Some Key Words (05/15/13)
- Designated (etaxato [5021]):
- To set, appoint, order. | to arrange in orderly manner. To assign or dispose. | to station, put in place. To assign. To appoint, ordain. To order.
Mt 26:16 – The eleven headed for Galilee, going to that mountain Jesus had indicated.
Thematic Relevance:
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Jesus is in command. |
Doctrinal Relevance:
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Providence appoints, commands, arranges. |
Moral Relevance: |
We who call Jesus our Lord must surely abide by His orders, by His commands. If He says go, we must go. If He says testify, we must testify. If He says we must, we must be able. There can be no excuse for inaction. |
Doxology:
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God ordains! The wonder of this may escape us at times. In spite of our weaknesses, our fallibility, God ordains the likes of us to be of service to the likes of Him. Who could imagine such a thing? Yet, it is there in Him. This is our God, Who so orders His creation that we may enjoy the pleasure of being used of Him, useful to Him, part of His great good purpose. Praise and Glory to this One Who loves us enough to include us in His plans. |
Questions Raised: |
Why Galilee? Which came first, Galilee commissioning or Jerusalem anointing? |
N/A
As I come to this passage, I find I must yet again question how I have seen these final events unfolding. Questions arise. On the one hand, we find Jesus commanding His disciples to make straight for Galilee and that it is there that they shall see Him. On the other, we see Him appearing to them in Jerusalem and telling them to remain there for a season which we understand to have persisted at least until Pentecost. My tendency is to ask, ‘which is it?’ But, the more proper question would be, ‘how do these two commands fit together?’ For, this must be true: that Jesus did not issue conflicting, contradictory commands. And this also must be true: Scripture, being God-breathed, is true, accurate, reliable. What is oft-times inaccurate and unreliable is our understanding. But, for that cause we have the Holy Spirit, the Apostle of the Church of Christ, to guide and to explain.
I must reiterate for my own sake that His office does not require Him to answer our every question. God is perfectly entitled to retain such knowledge as He pleases to Himself. But, the asking of the question is no sin. So, then: How does this mesh, my Lord? How is it that they went to Galilee, and yet were in Jerusalem awaiting the outpouring of the Holy Spirit? How is it that they met You on the mountaintop, and yet were behind closed doors in Jerusalem for fear of the Jews?
I have noted before that there was good reason for them to remain in Jerusalem for those eight days interspersed between Jesus appearing to the ten, and then to Thomas. The Feast of Unleavened Bread continued, and their attendance was still a matter of piety. I see no cause to suppose that Jesus had dispensed with that observance, any more than He did away with any part of the Law. No! He came to fulfill that Law. He would not, then, be commanding His disciples to depart for Galilee with such dispatch as would cause a violation of conscience as regards this feast. And, the timing for Thomas’ encounter certainly suggests that He had no such expectation on their part.
But, then we have that command given when Thomas was there: Remain in Jerusalem until. But, we also have the command to go to Galilee where they would see Him. Well, then, one would think maybe we misunderstand, and they had already gone to Galilee, that it was there on the mountain that Jesus appeared. But, where, then, is the closed room? And why the fear of Jerusalem authorities if they’re out in the wilds of a different jurisdiction? It doesn’t add up. The alternative would seem to be that the trip to Galilee was, due to His having commanded it, an exception clause to that command to remain in Jerusalem.
Could that be the case? That the commissioning would occur on that mountain in Galilee, but the empowerment in Jerusalem? There remains the nuance of that Galilee command, that it is there that they would see Him. Yet, they have clearly already seen Him, else they would never have found sufficient belief to proceed. True, they would have returned to Galilee anyway, that being home. But, not to a mountaintop retreat. So, we might see these Jerusalem appearances as a necessary accommodation for the weakness of the disciples. It does not thus constitute a sudden change of plans for God. Not at all. It does, perhaps, serve as a small goad to the conscience of the disciples, to be reminded that they had been commanded hence but had remained behind, hiding for all intents and purposes.
