Getting beyond going backwards

 "For you have not come to that place, filled with blazing fire and darkness - where the sounds and words made the hearers beg for silence... you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, where innumerable angels and the gathering of the firstborn reside before the Lord, who judges all - where Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, has enrolled the spirits of all of the righteous made perfect". Hebrews 12:10-23.

Pastor and theologian, Chad Bird (I'm growing very fond of quoting him lately!), made a superb insight in one of his postings this week.

To quote: "When God sent the ten plagues in Exodus, he was not merely showcasing his power against Pharaoh. He was uncreating Egypt, rewinding this rebellious land to Genesis 1:2, where “formlessness and void” (tohu vavohu) characterized creation.

A major feature of the creation account is God making distinctions, dividing light from darkness, water from dry land. He is ordering and organizing the world. In the plagues, all this is reversed. Water becomes blood. Water animals (frogs) swarm the land. Dust becomes gnats. Light becomes darkness. Finally, life (the firstborn) becomes death. Pharaoh’s enslavement and mistreatment of the Israelites was a rebellion against life and creation as it was ordered by God. So, God harnesses creation to use against Pharaoh. 

Not just people but all creation—water, land, heavens, animals—are involved.The events in Egypt are thus a prophetic microcosm of worldwide proportions. 

That is why, in Revelation, John uses the plagues as a model for his vision of divine, worldwide events.

Exodus thus becomes a preview of world history—and the ultimate redemption we have in the resurrection of the Son of God, and our resurrection in him".

What's touched on here is, in effect, something we see continually emerging throughout the early history of the ancient world. The 'giving over' of our race and its responsibility to a usurper constantly breaks out into the manner of chaos evidenced in Genesis 1:2 - Murder, violence, corruption are all married to the malevolence and diabolical 'curving' of men we see in the events that lead up to flood, the tower of babel and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Moses sees the same as the journey unfolds towards Canaan, both amongst those beyond the camp and in the wickedness expressed among those within.

In ourselves, constantly, we evidence the undoing of Eden, which, no doubt, is why the tabernacle in the wilderness irrevocably married reminders of that paradise (the tree hangings, the fruit adornments, the presence of cleansing water, etc) to the essential necessity of redemption through sacrifice (cleansing from iniquity) as the single grounds on which to find peace with the most high. The weighty events so meticulously recorded in Genesis and Exodus teach us that the remedy to our exile - the means whereby creation returns again to the delight of the seventh day - is by what God carves into history by His hand and doing alone, inviting us to stand, to see and to trust in His great undertakings on our behalf.

Our fallen estate has put us into a full reversal from seeing what's brilliant and beautiful in it's proper and fullest expression, whether we look at this on the large (culture) or small (our lives) scale. Currently in vogue, "wokeness" is the fig-leaf culture of now. We cannot bear the significance our 'nakedness' genuinely conveys, especially concerning our common poverty or the shards we glimpse of our better, God-given nature, so we glance our beliefs and behaviours off from this, continually pointing fingers at each other to kill the nagging truth that we're all outside from where we should be.

The cycle will keep us spinning until we see what's really going on - the world keeps careering along backwards into chaos, until we ask for remedy, for rescue, for mercy, from the one true Peacemaker and Kinsman who shelters us beneath a entirely unmerited benevolence that restores all of creation to refreshment in His eternal purposes.

Life is essentially a journey, then, backwards to nowhere, unless we are apprehended by one so much more than ourselves, who takes the reins by clothing our woeful sinful existence with a mercy and a righteousness that is pure gift, allowing us to live beneath the shelter of a life beyond ourselves. The Jesus Christ of the gospels, the one who spoke the marvel of creation into being, is close to anyone who wants to escape the folly and find genuine peace and purpose - they simply need to call upon Him.

Speaking Out

 What does it mean to be 'prophetic' to our day and generation?

What do we really have to say to this moment?

Doug Wilson spells it out in this timely nudge about who we are and what we should do.

Spelling it out

 Time for a little classic White Horse Inn on the essential truths of the Gospel.

Enjoy!

Breathing Easy

 "And He breathed into Him the breath of life". Genesis 2:7.

I'm no good with viruses.

