Sermon 11 - Hebrews 13

Sermon 11 - Hebrews 13

I think, if the main points of Hebrews were to be organized into some gross structural outline, it might look something like this:

1. The sovereignty of Jesus, the Priest/King,

2. The superiority of the Era of Grace over the Era of the Law, 

3. The divine origin of the Word, expressed in Earthly symbols, which are a shadowy representation of the REAL,

4. The power of faith especially through periods of suffering, and

5. The performance of acts of faith on an earthly level.

Hebrews 13 begins with a list of moral precepts designed to keep the congregation together, and whose enactment constitutes acts of Faith.

Concluding Exhortations

“1 Keep on loving each other as brothers. 

2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels unawares.”

Once again, I find that one of my favorite Bible verses is from Hebrews and I didn’t even know it. This verse is especially meaningful, because is appears in one of my favorite David Mamet movies, We’re No Angels. In this movie, an escaped convict, posing as a priest, is called upon to deliver a sermon. In a panic, he searches his pockets for something to save him, and he finds an advertisement for some kind of hunting rifle; using that as a spring board, he fakes his way through the sermon while stumbling onto crude bits of wisdom in his uneducated language. This is it:

“Oh, God...Have you ever felt completely alone?

Alone in a world of danger, and no one to rely on?

Danger on every hand, in a world fraught with danger,

and at the brink of death, I felt in my pocket, and what did I find?" 

What did I find?

What did I find? Nothing. There's nothing there. It's all in your head. They can take the money from you. They can take the position from you. I don't know, they can whip you, people turn their back on you. Everything happens to every body. And you ain't gonna find nothing in your pocket can stave it off, nothing can stave it off! Pain, affliction, we say, power. Power doesn't do it. Cause you never have enough. Money? I don't know, you know anybody has enough, still? Trouble befalls us, everyone has their sadness in their heart. Some people are meant to be heard. I don't know. It just seems like they are. We meet them.

Is God good? I don't know. All I know is something might give you comfort. And maybe you deserve it. If it comforts you to believe in God, you do it, that's your business. People have guilty, you know, guilty secrets, well if that's yours, that you want to go believe in something, well that's not so bad.”

I’ll be honest, the connection between this speech and Hebrews is tenuous at best,  but it reveals the angel hidden inside the convict, who, lacking in formal religious training, discovers the essence of religious experience—FAITH. That is to say, in the act of BELIEVING we perform an incomparable act of faith. Furthermore, the convict says, “If it comforts you to believe in God, you do it, that's your business,” so as to highlight the idea that belief, as a subjective thing, resistant to dogmatic uniformity, is reinforced by feelings that are smarter than thoughts. It defines faith as an act of personal choice and will, not a matter of fact; it makes the act of faith an act of super-rational choice-making—to CHOOSE to believe is to create a reality that springs forth in imitation of the inner structure of YOU.

Going on with the moral precepts in Hebrews, all good practical advice:

“3 Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. 

4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 

5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." 

6 So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" 

7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.” 

This kind of thing is necessary for lay people who will never go the whole distance into spirituality, but who crave instruction in the right way to live. It goes both ways, you know: spiritual experience inspires good works, but good works also lead to spiritual experience. Any time we step out of this world into a higher dimension, we bring spiritual blessings and insights into conscious being; hence, Jesus’ instruction to love our enemies, when enacted, erects a bridge to a higher spiritual plane. And by the ACT of loving, we create love out of alienation and hatred.

I especially like the part where the author says, “be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." I remember my grandmother saying this, “Never will I leave you nor forsake you,” in prayer—(it appears in one of my early tape pieces)—and never did I appreciate it until now. Being satisfied with what you have has probably been my life’s biggest challenge. Time after time I have enviously looked on, as men less gifted, or even less qualified as I, got the gig, while I continued to languish in anonymity and poverty; I have kicked at the pricks, and sucked the sour grapes, for most of my life. It was only when I realized with full force that Eternity cherishes no fame, and that the ribbons hung on my soul should ALWAYS have been enough; FINALLY THEY ARE, as they really were all the time, I just didn’t realize it or acknowledge it. The comforting presence and power of Jesus neutralizes all feelings of resentment and jealousy, because the eternal perspective, the shared Christ Consciousness made available to us through the mediator, deflates all the false values of a vain and troubled world, and brings the problem of existence down to its spiritual core. With Him never leaving or forsaking us, how can we feel alone?

In regard to wearing your trophies on your soul, two favorite passages from Cyrano de Bergerac spring to mind. The first is a speech to a friend:

“I carry my adornments on my soul.

I do not dress up like a popinjay;

But inwardly, I keep my daintiness.

I do not bear with me, by any chance,

An insult not yet washed away—a conscience

Yellow with unpurged bile—an honor frayed

To rags, a set of scruples.

