Leviticus Podcasts

I have spent the last week recording audio messages going through the book of Leviticus available for download here:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/setdtm4l4rk3u5h/AAA4toqOaVvpOJpDVnfeV1SKa?dl=0

OR

Watch on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3zdMKwnvH8GGQa0qiX62pwF5xgZC0L3r

Feel free to download and listen. Be edified, dear brethren. =)

Head Coverings Leads to Angels?

            1 Corinthians 11:2-15 is one of those passages that very few understand, and I think that the trouble is more to do with our English translations than not. However, with that being said, I think that even when we try to understand what Paul is saying by examining the Greek, we're still only hearing one side of the conversation. What exactly Paul is referencing in this passage we're not 100% sure, and therefore it makes it difficult to understand exactly what he is saying. For this study, we're going to be looking at some Greek. Yes, the dreaded language that the New Testament was actually written in. Now, first off I want to say something: This is not going to be entirely conclusive, because I want you to form your own opinion. I’m going to give enough information to help us understand what is being said, but I don’t want to conclude and bring all of the loose ends together.

            If we translate literally from the Greek to the English, we find that 1 Corinthians 11:2-15 reads: “But I praise you because you have remembered all things of me and you hold fast to you the traditions as I delivered to you. But I wish you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and the head of a wife, the husband, and head of Christ, God. Every man praying or prophesying [while] having [anything] down over [his] head shames the head of him. But, every women praying or prophesying with the head uncovered shames the head of her, for it is one and the same thing with the woman who has been shaved. For if a woman is not covered, let her be shorn; but if [it is] ugly for a woman to be shorn or be shaved, let her be covered. For a man indeed is obligated not to be covered, the head being the image and glory of God; but the wise is the glory of husband, For man is not from woman, but woman because of the man. Therefore the woman ought to have authority on the head because of the angels. Nevertheless, neither woman separate from man nor man separate from woman in [the] Lord, for as the woman from the man so also the man through the woman; but all things of God. Among you yourselves judge: is it fitting, a woman to pray to God uncovered? [Does] not nature itself teach you that a man indeed if he wears his hair long, it is a dishonor to him, but a woman, if she wears her hair long, it is a glory to her? The long hair has been given to her instead of a covering.”

            This text has been used to say that men should keep their hair short, and that women should not shave their heads. It has also been used to support the notion of head coverings (one only needs to think of the Anabaptists). It has also been used to support the notion that men are superior to women, and therefore women should not teach, lead, learn, speak, etc in the church. Yet, when we read what the actual Greek says, it doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense to us English speakers. A lot of the things that we have alluded to are actually not entirely there, and the things that we thought were there are simply flat out vacant from the text. One thing that we do know is this: Paul is speaking of head coverings.

            Something to know about Greek is that the same words for man and woman mean husband and wife. Paul could have used words that would mean single men or women, but they bring a connotation that Paul was not wanting to say. So, it is the job of the translator to ask whether Paul is addressing husbands and wives, or whether Paul is addressing men and women. In the above translation, I chose husbands and wives only when we can be certain from the context that it is supposed to be husbands and wives.

            Paul used the Greek word kephale instead of arche when speaking of the head. Arche would mean absolute ruler, chief, or the one who is boss over. Kaphale means the literal head – that thing that has a skull, brain, nose, ears, mouth, etc. Kaphale can also be used as a military term: the first one onto battle. The fact that Paul would use the word kaphale instead of arche tells us that Paul did not intend on saying anything about Christ being the ruler over man, nor man being the ruler over the woman. Though Paul does assert that Christ is the arche over the church in Colossians 1:18, in this specific passage that statement is not made.

            The word for shorn is a form of the word keiro, which means to sheer (as in a sheep) or to cut short (as in one’s hair).

            The word for covered is katakalupto, which is used nowhere else in the New Testament. Kalupto is used elsewhere to mean “cover”, “hide”, or “conceal”, but Paul deliberately added the prefix kata to change the meaning to “cover down over”. In all other passages, when something is “on” someone’s head, the prefix used is epi. Here Paul is saying kata. For this reason, some have translated this as meaning “wearing a veil”. If veil means face covering, then this translation is misleading.

            Hair is the Greek word thrix, but here Paul uses the word kome. It, too, is used nowhere else in the New Testament. It denotes long hair that is ornamented.

            Nature, which Paul said bears witness that men should not have long hair, is the word phusis. Phusis can mean nature, as in the natural law, or natural order, but it can also mean instinct that we hold to from long standing tradition. In that sense, phusis can mean “long established custom”, or “habit”.

            What was Paul saying? Paul appeals to a “tradition” that he had told them before. Now, when Paul wants to say to remember the Gospel that was declared to them, he typically uses the word we translate as Gospel. Here, however, he seems to be alluding to something that he had taught while being with them. Because modern readers were not there when Paul delivered these teachings, we have little clue to what Paul is referencing. However, there is a hint in 2 Corinthians 3:7-18. Paul reminds the church in Corinth about Moses wearing a veil “over” his face. The idea of wearing a head covering was linked to the shekinah glory of God shining down upon the devout. Yet, Paul is asserting that we experience greater glory than Moses through Christ. And his point in 2 Corinthians 3 is that we should have unveiled faces, because it is looking into the face of the other believers that we are then changed from glory to glory. It is Christ in you – the hope of glory – that changes your brethren. We let that glory shine out from our faces, not hiding behind a veil or closing our eyes to it, but instead allowing all to see the glory of God in us and through us.

            Now, this leads me to a specific conclusion. Paul is talking about the prayer shawl. The prayer shawl would traditionally be placed upon the head, and it would then hang down over the head and face. Paul is instructing them not to have this sort of covering, because their covering is Christ. The head of every man is not Moses, but Christ. We have the blood of Jesus as our covering. This is important because we can interpret it for today as well. Should we close our eyes when we pray? Should we all bow our heads? Or should we behold in one another’s faces the glory of God? Should we sit in pews where everyone faces forward? Should we be seeing the back of someone’s head while listening to the preaching? Or should we instead be able to face one another and see everyone’s reaction?

            So, we don’t cover our faces, but allow our faces to be seen. That way, everyone is able to see our Head – Christ. It is a play on words here. Christ is the head over all, but Paul uses the word kaphale meaning the literal body part that sits upon your neck. He is pointing at your head and saying, “What you do with that, and whether you cover your face, is a reflection upon your head – Christ.”

            So lets get back to 1 Corinthians 11. Paul starts to speak about women, and how their head is their husband. Now, from the literal translation of the Greek text, we assume that Paul is asserting that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of every wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. Now, when we say that the head of the wife is her husband, are we then asserting that women are under men? No. We’re saying that the wife is subject to her husband. But what does that mean? The word in Ephesians 5:21-33 that is used to say that the wife is subject to her husband is hupotassomai, which can be translated as, “be supportive of”, “be responsive to”, “give allegiance to”, or “tend to the needs of”. Paul is not asserting that the man is the arche over the woman, and therefore is the ruler of the house. Instead, Paul is saying that the man is the literal head – that thing upon the two shoulders – and thus needs to be supported by his wife. So, when we read this portion of 1 Corinthians 11, we need to understand that Paul is saying that the way you support Christ, as a wife, is by supporting your husband. The way that you tend to Christ is by tending to the needs of your husband. Does that not revolutionize everything?

            So, what do we make of this part, “But, every women praying or prophesying with the head uncovered shames the head of her, for it is one and the same thing with the woman who has been shaved”? This might be an allusion to culture. It was tradition that the married woman would cover her hair, or keep it bound up when they were married. It was the sort of “wedding ring” in their day – that which identified them as married instead of single. Paul might be saying to not go against that, for it brings shame upon the husband. At the same time, if a woman cuts her hair short, like the prostitutes of their day, it also brings shame upon their husband. Now, what is necessary to note is that Paul asserts that the wife is the glory of her husband. It isn’t simply that the wife needs to respect her husband’s dignity, but that the wife is actually worth something and precious. The husband is found glorious because his wife, not because of his own doing per se. This might be a hint back to Proverbs 31, which is a reflection of the Bride of Christ.

