Things Revealed

For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

Deuteronomy 4:24

It is amazing how much we understand about our world and just how little we really know. We dwell in the midst of God’s creation and barely appreciate its majesty, its miraculousness or its mystery. From the secrets of what makes our heart beat to the vastness of the universe in which our spinning globe hurtles through space, God’s handiwork can both capture our imaginations or be missed entirely. Such is the nature of the God who reveals and conceals all at once. But once revealed—by his creation, by his love and intervention in our lives, by his son Jesus Christ—a profound transformation occurs in us. He becomes the object of our fascination, the desire of our heart and the love of our life.

He consumes us.

In fact, he more than consumes us: he is a consuming fire, a jealous God. Like a dry summer wildfire igniting everything in its path, God wants to burn up all the wood, hay and stubble in our lives — the deceptions, the sin and the lies that lead us away from him. He wants the depth of his love and the profoundness of his righteousness to capture our hearts and to cause us to plumb the deep waters of his Kingdom and of his only begotten son. And because we are made in his image, he wants us to love him with the same consuming focus with which he loves us. That is what holy jealousy is. That is why he is called El Qanna.

He is jealous for us when we turn to sin. He is jealous for us when our affections lead us astray. And he is jealous for us when we are consumed by our own unregenerate emotions because that is the path of destruction. It is the place where the King of our lives is dethroned in our hearts and his power is usurped by unholy passions. Whether we hate with white hot intensity, allow burning anger to blind us or are ignited with lust or vengeance, we have “disobeyed the Lord by burning before him the wrong kind of fire, different than he had commanded.” For Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, the consequence was death when "fire blazed forth from the Lord’s presence and burned them up." For us, it’s spiritual death—separation and estrangement from the King of Kings.

Jesus is the God of Forgiveness. Even on the cross, he forgave those who drove the nails into his hands and feet. His unconditional love knew no bounds at the moment of his crucifixion, and it knows no bounds right now as he sits at the right hand of the throne of God interceding on our behalf. His emotions—his love, his excitement, and yes, even his hatred of sin and injustice—are all governed by his perfect righteousness. He has given us the very same emotions so we can know who God is, what stirs his heart and what displeases him, and so we can share in his love and triumphs and the joy that comes from walking in forgiveness and freedom.

When we burn with the wrong kind of fire, we surrender to a different king. We allow the things of the world and its prince to consume us. We embrace unforgiveness and vengeance. And we ignore righteousness. In the process, we provoke God to anger, for He will not let our rebellion go unchallenged. Nor will he allow us to be consumed by such unholy obsessions. Which is why the writer of Hebrews warns us that “it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” since “we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay…" The Apostle Paul put it this way:

At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.
Titus 3:3-5

Jesus is the light of the world. By his transforming power he calls us to let our light shine in the darkness and by his spirit we burn brightly with God’s love, redemption and forgiveness. While the world embraces the wrong kind of fire, we are called to choose the Consuming Fire.

One way or the other, we are going to be consumed.

Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. "Go, look over the land," he said, "especially Jericho."

Joshua 2:1

Sound familiar? It was for Joshua. He had been there before. Last time, he was one of the men sent into the land by Moses. This time, he was the one doing the sending. This time, he was leader of all Israel.

We first hear about Joshua in Exodus when Moses told him, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands." It’s a battle that clearly shows how God moves in the spirit and in the natural all at once. Moses, Aaron and Hur stood on the top of the hill while Joshua led the physical battle against the Amelikites. “As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amelikites were winning.” It goes on to say that Aaron and Hur held up Moses’ hands till sunset, until Joshua overcame the Amelikites with the sword.

As the leaders of Israel warred in the spirit with uplifted arms, Joshua led on the battlefield to defeat the Amelikites here on earth. It was one of many lessons Joshua learned about spiritual warfare and the unstoppable power of God.

When Moses went up the Mountain of God to receive the Ten Commandments, it was Joshua alone who accompanied him (at least part of the way). When Moses met with God in the Tent of Meeting and then returned to the camp, his face radiant with God's glory, Joshua “did not leave the tent.” Instead, he basked in the afterglow of His presence, trusting that he too would be changed by just being where God had been.

It was by his zeal for God and his faithfulness that Joshua became the spiritual leader the Lord chose to complete the work Moses had begun. Joshua had been transformed by his encounters with God: He had witnessed God’s miraculous deliverance from Egypt; experienced God’s victory over the Amelikites; and saw something others didn’t see when he was one of the twelve sent to explore the promised land: he saw the inheritance of his people and the invisible hand of God at work.