I go caparisoned in gems unseen,

Trailing white plumes of freedom, garlanded

With my good name—no figure of a man,

But a soul clothed in shining armor, hung

With deeds for decorations, twirling—thus—

A bristling wit, and swinging at my side

Courage, and on the stones of this old town

Making the sharp truth ring, like golden spurs!”

The second quote is from de Bergerac’s final scene, when he is dying from injuries received in an ambush—he is sword-fighting with and shouting at the specter of Death: 

“Yes, all my laurels you have riven away

And all my roses; yet in spite of you,

There is one crown I bear away with me

And to-night, when I enter before God,

My salute shall sweep all the stars away

From the blue threshold! One thing without stain,

Unspotted from the world, in spite of doom

Mine own!

And that is…

—That is…

My white plume…”

Thus, Cyrano de Bergerac proclaims the superiority of inner reality to worldly reality. His acts of fidelity to his art are similar in quality to the acts of Faith we perform every day as tokens of our spiritual devotion. He also holds his vision of the Higher plane superior to the terror of Death; and his plan, after suffering the insulting abuses of this life, is to receive his reward in Heaven when his salute shall sweep away the stars. Me too.

I believe we Christians must forever have part of our attention riveted on the future hope that, in Heaven we will be relieved of the burdens of Earthly life. Heaven on Earth is such a powerful idea, an idea that opens gateways to spirit consciousness, that we sometimes forget to notice that we are still suffering from Earthly pains because we have not been able to stay fixed on the Higher plane, but, rather, have sunk down into mundane consciousness too easily and too often. Is it too much to ask that Heaven on Earth be traded in for Heaven in Heaven? I guess I’ll find out soon enough. My considered opinion is that our life’s work continues from this world into the next—I just hope all these reports of angel choirs and mansions prepared for me are true, because I could really use a vacation.

Going on with Hebrews, this next section switches gears and starts reminding us of the authority of Jesus as the Priest/King, an authority earned by Him through he shedding of blood. It returns to the idea of  ETERNAL reward for bearing with Jesus the disgraceful humiliations of the world, and encourages us to go out into the world bearing that cross for all to see.

Bearing the cross for all to see has been a problem for me for many years. Door-to-door missionaries have always been a turn-off to me, and not because they are annoying but because they are doomed to ineffectuality— people cannot be led to spirituality, they have to come it IT of their own accord. No amount of proselytizing can make a horse drink if it is not thirsty. When I first got religion, so to speak, I was on fire to tell everybody about it and get them to get on board with me—I tell you, that project ended in disaster. Everybody thought I was nuts, and didn’t hear one syllable of my heart’s utterance. It had to be so, because it is impossible to convey to another, in words, the depth of transformation that takes place in you when your spiritual eyes begin to open; it is a very PRIVATE matter. So why are the apostles commissioned to go out into the world and preach the gospel? Perhaps the Heaven on Earth promised by Jesus is to be found in the moral code embedded in the scriptures—a code that can promote acts of mundane origin but whose roots are planted in Eternity.

Back to Hebrews:

Hebrews 13: 8-

“8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 

9 Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods, which are of no value to those who eat them. 

10 We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat. 

11 The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. 

12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. 

13 Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore.”

The next two verses are prophetic, in that they refer to the new Jerusalem as part of God’s promise of the New Covenant. It suggests a glorious picture of Heaven as a place where praise falls constantly from the lips of men and angels.

“14 For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. 

15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise--the fruit of lips that confess his name.” 

On the subject of praise, that is to say, ART, I found a wonderful quote in G. K. Chesterton’s In Defense of Nonsense. I am quoting it here because it displays an original perspective on the act of SPIRITUAL ARTICULATION. As you know, I believe that artistic expressions are acts of praise performed for only one audience—God. The character of spiritual praise is determined by the subjective reality of each and every anomalous man, but there are certain patterns (come from on the mountain) which carry the scent of sacred air; how this sacred air comes to be is a mystery and a comedy.  

The Chesterton piece begins as a piece of pure literary criticism, extolling the qualities of nonsense as a somehow new and wonderful, other-worldly, imaginative genre. He then goes on to make this potent connection between nonsense and Faith:

“Our claim that nonsense is a new literature (we might almost say a new sense) would be quite indefensible if nonsense were nothing more than a mere aesthetic fancy. Nothing sublimely artistic has ever arisen out of mere art, any more than anything essentially reasonable has ever arisen out of the pure reason. There must always be a rich moral soil for any great aesthetic growth. The principle of art for art’s sake is a very good principle if it means that there is a vital distinction between the earth and the tree that has its roots in the earth; but it is a very bad principle if it means that the tree could grow just as well with its roots in the air. Every great literature has always been allegorical–allegorical of some view of the whole universe. The ‘Iliad’ is only great because all life is a battle, the ‘Odyssey’ because all life is a journey, the Book of Job because all life is a riddle. There is one attitude in which we think that all existence is summed up in the word ‘ghosts’; another, and somewhat better one, in which we think it is summed up in the words ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream.’ 

