Holy Forever

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, 

"Salvation [belongs] to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" 

All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, Thanksgiving and honor and power and might, to our God forever and ever. Amen." (Rev 7:9-12 NKJV)

Last Sunday the worship at my church was simply glorious. We sang songs focused on the holiness of God. When our worship leader introduced the songs, he read from the book of Revelation.

One of my very favorite worship songs is Holy Forever, written and sung by Jenn Johnson here...

As we sung these songs Sunday, I was overwhelmed by some thoughts about heaven.

The first words of the Lord's prayer are "Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name." That is our first call and privilege - to exalt His name together! "Let your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Those words indicate that the saints and angels in heaven are actively and presently doing the will of almighty God. The will of God is that all beings in heaven and earth worship and adore Him with their whole heart and soul and strength. 

I know my parents were both believers and are now in the presence of God. When I worship God, I am able to join the chorus of heaven singing His praises, as in the book of Revelation. It gives me inexpressible joy to know that my loved ones are worshiping with me as we lift up the name of Jesus. He is worthy of all glory and honor and praise!

Understanding the Trinity

One of the things I struggled with over the years is reconciling the monotheistic concept of Judaism with the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. Since the term "Trinity" is not in the Bible I have felt a need to understand why it has been considered a core doctrine by Christian churches for virtually all of church history.

So before I raise questions in your mind about my own orthodoxy, let me explain. I tremble to even consider that I might misrepresent God's nature, and don't believe that anyone can truly comprehend the nature of God since he exists beyond our frame of reference in time and space. However, I really want to understand what the Bible says about the nature of God and his relationship to Jesus our Lord, so I will proceed with my limited analogy if you will bear with me in this endeavor.

The SHMA

Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! (Deuteronomy 6:4 NASB)

This is a phrase that every Jew knows and memorizes as a child. It is the foundation of Judaism and the first commandment in the Torah. Jesus, being a Jewish Rabbi, understood and agreed with the writings of Moses, calling the SHMA the Greatest Commandment. However, the New Testament clearly indicates that Jesus made Himself equal with God by calling God His Father. So now God appears as two personalities in a family relationship.

This Father-Son relationship is most fundamental to Christianity and most abhorrent to the religion of Islam, who consider Christianity to be a polytheistic religion. So how do you explain to a Muslim (or a Jew for that matter) that you believe in one God who has multiple forms or personalities? Is He one God or two or three? One morning recently I awakened with thoughts that helped resolve that question in my mind.

The FORM of God

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. (Philippians 2:6 NASB)

All through the Old Testament there are references to the "right hand" or "strong arm" or "outstretched arm" of God. These references uniformly occur in places where God is interacting with creation as Lord and Savior, in other words, in the role of Messiah. In fact in practically every reference you can substitute the name of the Messiah for this term and it makes perfect sense. For example,

My righteousness is near, My salvation has gone forth, And the Messiah will judge the peoples; The coastlands will wait for Me, And for the Messiah they will wait expectantly. (Isaiah 51:5)

Ah Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and the Messiah. (Jeremiah 32:17)

Try this yourself; I think you will find a blessing in that.

In the New Testament we see the glorified Jesus our High Priest, seated at the right hand of God. The thought occurred to me that perhaps Jesus actually is analogous to God's right hand. The concept of a spiritual body consisting of multiple interacting personalities is not foreign to the Bible; reference the Body of Christ for example.

So when Jesus communicates with the Father, is this a conversation, or an interaction analogous to the interaction of the brain with the body, where the brain communicates via a type of nervous system to produce visible action? In this case, even though the Son of God is communicating to the Father as a person, in the spirit the two are considered one. You would not refer to me as "they" in reference to my body parts, but as to "him" who has a single will and many interconnected members. Is it possible that in the incomprehensible nature of God we can make such an analogy? Let me continue.

The Spirit Connection

I now understand that the Holy Spirit is analogous to the central nervous system of God. The Holy Spirit makes it possible to connect directly to God. It was the Holy Spirit that rested upon Jesus, fusing His will to God and allowing Jesus to carry out the perfect plan of God on earth. The Holy Spirit so fully embodied the Father's presence in Jesus that He could say "whoever has seen Me has seen the Father."

Now, the body analogy may be confusing since the Holy Spirit is invisible, like the wind. In my lifetime this has become much easier to visualize since we transmit control signals invisibly all around the world and through the darkness of space by various forms of electromagnetic radiation. Certainly the Creator of the universe could operate in ways that go far beyond our mortal technologies, even transcending the boundaries of time.

