6/4/2023

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING:

“Then the [red] dragon was enraged at the woman [who had given birth to the son protected by God who would rule the earth with an iron scepter] and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.” (Revelation 12.17)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

You may be familiar with the saying “The more things change, the more they seem to stay the same.” I believe it means simply “Things don’t really change.” For all the advancements in “the world” that we have seen and made through the creative ability of humanity to conceive of great science in all its contexts of “life and living,” the outwardness may have changed but the inwardness has not. And that “inwardness” itself consists of two parts: psyche and spirit. I am not even going to attempt to psychoanalyze or perfom “psychiatry” or wax “philosophical” about the depth and dimension of these two identities. What I will submit is that they are not the same. For me, they represent levels of human understanding beneath the surface or facade of “the flesh.” We might think of it in terms of “carnal” man and “incarnate” man. “Carnal” man is everyone of us. “Incarnate” man is within everyone of us. “Incarnate” means the “spirit, or word, made into fleshly existence.” Jesus of Nazareth was the epitome of “incarnate” man as the Word, according to John, was made flesh to dwell among us. His dwelling with us demonstrated the power and reality of Immanuel, the word which Matthew used to describe “God with us” in the flesh as spirit and truth. What does that make of us? We have all the making of doing the work of “spirit and truth,” or maybe we can say “life and living.” We do not create anything new under the sun which did not already exist in the elements of creation which God formed together. Only God is the “original” creator. Before He spoke “His word” into the matter which existed it didn’t matter. It didn’t have knowledge of what it was, what it is, what it could become and most importantly- who it could become. The essence of life did not exist in “the matter.” The essence of life exists in “the matter of God.”  John had already recited that information of discovery in the introduction of his gospel rendering of the life and living of Jesus who was, is and will forever be the Christ. He wrote, “In Him was life, and that life was the light of all humankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it [nor would it ever].” (John 1.4) Maybe it was because John had such a keen insight into the “life and living” of Jesus of Nazareth, God’s man, who was Jesus the Christ, the man of God, that the revelation for us as to the future of all things was given to him by Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Why do our sins need to be taken away? Without that freedom in salvation, we cannot and will not rise above or beyond ourselves. From dust we came, to dust we will return. We will have our moment (finite) in the sun but it will never been the moment (infinite) in the Son- the Son of God. And it is here that we can begin to wrestle with an understanding of Revelation, chapter 12.

The seventh trumpet has been sounded by the angel at God’s command. The three woes have come and the world is exposed to the message of God’s wrath as a declaration of the truth of being called to righteousness. The effect of this “sin-fection” is great because it results in death from which there is no escape. By that I mean there is no escape in the flesh. The body will die but the life lives on. But, that is not a concern in chapter 12. What we see in chapter 12 is what Paul wrote about in Ephesians 6.12, “We do not battle with flesh and blood but with powers and principalities and rulers who dwell in darkness; we battle wickedness in spiritual places.” A careful and open-minded reading of John’s recording of “what comes next” captures us and our imagination between the first conflict with evil, the enduring conflict with evil and the final conflict with evil. As we read through those seventeen verses, we experience the calling to mind of the insurrection in Heaven when Lucifer seduced one-third of the angels in Heaven to follow him against God. It was most certainly not a battle on earth. It was a battle in the spiritual place where God’s presence was without end. It was a battle on God’s homefront. It was an affront to God’s life and living in “spirit and in truth.” It was a demonstration of the danger of freewill which comes when one loves themself more than others. Self-love is not authentic love but hate for the other. Hate becomes the priority effect which leads one’s decisions in “loving my self most.” We can see it in our everyday experience. How do self-consumed individuals elevate themselves? They do so by lowering others. They tear them down. They destroy them. They impune their character. They really cannot lift themselves up. They did a hole around them from where they stand and others fall into it. It would be a kind of abyss, if you will, and the “hater” becomes lord of it.

But, that is not the end of the story, as you well know. Being thrown down out of Heaven because of the righteousness of God which cannot be torn down or destroyed, Lucifer finds his place on earth. If we dare think he was given a second chance at redemption, we would be wrong. Lucifer does not intend to change his “life and living.” Lucifer does not believe that he was wrong, is wrong or will ever be wrong. He no longer is the “chief worship leader” of Heaven to lead others in praising God and adding glory to that which is already glorious. He is now the accuser, Satan, who does whatever is in his power to “steal, kill and destroy” that which is of God and for God. He is Peter’s “prowling lion ready to devour.” He stands as the outcast lion from the “pride of God” where the young lion of Judah stands at the ready to rule and reign. So, as much as we think things have changed because the faces and the face of things is different, they are very much the same. The names remain consistent: of God and against God. Mighty ones of God we are warned and alerted to the enduring battle between light and dark, good and evil, righteousness and unrighteous, God and Satan. As long as there is life in “this” world, that battle will continue to happen. The forces of darkness, evil and unrighteousness remain in effect and affect our very lives and living in this world. We must either stand against it and live (even though we may die) or surrender to it and believe we live (though we will be living death forever.) Seeing that the “woman” of God who has given life for living is protected by God, the Accuser sets out then to destroy whatever it can that is of God. Whether the woman is Eve, Israel, Mary or the Church, the conflict is the same. So, too, we can anticipate, will be the outcome except time is running out for “do overs” and “second chances.” We are entering into the final conflict which comes at the “close of the Age.” That age is, of course, the Age of the Church who is the bride of Christ, the Lamb of God. He is the ultimate revelation of God’s love which rules and reigns and by which all life and living will be discerned as “flesh and blood” or “spirit and truth.”

A PRAYER FOR TODAY:

You are our God and we shall be Your people in spirit and in truth. Continue to dwell among us. Let the revelation by Your Holy Spirit inspire us to greater service in a more refined identity. We do not live as ourselves for ourselves. Rather, we live in Christ as He lives in us. We declare it with all the elders and angels in Heaven, saying “Holy, holy, holy is He who was and is and is to come.” In Jesus’ name we live, serve and pray. AMEN.