New Thoughts (9/26/04-9/28/04)
"Behold! This Child is set in place a the reason for which many will lose salvation, ruining themselves. He is likewise laid as a foundation, as the True Resurrection and the Resurrection of Truth in the hearts of many. He is the appointed sign, which many will refuse and dispute. He is the Law embodied, and they will refuse to be associated with Him, standing against Him. Thus will every rationalization and doubt in the hearts of men be revealed. He is a sword, piercing to the deepest depths of life, cutting through appearance to the thoughts of the heart."
Wow! So much power is packed in this brief word from God. So much is said, yet remains hidden behind the statements that are made. Truly, except we hear the voice of the Spirit, teaching the true sense of the matter, it would be horrifyingly easy to miss what was being said. Here, I think just about every translation I have seen has fallen short of the full impact of the message in one way or another. They leave me, for instance, with the impression that the soul-piercing impact of which he speaks is something reserved for Mary in particular, but the word is for all who think themselves good enough. For the most part, the Resurrection power in this message is lost in translation.
Indeed, that portion in particular may be seen in different ways, both of which are, I think, true to Scripture. First it could be said that Jesus would cause the fall of many, but would also cause these same ones to rise up again. That was certainly a major impression I had from the passage, and I still feel it is a legitimate perspective to have. His revelation in a life does bring a certain fall to man. Men who think themselves secure and happy, who think themselves good men in their own right are suddenly brought low by recognition of their true condition. Their hearts laid bare to their own sight for the first time, held to the true Standard, they cannot but feel that sense of deadly peril to their souls. The sinner cannot come to repentance if he has not first recognized his sin. That is the immediate impact of coming face to face with Messiah. It is followed almost immediately, however, with the answer to our newly recognized problem. Once we have seen ourselves as dead men, He comes with life. He does not leave us in our despair, but speaks Life to us. He shows us how far we have truly fallen, and then invites us to 'come up here.' He shows us the impossibility of digging ourselves out of the mess we have made, and then He throws down the only rope by which we might be freed.
As I say, this is one aspect of what is said. There is, however, a more painful view of the passage which is, I think, more in keeping with the immediate context. Though His deepest desire is that all men would be saved, God cannot effect such a thing without abandoning His own essence. It is not possible that God should allow His love and mercy to operate in such a fashion that His justice is set aside, any more than it is possible that He should allow His justice to completely eclipse His love and mercy. God's power is not the issue. He is assuredly more than sufficient to provide for universal salvation. But, God will not sacrifice any aspect of His essence to promote another aspect. He must be God in all His ways. His mercy and grace must always walk hand in hand with His justice and truth. Thus, it is said here that His presence, Truth standing before man, revealing to man the truth of himself, will cause many to lose all hope of salvation. He will be the cause, but the fault will lie with them. That is critical to understand. The Truth He brings, He brings to all. To every man He reveals the real condition of the soul. But many reject what has been revealed. They rationalize away the sin. They refuse to acknowledge their own condition, and because of this, they cannot lay hold of the Life that has been offered them. It is rebellion against the True God, and True Justice cannot allow rebellion to be rewarded.
To others, that same revealing of the heart brings sorrow. We have been shown how far from good we truly are. We have been shown how wrong our thinking has been. We are shown how dead our religion has been. Were this the end of it, we should all be dead tomorrow by our own hand, for all hope is gone. Indeed, this is the first reaction. It must be. All hope is gone. What am I to do? Those for whom the revelation is the fall reject the message, determine that it must not be true, and go on as they were - living dead, chaff destined for the fire. Those for whom the revelation is the rising again, however, having acknowledged the truth of Truth, hear with understanding that there is hope for the hopeless! With men, this is impossible, but with God all things are possible! He has made a way! Yes, you must die for your sins, but here is Life! The death you must die has no permanence. It is but the corruption that dies, and the true self, the self that is reborn in the image of its Creator comes forth in new life, incorruptible and immortal life!
That is the whole of the Gospel message! It's not all "come, and we'll make it all better." It's not all fire and brimstone threatenings. It's not all happiness and light, and it's not all doom and gloom. Yet, every one of these things is part of the message. Yes, there are fire and brimstone warnings, but they are accompanied by the word of salvation. There are words of doom, the deep gloom of coming face to face with our own sinfulness, but there are also words of great joy to all the people, in that the Cure for sin is come, and is given freely to all who will acknowledge their sin-sick ways.