Even the vulgarest melodrama or detective story can be good if it expresses something of the delight in sinister possibilities–the healthy lust for darkness and terror which may come on us any night in walking down a dark lane. If, therefore, nonsense is really to be the literature of the future, it must have its own version of the Cosmos to offer; the world must not only be the tragic, romantic, and religious, it must be nonsensical also. And here we fancy that nonsense will, in a very unexpected way, come to the aid of the spiritual view of things. 

Religion has for centuries been trying to make men exult in the ‘wonders’ of creation, but it has forgotten that a thing cannot be completely wonderful so long as it remains sensible. So long as we regard a tree as an obvious thing, naturally and reasonably created for a giraffe to eat, we cannot properly wonder at it. It is when we consider it as a prodigious wave of the living soil sprawling up to the skies for no reason in particular that we take off our hats, to the astonishment of the park-keeper. Everything has in fact another side to it, like the moon, the patroness of nonsense. Viewed from that other side, a bird is a blossom broken loose from its chain of stalk, a man a quadruped begging on its hind legs, a house a gigantesque hat to cover a man from the sun, a chair an apparatus of four wooden legs for a cripple with only two.

This is the side of things which tends most truly to spiritual wonder. It is significant that in the greatest religious poem existent, the Book of Job, the argument which convinces the infidel is not (as has been represented by the merely rational religionism of the eighteenth century) a picture of the ordered beneficence of the Creation; but, on the contrary, a picture of the huge and undecipherable unreason of it. ‘Hast Thou sent the rain upon the desert where no man is?’ 

“This simple sense of wonder at the shapes of things, and at their exuberant independence of our intellectual standards and our trivial definitions, is the basis of spirituality as it is the basis of nonsense.” 

Again:

“This simple sense of wonder at the shapes of things, and at their exuberant independence of our intellectual standards and our trivial definitions, is the basis of spirituality as it is the basis of nonsense.

Nonsense and faith (strange as the conjunction may seem) are the two supreme symbolic assertions of the truth that to draw out the soul of things with a syllogism is as impossible as to draw out Leviathan with a hook. The well-meaning person who, by merely studying the logical side of things, has decided that ‘faith is nonsense,’ does not know how truly he speaks; later it may come back to him in the form that nonsense is faith.”

I find this statement to be incredibly profound because it focusses our attention to an idiom of spiritual manifestation that comes from an unexpected source—or, better said, it reveals spirituality in a place where we least expect it, i.e. nonsense, thus affirming the idea that God and spiritual truth are EVERYWHERE.

Going on with Hebrews and a return to basic moral precepts, meanwhile remembering that the Heaven on Earth promised by Jesus is to be found in the moral code embedded in the scriptures—a code that can promote acts of mundane origin, whose roots are planted in Eternity:

“16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. 

17 Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you. 

18 Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way. 

19 I particularly urge you to pray so that I may be restored to you soon.”

The final chorus, so to speak, of Hebrews, ends with a song of encouragement, also mentioning a bit of news about Timothy’s release from prison.

“20 May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 

21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. 

22 Brothers, I urge you to bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written you only a short letter. 

23 I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been released. If he arrives soon, I will come with him to see you. 

24 Greet all your leaders and all God's people. Those from Italy send you their greetings. 

25 Grace be with you all.”

As I mentioned at the outset Hebrews can be seen to divide itself in these discreet categories:

1. The sovereignty of Jesus,

2. The superiority of the Era of Grace over the Era of the Law, 

3. The divine origin of the Word, expressed in Earthly symbols, which are a shadowy representation of the REAL,

4. The power of faith especially through periods of suffering, and

5. The performance of acts of faith on an earthly level.

This final chapter is an elegant summation of the SPIRIT of the letter. It is filled with wise counsel as well as elevated philosophical concepts. The book as a whole is a light in the darkness illuminating the design of a new way of life based on the precepts of the Era of Grace. It is beguiling in a seductive way, as it endeavors to lure the Jews of Jerusalem away from their old modes of thought and introduce then to a new idea and a new discipline. In this series we have explored such subjects as the authority of the Priesthood of Melchizedek, the Blood of Jesus, Faith in things unseen, and acts of moral rectitude performed in an immoral world. It has been good for me to go over this material because it has provided clarity on some issues about which I have not yet made up my mind. It was especially enjoyable to immerse my self in the poetry of the book, for instance, Hebrews 12: 22-29:

“22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 

23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, 

24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. 

25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 

26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens." 

27 The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken--that is, created things--so that what cannot be shaken may remain. 

28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 

29 for our "God is a consuming fire."

But perhaps the biggest blessing I received from Hebrews was the promise of the New Covenant, a Hope generated by Faith.

