Sign of Authority

He said, "Take these things away; stop making My Father's house a place of business." His disciples remembered that it was written, "ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE WILL CONSUME ME." The Jews then said to Him, "What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?" Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." (John 2:16-19)

For most of my life I have puzzled over the answer that Jesus gave here to the challenge of the Jews in this story. Of course I have heard many dissertations about this passage but usually the only thing they focused on was the obvious fact that the Jews misunderstood what He was really talking about. But now I am becoming aware that it really may be most of us who still misunderstand what He was really talking about because of our lack of awareness of the real issues going on in this situation and in the life of Jesus.

We have only been viewing this event in the context of a bunch of prejudiced Jews getting bent out of shape because some guy came along and busted up their nice party and ruined their efficient methods of exploiting the common people with their financial scams. We also generally see Jesus as losing patience with people who are not respecting God's house, who are acting irreverently in places where our traditions would not tolerate such goings-ons and so we feel sympathy with what we suppose is an angry God lashing out at people who have offended Him.

This fits quite nicely with my old picture of God, the one that is commonly accepted and embraced by nearly all of the world. But the more I have been coming to know the real truth about God's disposition toward us the less this model fits in this story. As a result I have found myself puzzling even more as to the real reason that Jesus acted and spoke the way that He did on this occasion.

Because human zeal or passion is almost always to some degree contaminated with selfishness to some extent, I take a very suspicious view of most people's motives whenever they quote these verses to justify their attacks against anyone who makes them feel uncomfortable in church. This has been a favorite reference for those who want to make church a place totally controlled by conservatives who want silence and “reverence” in the sanctuary. Of course that reverence is usually external in nature and has little to do with the condition of the heart. In fact, what I have observed over the years is that human's definitions of reverence generally lead more toward apathy or even producing resentment on the part of those oppressed by these artificial demands than they do encouraging people toward loving God more passionately. But since externals are the only things important to counterfeit religion that should not be too surprising.

I am not suggesting in the slightest that Jesus was not upset about the terrible things going on in the house of God and decided to do something about it. What I do believe however, is that His motives and His perspective were very different than those who claim to be acting in His name many times today. It is the spirit and atmosphere around a person produced by their perspective of God and what they truly value as important that defines the results of how their actions in the name of reverence are going to affect those around them. I really don't believe that Jesus was so much upset about the decibel level in the temple causing Him to chase out the Jews desecrating this house just to replace them with singing, dancing children as is what happened in the second cleansing of the temple a few years later. I highly suspect that if this were to occur today that most religious people would feel just as scandalized by the shouts of children after Jesus cleansed temple as the Jews felt for being thrown out in the first place.

As I meditated on the words in this passage and pondered what clues might be found to unpack this strange statement of Jesus in answer to the question of the Jews, it suddenly occurred to me that there was something much bigger going on here than simply a confrontation between Jesus and some very bigoted Jews who didn't like their nice little scams disrupted. What I began to realize is that the question about authority demanded by the Jews was not even necessarily their idea to start with. This statement has the familiar ring of a screaming protest from the one who had been infecting their hearts and was orchestrating all of this deception and exploitation to begin with. It was a protest of Satan himself demanding an explanation for why Jesus thought He could get away with doing things without Satan's permission.

Now I know that at first this sounds very bizarre. But don't too quick to pass judgment until you more carefully consider the much bigger picture of the real struggle going on here. As I began to remember much of what I have been learning over the past few years about authority and the significance of the things going on in the universe outside of the notice of most human beings, it all began to make much more sense to me. And the answer that Jesus returned for the demand voiced by these human Jews suddenly fit quite perfectly when viewed from the higher viewpoint of the real war going on behind the scenes.

It is very important to understand the context of other issues and the real battle over authority of this earth in order to understand better what I am talking about here. This issue is not just a protest of Jews trying to protect their turf and keep their suppressive money-making schemes in tact. This was a desperate struggle between Christ and Satan for control of the recognized position of authority over this whole planet. And this little conversation is an insight into that struggle coming out more into the open.

It is important to note that back soon after creation one of the main events that took place was a transfer of power and authority over control of this earth. Notice who originally possessed the authority designated by the Creator of this earth.

Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth." So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." (Genesis 1:26-28 NRSV)

But something quite tragic took place soon after this designation of authority to Adam. The legitimate earthly representatives for this planet were induced into relinquishing their authority to an another being, an angelic being bent on setting up an alternative government in the universe. He deceived Eve into mistrusting the goodness and truthfulness of God and after capturing her allegiance he in turn helped her to seduce Adam into relinquishing his rightful position of sovereign ruler over this earth. As a result Satan immediately took control of the position as representative of this world and maintained that role for another 4000 years.