There is another place at the end of this passage that the translation just doesn't seem to do justice to the things expressed. "Thoughts from many hearts may be revealed." Reading the translation, I am left with the opinion that what is being declared is that the real thoughts will be made evident, and all hypocrisy exposed. Again, this understanding is true to Scripture, but not necessarily to the passage at hand. Surely, we can and must know that in the final judgment all that has been hidden away, all the things men have tried to keep hidden in themselves lest others think less of them, will be made known. Everything must finally be exposed to the light of the Bright Morning Star, the Sunrise from on high. But, the word being translated is specifically involved with thoughts that question the truth of what they hear, that doubt the veracity of the message. It's not that thoughts, right or wrong, will be made plainly known. Where the thinking has been rightly done, there is no need for an exposing to the Truth, the Truth is already in it. It is the darkened thought that seeks to hide. The thought that is true, that accepts Truth and concurs feels no such need, and is exposed already. The thoughts that must be revealed for what they are consist of a particular sort: thoughts that represent "intellectual rebellion against God," as Mr. Lightfoot describes it.
These are the problem. Truly, no man walks through this life without coming up against the revelation of God. All creation shouts the fact that there is a Creator in heaven. But, the sinful mind of man exalts itself above creation and above Creator. The sinful mind of man insists that he is his own final arbiter of truth, and in doing so must deny the Truth that is God, the God that is Truth. The fallen mind is still convinced that goodness is to be measured by its own standards, perhaps those of the society in which one finds oneself, perhaps something even more arbitrary than that. Once, it was the standards of the tribe, or perhaps the standards of the family, and we measured our goodness by comparison to those around us. Now, even that is gone. The only 'standard' that most hold to any longer is their own opinion - what's right for me. We look upon our sinful ways, even recognize that they are not exactly good, but we insist on thinking them good enough. If there are problems in our character, they are certainly not our fault! It's the fault of our parents, our siblings, our teachers, our government, anybody but us! That's the root problem, and it's a problem that the world around us constantly reinforces. It takes the power of God to break through the myth that is modern morality. We are bombarded with messages that declare the evil good, and the good evil. We are inundated with instructions that tell us that we are all that counts, that it is our opinion, our desire, our will that matters, and nothing else. It's all about our rights, and we fail to recognize that in ourselves we have no rights!
Again, the sad truth is that every man alive has heard the call of Truth. The record shows, however, that the majority opinion has rejected Truth in favor of fantasy. He is set in place as the stone of stumbling, that thing upon which men trip and having fallen will never rise. He is set in place, the Truth standing before us, and those who will insist on their own opinion over Truth will find in Him the reason to choose their own ruin. They will choose the stench of death over the sweet savor of salvation. The day will come when they will necessarily have to face the facts. They will have to acknowledge that their condemnation is just. They will be left without excuse, and they will have no choice but to acknowledge the choice they already made. There will be no cries of 'foul.' There will be no claims of injustice. Intellectual rebellion revealed in the Light of Truth, if it will not cease from its wicked ways, can only acknowledge them as wicked, and accept the just punishment that is its due.
Lord, I cannot pass over this thought without calling to You to inspect this heart of mine. I know, as You have told me, that it is a deceitful thing. I know from experience how easily I can become convinced once more of my inherent goodness, even though I have Your word on it, that the best of my self-righteousness is filth and rottenness in Your eyes. God, if such deceit is upon me, reveal the Truth. Open my eyes to see truly. Open my thoughts to accept Your assessment. Work in me, Holy Spirit, to effect the change that must surely come. Change my heart, God! Cut away every wicked way in me. There is in me, I know, so much that ought not to be. Purify me, Holy One! Make me holy as I desire to be holy, as You desire me to be holy. Forgive me this day, Lord, the sins that I have committed against You. Shatter the hold of death upon this life You redeemed! Breathe in me new life for today, for except I am in You, there is no life in me at all. All I am is in You, Lord. This is Truth, yet I know it is truth that my heart is all too adept at hiding away. Crush the pride in every part of me, Father, until You are all that is evident in me.