That’s often the way it is. Some people have eyes to see, some don’t. Some people see first, others follow. Some people never see, or worse, see and pretend they didn’t. The battle over spiritual truth—what God has actually said and revealed to us—has been raging since Adam and Eve set foot in the Garden. Jesus tells us, "he who is not with me is against me," and the Apostle Paul reminds us that this battle is not against flesh and blood, “but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

To be prepared for this struggle, we need to be able to see into the heavenly realms—to see by the spirit.

God puts people in our lives to teach us how to apprehend such things and how to grasp spiritual truths. We don’t automatically get it by being born again. But as we grow in the Word, as we desire to know God more, we begin to get revelation and we begin to see that which is unseen.

It was Joshua and Caleb who brought back the good report after they explored the land. They knew God showed it to them, not to scare them, but to excite them about this new beginning and the victory that he was about to hand them. The other ten, however, saw only inevitable defeat, and shared their view with all Israel. In spite of what they had seen when they were delivered from Egypt, their understanding of God had not been affected. They still only saw with natural eyes. They did not understand divine power. They did not comprehend the promises of God and that he would overcome all obstacles to fulfill them. And they refused to see with spiritual eyes, a choice for which they paid dearly. Only Joshua and Caleb were spared.

Forty years after trekking through the desert for the sins of his people, Joshua was right back where Moses had been when he sent the twelve to spy out the land. The moment was very familiar to him. But his experience with God and with Moses had taught Joshua to think like a man of God and to lead accordingly.

Forty years earlier, at God’s direction, Moses had sent twelve into the land. There was no need for a jury of twelve this time, because the verdict was still the same: the promised land is Israel’s. So only two were sent in to spy out the land. Two who were zealous for God—two a lot like Caleb and Joshua himself—who had spiritual eyes to see and reported back with total confidence, "The Lord has surely given the whole land into our hands; all the people are melting in fear because of us."

Joshua did something else because of what he had learned through Moses: he sent the two “secretly” into the land. Why? Because after Moses sent out the twelve, he received their report in the presence of assembly. When all Israel heard how the ten were melting in fear, their faith evaporated and they rebelled against Moses and Aaron and what God was doing. Joshua had learned the hard way that not all men have the same level of faith or the same understanding of spiritual matters. This time, there would be no such rebellion. The two would report back to Joshua first so he could consider their words before sharing them with the assembly.

Joshua learned from his experience and from the men of God that had been placed in his life. He learned how to lead while being led by the spirit. By running after God, Joshua learned to walk in the spirit.

So must we, for we are also a spiritual people.

There are people all around us still waiting to be led into the promised land. The Holy Spirit is showing them to us. Many have been wandering the desert for a very long time. It’s time to lead them out of the wilderness. It’s time for us to be as "strong and courageous" as Joshua and to step out in faith. God will lead us and give us the words and the authority necessary to accomplish the challenge before us.

He always has.

And He always will.

However, as it is written: ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him’—but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.

1 Corinthians 2:9-10

How awesome is this revelation: Our great and mysterious God whose ways are higher than our ways, whose thoughts are higher than our thoughts, whose power is without end and whose love is unequaled, has revealed to us what he has prepared for those who love him.

Right before the quoted text, the Apostle Paul says he is speaking “of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.” And Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

It's hard to fully grasp the meaning of all this, but let's settle on this: Now we know.

We know at least this much: God has made a way for us to enter back into relationship with him. We know that he has never stopped loving us and that our sins are forgiven just for the asking. We know he wants to make himself personally known to us. We know he wants to dwell in us by his Holy Spirit. We know Jesus is the Messiah who was “pierced for our transgressions” and that “the punishment that brought us peace was upon him.” We know he gave his life for us. We know that there is a heaven we can enter and a hell from which we can be saved. We know we can be born again. We know we can receive eternal life. And we know that Jesus came to fulfill the law and the prophets, revealing by his life, death and resurrection that the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New are one and the same.

We know this too: That God has a plan for those who love him. He has given us supernatural gifts, wisdom from heaven, an ability to understand spiritual things with a spiritual mind and a glimpse into things to come. He has set Jesus as an anchor for our souls in a world of constant change and increasing dissipation, and he enables us to stand firm in the midst of the storm.