Let us pray: Jesus, thank you for this treasure trove of religious doctrine. Let it continue to inspire us as we strive to become ever more like You, ever more loving, ever more faithful. Amen.

Sermon 10: Hebrews 12

Sermon 10: Hebrews 12

 Call to Worship from Psalm 23: 

“Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”

We all are familiar with the rod and staff of the shepherd. We have all been beaten, from time to time, away from a temptation that might have spelled ruin for us; although we kicked at the pricks while we were in the throes of the beating, when it was over we knew that we had been blessed, and we knew that the pain of the beating was much less severe than the pain we would have endured if we had not been beaten away from temptation. We accept the discipline of the rod because we know it is for our own good.

The first 13 verses of Hebrews 12 are all about the disciplines to which Christian devotees are subjected by the Father. The idea is that the sufferings of the present moment are visited on us not by a vengeful God, but by a God Who trains us to be strong by testing our ability to remain faithful. We know that what doesn’t kill us does not necessarily make us stronger, but God’s promise to test us to the limit, but not past the limit, of our endurance, strengthens our spiritual muscles like nothing else.

God Disciplines His Sons

“1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run, with perseverance, the race marked out for us. 

2 Let us fix our eyes upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 

3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 

4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 

5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 

6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son." 

This is a paraphrase of 

Proverbs 3:5-12:

“5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart

    and lean not on your own understanding;

6 

in all your ways submit to him,

    and he will make your paths straight.

7 

Do not be wise in your own eyes;

    fear the Lord and shun evil.

8 

This will bring health to your body

    and nourishment to your bones.

9 

Honor the Lord with your wealth,

    with the firstfruits of all your crops;

10 

then your barns will be filled to overflowing,

    and your vats will brim over with new wine.

11 

My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline,

    and do not resent his rebuke,

12 

because the Lord disciplines those he loves,

    as a father the son he delights in.”

The next section argues strenuously that the hardships visited on us by the Father have meaning and purpose. We are encouraged to have hope in the future redemption of all our Earthly sufferings in Heavenly bliss.

“7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 

8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 

9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 

10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 

11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. 

12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 

13 "Make level paths for your feet," so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.”

[Sidebar: We have heard from C.S. Lewis about how both virtue and sin work backwards and forwards in time, either blessing or cursing out acts depending on whether they brought us closer to, or farther away from, God. A similar perspective is expressed in A Twentieth Century Testimony by Thomas Nelson]: 

“As an old man looking back on his life, the late Malcolm Muggeridge observed,

“Contrary to what might be expected, I look back on experiences that at the time seemed especially desolating and painful with particular satisfaction. Indeed, everything I have learned, everything that has truly enhanced and enlightened my existence, has been through affliction and not through happiness. If it ever were to be possible to eliminate affliction from our earthly existence, the result would not be to make life delectable, but to make it too banal and trivial to be endurable.

I have a favorite passage from C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters that deals with strengthening spiritual muscles:

“You must have often wondered why the Enemy does not make more use of His power to be sensibly present to human souls in any degree He chooses and at any moment. But you now see that the Irresistible and the Indisputable are the two weapons which the very nature of His scheme forbids Him to use. Merely to override a human will (as His felt presence in any but the faintest and most mitigated degree would certainly do) would be for Him useless. He cannot ravish. He can only woo. For His ignoble idea is to eat the cake and have it; the creatures are to be one with Him, but yet themselves; merely to cancel them, or assimilate them, will not serve. He is prepared to do a little overriding at the beginning. He will set them off with communications of His presence which, though faint, seem great to them, with emotional sweetness, and easy conquest over temptation. Sooner or later He withdraws, if not in fact, at least from their conscious experience, all those supports and incentives. He leaves the creature to stand up on its own legs-- to carry out from the will alone duties which have lost all relish. It is during such trough periods, much more than during the peak periods, that it is growing into the sort of creature He wants it to be. Hence the prayers offered in the state of dryness are those which please Him best. We can drag our patients along by continual tempting, because we design them only for the table, and the more their will is interfered with the better. He cannot 'tempt' to virtue as we do to vice. He wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away His hand; and if only the will to walk is really there He is pleased even with their stumbles. Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.”

To obey out of Faith is, as George MacDonald said last week, is an act both of unparalleled difficulty and of unequaled greatness:

“I assert that faith is simply the greatest work that man can do. Taking it in its simplest, original development, it is the highest effort of the whole human intellect, imagination, will, in the highest direction. Never does the human nature put forth itself in such power, with such effort, with such energy as to have faith in God. I say it is the highest, and sometimes the most difficult, work that a man can do.”

Back to Hebrews 12:14-21, which is all about enacting grace in the world of men. Here there is a lot of moral preaching, which we would expect of a disciple of Paul, and there is a lot of historical precedent thrown in, as usual, to reinforce the arguments: 

Warning Against Refusing God

“14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. 

