October 25, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“’[On that Day] In the whole land,’ declares the Lord, ‘two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.‘” (Zechariah 13.8-9)

“Therefore, God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that [on that Day] at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2.9-11)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Of course, if we do our scripture study, we will recognize that what Paul is declaring in Philippians 2.9-11 is not original to his letter to the community of faith in Christ founded in Philippi. He said it also in his letter to the community of faith in Rome (Romans 14.11) More importantly perhaps, it was taken from the prophet Isaiah who recorded those words in God’s address to the Cyrus who ruled the Babylonian/Persian/Mede Empire. Cyrus was not Jewish but was known for liberating the Jews who were in exile in Babylon. Reading from Isaiah, chapter 45, we learn of the promise which was made by God to Cyrus. It would be through Cyrus that God would reveal His sovereignty of over Israel, over the ruling empire, over the world and indeed all of creation. Because of the favor God would bring to Cyrus allowing him to conquer nations and thus have the authority to set the captives free, Israel would be validated as God’s people and the whole world would kneel before Him and swear by His name that “He is God alone.” No, this is not an ego trip for God. It is the stating of a singular truth of the infinite authority of God throughout creation. It is about the revelation of the intimate balance which must be maintained in order for life to thrive. It cannot do so without the connection of service to God and to one another. We will know this balance as “love,” authentic love. Love is the true nature and character of God. It is out of love that God created all things as a reflection of that same nature and character. It is not a “self-love” as the world has learned to manifest it. It is a pure love which comes directly from the heart, mind, soul and spirit of the Creator who is God alone.

We are given here the truth of how God can work through those who are not of the people and nation of Israel to effect His perfect will. His perfect will then is seen not only for Israel but for the whole world. It is also for the whole of creation. This is not to say that the whole world nor the whole of creation circles around Israel. What it does say to us is that everything depends upon God’s sovereign power of love and mercy. God revealed His power and His promise through Cyrus. It was through “the enemy” that God disciplined faithless Israel. He exposed them to the consequence of their decision to not serve the Lord as He had prescribed through the Law and the Prophets. He had warned them that such action would result in His reaction. I hear it today, mighty ones of God, as many boast of freewill as the permission to do as they please upon their own volition. They use freewill as the empowerment word to live without consequences for their actions. In other words, “I have a right to do whatever I want to do.” What is forgotten is that with “a right” comes consequences. Those consequences may be positive. They may be negative. There is a sequence of events based on the choices one makes. That sequence is determined by the baseline of meaning and purpose which already exists. No small wonder the world is filled with those whose desire is to detox creation from a creator. In so doing, no knee shall bow nor tongue confess that there is any “lord” but me. Strange logic, actually. If everyone is empowered to be “lord” then who are the subjects? And if the world is reduced down to a community of “lords with no subjects” then what is the meaning and purpose of it all. What we will find is that life is reduced to nothingness. Nothingness, we know from science and from the biblical creation story, is chaos and void. We might see such apt description of the world as it is quickly and exponentially coming.

This is not the meaning and purpose of “free will.” Free will is the right to choose how one should live. At its most basic and fundamental level of function it is the choice to live singularly to self or in community with others. There is the tension which exists even today of what that community should look like. The tension exists in that there will have to be a leader, an authority who provides a baseline for decision-making. No community has ever existed to itself and definitely without an authority figure. Interestingly enough, the development and empowerment of “gods” and “idols” shows us the need for such a figure. As they become a projection of something greater than themselves there is that sense of “we are not good enough” for the position. The problem then becomes that control over them by the very people who created the image is believed to be exerted. Such effort is to be “under control.” That sounds like a vicious cycle. What might the consequence of that cycle of thinking and living be? Self-consuming and all consuming. They begin to feed on themselves until there is nothing left. That, mighty ones of God, is what is happening in today’s world. We are becoming a society of people who are feeding on others until we reach the point of “no other.” What happens then? We begin to feed on ourselves. That would be a pretty fair assessment of living in Hell.

What is the alternative? Feeding others. Serving others. Prioritizing others before self and that would mean “doing to others as you would have it done to you.” What would be the hope in that? Is it not that we would be “doing to others as then others are doing for us”? The sense of mutuality and reciprocity would become exponential and spiritual. We would see it as “Love the Lord your God and the neighbor as yourself.” This is the summation of the greatest commandments given to the human community. As Jesus added the layer of understanding “love one another” pointing out the necessity of not becoming a self-less community who is giving their all to God and others they forget to care for each other as the priesthood of all believers, we see a complete cycle of fruitfulness. Following the example of Christ, we then understand the value of “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.”

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, before we were conceived in the womb, You had already formed us in Your love and by Your Spirit brought us into being. Each one of us is blessed with the opportunity of doing right, being good and producing the fruit of the Spirit in order that others be fed the truth of that same love so that the two will become one. It is our soul’s sincere desire to embrace the oneness You have in mind so we would know we are Your people and You are our God. Lead us in that discovery of the truth and the manifestation of that love for us all. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.