No small matters, these things God has revealed. But they require something profound and simple from us: that we keep our eyes on spiritual truths, that we hear what God is saying and that we think about such things with the mind of Christ. Otherwise, what God has revealed to us won’t matter. For we run the same risk of falling that those in ancient times ran. Ezekiel said it this way:

Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people.

That’s why the writer of Hebrews exhorts us to “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” It’s the one certain way to stay focused on the things revealed, rather than on the things concealed. The world focuses on the latter, insisting there is no truth while rebelling against all that is good, holy and righteous. But for those of us who fix our eyes on Jesus, we know God’s truth. Despite all the confusion, distortions and hostility around us, we can see it and hear it and know it because he has made it known by his Spirit.

Truth never changes. But our grasp of truth can if we don’t remain vigilant and steadfast. So be encouraged and encourage others. Not only do we know the truth, but we have chosen the way and the truth and the life—we have chosen Jesus. And he confirms his truth every time we look, every time we listen and every time we think about how he has transformed our lives.

Such good news should not remain our little secret. We're called to share it with everyone who has an ear to hear!

One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?'

Jesus replied, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.

And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

Matthew 22:35-40

Not only do all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments, so too does the true nature of our relationship with God. Once we grasp the magnitude of what Jesus did on the cross, we begin to appreciate who he is. The more we understand, the more we respond. And the more we pursue God, the more likely we are to love him. But it is not enough to simply profess our love for Jesus, however wonderful that may be, because the idea of loving Jesus is both alluring and deceiving.

It’s easy to proclaim love for God, to read and attend meetings in pursuit of the object of our affections and to be genuinely enamored with the Him. And who would dare to question the depth of our relationship with the Almighty, for who really knows it? Certainly a changed life can be proof of a changed heart. But not always. Sometimes the outward changes are just that, the first and last fruits of our encounter with the Eternal One. Which is why John identifies a more reliable standard by which to measure a life transformed by God:

If anyone says, 'I love God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

1 John 4:20-21

To this he adds the following: "This is love for God: To obey his commands." 1 John 5:3. And this: “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." 1 John 3:18.

Professing love for God is the easy part. The true measure of your love for him comes down to obedience and to this: If you do not love your brother, you cannot love God.

But we do love you Lord, we protest. Can't you see how our hearts are toward you? Yet his command to love the brethren exposes our own unwillingness to yield and reveals a heart steeped in worldly ways. After all, there are so many people who have done us wrong. Unthinking people. Selfish people. Dishonest people. Manipulative and unfaithful people. And not just people we read about. But people we know! People with names and with common history. People who were once part of our lives. Surely there’s room for us to claim an exemption from the requirement of loving those people, or at least room for us to merely tolerate them from a distance. The Lord must know our feelings are justified—he's seen what they've done. Yet Jesus, who suffered fools and evil men, who hated their arrogance, rebelliousness and religion, loves them still and said even of those who nailed him to the cross, “forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."

There's no getting around it. God loves the brethren. So too must we.

Brotherly love is one thing. But loving your brothers—real people in your life who push only your blood pressure heavenward—is the measure of your love for God and your willingness to obey his commands. Because loving someone is way harder than loving everyone.

Dean Koontz describes the difference in Odd Hours:

To love all the world at once is pretense or dangerous self-delusion. Loving the world is like loving the idea of love, which is perilous because, feeling virtuous about this grand affection, you are freed from the struggles and the duties that come with loving people as individuals...

Loving actual people is a never-ending struggle. It is the place where flesh bows to Spirit. Where anger and resentment yield to obedience. Where we choose to love and forgive rather than respond in kind. That’s what loving with actions and in truth is about.

Love with actions is an effort. To love those who hurt us is incredibly difficult. To forgive those who persecute and defame us doesn’t seem fair. To hold one’s tongue when there’s so much to say and defend and set right feels like injustice. And to love those who mock and hate Jesus is painful. Nevertheless, lovers of God are called to love them anyway—to love them supernaturally. Because supernatural love is the lifeblood of the Body of Christ. We are told that “God is love.” And on this side of Heaven, we who are transformed by the Spirit of God must translate that love into action. Such love takes care of the poor and the widows. It encourages both the lowly and those in high position. It is selfless. It is forgiving. It seeks no recognition. No reward. And most of all, it seeks no vengeance or retribution. Instead, it grows and multiplies through obedience to God and through the struggle to love those who hate or hurt us.