There is strong evidence of this situation in the book of Job where it is revealed that Satan attended the meetings convened in the universe's House of Representatives held in heaven where he likely presented his “papers” as the authorized representative of this world. (see Job 1:6,7) I am sure that God was certainly very unhappy with this arrangement, but since God is a God of respect of the free choices of all His created beings He allowed this situation to exist until His secret plan for changing this situation would be fully revealed later on.

But another interesting thought occurred to me as I pondered the likely arrangement that God has set up in this representative body that meets in heaven. I would think that it is very likely that the representatives who meet there to do whatever it is they do in those meetings are very likely the first and most important beings from their respective planets that are of the same order of beings as those they represent. This only makes sense as it wouldn't seem right to have a different kind of being represent others who are not even of the same order. That sort of defeats the whole concept of representation.

But in this situation from earth, it may have been asserted by Satan that heaven's rules had to be suspended on this point since Adam and Eve had legitimately handed over their authority to Satan. He probably insisted that because of this relinquishment of power and dominion to another being that heaven had to accept his credentials and allow him to speak on behalf of those back on earth, even though he himself was not human. Besides, after a thousand years had passed Adam was not even around any longer to represent earth even if he had been able to travel to heaven, so it only made sense that Satan would have to be the one to represent earth from here on out.

But the fact of the matter is that God had conceived a plan before creation had even occurred that the rest of the universe was unaware of. This plan begins to emerge in the first words of God to Adam and Eve after they had sinned. Satan did not know for sure what the details of this plan were or how it was going to effect his security as ruler of this planet, but he was keen to carefully analyze every emerging clue as it became more evident over the years in his attempt to decipher how God was going to try to undermine his victory in the garden and his control over the world.

By the time of Jesus' birth Satan was starting to likely get much more nervous about the security of his position. And one of the greatest threats that he perceived coming from God to unlock Satan's grasp over this earth was the fact that Jesus was born as a human being. This was a most important detail in God's counterattack against Satan's coup in the garden. This was setting the stage to replace Satan with another Representative from this planet who would have even better credentials that could be recognized as more legitimate and in line with the requirements met by all the other worlds represented in the councils of heaven. He was going to be a real human.

This issue of the struggle over the authority of this world becomes much more obvious during the life of Jesus on this earth. Several times Jesus referred to this issue and it helps me begin to piece together more clearly the real reasons that Jesus came to this earth to live and die as a human being to redeem us. Redemption itself is simply another description of this plan by God to rescue us from under the tyranny of Satan's domination over this earth that he took away from Adam. This is also seen in the explanation by Paul in Romans 5 that exposes more of the details of this supernatural struggle going on and how God found a way to take back the authority that had been surrendered by Adam.

So how does this encounter between Jesus and the Jews relate to all of this? I now realize that it is right in the middle of this battle over authority. The Jews were simply parroting the words of their master spirit who was demanding why Jesus thought He could get away with disrupting the arrangements he had set up with his human agents to pervert the worship of God. Since Satan was still the authorized representative of this world at that point in time, he was demanding, as the legitimate ruler, why Jesus could take actions that refused to recognize Satan's authority over all humans. But this also implies that the Jews were actually operating under full cooperation with the authority of Satan. Jesus even explicitly told them at one time that their father was the devil.

During the life of Christ here on earth, He was repeatedly doing and saying things that were out of line with the authority of Satan. Jesus was acting and speaking in ways that asserted that He was taking over the authority of this earth as was refusing to recognize in the slightest any jurisdiction of Satan over Him. The only reason that He could do this and remain outside of Satan's authority and control was to remain completely free of all sin. Satan had jurisdiction over everyone who were under the sin of Adam which includes everyone born on this planet except for Jesus.

But here is a most important point about this issue of authority. Jesus was not born of a human MAN. This gives a very strong clue that sinfulness is passed down through the male side of the human genealogy and also explains why it was so important that Jesus be born only of a human woman. There are Scriptures that give strong indication of this fact as well. Do a word search through the Bible on the iniquity of the fathers and you will find some very fascinating insights along this line.

But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. (Galatians 4:4-5)

So, evidently part of God's secret plan to replace the one in authority over this world was to bypass the inherent iniquity problem that is inevitably passed down through the father's from generation to generation. Jesus did this by becoming a human only carrying the human genes from a human woman but not a human man. Because God was the real father of Jesus and not Joseph or any other human, Jesus was able to take upon His nature the likeness of human flesh without becoming contaminated with the propensities of sin that cause all of the rest of us to be infected with the virus of sin from our birth.

