Be honest. Is the world getting worse, or getting better compared to 50 years ago? Is it better or worse compared to the beginning moment of Creation?  Don’t think long, just answer – where did your mind go FIRST for inputs?  Or was it such an obvious answer that you really didn’t need time to think?  Even the scriptures say that things are going to get much, much worse before they get better . . . don’t they?

What would a brief scan through major headlines over the past few years tell us?

·       Huge Drug Ring Bust on West Side

·       How Police Can Seize All Your Money During A Routine Traffic Stop

·       Technology Crimes on the Rise

·       Large-Scale ISIS Attack On US Power Grid ‘Imminent’

·       Riots in Multiple Cities as Teen Gunned Down by Police

·       Heavy Unrest in the Middle East – Are We on the Brink of WWIII?

The Big Picture

The Ever-Advancing Always-Flourishing World-Encompassing Kingdom of Heaven

Nearly every parable that Jesus told was describing some aspect of the Kingdom which He came to inaugurate within His Body.  With every opportunity He had, He announced the arrival of a new Kingdom, a new way of living on the earth, a subversive and powerful reality that He believed carried within it the Power to transform the planet by means of the Original Gospel.

• Matt 13:31-32 (NLT) The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of garden plants; it grows into a tree, and birds come and make nests in its branches.
• Hab 2:14 (NLT) For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

Here’s the thing.  There’s no right answer to the question of whether things are getting better or worse – it’s only a question to help you see what’s driving your perceptions. There are thousands of ways to parse the statistics, just as there are to parse the scriptures, in order to back your already existing opinion. If you Google the phrase “is the world getting better or worse”, you’ll actually find FAR more evidence that, using standardized criteria for which we’ve collected data long enough to register as statistically significant, the world is far better today than it has been at any point in history.

But in looking at data from a series of polls asking this question, over 70% on average thought the world was getting worse, and less than 6% said it was getting better. And the stats for those who claimed to be believers in God were more pessimistic than average. Why is this? What does this say about our confidence in the Gospel?!?

Remember our premise? Christ is our ONLY accurate filter for all inputs. We have to listen for His Voice amidst all the other competing voices that are crying for our attention and our beliefs.  In your imagination as you watch the evening news, listen for the Voice of the King responding to the voices of our media.

Many voices lead us towards fear, confusion, division/separation, violence and sin.

One Voice leads towards love, unity, forgiveness, peace and Truth.

So . . . what might Jesus say in answer to these questions?  Are things getting better or worse in the world?    According to the scriptures, don’t things have to get steadily worse before they’re going to get better?  Is it going to end up great for “us” in the end and horrible for “them” in the end, and this will be perfectly OK because we’ll be OK and because they’ll have had their chances . . . so we won’t let “their” (nameless, faceless) suffering and torment affect our eternal party?

Don’t forget – envision a gigantic Cross casting its beautiful light-filled image of Calvary’s love and power as you consider these questions.

It depends on what lens you wear, which voices you choose to hear and believe, what portrait of God you are holding most dearly in your mind and heart.  Choose wisely.

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Eph 1 (MSG)  ^20-23 All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.

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 A Crucified King 

Little did our planet know that the Man arriving into Jerusalem on a tiny donkey, rather than on a war stallion, was in process of staging one of the most subversive events in all of history.  Make no mistake, a change in rulership would take place before it was all over . . . but under the thick veil of cruel torture and death, no one realized what was happening before their eyes. Planet Earth was Inaugurating its Rightful King, which would soon propel forward a subversive in-the-world-but-not-of-it underground movement that would “fill the earth with the Knowledge of the Glory of the Lord.”

 

Please don’t miss this reality, soak it in and let it settle into your soul. The Cross featuring the Crucifixion of Christ was the Coronation of the World’s True King!! Politics (the way of violent empire) and Religion (the way of manipulation and control) combined forces to scapegoat and kill the Creator of Life, and Christ turned this horrid act of violence into glorious salvation, a give-and-take unlike anything ever seen – our sin for His Righteousness, our curse for His Blessing, our shame for His Honor, our History for His Bread and Wine – His Life and Future.

The shadows of the Pre-Creation Cross and the Slain Lamb were prophetic declarations of the Coming King . . . NOT just at the end of time as we know it, but when He came to unite Himself with us.  We may not perceive this as present reality, with so many competing voices and circumstances that point to all that is contrary to it . . . but Jesus in His Incarnation inaugurated a brand new Kingdom and took His place on the throne (cross), exalted among the nations.  The world superpower is NOT Caesar, it is NOT Israel or America, it is NOT any cultural or political icon.