Jesus said that those who worship God must worship Him in spirit and in truth. That is our connection protocol. We authenticate by being authentic, by emptying ourselves of our old lives to put on the righteousness of Christ. We connect to Jesus through the Holy Spirit, the Helper whom the Father sends to be with us and in us, who teaches us and intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. The Holy Spirit translates our earthly requests to heavenly and perfect petitions before the throne of God.

Jesus said "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." In our human form we cannot behold the face of God and live, but through His Spirit we can grasp the nail pierced hand of God and draw near with confidence to the throne of grace.

Conclusion

Though we may not comprehend God's true nature while we exist in earthly form, we can understand that God took the form of a man (Jesus), and was indwelt by the Holy Spirit who empowered Him to perfectly reflect the nature and will of God on earth. The creator is still worshiped as the one true God. There is one throne in Heaven, not three, and Jesus is seated or standing there at the right hand of God to execute God's plan for creation.

The Right Hand of God

One morning recently, I was awakened with a small revelation about the nature of God. This is not the first time I have awakened with a revelation - that seems to be the time when God speaks to me most often.

In this awakening I realized that Jesus is the right hand of God. Not only does He sit at the right hand of God, He IS the right hand of God in a metaphorical sense. Suddenly I saw scriptures in this new light. Jesus is the powerful hand of God that reaches down into this world to save and defend us. Here are a few verses where you could substitute the name of Jesus for the right hand of God...

Exodus 15:6 (Jesus is majestic in power)

Psalm 118:15-16 (Jesus is the mighty warrior, lifted high and exalted)

Psalm 89:13 (Jesus is mighty and exalted)

Psalm 139:10 (Jesus is our guide through the darkness)

Psalm 98:1 (Jesus is victorious)

Psalm 17:7 (Jesus is our refuge)

Psalm 21:8 (Jesus is the scepter of God's righteous judgment)

Psalm 63:8 (Jesus is our help and support)

Psalm 48:10 (Jesus is full of righteousness)

Psalm 60:5 (Jesus is our savior)

Name Above All Names

The Hebrew name of God consists of four characters, “YOD”-“HEY”-“VAV”-“HEY”. You might have seen it spelled YHWH, the unpronounceable name.

Characters in the Hebrew language are as interesting as some of the real Hebrew characters in the Bible.  First, there are no vowels in the written language so sounds have to be added by annotations called “nikkud” or just added when the text is read based on knowing how each word should sound.  This makes it very difficult for a non-Hebrew speaking person to learn to speak Hebrew. Hebrew is not designed to be learned from a book, but rather from a teacher.

Aside from that challenge, in fact some characters in the Hebrew language can function as vowels or consonants depending on the word in which they are used. It happens that God’s name has two of these vowel/consonant characters, “VAV” and “HEY”. VAV can sound like a “V” when used at the beginning of a word, or like a “U” or “O” when used in the middle of a word. HEY can sound like an “H” or like “ha” when used at the beginning of a word, or like “ah” when used elsewhere. It can also be silent in some cases.

So now we get to the point – how to pronounce the name of God. Well, that’s even trickier because the ones who know won’t say, for fear of using the name of God in vain. And the ones who don’t know are all over the map. Jehovah and Yahweh are two commonly used pronunciations. There is also evidence that Yahu’ah could be the correct pronunciation. The translators of the Bible just avoid the whole issue by translating it “LORD” in all upper case.

One night I was thinking about the name of God and had this inspiring thought. If I were to attempt to say “Yahu’ah” around a Jewish priest he would probably say “shhhh!” Ya-shhh-hu’ah! That’s the Hebrew name for Jesus.

Yes, that is the name of my LORD! Lord you and the Father are one, Yeshua, yes you are!

Now why is God reluctant to be called by name? A name is used to distinguish one from another. In the case of God, there is only one and thus no need to identify Him. However, His name is also powerful, and at the sound of His name every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord. This goes back to holiness; we are not allowed to regard Him as one among many.

Speaking of Yeshua, what did he call God? Simply “Abba” or “Father”. That is really special; you only have one father and using that name identifies the love, respect and uniqueness that is due His name. I’m so thankful that He is willing to be called Father; that means that He is willing to call me son!

Holiness and the Sabbath

One of the things that I find difficult to reconcile between the Old Testament and the New Testament is the Sabbath.  This was one of the fundamental tenets of the Law; the Sabbath is to be a holy day unto the Lord.  The Sabbath rest is introduced in the very beginning of the Bible and it is one of the Ten Commandments.  I ran into this quandary again today when I was reading Isaiah 56.

Thus says the LORD,
            “Preserve justice and do righteousness,
            For My salvation is about to come
            And My righteousness to be revealed.
      “How blessed is the man who does this,
            And the son of man who takes hold of it;
            Who keeps from profaning the Sabbath,
            And keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

This theme of not profaning the Sabbath is repeated three times in Isaiah 56, even  applying it to gentiles who come to the Lord.