For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:3-4)

Did this give Jesus an advantage over the rest of humanity? Absolutely. But ironically, that very advantage became the greatest liability that He had to contend with throughout His lifetime of temptations and attacks from Satan while here on earth. But that is a whole other topic that I don't have time for in this article.

The fact is, in doing it this way Jesus was able to fulfill far better the qualifications as representative of this earth because He was fully a human being even though He did not have an earthly father. He took on sinful human flesh in the fact that His physical body and abilities that He received from Mary were degenerated by 4000 years of the effects of sin. He had all the weaknesses and frailties of human nature but without the bent to sin, the inherent propensities that the rest of us receive from our fathers. It was not necessary for Him to be a sinner like us in order to recapture the position of authority back from Satan. In fact, it is this very point that qualified Him to even be able to claim legitimate authority back from Satan. For if He had ever taken on the infection of sin into His heart by trusting in His own power instead of totally depending on the power of God from outside of Himself even for one moment, He would have disqualified Himself just as the first Adam had done and would have come under the dominion of Satan and then would have lost all right to take away Satan's authority.

But just how did Jesus actually accomplish ousting Satan from his seat of power and take away the authority from him? What was the legal maneuver that was required to claim the position as authorized representative for this earth?

The answer to that is found right here in the verses I started out with. When Satan and the Jews demanded to know what sign He could produce to legitimize His claim of authority on earth, Jesus immediately answered by pointing to His coming death and resurrection as the event that would finalize His assertion of authority over this planet. And when that event would take place He fully intended to assert that authority RETROACTIVELY all the way back to the time of Adam in order to be able to save every human who had ever lived on this planet. That is not to say that all of them will end up being saved in heaven. But the plan that God put in place gave Jesus authority over the lives of everyone who had ever descended from Adam because according to Revelation, Jesus was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. (Rev. 13:8)

Included in the plan was provision for salvation for every human being who would choose to believe that it was true. Jesus accomplished everything necessary for us to not only be alive right now but to keep our life for all eternity if we trust in the plan already worked out on our behalf. We do not have to do anything to change God's attitude toward us in this regard. The whole focus of heaven is to change our minds about how God feels about us.

Notice how the words of Jesus touch on this issue again during an event shortly before His death.

"Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself." But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die. (John 12:31-33)

This makes it even more clear how Jesus intended to upset Satan's kingdom and retake the planet for the kingdom of heaven. It was going to be accomplished through the enormous power of attraction that would be put into place when He would be sacrificed by humans in their rage against the revelation of God's character in the person of Jesus. In giving His life willingly He would prove once and for all that there is nothing anyone can do, there is no evils so extreme, there is no way that anyone can hurt God bad enough to cause Him to stop loving us unconditionally and completely, freely forgive us.

All throughout His life Jesus kept talking about the kingdom of heaven that was taking over. We can't properly understand the significance of these statements unless we place them in the context of the much bigger struggle going on over the issue of who has supreme authority over this earth. When that becomes the context for viewing everything else, suddenly new light begins to shine on all other subjects and we can more clearly discern truth in many things that have long been buried in shadows of confusion and endless theological arguments.

Also note the words of Jesus just in His last discourse with His disciples.

"And He, (the Holy Spirit) when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. "I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. (John 16:8-12)

Very soon after Jesus accomplished this event, He declared very plainly the real purpose for His death and resurrection.

Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth." (Matthew 28:18) I take that at least as partly referring to the fact that from this point on Jesus was the authorized representative in the assemblies of heaven for this planet and that Satan's credentials had effectively been revoked. After this major turning point in the great battle over control of this world, Satan no longer as any authority whatsoever. He has lost all of his power and is now fully subject to the authority of Christ and those who are willing to live under His authority.

But even as I was researching the texts about this while writing it, I came across some verses that reminded me of the ultimate goal of God throughout all of this struggle and the maneuvering of events in the supernatural world. It challenges most of our paradigms about how God desires to relate to His children and shatters our common assumptions about God's desire for control and power, but it gives us a glimpse into the real heart of the Father.

For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming, then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. For HE HAS PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET. But when He says, "All things are put in subjection," it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him. When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:21-28)

This makes me seriously consider the idea that very possibly this whole issue of authority and power and dominion has been artificially instituted because of the disruptive presence of sin and the problems it has caused throughout the entire universe. This may also possibly include the existence of the heavenly “House of Representatives”. According to these verses it appears to me that God is looking forward to a time when the whole system built up around authority and rules and power itself is going to disappear altogether. I am fascinated by this insight as I realize that God's real heart is for everyone to live as a family and not under the concept of kingdoms or kingship at all.

