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101523 faithposting
Oct. 15th, 2023 09:11 pm"It seems that there is an innate mystical impulse in all of us—an impulse that must be very strong if it is found even in religions that don’t possess the fullness of truth. Well, it “seems like” it’s in our nature because it is. St. Augustine said: “Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.” The human heart longs (whether knowingly or unknowingly) for final union with God and the beatific vision consists in exactly that."
We're literally wired for heaven. That gives me so much hope. I feel so dead inside lately, but I'm still human, and that means God put this impulse in me even if I can't sense it right now. I wouldn't be typing this if it wasn't still working, whether sensibly felt or not.
"We can tap into mystical realities right here on earth through prayer... While the higher levels of mystical prayer—such as “unitive” prayer—take time to acquire (and not everyone will achieve the same levels), the pathway is open to us all. We can embark on it and follow that impulse towards God which He has planted in all our hearts."
I really, really need to understand prayer better.
My kneejerk definition is too mangled by childhood punishment and obligation; it doesn't properly grasp this beautiful, transcendent, mystical aspect of it that is apparently its TRUE DEFINITION to begin with.
Part of me is also very scared at that statement that "not everyone will achieve the same levels," but that part of me is the terrified hyperachiever, the one that believes that if she doesn't reach the absolute highest level of prayer and enlightment that she will be damned to hell for not trying hard enough. She takes religion, strips it of all love and tenderness, and turns it into a rat race. "I must be the best, the strongest, the smartest, or I WILL DIE." Where the heck did we learn that?? Especially with our faith??
Nevertheless, we know it's false, so now we just need to learn the actual Truth better, and integrate it, as I keep emphasizing. It's one thing to "know" what we must do or mustn't do; it's a whole other thing to make it an actual part of our psyche and active life. Application is the toughest part, as it springs from the internal environment, and if our new and better spiritual aspirations don't have actual roots inside they will never be realized.
"But be careful... many religions and pseudo-religions talk about mysticism. Only the Catholic Church, however, has the full truth and can teach us how to seek it properly. Non-Catholic mysticism is spiritually dangerous."
THIS IS WHAT I KEEP TRYING TO GET ACROSS TO "JADE."
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Okay jumping right into commentary as we're late.
HOWEVER. We technically finished Ellicott last night BUT I want to detour through MacLaren's commentary on Isaiah 53:1. I want a better grasp on that prophecy-- notably the "arm of the Lord"-- because I don't quite get it yet plus I've heard anti-Jesus opinions on it, so I need to strengthen my true faith foundation as it's essential to my understanding this verse's application to John 12.
"It would be doing violence to the gradual development of Revelation-- like tearing asunder the just-opening petals of a rose-- to read, into this question of the sad prophet, full-blown Christian truth; but it would be missing a clear anticipation of that truth to fail to recognise the forecasting of it that is here."
Just noting this very wise and important distinction.
BOTH sides are present in prophecy. It is God's Word and so it is LIVING & ACTIVE, especially since preserved in Scripture. It holds meaning for times far beyond the one in which it was first given, WITHOUT DETRACTING FROM THAT ORIGINAL INTENDED IMPORTANCE.
Isaiah spoke specifically to his time and people and that WAS GOD'S INTENT... but so was the later application to His Son, Who IS for all eternity, and Who was Present then just as He is now.
"[The] Old Testament [contains] some very remarkable phenomena in its modes of conception and speech as to the divine Nature (angel, face, name, arm, wisdom, etc.)... They all tend in the direction of preparing for the full Christian truth of the personal ‘Power of God.’ What was shown by glimpses ‘at sundry times and in divers manners,’ with many gaps in the showing and much left all unshown, is perfectly revealed in the Son. The New Testament, by its teaching as to ‘the Eternal Word,’ endorses, clears, and expands all these earlier dimmer adumbrations. That Word is the agent of the divine energy, and the conception of power as being exercised by the Word is even loftier than that of it as put forth by ‘the arm,’ by as much as intelligent and intelligible utterance is more spiritual and higher than force of muscle. The apostolic designation of Jesus as ‘the power of God and the wisdom of God’ blends the two ideas of these two symbols(!). The conception of Jesus Christ as the arm of the Lord, when united with that of the Eternal Word, points to a threefold sphere and manner of His operations, as the personal manifestation of the active power of God. In the beginning, the arm of the Lord stretched out the heavens as a tent to dwell in, and without Him ‘was not anything made that was made.’ In His Incarnation, He carried into execution all God’s purposes and fulfilled His whole will. From His throne He wields divine power, and rules the universe. ‘The help that is done on earth, He doeth it all Himself,’ and He works in the midst of humanity that redeeming work which none but He can effect."