“Also the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD,
            To minister to Him, and to love the name of the LORD,
            To be His servants, every one who keeps from profaning the Sabbath
            And holds fast My covenant;
      Even those I will bring to My holy mountain
            And make them joyful in My house of prayer.
            Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar;
            For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.”

When I was a child in Houston, I remember the world around me seemed to stop on Sundays.  At that time (the 1960s) America was just getting started on its way to abandoning the Sabbath or "blue laws."  Today in America you couldn't tell much difference between Sunday and any other day of the week.  Most people still get weekends off from work (praise the Lord), but treat Sunday just like Saturday or any other day off from work.

So I had to stop and ask myself, how does this fundamental Old Testament law apply to Christians, or does it apply at all?  First, the Sabbath as counted by the original keepers of the Sabbath occurs on Saturday.  That immediately causes me concern about Sabbath legalism being applied to Sundays.

The apostles seemed to dismiss or even discourage observance of holy days, and even Christ seemed to intentionally violate Jewish traditions based on the Sabbath day, in order to challenge the religious establishment.

So, what can we learn from the principal of the Sabbath that applies to Christians?  Well, first the principal of rest on the seventh day is built into our genetics by our Creator.  This is a physical principal which we would do best to observe.

More importantly, just like our bodies need rest periodically, our spirits need refreshing periodically.  The Sabbath, like the tithe, is a principal which pre-dates and exists outside the Law of Moses.  Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.  So we should use the Sabbath rest for its purpose, to re-unite our spirits with the Spirit of God, and re-unite our souls with our brethren in the Lord.

Most critical though, the Sabbath is a demonstration of the holiness of God.  Profaning the Sabbath is really just making the Sabbath like any other day.  There is another similar commandment right before the Sabbath law.

“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain."
Exodus 20:7 NASB

The first four commandments deal with the holiness of God.  There have been teachings in America that bring God down to our level, as a friend or a brother.  While it is true that God may present himself through Jesus as a fellow servant of God, we cannot presume to approach Him in that way.  The first words in the Lord's prayer lift up the holiness of God.

I came across this in my study of the prophets.

He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever. And the house of Israel will not again defile My holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their harlotry and by the corpses of their kings when they die, by setting their threshold by My threshold and their door post beside My door post, with only the wall between Me and them. And they have defiled My holy name by their abominations which they have committed. So I have consumed them in My anger.
Ezekiel 43:7-8 NASB

It appears to me that the Jewish priests set up a room next to the holy place in the temple where they kept the remains of their kings.  This reminds me of some churches I saw in Europe where they had the bones of dead saints right there in the sanctuary mixed in with images of Jesus.  Certainly elevating saints to a level of worship is an abomination to God.

God may come down to our level, but we are not allowed to go up to His level or bring Him down to ours. If we make His throne in our lives just one of many, we profane His name.  God's throne must be supreme; He will not share His glory with any other.

"I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images."
Isaiah 42:8 NASB

The early disciples called Sunday the "Lord's Day" and it was indeed a special day.  We need not re-introduce the Law of Moses to make Sunday our Sabbath.  Rather, I pray that I will remember to keep the Lord's day separate in some ways, to spend a little more time in prayer, to read a little more from His word, and maybe even write something honoring the Name of my Creator!

Searching for the Lost Ark?

I think I found the lost Ark of the Covenant!  It's in Revelation 11:19:

And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.

So the Ark of the Covenant is in the temple of God in heaven.  It figures.  When the veil of the temple in Jerusalem was torn from top to bottom, is it possible that God himself left the temple with the Ark in His hands?

It would be just like those faithless chief priests to keep it a secret for another 40 years:

"Hey you know that Ark thing?  Well, we sort-of lost it around the time we crucified that Troublemaker.  Maybe some looters took it during that earthquake, you know?  Anyway we figured you folks wouldn't miss it since only the chief priest sees it once a year.  It's really not that important anyway since you folks just come here to offer your sacrifices and give us some really nice steak and lamb chops."

I supposed the priests had another veil made, just to cover the empty room that used to be the Holy of Holies.  The symbolism of the Jews continuing their religion after the presence of God had departed is bitterly similar to a church "having a form of godliness but denying its power".

Last night I had this convicting thought - would I continue to live like a Christian on the outside when God had departed on the inside?  Sometimes it feels that way.  So I prayed this way:

Father, take me to your temple in heaven.  Burn your testimony into my heart and soul.  Fill me with your presence even as your temple is filled.  Let my life have the sweet smell of incense from your altar!  I don't want to live without your awe inspiring presence; fill me with your Holy Spirit once again!

In the name of Jesus, so let it be.