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REFLECTION 9: ARTICULATING THE WORD OF GOD
"No one has seen God at any time, the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him." John 1:18
Let me ask you a question. Do you think God wants us to express His truths better and better? Or do you think that the wonderful truths in the Bible are written in "literal" stone and can't EVER be improved on, amplified, clarified, or expressed in a higher and more accurate way?
In other words, are the literal words of the Bible the "ceiling" which we can't dare reach above, or are Scriptures the foundational floor we stand on so that we can go even higher and better in expressing the ways of God? Would Abraham, Moses and David want us to go beyond their words to even greater expressions of their ideas? We can all agree that the Bible's INSPIRATION is perfect. But does that mean that the ARTICULATION of that inspiration is always perfectly phrased and can never be expressed in a way that more closely reflects the Lord's heart?
The word ARTICULATION is defined as "the process of accurately conveying an idea with words and expressions." Articulate politicians like Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton swayed the masses to action by personifying their parties' messages with vision, clarity and strength. Articulate actresses like Betty Davis, Meryl Streep and Kate Hepburn capture our tears with their brilliance in delivering a character to full life before our very eyes. To be able to articulate a grand idea is a gift beyond measure. A faithful articulation includes eloquent wording, energetic gestures, truthful tones and visionary zeal toward the idea being expressed.
Seen from this angle, Jesus is the perfect ARTICULATION of God's love nature. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.... For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time, the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him." John 1:1, 14, 16-18.
What a passage! The Greek "Logos" is translated "Word" in these verses and is a synonym for "articulation." The definition of "Logos" means "the expressed essence of something." Jesus is the essence of God expressed to mankind. He revealed the Father's essential nature which NOBODY had been able to express before, not even Moses. Jesus Christ is the great IDEA of God's heart EXPRESSED fully and perfectly through His life, death and resurrection.
The incarnation of Jesus was the perfect ARTICULATION of God's love. In fact, the ONLY ARTICULATION of God's love. No other articulation is needed, no other name in Heaven or Earth by which man may be saved. But in this one articulation lies the power of total goodness, total victory, and total reconciliation of all things to God. When we truly realize what this means, our image of God will forever change.
We must totally forget Moses' Law and only remember Jesus' Spirit. Moses' Law was not a perfect articulation of Jesus. The indwelling Holy Spirit is. Moses' Law inadvertently showed what God truly was NOT. Jesus showed us what God truly WAS.
The Law said God was frequently and ultimately wrathful. Jesus said God was constantly and perfectly merciful. Moses said God executes the curses of the Law. Jesus said that Satan and his elemental demons execute the curses of the Law. Moses said God both blesses and curses. Jesus said God only and always blesses.
Moses said hate your enemy. Jesus said love your enemy. Moses said God kills. Jesus said Satan kills, but God only gives life. Moses said Satan was God's servant who, as the death angel, assassinated men at God's command. Jesus said Satan was a rebel enemy of God whose will and actions were not by divine permission. Moses said God afflicts with sickness. Jesus said God only heals.
Moses said God had the power of death. Jesus said Satan had the power of death. Moses said God's wrath overcomes evil. Jesus said God's perfect goodness overcomes all evil. The point is that the New Testament articulation of God's essence is light years ahead of the articulation expressed by Moses' Law. Why would we ever want to go BACKWARD in our understanding of God?
Let's consider a specific example. Moses was perfectly inspired when he heard God's heart on Sinai. But did Moses perfectly ARTICULATE God's heart for dealing with enemies when he instructed the people to have an, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth!" mindset which promoted personal wrath and revenge? Jesus came later and improved on that by ARTICULATING that God's true heart for our enemies on the attack was to, "Turn the other cheek" and "love them" and "pray for them." Matthew 5:38-39, 44. Better articulation, better covenant, better expression of God's essence.
If the ONLY idea of God is Jesus, if the ONLY Logos of God is Jesus, if the ONLY begotten Son who lives "in the bosom of the Father" is Jesus, if the ONLY name that saves Heaven and Earth is Jesus; then the accurate articulation of "the Jesus idea" becomes all important. The Holy Spirit lives inside us as the perfect ARTICULATION of that idea. ANYTHING NOT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IS A LESSER ARTICULATION OF JESUS AND MUST BE DISCARDED. The Holy Spirit always and only speaks of Jesus.
