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.

 

 

Kingdom Highs and Lows

As a disciple in 1^st century Palestine, you ate, slept and followed your Rabbi pretty much where ever he went. Your Rabbi was teaching you through His words and, more importantly, through His actions. As a disciple, you observed how your Rabbi treated a shop keeper, prostitute, tax collector or anyone he came in contact with. That was part of the training.

The Apostle Peter’s Rabbi was no ordinary one, of course. Peter’s Rabbi performed amazing acts. He told pertinent stories about another Kingdom. A Kingdom that was yet to come. As His disciple, you couldn’t help but admire, respect and well, love this particular Rabbi.

Peter’s particular Rabbi would often take him and his fellow disciples aside for fireside chats, as it were. This particular conversation was on a “camping trip” in the hill country known as Caesarea Philippi, north of Jerusalem.

Jesus draws them into a conversation about who exactly people think He is? I imagine this conversation took place as the sun was setting and logs were being thrown on the fire against the oncoming night’s cool.

It’s the conversation that has divided our world ever since.

Jesus looks around the campfire’s flickering glow at the faces of His disciples and asks a simple question: “Who do the people say I am?”

The answers vary, as they do today. A prophet; a scholar; The Baptist; Jesus being Whomever you want Him to be.

Jesus, as was His way, makes it personal: “But who do YOU say I am?”

This is where Peter shows remarkable insight: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” his reply.

Being that kind of objective when you are emotionally attached to another person showed remarkable insight.

Jesus instinctively knows this and replies, “Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven.”

Only God can reveal Himself to a person. A disciple’s job is to point the way through devoted lives.

Then Jesus confers upon Peter the Keys to the Kingdom, as it were.

The text doesn’t say, but I’m guessing that this goes to Peter’s head. I know it would mine.

And, just as we are experiencing our God-given highs, along come the lows.

Jesus now calls His disciples back together and explains a most difficult thing: this isn’t going to end like you’d hoped it would.

“Here’s the plan,” to paraphrase Jesus. “I’m going to go before the religious leaders and suffer many things at their hands. Ultimately, you will watch me be lifted up, crucified and die. But I will rise again on the third day.”

This is not hyperbole. This is not some script for a Hollywood movie. When Jesus said this, the disciples could picture it all too clearly in their imaginations. Crucifixions weren’t THAT common place, but everyone knew about them and had probably witnesses one or two.

The “plan” cuts Peter to his core. I’m sure he was not alone but given Peter’s new found authority as head of the church, well, time to take Jesus aside and say exactly what everyone is thinking:

“Plan sucks. Don’t even consider it anymore.” To paraphrase Peter.

Of course, one is forgetting the “rise again” phrase. Being raised from the dead was much more difficult to imagine. It is to this day.

Crucifixion, well, they didn’t need much of an imagination for that.

I often put myself in Peter’s position. I slightly shake my head at the plan. “Wow, really?! Why does the Son of Man need to die such a cruel, horrible death?”

I’m also thinking that Peter believes he will be watching this happen. Another good reason to think the plan sucks.

At least I didn’t need to be there.

The way the story ends, Peter is rebuked for his inability to see that God’s ways are not our ways; God’s plans are massively different than ours (Isaiah 55:8).

This is where the concept of “faith” is so important. I accept God at His word, no matter how much I may think that His ways don’t exactly line up with mine or anyone else’s.

I accept them by faith; and I slowly die to self and believe His will be done.

It must have broken Peter’s heart and soul to have gone through such an ordeal; most of us are not willing to suffer for our faith.

But perhaps that is Jesus’ point in rebuking Peter. What good is untested faith for Kingdom Living? Unless a faith has been “tested by fire,” as was Jesus’, then one will simply put their faith back in the idols of science, religion, good works, women, the list goes on and on.

I will never be asked to die the death Jesus died. But I will surely be asked to sacrifice my idols upon the altar of God. Pain is surely involved, but that is what it means to take up my cross.