God has needed to communicate to us using kingdom or hierarchal terminology because that is all that we will comprehend in our current mindset. But ultimately His “kingdom” is not really a kingdom at all because that is not the kind of relationship that He really desires to have with us. This arrangement is only a transition phase that Jesus plans to bring to an end. The Godhead is not interested in controlling the universe through laws and decrees as we have always thought. For in reality, God's laws are not arbitrary rules demanding obedience like men's laws are. God's laws are simply expressions of the principles of reality and of cause and effect.

So when everyone in the universe has been restored into harmony with the principles of reality and are fully in sync with the love that emanates from the life-giving, selfless heart of the Father, there will be no longer any need whatsoever for a system of control through authority. Love will be the single synchronizing presence that will cause every heart to thrive, to grow and to live in perfect reflection of how God designed all of creation to function in the first place. And when that perfect synchronization is accomplished through the full revelation of the truth about God's love, then there were be no longer any need for authority. It will have become obsolete and will be surrendered to the superior model of perfect, selfless love and joyful service in the great family of all heaven.

Consuming Zeal

He said, "Take these things away; stop making My Father's house a place of business." His disciples remembered that it was written, "ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE WILL CONSUME ME." The Jews then said to Him, "What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?" (John 2:16-18)

I have felt a growing desire to shift the focus of my personal study and meditation time to something that will address more directly the deeper heart issues that are most important in my relationship with God. I decided after some thought to go back to the writings of John and dwell on them for awhile. Because of the different nature of the John's books compared to the other New Testament authors I feel that God may be able to speak more directly to my own heart through these passages. I want to catch up on getting my heart more matured as well as continuing to stimulate my intellectual understanding of reality and truth.

A few years ago right after I learned how to study inductively I chose to start here in John and see what God would show me personally. I was overwhelmed and amazed as each morning the Holy Spirit would surprise me with fresh, new, exciting insights as I allowed myself to open up to whatever He chose to reveal to me. I discovered to my amazement that I could literally spend weeks reading the very same verses over and over each morning and discover totally new concepts and truths when I felt that there simply could be nothing left to uncover. I finally chose to move on simply because I was getting tired of sitting in the very same place, not because I believed I had uncovered all there was to learn.

At that time I also discovered the incredible effectiveness of journaling or note-taking. I found that if I would simply begin to write down even the slightest new thought that came to my mind about a passage, that usually before I could finish writing it down there would be a whole string of related insights that would begin to emerge quickly and I often could barely keep up in capturing it on paper. I ended up with several legal pads full of notes and insights that had captivated my imagination, but tragically all of those notes seem to have been lost when we were forced to move suddenly.

Now I feel compelled to come back to these same Scriptures again and seek to encounter some of the same truths and more. But John's focus is on things so important and fundamentally core to having a genuine relationship with God that I am very sure that I will not be bored or disappointed. John, more than any other disciple, seemed to catch on to the real reason that Jesus came to this earth in the first place and was the most eloquent in explaining this to those who are willing to listen with their hearts.

That is precisely the thing that I feel that I need the most. I want to learn to live from my heart more effectively and more consistently. I want to encounter God at the heart level even more so than to perceive reality with my mind, as exciting and stimulating as that has been over the past few years. I have been learning many things about living from the heart and have been practicing them as much as I can. But the more that I do so the more I realize how stiff and malnourished my own heart and soul have been for most of my life.

My own heart has long been buried under years of performance-based ideas of religion and masses of lies about how God feels about me. On top of that the culture in which I grew up frowned upon expressing emotions very much so I learned to suppress my feelings in attempts to live a religion totally from the head without any reference to the condition of my spirit. This resulted in a very powerless religion primarily focused on behavior control and maintaining external appearances but did nothing to address the internal pain accumulated through years of neglect and abuse of my own heart and emotions. This has resulted in many buried land mines, triggers that became real problems whenever others might accidentally set off some of these. It created real stresses in my relationships with others, and my lack of emotional nurturing and development left huge voids inside of me that still crave deeply for real fulfillment and satisfaction. My external-based religion had nothing to offer me to effectively resolve these tormenting pains except demands for more struggle to ignore or repress them. But I have been learning that this is not God's way of relating to sinners.

What I really need and what John discovered for himself in the years he spent with Jesus was that the only thing that addresses the inner turmoil and pain that causes violent outbursts or despair and depression is a love that we can never find on this earth. John had a reputation for being a hot-head, and the anger that simmered in his soul was not unlike the ever-present resentment and anger that seethed in my own heart for many years. I am aware that there are still residual pockets of that anger hiding deep out of sight inside of me and I want to cooperate with God in allowing Him access to those places of fear, shame and anger inside so that He can bring real healing and wholeness to my heart. I want to experience more fully the incredible transformation that marked the life of John who became so changed by the love he encountered in his best friend Jesus that one would hardly recognize that he was the same man Jesus picked up along the lake front.

