Giving Gifts to the Needy

They told him, "Teacher, we found this woman in adultery, in the very act. Now in our law, Moses commanded us to stone such. What then do you say about her?" They said this testing him, that they might have something to accuse him of.

But Jesus stooped down, and wrote on the ground with his finger. But when they continued asking him, he looked up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone at her." Again he stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground.

They, when they heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning from the oldest, even to the last. Jesus was left alone with the woman where she was, in the middle. Jesus, standing up, saw her and said, "Woman, where are your accusers? Did no one condemn you?" She said, "No one, Lord." Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way. From now on, sin no more." Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life." (John 8:4-12)

Accusing is counterfeit judging.

Accusing is condemning.

Accusing is the spirit of looking for faults in order to assign blame.

Whoever ends up with the blame, according to the reward/punishment system, must be punished.

Living according to the reward/punishment way is living under the law.

Living under the law is living according to the flesh, where everyone is valued according to how closely they conform to the ideal of the law – relative value for everyone and everything – commerce.

This commercial spirit dictates that we must figure out the relative value of each one according to the law of reward and punishment so that order and unity can be maintained through hierarchal authority.

Accusing/condemning then is the means by which we think to maintain law and order in society. It relies on fear of punishment as the primary means by which to everyone in line with the law. Because of this invested belief in law and punishment, we find it nearly impossible to accept that there could be any other way to hold society together, and we insist God must do so similarly.

This is our system of fear-based social order. We rely on fear as one of the main incentives to keep people from sinning, and when anyone does sin we believe it is a moral duty to find someone to blame for that debt who should receive punishment. Then we must cooperate with authorities designated by God to carry out due punishment. This is what is happening in this story – blame, shame and threat of severe punishment against the person whose sin has imbalanced the scales of justice.

The problem, of course, with this view of how life is to operate is that it neglects the value of the heart. Even more, it ignores or denies the entire meaning of value according to God's design. Our ideas of relative value for people and performance is entirely an artificial notion of value that disregards God's original design for us to live from our heart in freedom, love and trust. The counterfeit way is reward and punishment which is designed to crush the heart and dismember it so we cannot thrive as designed. Thus Satan effectively distorts God's intended reflection of glory from our heart by obsessing over things of lesser importance while ignoring the truly valuable things.

The Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but your inward part is full of extortion and wickedness. You foolish ones, didn't he who made the outside make the inside also? But give for gifts to the needy those things which are within, and behold, all things will be clean to you. But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, but you bypass justice and the love of God. You ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone. Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues, and the greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like hidden graves, and the men who walk over them don't know it." (Luke 11:39-44)

Why didn't God send His Son into the world to condemn the world? Because saving the world will never be accomplished by participating in the very thing destroying our hearts. This idea of attempting to overcome evil with evil is doomed to miserable failure, and God will never participate in trying to do what will never work.

Evil can only be overcome with good; darkness can only be eliminated using light.

There are no other possible ways.

What we need to repent of is not just sins we have committed, but far more importantly THE SIN which is our entire way of thinking we have been immersed in all our lives. This primary sin is the twisted thinking infecting all of us after our first parents ate of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil inducing in all of us a serious case of double-mindedness ever since.

Jesus came to defeat and conquer this double-minded sickness by reintroducing into the human genome the original design of single-mindedness, the saving principle of agape love. Nothing else can ever come close to resolving the problem of evil because anything other than pure love is evil.

The heart was made for love and is damaged and malfunctions when it fails to receive and pass on love effectively. Did you notice the phrase in that last passage that speaks volumes about this issue? But give for gifts to the needy those things which are within, and behold, all things will be clean to you.

Who are the needy Jesus is talking about here? Is it people who don't have enough money to support themselves? Is that what He is telling the Pharisees? I don't think so. Rather, Jesus is putting His finger on the core issue of sin, ignoring of the heart to prefer keeping up appearances and imagining that this will somehow impress God with how pious and holy we are so He will bless us. So we measure our relative value by comparing ourselves with people we imagine are worse than us so we can feel good about our relative righteousness and convince ourselves that God plays this game along with us.

No, the needy that Jesus was referring to are represented by the woman in this story who these Pharisees considered a terrible sinner deserving to be punished. They believed it was their God-appointed duty as the religious authorities to assign blame and execute justice lest God be displeased with them for not carrying out their duties and would then punish them in turn. In other words, this line of religious reasoning leads us to imagine that if we don't point out other people's faults and do our part to maintain law and order in the church, in society, the family or wherever we have responsibility, then God will punish us for not carrying out our duty.

This way of living with others is primarily based on fear – fear aroused by the belief that God will ultimately punish anyone who doesn't do their part in enforcing justice, albeit our kind of justice that is rooted in the thinking of debts and credits, reward and punishments, earning and deserving. Yet all the while our hearts are shriveling up and starving for lack of love, grace and freedom. Yet from our perspective those are secondary issues that may be enjoyed only after justice has been satisfied.

So what constitutes being needy according to Jesus? Well, to start with He indicates that the need is within, not a need in the external arena. This should alert us that what He has in mind is the condition of our heart rather than some external value assigned to us relative on how well we keep the rules. What I also see here is that if I am starved internally – needy myself – then it will be impossible for me to give to others who are needy internally. That makes sense even if it is intellectual. I can't give what I have not received. Yet the catch is that if I am unwilling to give I also block myself from receiving.

For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you don't forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew 6:14-15)

Is this a threat or is it a principle? I believe it is like expecting a garden hose to deliver water while it is not receiving water from a source at the other end. I can demand all I want that the hose deliver water to me, but the best I will be able to get from it is any residual water left in the hose from the last time it was used. If I expect to get more than that, then hose is going to have to be connected to a good source of water itself before it will be able to give water out the other end.

Yet the converse of this is equally true as well. If the hose has a nozzle on the end, it may be hooked up to a good source of supply all it wants, yet until the nozzle is opened to release water out the other end it will be impossible for that hose to receive any more water than what is inside it already.

So really there are two ways in which we can malfunction according to this illustration. We can try to give and give until we collapse in emotional and spiritual exhaustion and then blame God that it simply does not work. Yet the problem may be that we are trying to give something we are failing to receive because we are not remaining connected to the unlimited supply of grace and love available to us at the heart level. Or we may be living in a glut of blessings from God but are so blinded by unbelief in His goodness that we fail to realize how rich we already are and consequently live in judgment over others because they don't measure up to where we imagine we are on the scale of moral worth. Thus we plug the outlet blocking us from receiving more from God. Over time the water already in the hose then stagnates and can become putrid and toxic.

So, how does Jesus defeat accusers? Does He accuse them, pointing out their faults by writing them on the pavement to humiliate and intimidate them until they slink away in shame? This would be overcoming evil with evil, but that never works in the long run, for Jesus knew that condemnation never achieves the kind of righteousness we need that restores us. Jesus loved these Pharisees just as much as He loved this woman, and He was not infected with the commercial way of viewing people like we are. By keeping Himself in constant communion with heaven, He saw every person He came in contact with as God's well-beloved child. That includes you and me by the way.

No, Jesus did not defeat accusers by counter-accusations. Rather He brought light to where darkness was and the light itself induced God's kind of judgment which is very different from our notions about justice. The light of love caused these men to choose whether to let love soften and change them or leave in fear of exposure by that love. They chose to leave because they loved darkness more than light and they feared their deeds would be exposed if they remained in the light just as Jesus said would happen in judgment. This is always how God defeats accusers – simply by loving without reservation and allowing each one to choose how they will relate to the love ever coming from His heart.

