Encore

Sunday was Easter. Today is Easter. Every day is Easter, from my point of view (and the point of view of some pretty reliable historic sources). True story. Because if what the Christian church says happened on Easter really happened, then every day after that is a repeat celebration. An encore. One more chance to stare up into the heavens in what really should be daily freaked-out surprise and say, "I can't believe you did that for me!" 

If Jesus truly--physically, spiritually, historically, existentially, and any other 'ly'--was dead and then wasn't anymore forever,  then today is still Easter. And that needs to mean something. Quite honestly, if such a thing happened, and you don't think it merits more than one day's notice in 365, you're not taking this whole life and death thing we're all in very seriously. 

At one point in my life, I did look at that cross in freaked-out surprise and say, "I can't believe you did that for me." I cried, right there in front of late night TV. No one had ever told me about Jesus, but somehow I knew. It happened when I was watching the movie Jesus Christ Superstar. Not a conventional conversion, I admit, but a fact. It took a few years of being around better people than I to realize exactly what that belief meant. I'm still working on it.

One thing a conviction that Easter is a daily celebration means is that we face those days with anticipation, not fear. My personal ministry revolves around helping people be freed from fear. Easter is the ultimate release from fear. Without Easter, I'd have nothing to say about fighting fears. I might try, and I might unleash all kinds of pop psychology to make you feel better temporarily, but really, without Easter, I've got nothing.

No More Running

On Easter, it seems appropriate to point out that fear comes from somewhere. It was never innate to human nature. Humans started this gripping emotion called fear by running away from God in the Garden of Eden. Why? Because they knew they had messed up, they knew He knew it, and they didn't know what He was going to do about it. 

It's the same basic principle that caused me to hide in my closet when I was eight and I skipped out on dishwashing duty to go out and play even though I knew that my name was clearly on that chore chart and my mom would find me. No one who knows in her soul that she has deliberately opted to go against the established order of rightness feels good about that choice for long. We may go through all kinds of emotional gymnastics to pretend and believe we do, but eventually that delusional behavior bites us from behind. How long we choose to run from it depends on how stubborn we are. 

We don't like accountability for our actions. We don't like the notion that any behavior could actually be wrong. (It's just different.) And we certainly have lost all enchantment with the word 'sin.' It's quaint but irrelevant. 

Except no matter how far or fast we try to run away, we have soul-deep-knowledge of a variety that won't be suppressed that there is wrong; that in fact, there is wrong in us, and it scares us. We hide, because our Parent might notice our name on that chart at any minute and realize we aren't doing our job.

Then hiding hits the blinding light of Easter, and it has to make a choice. Run farther into that dark closet, or stare at that cross in the morning sunlight and surrender to the inconceivable surprise that it happened because I couldn't stop hiding. And now I don't have to. 

Resistance Ts Futile (or at least dumb)

Personally,  I've come to realize that hiding in the closet because I'm afraid of the consequences of my own behavior comes with a few problems:

One, the anxiety about what my parent might do imprisons my soul. I could just go and find out and get it over with. But why do that when I can spend hours imagining it? Or a lifetime. (God's reply--“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6.23)

Two, It locks my relationship into the realm of fear, when it could be transformed into the heathy thing it was meant to be--a parent and child teaching and growing. (Which is what God wants, too. “So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, 'Abba, Father.' For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.” Romans 8.15-16)

Three, hiding becomes my default whenever I don't want to face something, robbing me of experiences outside the closet. (Which is not what God wants. “The Lord is my light and my salvation—so why should I be afraid? The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?” Psalm 27.1)

Four, it's really hot and stuffy in an upstairs closet in a century-old house with no air conditioning. I think this may have been the beginning of my claustrophobia issues.

It's Easter. Still. Running was never part of the nature God intended for us. He proved it by walking straight into the consequences of our behavior, facing the terrors there, and blasting them to bits with one shove of a stone away from a tomb and a sunrise beyond our craziest dreams. Today, instead of turning around and going about your day like it's a normal day, look up. Stare into the sky. Say in freaked-out surprise, "I can't believe you did that for me." Yell it if you want to. Then close your eyes, and let the Easter light do its freeing work.

Insights into the Blood of Jesus, Resurrection Power, and Saving the Soul

 

 

 

Excerpted from In the Cleft of the Rock: Insights into the Blood of Jesus, Resurrection Power, and Saving the Soul by Michael J. Webb

 

Gethsemane

(Part 2)

 

Imagine for a moment that as type and shadow Adam represents “spirit” and Eve represents “soul”. Of course, each was complete when created in that they both had souls and spirits, as well as individual bodies. I’m simply suggesting a metaphor.

Adam and Eve together represent an undivided whole. Spirit and soul in union with God. One plus one equals one. Poor math, perfect theology. Adam in type is spirit and Eve in type is soul. Soul and spirit, in unity, are one flesh.