The last time I went through this book I spent a great deal of time on each verse and sometimes on each phrase and word. I really don't know what is going to happen this time, but so far I have simply chosen to expose myself to reading part of a passage and carefully listening to whatever the Spirit wants to impress on me. I am likely to find myself suddenly captivated by some new thought that explodes out of a particular word or phrase as I was last time. But after years of experience using the inductive method I am a different person now than when I passed this way before and I suspect God may have different things to say to me. But the main purpose that I want to marinate in these particular writings is, as I have said, to nurture and feed my heart with the assistance of my intellect as a helper and advisor. I want to have more balance between my intellect and my growing connection to the passion that I am increasingly perceiving glowing from the nuclear power-center of God's heart.

One of the early flashes of that passion appears in the verse quoted at the beginning here. This verse comes at the end of a story of Jesus entering the temple at the beginning of His public ministry years and becoming so overwhelmed with God's feelings about the suffocating lies about God that He carries out some very unusual actions that have baffled many and have even been misinterpreted by religion much of the time. I have been dwelling on this story for a couple days or more now just trying to absorb with my mind and heart the real significance of what this means in my own life. I don't think that it is all clear to me yet, but I do sense some very important sentiments in the heart of Jesus revealed in this story that I would like to resonate with more distinctly in my own spirit. At the same time, I perceive that the zeal that I am more familiar with from my own background is probably not reflective of the zeal that Jesus displayed in this event.

I want to become filled with His zeal, the pure and holy passion that drove Jesus to such extreme behavior without any taint of the false motives and prejudice so often present in common religious zealotry. I want to not only understand and know the zeal that comes from God but I want to be as consumed by it as Jesus was in this story. But one thing that I am aware of is that everything that Jesus did flowed from the heart of His Father and was for the purpose of demonstrating His love and a desire to draw everyone into an intimate connection with the real Source of life instead of depending on artificial, counterfeit ideas of religion to give us life. Everything in God's ways are designed to bring reconciliation, not confrontation as much as possible.

Different Doctrine

If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. (1 Timothy 6:3-6)

These verses really bring up a lot of emotional memories for me. Not that this specific passage was used necessarily to support a specific theory, but that the sentiments revealed in these verses are so descriptive of much of what happened around me for so many years. They also remind me of the very strong reaction that people like those described here typically have if they are confronted with a passage like this.

I can remember many times when the term “strange doctrine” was used as a quick label slapped on any idea that was different from what we already considered as settled truth. Never mind that it might not fit too well with the clear teachings of Jesus about love, compassion, or other heart-oriented issues that we never understood very well; if something sounded different from what we had always assumed or made us feel uncomfortable then it was quickly labeled as strange and dangerous doctrine that needed to be avoided and not even considered. The only way that discussion was allowed about such topics was in the context of coming up with strong statements in opposition to such heretical notions.

Unfortunately, I realize now that many fundamental truths of the gospel ended up in this box labeled “strange doctrines”. Thus it became very difficult at best for me to make sense out of many religious terms and concepts. I could easily make a quick list of such things that tended to seem mystical for most of my life simply because they were off-limits for serious consideration with an open mind and heart. Included in this list would be things like grace, joy, unconditional love, the gospel as really good news, a Christian experience based primarily on a personal relationship with God. All of these things were either viewed at best with a sense of strong suspicion or sometimes openly labeled as heresies that were trying to infiltrate and dilute the “truth once delivered to the saints”, attempts to undermine the foundations of truth.

I have grown much over the past few years in my spiritual perceptions. I have been convicted by God to let go of more and more of the lies that the enemy planted into my heart through the misunderstandings of my forefathers, ideas that crippled their own abilities to understand the truth about the gospel and inhibited their capacities to grow deeper in a true knowledge of the truth. I have let go of many of my fears about open mindedness while still maintaining caution about ignoring warnings from a more educated conscience. I still want to stay within the safety of obedience to convictions from the Spirit of God, but I am learning that the condition of our spirit is of far more importance than the accuracy of our facts and doctrines as good as that may be.

As I have touched on at other times, it is extremely easy for nearly anyone to label ideas that are different from theirs as strange doctrines. To even begin to fairly understand a text such as this takes a desire for true discernment and even more, a willingness to be synchronized with the true spirit of Jesus. If a person has a seriously damaged or distorted concept of God – and all of us are damaged in this arena to some extent or another, to the extent of that damage will be our vulnerability to misuse and misapply the words of this passage. It is always far easier to apply these warnings to other people who disagree with our viewpoints and opinions than it is to honestly ask God to show us our own blind spots and humble ourselves in the light of the example of Jesus.