            What should we say about modern times? Is it wrong for a woman to shave her head? Is it wrong for a woman to not cover her head? The context of this portion directed to wives is still under the pretense that “Christ is the head of all”. You come to your own conclusions on that.

            Now, here is where this little bit about the angels comes in. “Therefore a woman ought to have authority on the head because of the angels”. Some have taken this as meaning the nephilim. When God destroyed the earth in the flood, there is a strange passage in Genesis 6 about nephilim. People have concluded that angels came down from their heavenly abode to have sex with women and create giants on the earth. I don’t think so. I think that what Paul is saying her should be taken within the context of other things that he said to the Corinthians.

            By the time we come to 1 Corinthians 11, we’ve already read chapter 6. 1 Corinthians 6 is about lawsuits among believers. Paul asks, “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!” Did you not know that we will judge angels? The woman is told that should ought to have authority on the head because of the angels. Who is the head? The head is Christ. What is Paul saying? Women have authority in Christ. You have authority in the name of Jesus over the angels. This is necessary, because you are required to judge the angels. How can you judge them if you don’t have authority over them? Yet, what is the nature of this authority? This authority is most likely in reference to casting out demons and setting captives free.

            So the point of what Paul is saying is about what we do with our heads. If we cover them, we hide the glory of Christ in us. Thus, men are told not to allow their hair to become long enough to cover their face. Wives are told to be careful with what they do in relation to their head, because it is a reflection of how they treat their husband. If a wife mistreats their husband, they aren’t simply disgracing a man, but instead Christ. The assertion is made, then, that women are not left out of the authority in Christ, but instead Paul reassures that they do indeed have authority in Christ. It is not men over women, but instead men and women together. For, “neither woman separate from man, nor man separate from woman in [the] Lord, for as the woman from the man, so the man through the woman; but all things of God.”

The Glory of God part 8

Last time we touched on God's glory. This time I want to look into our glory. Any glory that we have comes only from God. It is a reflection. Yet, God gives it and then treats us as if we are the glorious ones who deserve to be applauded for the greatness we've achieved.

When we see greater glimpses of God’s glory, it changes us. Remember that it says in John that Jesus was the light mentioned in Genesis 1. It also says that this light is the light of all men. When we see God, who is this light, it only brings out our light all the more. I believe that what happened to Moses on the mount was very much a devastating thing. It was devastating in the way that it brings about a glory in Moses.

God told Moses to climb up the mount and “be there.” The first time that Moses climbed up, human nature would make the first thought to be to try and figure out how you’re going to get down. You get on the top and there is thick fire and smoke clouding your senses. I’m sure that what God meant was, “Don’t let yourself be taken over by your senses and thoughts. Put all these things away and simply come up the mount to be with me.”

What God was revealing was kavod (glory). It is the understanding of the significance of this moment. Don’t be thinking about they who are down below. Don’t be trying to figure out how to get down. Be here, in this moment, and stay there.

What is our glory? I think our glory is our ability to “be there” with God in all circumstances. It is our ability to tap into this inner light tied to the creation of the world. It is our ability to connect with the ruach (God's Spirit). Our glory is an understanding as much as it is a tangible reality.

All moments are precious. Our glory is formed when we step outside of the life society tells you to live. There is an entire kingdom with set rules and guidelines that will tell you to take care of your own needs and not to worry about the needs of others. This kingdom is antichrist and ruled by the prince of darkness himself. Society follows these rules by saying things like, “Work hard and you’ll be recognized.” We all know it’s a lie.

We all know the people who got promoted for their connections and network. We all know the guy who has worked hard for 18 years and hasn’t gotten but a few dollars as a raise. There is a system that would tell you to protect your own life and the life of your family’s before any one else’s. But in Acts 2, they sold everything, gave the proceeds to the poor and needy, and provided for one another.

Do you sense what I’m trying to get at? I apologize that I’m not very good at conveying my thoughts. Our glory is tied in with living from the ruach. It is living in a way that to the rest of society seems counterproductive and counterintuitive. We are to focus on the things that are most important: people.

The more in tune you are with God, the more precious all time seems to become. It says in Jeremiah to separate the precious from the vile, and then you shall be God’s mouth. What is the precious and vile? It is not a list of do’s and don’ts. The precious things are people, character, life, experience, love, eternity, etc. The vile are things that take up our thoughts, hopes, ambitions, and dreams, but leave us empty and broken.

In Psalm 106:20, it says that, “they (the Israelites) changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eats grass.” By making the golden calf, the Israelites forfeited more than they know. They gave up the light inside of them. They surrendered their own lives over to demons. Satan didn’t overtake them. They gave themselves into slavery. They put their own hands in chains.

We do the same thing when we, as Christians, partake in the same sin. Israel’s sin is not that they crucified Jesus. I can’t tell you how angry that I get when I hear people talk about Israel being judged because they crucified the Lord. Let me tell you what was really happening. Israel stood before Sinai and watched as the Lord came down to dwell with them. They did not recognize the God of their fathers. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all recognized God when He showed Himself. The Israelites consistently did not recognize, and refused to partake in being the people of God. The crucifixion of Jesus was only an ultimate unveiling of this fact that when their own God came and lived among them, they so couldn’t see God that they killed Him.

It is in modern day that we have a generation of Jews who have put Jesus completely out of their minds. He isn’t regarded as a figure of history. His crucifixion isn’t regarded as actually having taken place. Scriptures like Isaiah 53 are taken out of the Synagogue teachings. All of this is for the sake of not believing in Jesus. If they want to take Jesus out of history, then they will reap what they sow. And they are reaping. Many people are trying to say that the Holocaust never happened.

When the Jewish people will acknowledge Jesus as their Lord, and even the God of their fathers, then they will have taken the action necessary to appease God’s judgment upon them. It is only in humbling themselves before the Lord and acknowledging their sins and repenting that they have never recognized Him, nor have they ever desired Him.

We have the same guilt. We claim to believe the Scriptures, and yet we don’t even take Proverbs seriously. If we can’t even wrestle with Proverbs, how can we truly wrestle with the words of Jesus? They somehow become words of advice, or good moral standards, but are limited to being only that. They aren’t the words of God. If they were the words of God, then we would take seriously that “in many words there is surely folly.” We would take seriously that being cruel, and then saying, “I was only joking!” is like a madman who fires flaming arrows every which way.

We would take serious account of Jesus saying that He will deny all of those who do not take to heart “the least of these His brethren.” We would take seriously when Jesus says, “Whoever shall break one of the least commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called the least in the kingdom.” We would take seriously that whosoever divorces their wife, except because of fornication, causes her to commit adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery. We would have to take seriously that we should give to him that asks, and from him that would borrow of you turn not away. We would have to take seriously the words, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you.” We would take seriously the words, “Be ye perfect, even as your Father, who is in heaven, is perfect.” All of this, and I’m only in Matthew chapter 5.

The fact that we haven’t acted like this and we haven’t taken the utmost seriousness of this is evidence that we have indeed fallen into the same sin as Israel. We have indeed forfeited our own glory for that of another lesser glory.

God teaches us that we are to show all times as though God has given it. He has given it. He has given us each and every circumstance. Every moment is precious. You only have this moment to tell them your heart. You only get this one chance to correct them. You only get this one chance to display your love. You only get this one opportunity to display the glory of the Father. There won’t be another time to offer yourself. There won’t be another time to offer a shoulder to cry on. There won’t be another time to speak the Gospel. There won’t be another time to actually engage and be there and show people that you really care. As soon as you have shown that you really aren’t engaged and you really don’t care, and they spent their time telling you of this, but all you wanted to do was tell your story, you have lost it.