15 See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. 

16 See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. 

17 Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears. 

18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 

19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 

20 because they could not bear what was commanded: "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned." 

21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, "I am trembling with fear." 

The sentence, “You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire,” expresses the same idea as the tabernacle created in Heaven, out of the Word, which is the realization of the vague shadow we experience in this life, but which the next life will reveal in glory.

The phrase, “that no further word be spoken to them” expresses the ecstatic state of mind, where the devotee has learned that enough is enough--that no further word should be spoken, means that, at the spiritual level, verbal structures no longer serve the intellect—higher mind must take over—a mind state where words can no longer signify the verbal referent; in this mind state, object has become subject, literal consciousness has become self-consciousness.

Continuing in this higher mind state, the author gives us, in the next section a vividly ecstatic description of the New Jerusalem, as it ushers in an age of spirit that enlivens mundane existence with a “consuming fire.” The sheer beauty of the poetry of this section is humbling and elevating; the metaphorical significance is staggering. 

“22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 

23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, 

24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. 

25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 

26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens." 

27 The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken--that is, created things--so that what cannot be shaken may remain. 

28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 

29 for our "God is a consuming fire."

The author’s description of the coming down of the Heavenly Jerusalem, sounds like the spaceship from Close Encounters of the Third Kind roaring down to Earth, shaking the ground with incalculable power. It is a scene filled with angel light and grandiose evocations of cosmic majesty. The image of the consuming fire of spirit reminds us that the Spirit of God is like the wind—wind and fire, twin consequents of raging energy, the energy of absolute BEING.

John 3:8:

“The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”

“So is every one that is born of the Spirit”, so is every one born out of a consuming fire that ever consumes and re-creates itself. The spirit, though discarnate, invisible, is nevertheless pulsing with life, life that comes from consciousness, the consciousness of BEING. I want to emphasize this point—that I am equating Spirit with Fire—as mutually dependent entities; that is to say, the airy wind of Spirit is what is left after the Fire burns away all that is not spiritual—thus, Spirit comes from Fire which destroys the dross, and retains the eternal.

The following is taken from an online article; in particular notice how “the consuming fire” is portrayed as the Wrath of God, and then remember that we have been in a “no pain no gain” mode, when it comes to dealing with the daily trials of life, which God has seen fit to burden us with—the point being, the fiercer the cleansing fire, the more perfect the cleansing:

“Question: "What does it mean that God is a consuming fire?"

Answer: God is first identified as a “consuming fire” in Deuteronomy 4:24 and 9:3. The writer to the Hebrews reiterates, warning the Hebrews to worship God with reverence and awe “for our God is a consuming fire.” There is nothing mysterious about the Hebrew and Greek words translated “consuming fire.” They mean exactly that—a fire that utterly consumes or destroys. How, then, can a loving and merciful God also be a consuming fire that utterly destroys? 

In both Deuteronomy passages in which God is called a consuming fire, Moses is speaking first to warn the Israelites against idolatry (Deuteronomy 4:23-25) because God is a “jealous God” and will not share His glory with worthless idols. Idolatry provokes Him to a righteous anger which is justified when His holiness is disrespected. In Deuteronomy 9:3, Moses again refers to God as a consuming (or devouring) fire who would go ahead of the Israelites into the Promised Land, destroying and subduing their enemies before them. Here again we see God’s wrath against those who oppose Him depicted as fire that utterly consumes and destroys anything in His path. 

There are several incidents in which God’s wrath, judgment, holiness or power are displayed by fire from heaven. Aaron’s sons Abihu and Nahab were destroyed by fire when they offered a profane sacrifice, “strange fire,” in the tabernacle, a sign of their disregard for the utter holiness of God and the need to honor Him in solemn and holy fear. The confrontation between Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel is another example of consuming fire from God. The prophets of Baal called upon their god all day long to rain fire from heaven to no avail. Then Elijah built an altar of stones, dug a ditch around it, put the sacrifice on the top of wood and called for water to be poured over his sacrifice three times. Elijah called upon God, and God sent fire down from heaven, completely consuming the sacrifice, the wood, and the stones and licked up the water in the ditch. Then His anger turned against the false prophets, and they were all killed. When prophesying the destruction of the Assyrians, who resisted the true and living God and warred against His people, Isaiah refers to the tongue of the Lord as a consuming fire and His “arm coming down with raging anger and consuming fire” (Isaiah 30:27-30).

God’s holiness is the reason for His being a consuming fire, and it burns up anything unholy. The holiness of God is that part of His nature that most separates Him from sinful man. The godless, Isaiah writes, tremble before Him: “Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?" Isaiah answers this by saying that only the righteous can withstand the consuming fire of God’s wrath against sin, because sin is an offense to God’s holiness. But Isaiah also assures us that no amount of our own righteousness is sufficient (Isaiah 64:6).

