No More Time to Doubt ...

The women were the first to speak the truth of the gospel.  Then two men of the inner circle came bursting into the upper room bringing the same words of the gospel good news.  Jesus is alive.  Don’t care that we all saw Him get crucified and die.  Don’t care that we all know He was laid in the tomb fully dead.  He just walked with us all the way to Emmaus and showed us right out of scripture how all of this was fore-ordained.  We nearly ate dinner with Him before He just disappeared.  And Luke picks up the story right as they are speaking the validation of the women’s first gospel testimony that should have never been needed to be validated.  But just to put a nail in the coffin of doubt forevermore Luke interrupts what goes on there continuing in chapter 24 of his letter to his friend about what we believe and why.  In verse 36 it says … “And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.”  While they were yet testifying as to what they had seen, heard, and experienced.  They are interrupted by this Jesus Himself appearing right in the middle of them.  No knock on the door.  Not tired from running the whole way there from Emmaus.  God does not need to run.  God moves where He wants.  God goes where He is needed.  No prophet ever did that.  Jesus is not just some mere mighty prophet.  Jesus is God.  And God is very much alive.

The time for doubt to die is here.  The time for faith born in evidence is now right there in the middle of that room looking them straight in the eyes and hearts.  But once again, human weakness, is the response to Jesus, even when He just got finished saying “peace be unto you”.  In effect Shalom.  A greeting of peace.  A greeting meant to assuage fear.  But when we refuse to see, we often refuse to hear, all because we are so set in our ways that even if Jesus appeared right in the very room with us, we cling to our notions of the past.  Luke continues recording their responses in verse 37 saying … “But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.”  It winds up easier for us to believe in ghosts than God.  We prefer the darkness to the light, even when it shines right in front of us.  Consider that every disciple in that upper room (man or woman, part of the 12 or part of the 70), every one of them, knows and has seen firsthand Jesus raising the dead while He was yet with them in His earlier ministry.  They know it can be done, because they have all seen it done.  Some of them will do this in His name in the future.  But regardless, they all know it is possible.  No ghosts back then.  No tricks back then.  But when Jesus shows Himself to be alive, we reject the possibility of resurrection and cling to the notion of evil spirits or ghosts.

Is it any different today?  We accept death as inevitable and permanent, never considering for a moment that our resurrection is assured.  Never considering that God may even bring us back to this world early to accomplish the mission He has in mind for us.  But no one asks that prayer.  And worse NO ONE believes it could ever happen.  So NO ONE tests their own faith in the name of Jesus by asking it.  We just see death, and give up all hope, barely trusting in the resurrection that will one day come.  We just assume death is the will of God.  How could it not be?  If God did not want death, then why is it so inevitable?  But these musings are the thoughts of believers who accept the results of sin, without considering that God never intended for us to understand death at all, let alone to experience it.  We were created with the notion of forever in mind.  Time was to have no end.  Endings would be a foreign concept.  So why do we believers now choose to NEVER ask for God to bring life back in the here and now, in order that we may continue the work He has set for us.  It is possible that work was prematurely ended by death.  And it is possible that God would have that work restarted now, if those fellow servants would only have the faith to ask and believe in those same possibilities.  What is the worst that can happen; He says “no”.  Seems like we are already settling for that answer, without ever asking for something else.

The lesson in this upper room is one for our church today.  Our ideas of the past, what we believe the doctrines dictate, so inform our judgment that even a risen Lord is unable to penetrate them.  We get in our heads what we think things should be, then cement those ideas so that nothing can shake them.  Even a plainly risen Lord Jesus, is translated into the ideas of a spirit or ghost instead.  A spirit or ghost is still consistent with their earlier beliefs, a risen Lord is not.  And are we any different?  Our ideas create our fear, our doubt.  Any evidence, or testimony, that lends itself to the notion we are mistaken, is discarded in favor of ridiculous conclusions that keeps us fully in line with the past.  We choose, like our disciple forefathers, to look backwards even when standing in the presence of God Himself.  And in so doing we nurture our fear and self-reliance, not our faith, and our ability to step forward.  Imagine if even when you do not have the money, you pay your tithes anyway.  Common sense tells you that this is a financial mistake.  There is no way that spending money you do not have, on church of all things, or ministry of all things, could possibly make sense.  But I challenge you to challenge God and spend that money that way, then stand back and watch.  Somehow, someway, everything works out.  It does not make sense, but it does work out.