Every speaking is utter. Every moment is dear. All of eternity hinges upon every moment and every speaking and every engagement. This will either bring forth an event to penetrate space, time, and history, or it will forever be just another moment. The choice is ours. If we do not take seriously the call to live in this glory and apostolic mindset, the world will go to Hell all around us and it will be our own fault. If the world goes to Hell, let it be because Satan has deceived many, and not because I haven’t taken seriously the call of God to love my enemies and to bless those who curse me. Let not my own family go to Hell because I was too afraid to tell them when they were in the wrong, and that wrong created a mentality that broke down and caused them to fall away.

Life is too precious to toy with. It is the kavod that causes us to take these things seriously. If we lack the glory of God in us, we will be reduced to a mere methodology, weekly services, and hit or miss events that we can decide whether or not to go to. God is calling His Church into something much bigger than that. We are to see each other daily. We are to speak to one another in all truth and sincerity. The time is too precious to not live this way any longer. Let us all acknowledge our sin of not seeing God as God, and repent before Him.

Being Precedes the Doing

God told Moses to come up the mount and be there. Jesus told us to be witnesses. The being precedes the doing. This is why we are still in need of apostles and prophets, of which I believe I am one of them. It is given to God’s apostles and prophets an understanding to teach and to edify and to reveal the secret things of God that have been hidden until such a one can be called to receive such as these mysteries. God gave His apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers to edify the saints. This verse in Ephesians also precedes the doing of the work of the Spirit.

If we have no need for these foundational men (apostles and prophets), and if they are indeed something of the past that have passed away with the first century, then why are there so few who teach these hidden things that Paul proclaims so mightily? Why is there so little teaching about us being grafted into Israel that we might drive the Jew to jealousy? Why is there so little teaching that this grafting in is into their root? Why is there so little teaching about Israel and the Church being one – without Israel the Church cannot fulfill her role and without the Church Israel cannot fulfill hers? Why is there so little teaching about “And all Israel shall be saved,” Romans 11:26?

We have missed these hidden things, and it is only the mystery of the Church and Israel. There is the mystery of Christ. There is the mystery of the gifts and callings of God. Each thing needs to apprehend us before we can say that we truly understand it. There is an eschatological understanding of the faith that is hidden from modern understanding. We subscribe to the doctrine that Jesus will come back, but we can’t even tell whether we’ll be here or in heaven when He comes back. Does the Bible not give clarity of these things? If it is clear about things like rapture and assurance of salvation, then why are there so many people who don’t know where to stand on such issues?

We have missed very much the teaching of the apostles and prophets. In the lack of such teachings and words from these men, we have also missed the aspect of being in the faith. It is the third chapter of Ephesians that Paul concludes with, “To Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”

To the degree that we have dismissed this verse as simple rhetoric or dramatic language, we have missed the calling of God. Our calling and ultimate purpose as the Church is the glory of God. The glory of God is only fully present when He has established His Kingdom here on earth forever. Our calling is not to something here and now, but instead to something eternal. Our calling is to live in a way and have a mode of being that transcends time and space. We ought to live as though we truly are seated with Christ in heavenly places. If we are seated there, then certainly we can see into the future and know our calling well enough to not debate of stupid things like freewill and sovereignty. Our calling is to Israel and their salvation only – they are to be the priestly nation to the nations. Our evangelism and “winning the world” for Christ is in vein if it does not take into account the glory of God forever, which takes into account the promises of God to Israel – which are irrevocable (Romans 9).

What are the criteria that we judge successful church? It is not a lie to say that when we get into the parking lot that one of the first things we ask whoever is seated next to us, “What did you think? Was the meeting good? Did you like the sermon? What did you think of the worship?” We base successful church on size and popularity of ministries. As long as the preaching isn’t wimpy and the speaker isn’t a heretic, we think that these things to be success. We have lost the apostolic distinctive: the glory of God in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.

Our primary call as the Church is to physically display a relationship with God in a tangible and realistic way to Israel that will drive them to jealousy. What do I mean by this? In Daniel 11, we read that the antichrist will kill many believers by the sword and burning them alive. He will imprison many believers. And we also read that there will be some “helpers.” These helpers will cling to the “wise.” The wise are the saints who have the end time understanding to stand up and proclaim the truth. They blow the horn. These are the ones who declare to the world what is really happening and what God has to say about the world events.

These wise will be killed and imprisoned. Some will hear their testimonies and will follow them. They will turn many to Christ through their words. You can find this in Daniel 11:33-35. Those who help these wise are called hypocrites in one translation; it is said they cleave to the wise with flatteries in another. These helpers follow the saints. They hear the words and they believe them. Yet, there is something about their following and their helping that is fake. We read in verse 35 that the persecution of the wise brings about refinement, purging, and cleansing of the helpers. Who are the helpers?

I have to imagine that these helpers are the Jews. The antichrist stirs up anti-Semitism throughout the world in the earlier verses of Daniel. He sets himself up as god (the abomination of desolation) in their temple. We know that the Jews will be sifted through the nations and found to flee into the wilderness places (Revelation 12). I say Jews for the simple fact that we aren’t sure where the rest of the tribes are, but I am sure that God knows. It is possible that even the lost tribes will endure end time suffering along with their Jewish kinsmen.

We are the wise. We are the ones who are supposed to have understanding. Many don’t see this perspective, though. We will be killed and imprisoned on behalf of Israel. We will stand up and identify with that People in their end time calamity in a priestly way that we are the altar and the sacrifice. We are the priest and the altar at the same time. We offer our own lives – “Loving not our own lives even unto death.” We acknowledge the sins of Israel as our own sins because we are one with Israel and we cannot claim to be of the same root (grafted in) without claiming those same faults.

God’s chosen people will see in us a character that only Jesus displayed. This is what is meant when Paul said that we are to drive the Jew to jealousy. This is our calling. This is our eternal purpose: to sacrifice our lives on behalf of Israel.

But it doesn’t stop there. We read in Ephesians 3 that the whole reason that God created the universe is that we might display the manifold wisdom of God to the principalities and powers of the air. In our sacrificial attitudes and compassion toward Israel we are displaying that very thing. This is where all the mysteries come together. We are one under the same Head. You cannot separate Israel and the Church. When you speak of one you speak of the other. They are the same because they are under the same Head. Though they are recognized as two different entities and given two different names, they go hand in hand. Man is physical and spiritual – you cannot separate them.

Our eternal purpose is to display this kind of reality and understanding. We can’t simply display it as individuals. Corporately we need to show forth the glory of God – which is the character of God. Words cannot express the depths of this. We can’t look into the dictionary or lexicon to find the words for glory and what they mean. It isn’t sufficient. These concepts need to apprehend us.

There will be no glory of God in the Church until we can wrestle with these foundational truths. We must humble ourselves to seeking first His Kingdom. Righteousness exults a nation, and a nation with an apostate Church will be cast down. Apostasy comes from a half Gospel. When our good news is about getting into heaven instead of being a part of the Kingdom and ruling and reigning forever with Christ, then we have missed it.

How severe can our misunderstanding be? After every great revival movement in the Western World there has been a great war to follow. After John Wesley came the war of 1812. After Finney came the Civil War. After the Welsh Revival came World War 1 and 2. What happened? If God was pouring out His Spirit and people were coming to Christ and morals were being practiced in the most immoral places, then why do we find such severe wars and racism after the most prominent revivals? Right down the line – the bigger the revival movement the more harsh the war that follows.

I fear that we have taught a half gospel. A half gospel is not the Gospel. The Gospel takes into account the beginning to the end. It looks at the whole picture. It grips the eternal perspective.

Our gospel starts in Genesis 3; the Gospel starts in Genesis 1. Jesus’ death on the cross was not to bring life and life abundantly. That is one of the effects, but it is not the main purpose. Jesus’ death and resurrection are cosmic events to bring about cosmic redemption. Through our righteousness and justification we can bring redemption to the world around us. What do you think the first chapter of Ephesians is about? We are sharers with God in the story of the redemption of all things.

