Jesus' answer to THE TYRANNY OF TIME


John the apostle wrote of believers, ‘we are in Him who is true, in His son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God AND eternal life’ (1 Jn. 5:20).
Among us, Jesus demonstrated that the time realm need not tyrannise. We all know the constraints placed on us by time. Time constraints and limitations are one of the major stressors of life. Jesus showed how to live within time whilst allowing another realm to ‘work all things together for good’ (Romans 8:28). A literal translation of this verse would be, ‘and we know that everything is brought to synergy and co-operation to those who love God.’ The Greek word is indeed sunergeo – co-operation or synergy!
Here’s a demo from Jesus; an important official, Jairus by name, comes to Him, desperate for Jesus to come to heal his 12 year old daughter who is at death’s door. Jesus sets out, but is interrupted. A woman who has been ill 12 years (as long as Jairus’s daughter had lived) and had spent everything on every proposed cure, approaches him from behind – (probably ashamed of her condition and its stigma. She was ceremonially unclean and not permitted to touch anyone) – and touches His garment hem. He stops in His tracks, knowing that the power of the Spirit has been tapped. He asks who has ‘touched’ Him and there is, for Jairus, a sickening delay while Jesus deals with the woman. “Too late. Your daughter is dead, Jairus” comes the news from his home. I cannot imagine the man’s heart. Yet, immediately upon hearing those words, Jesus speaks, “don’t be afraid, only believe”!
The words of the messengers came from the time realm and from their time realm experience, but Jesus spoke words from the eternal realm – the realm where (somehow!) all things are being synergised by Him for the good of those who seek Him and love Him! This is beyond understanding. It means that the delay caused by the woman was of no consequence to the purpose of God!
When Jesus arrives at Jairus’s house He deliberately separates out those for whom His word is ridiculous – those who ridicule what He says. When He has spoken His word and assurance to us, it may to others, sound ridiculous, but we must separate ourselves from the ‘noise’ of unbelief and expect His purpose to be fulfilled. In the Father’s ‘economy’ and programme, time is not the governing factor for He is working all things together for good. Believers access life of the Eternal kind in the here and now; we are in touch with its reality and the mystery that He is synergising all things for the good of those who love Him!
THE WATCHER, THE HUMAN and THE WRATH OF GOD:
a conversation...
HUMAN: “I cannot understand the idea of the wrath of God.”

WATCHER: “What is the difficulty?”

HUMAN: “Well, doesn’t he portray himself as the God of mercy and grace?”

WATCHER: “He does, and rightly so.”

HUMAN: “Then how can he be all mercy and grace, yet also wrath?”

WATCHER: “Let me explain it this way. Do you understand light and darkness?”

HUMAN: “Of course!”

WATCHER: “Really? Then you would understand that there is light that is desired and invited, and light that is neither desired, nor invited...or, to put it another way, situations where darkness is preferred.”

HUMAN: “Huh?”

WATCHER: “When you arrive home to your darkened house late at night, you invite light in by operating the switch...and you welcome the light, do you not?”

HUMAN: “Of course.”

WATCHER: “But if you were in your neighbour’s darkened house and in bed with his wife when he came home and switched on the light, would that light be welcomed?”

HUMAN: “Well, I guess not.”

WATCHER: “So in one case the light is a welcome blessing and in the other, a judgement?”

HUMAN: “That is so. Ah...I see. So, in one case the light banishes unwanted darkness and in the other it banishes desired darkness and also exposes an evil—actually a different kind of darkness—and a darkness that has been chosen?”

WATCHER: “Now you’re getting it. Consider this: if physical light instantly obliterates physical darkness, what do you suppose spiritual Light does to spiritual darkness and its secrets?

HUMAN: “Well...clearly co-existence is impossible. Is that uncompromising obliteration of that kind of darkness by light what is meant by his wrath?”

WATCHER: “I believe you're close. How could it be otherwise? You have said it—co-existence is a contradiction. It is a law that light obliterates darkness. The option is to invite and welcome The Light to eradicate any darkness in you—(and that’s where you’ll experience his grace and mercy!)—or to have it eradicate both the darkness along with the one in its embrace! (You see, once you begin to embrace darkness, it will embrace you with greater strength than yours!)”

HUMAN (now shuddering): “One last question: where does that darkness (and those embraced by it) go, when The Light arrives?”
 
WATCHER: “Perhaps that is for another discussion, but, The Light himself called it a place known as exoteron skotos— ‘OUTERMOST darkness.’ I think that means darkness from which there is no possibility of escape!”
 
January 18, 2020