And this lesson is to be applied to more than just our money.  Imagine if instead of returning some well deserved righteous indignation to someone who has wronged you, who is guilty, who clearly has it coming and they know it – instead – you return some undeserved love and total forgiveness, you show kindness where it is not deserved.  And believe me, kindness is the last thing that will be expected in that situation, from them or you.  But instead of “being human”, you react through the power of His love, letting it flow through you, and only then; lives will be changed, perhaps yours most of all.  To apologize when you have done no wrong, to be humble when you are in the right, to be forgiving when you are the aggrieved party; these are the hallmarks of a true believer in Jesus Christ as your lord.  We should not need evidence before we are able to trust this way.  We should not need Jesus appearing in our living rooms, to truly know that living this way, is living a better way.  And no difference of doctrine or denomination should warrant a limit to our love, our forgiveness, or our kindness.

Luke continues in verse 38 saying … “And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? [verse 39] Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. [verse 40] And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet.”  So Jesus must reach out to us even farther.  He offers his own flesh as proof of His identity.  Jesus humbles Himself enough to let His followers poke the holes in hands, or feet, or side.  Imagine how far Jesus will go, to assuage your doubts and fears, to turn you from looking backwards and start you on looking forwards to what really matters.  The only way the incorrect beliefs or doctrines you hold to will ever be corrected, is if you look forward to Jesus, and to where and how He leads you.  Nothing can change while we cement ourselves in a backwards posture.  Looking to Jesus can be the full death of doubt if we let it.

But humans can be stubborn when we choose to.  Luke continues in verse 41 saying … “And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? [verse 42] And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. [verse 43] And he took it, and did eat before them.”  So even when we start seeing the potential in the future, even when that potential introduces so much joy we can hardly stand it, we still find a way to keep doubting, and keep the door to all that - sealed shut.  Where Jesus is concerned, too good to be true, is not yet good enough.  Jesus always brings more good, more joy to us, than our limited brains ever thought possible.  As a final demonstration that He is not some spirit or ghost, Jesus eats something right in front of them.  In the kingdom of the Lord there are no spirits or ghosts save the Holy Ghost or dimension of the God head we do not fully understand.  Think about it, other than that, when Enoch goes to heaven he is translated alive in full bodily form, just as he was born to his parents.  When Moses dies, he is buried in a secret place by God, but when the devil finds his body, Moses is resurrected and taken to heaven in full bodily form.  When Elijah goes it is the same story.  When Lazarus was brought back it was in no spirit form, but in full bodily form, as was every other resurrected person during the ministry of Christ.  When the firstfruits go to heaven, it is the same story once again, resurrected in full bodily form.  And Jesus is no different.  God does not need a shell of who we are.  He did not make us this way, He has no interest in seeing us this way.  We are either living as we do now, or dead and sleeping in a grave with no memory, or interest in what happens today. 

But the disciples were more inclined to believe in demons masquerading as spirits or ghosts of those no longer alive, than in a resurrected Lord.  It took more than just His appearing in their room and speaking with them.  It took more than poking the holes of His wounded flesh, wounds He has chosen to keep forevermore.  It took Jesus eating a meal in front of them, before they would finally set aside their doubt.  This was Jesus subtlety teaching them their superstitions should be undone by what is real.  We don’t need the ghosts of the past, we need the Lord of today, the Lord of the future.  We should not allow our ideas of doctrines and what we think “should” be, cloud our notions of what the Lord is actually doing right now, right here in front of your face.  God is bigger than our box.  God is greater than our limitations, or our imaginations.  Now is the time for the doubt of the past to meet its end.  Is your faith capable of letting go of the past, and fastening hold of the future Jesus has in mind for you?  I hope mine is …

 

Food, Health & Poison ...

Sensory organs; the ability to experience life in ways that defy explanation for those without a reference, it is how we live, it is what we are. Imagine trying to describe the brilliance of color, texture, and lighting to someone who has been blind from birth. Without any sort of reference to go by, the sensation of sight seems like an impossibility, yet most of us see. Imagine your world in total silence, no more the flowing ambient sounds of a park at sunset, or a chorus of Handel’s Messiah sung by a brilliant choir. To describe sound without a reference is again very difficult. To smell, to taste, and to touch – a life deprived of these sensations seems a poor life indeed. It is said new born babies will literally die if they are denied tactile contact with another person for too long after entering the world. Why would these abilities be such a tangible part of our existence, if we were merely the product of random chance or evolution? And why stop there? Why not evolve the ability to break laws of physics? It makes so much more sense that we were created with abilities that mirror the God of creation who invented them.

