This is the new Jerusalem John saw in the Revelation isn't
it? Those who are recorded for life in
the new Jerusalem are holy. All will not
live in that new city of God. We tend to
have a warped sense of eternity, cherubs and angels on clouds floating in the
ether when the Bible tells a very different story of what that looks like. Isaiah here seems to be seeing the long
future not the near term. In that future
he sees also the past. That past
includes the wilderness experience of the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar
of fire by night and now that experience is localized in Jerusalem where the
presence of God is continually. That is
exactly what John said was the case in eternity, that there is no temple there,
no night either, for the presence of God is always there in the city giving in
light. A new people and a new city.
The power of God comes to pagans. Jesus comes to the land of the Gadarenes, a
country that Jews thought to be completely pagan and filled with demonic
influence. Jesus is immediately met by
two men who would have confirmed the worst suspicions of the disciples who were
Jewish men. These were so bad, however,
that even the people of that country would not pass by or having anything to do
with them, they were terrorizing the land.
The demons asked if Jesus were coming to torment them "before the
time." What time are they talking about and how do they know there will be
a time of torment? In the end, we know
they go into the pigs at Jesus' command and run over the cliff. The people of the country come to see Jesus
and then beg Him to leave them. Their
fear of the men has now been overcome by the power of this man who overcame the
demonic spirits in the men, they knew His power and their response was nothing
more than fear. The fear of the Lord is
the beginning of wisdom but it isn't the end, we aren't intended to stay there. These were not ready for the next step.
Paul sees a beatific vision just as Isaiah did. Paul's beatific vision, however, is not the
end of things but rather the now of things.
His vision is for the church, the body of Christ. The world should see in the body the wisdom
of Solomon and the power of Jesus. There
should be what Rudolf Otto called the numinous (from the Latin numen, “spirit”)
in which the Other (i.e., the transcendent) appears as a mysterium tremendum et
fascinans—that is, a mystery before which man both trembles and is fascinated,
is both repelled and attracted. The
church should be the safest place in the world for Christians yet a place which
the world should have some fear of for its power and truth. This is possible only to the extent that the
church understands its purpose and all the members are fulfilling their role in
the body. We are too often weak because
we honestly don't understand our own power or purpose and because we either
don't allow members to take their rightful and designed place or because the
members won't offer their gifts as they are intended to. It causes me to ask if we aren't a bit too
fearful to be the church Paul envisions and God intends. Until the church moves beyond fear of the
unknown we will never be the force the Lord wanted the world to contend with,
the expression of God's presence on earth.
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