But give for gifts to the needy those things which are within, and behold, all things will be clean to you.

What gift comes from within the heart of God?

For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God didn't send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him. (John 3:16-17)

This by the way, comes just before Jesus explains how true judgment occurs just a couple verses later.

What was sent to us within the Son who came to become one with us?

For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

No one has seen God at any time. The one and only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him. (John 1:17-18)

Do you see it? The gift from within God, the gift sent from the very bosom of the Father, was the embodiment of pure, unconditional love, acceptance, grace and the truth that God loves everyone without exception or reservation. That gift never has the slightest condemnation, for our sin problem is not that God is upset with us as we have so long imagined, but that we are afraid of Him and as a result are starved of love on the inside. The gift provided to each of us who are needy comes from the bosom of the Father in the person of Jesus who is love. This love in Jesus is tightly connected to the Father's heart and pours love relentlessly into the heart of anyone willing to open up their heart to receive it.

Do you feel needy of heart right now? Do you feel any need at all, or has fear so damaged the soul that we find it difficult to admit that you are starving for love?

Just a few chapters later we find another story possibly involving this same woman according to some. Clearly she experienced a dramatic transformation of heart from the love shown her by Jesus, and her passion to find some way of returning some of that love compelled her to do something she knew would make her vulnerable in front of those who could not see what was inside her. When Jesus not only freely accepted her public expression of affection but also defended her against those who tried to shame her, laying a guilt trip on Jesus at the same time, He shared a principle with them that is vitally important to appreciate when it comes to living from our heart.

Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little." He said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." Those who sat at the table with him began to say to themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?" He said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you. Go in peace." (Luke 7:47-50)

It is the law of proportion, a principle counterfeited in our false system through relative rewards or punishments figured on the degree of merit or offense. The law of proportion can also be seen in the analogy of the garden hose, for to the degree I open myself up to receive love, I am able to pass love along, and that is how much love I will experience myself.

For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you. (Matthew 7:2)

He said to them, "Take heed what you hear. With whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you, and more will be given to you who hear. For whoever has, to him will more be given, and he who doesn't have, even that which he has will be taken away from him." (Mark 4:24-25)

Don't judge, and you won't be judged. Don't condemn, and you won't be condemned. Set free, and you will be set free. Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be given to you. For with the same measure you measure it will be measured back to you. (Luke 6:37-38)

Who is Without Sin

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; everyone has turned to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn't open his mouth; as a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is mute, so he didn't open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who among them considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living for the disobedience of my people to whom the stroke was due? They made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death; although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. (Isaiah 53:5-9)

The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman taken in adultery. Having set her in the midst, they told him, "Teacher, we found this woman in adultery, in the very act. Now in our law, Moses commanded us to stone such. What then do you say about her?" They said this testing him, that they might have something to accuse him of.

But Jesus stooped down, and wrote on the ground with his finger as though he did not hear. But when they continued asking him, he looked up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone at her." Again he stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground. They, when they heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning from the oldest, even to the last. Jesus was left alone with the woman where she was, in the middle. Jesus, standing up, saw her and said, "Woman, where are your accusers? Did no one condemn you?" She said, "No one, Lord." Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way. From now on, sin no more." (John 8:3-11)

What did Jesus write on the dust of the temple floor? Was it the sins of each man there causing them to feel condemned and afraid of being exposed as so many people like to imagine?

[Love] is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, [love] keeps no record of wrongs.

(1 Corinthians 13:5 NIV)

Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:17 NRSV)

How does God deal with sin? That is really one of the core issues at stake in not only this chapter, but in the entire war between good and evil. What is the effective way of dealing with sin and rebellion? Our beliefs about this affect how we view God and how we relate to those we believe are wrong.

Therefore you are without excuse, O man, whoever you are who judge. For in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things. We know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. (Romans 2:1-2)

Were not these religious leaders intent on judging this woman as a sinner deserving of punishment? But what kind of judgment were they using? Was it not the spirit of accusation and condemnation? Jesus came that all the world might be saved through Him, not to condemn. Their chief desire was like that of the devil, to accuse, shame, humiliate, to steal, kill and destroy as Jesus put it. This was the sin that made them just as guilty as the woman they wanted Jesus to condemn.

Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God; (Romans 2:4-5)

Judging and condemning people has never induced real righteousness in anyone. It is however, quite effective in producing such fruit as depression, despair, desperation, addictions and recidivism. I believe this is why God refused to allow Lucifer to integrate his proposed ideas of reform into God's government, for any element of fear, force or compulsion destroys capacity to respond to or thrive in agape love. God's kingdom is free of all condemning, accusation, pride and shame.

The issue of how to effectively achieve and maintain an orderly society free of harm lies at the very root of the contest over allegiance as to whose methods we will embrace and with which system we will identify. Jesus confronted head-on Satan's false system of obedience through intimidation relying on reward and punishment. In essence, the Tree of Life had returned to earth in the person of Jesus Christ to reconnect with God's children lost in lies that infected our thinking from exposure to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Love came to not only confront, but to expose and displace the methods, disposition and lies about how reality is designed for God's original purpose.

And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. (John 12:32)

God methods and approach never rely on condemning or guilting people into compliance to His will, for that only damages the delicate fabric of the heart. God's design as revealed in Jesus relies only on methods of kindness, goodness and love. While it is true that He often needs to give warnings of what will happen if we continue in evil, God is never the direct source of the ill effects of evil that come into our lives. God never resorts to using Satan's methods of compulsion or fear, because love alone will be to overcome all evil through attraction of goodness and mercy alone.

I took them by his arms; but they didn't know that I healed them. I drew them with cords of a man, with ties of love; and I was to them like those who lift up the yoke on their necks; and I bent down to him and I fed him. (Hosea 11:3-4)

And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all [people] to myself. (John 12:32)

This Jesus who wrote in the dust with His finger things so effective that powerful men slunk away for fear of being exposed, was the very same one who centuries earlier used His finger to write on tablets of stone the very law these mere humans now demanded He enforce without mercy against a fellow sinner. And that original law was shorthand for the love designed for the universe to function properly.

He gave to Moses, when he finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, stone tablets, written with God's finger. (Exodus 31:18)

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people: (Jeremiah 31:33)

Notice that Jesus actually invited these men to carry out their plan to execute this woman on the spot, so long as they complied with His precondition. Was this something He just made up as a way to prevent Himself from getting ensnared in their jealous plan to discredit Him? Or was it an amplification of a principle that can be found even in Old Testament Scripture but was not yet clear?

I believe it is safe to assume that what these self-righteous men had in mind was not merely law-enforcement for the improvement of society, it was the spirit of vengeance. It would be well then to examine carefully the true meaning of vengeance to discover the difference between how God takes vengeance in contrast to what we usually have in mind when we seek revenge.

Some might assume there is a significant difference between revenge and vengeance, so consider the dictionary definition for these two words that I find reasonably accurate in this case.

Revenge: (1) to exact punishment or expiation for a wrong on behalf of, especially in a resentful or vindictive spirit: (2) to take vengeance for; inflict punishment for; avenge.

Vengeance: infliction of injury, harm, humiliation, or the like, on a person by another who has been harmed by that person; violent revenge.