The perfection of God.

Spirit is the elder, soul the younger. When Adam hearkens to the voice of his wife he is really hearkening to his the voice of his soul. Mind, will, and emotions rise ascendant over the spirit. Thus, the elder serves the younger. Jesus came, in part, to restore the spirit to its rightful place as master. Nevertheless, the practical application of bringing the soul into submission is no easy task. Paul tells us that this process is one of “working out our salvation with fear and trembling.” (Philippians 2:12)

God spoke to Adam, spirit, and gave clear instructions about the trees of the garden. Embrace the Tree of Life, avoid the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Presumably, Adam then communicated the admonition of the Lord to Eve. The serpent, or enchanter, appears to Eve, representationally the soul of man, because it is the nature of the soul, or intellect, to reason. Eve, or soul, has a discussion with the serpent and during the dialogue she adds to the Word of God by saying that she has been admonished to not even touch the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Clearly, God never said any such thing. Thus, we see the first distortion of God’s Word by the reasoning soul and its ultimate consequence.

Have you ever wondered why there were only two trees in the Garden of Eden? Why not three? Logically, it would seem that there should have been the Tree of Life, the Tree of the knowledge of Good, and then, off by itself—perhaps gnarled and distorted, the ground around it blackened and scorched as a warning—the Tree of the Knowledge of Evil.

But that’s not the way it was.

Why?

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil represents many things to many people. But at its root it ultimately represents magic, enchantment, divination, and witchcraft. 1Samuel 15:23 tells us that “rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.” The rebellion of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the result of deception and disobedience, is the root of humanity’s woes. It is second only to Lucifer’s rebellion, the root of all evil. One of the fruits of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is magic—both white and black magic. The Good Witch of the North, as well as the Wicked Witch of the East. In reality, there is no such thing as white or black magic. All magic is deception.

Another fruit is humanism. The belief that the thoughts and creations of man are preeminent. The idea that man is basically good, and that through discipline and enlightenment he can achieve equality with God. It is the knowledge of self in opposition to the knowledge of God. The ultimate foolishness—man claiming to be God. Paul tells us in Romans 1:25 that as a result of original Sin, mankind “changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator.” And the prophet Isaiah tells us that it was this desire to be worshiped as God that caused Lucifer to rebel and fall. The famous five “I will’s” are set out for us in Isaiah 14:13-14: “I will ascend into Heaven: I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds: I will be like the Most High.”

If Eve is a type and shadow of the soul, it seems obvious why the serpent appeared to her and deceived her rather than Adam, or spirit. The soul is the seat of the mind, will, and emotions. Satan, in the form of the serpent, appeals to the soul of man, and thus deceives the mind, will, and emotions. James 1:13 tells us that this deception is actually a three step process: (1)”But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed (beguiled), (2) Then, when lust has conceived (3) it brings forth sin.”

The imagery in the Greek here is very powerful. First, there is deception, an enchantment or beguilement. This implies an active outside force acting on the will. Then, there is a conception, as when a seed is planted in fertile ground and begins to sprout. But this seed must be nourished. If it is not watered and fertilized, it cannot grow. Finally, there is a birth. But what is it that is born?

Sin.

Separation from our Heavenly Father.

In our metaphor, Adam, spirit, the elder, now serves Eve, soul, the younger, as a result of the soul’s deception and the spirit’s disobedience. Soul and spirit are torn asunder. They are no longer in unity. They are at odds with one another, and with God. With soul ascendant and spirit in submission the stage is set for man’s descent into depravity and unrighteousness.

Why is all of this important? Because it lays a foundation for Christ’s suffering in the garden of Gethsemane. Hebrews 5:7-10 gives us a powerful picture of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane: 

Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up

prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto

Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard in

that he feared;

Though he were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the

things which He suffered;

And being made perfect, He became the author of eternal

salvation unto all them that obey Him;

Called of God a high priest after the order of Melchisedec.

 Three hours. What extraordinary imagery. Christ, God incarnate as man, wrestles with his soul in the garden for three hours. His struggle is so titanic, that He sweats drops of blood. We are told in Hebrews 2:16-18 that Jesus took on the form of man rather than angels because in suffering and overcoming temptation He is able to comfort all of humanity. And Hebrews 4:15 says that Jesus “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”

Jesus suffered many things during His short time on Earth, including being tempted directly by Satan during his forty days in the wilderness immediately after His baptism by John. Yet, the final battle in Gethsemane was perhaps His greatest test and temptation. Had He not brought His soul into submission in the garden, He would never have gone to the cross. Had Jesus not gone to the cross, everything that He had achieved up to that point would have been extraordinary, but not universally available.

Christ’s death and resurrection restored to humanity all that it lost in the Garden of Eden, but it was His victory in Gethsemane that made it possible for all believers to live the victorious life.

What does this mean for us?

 

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