This realization has led me to believe that what Moses saw on Mount Sinai had to be one thing and one thing only-- Jesus Christ! There was nothing else to see if he was having a true revelation from God. From the beginning of time, WHENEVER God speaks to man, He is ARTICULATING Jesus in some form or fashion.
Thus, Moses met the Logos on the mountaintop. But, by the time Moses got to the bottom of the mountain, what he experienced in glory was now being reduced to rules. I am sure Moses interacted with Jesus' divine nature on Sinai, and that he beheld Jesus' perfect goodness, even if it was from behind and at a distance. This exposure even caused Moses' face to shine, at least for a little while. But then Moses' natural thinking kicked in since he lived by his own righteousness rather than the righteousness which is of God. Remember, Moses did not have the indwelling Holy Spirit, so he could not perfectly articulate what he saw.
I believe that what Moses did was to make a "laundry list" of the qualities he saw in Jesus' goodness, a list which would come to be known as the Ten Commandments. But, rather than using it solely to describe the wonderful nature of God, he instead used it as a way to imitate or, more accurately, plagiarize God's righteousness. He perceived that Jesus' divine nature worshipped the Father only, that He honored the name of the Father, that He abided in the Sabbath rest of God, that He always honored and obeyed His Father at all times, that there was no murder in His nature, no adultery, no stealing, no lying, and no coveting. True perfection.
Instead of calling this perfection a "who" named Jesus, Moses chose to call it a "what" named the Law. Moses called this revelation a "thing" known as the Ten Commandments. And we have been objectifying God ever since as a "thing" rather than a "person." As we all know, we can talk about the Ten Commandments all day long without ever coming near Jesus.
Have you ever noticed most people are willing to talk about what the Law means or doesn't mean, but when we actually begin talking about what the voice of Jesus is saying "now," this very moment, people start to squirm and the conversation dries up. Moses on Sinai had an inspired interaction with the perfection of God, but Moses did not perfectly articulate that perfection to the people.
Moses, rather than articulating that this perfection he beheld was the nature of the Lord Himself, instead created "laundry list" laws that all MUST slavishly follow in order to please God and be like Him. Then Moses added his own "OR ELSE" to the rules, and the wrath of God was born. "Imitate the Law I give you, OR ELSE God and I declare you cursed." Moses' anger blended in and corrupted the articulation of the Lord into something that, while it did reflect some aspect of Jesus, now also partially perverted the image of God into a bipolar monster. Moses did this by creating a "thing" called the Law.
Satan now uses this "thing" to accuse God of evil, condemn us with failure, infect us with fear, curse us with misfortune, and lure us to sin. "All who are under the works of the law are under the curse." Galatians 3:10. But, when we use the "Law lawfully," the right way in other words, we see the perfection of Jesus in our hearts with the eyes of faith.
We see that the Law is not about us attaining to God, but rather the Law is about what God wants to attain IN us. WE can never attain to the impossible standard of the Law-- NEVER. This is why He is God and we are not. Only He can fulfill the Law. Jesus IS the living Law. He knows that and so must we. Jesus is the Law incarnate, the Law personified, the Logos made flesh.
But the best news is that this perfect and divine Jesus wants to inhabit you and lead you into all truth, love and goodness. The proper use of the Law doesn't make us "like" Him, as in a carbon copy imitation. Rather, the proper use of the Law makes us "like" Him, as in admire and esteem and love Him.
As we become awestruck by His beauty, we see God's one and only purpose in the Law-- LOVE! God Is love! That is the beginning, middle and end of it. We have to stop making the Law about us. It is about Him. He wants us to see clearly that a perfect Father, a flawless Son and a sweet Spirit all love and delight in us and will not allow us to destroy ourselves.
So, when we read the Old Testament, remember to let the Holy Spirit articulate it. The Holy Spirit will "reverse engineer" the Law, taking it back up Mount Sinai back into the presence of Yahweh, back into the presence of Jesus, back into the Spirit of God. Then, all will be clear. Wrath will disappear as a deception-- both Moses' wrath and Satan's wrath. Pure love will manifest. Fear will flee because perfect love casts out all fear. As Julian of Norwich said, "All will be well. All will be well. All manner of things will be well." END PART ONE: TO BE CONTINUED......