These are directly in harmony with the spirit of commerce which is all about earning rewards or deserving punishments. Both of these definitions describe the attitude and intentions of these men who brought this woman to corner Jesus. If He agreed with their harsh view of justice He would be contradicting His own teachings. Yet if He refused to go along with their plan to condemn her, they believed He would discredit Himself by 'breaking the law' and its plain demand for capital punishment.

They demanded from Jesus a judgment against a woman caught red-handed committing adultery. To honor the law of Moses (and given from God from their perspective) meant Jesus would have to execute the clear mandate of that law by exacting punishment by stoning for this woman. Anything short of this, they believed, would make it unavoidably clear that He was not a true teacher from God as He claimed to be and thus undermine His growing influence among the masses.

Yet Jesus, rather than entering into a debate over the nuances of the laws of Moses, gave them an answer that appeared to agree with their intent to carry out the law's demand. This must have struck terror to the heart of this woman cowering on the pavement as she heard these words of Jesus. She may have been hoping Jesus might find challenge the way in which her case had been misrepresented to Him, but instead she heard Him seem to agree with her accusers. This likely would have led her to feel abandoned and helpless. At that point she may have given up all hope and simply braced herself for the first sharp pains of rocks striking her body until she would finally lose her life to the callous fury of vicious religious bigots using her as a pawn in their rabid desire to attack Jesus.

It is important to know that from the perspective of the watching crowd, these religious men were the closest to being righteous, pious and sinless as anyone could possibly come. It was the stated goal of these men to achieve perfection, and they spared no pains or expense to strive for sinless perfection every day. In fact it was a popular belief that if they could just get enough people to live sinlessly for one day, then God would reward them by sending the promised Messiah to deliver them from their oppressors and make their nation great again like it was in the glory days of Solomon. This was the national obsession of the Jews and especially of the religious elite. Now it appeared that Jesus was offering an even less strenuous goal by consenting that only one sinless person was needed from these professionally righteous men for this woman's execution to be carried out without hesitation.

The Mosaic law required that the witnesses who brought about the conviction of a person were to be the first to cast the stones of punishment to execute them. That implied that if the primary witnesses were unwilling to carry out that grisly task, the execution could not take place at all.

Yet we must be cautious in trying to analyze the legal angles of this story as it is all too easy to be drawn into arguing the technical aspects this case or the guilt of the men involved. In doing so we also may be sucked into the very trap these men had set for Jesus. He refused to argue points of law with men who were experts of the law but rather used this opportunity to lead everyone to look beyond the law to a much higher perspective, where relationships are more important that legal infractions. Until we appreciate this change of focus we might muck around in vain attempts to figure out what Jesus was saying and still remain trapped in thinking that striving to keep the law is equal to service from love.

How do we imagine Jesus defined sin when He invited any sinless man to cast the first stone? And were His words on the pavement an accounting of their sins as a deterrent to prevent their carrying out the execution while yet giving them permission to execute their plans? Was Jesus thinking sinlessness as merely keeping the written laws of God, or was there something far deeper that could not be avoided by men whose conscience condemned them as they left one by one?

This brings up another troublesome point. If we take this story at face value it could be construed by some that no one has a right to point out anyone else's sins until they themselves are completely sinless. This seems attractive to those who resent anyone approaching them about their life of sin, but is this what Jesus was saying here? Was He suggesting that when we finally get our act together enough to declare we are without fault, we are then free to execute vengeance on others? Much more to the point, is this what we think about God – that because God is without sin, then He is qualified and eager to unleash harsh punishment on all who refuse to repent and turn away from their sins?

What is important here is that in fact there was a man right there who was without sin. Jesus was the first and only human being to ever live on this earth without sin, so according to the instructions of Jesus Himself, He should be the first to lead out in stoning this woman. We know the outcome of this story and we know Jesus was not like that but was in fact just the opposite. So in suggesting that a perfect person can execute condemnation, we are saying that God will execute sinners in the end while Jesus was unwilling to do so in this situation, thus making a distinction between Father and Son.

If Jesus was the explicit revelation of God and the only reliable witness for declaring the truth about God to all created beings, then it is impossible to cling to the discrepancies in popular beliefs that make God out to be an enforcer of punishments while Jesus is all about forgiveness, kindness and humility. The grace and truth that came through Christ is grace and truth that comes through Him from the Father, not in opposition to or neutralizing the Father's 'justice' (that looks suspiciously more like our version of justice). Either Jesus represents the Father or He doesn't; it cannot be both ways.

In this story we see that the only man present without sin was acting like God, the true God rather than the stern, harsh god that religious men had made Him out to be. This truth about God that Jesus revealed in this arbitrary scene of judgment was the God full of compassion, grace and love that contradicted everything the religious leaders claimed about Him in their reading of the law.

How was it that the Son of God aroused such conviction in the hearts of callous men claiming to represent God, yet without writing out their sins as we often imagine He did? I believe it is because the light of truth does not dwell on the darkness of sin in order to expose it, for that light is inherently divisive by nature. What I mean is that it is not necessary for us to figure out who is right or wrong or who has the best arguments or the greatest weight of evidence proving their case so as to know what is good. What is most important far transcends rule-keeping and is so potent that it needs no proving to be effective. The light of love flowing from the heart of God produces an atmosphere of true judgment based on the definition given by Jesus, and it was this true judgment that neutralized the spiteful form of judgment these men thought to bring on this woman as well as to Jesus.

This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and doesn't come to the light, lest his works would be exposed. (John 3:19-20)

These accusers slunk away, not because the woman was not guilty as charged, but also not because Jesus was accusing them in His writings on the pavement. Rather, the light of love that ever flows through Jesus from the true God of heaven became so uncomfortable that they could no longer stand to remain in His presence without either repenting and being won over by His love, or running back into darkness because they preferred dark legal living rather than resting in the light God's love for them.

All we like sheep have gone astray; everyone has turned to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

They made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death; although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. (Isaiah 53:6,9)

In this arranged judgment scene, Jesus chose the nonviolent option. But in doing so He drew the fury of these religious zealots to Himself which will be seen in the rest of this chapter. That is why this story is really a microcosm of the entire plan of salvation as seen in Isaiah 53, for by diverting the consequences of our sins onto Himself, He substituted Himself to be the fall guy to accept all that would have fallen on us. But that is for another study.

Regime Change

For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment. I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. (John 5:21-30)

Several key issues in the core controversy emerge here. 1) Lucifer had contested the identity of Christ in heaven, inferring that Christ was no greater than Lucifer and seeking to displace Him in the affections and worship of the angels. 2) Satan disputed Christ's authority over the earth because humans had ceded their God-given authority to him and he would never cede it to anyone else, especially Christ. 3) Satan likely had challenged the fact that Christ in creating this world had the same power of life in Himself that the Father possesses. Lucifer has done everything he can since the rebellion commenced to discount and discredit everything God has stated about Christ.

As far as Satan's claim to represent this earth, there has always been serious questions in the universe about the legitimacy of a being representing humans who is not a human himself. This is clearly out of harmony with how every other race of beings throughout the universe are represented in the assemblies of heaven. This leads to 4): Jesus became a human in His plan to displace Satan from his position as the recognized ruler of this world; thus His pointed statement here about being the Son of Man.

Lastly, what I see in this passage anyway, 5) Jesus says that in contrast to the counterfeit justice system used by Satan and the governments of this world, all judgment carried out by Jesus will sooner or later be completely vindicated as really just and fair, precisely because His kingdom is based on agape love, and as such completely defers to the will of God at all times and in all things instead of seeking its own.

