Saving for Relationships

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel. (Hebrews 12:22-24)

As I look over this list something jumps out at me in contrast to the previous list centered on Mount Sinai. Nearly everything in this list is about people or relationships whereas most of the things in the previous list were physical externals that had little to do with relationship but produced a lot of fear. This again confirms for me the stark difference between false and true religion as being a shift from externals to internals, from outward show and appearances to inward connections and relationships with others. To perceive true religion as God views it is a massive paradigm shift from nearly everything we have thought of as being religious.

The reason the old covenant failed is because the people of Israel attempted to do religion without a love-bonded, dependent relationship with the true Originator of righteousness. They put more focus on the externals and the symptoms of righteousness and consequently spent thousands of years trying to figure out the right formula to achieve holiness. Sadly we are still attempting the same impossibility today. This has led to the flourishing of roots of bitterness that multiply like weeds in our hearts as we encounter frustration upon frustration in our attempts to appease our perception of an angry, demanding God or try to accumulate enough pleasure and power to satisfy our longings for fulfillment.

What I am seeing in this passage is a clear pointer to where my attention must be focused if I am to enter into real life. I must shift my attention away from all the external demonstrations of power that try to attract me and instead spend my time cultivating deeper connections to all the these entities described in these verses. This is quite interesting in light of my recent conversations with a lady who believes she has conversed with angels for many years.

It would be very easy for me to write her off as just another New Age type person and to discount what she has been learning throughout her life. But what I have sensed is that the basic principles that she has been learning are very much in line with many of the basics that I too have been lead to understand in my own journey. Just because she is coming to these truths from a completely different direction does not make her a dangerous person to be avoided or condemned, although I know that many Christians would likely do so. I perceive that God has been leading her step by step into a closer relationship with Himself and she is very open about that. She seems to have an open mind and her spirit is alert to learning truth from whatever direction it may come. She also believes and teaches that people should cultivate a relationship with their angels which to most ears sounds almost bizarre.

But what do I find right here in this text? The Bible says that we are coming, not only to God, the Judge of all and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, but to myriads of angels, to the universal companionship that I wrote about last time, to the church of the firstborn which in other places refers to not only to those here on earth but all of the loyal beings throughout the universe. We also come to the spirits of the righteous made perfect whatever that may imply.

What seems to be clear here is that we, as born-again Christians are to have our lives more and more intertwined with the lives and destinies of all the other intelligent beings who are also living in harmony and devotion to their Creator and Lover. Being saved is not about getting ourselves to heaven so we can escape the discomfort of earthly life; being saved or experiencing salvation is the restoration of the broken connections and relationships that sin has caused throughout all of the universe. Implicit in this restoration is the need to have all roots of bitterness removed so that all of these relationships can be healthy and not in danger of being poisoned again.

See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven. (Hebrews 12:25)

All of the external, fear-inducing demonstrations of power experienced at Mount Sinai were not enough to produce real righteousness. God never intended us to operate from a basis of fear, but that has generally been the motivation of preference in most religions throughout history. But the final warning that comes from heaven that we cannot afford to ignore is the warning of the consequences of failing to enter into harmonious relationship with the loyal universe and become a part of the true body of Christ. This comes sharply into focus in the warnings of the three angels in Revelation 14. And what would cause us to fail to enter into these necessary relationships? Well, one thing again is the roots of bitterness allowed to remain our hearts that will poison our spirit and make us unfit for the fellowship of heaven.

Father, I don't want to have any roots of bitterness, criticism or condemnation to be left anywhere in my heart or mind. These things have poisoned my spirit and damaged so many of my relationships for all of my life and I want to have all of them completely eradicated. Please continue to completion Your salvation in me personally to remove all of these bitter roots and replace them with roots from Your truth and love. I choose to cooperate with Your means and ways to accomplish this in my life. I claim Your Word that You do not give me a spirit of fear but of power and love and a sound mind.

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Universal Companionship

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect...

(Hebrews 12:22-23)

I began to peruse some of the Greek words behind these texts and I came across something very compelling. The word for general assembly literally means universal companionship. I wish that the English translators had used that phrase instead of general assembly. It denotes more of a fellowship flavor to the concept than the words general assembly. It highlights better the love-bonding that will be the trademark of the purified body of Christ in the last days and then on into eternity.

I am still comparing these concepts to the previous passage where its alters have been just presented. Last time in my post I considered Mount Zion, the city, living God and heavenly Jerusalem. These are in contrast to Mount Sinai and all the fear-based dark things presented there, in contrast to one very fiery God thundering and stirring up the dust and smoke on that desert mountain. Instead we have come to myriads of angels – un-countable numbers of messengers all committed to helping us come back into full fellowship with them and with God. They are eager to restore the universal companionship that has not been enjoyed fully since Lucifer began his program of universal disruption long ago in heaven.

This companionship is based on pure, unaffected love for others flowing out of hearts captivated by the overwhelming beauty and loveliness of God. There is absolutely no fear in this love for as John has stated so explicitly, Perfect love casts out all fear. When all fear has been eliminated from the hearts of every being in the universe, we will be able to really know this level of intimate companionship. The fear will be gone either because it has destroyed those who clung to it as a result of being exposed and resistant to God's perfect love, or because the person has embraced that love and has allowed grace to rewire their hearts and minds to survive love's intensity. That is the commission of the angels at this point – to assist God in facilitating the massive rewiring, reprogramming project going on in the hearts and minds of all who are willing to submit to the influence of the sweet Spirit of Jesus.

The church of the firstborn is an interesting phrase. The word for church really means a group of people who have been called out. In this phrase it could likely mean everyone collectively who have responded to being called by the firstborn Son of God. And the term firstborn is not really what it sounds like to our Western way of thinking. It does not refer as much to chronology as it does to the level of importance and significance. Jesus was never born as such except as being birthed as a human being. He has always existed as God and always will. But He is termed a firstborn to convey certain concepts to us that would be impossible to grasp otherwise because of our lack of capacity to understand the language and terms used in heaven.

In ancient times the firstborn son was considered not only the primary heir of the parents estate receiving twice the portion given to the rest of the children, but he was also supposed to receive and pass on to his own firstborn the blessing and authority and name of the family line. Along those lines we can perceive a little bit of what the role of Jesus is to act as the agent of transfer to pass along the blessings and empowerment of the Father to us as His children.

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