in this world can force me to renounce my faith; no one can make me change my life; and no one can raise me from the dead.  

And so, respectable officers, stop committing evil. This is not for my benefit but rather for yours and your children’s. I plead earnestly with you to stay your hands, for why should you be willing to pay the price of eternal damnation in hell for the sake of a lowly sinner such as I?

Jesus is the Christ, son of the eternal, living God. He died for sinners and rose to life for us. He is my king and the king of the whole earth yesterday, today, and forever. I am his servant, and I am imprisoned because of this. I will resist in meekness those who resist God, and I will joyfully violate all laws that violate God’s laws. 

First draft on September 21st, 2018; revised on October 4th. To be published by the church after 48 hours of detention.

Appendix: What Constitutes Faithful Disobedience

I firmly believe that the Bible has not given any branch of any government the authority to run the church or to interfere with the faith of Christians. Therefore, the Bible demands that I, through peaceable means, in meek resistance and active forbearance, filled with joy, resist all administrative policies and legal measures that oppress the church and interfere with the faith of Christians.

I firmly believe this is a spiritual act of disobedience.  In modern authoritarian regimes that persecute the church and oppose the gospel, spiritual disobedience is an inevitable part of the gospel movement. 

I firmly believe that spiritual disobedience is an act of the last times; it is a witness to God’s eternal kingdom in the temporal kingdom of sin and evil. Disobedient Christians follow the example of the crucified Christ by walking the path of the cross. Peaceful disobedience is the way in which we love the world as well as the way in which we avoid becoming part of the world.

I firmly believe that in carrying out spiritual disobedience, the Bible demands me to rely on the grace and resurrection power of Christ, that I must respect and not overstep two boundaries.

The first boundary is that of the heart. Love toward the soul, and not hatred toward the body, is the motivation of spiritual disobedience. Transformation of the soul, and not the changing of circumstances, is the aim of spiritual disobedience. At any time, if external oppression and violence rob me of inner peace and endurance, so that my heart begins to breed hatred and bitterness toward those who persecute the church and abuse Christians, then spiritual disobedience fails at that point.

The second boundary is that of behavior. The gospel demands that disobedience of faith must be non-violent. The mystery of the gospel lies in actively suffering, even being willing to endure unrighteous punishment, as a substitute for physical resistance. Peaceful disobedience is the result of love and forgiveness. The cross means being willing to suffer when one does not have to suffer. For Christ had limitless ability to fight back, yet he endured all of the humility and hurt. The way that Christ resisted the world that resisted him was by extending an olive branch of peace on the cross to the world that crucified him. 

I firmly believe that Christ has called me to carry out this faithful disobedience through a life of service, under this regime that opposes the gospel and persecutes the church. This is the means by which I preach the gospel, and it is the mystery of the gospel which I preach.

The Lord’s servant,

Wang Yi

First draft on September 21st, 2018; revised on October 4th. To be circulated by the church after 48 hours of detention.

"This English translation was originally published on the China Partnership Blog on December 12, 2018, and is replicated here with permission. We thank Brent Pinkall and the China Partnership translation team for their work."