I don’t know. Is this how it all fits? Did they return to Galilee for this appointment before coming back to Jerusalem for the waiting? Perhaps. There are other events in Galilee that would seem necessarily to have transpired before they took up more or less permanent residence to the south. So, perhaps we must needs understand a deferred application to that command given on the eight night. Perhaps it is to be heard not as, ‘remain here starting now’, but rather as, ‘upon returning here, remain’.
The second question I found arising is why Jesus would opt for Galilee in the first place. The mountaintop aspect I can understand. It has both the significance of being felt a particularly holy place on the part of His people. As I was reading in Table Talk this morning, temples were set on the mountaintop to demonstrate the superiority of God, His primacy over the chaos below. And, of course, a mountaintop also has the benefit of isolation. No crowds to observe this private ceremony. But, surely there were plenteous such elevated and isolated locations available near to Jerusalem! Could they not as easily have gone there? It would certainly have made it simpler to remain in Jerusalem while meeting Him at some private place. For all that, why anyplace besides the upper room at all? Could He not have commissioned them right then and there? Of course He could have. But, He ordained otherwise, and I must believe that this was not some random demand on His part, but a command given to some purpose.
It might have been something as prosaic as providing the disciples some time in familiar surroundings, or time to visit home. But, if that were the case, I don’t know that the Galilee appointment would have been mentioned at all. It would have no bearing on the purpose of the Gospels. The key factor in that journey would appear to be the delivery of the Great Commission (Mt 28:17-20). I notice that Matthew speaks of some of their number still having their doubts when they arrived. That would seem to argue that this trip did indeed precede their lengthy sojourn in Jerusalem, going back to the first question.
Is there significance to be found in the thought of Galilee being “Galilee of the Gentiles”? Given the nature of the commission, with its command to make disciples of all nations, that region certainly fits the message better than wholly and proudly Jewish Jerusalem. Yet, Jerusalem, that city which God has chosen as His abode, remains central. It is there that the Spirit is poured out to empower the Apostles. It is there that the news of the Kingdom and of forgiveness is to first be preached. It is set as the headquarters from which the Gospel would indeed spread to Judah, Samaria, and the ends of the earth (Ac 1:8). Interesting that Galilee does not figure into that command. I wonder how those Galilean Apostles felt about the omission. We are nothing but the ends of the earth? We are lumped in with the Gentiles? How very Judean of you!
This suggests to me the purpose behind their commissioning occurring in Galilee. It could well be that this was a purposeful mark of their union. It is, after a fashion, a restoration of that divide which beset the kingdom of Israel subsequent to Solomon’s reign. After a fashion, Jesus is declaring that no, Galilee is not lumped together with the Gentiles. It is restored together with Judea, and is to be understood as an integral component of that one nation which God instituted. The political divisions of the day were just that: of the day. They were not of God’s choosing nor reflective of His own perspective. Of course, we understand as well that in His perspective this is hardly the only boundary which has been erased. Indeed, as He restores the unity of Israel and Judea, He also restores the unity of Judea and Samaria, and finally, the unity of all nations, all humanity.
Don’t take that in some humanist, universalist sense. Not at all. But, as all men are descended from the one Adam and the one Eve, so all are indeed one people, or were right up to the advent of Christ. Now, we might follow Augustine’s lead and observe two families upon the earth, two tribes. There is the tribe of the redeemed, born of Christ and He their federal head. And there are the sons of perdition, gathered under the headship of the Devil who connived his throne from out of the first Adam’s hands. When, therefore, I describe a unity of nations, or a unity of humanity, it must be understood as a unity of that portion which is the tribe of the redeemed, the true Israel of God’s choosing.
It would be hard, as we learn, for the Apostles to accept the idea that God wanted to save Gentiles, too. This was, after all, the religion of Israel, the God of Israel! And their training even up through Jesus’ ministry had inculcated in them a sense of the essential Jewishness of their religion. God chose Israel. God had preserved Israel through Exodus and Exile and Diaspora. God was, as I said, the God of Israel. What did all this have to do with the despised Rome, or Egypt or Greece? How could He want them? It would take the hand of God to move them to see things as He sees them, to accept the full scope of their commission.