I find myself very frustrated as to how to even relate to the spirit of people described here. I say that because I was carefully trained for so long to be one of them myself and thus I am all too aware of how thoroughly deluded such a person can become. But I also observed the long-term deleterious effects of such entrenched thinking and stubbornness in the lives of people very close to me. Again, I am coming to realize that the only way to properly receive this passage is to keep it in the context of guarding the condition of my spirit even more than trying to come up with a formula for proving that I'm right and those who disagree with me are wrong.

As I looked this over yet again this morning after thinking about it yesterday off and on, it became even more clear to me that this is exactly what Paul is trying to get across here. He starts off by describing people who are promoting doctrines and ideas that are “different”, but ends up describing the end fruit of harboring a spirit of bitterness and stubbornness. Different is simply a word to describe anything that is not what we already believe or assume. If everything that is different is wrong, then it will be completely impossible for anyone to arrive at truth – everyone cannot be correct, but truth is not discovered by coming up with the most potent arguments or the most forceful coercion.

I am coming to believe that real truth is not based on facts nearly as much as it is rooted in the sense of what a person is like – and that person is best seen in the one perfect example, Jesus our Savior. Paul did not have to explain all of this right here and was able to assume that he would be understood because of his close relationship and long history of sharing the real spirit of truth with Timothy, the one this letter was addressed to. Whenever we talk to people we always have to operate on a certain level of making assumptions about shared concepts or else communication becomes impossible to start with. On the other hand, the closer the shared views are between people the more freely they can say things without fear of being misunderstood or needing to elaborately explain what they are trying to express.

However, that same ease and clearness of speech based on shared experience and assumptions becomes the very point of greatest vulnerability when others not sharing in those same assumed perceptions come to read those same words. Thus “different” for Paul and Timothy will be something radically opposite of what different would mean to the people that he is describing here. So just to assume that anything different than our particular entrenched beliefs will be wrong is a very dangerous assumption at best. The same warning has to be applied to many other words and phrases in this passage as well and for the same reasons.

As I look over these verses I see a number of key words and phrases that are turning points that need to be examined in the light of Paul's shared assumptions with those he believes will understand what he is really trying to get across here. Let me take a stab at making a quick list.

• Different doctrine

• Sound words

• Conforming to godliness

• Controversial questions

• Disputes about words

• The truth

One's definitions for each of these items is going to be seriously slanted based on their own preconceived ideas and assumptions about what is important and what should be emphasized. But it is not necessary to throw up our hands and give up trying to understand what Paul really intended to convey or what he had in mind in reference to the warnings given here. There is also nothing wrong with spending some time exploring history a little bit to find the context of the culture that he was living in or was addressing where Timothy was living. While we have to be careful of teachers using such information to insinuate their own biases on others, it can be very enlightening to discover that Paul may not have been referring at all to the hot-button issues that we might want to bring into the discussion and enforce with such passages as this.

What I do feel is even more important to note, even much more critical than knowing what issues he may have had in mind with Timothy, is what shows up in the later part of these verses. Notice the increasing emphasis that Paul makes in pointing out the results of the activities of such kind of people in the church. Again, I am coming to realize that God is far more concerned with the condition of our spirit and how that affects our relationship to His body than whether or not we are perfectly aligned on every point of doctrine. I am not knocking sound doctrine at all, but I believe strongly that there will be millions in the kingdom of heaven who are very mixed up about all sorts of facts but who have responded in their spirit to the drawing of God's Spirit on their heart. And what is described in these verse is definitely not the fruit of God's Spirit.

Note the various attitude references, descriptors of the results of the spirit of people that Paul is warning Timothy to watch out against, as well as the progressive nature of these descriptions.

• Advocates

• Does not agree (with the words of Jesus)

• Does not agree (with doctrine conforming to godliness)

• Conceited

• Understands nothing

• Morbid interest in controversy...

• Disputes

• Envy

• Strife

• Abusive language

• Evil suspicions

• Constant friction

• Depraved mind

• Deprived of the truth

• Suppose that godliness is a means of gain (crass greed)

I have to admit that not only have I seen all of these fruits in the lives of people such as are described here, but I am also guilty at times of probably producing some of these terrible fruits myself. Much could be said about each item on this list, but I question how edifying that would really be when the real issue lies in the condition of my spirit more than in trying to avoid these various symptoms.