Every year, around the end of February, I have a couple of weeks where I suffer with the inevitable snuffles as Winter melts into Spring, due to my underlying respiratory issues caused by asthma. It means that I've spent most of my life being very aware of my breathing, and it's usually the first spot to go awry when I'm under the weather.

For over a decade, I've been vaccinated against flu, and I had all of my childhood shots, so some people were a little surprised to hear that I'm giving the present roll-out of these new vaccines a very wide berth.

Initially, this was due to some ethical concerns I shared with other Christians that were expressed in the early stages of their development, but the underlying issues in respect to the nature of the key vaccines being employed themselves soon became another key issue. As you may be aware, what makes these effective is a new approach to treatment that has not been tried before - the introduction of MRNA into the body which triggers a rapid response in the immune system which in turn equips us with the proper defence for when the virus itself attacks. There's no doubt that this process is rapidly effective - the stats in the UK for the last few months clearly show this - but the issue is that material released by the vaccine into the body remains present after it has triggered that response, and, in spite of all the assurances, there is currently no data on the longer-term impact or effects on the body of this, and that is a very real concern.

I've discussed these issues with others, and whilst many of my secular work colleagues see these and other matters as very valid to this particular situation, I've been shocked to find Christians who seem pretty oblivious to the matter, thinking it's fine for people to just go ahead and have the vaccine without bearing such social and individual welfare matters in mind. Why this is so, is baffling.

I understand the issues involved are complex - there are medical, social and spiritual ramifications to weigh - but shouldn't that mean that there are conversations about this issue amongst us, at least in respect to seeking to inform people about some of the key issues involved.

The rapid roll-out of this program may now be witnessing its first very real casualties  of such a hasty approach to blanket vaccinations. If this indeed proves to be the case, it will be a consequence almost certainly as deadly as the virus itself, so clearly, caution needs to be applied in how we weigh-up what is unfolding here.

The guide-line we must employ is to "Prove (test) all things" - to seek to look at the full picture, and not merely what our own preferences encourage. Patience is so often the cornerstone in such changing situations to evidence the full picture. Whilst we may understand the fear a crisis like this can generate (I most certainly did when it hit me like a freight train last March), we must not act on that, but allow wisdom and careful examination to weigh upon our choices.

As Oliver Cromwell put it, 'Put your faith in God, and keep your powder dry'.

C L E A R

 So, why do I take the view that I do about the present circumstances?

Is this something that all Christians should share?

How do we look these things Biblically?

How do these convictions play out historically?

I'm delight to share this presentation, which addresses all of this so well.

Enjoy!

The B a t t l e

 Brilliant posting today by 1517 author, Chad Bird.

Looking Further

"Don't fear, little flock. It is the Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom". Matthew 12:32.

The days are changing fast. With Christians in the West now facing prison and being imprisoned for their faith for the first time in centuries, it's time for us to us to begin to reckon with the realisation that our way of practicing the faith is clearly in a state of closure, and that we need to begin to consider how we face that personally and together as the church.

In respect to this, we would do well to remind ourselves of several key insights. The general issue (our subjective manner of seeking to avoid the problem) is addressed well in Lewis' work, The Abolition of Man (as well as his essay, Subjectivism), which encourages us to make a deep and vital diagnosis of our present malady ('the old  approach initiated the likes of proper manhood, the new merely conditions') and requires us to see the true reason and nature for convictions of responsibility and duty  towards God and each other. Lewis reminds us that we simply cannot afford to be superficial in our analysis of the present changes, or in our response to these - genuine spirituality will be clinical and cutting in its charitable negation of our present follies.

The essential nature of such crucial understanding can be evidenced in the way that Christians are currently looking at various current events (if they are looking at all - subjectivism, as The White Horse Inn noted this week, is now so prevalent in evangelicalism in general, that many church goers are without any discernment whatsoever). This verifies that trouble that Lewis and others have been seeking to address for a very long time.

A very helpful piece recently made available on the reality of persecution helps us to look at what may well be about to unfold generally amongst us biblically.

As we face the shifting sands of the world, it's imperative we find ourselves anchored to the unchanging, objective nature of God's actual work to us in His beloved Son.