Simeon's words to God had rejoiced in the arrival of Messiah, the Salvation of Israel, God's Christ. This was the long-awaited hope of Israel, that there would come a King who would restore them to their former ways. This King is indeed come, but as Simeon turns to speak God's words to Mary, He speaks of the less popular aspect of Messiah, the side of the King that most had conveniently forgotten. He is not only the Sunrise from on high, He is also the Day of the Lord. He is not only the Salvation of the whole world, He is also the terrible Judge, come to read sentence on the ungodly for all their ungodly acts. Malachi, was amongst those who had shown this aspect of Messiah to the nation before. "Who can endure the day of His coming?" he had asked. "Who can stand in His presence? He is the purifying fire of the refiner, heating us to melting, that the dross might be removed. He is the fuller's soap, powerfully abrading our very flesh to reveal the cleansed soul within" (Mal 3:2). He is come to save, yes, but He is come also to purify and refine the children of God, so that they may be presented to the Father as a righteous offering (Mal 3:3). This is how the kingdom of Israel is to be restored. It is the only way. Hear it as Malachi continues to speak God's words. "I will draw near to you for judgment. I will move swiftly against sorcery and adultery and lies, against oppressive bosses, and those who abuse the widows and orphans. I will stand as witness against those who will not receive a stranger, for they that will not do so have no fear of Me" (Mal 3:5). This is the same, complete picture of Messiah that Simeon delivers.
Messiah, God's Anointed, cannot but bring us to a crisis. When we meet the Son of Man, it must force us to decide. We are not given the choice of ignoring Him. We are not given the choice of setting Him aside for later contemplation. We are not given the choice of hearing Him as one more teacher amongst many. No. He stands before us as Truth, speaks a Word that cannot, will not go unheard. He is a sword to pierce the very soul of man, laying the heart bare before your own eyes. You must look upon yourself as you truly are, and you must decide. Will you remain unchanged, or will you seek the Cure He holds out to you? You have looked upon the Truth, and you have looked upon your sinful, deceitful self. Now comes the command to choose: "Whom will you serve?" (Jos 24:15). 'Nobody' is not an option. There is God, there is the father of lies in all many guises. You may call him religion, you may call him Buddha, or you may call him Allah, or you may call him any number of other names, but he remains nothing more or less than the father of lies. You may not even think of him as a god. You may think of him as humanism, or science, or monetary gain. He remains what he is, a liar and the father of lies.
This is the crisis point. You have been shown the reality of the situation. You have been shown the deceit that has held you captive, and you have been offered your freedom. Choose you this day whom you will serve, whether you will pursue the True Light of Life with all that is in you, or whether you will remain subjected to illusions. The sad truth is that many, perhaps even most, will choose the illusion. Offered life with meaning, life worthy of bearing the name of 'life,' they will choose a living death. Offered an eternity of joy, they will instead opt to 'eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.'
This is an aspect of God which we in the modern-day church are not all that comfortable considering. We want our God of Love. We want our God who is Good all the time. We have Him. Truly we do! He remains, however, consistent in spite of our desire to forget certain aspects of Who He Is. Though His mercy is great, He remains Just. Though His Love for us is never-ending, He remains the Jealous God. Though His Faithfulness remains unchanged towards us, His Wrath remains unchanged towards sin. Israel's view of Messiah had this same lopsided aspect. That is exactly what made Him so unacceptable to them when He came. They had forgotten all the hard parts, all the Judgment stuff. That was Somebody else, surely? No, no! The Salvation part, that's what God had for Israel, none of this harsh message for us! Have not the prophets ever been received thus? Speak to us a good word, and we'll hail you as the mouthpiece of God, but speak warnings to us, and we'll cast you aside as madmen! But, God's word remains. Isaiah's message was a constant mix of good news and warnings. Jeremiah and Ezekiel were no different. Even with Malachi, it is evident. He is coming, but before you commence rejoicing, check yourselves! Now, Simeon confirms the unchanging message. This same One, this Anointed Christ of God, will be both for the resurrection to life of many and for the final confirmation of death of many.