Oh man we just started and this is phenomenal, pun intended.
First, this is part of HOW Jesus is the "fullness of God." He IS the Face, Name, Arm, and Wisdom of God, and arguably the "angel" too, in the sense of a divine messenger. But all of those terms in the OT only described facets of God, the way colors do in our System. They ALL show truth, absolutely, but not all the truth at once. This reflects how, by us mortals, God is only ever seen in His different colors, depending on how His Light hits our dim and limited eyes. There are different perspectives of viewers, different contexts of action, different times and purposes and effects... no one CAN see all of Him, it's impossible. He's Light in its totality. He's too infinite! AND YET... somehow, ineffably, Jesus is the Light, too. Jesus is a rainbow. Jesus is every color at once,
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Second, the Arm AND the Word are ONE. There's immense beauty & awe in that. His Power is perfectly revealed without "force"? He speaks and the impossible is done. His Wisdom IS His Power, and His Power IS His Wisdom.
That illustration, of the "arm" doing what we normally associate with the "Word," proves this.
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Third, and directly building on the second, we have the "threefold sphere." I had to really think about that: how is it three? It's because of the Incarnation.
Jesus is PERSONAL. He is VISIBLE. He is TANGIBLE! That had NEVER happened before in all existent history. God had always been at an infinite distance. Then, suddenly, Jesus.
NOW the fullness is seen. The Wisdom and Power unite IN SPACE & TIME.
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"We have here a prophetic paradox that the mightiest revelation of the arm of the Lord is in weakness. The words of the text stand in closest connection with the great picture of the Suffering Servant which follows, and the pathetic figure portrayed there is the revealing of the arm of the Lord. The close bringing together of the ideas of majesty and power and of humiliation, suffering, and weakness, would be a paradox to the first hearers of the prophecy. Its solution lies in the historical manifestation of Jesus... That humble man, lowly and poor, despised and rejected in life, hanging faint and pallid on the Roman cross, and dying in the dark, seems a strange manifestation of the ‘glory’ of God, but the Cross is indeed His throne, and sublime as are the other forms in which Omnipotence clothes itself, this is, to human eyes and hearts, the highest of them all. In Jesus the arm of the Lord is revealed in its grandest operation. Creation and the continual sustaining of a universe are great, but redemption is greater. It is infinitely more to say, ‘He giveth power to the faint,’ than to say, ‘For that He is strong in might, not one faileth,’ and to principalities and powers in heavenly places who have gazed on the grand operations of divine power for ages, new lessons of what it can effect are taught by the redemption of sinful men."
Oh dude I think I get it.
God's power is made perfect in our weakness because we can do nothing without it. We need God just to survive. We lack everything, but He gives everything-- and therefore His capacity of goodness stands in brilliant contrast to the dark emptiness of our mortal corruption.
...Julie and I frequently mention this principle. God can easily keep a virgin pure unto heaven, and beautifully so He does... but in all its shocking impossibility, it is more of a blessed miracle for Him to turn a whore into a saint. And He DOES. And He DELIGHTS in it.
THAT'S what this revelation is about. The true power of God's Arm cannot be seen unless it is tested in extremis, if we may use that term. It is only when all the odds & chances are stacked against it, and all the usual means & methods missing, that the divine Arm CAN work miraculously by its OWN POWER ALONE.
