God's Math

The universe and all it is, can be described with numbers. Don’t ask me to do the math; it took me three times to pass algebra 70 (bonehead algebra). But brighter minds than mine can see the beauty and logic of these numbers that tell His story without alphabet. One of my favorite books is St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, especially 1:3 through 2:10. The whole of the Christian life is presented, both the individual and corporate life. Chapter 1 deals with the church, the Ecclesia (the called-out ones) and Chapter 2 deals with the individual. In chapter one, a sequence of seven ultimate blessings are outlined from being chosen in Christ to be holy and blameless in God’s presence through being sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise. Number five starts in verse eight and runs through verse ten: In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. Here Paul reveals a mystery—that all things will be “summed up” in Christ-things in heaven and things on earth. Here is the equation: All Things in Heaven plus All Things on Earth equal all things added up into Christ All things on earth intrigue me. What are “all things?” What does this include? I suppose, first, that all things must include humanity. We are summed up in Christ. He is the Last Adam; the Adam who was victorious. It must also include all nature: all animals, plants, all the elements of the periodic table, all the quarks and gluons and sub-sub-sub particles of which science says the universe is made. Now things get a bit sticky. Does this summing up include the devil? Does it include Adam’s sin? my sin? Does it include my sins against you and yours against me? Hitler’s sins? Stalin's sins? Does it include all the evil of this world, not only the sins but the agony of illness and death? What can be excluded from “all things in heaven and on earth?” Nothing! All things are summed up in our Lord Jesus Christ. He bore our sins; he bore our pains, our woes, our alienation from Himself and from one another (Isaiah 53). In Him all is forgiven, all healed, all totaled up in that one value in the equation-“on earth.” “In heaven” is actually described a little later in the same chapter in verses 19 through 23. God’s power in resurrecting Jesus, seating Him at His right hand, far above every rule, authority, power and dominion, not only in this age, but the one to come, the victory over all things and being made head of all things pretty well sums it up. He is Head of all things even though we may not know of what this “all” consists. Now for the astounding part of this. What is the purpose of this equation, this infinite equation? It is for the Church, the Ecclesia, you and me who make up this denominationless group of called-out ones who believe. Here it is in Paul’s own words: …and gave Him (Christ) as head over all things to the Church, which is His Body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Did you catch that? He who fills all in all is Himself filled by His body, the Church. It was for this purpose that He was sent, died, was raised, was seated in the heavenly places. We are what gives Him joy; we who make His day; we who fill his cup; we who are the sunshine on His shoulders. What a stupendous thing is this! Words fail, thoughts quail, comprehension shakes her head in wonder. We, me, us, are His purpose, the summing up of all things. 11-1-12 God's Math

Two Little Words

But God; two little words which tip the balance of this whole world history. But god. These two words are found in the first part of Ephesians Chapter 2. Here’s the context from the NASB: And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus… (St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesian Church, Chapter 2, verses 1-6) Two little words: “But God;” Two little words, six letters, two syllables in English; seven letters and three syllables in Greek. In both English and Greek, the conjunction “but” ties two thoughts together in comparison or contrast. “But God” in this passage of scripture is the starkest of all contrasts, the division between the most polar of all opposites: Death and Life. We all were dead but God made us alive. All other contrasts pale in comparison: black and white, sickness and health, male and female, slave and free, wet and dry, rich and poor…ad infinitum. We humans can think of nothing worse than death and better than life. These two tiny words are the pivot of a scale, one side of which is so weighed down that it is at its nadir-it can go no lower than death. Then, abruptly, God enters in with His alternative: Life. “But God”…made us alive. The scales crash down on the opposite side, kerblam! Death is left hanging in midair, dangling helpless, suspended with nothing to support it. Death itself is dead, outweighed, outflanked just when it thought it had achieved the ultimate victory. We were dead, all of us, completely under its control, fully in harmony with its powers, the consensus of its counsel, the slaves of its prince, in harmony with the spirit of the disobedient; enslaved to the lusts of body and mind and ready to be consumed. But God! Made us alive Raised us up; Seated us with Him in the heavenly places. A stunning victory; death is swallowed up, absorbed into life in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is grace: that God, in loving mercy, without our consent, even while we were still dead in our sins-with no consciousness of our state or of the option, made us alive together with Christ Jesus our Lord. No wonder Paul in chapter 1 fervently prays that we, the believing ones, may know the power which He exerts on our behalf, the power of the resurrection of our Lord (1:18,19). We are raised with Him, seated with Him and all this so that Jesus may be head over all things. For what purpose? For the Church, His Bride, who is His own fulfillment, the filling up, the satisfaction of Him who is Himself, the fullness of all things. How marvelous is this grace, this gift, this Gift which brings with Him all gifts for the Bride who is not ready for Him, but whom He loves unto death, the heartsick-with-love suitor. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who blessed us with this gift, the gift of life, sung out to us in two little words: ”But God.” 11.2.12