Jesus is Lord of Lords and King of Kings – Here.  Now.

Isaiah 9: 6-7 (AMP)

For to us a Child shall be born, to us a Son shall be given;

And the government shall be upon His shoulder,
And His name shall be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

There shall be no end

to the increase of His government and of peace,
[He shall rule] on the throne of David

and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it.

 

Dynamics of His Government

A Loving Community Sharing His Rule and Reign

Because we were co-crucified with Christ, we were immersed into His death, raised with Him at His resurrection, and seated with Him in the place of Authority at the Father’s right hand.  The Godhead for some reason didn’t choose to make His home on a beach in Maui – He’s chosen to settle in and make His home INSIDE OF ME.  At the same time, He’s chosen to make His home INSIDE OF YOU.   Why?   In essence, the King of the Universe is actually exercising His rule and His reign from WITHIN YOU AND ME, and therefore THROUGH HIS INCARNATED BODY – the Body of Christ that is alive and active and animated by the Spirit of God on the earth today.

Christ-in-us is wanting to live out His role as King from within us . . . not according to the ways of empire – power-over, politics, manipulation, violence and war . . . but by the Eternal Ways of the Slain Lamb – power-under, love, forgiveness, restorative justice and shalom.  The Narrow Way.   Our promise is this:

Eph 1  There is nothing over Him. ²¹ He’s above all rule, authority, power, and dominion; over every name invoked, over every title bestowed in this age and the next. ²² God has placed all things beneath His feet and anointed Him as the head over all things for His church. ²³ This church is His body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.

The Great Cloud of Witnesses

Our role in our own story will always be too small.  We were meant to live within a Story far bigger than ourselves – the Story of God that spans all of eternity.  And you have spectators, a legion of them watching yours play out!  When the book of Hebrews was penned, the “great cloud of witnesses” in Heb 12 would have as its reference an image of a packed Roman coliseum, a sports stadium filled to the sky with fans, filled as it were “to the clouds”.

Hebrews 12:1-2 (MSG)  Do you see what this means—all these pioneers (note: an enormous cloud of witnesses) who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!

Imagine with me if you will, a super-stacked stadium filled with the great cloud of witnesses from the unseen but very present fourth dimension, shouting at the top of their lungs as they see you take the stage in this Grand Story (in which they are one step closer to knowing the End).  Look, there’s Paul, David, Esther, Mary, the lineup in Hebrews 11 . . . hey, there goes AW Tozer and Watchman Nee,  Mother Teresa and George Washington Carver . . . look at the millions whose names have never graced the cover of a magazine, or basked in the limelight of the church stage . . . and over there . . . there’s the Lion-Lamb Himself, the Voice above all voices and the Name above all names, Creator of the Universe and Lover of your Soul.

See the scene?  Hear the roar??  It’s your time now.

They’ve already had theirs . . . but your story in His-Story is still unfolding. 

They are screaming at you, arms waving wildly, love in their eyes and overflowing passion in their hearts.  Hear the resounding echo down the corridors of your spirit . . .

Be! Who! You! Are!!

I picture the entire stadium suddenly going dead silent as the Eternal Christ makes His way to the edge of the portal.  Then, in a hushed whisper, pregnant with purpose . . . your Savior leans over and looks right through you, the love in His eyes sparking a fire ablaze deep within you, consuming your soul.

“Come, Follow Me,” says the Magnificent One, His Voice resonating with every fiber of your being.  He believes you can be like Him!   A thousand volts of pure energy surge through your spirit . . . Christ wants you to be fully and freely “yourself”, fully Present to God and to others, as you share His Love with your world, relying on the same Spirit that animated Him.

“Now, Go Make Disciples, and show people how I see them.  How I’ve always seen them.  Look underneath the outward appearances to see their Original Value and their unique roles in My Story.   I’ll be with you every step of the way, your Source of Life and Love until the End.”

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I am so overwhelmed at the Weight of the Story He has crafted, the one He has invited us to join . . . one recent morning before work, I found myself unable to speak, unable to articulate a single thought . . . weeping with pure joy, weeping to be alive at such a time as this.

My soul will remain, forever, in the mysterious grasp of His Eternal Story . . .

a grateful participant in the Abyss,

the Uncreated Living God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit –

enjoying us and freely sharing the beauty, joy and harmony of Their intimate, holy Love.

But what about the approaching Apocalypse?  What about the Horrific End Times?!?

We’ll go there next.

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