| << | Contents | >> |
Articles 2024-2026
having made known (making known – ESV) to us the mystery of His will (Greek, THELEMA – His desire, design, and determination), according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,
God evaluated and considered what would bring Him great joy as He strategized His plan for humanity and the angels. He foresaw both the fall of man as well as the great cost to Himself in redeeming him. So, by His own blood, He purchased us, a people for his own possession. And He has to some degree already made known to us His will, His THELEMA. But thankfully, He is still unfolding it to us in an ongoing way. The truth is, we desperately need for Him to graciously continue this process because, as Paul wrote, His will is a mystery. This means that no one will ever figure it out. It also means that anything that we in His Church do understand of His purpose is only because He mercifully gave us and continues to give us insight. Thank You Lord.
The world certainly does not know God’s will. As it looks toward the future, uncertainty and fear fills the hearts of many. And so, they speak among other things of the possibility of World War III, of coming climate catastrophe, of the need to shut up those who disagree politically with them, and of how science and government are the only solutions to what ails humanity. But the solution to the nations’ confusion is the unfolding THELEMA of God. And that is being increasingly known and articulated in His house. O Lord, forgive us for when we sound more like a political voting bloc than like those who powerfully prophesied Your heart in past generations.
God’s unfolding THELEMA among us is:
that in the dispensation (Greek, EIS OIKONOMIA) of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth–in Him.
OIKONOMIA comes from two words – OIKOS, the Greek word for house and NOMOS, the Greek word for law. So, OIKONOMIA speaks of the law or management of a house. Which is why the NASB translates it as administration.
with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times…
(Ephesians 1:10 NASB)
OIKONOMIA is also where we get the word economy. So, God is making known among us the mystery of His will in order to bring us to His administration/economic order for the fullness of the times. Every economy has a currency, a store of value. In the US, that currency is the dollar. People work a certain number of hours per week in order to get dollars to buy food, to pay their rent, etc. In God’s kingdom, the currency, the store of value is grace. There is not necessarily any value to be found in someone standing behind a pulpit in front of God’s people and speaking to them from the Bible. But when God by His grace reveals truth from His word to the speaker and then gives grace both to him to articulate it as well as for those listening to hear what is on His heart, suddenly the event has great value.
Where God’s grace is revealed, there His kingdom is invading history revealing Heaven’s rule from the throne of grace.
In the Kingdom of God, He releases His grace for some to be prophets, some to be intercessors, or home schoolers, or to run for a local school board, etc. His grace is very multifaceted and everywhere it is given expression, the value of His kingdom is being revealed.
But God’s administrative/economic order that He is establishing is for the fullness of the times. When is that? The New Testament seems quite clear.
now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
Two thousand years ago, when the above verses were written, the ages of time came to their end. The reason why is because everything changed when the Eternal One stepped into human history, ministered in Israel, and died for the sins of the world. Eternity had shredded the fabric of time. Then when He poured out His Holy Spirit upon His people in Acts Chapter Two, time was shredded a bit more. But God was just getting started. Over the course of the last two thousand years, He has broken in on humanity many times. For example, He interrupted the religious status quo in the days of Martin Luther. He then broke in among His people not only in Europe but in the United Kingdom bringing great reformation before then arising in North America in a number of great awakenings. Then, there was Azusa Street, the healing revivals of the 1940s, and the Charismatic Renewal. And these are just a few of Heaven’s many invasions of human history.
The Church Age is the great in–between era where time is being shredded as eternity mingles with it. The Church itself is a testimony to this truth. We are a people of frail flesh filled with the presence of the Eternal One. We stand with one foot in time and one foot in the ages to come. And we know that somehow, we belong to both realms. Indeed, our Lord calls us to stand in this world fully relating to it without relying on its wisdom and at the same time, listening carefully to Him, the Wisdom of God within us, in order to bring His thoughts and ways from the eternal realms into clarity in this age. And we can only do so by His grace.
Here is the hope of the nations. The primary focus of the Church is not the great spiritual darkness surrounding us, nor the question of who the Beast might be. No, our central focus is Christ. He is still arising among us and making known the mystery of His determinative will for His people and for the nations. And he can be quite insistent on continuing to do so. After all, who can possibly stop Him? Is our main expectation that only darkness will increase or is it also that the Eternal One will keep invading His creation? Both are presently happening. But is our emphasis one of retreatism or of Heaven’s invasion?
Paul’s thoughts were that God is establishing an administrative economic order that He designed for this “end of the ages” era. And it seems doubtful that organizational Christianity reveals that order. Rather, it is found where He gather(s) together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth–in Him (Ephesians 1:10). This gathering and integrating together into one people of all who are in Christ so that they as one entity actually reveal among the nations the harmonizing of heaven and earth is where history is headed. And only God can do such a miracle.
So, Jesus prayed for it.
I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.
Jesus was praying for something that would be seen by an unbelieving world, not for something that would only be realized in the ages to come. Here is God’s present emerging kingdom on earth. Remember His instruction to pray that His kingdom would come, that His will would be done here among the nations like it is in heaven. Jesus’ prayer will be answered and the ways of heaven will be much more fully revealed among us. Believe for the miracle; don’t settle for what only seems achievable.
What the NKJV translates as the gathering together in one of all things in Christ, the NASB translates as the summing up of all things in Christ. What does that mean? God’s great summation of history is emerging in His Son and will be fully realized at His return. A summary occurs when a speaker briefly recapitulates and covers again what he has been talking about and then finalizes His overall message. As God gathers His people in unity around and upon Christ, revealing one heart and one mind, He will be succinctly restating to the whole earth what He has been talking about since the days of Adam. “Here is where history has been headed. Here is why I gave the Law and sent the prophets. Here is why I came into Israel and died and rose again. Here I am, God’s Messiah revealed in a corporate body.”
The world desperately needs Christ. And in the days ahead, God will be speaking “Christ” with increasing volume and clarity. The thoughts and the ways of “self” among us will increasingly wither. And while the strength of man will be increasingly seen for its utter worthlessness, the currency of the Kingdom will be recognized and honored simply everywhere in the Church. Only what is of grace will be deemed worthy of consideration and then released among the nations. Even so arise O Lord in another great awakening among Your people. Overwhelm us with Your majesty and release among us a river of grace that will bring forth Your apostolic agenda that will shake the nations to their core. And cause us as Your bride to only have eyes for You. Amen.
Donald Rumble – April 2024
Search Comments
This page has been visited 0113 times.
| << | Contents | >> |
10 per page