This is the example Jesus gives us. If God loves us, separating us from our idols is the ultimate goal.

And this time, it is important to pay the proper attention to the all important phrase: "rise again on the third day."

Read the Story Carefully.

Let's take the story of the woman caught in adultery from the gospel of John 8: 1-11, as it is often misunderstood simply because it is not read closely.

The question we are asking ourselves, of course, is what exactly were the religious leaders, the Pharisees, motives at the time.

So first, let’s start by looking at a couple of verses from the story:

 ⁶ They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger  and wrote on the ground. ⁷ But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” 

A familiar story, to be sure, but John gives us the Pharisees' true motivation.

According to John, the Pharisees bring this woman before Jesus because they are trying to find grounds to eliminate a competing Rabbi. They are jealous of Jesus’ fame and following and want Him permanently removed.

John makes it plain that the Pharisees could care less about the Mosaic law.

Speaking of the Mosaic law though, the way the Old Testament law reads is that both the man and the woman caught in adultery must be stoned at the same time.

Like, where’s the man?

Again, check out the original law found, I believe, in Deuteronomy.

The Pharisees, so steeped in the law, are not actually following it, because the last thing they cared about is whether the law is being followed or not.

Lest we all start feeling smug in our own self-right-doing, never forget, we all have the heart of a Pharisee. We all fall short.

But that is the problem with the law: it cannot be followed by anyone really. Jesus said that even if you look upon a woman to lust after her, you have as good as committed adultery with her in your heart (Matthew 5:23).

As Paul points out in Romans, chapters 2 & 3, the law was given to expose our sin. So that we know that we are sinners and we need a Savior.

The Mosaic law was pretty much made obsolete when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with it and found the Israelites violating the 1^st Commandment by worshipping a golden calf.

The Israelites’ Old Testament history as told by the Prophets of old has Israel  making the law obsolete to the point of being exiled a several occasions. Although, it does need to be pointed out that there were times when things went well, like during King David’s reign. 

Jesus said that he did not come to abolish the law but to fulfil it (Matthew 5:17).

God knows our hearts. Was Jesus’ heart pure and sinless? He could not have performed the works He did without this being true.

As the story goes, the Pharisees are simply terrorizing this woman. They don’t care about her immortal soul or her behavior. They only care about eliminating someone who continues to expose their hypocrisy. To them it’s a competition.

They worship themselves, not God.

It’s a common problem to this day. That is why this story continues to be very relevant to us today.

A lot is made out of the finger writing on the ground by Jesus. My pastor recently preached on this subject and I’d liked to share his viewpoint. He said that the law was given by the finger of God, as told in Exodus. And here you have Jesus, the Son of God, writing with his finger while the law is being confronted. Jesus is reminding the Pharisees that God knows their sin all too well.

A human heart is restored or reconciled to God through the finished work of Jesus on the cross. No human work can satisfy God’s wrath because it was already satisfied through the death, burial and resurrection of the Son of God.

So, go, and sin no more.

“A sense of deep awe was occurring to every soul, and many wonders and miracles were taking place through the apostles.” Acts 2:43

In August of 2017, a total solar eclipse cast its shadow across America. We were living in the totality of its path and my youngest son and his girlfriend came all the way from New York to see it.

After he arrived, I told my son that the weather looked cloudy for that day and especially in the early afternoon, during the eclipse. Maybe even a thunderstorm was in the mix.

The night before the big day, my son was looking at a map on the internet that showed the ambient lighting situation, or what is known as “stray light” from things like street lamps. He wanted to view the solar eclipse from a place where the nighttime street lights would cause the least amount of occlusion. His explanation was that the street lights come on automatically when it suddenly got dark.

I just looked at him when he told me this and thought to myself, “People from big cities are so all about all the wrong things.”