Love with actions and in truth is a spectacle to behold. Praying for those who see us as enemies, forgiving them, releasing them—not to God’s judgment or Satan’s plans—but from the icy grip of our own heart’s bitterness toward them, is a supernatural act without equal.

Don’t underestimate how profoundly freeing and life changing supernatural love is. And don’t be surprised when what you do in obedience to God’s commands gets more attention and has more impact than the words of love you share with those around you. Love with actions and in truth does that. For many, it’s the only evidence they can see that the transforming power of Jesus Christ is more than mere words and wishful thinking.

It's proof that the Kingdom of God is real.

The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 1 Corinthians 15:46

Our biggest problem as believers is that we are human. Certainly, God has blessed us with five senses to fully appreciate his marvelous creation. He has also given us such a wide range of emotions that we feel and experience everything in high-def-surround-sound-dolby-blue-ray-holy-cow-did-you-see-that reality! But being human frequently results in sensory overload, constant exposure to temptation, enormous mood swings and spiritual nearsightedness. And each of us has the same valid excuse: I was born that way!

The Spiritual is new to us. The natural came first. We’ve had so much time to learn what it means to be flesh and blood, to react in our senses and to accept what we see with our natural eyes, that when spiritual transformation does come we are like new-borns, “new creations” who have been “born again.” We recognize that something’s different about us, but we instinctively draw on our prior experience for understanding. Unfortunately, our prior experience is of no real value because it comes from the natural and has not prepared us to grasp or unravel spiritual things.

Look at the twelve spies Moses sent into the land (Numbers 13 and 14) shortly after the Lord miraculously delivered his people from Egypt. God tells Moses to send men to explore the land which he was giving to the people of Israel. They cross the border, see the wonder and riches of the promised land, but still bring back a bad report of powerful cities, giants in the land and a people that Israel could not conquer. What they didn’t see was that God was handing Canaan over to Israel, that he had already shown what he would do on Israel’s behalf and that he would conquer the land through them. Only Caleb and Joshua had spiritual eyes to see because there was something different about them. Something that caused them not to lean on their own understanding but to view things from God’s perspective and embrace it as truth. The rest of the scouting party—men of fear and flesh—paid for their lack of spiritual vision and trust with their very lives. A harsh result that gives us a clear insight into the nature of God’s Kingdom and the risks of continuing to walk, see and respond only in our flesh, like the natural man we all once were.

The Psalmist gives us another perspective (Psalm 73). After observing and complaining about how the wicked prosper, how they seem to be trouble and burden free and how they not only appear to succeed, but arrogantly claim their success is God’s blessing, the psalmist comes to this realization: “When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you.”

A brute beast responds to what he sees in the natural with emotions and instincts: Fear. Greed. Envy. Desire. Anger. Hatred. Murder. It is a snapshot of man in all his fleshly glory, the exact opposite of the spiritual man enveloped in all of Christ’s holy glory.

Paul puts it this way: “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). But since the new—the spiritual—did not come first, no matter how long you’ve been walking with God, you still need to train yourself at being spiritual. At thinking spiritually. At seeing the world from God’s perspective by letting Christ live in you. The world challenges the new creation every day with the same old temptations. Virtually every moment, virtually all the time—from corner newsstands to billboards, from songs to DVDs, from video games to TV commercials and from politics to the stock market—our natural man is enticed to respond like it used to. Like a brute beast, senseless and ignorant to the spiritual realm, and unaware or indifferent to the fact that these worldly snares can trap and injure the spirit within us.

Has your flesh succumbed recently and had a “victory” at the expense of your spirit? Sometimes it happens. In fact, it will happen from time to time for the rest of your life, because the natural came first. Think of it as a flesh wound. It’s personally painful, but it does not disqualify you from God’s service or result in your dishonorable discharge from the battle. Want confirmation? Just look around you. No one is perfect. No one is without sin. If your flesh wound disqualifies you, then no one is qualified to serve God. Not one.

There is a maxim in the legal system that says “ignorance of the law is no excuse.” Like the person in court, we too have no excuse in spiritual matters. We can feign ignorance in a moment of weakness, but God has made us new creations who can find no sanctuary behind closed eyes. The spiritual may not have come first in our lives, but it has come nonetheless! And it has opened our eyes and minds to the Kingdom of God and has given us the power to be a spiritual people—Ambassadors of Christ among the lost.

You are a new creation. Don’t forget it when you fail. God doesn’t. He only forgets your sin. And he knows that as his new creation, you’ll get better at it with practice and perseverance. And with his help.