Wrapping Up (11/30/02-12/17/02)
It's taken several days now to review what's been uncovered in this study. It will doubtless take several more to put together these final thoughts. In many ways, I've found my reflections turning back to my original considerations. With each reflection, though, those considerations seem to have taken on more shape. And, there have also been new things to contemplate. In this last section, then, I have been reviewing those things that struck me in the course of the last month, collecting what seem to me to be key points, and trying to organize them into some sensible form.
Of my original points to consider, both the topic of idolatry vs. symbology, and the topic of the crossroads have come up repeatedly. One of the two etymology trails I had thought to pursue turned out to be non-existent, and the other (crucial) while interesting, was not as revealing as I had hoped. New topics that I feel deserve further comment at this point include God's purposes, and what we learn about the true Way of the Cross. Finally, there are a series of mental images that have come out during this study that I think deserve at least being collected in one spot, and perhaps deserve further development.
The Way of the Cross (12/15/02)
Take up your cross and follow. What is this road Jesus calls us onto, this path that seemingly leads through every possible crisis? What is the way we are to go? It is that very path that leads through the valley of death. The way of the cross is a path of death, death to the worldly nature that has separated us from our Creator for so long. It's a horizontal death, a death to self, a death to sin, a death to temptation. It's a death of separation from the things of this earthly kingdom. But it's not a senseless death, it's not a nihilistic seeking to end the horrors of life and move on into nothingness. No, it's a death we can willingly face precisely because it leads us towards life.
Zoë: Life worth living, life worthy of being called life, the life of the Spirit. This is what lies at the end of the way of the cross. But rebirth requires a death. The flesh-dominated life must go before new life can come. We must undergo this horizontal death so that we can know vertical life, real life. Along this road, it is quite possible that death will still have its sting. It's a slow process, a gradual dying unto life. While the flesh persists, it will resist this process, because this process signifies its ending. It sees an end to its ability to control, and it's not going to let go of that easily. Death still has a sting, but to the spirit, the sting is as nothing, because the spirit sees the life that is coming its way.
In this month's message from R. C. Sproul, the topic of the Lord's Supper was under discussion, looking back into the roots of the varying views of what that supper entails. In the course of this, R. C. commented to the effect that the finite cannot fully contain the infinite. Paul put it another way. He said that the mortal cannot put on immortality. The flesh as it exists in this fallen world simply cannot support the full glory of the renewed, restored, immortal soul. It, too, must undergo transformation before we can come in to the presence of an almighty God.
Our spirit had its transformation at the cross of Christ. At the moment that He worked out the redemption of humanity, our spirit had that transforming work available to it. At the moment of our calling, that moment when we felt the 'Yes, Lord' welling up within us, our spirit had that transforming work applied to it. But the flesh remains. We are transformed, no longer of the world, yet we are left to be in the world, and to be in the world requires this flesh. Jesus did not stay long in the world any longer when His body had undergone this transformation. He was taken up. He returned to His true homeland.
We know and understand that God, being holy, cannot abide the presence of sin. Many mysteries arise out of this, there are any number of things about our present relationship that may leave us with unanswered questions, but it remains truth. The Holy Spirit, being of the Godhead, can likewise not tolerate the presence of sin, yet is somehow able to abide in us imperfect creatures. Can it be that His presence within is evidence that our own spirit has already undergone that full transformation?
Perhaps the spirit/flesh divide is more substantial than we think. Perhaps our spirit, renewed by the work of Christ and the abiding presence of the Spirit is just as incapable of tolerating sin. Perhaps our bodies, once glorified will be equally intolerant. Perhaps it is simply not possible for the glorified body to remain in this fallen world. Perhaps. Whatever His reasons, we do know by our own experience that the work is gradual, the dying is gradual and often painful. But we know that this dying leads to life, leads to living as we've never known it before. Only by this slow, horizontal death that comes along the way of the cross can we ever hope to know the vertical life for which we were created!
Shalom! Everything as it should be. The due order of creation restored. Adam's fall brought death into this world. Jesus' death brought death into that death. Just as Adam's physical death was inevitable when once sin had entered in, so the end of death is inevitable when once Jesus has entered in. Just as the spiritual separation of death in Adam was more immediate by far than the physical death of Adam, so the spiritual rebirth Jesus brings to us is more immediate than the physical life that also comes. The death that we bear in our flesh must die. It will take time. And in the moment of its completion, in that moment we will be like Him, seeing Him as He truly is. In that moment, our metamorphosis will be complete. In that moment, the way of the cross will have been fully navigated, and we shall know that the road led ever towards Home.