My fear is that we look to revival because it is an easy way of avoiding God. We want a spiritual high that only comes once in a lifetime. We want to feel God’s presence and know that He is close to us. Our calling isn’t for revival. It isn’t to evangelize the world. Our calling isn’t to bring God’s presence down to earth. Our first and foremost calling is to display to the principalities and powers the manifest wisdom of God. The way we do that is by living in step with the cosmic redemption story and God’s plan of redemption for all nations. Israel is the key – without them we have no Kingdom.

Revival is looked to as a means to avoid this calling. I am growing more and more convinced that even the people with good intentions desire revival simply to have the spiritual shot in the arm. It makes it easier to endure the day. It is still a focus upon self. Revival is looked to in order to relieve me from burden because I can just soak and bask in the glory of God instead of being the glory of God.

This call to displaying the glory of God is an ultimate one. It brings everything into question. We are to bring down strongholds of the devil and release men from their bondage. If strongholds and bondage are simply looked upon as external things like, “Pharaoh took away our straw and told us to increase our quota,” then we have no idea what we’re doing. Bondage and strongholds go deeper than trying to relieve us from suffering. The bondage wasn’t Pharaoh’s oppression. The bondage was the system itself.

We suffer the same problem. We want to be relieved of our bondage to bills and debt and mean bosses and everything else that societal workplaces and lifestyles promote. Yet the bondage isn’t in the debt. The bondage is in the system of loans and banking. The bondage is in the system of business. We don’t try to free people from that Pharaoh. We don’t pray against that stronghold. We have to make a living, right?

We are living far beneath the glory of God. We cannot even identify where our oppression comes from. 

The Glory of God part 7

We went right up to and touched last week what the glory of God looks like/is. We learned that God's name (which means His character) is a reflection of the cross. I want to explore now what about the cross would display God's glory.

The cross of Christ Jesus shows forth God’s willingness to suffer. When we read our Bibles, we can’t simply brush the crucifixion under the “happed once” pile. God continually suffered for the sake of mankind. He willingly humbled Himself time and again for His love of His creation. The absolute nature of God is revealed in a suffering God who did not think it extravagant, nor did He think it unnecessary, to die.

Did you catch that? How many times have I heard people say that God doesn’t need us, or that it is simply grace that causes God to offer Himself as a living sacrifice? Yet, when we study the crucified God, it seems so much more than that. It seems quite contrary to what He Himself says. “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s own life for one’s own friends.”

It isn’t that God had to do it in a sort of oppressive sort of way. God’s very nature is that He must give Himself unconditionally to the other parts of the Godhead. It is God’s very nature to be sacrificial with Himself. The Son was always about glorifying the Father and defending the work of the Spirit. The Father and the Spirit were always about defending the work of the Son. The three were always humble and always sacrificial, and therefore always meek.

It seems like when you probe the deepest depths of God’s character being the cross, you come to conclusions about God’s character that we already know. He is love; He is meek; He is unlike any other. But what lies behind all of these characteristics is His nature to endure suffering.

If God foreknew that Adam would sin, then the very creation of the world was a suffering. God knew that it would lead to certain events, and yet He still made it. Why? Is God sadistic? Certainly not! It is intrinsic to God’s character to not shrink from suffering. When saying that God’s character is to endure suffering, we’re not talking about a God who desires to suffer. We are talking about a God who is willing to endure for the greater glory. The cross is not the final word. After the death of Christ there was a resurrection.

In the knowledge of God, the created world would collapse. Adam would sin. The cosmos would go into agony and suffering and moaning and groaning. But it wouldn’t stay there. There is a consummation of the ages. The end has not yet come, and when it does we will see the whole story.

God’s suffering is not in vain. It isn’t a sadistic side of the story that God likes pain and suffering, but a beautiful characteristic that He will not allow us to suffer alone. He will not abandon us. He will not leave us nor forsake us. He will walk with us through this thing, and He won’t back down. God will suffer for our sakes, because in the end His very suffering is the key to the whole cosmic redemption.

Coming into the stream of God’s life, we find ourselves also denying self. We deny luxury for us so that others may see benefit. Is that sadistic? We trust in weakness and poverty, no matter how foolish it may be, because we cannot allow those whom we love to perish. We willingly deny self for the sake of others all the time, and then we want to turn around and say that God doesn’t or can’t.

This is the very nature of God! When we speak of His loving-kindness we speak of this ultimate humility. When we speak of His grace and mercy, we speak of this reality. Ultimate reality is not found in strength. It is found in weakness. It isn’t found in power or might, in reputation or status, in the things that this world esteems. As Jesus said, “The things that men esteem are an abomination in the eyes of God.” The world puffs up such things as preservation of self, promotion, worth by success, and every sort of thing that will burn at the end of the age. Ultimate reality is walking in light of eternity. Ultimate reality is unequivocal denial of self for the sake of others.

This is the basis of the communal God. God being in community with Himself is displayed in His suffering for the other parts of the Godhead. Our basis of community with each other is considering others before self. It is found in pouring ourselves out like a drink offering for each other. That means, I might add, that you don’t stop pouring until every drop is gone. We find it an honor, and we don’t complain about it, because we love. Our love is too large to preserve self.

This is the glory. This is the thing that we cannot behold in fullness or we would die. The only way to see the magnanimity of the cross is to bear it. We can't understand how this is glory until we have tasted of the same death and resurrection. Jesus bore the guilt and shame of His people and took upon Himself the very sin of all humanity. He died. It wasn't a cute romantic thing. It wasn't, "Oh look at what God did for me!" Jesus literally died. The wages of sin are death. That death is as real as the breathing we perform moment by moment.

It was in the suffering of Christ that we find the glory all the greater. Why is it that we see God's nature in fullness at the cross of Christ? For one, we see God in fulness because God chose to reveal Himself in fulness. As simple and circular as that might sound, it is an answer. We also see the full demonstration of the principalities and the powers at the cross. We see a full representation of evil and thus we see a full representation of God in the midst of that evil.

We cannot spend time speaking of the cross without the resurrection. Usually it is an addendum. It ought to be the whole of our faith. We believe in the resurrection because God has raised us up with Him. We have been buried in the same death that Christ suffered - the old has passed away and all things have become new - and now we have been raised by the same glory of the Father that raised Jesus as well. This is His glory. We too have experienced the resurrection.

We too have ascended. In Ephesians 2, we read the verse, "We are seated with Christ in heavenly places." Does that really mean right now? Yes. Yes it does. Everything we do is now saturated with life. We are consumed with Heaven. Nothing is secular. Nothing is common. Everything is spiritual. Everything is sacred.

This is the resurrection. We have been raised up by the same glory that Christ was raised. We have experienced that same power. You want to know what the glory of God is? Get saved. If you have already experienced that, then you should already know what His glory is. You shouldn't only know it; you should be walking in it and revealing it with every breath and every step.

Our lives are hid with Christ in God. The whole crux of the glory of God comes down to this one thing: Christ in you - the hope of Glory. Everything that we do comes from God. It is all saturated with glory. That is, of course, if we walk in that. We can choose to have that salvation thing once and then act as though nothing else is to gain. We can continue to live to self. We can continue to reject the glory. We can continue to have ambition and seek promotion.

But that isn't the resurrection. The resurrection no longer desires the things of death. Once you have been reborn you cannot die again. If we need to continually get re-saved then we have either never entered the resurrection or we don't know how to walk in that glory. There is a sensation that comes over someone when they receive their new birth. You know something was transacted. Many times we get addicted to spiritual highs. This leads to hype and hysteria and emotionalism.

Everything is bent on the glory of God. Everything is bent on the resurrection. If our lives don't display the resurrection in every aspect, then we have utterly failed our calling. This is why Paul charges the Church to walk worthy of the calling we have received. The calling isn't about whether we're to be ministers or not. The calling is that in everything we do we display the very character of God: a suffering servant. We renounce self out of love for others. We renounce pleasures and luxuries so that others might obtain something greater than what this world offers.

This is the glory of God. He has given it to us to display before all mankind.

We'll continue next time in searching out the depths of our glory.