I didn’t mention that to him at the time. What I did tell him though were the facts: “The weather is going to be cloudy, but not really overcast. So, we will need to search out a good spot where the sun is peaking through the clouds at the time of the eclipse. If you stick with me, I will find us such a spot, no problem.”

If any breaks occurred in clouds at all the next day, I was confident that I would find a good cloud-dodging locale to view the eclipse.

This information had little effect on my son. He decided that a nearby small-town with minimal street lamps was the ideal location. Well, he is my Son and I his Father, and well, you know, why should he be starting to take my advice now?

The day dawned cloudy, as predicted. As I was out doing my job, I kept an eye on the sky and noticed a lot of breaks in the clouds. My son and his girlfriend had taken off early to go to the nearby town. Oh, well.

The partial eclipse had started along with the excitement that comes with such an event. I stood outside and scouted out the sky above, looking for good, solid breaks in the cloud cover. No problem, there was a good one a couple of miles down the road, in the country. No street lights are found in the country.

I jumped in the truck and drove there as the sun became a took on a crescent shape and began to disappear in that distinctive way it does when the moon is moving in front of it.

I hopped in my truck and drove to the perfect place on a country dirt road where the clouds were well parted and set up my tripod and camera.

It was a bit hazy between me and the sun, but that only seem to enhance the experience.

Well, I must say, I’d never seen a total eclipse before and words cannot do it justice. It was wonderful and fearful and everything everybody said and so much more.

I started snapping pictures while looking through my protective glasses, but it wasn’t long until all that I could do was stare at the dazzling bright ball that was slowly turning dark.

And then there it was, a total eclipse; and the day went to night and there was that eerie corona in the sky encircling what was left of the sun and all this dancing light next to dark clouds.

I snapped a few more pictures of the totality, but looking at it was piercing me through my heart. I was struck with awe and wonder. And just like most miracles, not long after it had begun, it was over, just like that.

We did get a little special end treatment though. Because the shadow’s passing caused a temperature differential, the clouds formed up quickly in the eclipse’s passing shadow and started a thunderstorm. It swept past with lightning and loud thunder, not like any thunderstorm I’d never seen before.

As I was talking to my son later, yes, he did experience the eclipse, but his position was pretty cloudy. I’d call it more of a “normal” experience. He did express a sentiment of awe and wonder, even in cloudy conditions.

But it was more obligatory than blow-you-away.

The point being that one can lose that sense of God’s awe and wonder if you are pursuing the wrong things. Is the living God just an obligatory entity that needs a little attention now and then? Or is everyday filled with a sense of anticipation? Not knowing exactly when He is going to perform miracles in lives?

Time for application of faith principles.

The Creeping Oooze

So, we did a remodel on the bathroom like four or five years ago. Put in a new commode (head). I was a little worried about it all because the septic system plumbing to the outside is cast iron and yeah, old. A lot of flushing has happened there.

It had obviously leaked at one point because I had to replace a floorboard around the toilet when we remodeled which took me about a day.

When the plumber came to put the new commode on (an entire replacement upgrade toilet) I got a good look at the plumbing and hey, looked fine really. The plumber did the right thing by tightening a plastic flange inside the cast iron. I watched him do it and thought, “Hey, this guy knows what he is doing.”

Another detriment to the plumbing system is that underneath the house, where the plumbing lives, is a dirty, dank and dingy crawl space. It is chuck full of cobwebs and you need to squat down and crawl around on dirt ducking pipes to get anywhere worth going.

A beautiful place which I avoid for obvious reasons.

Well, like last Spring some wonderful “ooze” appeared from underneath the new tile near the toilet and the tiles appeared to move a bit.

My wife was concerned. Me, I’m like this can’t be nothing really. The job is fairly new, guy did the right job, everything is fine. I mean, if anything happened, well, it would have shown up years ago or the toilet would be slipping off or something more obvious. I blamed the previous owners and cleaned it up and thought nothing more of it.

More “ooze” appeared sometime later.