Yet for every gift of sensation we have been given from God, His enemy Satan has a way of us misusing them to our detriment. We focus our attention on the things that would harm us, and harm us they do. We choose to seek out images that feed our lust, until we are slave to lust. We listen to rhythms and beats and words that degrade, until we can repeat them from memory and recite them at will. We eat things and drink things that slowly deteriorate our bodies, adding excess weight, tearing down our foundation of health. We seek to touch what we should not, and we become immune to the pleas of a conscience instilled by God. The devil uses our gifts, and turns our focus on excessive usage of each of them, to the point of our doom and self-destruction. These tricks are called “sins of the flesh”. Is it any wonder, the first temptation in the Garden was based on seeing, touching, and eating what we should not? Seems after 6,000 years we wander right back up to the fast-food counter and repeat the process of self-destruction again and again despite our knowledge of the impending results.

Yet despite our misuse of His gifts, the end of our existence will be as the beginning was. For in the Garden of Eden, there was a tree of life. This tree yielded a different fruit every month, and its produce literally extended life in all who ate of it. Because the fruit was so effective, it had to be guarded after the fall of man, so that none would continue to eat of it, and extend the life of sin indefinitely. An angel was sent with a flaming sword, until the garden itself was transplanted to heaven immediately preceding the flood of Noah’s day. When we return to Heaven, John describes seeing the tree of life once again. John also sees a river of life that flows from the throne of God Himself. This fruit and water will once again be our eternally sustaining bond with God. Of course once we enter Heaven, we will never again wish to choose a path of sin, for knowing how bad sin is, we will want no part of it ever again. So we will be free once again to eat of the tree of life.

Thus the practice of eating meals and drinking for sustenance was established in perfection PRIOR to sin. And while sin may have used this vehicle to enter our world, it does not eradicate our created instinct to eat and drink to survive, even after hell itself has passed away. Of course, like Adam and Eve in the Garden, what they ate had no waste byproducts. It was turned completely into the energy their bodies required. Vitamins, Minerals, and energy were the result of digestion. No need for bathrooms, or waste disposal systems to filter poisons from our bodies. There were no poisons to dissipate, or dissolve. Our perfection included the ability to taste, food that God considered “good”, and a conversion process that had no waste at all.

We have lived under the curse of sin for more than 6000 years now, and still we think we imagine, and we try to create. We put new combinations of elements together in new ways, looking for better foods, or fuels, or materials from which to build. We aggregate our knowledge and attempt to expand it despite the limited usage of our brains. Imagine what perfect health and conditions would do to increase these abilities. Imagine just what the lack of pollutants could accomplish in improving our lives and surroundings. Imagine clear air, clean water, and sun filtered through the ozone the way it was intended. I submit the improvement in our conditions alone would enable us to achieve greater accomplishments than we can even imagine today.

Now imagine what using 100% of our brain functionality might enable us to do; perfect recall for instance. Where now, the ability to perfectly recall experiences is more of a curse than a blessing due to the prevalence of evil in our world, in a world where only joy exists, perfect recall will be wonderful. But imagine what an IQ of 2000 might do, where today the higher IQ’s are measure above 150. Where now we deduce based on the best recollection of facts at our disposal, there we could deduce from brain cells without decay, or degradation. It is hard for a junkie to imagine the life of Bill Gates. The junkie has a much different perspective, from living in horror for a long period of time. While Christ can turn around a life like this, He is seldom permitted to do so, and it is why addicts more often than not, die from their condition. Sure, Bill Gates could become an addict, but the salient question would be “why”. He does not need drugs to avoid his problems, and his life affords him better perspective on solving any problem that comes his way. So we too, may not be able to imagine just how good, good will be, but to the best of our imaginations, this is what Heaven will be like.

Adam and Eve knew only this life of perfection prior to sin. They lived in a beautiful world, custom crafted by God to be their home. They had the beauty of marriage, the rest of the Sabbath, the company of God taking walks together in the evenings. They had a bountiful plethora of fruits and foods to eat, animals who sought their affections, clean water and clear air. They had 100% of their new minds to absorb the truths they were taught. They had all of this. And we will have all of these gifts once again restored to us. After time has no more meaning, all these conditions will be restored to us. We will live again as they lived at first, returned to our state of perfection. We know what they did not. We inherited the curse of knowledge of good and of evil. It did not make us like God in any other way than we have come to see how bad, bad can be, played out in our own lives. God knew it would lead to this and tried His best to help us avoid this fate. But we chose not to. It is our choice to throw away perfection that must be examined.