Just watch the early developments. They were commanded to remain in Jerusalem until the power came. But, they remained, for the most part, until pressures were applied to drive them from Jerusalem. It took extraordinary interventions of God to get them out of their mindset. It took extraordinary interventions of God to turn their attention and their efforts towards the broader vision. Yes, their minds had been opened to understand how all the Scriptures had pointed to this moment, to the crowning achievement of Christ crucified, resurrected and ascended. They got that part. But, all those bits about light amongst a people in darkness? All of those commands to Israel to make God known to all people? That was harder to grasp. It was harder, even, than coming to grips with a Messiah Who had not driven out the Romans at sword point. It just didn’t fit their concept of how things should be.
But, Galilee was a hint in the right direction. And, God’s Word being incapable of failing of its purpose, they would indeed go out. They would find cause to bear the Gospel to the Samaritans or, if need be, find the Samaritans borne by the winds of the Gospel to find them. Likewise the Gentiles. First Cornelius, but so much more lay ahead. And there would remain a church in Jerusalem. And there would be an Apostle to the Gentiles. And there would be a Church of Christ spread through every nation known to man. And God, in His glorious Providence, would see to it not only being established for a season, but preserved, lo, even to the end of the age!
Which leads me nicely into what strikes me as the central observation to be had on this verse. There were many mountains in Galilee, as there were many in Judea. Jerusalem itself is set upon the mountains. It might even seem more naturally symbolic had Jesus told them to go meet Him on Mount Sinai, or maybe on that mountain where Peter, James and John had once seen Him transfigured. Maybe Mount Hermon? There were a number of such places with a history in God’s dealings with Israel, a number to which His disciples would have attached great significance, depths of spiritual import. But, so far as we know, Jesus did not indicate any one of these. The mountain He chose is given only this rather humble description, that it was the mountain which Jesus designated.
We might allow ourselves a stronger term for this. Jesus ordained it. He established it as part of His ordering of events. What is in view, then, is the working out of God’s Providence. This is, of course, a favorite theme of mine and doubtless ever shall be. But, we can fall into thinking of Providence as little more than circumstance and coincidence even though the very existence of Providence requires us to understand that there is no such thing as coincidence. We can fall into reducing Providence to little more than fate. And, yes, there is an aspect to God’s Providence that shares certain characteristics of fate. What He ordains must necessarily be. He being all powerful, how could it not be?
We discussed this briefly in Sunday School last week in regard to Peter’s denials back at the trial before the Sanhedrin. Could he have avoided that fall? Given the strength of Jesus’ pronouncement on the issue when He warned Peter, it must be surmised that no, he could not have avoided it. Nor could Judas have done other than to betray Jesus. Jesus made that clear. “The Son of Man must go, just as it is written of Him” (Mt 26:24). But, note well that which follows. “But woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! Better for him had he never been born.”
The absolute necessity of events established by the Providence of God does not in any way absolve man of his moral responsibilities. Man is not moved against his will, but is a willing participant in events for good or for ill. Judas was not forced to betray Jesus, yet it could not have fallen out in any other way. Peter was not speaking lies under duress as some greater power possessed him and took control of his tongue. Yet it could not have been otherwise than that he would do so. And, it could not have been otherwise than that he should realize his failure so immediately and be crushed to tears at what he had just done.
More positively, that same inevitability applies to his restoration and to ours. It could not have been otherwise than that we should come to Christ, who have been called by the Father. His Word does not return to Him void, but accomplishes all His purpose. It cannot be otherwise than that we shall indeed work out our sanctification, be made pure and holy by the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit, and be presented to Him spotless and unblemished in the end.
But, see this: Providence does not merely take note of upcoming events and nudge man a little to the left or a little to the right to see him in the right place at the right time. At least, Providence does not stop there. No! Providence commands. Providence gives orders. He appoints times. He appoints places. He appoints meetings which cannot be missed. One of the first verses I ever saw fit to highlight in my Bible speaks to this very point. “The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps” (Pr 16:9). That’s Providence in a nutshell! Now, this is not to say that the Lord’s directions are constantly leading the man where he had not planned to go, although that may happen.
