Poetic Language in the Bible. It's a good thing.

 

The book of Revelations is a specific type of literature called “apocalyptic” literature. Revelations is “end-times,” which is what apocalyptic means or when this world passes away and God puts in his New Order.

A working definition for apocalyptic literature is that it deals with future events and these events relate to judgment on earth by God.

By the way, God’s judgment will be and is both good and bad.

Anytime the Bible talks about the future, because it is the future, it uses a lot of poetic language. Mostly because we humans can’t actually know the future and yet it is us humans that God has given this revelation of the future to. Let's say it is "indescribable delicious."

Take the case of the Apostle John having a “vision” from God in the Book of Revelations (Revelations 1:11). He is asked to write down this vision and send it to the Christian churches in the world at that time.

Like the prophecies from the Old Testament, John’s vision has some bad things to say about the churches, but also some very good things to commend them on.

Now, the mistake most people begin to make is that they take apocalyptic literature too literally. This is what people often find confusing about apocalyptic literature. Visions from heaven only come in symbolic language because God can only be understood by His human creations in figurative or symbolic language.

So, let’s take just a brief example from the Book of Revelations to demonstrate how magnificent, but also symbolic, this type of literature is:

11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” 13 And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.” 14 And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped.

The thing is, even this poetic language cannot do justice to how wonderful and marvelous and out-loud all creation will be praising God and the Lamb who was slain to receive power, riches, wisdom, honor, glory and many, many blessings.

So, it is always possible to have a good day, no matter the circumstances, when one thinks about what will happen, symbolically, on that day. The imagination, you see, is truly a wonderful thing.

 

Christian Humility: or Knowing Your Place Under God

 

Christianity makes wild claims. For instance: we claim to be in direct contact with God through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus Himself residing in us. The claim: we know how God wants us to behave. Other religions claim to be in touch with nature or some sort of ether or something, but to have the kind of intercessor we have, well that is like no other faith-based thinking.

We claim that some people will go to heaven, those who believe in Jesus; and that some “sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; and in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 8:12)”

We claim that God will take vengeance on those well deserving of it. That will be none of us, even though we are as deserving of the wrath of God as anybody.

And the list goes on.

That is why all the apostle writers in the New Testament talk about proper humility in light of the amazing claims we make.

So, let’s look at 1 Peter 5:5-6: (NASB)

⁵ You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble.

⁶ Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, ⁷ casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. 

It is interesting to note here that Peter equates boasting pride with anxiety. If you are a boaster, ultimately it will give you anxiety because you are always trying to be better.

Humility will ultimately give you peace.

Humility to Peter is knowing your place, but more than that really. It is knowing your place and being glad for it. Losing your prejudices and relishing in the idea that you’ve much to learn and grow from. Especially from older, wiser Christians.

Perhaps the best definition of Christian humility is given by the apostle Paul in Philippians 2, starting in verse 5: (NASB)

⁵ Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. ⁸ Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ⁹ For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

According to these verses, humility is obedience to the point of dying to self and living for God. We do, after all, make the claim that God is speaking directly to us and He is NOT going to tell us exactly what we want to hear most of the time.

The good kind of pride is doing it God’s way. As Jesus did. He could have chosen to do it another way, and that was His struggle in the Garden of Gethsemane, but instead, Jesus chose God’s way:

“Not my will, but thine by done.”

 

 

 

Will Your Morality allow Kingdom Living?

 

The common thought among “religious people” is that our morality is what saves us. That if we live good and upright lives before a watchful God, then, as a natural consequence, God will bless us in this life and the next.

Now, this isn’t necessarily untrue, but if I examine my own heart and motivations, well, morality is something I fall short of.

So, let’s examine this idea in light of Deuteronomy 6, arguable one of the more important chapters in the entire Old Testament.

Let’s take a specific example, like taking oaths. Just to refresh our memories, an oath before God or swearing by God’s name means, well, you’d better be doing what you say you’re about to do or “so help me God.”

The most obvious example of taking an oath in the 21^st century is when a person takes an oath in a courtroom to swear to tell the truth, “so help me God.”

Basically, one is recognizing that there are higher powers involved when one takes an oath or swears by that higher power.

They know whether you are telling the truth or not.

God references this in Deuteronomy 6. Let’s have a look: (NASB)

10 “Then it shall come about when the LORD your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you eat and are satisfied, 12 then watch yourself, that you do not forget the LORD who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 13 You shall fear only the LORD your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name. 14 You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you, 15 for the LORD your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; otherwise the anger of the LORD your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth.

What God is warning against is false swearing or false oath to other gods.

The whole idea is all about knowing from whom comes provisions and salvation and the truth of God. That starts in verse 12, when God says, “Then watch yourself,” lest you forget who is the One that brought you out of bondage into the Promise Land.

It is an interesting verb: “fear.” So, taking an oath isn’t just a recognition of God, but the idea that God controls life and death.

Which explains the stern warning at the end: “He (God) will wipe you off the face of the earth.”

The emphasis in the passage isn’t so much on what you are taking an oath about, but on remembering that God takes all this very, very seriously.

So seriously, in fact, that if you take an oath falsely or swear by another god or gods, well, there will be consequences and they will be serious.

This is proven out later in the Old Testament when Israel rebelled and went whoring after other gods. According to the prophets, God did indeed wipe them off the face of the earth.

But not entirely. God did restore their fortunes and the relationship, even in exile and to the next generation.

So, the application is along the lines of “it isn’t so much what you do, but Who you believe is watching what you do.”

This is why Jesus said that taking any oath at all is problematic in Matthew 5: (NASB)

 33 “Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FALSE VOWS, BUT SHALL FULFILL YOUR VOWS TO THE LORD.’ 34 But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING. 36 Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil.

Jesus isn’t saying you won’t take oaths or vows, we all do. And we all break them, but God has interceded for us in His Son, so that when we break those oaths, and break them we will, then God will see His Son in our lives and restore our relationship to Himself.