Making all things beautiful
(Scriptures: Ecclesiastes 1:1-11, Matthew 28:6-7, Philippians 4:10-13)
Some weeks ago I spoke about Eternity Now; about tapping into the eternal kind of life in the here and now – life where God is making all things work together for our good, despite frustrations and contrary events.
Prior to the Fall life was what I call linear and without limitation because the ‘other’ tree in the garden was the tree of life! There was to be reproduction, birth, growth, life and fruitfulness – ongoing, in a walk (indeed more a song and a dance) with Creator, into the fullness of what was to become (in my view), almost like a created ‘4th person’ within the Godhead!
With the Fall, life became cyclical and limited. Limited because God placed limits on the potential for runaway evil. Cyclical because existence became a start-stop affair. God banished us from the garden and gave the reason: 'lest man should put forth his hand and eat of the tree of life and live forever ...' (Gen. 3:22-23). The idea of Man with a now-corrupted heart living on to sink into deeper and deeper depravity - was too much to bear. God prohibited access to the ‘Life-tree’ and limited man’s lifespan. Interrupted-ness became the norm. We speak now of 'cycles of life'.
Solomon had a certain fascination with this. He saw the futility (vanity) of life with its ceaseless round of cycles (See Eccl. 1:1-11, 3:1-8). YET - in the midst of his lament about the cyclical and fleeting nature of life, comes this great truth, 'he makes all things beautiful in their time and also He has put eternity in men’s hearts, with the exception that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end'!! (We don’t have total understanding of God’s Alpha and Omega purposes, but we do still have a deposit and desire for life that is, like his, eternal). Absence of joined-ness with his eternality is one of the things most keenly sensed as lost. It’s why men strive to achieve immortality by all sorts of means. They are looking for the lost tree!
Having fallen into separation, weakness, pain and frustration of purpose (vanity), the search goes on day after day, yet mankind remains trapped in the cycle of birth, life, frustration, death. The ‘fruit’ of the Fall abounds! But ….God's redemption is about rescue from vanity to life that again, mysteriously, becomes linear. And this is his here and now gift; we have life of the eternal kind, now. What becomes then, of the cyclical and vain nature of life for us? Here is a mystery – he enters it with us making all things beautiful!
•Incarnation on-going: if you think of ‘the incarnation’ as a one-off event, think again! For,
since the Fall it’s been God’s action to come with us into our plight – to journey in it with us! He was ‘incarnating’ in Abraham, in the Patriarchs, in Israel, in the Prophets and finally as the Son,
en-fleshed. His arrival as one of us was simply the culmination within time of what had always been going on. Arrival as the Son-made-flesh was the denouement of Truth that was always available to those who listened and chose to embrace it; the truth that God was always entering into their lives within a fallen world. Think of the Tabernacle in the midst of the camp of Israel through all those wilderness years; God in the midst of his people, travelling (and travailing) with them. And incarnation didn’t stop with Jesus. For He is now en-fleshing Himself in (and through) his Body. What does this mean?
•He keeps coming into the world with/through us: There is an interesting word in the NT:
'parousia' means coming, or better 'arrival'. Many scriptures speak of his parousia and we usually interpret these as referring to his arrival to wind up history. But there is a parousia, (arrival) that is ongoing (linear); an incarnation that is always for us. That is the work of His Spirit who is always ‘arriving’ with us and walking both within and beside us (and ahead of us, as we’ll see). The Spirit of Jesus – the One who came - keeps on ‘arriving’ in Holy Spirit! He arrived among us and died and rose and ascended on high to bring salvation. But He continues to come - into the cycles of life; into the frustration and vanity of life – sometimes changing things, yet more usually changing us. He makes life linear by changing us as we trust him to make all things synergise for our good! And then calls us to be his incarnational presence in the world – people who incarnate the reality of life somehow being made different and ‘linear’ in the midst of chaos and vanity. That’s what eternal life, now, does. But that’s not all …..
•Not only is he with us… but going ahead of us into the cycles: He doesn’t only accompany
us; he goes ahead of us – and this is the big truth that makes all the difference to how we live in this cyclical world. Isaiah declared, ‘there will be no more gloom for her who was in distress …. in Galilee of the nations the people walking in darkness and living in the gloominess of death have seen a great light ….upon them a light has shined … for unto us a child is born, a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder …. Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end etc.’ (see Isaiah 9). Now why Galilee? Because Galilee means 'the cycle.' Can you see that Galilee, where Jesus spent most of his ministry time, spiritually represents life in this fallen, cyclical world – and Jesus immersed himself in The Galilee of earth. But that’s not all either ….
For In Matthew 28:6-7, the message of the angel at the empty tomb was, 'He is going before you into Galilee. There you will see Him.' He rose from death and went before them into Galilee. He said, ‘there you will see me. They had to travel into Galilee by faith, trusting that he would be there ahead of them. That was where he would make his risen presence known (and commission them)! Can you see what this means? He’s to be found in Galilee; within the cycles and frustrations and ups and downs of life. For that is the nature of life into which he came to make the difference!
Paul said that he had learned (been initiated into) a secret: it was how to be content in every circumstance. He said, ‘I have learned how to be abased (in a ‘down’ cycle) and how to abound (in an ‘up’ cycle) …. I can do all things (be abased or abounding) through him who strengthens me’! (Philippians 4:11-13). Jesus is initiating us into this secret too. He’s the teacher; am I his disciple?
Ian Heard
June 19, 2016
(Further scriptures for meditation: Ex. 13:21; 23:20; Deut 1:29-33; 31:8; Isa. 45:2)