Satan's kingdom was founded on selfishness which he insisted was an improvement or liberation from the kingdom of God. Satan masquerading as the ruler of this world refuses to submit to God's ways and will. Satan has perverted the perceptions of all who have been deceived by him into believing that God's kingdom is based on arbitrary law. That is the same tactic he used to confuse and entice such a large number of the angels to embrace his alternative system of government. Satan claimed that his government and way of living offers freedom from law. Yet in reality it is just the other way around; all who follow Satan end up in slavery, both to selfishness and to a fear of death.

Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. (Hebrews 2:14-15)

Jesus came to this world – to the very capital of the rebellion has been set up and where Satan has ruled tyrannically since the fall of man – to challenge, expose and refute every claim of Satan against heaven. He came to overthrow Satan's kingdom by undermining all of Satan's claims of legitimacy for representing this world and humanity. Jesus not only became a human Himself, but also absorbed into Himself the liabilities of the entire race of humans that had been enslaved by Satan's deceptions with Adam and Eve. As our originally intended representatives they sold all of humanity into the fear of death. Jesus came to dispute and replace Satan's claims of authority by creating and establishing His own legitimate authority.

Jesus also came to this earth to flush into the open all of the issues raised in the minds of angels and any other race of beings who have been made vulnerable by the extremely subtle and convoluted reasonings of the great deceiver. Jesus came armed simply with the real light of truth about God demonstrated in Himself as the means by which to expose all of Satan's accusations as fraudulent and baseless. By relying totally on God's principles of freedom, respect, selfless love and humility, Jesus demonstrated that God is the very opposite of what Satan has claimed about Him for so long. In addition, the issue of the real truth about Jesus' relationship to His Father which had also been strongly contested in heaven needed to be clarified as well. That issue was whether Jesus is actually God or just a super-being created by God on which He poured more favor than any other creature as Satan had claimed.

This issue of Satan's kingdom and authority being overthrown on this planet is increasingly capturing my attention. I feel it has been seriously under-estimated in its true significance in the great controversy. I believe it must be seen as one of the core issues (doctrines) that must be much better understood, appreciated and examined if we are to become effective witnesses for God and help to advance His kingdom more rapidly on this earth. It is something that I feel compelled to look into much deeper and to pay more attention to whatever God brings to my notice.

But even more importantly, I must learn to personally come under the authority of Jesus Christ myself and be transformed through a continual renewing of my heart, not just my mind. I want my own life to better reflect God in my spirit and dealings with others with the same reflection of His true character as what Jesus showed when He lived as a human on this planet. I want to renounce all authority Satan has had in my life and fully embrace the true authority of Jesus; to come into complete submission to God's authority which will allow His Spirit to function freely inside of me to produce His kind of fruit.

I have been compiling a list of references about this issue so I can research it more thoroughly. I have not included most of them here, but this subject was again brought to my attention when I was alerted by reading the following verses where I am currently meditating in the book of John.

Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." (John 17:1-3)

Jesus is given full authority by heaven over all flesh – all humans everywhere and in every age. That has resounding implications that few are willing to admit, but I believe it is vital to know about this as we seek to understand the true nature of salvation and the displacement of Satan's kingdom from the universe.

The issue is not whether Christ has authority over all of us or only over those who accept it; the real issue is which authority contending for our allegiance will we choose to embrace and obey, not just in theory but with all of our heart, mind, soul, body and spirit. (see Matthew 6:24 and Luke 16:13) As long as we entertain a spirit of rebellion, sin, selfishness and resistance to God in our hearts and lives, we are empowering Satan's claims to authority over us and continue to block God's interventions to heal and rescue us from the power of Satan's kingdom. This is a key principle that must be much better understood and acted upon if we are to become the overcomers that inherit the everlasting kingdom that will never fall or be displaced.

Regime Change

For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment. I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. (John 5:21-30)

Several key issues in the core controversy emerge here. 1) Lucifer had contested the identity of Christ in heaven, inferring that Christ was no better than Lucifer and seeking to displace Him in the affections and worship of the angels. 2) Satan disputed Christ's authority over the earth because humans had ceded their legitimate authority to him and he would never cede it to anyone else, especially Christ. 3) Satan likely had challenged the fact that Christ in creating this world had the same power of life in Himself that the Father possesses. Lucifer has done everything he can since the rebellion commenced to discount and discredit everything God has stated about Christ.

As far as Satan's claim to represent this earth, there were serious questions in the universe about the legitimacy of a being representing humans who was not a human himself. This was clearly out of harmony with how every other race of beings throughout the universe are represented in the assemblies of heaven. This leads to 4), Jesus became a human in His bid to displace Satan out of his position as the recognized ruler of this world; thus His pointed statement here about being the Son of Man.

Lastly, in this passage anyway, 5) Jesus says that in contrast to the kind of counterfeit justice system used by Satan and the governments of this world, all judgment carried out by Jesus will sooner or later be fully vindicated as truly just, precisely because His kingdom is based on agape love and as such completely defers to the will of God at all times and in all things.

Satan's kingdom is founded on selfishness which he insisted was an improvement or liberation from the kingdom of God. Satan as the ruler of this world refuses to submit to God's ways and will. Satan has perverted the perceptions of all who have been deceived by him into thinking that God's kingdom is one based on arbitrary law. That is the same tactic he used to confuse and entice so many of the angels to embrace his alternative government. Satan claimed that his government and way of living offered freedom from law. Yet in reality it was just the other way around; all who follow Satan end up in slavery to the fear of death.

Jesus came to this world, to the very capital of the rebellion where Satan had ruled tyrannically for 4,000 years, to challenge, expose and refute all the claims of Satan against heaven. He came to overthrow Satan's kingdom by undermining all of Satan's claims of legitimacy to represent this world. Jesus amazingly also took into Himself the entire race of humans that had become enslaved by Satan's deceptions with Adam and Eve, our originally intended representatives. Jesus came to replace Satan's authority with His own and to clarify forever all of the issues raised in the minds of angels and any other race of beings who had been made vulnerable to the extremely subtle and convoluted reasonings of the great deceiver. Jesus came armed with only the real light of truth about God and Himself to expose all of Satan's accusations as fraudulent and baseless. By relying totally on God's principles of freedom, respect, selfless love and humility, Jesus demonstrated that God is the opposite of what Satan has claimed for so long.

This issue of Satan's kingdom and authority being displaced from this planet is increasingly capturing my attention. I feel it has been seriously under-estimated in its true significance in the great controversy. I believe it must be seen as one of the core issues (doctrines) that must be much better understood and appreciated if we are to be more effective witnesses for God and help to advance His kingdom more rapidly on this earth. It is something that I feel compelled to look into much deeper and to pay attention to whatever God brings to my attention.

But even more importantly, I must learn to fully come under the authority of Jesus Christ myself and be transformed through the continual renewing of my heart, not just my mind. I want my own life to better reflect God in my own spirit and dealings with others with the same reflection of His true character as what Jesus demonstrated while He lived as a human on this planet. I want to fully embrace the authority of Jesus in my life, to be completely submitted to God's authority which will allow His Spirit to function freely from inside of me to produce His kind of fruit.

I have been compiling a list of references about this issue so I can research it more thoroughly. I have not included most of them here, but it was brought to my attention when I was again alerted to while reading the following verses from where I am currently meditating in the book of John.

Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." (John 17:1-3)

Hiding from Eternal Life

This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. (John 3:19-20)

A compelling story is going around in the News right now about a Pakistani girl who dared to protest against the Taliban for their opposition against any female acquiring an education. Because of her stance she was shot in the head by her own people for daring to say anything that drew attention to the fanatical, selfish and abusive system of belief that these men benefit from at the expense of women.