Harsh, but true. Yet, let none dare find God at fault in this! It is but the rebellious heart being revealed. It is the guilt of willful sin brought to light. It is the children rejecting their Father, the citizens of the kingdom rising up against the King. What nation of the earth would not move to punish such an uprising, and none would speak against them. No, come to think of it, in this day and age, we probably would speak against them. The rebels must be allowed their freedom, after all, else we might be the next rebels to be punished. Oh my Lord! The whole political frontier, especially the international, is but evidence that man knows his true guilt! I used to think it was just a reflection of our nation's roots, but no, it's far more. It's a reflection of our moral roots, of our descent from Adam - a federal government indeed! Can you not see it? It's not just America that reacts this way. It's the whole world! Any attempts to uphold a nation by violence must be stopped at all cost. We are offended at Russia because it seeks to preserve itself against a rebellious quarter within its borders. Why? Because we are all rebels at heart, all rebels against the rightful King in whose lands we live. We don't want His rule enforced! We want to have it our way, and it plays out in our every decision. Lord, have mercy on us!
Into this rebel land, the cry still comes: "The King has come!" I am put in mind of the scene of Richard Lionhearted returning to England after years of absence. A cruel and unjust prince had sat upon the throne for years, and much of the land had lost hope. Yet, when the true king returned, he came disguised for fear of treachery against his person. He was back, but many of his subjects had found the usurper to be more profitable. A return of the real king would not be in their fiduciary interest. In its own way, this still serves as a picture of the spiritual state of the nations today. A cruel prince has held sway, but we have in large part found his tyranny profitable. Now, the True King is returned to His kingdom. We know that to stand once more under His kingship will require that we return our ill-gotten gains, that we forsake the things that had been making us 'rich.' We cannot both accept His return and continue doing what we were doing. That's just not possible. We must choose. Return to the Rightful King, or stand in arms against Him in the vain hope of preserving the tyrant prince as our head. The majority may choose to stand with that imposter, seeking in vain to preserve their power, but the King will persevere, He will emerge victorious, even as Richard did. He will have His throne and His kingdom returned to Him, and He will as surely punish those who have fought to wrest it from Him as He will reward the faithfulness of those who gladly serve Him.
This same message, this same crisis of Christ was evident to the apostles as they spread the Gospel among the nations. Indeed, Paul speaks of it outright. It's an interesting passage, one that even stretched Paul. "We are a fragrance of Christ to God," he wrote (2Co 2:15-16). He has established God's perspective on the Gospel. It is ever and always the righteousness of His own Son that fills His senses as He looks upon the seeds of His kingdom. "Whether we are with those who will be saved, or those who will insist on perishing, God's view of us is unchanged." Righteousness remains righteous, whether it meets a receptive audience or not. Now, Paul moves to how the message is perceived by those to whom he preaches. "To the perishing, it is the scent of death drawn nigh." The crisis has come upon them, but they have found in the revelation of glory only condemnation. They have seen the Light, but they have chosen darkness. "To the saved, the chosen, the called out, it is the scent of life dawning fresh and new." The same message has been given to both, the same glory revealed. Righteousness was equally righteous before both groups, but one received and the other insisted on its "intellectual rebellion against God."
Jesus will ever and always be a crisis to man, a decision point that cannot be avoided, a choice that cannot be put off. His revealing of man to man will always be a test, a crushing of self for us. Oh, He may test us sorely, especially we who have declared that we will follow Him. He would not have us fool ourselves, after all! He would not have us thinking all is well, when all is still hell. No, if we will truly follow Him, He would have us to know it. He would have us certain of the faith within us. His testing will be as a sword to pierce even the soul. We will feel strained beyond all ability to cope. But, the same Christ who comes with such testing, such challenge and discipline, promises that He will never, ever test us beyond our ability to stand victorious. Face it! He already knows our limits. We, on the other hand, will happily underestimate ourselves. We would just as soon not have to find those limits, not have to lean quite so fully upon Him. But, we must know our dependence. We must know our strength, else when the real battle comes (and no, whatever you may have gone through, the real battle is something else entirely) we will surely fall away. The thoughts from many hearts will be revealed by the cut of that Sword. Where there is rejection of God clothed in robes of religion, the robes will be removed, and the rejection made plain. Where the faith that appears on the surface is the same faith that lies in the heart, that, too, will be made plain. But, only the trials of discipline can reveal to us whether our faith is true, or just the delusions of hypocrisy.