Now, the real problem, besides ignoring my “gut,” (which was telling me I needed to check it out a bit closer), the real problem is that I would need to go into the crawl space under the house. There is only one door access and of course, it is a dark, damp place full of insects that will tear you apart just to look at you. Some of them are ten feet tall and related to snakes. The access door to the crawl space, however, is right by the commode that was giving us the problems.

After the wife bothering me to check it out, I did stick my head inside the trap door that leads to the crawl space and could see the floor beam that supports the commode in question. It appeared to be rotting. I placed my rose-colored glasses firmly on and told my wife that it was just coming up from what was left over from the last rebuild. (If I’d have really thought it through at all, this actually makes no sense. But do notice how I will do a lot of justifying to escape actually having to deal with a dank, dirty, large insect problem.)

I got all upset with my wife. Of course I got all upset with my wife. That’s what wives are for! Blamed her for all sorts of things that weren’t true but mostly just wanted her to quit bothering me about it.

It is important to note that what I blamed my wife for was, in truth, how I was acting. If the problem is a sticky wicket, one we really don’t want to deal with, then for sure, I’m will be just detailing to another person the thing I am in denial about.

It takes courage to see ourselves in the shining light of reality. In Truth.

More ooze. Double in volume.

I am in denial. I am blaming the wife because she is pointing out the obvious. I am not happy. I refuse to listen.

Everybody does this sort of thing from time to time.

My wife is patient with me and yeah, the ooze just keeps on oozing.

Time passes, I do get some time to check it out and the worst nightmare comes true: like the toilet has been leaking from its base alright. Like for a good three or four years! Who knows, maybe it started leaking a month after the install.

Notice a couple of things: I put my faith in man. The plumber in this case. Not that the plumber wasn’t competent, it is just that the laws of nature and God’s plan are much more relevant.

Two to three square feet of the sub-flooring, along with everything above and below it, has sewage water rot. The home’s floor beams themselves are also on the rot. You know, the wood that keeps the house from caving in.

I don't really panic though. I mean, it's been that way this long, what's another week or two? I also figure I'll need like a day or two to actually begin fixing it.

I pull the toilet and find that the plastic flange inside the cast iron pipe had cracked. This is a good thing because hey, that is the culprit. Always nice to know what the exact problem is. Really though, I need a plastic tube going into the septic system or yeah, will probably happen all over again.

This is the problem with self-deception. This is the problem with thinking things are fine. When really, the TRUTH is something different.

But here is some good news. After thinking to myself that I’m just demeaning myself by being honest with myself, it has become a good lesson in redemption. 

You see, I was being stupid. I had it wrong. Please, somebody point it out to me, even if I don’t quite want to hear it.

The wife and I are working together to rebuild the place (there has been a few disagreements, but that is part of what it takes to redeem things) and I don’t know, I got to buy new tools. Plus, a couple of miraculous things happened that will make the final product that much better. Don’t really have time to go into it now.

We all love to deceive ourselves from time to time. It’s part of being human. You can have a good “sense” of it, but it will be countermanded by difficult circumstances.

It did me for like several years.

Now, people will read this and give it a nice, mental assent, but such thinking really doesn’t cut it. Just an intellectual assent to the problem made me not want to check it out. In my heart, my emotions, I do know that there is nothing I cannot solve. This is because my faith is such that it will deliver the goods every time.

I won’t deliver the goods. That is arrogance. What I put my faith in is what I believe will do it. This would never be myself.

Ever.

That kind of belief makes me want to solve even a creeping ooze problem.

The funny thing about courage is that once you simply admit to the obvious, the truth, well, solving the problem or changing things for the better isn’t that difficult. You always kind of wonder what you were afraid of once things start going in the right direction again.

That’s just a bathroom floor. Things in life are much more complicated and serious than that. I’d say it takes courage, but really, it takes correct faith based on Truth.

And that is why it makes all the difference in the world what you put your faith in.