In fact, were I to look back upon my earlier understanding of that verse, I suppose that’s exactly how I viewed the case, because it seemed to fit my experience so well. That conversion experience again: What had caused me to sign up for a men’s retreat? It wasn’t something I’d thought about. I don’t know that I could say that the mind of this man had planned much of anything, except to enjoy married life, keep the peace at home as best I might, and still retain a hold on those things I enjoyed before being married. Religion, at that stage, was a thing carried under the second head – that of keeping peace at home. I had no conscious belief in the tenets of the church, although I attended regularly. I had no particular interest in going off to spend a weekend with a bunch of men, let alone a bunch of men focused on pursuing this God of whom I had little thought. But, God so moved, so ordained, that I agreed to go anyway, really before I could think enough to decide not to go.
Really, there it was. The mind of Jeff was geared towards being a quiet, but determined atheist. But, God directed my steps otherwise. And, that ‘otherwise’ part really got my attention. But, there is more to that little verse. It need not be that God and man forever differ in their determinations. Indeed, that is a goodly piece, I should think, of Christian growth, is coming more and more to the place where the mind of man and the direction of God are of one accord not by the accident of God’s requiring it, but by the mind of man desiring it. It is a purposeful harmony, rather than the seeming improvised resulting harmony.
Either way, it must be understood that God, in His Providence, not only arranges, but commands that it be so. Yet, the mind of a man after God’s own heart will be seeking to direct his steps in accord with God’s plan anyway. Not perfectly, no, for we remain stuck in this fallen flesh for a season yet. But, it is the trend. Certainly, as one finds himself with responsibilities in this kingdom of God, this must be more and more the case.
With this newly arrived responsibility of being an elder in my church, (which I must also attribute to God’s Providence, and find rather a surprising place to be – called, yes, but maybe more like required?), this matter of seeking Him out on direction, of treading carefully, of attempting to speak His opinions and not just my own: This weighs heavily. Never have I been more aware of my weakness! Never have I had so clear an understanding of how Moses felt when he was commanded to go butt heads with Pharaoh! Me, Lord? Surely, You’re mistaken. Oh, wait. But, couldn’t You find anybody more qualified?
Though we don’t read of it, I’m sure David had much the same sensation when Samuel first marked him out as king of Israel. But, Samuel, we already have one, and he’s rather a remarkable fellow, is he not? He is God’s anointed, after all! What are you doing, anointing another? And, me? I’m the least son of a shepherd. What sort of background is that for a king? David, at that stage, didn’t know the half of it. If he thought his anointing was a mistake then, how often must he have wondered at his situation in the years that followed! If you think he had no doubts along the road to the palace, I think you are missing much of the purpose in those psalms he sang. Yes, he comes out affirmed and courageous. But, the reason he sang was exactly because that courage needed bolstering, the mind needed reminding that God’s Word must surely come to pass. If He had said it, it would be so. But, Lord, why does it have to be so hard?
We hear it, as well, in the prayer of Solomon. “Lord, give me wisdom.” This must be the prayer of every saint of God in this world. It just becomes a stronger plea when one discovers himself a shepherd in the house of God. No, this is no place of pride, no place for pride. It is, I think, one of the most humbling things I have ever experienced. You want me to do what? You want me to do this? Really? Lord, You know me, and yet You want me in this position? Thy will, O, Lord. Thy will be done. And, as I was caught by Psalm 69:6 last study, so it remains today: “May those who wait for Thee not be ashamed through me, O Lord God of hosts.”
May I, by the presence of Yourself within me, by ears trained to hear You when You speak and a heart humbled enough to look to You first and only, take up this shepherd’s role in a manner worthy. May I do this service You require of me wholly according to Your leading. Lord God! Allow that such steps as I may plan may ever and only be according to Your leading.
One further lesson I would draw from this matter of appointing Providence: If He appoints, or commands, we who call Christ our Lord not only ought to obey, but must obey. I am not saying this in the sense that we have no choice, for God has said it and it must therefore be done according to His word. Let us consider that sense of things as God’s decree. God’s decree must necessarily come to pass because He has spoken. God’s command, sadly, we find ourselves perfectly capable and all too willing to dismiss. It is this latter sense that I am putting under that ‘must’ head. We have a moral obligation to obey His command.