It occurred to me that this is a dramatic illustration of a key principle that Jesus revealed during His discussion with another member of a fanatical group of religious people. The Pharisees likewise had cultured a system of extremist religion that not only viewed women's rights as a threat to their power but like today's extremists Muslims, they also fostered a system designed to prevent exposure of their own sins of darkness being exposed by keeping the focus on other people's supposed faults.

Jesus gave one of the clearest definitions of the concept of judgment as heaven defines it in this passage, He was speaking of exactly what is taking place before our eyes in the massive struggle between the light of truth and the darkness of violence we are seeing all around us. Rather than implying that judgment happens on some great Day way off in the distant future, Jesus speaks of judgment as potentially happening every time anyone finds themselves confronted with truth and attempts to avoid its glare by hiding even deeper by covering up with any method they can find.

A couple days ago I reviewed this passage with a friend. As we looked at it more closely we noticed a number of paired concepts in these verses that helps to reveal its implications more clearly. Some of these terms come from surrounding verses not quoted above.

• Light or darkness.
• Love or hate.
• Eternal life or perish.
• Save or condemn.
• Believe or not believe.
• Practices the truth or does evil.
• [Desire] that his deeds may be manifested or fear that his deeds will be exposed.

The more I study this definition of judgment as given us by Jesus the more clearly it becomes that heaven's version of judgment is dramatically different than how we use this term. But maybe that is not so strange after all, for if we are of those who prefer our distorted definitions of religious terms in order to prop up our false, selfish systems that benefit some at the expense of others, then we too will live in fear of getting too close to the Light for fear that our prejudices and incriminating teachings will expose us too. We can often be found to be as afraid of exposure by the clear words of Jesus as those we condemn among extremists we hear about on the News.

In fact, when we claim to be Christians and say that we believe in Jesus and yet and His teachings while in fact we treat others in ways that conflict with those principles, we may be in even greater threat of exposure than those who follow the teachings of Islam. It might be somewhat understandable that those who have an agenda of using violence in the name of Muhammad act the way that they do given some of their prophet's instructions about how to treat those outside their religion. But it is a far greater travesty when Christians fall into similar patterns of thinking and acting in the name of Jesus who explicitly taught non-violence and who personally gave the greatest demonstration of this in the history of the universe.

On the cross Jesus revealed a God who could not be abused enough to resort to using any tactics of evil or even harbor any such attitudes against His enemies. Yet when people professing to be followers of this same Jesus who explicitly revealed what God is like and then insist on living in ways out of harmony or even just the opposite to this God, they only reinforce the accusations of God's greatest enemy. Then when the light of the real truth about God shines into their lives they become just as quick to resist that light as radical Muslims fear the light of truth that threatens to expose their system of evil.

To claim that Christianity is superior to Islam and yet maintain a willingness to resort to using force to gain supremacy over enemies only bolsters the claims of Satan and does nothing to advance the Kingdom that Jesus came to establish. This becomes clear when the truth of Jesus begins to shine from those today who are presenting these disturbing revelations about God. Whenever Christians in particular react violently to the idea that God never resorts to force, coercion, fear or any other method of Satan to achieve His ways, we see judgment happen over and over again in the present. Even if that violent reaction is only emotional, it betrays the fact that truth cannot cohabit in the heart with lies about God and that there is an internal conflict being ignited by the light of truth.

Judgment will come to its full reality on a specific day in the future – there is no doubt about that. But what we must begin to see is that judgment also happens every day to some degree or another. And if we examine this message by Jesus to Nicodemus beyond just quoting the most familiar verse in the Bible while removing it from its context, we will begin to see how much we ourselves may be fearing exposure of our own deeds and beliefs of darkness. We may be ever so sincere in our insistence that we are followers of Jesus and are not afraid of the light of truth. But at the same time there are many areas in our lives where evidence emerges to the contrary: in our reactions to threats over our traditions and systems of religion, our practices or church policies that we fear being exposed. And especially we do not want our secret motives to be exposed; motives that if seen clearly would reveal that we are more interested in being seen as faithful Christians while in reality living for self.

One key part of this passage that often gets brushed over may be a pivotal point that is most important to grasp in this teaching. I am starting to believe that Jesus is speaking something vitally important that receives very little press in most of our discussions in religion.

But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God. (John 3:21) (see also 1 John 3:3-10)

I have been contemplating this passage for some time now and the more I meditate on it the more forceful this phrase emerges for me. The above verse is in direct contrast to the previous one where those who avoid the light live in fear that their deeds will be exposed. Yet we have a very difficult time receiving personally the core of this warning by Jesus because we find it to hard to accept that we might be among those called evil. That word 'evil' is such a strong term that we simply can's bring ourselves to be connected with it. We assume Jesus must be referring to other people 'out there' somewhere who are obviously more evil that we. This must be talking about people who are living in open antagonism to God – and of course enemies of ours as well. Yet we may be missing the very truth that might threaten to expose us personally, living in fear that our system of belief that keeps us so comfortable and assured of a spot in heaven might in heaven's view be evil.

The stronger reactions we have to such an implication the more likely it is to contain truth. Remember that it was not some outsider or Samaritan or Gentile that Jesus was speaking to here but it was a prominent, highly educated, pious leader of the most respectable and truth-filled religion on earth. Nicodemus was not even hostile toward Jesus like many of his other colleagues. He had come to visit with Jesus privately in order to possibly establish an opening by which Jesus' reputation might be improved and ways might be worked out to improve His acceptance with those in charge. Nicodemus had come with what he thought were generous motives; but the reaction of Jesus to his very first compliment seemed to be anything but willing to negotiate.

From our viewpoint we can easily judge Nicodemus rather harshly because we now know that Jesus had some vital truths to teach that Nicodemus had completely overlooked. And yet in most of our expositions on this passage and given the popularity that John 3:16 has achieved over the centuries, we still may find ourselves in even deeper deception about our condition of darkness than maybe even Nicodemus was in. We may be so vested in our own version of religion and our entrenched interpretations of this passage that if true light begins to shine from this passage threatening to expose our religious facade we have depended on for so long, we might just react worse than did Nicodemus.

When I compare verse 21 with the previous verse, it becomes evident that the opposite of deeds as being wrought in God must be deeds of evil that are not in God. At first that sounds rather simplistic or even confusing, but the implications of this contrast are enormous if I take them seriously.

What did Jesus really mean when He referred to deeds being wrought in God? I think the answer to that question should be freed from the immediate explanations we like to offer without serious study and reflection guided by conviction of the same Spirit Jesus spoke of to Nicodemus. Jesus told Nicodemus that the wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit. When we rely on pat explanations for this passage without allowing God's Spirit access to bring conviction of our own evil deeds to bear in our own hearts, we may be resisting the very nature of this Spirit that challenges status quo religion.

One of the first things that the Spirit convicts us of is the evil that the light of emerging truth about who God really is exposes. If we think about this logically it becomes rather plain. When God's goodness and love and the real truth about His character becomes more evident to us, anything that is unlike Him in ourselves or beliefs becomes exposed by default. Therefore, the actual definition for evil is simply anything that is not just like God, or what the Bible terms ungodliness.