If our faith is from Him, why is this so important, this revealing of our faith to us? Well, there is the obvious answer: that we need to know the faith that lives in us if we are to stand. However, something I read in Thayer's Lexicon leads me to see a greater reason. In discussing the word we read here as 'revealed,' he writes, "The apokalupsis or unveiling precedes and produces the faneroosis or manifestation." Until our faith is revealed to us, it cannot be revealed in us! We will not manifest the faith that is ours until it is clearly revealed to our own hearts and minds. The manifest presence of God which was upon the earth as Jesus walked was not manifestly evident as God to all. He was evident as God only for those to whom He was revealed as God. He remained God when those around Him would not believe it - Truth remains True in the face of disbelief - but only where He was revealed to the hearts and minds of those who walked with Him was He made manifest, and therein lay the power of Presence.
Many churches today lay claim to the title of Christian, yet many of them have long since set aside the revealed Christ for whom Christianity is named. They speak of Him, but they don't know Him. They have read the words of Scripture, but they have not met the Word. If they preach Jesus at all, they preach a Jesus still veiled and hidden from the sight of man. They preach a God remote and disinterested, a religion of disbelief. But, where Jesus is unveiled, revealed in the fullness of His glory! Well, there is a church that is going to make a difference in the world, whether the world will have it or not! Until He is revealed, He cannot be made manifest. This is not to suggest in any way that God can so easily be thwarted in His purposes that we need simply keep the lid on it and all His plans will come to naught. No! His is prevailing power!
As the self-help psychological phenomena has entered the church, we get plenty of books on prevailing prayer, and the like. The only thing that is needed for prevailing prayer is a revealed Christ in our life! Unless and until He is unveiled, presented to our heart and mind in the full Truth of His being, free of every decoration by which we have tried to dress Him up to our tastes, our prayers can only be empty thing - tin cup offerings to the idols of our own minds. But, when He stands unveiled in our hearts! What power is unleashed within us! All the self-help books in the world can't bring you to this place, however they may bear the Christian label! No! The answer is in the book of God's revelation. If we haven't seen the answer there, we're not going to see it anywhere else. Look behind the veil! Seek the One who is there! The first prevailing prayer, the one God is so very pleased to answer is, 'Let me know You, Jesus, show me that You are real.' This prayer does not come by the will of man, but by the impartation of the Holy Spirit. Unbelief does not end by some sudden flash of brilliance in our own thinking. It is an act of God, the first tearing of the veil that has separated us from Him. It is the dawning of revelation upon our minds, and revelation is ever and always of God's doing. It is, after all, His revelation of Himself!
This remains, however, only a beginning. He is shown real to us, but it remains for us to proceed behind the veil. We may come across many other veils along the way which He pulls away as we earnestly seek Him out. Again, the seeking is not from our innate good sense, but by the prompting of our Teacher in residence. Yes, and God is pleased to reveal more and more of His Son, to increase our understanding and our love for Him! This revealing of Him who is the express image of the Father is, of course, for a purpose. It is for the purpose that He may be made manifest not only to us, but in us! How can we expect to show by our lives a Jesus we don't know? How can we expect to live beyond what we understand? Those who perform impersonations of 'famous' people study the one they would impersonate with great care for a great deal of time. They seek to know things of those people that the people themselves may not realize: quirks of motion and gesture, particular phrases and tonalities. Yet, they can only come close. Clearly, they cannot, without further intervention, take on the physical characteristics of the one they would mimic. They can only ape his or her mannerisms, provide a clear enough picture for others to recognize who they are pretending to.
In a similar fashion, if we would have Jesus evident in our lives, we must know Him, and only insomuch as we know Him will He be evident. The goal of the real Christian life is to know Him more so that we can be more like Him. As Pastor Najem puts it, the ultimate goal and motive of every ministry of Christ is to make us more Christ-like. I can add to that now, that because this is the ultimate goal, it is also the ultimate goal of every ministry, every effort of real religion, every moment of personal study, worship, and prayer, to reveal Jesus more thoroughly to our own hearts and minds. There is a song out there that goes, "Saturate me in Your anointing." The goal, the real goal, of Christianity, cuts that line a little short: "Saturate me in You!" That is, after all, what His Anointing is. It is Christ. If we would be saturated in the Anointing, we must be saturated in Him. The good news is that He is not only willing to satisfy this desire, not only able to satisfy this desire in us, but He is actively seeking to satisfy this desire in us. Truth be told, it is Him who CREATES that desire in us! He is a God of purpose, and it is absolutely, unquestionably His purpose that we would be so saturated in Him, so fully aware of Him, so filled with the knowledge of Him that He cannot help but be manifest in our lives!