Honestly, we have a logical obligation to obey. To declare Him Lord is to declare His right to command. To declare His right to command is to admit our obligation to obey. We were not coerced into proclaiming His Lordship. There was no threat levied against us should we refuse Him this homage, at least no such threat as registered. To an unbeliever, what sort of threat is eternal separation from this One you don’t believe in? The threat may be ever so real, but it’s meaningless so far as the unbeliever is concerned. Meaning will come later. But, we have called Him Lord. We, if we must have our democratic principles upheld, elected to call Him Lord. Of course, our election was by His election, but the act of will remains with us. We call Him Lord, Who called us.
In doing this, we have effectively pledged fealty to our Lord. To think of those foreign servants in old forties movies might not be amiss. We have said, “Your will is my command, sahib.” But, are those just words, or are they indicative of our real response. Is His will my command? If He says go, will I go, or simply shout an excited ‘Amen!’ before returning home? If He says give, will I give, or just schedule an appointment with my accountant to see what’s feasible? If He suggests that I must set aside a thing I very much enjoy, perhaps not even a sin, just a pleasure, shall I do so? Or shall I take to pointing out to Him that nothing in the Book sets such legal requirement on me? It’s no longer about those legal requirements, though, is it? They are but a framework. I, who have identified this Jesus the Christ as my Lord, have identified myself as His servant, one redeemed at the cost of His blood. If redeemed, then purchased. If purchased, then slave. The slave has no recourse to the bare text of the Law. He has a duty to heed not only the acceptable command of his lord, but every command, acceptable or otherwise.
The poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, wrote in ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’, “Ours is not to question why, ours is but to do or die.” This was set as expressing the mindset of a soldier riding into an utterly impossible combat. Charge into the face of those several cannon pointed directly at us? Yes sir, sir! Scale the wall on that fortress over there? The one from which we are currently under fire? Yes sir, sir! Ours not to question, sir. We shall do it or die trying. Whether or not the sentiment was accurately portrayed, certainly the trained response of the British Army was proverbial in this period. Men of that army faced impossible odds repeatedly and yet prevailed.
I spend time on this because I find this ought surely to describe the Christian who has command from His Lord and King. We call Him King of kings, Lord of lords. But, is He lord of me? Do I acknowledge His right of command? Do I even listen for His command? Or do I just go off after my own pursuits and occasionally pray that He might bless what I’ve decided to do? The very fact that I ask the question reveals a problem. I ask because I know the answer, and I don’t like it. I ask because I wonder what it’s going to take to put this life into such condition as will accept His command as it ought. And, I know, even as I wonder, that the only way this is going to come about is by His work within me. Yet, I am simultaneously aware of a need to align my own will with His, not that He couldn’t easily overwhelm my will to get the job done. I need to align my will with His because it is the desire of my heart to find the desire of my heart so aligned.
It is the sorrow of my heart to know how swiftly I can abandon that pursuit, how my feet will turn from the Way at, it would seem, first opportunity. Has it gotten better? I like to think so. No, actually I know so. It is only that I know myself, or like to think I do, so much better than anybody else; God excluded, naturally. I know my propensities and weaknesses far too well to think even so highly of myself as I often manage to do. I know myself, and I hear my beloved wife’s assessment of me, and I wonder who she is speaking of. That’s what you see in me? My! If you only knew. But, then, maybe the reality is that she sees me far more clearly than I see myself, sees me more through His eyes than I am able to do.
Be that as it may, it remains incumbent upon me to seek daily to heed Him more thoroughly, more swiftly. “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Oh, indeed, and how is that? Instantly. Without question. With anticipation. The slave carefully watching the Master for the first hint of desire, anticipating the least request, anxious to satisfy the command to follow that much more swiftly. That is the doing of heaven. That is our prayer for the earthly wing of His kingdom. That is, then, our prayer for ourselves first.
Let it be thus in me, O Lord, that I may obey You with alacrity, completeness, and even anticipation of Your call. As it is in heaven, Lord, let it be with me. Speak, for Your servant is listening. And then, Holy Spirit, so empower me that I may indeed leap to the pursuit of that which has been spoken.
