Please, please pray for me because things have been happening since last Sunday that are just stopping me from being efficient and getting stuff done. Things, of course, that vary between events outside of my control, and my own procrastination and all sorts of wonderful things that are still being worked on in my life, I imagine.
There’s so much that I want to let out! There’s so much that needs to be written about! There’s so much that needs to be clarified and purified… as a dirty, sweating Calvin was telling Hobbes, ‘There’s Treasure Everywhere!’
Previously, on the blog…
It sort of feels like I’ve been walking with a metal detector on the beach, and I wasn’t expecting to find anything more than random trinkets and stuff… then, boom. A freaking golden scepter with jewels and light of eternal value.
And there’s a lot more, apparently. We’ve only touched on the first sentence of what this kid shared. And, yes, I understand I could be overreacting, but, hey, again – you get something like this yourself, you owe it to yourself to test all things, and to hold on to what is good.
Stumbling Upon An Appraisal – September 30, 2024 (279/365)
You know, while I was going through what followed this ‘first sentence’, I was feeling uneasy about actually sharing all of it… I was reminded, not only to test all things and to hold on to what is good, but also to just bring it back to Christ – from Him, to Him, and through Him are all things, and He deserves all the glory.
With that said, from this point on, there will be instances where I won’t be sharing the exact words shared to me almost 10 years ago, but I will make sure to add proper context.
Let’s go.
Last time we talked about a scepter, and I want to be just a little more specific about it. I mentioned the scepter of King Cyrus in the book of Esther, and, for the record, the stories of the scepter representing royal favor is found in Esther 5:1-2, and then in Esther 8:3-6.
Also, before we move on, the writer of Hebrews specifies, concerning Christ (or, ‘the Son’), that what was written generations ago, in Psalm 45:6-7, was for Him: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”; the scepter He holds also is representative of His kingdom, His justice, uprightness and righteousness, on top of His royal, divine favor, as we’ve already established previously.
We’ve established in the recent months, that the salvation Christ paid such a huge price for us to have isn’t a mere ticket to heaven. No, our salvation through Christ is our being set free from the Law of sin and death, and dying to flesh, and it’s our being set free INTO the Law of Spirit and life, made alive unto God…
And in case we aren’t necessarily appreciating that second side of the coin, or in case we aren’t seeing any immediate value to our being made alive to God, we can see it through the implications behind the scepter Christ holds.
By the grace of God, through the finished work of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, we represent the Kingdom of God in this fallen reality, carrying His righteousness; We carry Christ’s justice and uprightness, as well as His royal, divine favor, for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven – that none would perish, that all would come to repentance.
Again, from Christ, to Christ, and through Christ are all things, and He deserves all the glory.
Okay, let’s REALLY go, now.
Not only was there a scepter, but it was matched with a crown… And unlike the scepter being handed over, the crown was being ceremoniously placed. It was, ‘a crown nothing like i have ever seen. it is full of the Lord’s glory.’
If the scepter was representative of what we do in Christ, I believe that the crown is representative, or it is a display to the world of what we have in and through Christ. I only say this as I still have residue from my time learning from the Lausanne Congress in my brain – significant residue in the form of what I assume was the overall theme: Coming together to declare and display Jesus Christ.
I’m reminded here that before we even consider resorting to our own feeble efforts, we need to step back – that is, before we even consider executing our plans, or taking the first step in anything, we ought to acknowledge Him in all our ways, lest we fall into the trap of finding ourselves wise in our own eyes.
Or, more importantly, we need to acknowledge Him in all our ways – yes, more than merely moving knowing He is with us, we would probably be doing ourselves a favor by taking on the opportunity and privilege of intentionally acknowledging Him in all our ways…
Why? Because, in doing so, He would establish our thoughts – and by this, I am assuming that He lets us in on His timeless, borderless wisdom in any situation. He reveals things to us that we would never know on our own – just as in 2 Kings 6, Elisha (referred to as the man of God) was sending word to the king of Israel regarding the plans of Aram (referred to as the king of Syria) which he made in secret.
I am also making the assumption that this also means we’re to move with what we intend to do, or to pull back, or to take caution, much as the priests would give advice to the people of Israel and/or her leaders after using the Urim and Thummim (see Numbers 27:21 and 1 Samuel 14 & 28)
And going back to crowns, well, when it comes to royalty, I could assume that one would merely have to look at someone’s features, ‘aura’, and/or retinue to recognize he or she is royalty… but the crown is there to confirm and declare the status of the one who wears it.
In our case, I believe that any crown we do wear, is as the scepter we hold… and, keeping in mind the theme of the Lausanne Congress this year, we come together as a royal priesthood, declaring Jesus Christ (as a scepter), and displaying Jesus Christ (as a crown).
We’ve spoken on the book of Romans as of late, and through its chapters we’ve seen a very ‘meaty’ glimpse of God’s glory, God’s grace, and how God’s grace is not without His glory, and vice versa – I’m here to say that Jesus Christ is the ultimate declaration, and the ultimate display of God’s grace AND God’s glory.
We’ve been given the scepter of declaring God’s glory and grace, just as I imagine we’ve been given the great commission by Christ before His ascension…
…and, praise God, we’ve been ‘crowned’ with God’s glory and grace, not of our own doing, but through what I’m now calling our ‘coronation’; that is, we’ve been ‘crowned’ with the Holy Spirit, just as tongues of fire rested upon the heads of the disciples in the upper room.
So, regarding this prophetic word which we were not so quick to despise, which I believe we respected by testing it as we ought to test all things (1 Thessalonians 5:10-21) – I see that it comes together with other things I’ve learned as of late.
We come together as the body of Christ before anything else. We are not the body of ideas, ideologies, and even religion that we have in common, nor are we the body of a common location, preference, or blood – we naturally come together in Christ.
And I am not saying that our own efforts to declare and display Christ are in vain – FAR from it! I’m saying that Christ’s finished work was what guaranteed that we have a scepter to declare His gracious glory, and a crown, a Holy Spirit to display His glorious grace. Christ’s finished work now precedes any and ALL work we do.
Our faith, I dare say, produces works – and not necessarily according to our standards, but ALWAYS within the glorious and gracious presence of our God, whom we have been led to call our Father.
Now, from this point forward I will not be directly quoting what the kid told me… instead, I feel it more prompt for me to just start any writing I do on this topic in particular, with the verses that I found in the Bible related to what he said – again, this is part of my testing all things; if it hasn’t already been obvious I’ve been testing everything against the Word of the Lord.
I’ve recently been looking at the difference between exegesis and eisegesis… and, long story short, you want exegesis. No, let me emphasize – you REALLY want exegesis, instead of twisting the Word to what you have in mind.
I also read somewhere, ‘Exegesis allows us to agree with the Bible; eisegesis seeks to force the Bible to agree with us’; in the name of exegesis, I’d rather refer to the Scripture for it to be glorified, so the extrabiblical pays homage to the Bible.
I’ve said quite a lot here so far, but believe it or not there’s still a long ways to go.
However you see all this, I only pray that Christ is glorified in all of it.
Until the next post, God bless us all abundantly and greatly. Amen.
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