That greatest miracle is, indeed, salvation. Nothing in the entire universe could achieve it. So God Himself went even to the lowest point possible and THERE is where the impossible was wrought. Not even the angels could imagine that. Only God.
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"We have here a prophetic lament that the power revealed to all is unseen by many. The text is a wail over darkened eyes, blind at noonday. The prophet’s radiant anticipations of the Servant’s exaltation, and of God’s holy arm being made bare in the eyes of all nations, are clouded over by the thought of the incredulity of the multitude to ‘our report.’ God had indeed ‘made bare His arm,’ as a warrior throws back his loose robe, when he would strike. But what was the use of that, if dull eyes would not look? The ‘report’ had been loudly proclaimed, but what was the use of that, if ears were obstinately stopped? Alas, alas! nothing that God can do secures that men shall see what He shows, or listen to what He speaks. The mystery of mysteries is that men can, the tragedy of tragedies is that they will, make any possible revelation of none effect, so far as they are concerned. The Arm is revealed, but only by those who have ‘believed our report’ does the prophet deem it to be actually beheld. Faith is the individual condition on which the perfected revelation becomes a revelation to me. The ‘salvation of our God’ is shown in splendour to ‘all the ends of the earth,’ but only they who exercise faith in Jesus, who IS the Power of God, will see that far-shining light. If we are not of those who ‘believe the report,’ we shall, notwithstanding that ‘He hath made bare His holy arm,’ be of those who grope at noonday as in the dark."
Once again we have the critical emphasis on FAITH, as the ABILITY TO SEE TRUTH AT ALL.
"Incredulity" means to be "incredulous"-- which etymologically means not just "unbelieving," but "not trusting." You CANNOT believe if you don't TRUST what you perceive... or, worse, if you are preemptively unwilling to. When God bares His Arm and you refuse to even look in the first place, then you're very lost.
Again we are also warned against the spiritual laziness of presumption in lukewarm believers. Yes, God is omnipotent, but He is not obligated TO do everything, especially when your God-given freewill is concerned. God will not force you to listen. God will not magically make you hear. If you sit there complacent & indolent, uninterested & unconvinced, nothing will ever "automatically" happen to change you into what God is calling you to be. You have to CHOOSE to cooperate. God offers grace, but it does as much good as a wallet does locked in a closet when the bills are due. You must ACT. Otherwise, you will lose it. The vermin will find your fortunes and eat all its power away. You get the picture. You CANNOT EXPECT GOD TO "CHANGE YOU FOR YOU." You cannot expect to be miraculously "saved at the last second" if your whole life until then was carelessly spent in a completely different direction.
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But no matter how much a man may deny, reject, ignore, disbelieve, or disregard "the report"... man cannot change the Truth. God has spoken, whether you want to listen or not, and God's Word is alive. It WILL accomplish EVERYTHING is sets out to do. That Word IS JESUS CHRIST. Do you believe in Him?
Let me reiterate.
"Faith is the individual condition on which the perfected revelation becomes a revelation to me."
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Lastly, "The Arm is revealed, but only by those who have ‘believed our report’ does the prophet deem it to be actually beheld."
Remember yesterday, when we talked about "seeing" Christ, and "gazing upon" Him? THAT is "beholding" Him. You can ONLY see Christ if you BELIEVE HIS REPORT that He IS the "Arm of God." You cannot behold what you do not perceive. You cannot perceive what you do not look at, and you cannot look at what you do not trust is there. In the end, faith is the key to all awareness & knowledge both.
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Okay we're rambling. I really can't think straight away from a keyboard; phone typing is always dreadfully depreciated.
But I get it now. Thank You God for always speaking such clarity through Mr. MacLaren.
On to Adam Clarke.
"As our Lord and his disciples lived on charity, a bag or scrip was provided to carry those pious donations by which they were supported. And Judas was steward and treasurer to this holy company... But the apostle says Judas was a thief; and because he was a thief, and had the common purse in his power, therefore he stole as much as he conveniently could, without subjecting himself to detection. And, as he saw that the death of Christ was at hand, he wished to secure a provision for himself, before he left the company of the apostles."