Fortunately, God has provided the righteousness we need by sending Jesus Christ to die on the cross for the sins of all who would ever believe in Him. In that one act, Christ mitigates God’s wrath, exchanging His perfect righteousness for our sin. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). All the wrath of God was poured out on Jesus, so that those who belong to Him would not have to suffer the same fate as the Assyrians. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31), but we need not fear the consuming fire of God’s wrath if we are covered by the purifying blood of Christ.”

This next selection, taken from the “God’s Character” website, is quite interesting in the way it probes into the meaning of the word “Fire”.

“Our God is a Consuming Fire

“CHRISTIAN BELIEFS ABOUT THE FATE OF THE WICKED FALL INTO TWO BROAD CATEGORIES:

• 1. A literal burning hell in which the sinner is punished for all of eternity. This view is associated with the belief that the soul is immortal.
• 2. Less common is the belief that the suffering of the wicked lasts only for a period of time. This view is referred to as “annihilationism”. In this model, God is typically described as destroying (or annihilating) them after a brief period of conscious suffering by fire.

In this paper, I will try to express another way of understanding the fire that is described in the book of Revelation and elsewhere in scripture. Although this is not a view held by many, I hope that the reader will briefly consider another possibility – perhaps one that will harmonize these words of Jesus on the subject of fire:

Luke 12:49:

“I came to set the earth on fire and how I wish it were already kindled.”  

WHY DOES IT MATTER?

Does the fate of the wicked really matter that much to our understanding of God and the plan of salvation? After all, if we are rejoicing with God and our friends in heaven, why should we be concerned about a multitude of rebels who are suffering in pain? I heard a sermon recently in which the pastor pointed to the verse in Revelation that describes “the sea of glass mixed with fire” (Revelation 22:4). His interpretation was that those in heaven will always be able to look down and to see what should have been our fate: “Look what God would have done to me were it not for the death of Jesus!”

The view of a God who must torture his sinful children for all of eternity, “to satisfy justice” cannot help but contribute to our picture of who God is in character.

For example, imagine that you were told about a man that lives in your town. He is described to you as kind, gentle, and humble man. Stories are recounted of what he has done for the poor and the outcasts of society and you learn that he has even built a large home just for you on the back of his property, filled with the most wonderful things that you can imagine. After 15 minutes of glowing praise, you ask, “What would happen if I refused to like this man, despite his goodness? What would he do to me?” With some hesitancy the reply comes, “His sense of justice would demand that you be burned to death on the back lawn of his property.”

If that were the reality, would you still be impressed with the stories about the man’s kindness? Would you want to live in the house that he built for you or would you rather move as far away as possible? Would not all the stories about the man’s goodness and love become entirely swept away by the horror of what he does to his enemies?

Of course, some would say, “It doesn’t matter whether that offends you or not. All that matters is what the Bible says about the destruction of the wicked.” And, while I agree that the Bible is our inspired textbook for understanding this subject, my point for now is just to say that this subject contributes to our picture of God’s character perhaps more than any other. Since “eternal life is to know God” our passion must be to know His character as deeply as possible. What God does to His enemies is one critically important window into the character of God.

GOD HIMSELF IS THE FIRE

This passage in Revelation is, for many, the key text for an eternally burning hell:

“Revelation 14:9-11:

“A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: ‘If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name.” 

I believe that this passage is a wonderful opportunity to explain the reality of what happens to the wicked even though to many it would seem to make it very clear that the wicked are tortured forever and ever by burning sulfur. But first, a critical point to our understanding of what this fire is all about. The book of Revelation is not a stand alone book that we can understand independent of the previous 65 books of the Bible for this book is largely composed from the Old Testament. Large passages derive from the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel, and many others. In addition, the book of Revelation opens with the words that “this is the Revelation of Jesus Christ”. In other words, Revelation must be seen through the lens of Jesus Christ and a proper understanding of this book will reveal something very important to us about God. The book, with all its symbolism, is meant to clarify, not mystify, who God is in character.

With that in mind, it is important to understand that the imagery of Revelation 14 comes directly from Isaiah, chapter 34, which describes the destruction of Edom:

Isaiah 34:9-11:

“The rivers of Edom will turn into tar, and the soil will turn into sulfur. The whole country will burn like tar. It will burn day and night, and smoke will rise from it forever. The land will lie waste age after age, and no one will ever travel through it again. Owls and ravens will take over the land. The LORD will make it a barren waste again, as it was before the creation.”

Is the country of Edom still burning? Did God destroy Edom by fire? In fact, even to a person reading this passage during Isaiah’s time, would they assume that the land would burn forever and that smoke would ascend forever if owls and ravens will “take over the land”?

This is obviously a poetic description that Edom would be destroyed forever which should invite us to bring the same meaning to the passage in Revelation.

But, there is another very important clue in the Revelation 14 passage. Read very carefully:

Revelation 14:9-11:

“A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: ‘If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name.”