How can I be so sure of this? He has told us this very thing! He who created all things, because of the fall of Adam subjected His creation to futility. It was not the will of any least part of creation to be made futile. He subjected creation to that futility. No, not out of any spite, not out of any ill will did He do this thing. When He did so, He did so in hope. Not hope in Himself, but hope in the very creation that lay subjected. In the midst of futility, there ever has been and ever will be hope, because of Him who subjected creation to that futility. What is that hope that allows life to continue in this land of living death? It is the anxious longing of creation, the eager, expectant waiting for the revealing of the sons of God (Ro 8:19-22)! When we make manifest the Christ who is in us, the Jesus who has resurrected us out of the living death of creation into the new life of the new heaven and the new earth, creation itself will also be set free from the corruption that has held it in chains, and for this reason, all creation groans and suffers at the moment, experiencing the pain of childbirth, but knowing in that pain, that the children of God will be birthed!
Here it is! His revelation to our hearts brings about His manifestation in our lives. His manifestation in our lives is the revelation of Him to the world. As He was the express image of the Father, making visible to us the Father whom no man has ever seen, we are called to live out His express image before a waiting world. "Greater things than these you will do because I go to the Father" (Jn 14:12)! What is that greater thing but the unveiling of the power and presence of Jesus to all creation? "Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, in order that the Father may be glorified in the Son" (Jn 14:13). Whatever we seek in the course of revealing Christ to the world, He is pleased to provide. When we are united in His purpose, so filled with Him that our only desire is to express Him, the things we seek cannot but be the things that He seeks, the requests we make of Him cannot but be for the very things He is waiting to provide, that He might be revealed in us, through us.
He produces changed lives for a reason, that the simple, inescapable evidence of those changed lives would tear the veil from the eyes of those who see the change. We are not made new in a vacuum. The memory of our past is no more wiped away from the minds of those who knew us than it is from our own. As we know ourselves a new creation, and we better know Him Who is the source of that new creation, we more and more manifest our Creator in spirit and in truth. It's going to be noticeable. Like Simeon, coming 'in the Spirit' to the Temple, His presence, His abiding presence in us is going to be noticeable. Thus does the revealing of the Sons of God come to the waiting world!
God, I know I have so far yet to go in this regard. Yet, especially in these recent weeks, You have repeatedly put me in awe by the things You have been showing me. No great visions of coming events, nothing like that, but the simple revealing of Yourself. You have been making it manifestly evident to me that You are at work in this church within which You have planted me. You have made it manifestly evident that it is the One Holy Spirit that is speaking through all the disparate branches and members. You have been filling me, in these studies with things beyond myself, beyond my own understanding. Oh, Lord! Let what You have been pouring in pour forth! Holy One! If this life does not reflect You as it ought, what shame is mine! Yes, and I know that shame is mine, but I know as well that You have already brought the cure for that shame. How You can go on forgiving me my failures, I just don't know, but I know that, even in the anger and frustration that has welled up in me so often of late, You are working.
Yes, God, I know it. Not that You are in the anger, but You are answering the prevailing prayer of my heart. I asked that You reveal the hidden deceits of this heart of mine, and You have done so in spades! Oh! How great is my need for Your cleansing, for Your renewing Spirit. I know that I know that I know that my heart's greatest desire is to reveal You in all I do, and I know that I know that I know how often I betray my own greatest desire. Spirit, help me. Strengthen me to set aside those things that bring the betrayal. Empower me for victory, Spirit, over the habits of mere flesh. Manifest Yourself in me! Cut away every veil of flesh that remains until You are all and in all.
Jesus, You and I know the thoughts that crept in last night. These thoughts were no more mine than they were Yours. They were whispers from the tongue of a serpent, and I come to You also for cleansing from the touch of those thoughts. God! I once more establish the seal of Your blood over this household You have entrusted to me. I ask forgiveness if I have been lax in my leadership. No. No 'if.' I ask forgiveness for the laxness of my leadership. I ask that You would provide the wisdom and the will to lead this family as You would have it led. I pray for patience to rule this house as You rule: in love. God, I have not enjoyed the answer of my prayers for the crushing of my pride, yet I will not rescind that prayer. That pride is a large portion of what keeps You veiled within me, and I cannot accept that any longer. Oh, Sword of the Word, come! Cut away these hindrances, and let Your light so shine that like Simeon, like all those who are dedicated to Your purposes, it cannot help but be noticed that You are here.
