6/14/2023

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING:

“It [the second beast] also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.” (Revelation 13.16-17, 18b)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Yesterday, I started the reflection on the passage of scripture posted above with “There is a lot of time and energy and brain power spent on determining the identity of the man, 666.” In my heart, I wish there was as much time, energy and brain power spent on determining the identity of the authentic man. And let me be honest about this because in all reality the authentic man is the Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, God’s only begotten son, who is identified by the gospel writers as “the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sins of the world.” He is the “poster boy” for those who desire to be authentic men, too. For the sake of discussion, I pointed out three elements which happened on the “sixth day of Creation.” In a literary study I could have identified them as 6a, 6b and 6c. Those elements were:

6a- The creation of all living things which come from the earth (not sky or water.)

6b- The creation of “the” living couple, we have come to know as Adam and Eve, which were also created from the earth (not sky or water) and infused with the ruach, or the breath of God which set them apart from all other living things (from earth, sky or water.)

6c- The commissioning of that living couple to shepherd, steward and prosper all the resources of the earth for life in all its fullness to remain full.

And if we are to take a “world” perspective on the creation story, six days is all that is needed for “life on earth.” God would be, as He is so often is in this culture and climate, dismissed. He is no longer needed. We seem to have this tendency today to look at life as if it is the authentic AI (Artificial Intelligence.) Do we really pay attention to that moniker? We do not have to go any further than “artificial” to understand it is a world-created entity or aspiration molded and shaped by human hands in the image which the human mind has reflected upon. Human beings are not artificial; at least not yet. With the hope of mastering authority over lives, especially our own, we focus more on the finite than the infinite. We see the earth as our “ground of being,” instead of being “grounded in God.” Sure, we can take the Play-Doh template and create all kinds of things. If we are good enough, we can even make them look life-like. But, what we have to do to bring them to life is to allow them to borrow our voice, our imagination, our energy and our dexterity. What they cannot be, borrowing from Pinocchio, is “a real boy” or girl or bird or car or squirrel or bowl or serpent. I think you get the drift of my meaning. Even with the technological AI, we face the fearsome reality of the “artificial becoming authentic.” We give it a problem-solving commission and then we give it freewill to solve problems. The intent is to make human life easier, more bearable and unintentionally complacent. In the search for the “good” life all we will find is the “easy” life becoming incredibly uneasy because the “man of the world” is flawed, fractured, broken, disconnected and ultimately the problem and not the solution. What is the solution? The elimination of “the man of the world and its companion community members” in the search for the authentic companion for AI. “Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.“

And what is that deception and who is being deceived? Well, Genesis 3 is clear on that point. Those who are deceived are the “authentic” couple who are not artificially manifested. The deception is equally clear: being equal with God eliminates God, God’s authority and the Holy Spirit which informs and transforms our freewill into God’s will. And there we have it: The Big Lie. Except, for our benefit, God didn’t stop the act of creation with our “666” culture and climate of man outside the relationship with God the creator. There was the necessary kick-start of authentic living which exists beyond all life and living on earth (and elsewhere if God has so planted life in the universe.) That kick-start was “the seventh day.” Now God didn’t tire out creating all that there was and is leading Him to a much needed day off. Pouring Himself out into His creation and bringing it all to life was not an exhausting endeavor. Nor had He exhausted all that He could create. There was more yet to come. But, He came to a stopping point because all the efforts were complete in and of themselves. That is what is meant by “He rested.” He didn’t sit back in His Barco-Throne and put His feet up on the Earth-Stool. He did not pour a Comfort Drink and consume Comfort Food. He did not have a desire to do all the things we consume ourselves with on “the seventh day.” He actually worked on the Sabbath. The purpose of the Sabbath was to prepare for what was ahead and not to celebrate what was behind. God did three things on the Sabbath: He stopped creating all the things that made the vision of life visible; He poured out His spirit and good will in a blessing; and He hallowed the day with intentional meaning and purpose intended for no other day. In my way of describing the anti-thesis of 666 with 777, those would be the three elements (of the Old Covenant). It cannot happen without God. It cannot be duplicated by anything other than God. It cannot do what God intends without God’s permission or else it simply becomes “just another day.” And the simple truth is that we do not know very well how to “stop, bless and make holy.” The lack of preparation for what is to come became evident even in the Garden of Eden. The “human community” was unprepared for “what comes next” because they did not participate in the Sabbath. What should have been first nature to them wasn’t even second or third or fourth nature. What seems uncommon became common. That is the way of the world. It is the exchange of uncommon for common, good for evil, right for wrong, righteousness for unrighteousness. And the fact of the matter is that all God had made for us to receive, use, purpose and enjoy for our benefit and His glory was supposed to be common. It was intended to be available for all. Even in the Gospel of the Church, The Acts of the Apostles, we hear the challenge of living after Pentecost described as “They had all things in common.”

And with that, I will leave you to contemplate the true 777 which comes out of the relationship we have with God in Christ Jesus. Prepare for it! Shalom, y’all.

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.