The Glory of God part 6

Last time we discovered that God cloaks His glory within clouds and darkness. This time we're going to try and go beyond the clouds to peer into what God's glory is all about.

If we learn a Hebrew word, this will be a make a little more sense. The Hebrew word is shem. The word shem (pronounced shame) means "name." Now, some of you might be smart enough to realize that this is Noah's son's name. That is an interesting detail worth looking into.

What does the word shem mean? For some reason, name just isn't enough to really grasp what the word means. It is beyond the name; it is the character of a person. When you strip away all of the junk in someone's life and their hobbies and their habits and their personality and their preferences and you look at the core of who they are, then you are looking at their shem. Someone's name is their character. It is more than character in the sense of morality level. This kind of character is what all of the external things stem from. What is it that causes this person to enjoy science or history or art? What is it about this person that causes them to joke or to be serious?

When we're talking about someone's name, we're really asking what the foundational aspect of their entire being is. Who are you at the very core and center and heart?

With this information, we look to Exodus 3. In Exodus 3, Moses meets God at the burning bush. God sends Moses to Pharaoh. Moses debates God. Moses asks God one last question: "What is your name?"

What is Moses asking?

The name is more than a name. We think in terms of "this is what God likes to be called." That isn't what is going on here. Moses asks God what the core of His being is...

Later, Moses asks to see God's glory (Exodus 32-34). God tells Moses, "No one can see my glory and live. I will pass by you and hide you in the cleft of the rock and you can see my backside." Once again, Hebrew isn't necessarily saying what we interpret it as. When someone is in front of you, they are to your face. When someone is behind you, they are to your back. Here, to see God's backside would be to see the place where God just was.

What do these two passages have in similarity?

In the one, God tells Moses the core of who He is.

In the other, God lets Moses see where He was just walking.

If we are to experience the glory of God, we will experience God as He is. To see His glory (or the place where His glory just rested) is to see the core of who God is. It is one thing to theologically know it; it is something else entirely to see it. It is one thing to be able to understand what I AM THAT I AM means from a theological aspect; it is something else entirely to walk in the light as He is in the light.

So when Moses hears the name of God, he learns about God. This can transform. This can revolutionize. But to see God act out that very character is something else entirely.

Lets break down what the tetragrammaton (YAHWEH) means.

There are many scholars that have spoken of how it is the verb "to exist" or "to be." So it could be "I am that I am," or, "I am that which exists," or, "I am all that exists," or, "I am all that will exist," or, "I exist because I exist." The thing about Hebrew is that it isn't one of these options. It is all of them. It is every kind of translation possible of the sentence. All of them. At the same time.

But there is another aspect of the name that isn't ever spoken of. Ancient Hebrew is different than Biblical Hebrew. What I mean by this is that when we learn Hebrew in school, we are taught the modern day script of the ancient text. The modern script is Aramaic block script. Hebrew uses symbols like a cryptograph. For the aleph, we use an ox head meaning strength. For the beth, we use a picture of a tent, meaning family or house.

The name of the Lord is yohd hey waw hey. The yohd was originally an arm or hand. The hey was originally a picture of a man with his arms raised. It means "behold," or "reveal." The waw was originally a tent peg. It would symbolize security, a hook, or even a nail or something like the tent peg.

So when we look at yohd hey waw hey, we are looking at a sentence: hand behold nail behold.

Lets flip the verb around so it makes sense: Behold the hand; behold the nail.

What is it in the Bible that we see nails and hands? Jesus got nails driven through His hands during the crucifixion...

Behold the hand; behold the nail. "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

Is the glory of God revealed within the cross? Is the foundational characteristic of God the cross of Christ? What is it about the cross that would cause for God to say that this is who He is at the very core?

We'll try to look into these questions next time.

The Glory of God pt 5

Last time we looked at the Ark of the Covenant and found that the glory of God is mixed in with God in us. He is with us and among us. Today I want to look again at clouds and darkness; this time going into a little more detail.

We looked at this a little bit in part 1. We find in various places that God is found in clouds darkness (Psalm 97:3, Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 4:11, 2 Samuel 22:12). Jesus is coming on the clouds. I know that the statement was made by the angels that He will return the same way He went. But I think that the Bible seems to use clouds and darkness in reference to God as a symbol. 

What is it that clouds represent? It is almost always clouds and thick darkness. It is rarely only clouds. I wonder if they are a symbol of suffering and bereavement. Suffering of what kind, though? I can throw out the word suffering, and we many times think of genocide and war and famine. That isn't necessarily what I'm talking about. The suffering that I'm describing is more of a birthing.

When we're talking about the clouds, we're talking about the very thing that is cloaking the glory of God. These are the very things that God is within, but He is hidden. China suffered at the hands of Japan during World War 2. There was one act in particular that got called the rape of Nanking. Many of the ways that the Chinese people were murdered could only be called bestial. 

Where was God?

Where was God when the bombs were dropped on Japan?

Where was God in the Holocaust?

Where was God when my grandfather died?

Where was God when my friend committed suicide at the age of 16?

Where was God when there is suffering in the world? It is the same question asked so many times. "If God is all powerful, then why do bad things happen to good people?" The question itself is absurd. "There is none good, no not even one." Jesus even asked the man, "Why do you call me good?" Yet, here is the question...

I think that when we look into the trouble and suffering of mankind, we are hit with two great options: God is real or God is not real. If we search and probe, we will either find God in the midst of it or we must conclude that there cannot be a God at all. This is true for any level of suffering. We all know how suffering comes about, but what is the nature of suffering itself?

Maybe I should rephrase that: what is it about suffering that reveals truth?

It seems like suffering reveals character. Absolute suffering reveals character absolutely. When people are faced with being dehumanized to such extent that you are being hung by your tongue (like in the Rape of Nanking) or being pulled out of your home or business by your beard to be beaten or shot (such as in the Holocaust) or being forced to hike a 2,200 miles on the trail of tears while watching many of your people die all around you (like the Cherokee American Indians were forced to), people show the core of who they are. You will either become embittered or empowered. 

We find many cases where people were martyred for their faith, and yet they die rejoicing. After being beaten, stripped, and imprisoned, Paul and Silas sang within their cells hymns to God. Tradition says that Isaiah the prophet was cut in half while hanging upside-down. He continued prophesying to the people all the way until he could no longer speak. 

What is it about suffering that reveals?

I think that suffering strikes us to the core. It opens up the discussion in ways that would not have otherwise opened. God brings this kind of suffering before revealing Himself. The clouds represent suffering and bereavement, but what comes out from those clouds and that darkness is a revelation of God. God spoke from the darkness in Exodus. The clouds and darkness are contrasted as similar to God's righteousness and justice in Psalm 97.

When we're talking about the clouds and darkness, we're talking about the kind of suffering that brings us to face reality. If we have not the character to endure this suffering and hardship, then all of the character flaws will come to the surface. We will curse; we will yell; we will kick and scream. It is becoming increasingly more popular to go into a public place and go on a shooting spree, then end it by committing suicide. The shooter wants to kill and not be held accountable.

Suffering reveals. The ultimate moment reveals the ultimate depths of our hearts. It is in the midst of that kind of suffering that we are faced with God. It is in that moment (and in reflecting back on those moments) that we find God in the most glorious and straightforward ways. This is the revelation of God. And revelation comes in two forms: God among us (Jesus) and God in us (Holy Spirit).

The first has been revealed and continues to reveal. Jesus is called the Word of God in John 1. We find God in reading the the Bible. Yet, the Bible is not the word of God alone. God does continue to speak. He continues to reveal Himself. He continues to have an opinion. The Bible is our standard and our plumb line. To ignore that God might speak to our hearts and convict or lead or reveal is a shame.

The second kind of revelation comes from God in us. This kind of revelation might come from living along side of other believers (such as we discussed in The Glory of God part 4), or it might come by God speaking to us in prayer. It might come in God speaking through us. However it comes, it is from within, and not from outside. 