Notice that those who are experiencing torment are “in the presence of the holy angels and of the lamb.” There is obviously some symbolism involved here as Jesus is not actually a lamb, but are the angels and Jesus really standing in the fire with the wicked? That is what the passage would suggest.

Here, I believe is the key point! Jesus (who is God of course) IS the fire! Not a fire like the ones we ignite with matches of course, but yet the Bible again and again uses fire as the symbolic description of God’s immediate presence:

Daniel 4:24:

“Because the LORD your God is like a flaming fire.” 

Hebrews 12:29:

“For our God is a consuming fire.”

Isaiah 10:17:

“God, the light of Israel, will become a fire. Israel’s holy God will become a flame, which in a single day will burn up everything, even the thorns and thistles” 

As I will describe, the immediate presence of God is tortuous to some – but not because He is a literal fire that burns up flesh. God does not exude any hostility towards his rebellious children. This is rather describing a psychological discomfort that involves intense guilt and shame as sinful and selfish individuals enter into the presence of a God who is selfless love personified.

The presence of God.”

The desire of this author to paint the character of God as a pushover, and a Santa Claus, is very sweet, and shows a real love for Jesus, and yet the Merciful God idea only holds up for so long, before the starker realities of existence rear their ugly heads. We must possess some measure of accountability as free beings. God gives us choices to make every day, and when wrong choice upon wrong choice compound into ONE GREAT BIG CHOICE, the fire must consume us. What happens after that may be answered in Genesis, maybe not.

In summary, Hebrews 12  is about the disciplines that attend the acts of faith that constitute the Christian life, the hardships and the rewards; moreover we have revisited the idea that the spiritual life is analogous the life of the wind that “bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” We also examined the relationship of fire and wind, and have seen our absolute selves in the furnace of essential BEING.

Let us pray: Jesus, the most amazing thing is how the fire of your BEING is tempered by your love for inferior beings, and we stay protected from the fire until we are ready. Thanks for that. Amen.

On Death and the Passing of Toni

On Death and the Passing of Toni

Psalm 23:

“Yea though I walk through valley  of the shadow of death I shall fear no evil for thou art with me.”

Today we grieve not for Toni but for ourselves, as we face the future without her. We know that she has gone to a better place where there is no pain, no suffering, no restrictions, from whence she can look down on us, and continue to participate in our lives, although we may no longer distinctly participating in hers; we, lagging behind, must endure the transition from having Toni in our lives to NOT having Toni in our lives. 

So saying let us consider the SILVER CORD:

This Wikipedia article summarizes the concept of the silver cord:

“The silver cord in metaphysical studies and literature, also known as the sutratma or life thread of the antahkarana, refers to a life-giving linkage from the higher self (atma) down to the physical body. It also refers to an extended synthesis of this thread and a second (the consciousness thread, passing from the soul to the physical body) that connects the physical body to the etheric body, onwards to the astral body and finally to the mental body.

In other research, it is described as a strong, silver-colored, elastic cord which joins a person's physical body to its astral body (a manifestation of the physical body that is less distinct).

Alfred Ballabene observed that during his out-of-body experiences "glue-like strings" appear as the astral body tries to separate itself from the physical body. As the astral body moves further away from the tangible body, some of the strings break apart and clump into a specific and smaller region - preferably the head, breast, back, stomach, and the abdomen area - thus forming the silver cord.”

What this article does not mention is how we the living are attached to our loved ones by a similar cord. We know that all loved ones are connected to us by a silver cord, similar to the silver cord that binds the soul to the body.  As the liberated one is loosed from the body and the Earthly attachments are broken down, so are the ties that bound the liberated one to us—and when that separation is effected, we feel physical pain, as if a limb were amputated, and the wound is left open to the biting air.

In Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte describes this experience:

“I have a strange feeling with regard to you. As if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly knotted to a similar string in you. And if you were to leave I'm afraid that cord of communion would snap. And I have a notion that I'd take to bleeding inwardly.”

So, you see it is not Toni for whom we grieve but for ourselves, as we struggle to recover from the amputation of Toni from our immediate carnal consciousness.

The Bible has this to say about the silver cord:

Ecclesiastes 12: 6, 7

"Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it."

Other comments on the silver cord are as follows:

From CORDS we read:

“Cords are made of astral and etheric energy and connect two people’s subtle bodies. They stretch between two people very much like an umbilical cord and transfer emotional energy and chi between the two. It does not matter how far away the other person is, as the cord is not a physical substance and distance is irrelevant, so it is still effective from the other side of the planet.”

From IMPORTANT DIFFERENCES IN THE TEACHINGS OF HEINDEL AND STEINER By Ger Westemberg, we read:

“The Silver cord, Heindel says, connects the spirit with the physical body, the vital body, the desire body and the mind, by means of the seed atoms located in the heart, the solar plexus, the liver and the frontal sinus. When this Silver cord breaks on its plane of fracture, situated in the apex of the heart, the heart stops beating. As soon as the panorama of the past life is etched on the desire body, the cord breaks on the point of the two sixes. The lower part of the vital body then returns again to the dense body; only then is one really dead.