Jesus, I ask you to live in my heart, to transform my spirit to be reflective of that which You demonstrated while here on earth. I give you complete permission to reveal the infections, roots of bitterness that still remain in my heart that can produce these terrible symptoms of disharmony among Your children. You know the history I have of generational critical attitudes that has spoiled so many lives in my clan. I ask for Your freedom from this divisive spirit and to be filled with the glory of Your humble, joyful spirit of grace. Place in me the spirit of free and willing service as described in the first two verses of this chapter. Reveal in my life what true godliness really looks like, the kind of godliness that reflects the real truth about You and that is a means of great gain as You said in verse six.

Father, I praise You and thank You for Your word to me this day. Remind me of Your thoughts, Your feelings toward me, Your passionate love for me all through this day and each day to come. Draw me deeper into intimacy with Your perfect heart of unrelenting love for everyone that has been created by You. Cause me to share in Your passion to draw hearts into a saving truth of how You really feel about them. Use me in any way possible to attract everyone possible to fall in love with You and to let go of their misconceptions about how You feel about them. I trust You and give myself to You for this purpose today.

Attractive Judgment

The sins of some people are conspicuous and precede them to judgment, while the sins of others follow them there. So also good works are conspicuous; and even when they are not, they cannot remain hidden. (1 Timothy 5:24-25 NRSV)

I found myself in a discussion last week in church about judgment and I was racking my brain to figure out where to find a text I wanted to share to help explain a point. I had no idea where it was located so I simply had to try to paraphrase it as best I could since I didn't have my computer with me to look it up. I have obviously become quite dependent on my computer to help me locate what I am looking for in the Bible most of the time.

I realize that it would be better to have all the texts memorized so that I could refer to them any time I need to, but there are at least a couple reasons why I haven't done that. One is that my mind is struggling to just remember even what I did a few minutes ago. I am very suspicious that the amalgam used in most of my teeth many years ago are having their effect poisoning my system and causing recall problems on a grand scale now. I wish that I could have all of these fillings replaced but at present do not have the funds to do so. The second reason is that in my mind I have always associated having many texts memorized with people who tend to have done so in order to bombard others with proof texts during arguments in attempts to force them into believing certain doctrines. This is highly offensive to me – the forcing part that is – and I believe it reflects a very wrong spirit that is unlike the Spirit of Jesus.

I realize that having texts committed to memory is not a bad thing in the least and is actually a very good safeguard against temptation. I have grappled with this issue for most of my life and still don't have a definitive answer for it. But I do feel that it is very important to have the mind filled with the Word of God to overflowing whether or not one can instantly spit out the exact chapter and verse where it is located. I am even now experiencing the effects of increased exposure to the Word of God. The Spirit often brings to my mind things that I have read and pondered and struggled to understand more clearly. But somehow I believe it is much more important to have the content and value of a passage firmly rooted in the mind and heart than it is to be able to outdo everyone else around you in being able to know exactly where it is found, though that can certainly be helpful at times.

Well, that is not what I set out to share initially this morning. What I started out wanting to say is that just a couple days later after not being able to remember where the text was that I wanted to use, that while reading ahead in 1 Timothy where I have been studying for awhile now, I suddenly came across the very verse that I was looking for. As I read the verse and the following one I couldn't help but feel more urging to really understand these verses more clearly.

These are verses that in some translations particularly are not exactly real clear as to their meaning. So when that is the case I find it helpful to check out a number of other translations to see what insight I can get from that method. Then I also went to the Greek and looked at each word to see what sense I might detect from the original words that might shed light or give insights that are sometimes not so clear in the English versions.

What I concluded, at least so far, is that the NRSV seems to have the most obvious wording that helps me on the way to unpacking these verses initially. But I also want to pray and listen to anything God might have to further enhance my awareness of the real truth in these verses as well as to discover any related texts that might help me understand it better. This verse has been constant in my mind for several days now and because of that I feel that God is wanting me to pursue a deeper revelation about truth and about Him through this window of Scripture.

Yesterday I wrote for about three hours on this very issue as it relates to judgment. Once I started I felt compelled to keep writing until most of what was coming to me was captured. I really don't know what plans God has for some of these writings, whether they will turn into public talks of some sort or will be resources for someone else who is much better at verbalizing insights than I am. But one of the first complementing texts that came to my attention was this one.

He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion. (Proverbs 28:13)

As I have become more keenly aware over the past few years of the real meaning and significance behind many religious terms and words that have long been obscured by tradition, I have suddenly seen very different but clearer truths as I go back and read things that I have read many times but could not perceive before. I am realizing that religion has hijacked so many words and given them subtly different meanings that there is quite literally a parallel language developed that is now almost universally embraced while the deeper, clearer message of the gospel has been nearly obscured in the process.