We're getting closer to talking about God's glory every time. Here we have reached the last bit of information before we examine the glory of God. Before continuing next week, let us examine one last prospect of the clouds and darkness.

In Proverbs, we are told time and time again to seek wisdom. I think that Wisdom (as spoken of in Proverbs) is the Holy Spirit. But it is a certain aspect. Wisdom is only this true kind of wisdom when it is a direct revelation or word from God. Wisdom cannot be the wisdom of God if it does not communicate to us the character and fullness of God. It must reveal God as He is, and not as we consider Him to be.

This kind of Wisdom only comes within the context of a few guidelines. We must be humble. We need to acknowledge that we have not arrived. There are deeper things to learn. There are more details that we do not know. The second thing is that we must be open. This is especially true for anyone who has been to Bible School or gotten their Masters/Doctorate in religion. This goes hand-in-hand with being humble, but is a slightly different take on it. God might speak to us something that is completely alternative to what we have supposed to be true. He might reveal to us that the way we have perceived the faith is on a false ground. This leads me to the third guideline: willingness. We must be willing to receive such words. We need to be open to the consideration, and we need to be willing to accept it.

Only those who have these characteristics will gain wisdom. God doesn't speak and reveal Himself to those who are simply not going to listen. He doesn't try to teach those who are going to reject His teaching because they have it figured out. He isn't going to waste the words when someone will only get offended. This might lead you to ask questions like, "Why did God send the prophets, then?" This is a different thing altogether. The prophet isn't speaking to an individual; the prophet is speaking to a people or nation. 

Thus we have all the pieces formed to receive what God might have to say. What are the aspects of God's glory? What has He revealed about Himself? What would He say today when asked, "show me your glory..."

Glory of God pt 4

We have discussed what the Hebrew word glory means, and we have looked at one symbolism of glory in fire. I want to continue to look at the symbolisms before diving into a deeper concept of what glory is all about. It is in the symbols that we can find the revelation and depth.

Today lets look at the Ark of the Covenant.

The first place the Ark of the Covenant is mentioned is in Exodus 25 where the description is given:
"Have them make an ark of acacia wood—two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. Overlay it with pure gold, both inside and out, and make a gold molding around it. Cast four gold rings for it and fasten them to its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the other. Then make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. Insert the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry it. The poles are to remain in the rings of this ark; they are not to be removed. Then put in the ark the tablets of the covenant law, which I will give you. “Make an atonement cover of pure gold—two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. And make two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. Make one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; make the cherubim of one piece with the cover, at the two ends. The cherubim are to have their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the cover. Place the cover on top of the ark and put in the ark the tablets of the covenant law that I will give you. There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the covenant law, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites."

When we read such a text as this, it almost seems to cause our minds to go numb. The measurements given are translated as cubits, and we have no idea what a cubit looks like. Some of us know that the cubit is from our elbow to the end of our fingers. It is about 18 inches. The measurements of the cubits that strikes me as odd isn't that it tells us the dimensions, it is that they seem to be partial measurements.

Remember that Hebrew doesn't look at it for the image; it looks for the function. Why would there be "cubit and a half" mentioned? There is not a single full measurement of 3 cubits by 5 cubits... It is almost as though there is some sort of extra part to it. We find this concept in Hebrews as well. The author of Hebrews tells us that these things given to Israel were mirrors of the heavenly. What if the first half is measured here on Earth, and the second half is found in Heaven?

The ark thus is a symbol of something heavenly that has been given on Earth. We must not see it as a box that contained the law and the rod of Aaron and the manna inside. It is more that that. But what exactly is this a symbol of?

The box is made out of wood and overlaid with gold. It is translated as "pure" gold. Gold is often (always) a symbol of deity. The acacia tree is a huge thorn bush. They have massive thorns (like a black locust). The Hebrew word in Exodus 3 when Moses is at the burning bush is "thorn." Moses saw a thorn bush that was on fire, but was not consumed. When bees make honey from the acacia blossom, it is the only honey in the world that does not crystalize.

I think that the acacia tree might be some sort of symbol of God's Spirit. There are thorns, which symbolize the outward distaste that people will have. From a worldly perspective, we reject the word of God. It's "outward appearance" causes many to oppose it. It isn't until the Spirit comes that we find our delight in it. Honey is a symbol for the word of God. When the honey (word) is coupled with the acacia fruit (Spirit) it doesn't crystalize (go bad).

The gold outlaying it is called "pure gold." Gold naturally comes in a pure form. The Hebrew word here for overlay is tzaphar. This means "to observe." If you pound out gold into super thin sheets (like an ounce of gold to cover the whole ark), it would be reflective. Maybe what is being said here is that the gold reflects like a mirror, therefore it "observes."

This ark is a symbol of God with us. Maybe this is why throughout the Old Testament, there are phrases and wording that give the Ark characteristics of God. When the Ark was captured by the Philistines, the name of Eli's grandson was Ichabod - which is interpreted, "The Glory of God has departed from Israel." The statue of Dagon would fall upon its face before the Ark, and eventually was shattered - as though the elements could not bear to be used shamefully before the presence of God. 70 people at Beth-Shemesh were killed because they looked into the Ark. The Ark was brought to Jerusalem upon a cart. God required it to be brought on the shoulders of priests. Uzziah reached out to steady the Ark and died. When the Ark was put into Solomon's Temple, the priests had to exit because the Glory of God filled the place in such a way that they could not even minister and continue to service.

Time and time again, we see the Ark being given characteristics that only come from God. The Ark is a symbol of God with us. We know that the prophecy of Emmanuel in Isaiah 9 is speaking of Jesus. Lets continue forward in our text of Exodus 25.

The mercy seat is to be placed on top. The tablets of the Law are within the Ark. This shows that mercy triumphs over judgment. The mercy seat is made entirely of gold. On the top, cherubs are beaten out. They face one another, but their heads are also tilted downward to the mercy seat. I think this is a symbol of humanity. We have all of our opposites: black and white, male and female, slave and free, Jew and Gentile... We must all look to that mercy seat because we do not have salvation without it.

In 2 Corinthians 3:18, Paul tells us that we behold in each other's faces the very glory of God. It is in this beholding that we are moved from image to image and glory to glory. The Ark is a symbol of community of the saints. It is God with us. When two or three are gathered in His name, there He is in our midst. His glory and His presence resides here: in everyday common ordinary life lived out together in the hardships and struggles of community. It is from that place that God told Moses, "I will meet with you and give you instruction concerning Israel."

But we aren't done.

As awesome this is, I said earlier that the dimensions of the Ark are incomplete. We see in Revelation 11:19 that "God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm."

This is the last thing that happens. Revelation then loops back to the beginning of the story. This opening of Heaven is Jesus' return.

The Ark of God is here on Earth, but it is incomplete until Christ returns. Until God is literally and bodily in our midst, and we have the completion of the Feast of Tabernacles, we will always have a partial measure. That isn't to say we should reject what we have until the day of His appearing. It is quite the opposite. Anyone who has this hope purifies himself as Christ is pure. It only makes us cling to it all the more. The glory of God is in our midst, and it is within the faces of the other believers that we have everyday contact with.

The Glory of God pt 3

Lets talk about fire.

Just so everyone knows, I think that the preachers who have sermons on fire and revival and God coming like a fire and this is the glory are completely polluting the Church. To say that God's glory is likened to fire is a complete abomination. Teaching people to pray that they would be filled with fire is absolutely killing the Spirit. Why do I say such things?

Fire is a topic in the Scriptures. It doesn't need to be ignored. It is misrepresented. When the Hebrews would think of fire, they would think of fire. When most charismatic preachers and laymen hear the word "fire," they think of some sort of emotional-hype-ooey-gooey-amazing-fall-over-because-of-the-immense-tangible-glory-of-God-OH-MY-GOD-I-CAN'T-EVEN-BREATH-BECAUSE-I'M-LAUGHING-SO-HARD-shaking-my-head-like-a-fish-flopping-out-of-water-no-self-control-over-my-muscles-but-don't-let-it-stop-because-it-feels-sssoooo-goooood kind of manifestation.