That Sword that Simeon speaks of here is so clearly the same sharp, two-edged sword that Scripture speaks of elsewhere. It is the Sword of the Spirit of which Paul writes (Eph 6:17), that Sword which he tells us is the word of God. What we can learn from this! The Bible is our greatest offensive weapon. It would be a poor warrior who went into battle with an unfamiliar sword! How can we hope to prevail if we are not well-practiced with the weapon by which we shall know either victory or defeat? A swordsman can, one supposes, make any sword work, but it is the one familiar to his grip with which he will have greatest ability. The sword of a champion is something he has chosen with great care, something he has practiced with diligently, it is something that has been made so familiar to his hand that it feels like an extension of his own body. No other weapon will feel that way to him. The balance will be wrong, the heft just enough different in his hand that the feeling of unity is gone.
This is the way we are called to be with the word of God, so familiar with it that it not only feels like an extension of our own body, but has actually become so. In order for that degree of acquaintance to come, it must pierce to our very soul. The first contact of the Sword of the Spirit is that of a surgeon's knife, as my brother Paul pointed out last Sunday. Like the surgeon's knife, it is active and sharp. It cuts deeply, revealing what is hidden within us, exposing to the light the dark places of the heart (Heb 4:12-13). Until that sword has done its surgery in us, we are not fit to bear it ourselves. There is one other key aspect of that sword that the author of Hebrews speaks of: it is living! It is life! The sharp cuts of the surgeon are never strokes aimed at felling an opponent, they are purposeful probings aimed at restoring life to dying tissue. This is the Sword of the Spirit, the word of God in Scripture, the Word of God in us! This is the sword that will cut through the veils of hypocrisy that hide us from ourselves.
Ah! Here is something that deserves comment. Thank You, Lord, I had not thought of this! Hypocrisy is our attempt to veil from others what our real inner condition is, but in the end, it only veils us from our own eyes! What sorrow there is in that! In our attempt to deceive others, we wind up doing no more than deluding ourselves. God sees the heart. Our attempts at disguise are not fooling Him, certainly. This we know, yet we continue trying nonetheless. What escapes our notice, though, is that those around us see the truth of the situation as well. All our attempts to put up a façade of righteousness over our inward corruption fail to conceal the truth. The stench of inward rottenness still wafts over the façade, and every nose understands the meaning of that scent. Only we, ourselves, within the walls of our rickety structure, miss the smell of death that is upon us, for our noses have grown numb to the smell.
There is a corollary to this, as well! Where hypocrisy is at an end, there remains the flesh. It will act out, however much we will it otherwise. The spirit and the flesh will ever be at odds with one another. There will be those occasions in our life, however much it pains us, when the flesh acts out. However, the flesh has been made the hypocrite now! Just as much as the spiritual hypocrite has put up a thin veneer of righteousness trying to disguise the true inward condition, the fleshly hypocrisy of the reborn is but a thin veneer of rottenness trying to keep the true, cleansed, inward condition from view. But, as the smell of corruption clears the walls of false righteousness, so also the smell of purity clears the walls of rebel flesh. Those who are spiritually alive outside our wall of flesh will smell the pure air of our heart and know the wall for what it is, another attempt of the deceiver to distort and destroy the Truth. Anointing will recognize Anointing, just as Mary and Simeon recognized each other in spite of not knowing each other.
The hypocrite, whether spiritual or fleshly, seeks to hide the heart condition, but it cannot be hidden. The sword of Truth, the Sword of the Spirit, the word of God, the Word of God, God's Christ, does not judge by appearances, He judges by the real thoughts and intentions of the heart. What the flesh may do is but a veil to Him, a veil through which He sees with clarity, a veil which He will swiftly cut through and sweep away that the real core of the man may be brought to light. Jesus, born in innocence, living in innocence, bore the Sword of Himself to death in innocence. In innocence He entered into the prisons of Sheol, and rose from there victorious! Over death, victorious! The Sword of the Word has done it! He is our Victory! Hallelujah! He has done it! Stand and see the deliverance of the Lord! Over our own rebellious flesh He has triumphed that we may stand with Him in glory, that He might present us a holy, pure, and righteous offering before His Father, that He might win to Himself a pure, spotless bride! The Sword of Truth will have it seen that we are His own! The Sword of Truth will have us seen that He may be seen!