We tend to move the idea of evil away from ourselves to only refer to people whom we feel are openly wicked, that we view as a threat to us or society, who are obviously people we don't want to be around us. Yet because of the amazing power of sin to deceive, only as we become willing to be honest can God reveal that there is far more evil within us that we have ever supposed. If evil is anything that is not like God's character, one very effective way we have developed to mask the evil within us is to insist that God is actually more like us than what Jesus revealed. Thus the difference between God and our life becomes less sharp and there is less that we need to adjust in us to become like our altered concept of Him.

How diabolical this insidious deception is for each one of us. Because we water down the clear, pure holiness of God with assertions about Him and His ways that minimize the contrast between us, we come to worship a God who is partially of our own making while believing we are in the light. Yet the God we often worship is actually a composite god made from our doctrines and denominational traditions and cultural preferences – little different than what the Jews had done by the time of Jesus. And now we have become so vested in our version of God that we resist any threat from any new light of truth about Him that might expose the fraud contaminating many of our teachings. We too often attack the messengers rather than honestly face conviction that maybe our own fundamental beliefs about reality might be part of our veil of darkness.

Are we really that much different from the mentality of the Taliban who views educated women as a threat to their system of institutionalized abuse and suppression of women for their own selfish exploitation? Maybe on this one issue we may not have yet arrived at that extreme. But at the same time it may be exposed by the Light that many of our arguments over the status of women in our own church might be similar to Muslim's prejudices than we are willing to admit. It may seem easy for us to point to the extremist stance and actions of the Taliban and call them wicked and evil. But in doing so might we someday discover than in our rush to judge them we may actually be implicating our own evil without realizing it? (study Romans 1:18 through 2:16)

But beyond even the issue of women's status or labels in our society, there are many other areas of deeply entrenched prejudices that may be hidden in darkness that the Spirit of God desires to expose for our eternal welfare. Do we find ourselves resisting light because of fear we will be found to be living life apart from full submission 'in God'? Do we really know what it means to live 'in Christ', or are we satisfied to just have pat theological explanations for this phrase that does not threaten our status quo or make us feel too exposed?

Judgment comes to everyone sooner or later. That is a fact that is unavoidable and we must embrace it if we want to live in the light of real truth. The next question that emerges here in this teaching of Jesus to Nicodemus is this: When are we going to be willing to be exposed by our own choice? Are we going to voluntarily come to the light to face becoming exposed in areas of our heart and our beliefs that we cherish as fundamental truth and fear challenge? Are we clinging to beliefs about truth that we refuse to have challenged because we believe we have studied them so thoroughly and can prove them conclusively that we are unwilling to allow any more light to upset or threaten our foundations?

The sins of some men are quite evident, going before them to judgment; for others, their sins follow after. Likewise also, deeds that are good are quite evident, and those which are otherwise cannot be concealed. (1 Timothy 5:24-25)

This is another very important text regarding judgment but has been very misunderstood by many. But let me ask some questions here. Are we willing to allow our sins to become exposed by the light of truth through convictions by the Spirit of truth that will make them more evident? Are we willing to enter into this exposure of judgment now voluntarily instead of putting off that exposure until our sins have to follow us all the way to the final day of Judgment, of full exposure?

I believe we must come to grips with the truth that it is our choices now that determines whether we will submit to being exposed now to the Light that always brings judgment, Light that exposes the hidden things lurking inside of our hearts. We can choose to come to the light now while we still have time and capacity to be healed and transformed into the true image of God; or we can continue to hide from the light, resist its exposure and discover too late that it will crush out our lives on the great day of Judgment after we have lost all ability to respond to the healing power inherent in the love of God that could have healed us before while we had a chance.

Wisdom says that it makes more sense to submit to exposure of judgment now, even to embrace it fully in order to avoid eternal loss in the future. But not only does choosing judgment now benefit our future life but the Light that brings judgment also brings into our lives the benefits of eternal life even here and now. That is the message I throughout these passages. God longs to expose what we are trying to hide in darkness in order to set us free, to deliver us from lies about Him and the effects of sin that ruins our lives; for He longs for us to not perish but to enter into eternal life even now.

This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (John 17:3)

And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. (1 John 5:20)

Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him. (1 John 3:18-19)

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. (1 John 4:7-8, 20)

How to be Just

I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. (John 5:30)

This word just is one of those terms that can have a rather nebulous meaning and is sometimes too much affected by our distorted views of religion. We often use it to mean that someone is fair, equitable, even-handed and that is actually the original definition for the term. But when it is used in conjunction with a 'justice' system it is usually contaminated with perverted desires for vengeance and demands for 'justice' to include a heavy-handed punishment of those we believe to be more evil than us.

In this verse Jesus is stating unequivocally that His kind of judgment is always fair and right. But He does not use force to impose His arbitrary determinations. We must remember that Jesus Himself is the designer of all intelligence to start with and knows what it is that will satisfy our deepest longings for justice and fairness. God not only designed justice and implanted the desire for justice into every intelligent being in the universe but He also abides by His own principles, for the principles and laws that He has laid out are simply expressions of the reality of who He is, a description of His character.

Another verse keeps coming to my attention as I read this.

He did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:26 NIV)

What was the 'it' that was done to demonstrate His justice so as to be just?

It was sending Jesus to this earth to live as a human being reflecting the perfect love of the Father. And in doing that, in bringing this example of perfection into close proximity to the awfulness of evil, God exposed the terrible nature of sin by allowing it to have all of its malignity, hatred and violence concentrated on His Son in order that all might see the real truth about God's justice by contrast. Remember, Jesus was crucified as the culmination the determinations of at least two different systems of earthly justice, one of which originated with the system that God had set up.

The more I look at these two verses the more it appears to me that they could nearly be considered twins. As I have come to see the death of Jesus very differently than the typical approach, it becomes much easier to pick up clues in all of these verses emphasizing that Jesus came to reveal the heart of the Father and His righteousness, not to run interference for sinners so as to protect them from an angry God waiting to inflict horrible punishments on all who step out of line.

But what I am also starting to see more clearly is the core of the gospel in these two verses as well. Jesus demonstrated in His own life how we are to align ourselves with His arrangement of the salvation that God has put into place to salvage all who are willing to cooperate with His plan and to restore us to intimate fellowship with Him. Jesus lived a life of total faith in His Father and of complete submission to His will. This is exactly what we are invited to do to be restored into His image.

Jesus never tapped into any advantages He had over other human beings but actually had to resist all those advantages as being His greatest source of temptations. Being perfect in character from the very beginning, right from conception, Jesus was constantly tempted to do what felt natural to Him and to depend on His own natural tendencies to be righteous without total dependence on an outside source of strength or wisdom. Likewise with us, a strong person is far more tempted to trust in their own strength than a person who clearly understands their weaknesses and inability to perform. Thus, Jesus had far more potent temptations because His natural tendencies and abilities and innate perfection was actually a constant source of liability for Him.

I spent many years of my life believing that I was supposed to develop a 'perfect' life (that meant never doing or even thinking anything that was 'wrong') and that to do so I was supposed to get as much 'help' from God as possible to pull off that achievement. I, like some others around me, tended to fill my prayers with 'help' requests hoping that somehow if I begged enough and pleaded long enough that somehow God would change my desires and remove my sinful tendencies and stop me from compulsively sinning. I now see that this belief system is humanism at its best and is usually the foundation for pretty much every religion in the world today. There are many variations of this theme, but the bottom line is that humans are expected to somehow align themselves sufficiently with the principles of 'right' that God will deem them acceptable and they can earn an entrance into Paradise.