Since when has being set on fire meant a delight? Since when has burning alive meant that we are going to just smile and put our hands up and have that "holy posture" while we praise Jesus silently? Since when has fire meant that our bodies jerk backwards uncontrollably?

I hate the "fire" movement.

Now that I've got that out in the open, lets talk about fire.

What are some of the purposes of fire? It keeps a person warm. It purifies. It can be harnessed for landscaping purposes (like a controlled burning of a field that it might grow back more abundantly). It gives light. You can use it to cook food. You can steam bend wood over a fire. It softens tar and pitch. It repels predators and pesky insects. We've even developed smoke signals for communication. 

These are the kinds of things that the Hebrews would have been thinking when they use fire as a symbol. When it says that God is an all-consuming fire, it has this kind of connotation. He is light. He warms the soul in the cold and harsh dark world. He is pure and purifies. This is what we need to think of. Everywhere that I can see the word fire in the Scriptures, it seems to have these kinds of contexts.

I have never seen in the Scripture where fire (by itself) is used as a symbol of emotion or spirituality. There are idioms. One of them is "his nose is on fire." This saying is found in the Hebrew. It means that someone is angry. But notice that the emphasis isn't the fire, it is the nose. When fire is emphasized, it can mean passion, but always means purity. When God comes, He purifies and purges. When the Messiah comes, He will purify and purge (according to Malachi 3). Well, Jesus did speak of this purifying. He did come like a refiner's fire and a fuller's soap. He will come again in the same way - this time to purge the world of sin once and for all by killing the antichrist and throwing Satan into the "lake of fire."

Which is another reference, right? What about all of the symbols that we instantly think of with fire? We think of passion, yes. But we also think of fire and brimstone. What about hell? Is hell just a place where we get purified and then go to heaven?

Here is where fire can (and probably should) be used as a symbol. Even if it is literal, does it indicate something like purgatory?

Well lets address this intellectually.

The body will die. We all know that. What about the soul? Well, the Hebrew ideology of soul is the whole being of someone. There is obviously this carcass that is dead without the "soul" of the man, but that really isn't the Hebrew concept of a soul. A soul deals with the whole of a person. We would look at it as body, soul, and spirit - all of it. The whole person is the nephesh (soul). 

But there is the idea that there is something beyond our body. We do have a spirit. We do have some sort of a link to the spiritual realm that doesn't "die." Our New Testaments record that Jesus spoke of fearing the One who can "kill body and soul in Hell."

All of this to point out that the body might die, but then the soul goes on. What happens after death? This life seems to be a dressing room for eternity. What we do in this life - the things we sow onto our souls - will form and shape the people we will be in the next life. If you live this life full of hatred and racism, what will happen when you come into contact with the One who is love? If you live this life full of deception and manipulation and lying to people, what will happen when you come in contact with the One who is Truth? Just think about it.

Is Gandhi in hell? 

What would happen if Gandhi met Jesus? 

If Gandhi said that famous line, "I enjoy you, Jesus, I just didn't like you Christians," do you think that Jesus will reply kindly? Do you think that Jesus would be like, "Yeah, my wife is a whore." Do you really think that if Gandhi faces Jesus in eternity that he will be able to bear it? Or is it more likely that even Gandhi, with all of his hope for peace and his religious devotion, will shrink back in everlasting shame that he would profess that he liked "our Christ," and yet refused to follow Him?

Is this making sense?

Hell isn't simply a place where there is fire. Fire isn't a passion. Fire isn't hype. Fire isn't emotion. Fire describes a purification. But how do we get purified? We bear our own shame. We confess to a brother our weaknesses. We humble ourselves and open ourselves to admitting our shortcomings. We also embrace others knowing that the weaknesses they struggle with are nothing that we aren't capable of committing. We embrace them, and we love them, and we struggle with them to overcome together.

That is going through the fire. Fire purifies, because fire shows the dross. All of the impurities are exposed. Nothing is hidden. Silver can look pure until it is melted down. Suddenly all of the dirt and dross that we couldn't see rises to the surface. This is painful. It is exposing. We must bear this.

If we do not bear our shame here in this life, then we will bear it for eternity. If we do not open our lives for others to see our imperfections, then we will enter into the next age with the same defects. What will you do then? Will you repent when you're at the judgement seat? By that point it is too late.

There is a real sense in which Zechariah 2:5 can be interpreted as "we must pass through the flames of heaven to enter into the glory of heaven." There must be a suffering before there is a glory. If we are unwilling to bear our suffering, and bear the shame of our sin before our brothers and sisters, then we will never find freedom. I have a hard time in viewing people as people. That is something that I need others to know so that when I start speaking or acting in a way that displays that, they can come along side of me and lovingly point it out.

I need community. In 2 Corinthians 3:18, we see that the glory of God is beheld in each other's faces. This is what moves us from image to image, glory to glory. I need community where the fire of God can be reflected in the face of my brother or sister, and they can purify my soul.

This is what fire is all about. If we pray for the fire of God, we are praying for exposure. We are praying for purity - but purity of what kind? Maybe a better way to ask is: purity as a result of what? We must bear the shame and the suffering. Otherwise we are weak Christians. This is not a good weakness where we can say, "Where I am weak, He is strong." This kind of weakness can result in hellfire that will not be put out. This kind of weakness can result in harming the image of God. This kind of weakness can result in harming others' lives. We need to be very careful.

So, ultimately fire isn't a synonym or symbol of glory. But it is often used as a synonym and symbol of glory. I felt the need to divest myself in this to expose the faulty foundation that some are standing on. You don't need to stop teaching on fire - you don't need to stop praying for fire. What needs to change is our attitudes and our mindsets about what fire is. 

The Glory of God pt 2

In part 1, we had a quick overview of some basic concepts of glory. We looked into clouds and darkness a little bit (I hope to cover it more thoroughly later), and we considered the detriment that has taken place for the lack of God's glory in the Church.

In part 2, we're going to look at the Hebrew word for glory.

The Hebrew word is kavod (kaw-VODE). This word has a history. It started out meaning weight. When you buy wheat, you must weigh out the silver or gold and the wheat on a scale. You get the allotted amount of wheat for the amount of gold you spend. Over a coarse of time, kavod started to take on another meaning, though.

God's glory is intertwined with this idea of weight. Have you ever had that moment when something happens or something is said, and you're suddenly taken aback? Nothing else matters. Something about this time here and now is special. It means something deeper than just what is happening. It might be your wedding day. You have been spending months preparing for this, and now suddenly as she is walking down the aisle you see how important this moment really is. You realize that it is no longer your life - it is both of your lives together. It is no longer just Tommy - it now Tommy and Kimberly.

These moments happen multiple times in our lives. Some are good; others are bad. The point isn't whether it is good or bad, the point is that the world suddenly changes. Nothing is perceived the same way ever again. These moments shape the people that we are. That is kavod.

The idea comes from a concept that says when you come in contact with this God, you cannot be the same. You will be changed. Either He will come and frighten you, or you will be overwhelmed in joy. But when you leave that moment, something has happened.

God's glory according to the Hebrew word isn't so much about this moment of "awe" and angels singing. It isn't about halos and light and falling down. There is a real concrete interpretation here. We think of glory as some sort of abstract amazing thing. This is why words fail us. We don't have any clue what glory is. That's the point, right? If we could describe it, then it must not be glorious...

But the Hebrews had a completely different idea. It isn't necessarily something that you can see, taste, touch, or hear... Glory is something that you feel in the inner parts. It is something that causes everything to change. There are some Scriptures that talk about a darkness that you can feel (like the plagues of Exodus). But how do you feel darkness? Yet, we all understand full well what is being described, don't we?

God is glorious. And what is glory? It is a weighty alertness. It causes for you to realize the importance of this moment. It is a sense of "this right here matters more than anything else." And God desires that we would live from that. He desires that we wouldn't simply take these glorious moments we experience with Him and cherish them. As crucial as it is to cherish such moments, it is all the more critical to go out into the world and live with that sense of magnitude in all things.