As I have taken time to explore and dig up the buried or forgotten meanings of each word and then put them back together the way the Bible presents them, I am amazed at the beauty, the clarity and the radical difference there is between the philosophies of religion that I grew up being taught and that is still all around me, and the real power in the Word of God as it was originally intended to be. This is an ongoing process and I continue to try to keep my mind open to further clarification of words, phrases and concepts that are still confusing or that still insinuate subtle lies about God promoted by the enemy of our souls.

These verses may be a classic example of typically misunderstood passages due to lack of careful examination and meditation. Also, if one has in their mind the typical ideas about judgment as being an event in the future where God is going to make forceful determinations about everyone's fate as they are singled out for interrogation and sentencing, then this verse and a great many others are going to be somewhat confusing at best. Because we have generally associated judgment with feelings of condemnation and shame, we have been unable to discern the much deeper and exciting truths that are all over the place but remain hidden from our awareness.

But it is becoming more and more clear to me that the true meaning of judgment in the context of the Word of God (I am not talking about the counterfeit judicial systems here on earth) is much more along the order of natural consequences and is about the public exposure through specific circumstances that will allow everyone to see clearly what is really going on in a person's heart. Judgment is the revealing of the real motives that we have attempted to hide, the real feelings that we have harbored in secret, the deep cravings and thoughts that we believed were known only to us. This comes about, not due to God suddenly forcing people to come out into the open or arbitrarily declaring the secret things of their hearts against their will; but God is so wise and skilled in guiding circumstances and events that these secret things will be able to be seen by all due to the full maturation and outgrowth from the process of the thoughts themselves.

I don't know if I was able to explain that very well or not. But I am sure that many people will vehemently disagree with my viewpoint on this concerning the nature of the judgment. But that is O.K. I am personally accountable to God first and foremost in my search for real truth as is each person around me. This is what is becoming very clear to me and it is enabling me to open many other doors in the Bible and discover amazing insights that were hidden from me all my life because of my confusion and fear about the true nature of judgment.

When I came to realize that God is not in the business of condemnation – ever – then my views of judgment were forced to be reexamined and redefined if I was to maintain personal integrity of belief. I have spent years meditating and studying and praying about this subject, and the more I have learned and been impressed by God's Spirit the more excited I get about how good and perfect and wise God really is in the way He does things and relates to us.

What I am coming to realize, sometimes with the help of other resources and teachings that I have received, is that this process called judgment – the exposure of the secrets of the heart – is actually something very important that we need to be experiencing right now. It can be a fatal mistake to believe that the judgment is only something that is going to be imposed on us at some point in time far off in the distant future. There is an enormous amount of false teachings about judgment that elicits much fear and that are used to enforce control-oriented religions based on condemnation and intimidation. That is very convenient and useful for those who desire to maintain control over the minds of others and manipulate them through the use of abusive religious practices. But this is not the ways of the God of heaven as revealed in the Bible when it is properly understood. This is the result of massive errors and false assumptions about God accumulating over centuries through spiritual abuse of the Scriptures.

But over the past few years I have become much more aware of the very important aspect of internal healing of damaged emotions, of our great need for repair and replacement of many lies deeply embedded in painful memories from our past or locked in through trauma that has been hidden away from our consciousness but still strongly effects our relationships and perceptions. It is becoming much more obvious to me how much our religious experience and our relationship with God and those around us is nearly totally dominated and manipulated by our deep beliefs about reality formed during traumatic events in our past but often mostly forgotten by our conscious minds today. Those beliefs embedded deep in our hearts actually dictate to a very great extent how we really feel about life, about reality and about our identity and value far more than our conscious, intellectual beliefs that are stored in our more familiar left-brain libraries.

It is the much deeper and more powerful negative beliefs in our hearts rooted in various memories from our past that define how we perceive reality and truth to a large extent. And it is into these very places of pain and embedded lies that Jesus wants to bring the most radical healing and truth, in the emotional, right-brain part of our make-up. This is precisely what He addressed in His mission statement when He first began His earthly ministry.

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18-19 NRSV)

Over the past few years I have become more and more convinced that it is in the heart where all real religion, true spirituality has to take place primarily. The facts we learn, the doctrines we believe, the rules we subscribe to are all secondary and are only important as they help or hinder the condition of our heart and our spirit before God. Now when I read a text like this one in 1 Timothy, I have a very different perspective on what it may be trying to tell me about the judgment. It also correlates with some other things that Jesus talked about when it comes to the positive things that may be seen in our life as well.

Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)

Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6:1-4)