In this confused scenario, grace is the power that we are expected to get from God to assist us in living a perfect life. I spent many years of my life pleading and negotiating and living in fear of God while trying very, very hard to eliminate every little sin I could find in my life. I worked incessantly to live as close as I could to all the rules and guidelines and laws that were placed around me. But in all of these intense religious activities I never found that deep peace, that rest, that joy that I now realize is so necessary and is at the very center of God's desire for all of His children. As hard as I tried I could never feel like I had finally been able to copy the life of Jesus who was supposed to be my perfect example of obedience.

Now I realize that the example of Jesus was not so much a perfect demonstration of what love really looks like in the outward treatment of others; the real example that I need to pay attention to is what is referenced in these twin verses. That is faith. But faith is not something I have to work up, an intense belief that God is going to do something for me devoid of all doubt. I lived the greater part of my life trying to work up faith by attempting to exclude any doubts from my imagination just as I was also trying to achieve righteousness by eliminating sin instead of spending my effort engaging in activities designed to know the heart of the Father. I actually had little desire to know the Father because I was too afraid of Him to even want to know Him very well.

Caught in this counterfeit system of thinking, I was trying to bring myself to a level of artificial righteousness that was invented by religion instead of coming to know in my heart the righteousness of God. Along that line, I pretty much had little clue as to what the word righteousness even meant. I assumed that it meant the achievement of the final elimination of all sin from my life, meaning that I no longer hurt anyone or disobeyed any rules and would finally be able to copy the life of Jesus completely externally. But the harder I tried to do all of that, even with intense, repeated pleadings with God to give me more help and power, the more frustrated I became and the stronger temptations seemed to grow. I found myself becoming more and more vulnerable to lust, to fear, to all sorts of things that began to dominate my life instead of achieving a life of victory. I began to realize that there was something fundamentally wrong with my whole idea of how to do religion altogether.

Then I began to learn that faith is not something I have to work up, an forced trust purified of all doubts that I finally would be able to escape or suppress. Righteousness and faith are not the absence of sin and doubt as I had assumed all of my life. Faith is something that will occur spontaneously as I come to discover at the heart level the incredible beauty and attractiveness of God's character as displayed in the life and teachings of Jesus. I do not have to work up faith, for that kind of faith is a counterfeit of the real thing. I have to direct my focus on coming to know the real truth about God, especially the Father; and the natural result of coming to know someone who is worthy of trust is that I will spontaneously begin to trust them.

Then I discovered that as I begin to trust the One who is totally trustworthy, my focus on His amazing perfection and attractions have the effect of reproducing themselves in my own life. As I let go of my resistance to His work and the promptings of His Spirit in my heart, my life becomes more and more a reflection of the life of Jesus and I can actually begin to experience feelings of joy, of real peace, of hope and of genuine love. This is God's kind of religion, a spirituality based in the heart primarily and involving my spirit synchronizing with His Spirit.

This is the kind of life that Jesus lived while He was here on this earth as my perfect example. He did not come to show me how to buck up and live right and show me how a perfect human is supposed to act so I could see what was expected of me. He came to demonstrate how I may live in an attitude of total dependence on a power and a Person outside of my own power and desires just as He lived in continuous trust and communication with His Father. The real issue centers in a relationship and the righteousness produced is always a byproduct of that relationship, not the other way around as I had always been taught.

This brings the circle back around to closure. Being just and being righteous are the same thing. When Jesus said that His judgment was just, He was saying that everything He perceived in others and His evaluations of them were completely fair and correct because of His total dependence and intimate relationship on His Father as an outside, objective Source of revelation in His life.

This demonstration of faith in His Father, of total deference to God and a complete surrender of His own will and desires is the example that is referred to in this verse from Romans as faith in Jesus. Jesus showed what faith looks like in this verse from John and Paul speaks of the same thing in our relationship with Jesus. As I learn what this means and how to live in constant submission to the perfect Source of all wisdom and love, I too will find myself justified and made righteous and will live out that righteousness more and more completely. My life will be filled with real fairness and equity and I will be justified.

But this condition of being just is not something I have to work hard to achieve but is a condition that can only come about as I focus all of my attention and affections on the only Source of justice. And as I learn to refrain from trying to justify myself, I will leave place for God to be my justifier which is far more effective than all of my attempts at self-justification.

Jesus stated unequivocally here that the reason His judgments and perceptions were just and fair was because He did not seek His own will but always deferred to the will of His Father, the one He totally relied on to justify Him. Likewise, Paul stated that as we come to appreciate that real truth about God in the demonstration through His Son of His perfect love and goodness as seen in the treatment of Jesus at Calvary, our lives can become similar demonstrations of righteousness. Just as Jesus trusted His Father totally to justify Him while refraining from trying to justify Himself, so too we can be justified as we follow His example by complete deference to God who is waiting to justify all who will believe in His fairness and righteousness.

I cannot force myself to trust in God or believe in His righteousness. I can only come to such a belief by exposing myself more closely to His heart and experiencing His righteous treatment of me and learning of Him from His Word and responding to the presence of His Spirit. I have to choose to spend time with Him on a regular basis as Jesus spent time with His Father each day. I must make choices that will deepen my relationship with Him and let Him love me and transform me. As I do these things and come to know His justice and be drawn into His beauty and perfection, I will naturally reflect His character. Then the righteousness seen in my life will simply be a reflection of the righteousness that originates in His life. Then I will be fair and just in all of my dealings with others no matter how unfair or unjust others may deal with me.

Jesus shows me that if I will seek His will instead of my will that my judgment will be just, just like He was just because He always sought His Father's will instead of His will. True justice and fairness comes when those who are given the role of judging or making determinations about others seek the will of the Father and get His perspective on every situation and person instead of depending on their own limited and biased perspective. True justice demands objectivity and that means deferring our will and judgment to the only One who knows how to judge righteously.

Just Because

I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. (John 5:30)

I have seen for quite some time that what most people term 'justice' is very often quite different than what heaven views as justice. Having grown up myself in a culture that abuses the idea of justice and perverts it for selfish gain or political advantages, I have been seeking to grasp in my own mind what the real kind of justice looks like, how it really operates and to perceive its true nature.

Part of what I have been learning is that true justice has far more to do with natural consequences than is has to do with punishments. In fact, I believe that real justice is possibly only about consequences except when it is artificially imposed as a means of changing the thinking of a person who is living under the grace of probation in order to get them to realize the enormous dangers from making wrong choices. God is shielding all of us from suffering the full natural consequences of violating natural principles of reality that we often call laws, many of which we may still be ignorant. He may sometimes impose or allow lesser painful things to happen to us in order to provide a window of opportunity for us to turn from our evil ways and to have our hearts and beliefs more closely aligned with His eternal principles.

But when it comes to the final judgment, I don't believe there is any shred of imposition of artificial punishment on the part of God. All of the opportunities for changing our characters during a time of probation and protective grace that has shielded us from ultimate consequences will quickly evaporate. In the last moments of judgment day we are all going to be exposed to the immensity and intensity of the greatness of God, the passionate power of God's unquenchable love and the results of that exposure will be either natural and permanent annihilation or spectacular glorification.

In this verse I perceive that Jesus is speaking about much bigger truths and facts than we normally think about with our small views of reality. Jesus is ever trying to get us to think much larger, to put our lives and problems and issues and questions into the context of the much bigger picture of the reality of what is taking place in the rest of the universe. When He says that His judgment is just, He is striking at the very heart of the arguments that Satan has been using against the government of God since the very inception of sin. This verse addresses the core issues of the contention between Christ and Satan and that fuel the great battle going on between them, between light and darkness, between truth and deception, between good and evil.