Oh man so his ENTIRE PERSPECTIVE WAS FLAWED. He never planned to stick around if/when Jesus died-- because Judas was only in it for an earthly profit, hence his preoccupation with money, to "secure himself" when "everything fell apart." As if cash could save his soul! But evidently he was giving no thought to his soul to begin with-- otherwise he wouldn't have been stealing, a blatant sin worsened by the fact that not only were said funds meant to benefit others, but also because he KNEW deep down that he was sinning, because he did it secretly, aware of the risk of damaging his reputation. But again, what a truly wretched reputation, as it was polished by lies! God could see the rotten core.
Just... the NERVE, the cold-hearted gutlessness Judas displayed, in ALREADY HAVING DECIDED TO BAIL and shamelessly padding his exit with everyone else's skins.
The worst part for me is that word "conveniently." Easily. Casually. In ways that were opportune & favorable for him. Like it was a game. His conscience had to be so numb, the very thought of it is frightening.
But we've been there. Lest we forget, we WERE Judas once. That's WHY we shudder in horror and indignance at his actions: we wrought the very same, once. It is by grace alone that our intestines did not burst out of our hellbent stomach years ago.
Honestly, to this day i don't know why we didn't end up dead like that traitor of our Lord. It's a complete mystery. But God knows. All I can do is thank Him, and repay my debts with all I have left of my life.
"As long as Lazarus lived, the opponents of Jesus saw in him an incontestable proof of the Divine power of Christ; therefore they wished to put him to death, because many of the Jews, who came to see him through curiosity, became converts to Christ through his testimony..."
Lazarus's very life had become a testimony of Jesus as Christ, to the point where just seeing him was proof of the divine power that had worked in him. That is really the ideal goal of every Christian. It's dangerous, but that's the point! I would rather be actively hated for "incontestably" proclaiming Christ by my daily existence, than safe and overlooked because my life says nothing to His glory. Lazarus was only alive BECAUSE Jesus had undeniably and permanently exercised His divine Power on him in a state of death. His life now WAS Jesus, in a very real sense. Did not Jesus also call me four-days-dead from the tomb? Should not my life now be solely for Him, as it is solely from Him? Yes, yes it must be. My every breath must become a testimony to Life Himself.
"The final salvation of the soul often originates, under God, in a principle of simple curiosity. Many have only wished to see or hear a man who speaks much of Jesus, His miracles, and His mercies; and in hearing have felt the powers of the world to come, and have become genuine converts to the truths of the Gospel..."
On that note, consider the evangelization Lazarus achieved with no intellectual effort or acrobatics. People simply came to see the dead man who was no longer dead. They knew he had been buried and rotting, they knew he was already in the obituaries, they had grieved his loss and accepted his fate. And yet... here he is, breathing, speaking, living. Of course they wanted to see this with their own eyes-- they recognized a deep hope made manifest in him, a hope that perhaps nothing is beyond hope itself, that death in all its forms is not final. They came to see Lazarus... but, unexpectedly, they saw Jesus. It was inevitable. It was undeniable. From this walking miracle they learned the Name of the Miracle-Worker, and in that faithful revelation, their hearts, too, were quietly called to a new life.
People who saw you in the sepulchre will be stunned to see you standing now. They will want to know what happened. You must tell them Who the Answer Is. That is the strongest evangelization you can do.
"How blind were these men not to perceive that He who had raised him, after he had been dead four days, could raise him again though they had slain him a thousand times?"
Do not be afraid of those who seek to drag you back down into the dark. Do not despair at nights like tonight, when you can taste the grave-dirt and fear that stone rolling between you and the light once again. The Light is within you now. He has gone down into the grave with you, and it could not-- cannot-- hold Him. Even if they kill you a thousand times, Life is unkillable, and that Life Who called you into Himself will keep you safely there even when your body finally fails. Trust in Him. Live for Him. Death has been defeated. What can mortal man do to me?