Steiner, in his lecture of December 29, 1903, in Berlin says, “What connects the astral body with the physical body and its organs, and what leads them back again? There exists a kind of tie, a connection, which is a medium between physical and astral matter. And this they call kundalini fire. When you have a sleeping person, you still can follow the astral body in the astral. You have a shining band up to it, where the astral body is. When the astral body moves away, the kundalini fire in proportion grows more and more thin. These words imply that Steiner calls the Silver cord the spinal spirit fire.” 

From Death and Beyond, we read: “Only man himself is responsible for its condition, thus for its density and detachability. The more he chains himself to earthly things, the denser and heavier it becomes, and with it also the ethereal body; hence in certain cases such a man must feel not only the last earthly-physical pains, but also the disintegration of his physical cloak. But for those who bear within them the conviction of survival after death, physical death is birth into the Ethereal Realm. Just as at birth into the gross-material, the earthly, the navel cord is severed, so the silver cord is severed at birth into the ethereal, the beyond. Death need not be feared by anyone who bears within him the living firm volition for good, even if the resolution for it has arisen only just before his physical death. It will help him safely over the threshold, and on the other side helping hands will carefully guide him on to that recognition, which is still needed in order to ascend towards the Light.” Thus we see that the main problem with Toni’s ascent is that we, her loved ones, are denied, for a time the comfort of our spiritual connection with her. All we can do is wait for the pain of separation to heal, and then wait to be reunited in spirit with her, when our own personal silver cords break. Now a selection of thoughts on death from the Bible:

Ecclesiastes 7:1 A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth.

Thessalonians 4:13-14

13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.

Romans 14:8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.

2 Corinthians 5:6-8 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

John 14:1-4 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.”

John 10:27-29 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”

Revelation 14:1

Compare13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”

1 John 3:1-2 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

1 Corinthians 15:54-57 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now some thoughts on death from some more modern thinkers:

― William Shakespeare

“When he shall die,

Take him and cut him out in little stars,

And he will make the face of heaven so fine

That all the world will be in love with night

And pay no worship to the garish sun.” 

― Langston Hughes

“Life is for the living.

Death is for the dead.

Let life be like music. 

And death a note unsaid.” 

― Helen Keller

“Death is no more than passing from one room into another. But there's a difference for me, you know. Because in that other room I shall be able to see.” 

― Kahlil Gibran

“For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun? And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.” 

― Dylan Thomas

“Though lovers be lost, love shall not; And death shall have no dominion.” 

From The Death of William Blake by Eric Wilson:

“And so, committed to the last of the flame consuming his, his joy outweighing the pain, he continued, as he lay on his deathbed, to sketch, driven to convert, for one final spell, his quick thoughts into lively lines. But his brain soon slowed, beginning its descent into the inevitable dimness, and his competent hand faltered. Now, he believed, was the hour. He would have to leave his configurations of heaven undone. He set his instruments aside, his now-dull pencil and his paper riddled with shades.

Faint, he turned toward those attending him, among whom was his wife Catherine, his faithful partner for forty-five years. He saw her crying. Maybe what happened next was a final surge of affection, or perhaps a desperate hope to make the moment stay. Whatever the reason, Blake's haze cleared. His mind revived. He recovered his pencil and paper, reports say, and exclaimed to her, "Stay, Kate! Keep just as you are—I will draw your portrait—for you have ever been an angel to me." This picture he did complete, though it is now lost.

Now finished and feeling the fatigue return, he again laid down his implements, now for good. He silently said farewell to his earthly exertions—all those pictures and poems, forged in visionary fury—and relaxed, ready for his flesh's demise. As his consciousness gently waned, he sang hymns of his own design, about the eternal bliss to which his spirit would soon rise. He expired at six o'clock, his lyrics still trilling in his head. Catherine remained calm. Perhaps she believed that her life would change but little; she had once said of her husband, "I have very little of Mr. Blake's company. He is always in Paradise.””

On the life to come, we read:

— William James

“Our normal waking consciousness, rational consciousness as we call it, is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different. 

The best argument I know for an immortal life is the existence of a man who deserves one.”

1 Peter 5:10

“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”

2 Corinthians 4:17-18

“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

I will close with four more scriptures. I consider this last batch of quotes to be one long miraculous sentence conveying a central integrated concept:

Romans 8:18

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

1 Timothy 6:12 |

“Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”

Psalm 37:28 |

“For the Lord loves the just

and will not forsake his faithful ones.

Wrongdoers will be completely destroyed;

the offspring of the wicked will perish.”

1 Timothy 1:16 

“But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.”