In this verse I see Jesus stating rather clearly why it is that His version of judgment is just in contrast to all other ideas about judgment and justice. Examples abound around us of perversions of justice. We don't have to look very far at all to find ugly manifestations of injustice committed in the name of justice. But what is vitally needed are demonstrations of real justice, the kind of justice that only comes when God is involved. We need these kinds of examples of real judgment and justice if we are ever to come to a better appreciation and understanding of what real justice looks like or begin to have it worked out in our own life and relationships with others.

My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will...

Here is one of the strongest clues that helps me see the true nature of valid justice. A person who is practicing the kind of justice or judgment that is in harmony with heaven's reality will never allow selfish motives to play into the decisions being made. Given the corruption and ulterior motives, greed and thirst for power in the hearts of most judges in our courts today, it is easy to see why so little real justice can ever be found in the government systems that uses the name justice so glibly. But Jesus makes it explicitly clear in this verse that He has no part in the corrupting influences of earthly counterfeits of justice but only deals with the kind of justice reflective of the perfect, loving, selfless nature of God's character.

While Jesus certainly stands to benefit from the salvation of His children, He also is going to suffer even greater, far greater losses as most of His earthly children reject His offers of mercy and refuse to believe the truth about His Father. But real justice never plays favorites at the expense of truth, and real truth cannot be hidden forever just as light cannot avoid dispelling darkness. Salvation is the incredible arrangement of God by which the secrets of His character are finally revealed that have been hidden from the minds of angels and men alike from all eternity past.

Lucifer thought he knew enough about the principles of reality to outsmart God and to set up an alternative form of government that could supplant the government of heaven. His schemes and intricate deceptions and complex arguments and proposals were so compelling that around one third of all the extremely intelligent angels of heaven fell for his reasoning and joined him in his new government.

But Lucifer miscalculated and failed to perceive even deeper things in the Father's heart and wisdom that was beyond his grasp. Although it was his primary role as covering cherub over the throne of God to perceive the principles of reality and the character of the Father and then and expound that to the rest of the intelligent beings God had created, he didn't realize that he had missed some of the most vital elements of God's character in his rush to exalt himself in the estimation of heavenly intelligences and elevate his reputation above that of Christ.

Satan has worked extremely hard on the minds of created beings to separate the concepts of love and mercy, justice and grace. Humans in particular have fallen for his misrepresentations of these realities and we have believed that these concepts are in competition with each other or possibly even mutually exclusive. As a result we have come up with notions and perceptions of God that are horrendous in nature and that are more reflective of the character of the devil more than that of truth and righteousness. All this is what Jesus came to this earth to challenge and counteract.

But in coming to this earth to reveal to us the true nature of the Father, Jesus never once participated or employed the methods of His opponent to accomplish His purposes. God's goodness and grace and love are good enough and always have been. God never had to change anything about Himself or His ways to accommodate the emergence of sin into the universe. If He had done so it would have proven Satan's assertions that there was a flaw in the system of heaven, that love was not enough to deal with all potential problems and that God's ways of dealing were not strong enough to ensure loyalty and allegiance and respect and obedience.

Lucifer proposed that some tweaking was necessary to ensure stability in the government of heaven, that there were additional factors that needed to be introduced to patch hidden weaknesses of God's government not perceptible by lesser intelligent beings. He proposed that given his superior capacities to perceive intricate and complex issues beyond the ability of any other created being to grasp, only he knew of these inherent weaknesses and had the ability and wisdom to create a fix for the 'holes' that he had discovered in God's ways of governing.

But what most could not see and many still cannot perceive, is that it is the logic of Lucifer that is full of holes and leaps of logic, not the government and character of God that has a problem. We have all lived under the government and logic of Satan all of our lives, and this earth has been so immersed in this way of thinking that it is impossible for any of us to understand reality the way God designed it without supernatural revelation from the only Source of wisdom. Only God can explain His own character and only God can refute the compelling deceptive arguments of His arch rival. If highly intelligent, unfallen, untainted angels of heaven struggle to see through the mirage of deceptions invented by the most intelligent created being in all the universe, then weak, fallen human beings have no chance whatsoever in figuring out reality without direct intervention by a Savior and Mediator sent to reveal the truth about the Father.

This is precisely why Jesus says in this verse, I can do nothing on My own initiative. It is not that Jesus is incapable of doing anything on His own but that if He were ever to do so while living as a human sent to reveal the real truth about the Father that He would neutralize the very method by which the Father had to be revealed. If Jesus were to even for a fleeting moment act or do or say anything from a motive infected with selfishness, He would have justified Satan's charges against the government of heaven and would have lost the war between Him and the enemy of God.

Notice the extremely close link created between this phrase and the definition of justice in the latter part of this verse. It is found in the word because. It is because Jesus never did anything on His own initiative that He is able to legitimately claim that His judgments are perfectly just and fair. The foundation of God's government rests squarely on the principles of selfless love and service for others. Thus, for Jesus to reveal the heart of God's true character that has been obscured ever since Lucifer introduced rebellion and sin into the universe, He could not be tainted in the slightest with the toxic poison of selfishness even in the slightest degree.

Thus is becomes plain here that real justice and valid judgment must always be totally free of the contaminating element of self-serving or selfishness on the part of anyone doing the judging. If we apply this principle to the many times that we judge those around us or even judge God about how He treats us, it becomes quickly evident that our ways of doing judgment are pretty much all counterfeit in nature and are invalid and distorted. Only the judgment of God as revealed in the ways and life of Jesus demonstrates what true justice looks like.

And, contrary to the claims and attempts of Satan to drive a wedge between the ideas of justice and mercy, forgiveness and fairness, grace and law, it will finally be seen that there really is no distinction whatsoever between these concepts in the heart of the Father. Real justice is mercy and authentic mercy is one of the highest forms of true justice. Law and grace will at last be seen to have no tension whatsoever between them, but all of these are simply perfectly synchronized expressions of the balanced and amazing synergy of the one central reality in the heart of the Father – supreme love.

Just as a rainbow is an integrated and inseparable demonstration of light broken down into a variated illustration of the aspects of pure light, so all of the varied identities that we think of as different and possibly even in competition with each other are only the variated revelations of the heart of passionate love from a perfect Father who has created all things beautiful in its time.

This revelation of truth confronts me very strongly. I know that Jesus is my perfect example of how to live. What I am seeing more clearly here is that anytime I act from my own initiative that very likely I will find myself straying out of the ways of God and into the counterfeit system of thinking that appears so logical and practical. All sorts of questions immediately begin to rise up in my mind and many of them are not easy to answer. But the words of Jesus cannot be avoided and I am compelled to examine my own motives and beliefs and assumptions about how to live life each day as a practical Christian like Jesus did.

And yet, if I want my life to reflect the kind of justice that comes from God's heart, then I must learn to live as Jesus lived in some sort of perfect arrangement of reflective righteousness instead of self-initiated goodness with lots of God's help. Now, that's starting to sound like something I've heard before.

Father, continue to transform me and teach me and polish me and use me to reflect more and more Your goodness and perfect love and Your kind of judgment and justice. Help me to hear more clearly so that my choices and actions and words are reflective of Your nature and character instead of mine. Make me a better channel of Your truth and compassion and love and grace to others today – for Your name's sake, Amen.