The conversation you have with your friends has a weight of glory in it. The moment you are given to speak in front of people is once and for all. The time that you have to spend with family only comes this once. There is no guarantee that you will have tomorrow to live. This isn't a fear tactic, but a reality check. How much of our lives are spent like herded cattle?

Every day we go through the motions planning that someday we'll take a vacation or retire, and then we'll enjoy life. Until that day, we are only in survival mode. But what happens when that day comes? We are bored. There isn't enough to do. We thus fill our lives with nonsense and "jobs" that once again disconnect us from the things that really matter.

The cycle doesn't end.

You have to purposefully choose to be free. And I'll tell you what happens: you feel like crap. You feel like you aren't "doing" anything. But since when has God ever said that we have to "do?" It has always been that we are to "be," and then we are sent out to do. Adam was told to tend the Garden. But this came after God had made Him as an image bearer. Paul was sent out as a missionary and apostle. But this was after he had spent years in fellowship becoming the person that God called him to be.

Don't rush things.

This is the greatest downfall. We feel complacent, and we aren't "doing" enough, because we are still under the curse. Adam's part in the curse was that he will now have to work and toil by the sweat of his brow. It feels good to work. It feels good to accomplish. These things were made of God. But who's strength are you employing? Are you working yourself to death? Are you forcing yourself into a situation where you cannot simply be with God?

God's glory is not about working something up.

To understand the glory of God, we need to understand that He is already all around us. Finding the glory of God is finding God in everything. Nothing is common anymore. Everything is valuable. Everything is holy.

And even the word holy seems foreign.

It means separated and consecrated. It is set aside for the Lord. So when the heavens declare the glory of God, it is essentially saying they have been set aside for God exclusively. The heavens are holy. God is altogether other - holy, holy, holy. Why do the seraphim say holy three times? God is three. He is not one in the sense of monotheism, but a trinity.

He is different and set apart - nothing compares to Him.

So when we talk about glory, we talk about kavod.

When we talk about kavod, we talk about the weightiness of all things.

When we talk about weightiness, we talk about holiness.

These are all wrapped up into the same concept together. You cannot understand holiness without understanding glory. You cannot understand glory without understanding holiness. Kavod is the heaviness that we feel when the presence of God comes.

The Glory of God pt 1

My grandfather passed away recently. How recent? A week ago was his funeral...

I've had a bit of time to ponder all of the things that happen around a death - the searching for a funeral home, going through pictures, seeing family you haven't seen in years. It was during this time that I started to recognize the gory of God that sits behind the scene. I had the opportunity to speak at my grandpa's funeral. I started with a reference to Genesis 1:2. This verse seemed to explode with new information.

The Hebrew language has different forms of poetry and idioms than English. This should be obvious. When you start to learn some of the Hebrew mindset and culture, you start to see these coming up time and time again. In Genesis 1:2 we have a form of poetry. I'll use a proverb as an example: "A wise son heeds his father's instruction, but a mocker does not respond to rebukes," Proverbs 13:1.

This form of poetry makes 2 statements that are related. The first is about the wise, the second about the fool. The 2 statements are therefore opposite. This also happens in Hebrew with synonyms. In Genesis 1:2, we see "darkness was upon the face of the deep" (statement 1) and "the Spirit of God hovered over the waters" (statement 2). The question is now as to whether these are synonyms or opposites.

What is being cross compared?

In statement 1 we see darkness and "the deep" as the two nouns. In statement 2, we see the Spirit of God and "the waters" as the two nouns. So the Spirit and darkness are being compared, and the the deep and the waters are being compared. Now, in Hebrew, the word used as "the deep" is sometimes used as a synonym for sheol - the grave. And the word translated as waters is plural (which is obvious, but not obvious). Water is always plural. The singular is the word, "what." The word water is the plural of "what," which raises some interesting questions...

If "what is it" and a synonym for the grave are being compared, they don't seem to be too far from one another. It would appear as though these deeps and the water are the same thing. It is 2 different words/expression describing the same thing. If that is the case, then the darkness is also an interpretation of the Spirit of God...

But I thought that God is light.

This started a journey for me. There are a lot of places where God comes with darkness. In Genesis 15, a darkness comes over Abram before the Lord appears to him as a brazen lamp and burning fire (another bit of Hebrew poetry describing 1 thing 2 ways). God sent a darkness that can be felt on Egypt. In Exodus 20:21, Moses approaches the darkness "where God was..."

God upon Sinai is described in Deuteronomy 4:11 as black clouds and thick darkness. In Deuteronomy 5:11, God speaks out of the thick darkness. 2 Samuel 22:12 claims, "God made darkness His canopy around Him." In Psalm 18, God makes darkness his garment; in Psalm 97, clouds and thick darkness surround Him. What is interesting about Psalm 97 is that it is another parallel. The clouds and thick darkness are compared with righteousness and justice.

Now, there are many more references to darkness as being a curse and a bad thing. I don't reject that.

What I'm fascinated with is that there is any connection at all to God and darkness. I have thought of God as being the one who separates the light from the darkness, not the one who is surrounded in darkness. Why would God reveal Himself in the midst of clouds and darkness? The references to clouds reminds me of Jesus who is coming on the clouds.

I wonder if the reason that I'm having these thoughts at this time is that death has surrounded me. In the wake of my grandfather's death, I've found the clouds and thick darkness. They represent sorrow and bereavement. They represent suffering and loss. They represent a death of some sort. There must be an absolute stripping if there is to be an absolute filling. There must be an absolute death if there is to be an absolute resurrection. And maybe this is why we can claim that God is light: we are children of the resurrection. For those who have passed from death to life, we can behold God in His fullness.

This ideology includes and eclipses the idea that the clouds and darkness are there because no one can see God in his full glory. It embraces it, but then says that unless there are clouds and darkness we cannot see God in His fullness and glory. It is in the times of darkness being upon the face of the deep that the Spirit of God is hovering over our own lives. We won't be able to know God as He in fact is until we are willing to undergo suffering and bearing our crosses. In bearing our own cross, the cross of Christ becomes all the more clear as to the glory that God displayed there. As we suffer death and suffering in our own lives and prides, we start to see what the resurrection truly is. It takes a certain kind of death and a certain kind of suffering to strip us of all of the vanity that we so easily cling to. But once it's gone, we don't miss it at all. We realize how much the vanity and entertainment actually got in the way of God instead of leading us to Him.

This is why I'm against established religion, by the way. So many times you don't even need to bring a Bible to church. It is all on the screen, it is all in the notes, and it is altogether unnecessary. Our worship songs are more to catch the attention of people so that they might be able to bear sitting for half an hour, and the messages are littered with forms of entertainment like jokes, videos, and emotional stories. What happened to the glory of God? What happened to the captivating glory that caused for all of Israel to fall on their faces and cry out, "The Lord - He is God! The Lord - He is God!"?

We have missed it because we are pampered. We are taught that suffering isn't needed. We are taught a baby food Christianity that goes nowhere. We are taught to be tolerant, and maybe that is why people scoff and laugh at the Bible. "It says that if someone blasphemes the name of God that we should stone them! Who's first?" "It says that homosexuality is a sin, but then says that adultery is a worse sin. Maybe you Christians who commit adultery ought to kill yourselves instead of gay bashing!" Atheists, homosexuals, scientists, teachers, philosophers, and society and culture everywhere are taking the Bible and using it as a tool to mock and proclaim that we are all narrow minded bigots.

If you look at history, you'll know that 10 years before the Nazis systematically exterminated the Jews, there were cartoons and other forms of media that mocked them and gave way for people to think that they were lesser. They were doing god a service for killing them. You mark my words, because we have played games with the holy things of God, we will also be killed.

The glory of God is not something to tamper with. This is an introduction, and I wish to go a little deeper within the weeks ahead.