The fullness of time. We so often think that we are the fulfillment of time.
Not that time focuses on us, which would be bad enough, but that we are time's
only and complete manifestation. That is not what the Bible says. Last week we
looked at the following passage from Galatians, this week let us develop it
more fully into a concept of redemption. That concept dismisses our petty
bickering into the vain babbling of spoiled youths, not willing to develop into
the likeness of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
Now I say, [That] the heir, as long as he is
a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; But is
under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we,
when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent
forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were
under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth
the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou
art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through
Christ. (Galatians 4:1-7)
In the fullness of time God will again send His Son, to collect His
children. But as all children, we still squabble over things we cannot change,
and refuse to change the things that are in our hands.
When I was trying to manufacture gold mining equipment, the first slide
after all the logos and things was the phrase which is the first rule of gold, "Gold,
the maintenance of wealth in turbulent times." In true time of turmoil, a portfolio rich in Microsoft stock, is
really just another form of paper money. The true roots of free trade is really
not trading of goods and services, but a new monetary system that overrides the
sovereignty of national governments, replacing the nation's money, regulated by
its citizens (at least in some instances) by corporations regulated by no one.
This is the bondage that is promoted by the Antichrist in Revelation 13:18. But
we are getting off the subject.
Other rules of gold are: "Do unto others
as you would have them do unto you." "When He as tried me I will come
out as gold," Job 10:23. "God will refine the gold in you, or remove the gold from you." The
refining process in people also proceeds by rules. In the fullness of time
those rules become codified into what we generally call the rule of law. The
rule of law brings freedom, such as the freedom that citizens of the United
States and other democracies around the world, consider the essence of our
modern civilization.
God also developed this concept in the fullness of time. As we discussed
last week the concept really was not something that the reformers understood.
Even the founders of the American nation looked at freedom as a vision, or a
dream. It would take over two centuries for this dream to develop into its
present state. The rule of law guarantees your freedom, but to be truly
appreciated it must be understood in terms of its preciousness. The rule of law
is the understanding of gold's eternal value, shed into the lives of humanity
by God's sovereign plan..
When we mention the law, we think first and foremost of things we shouldn't
do. The Ten Commandments, that we have dumbed down into the ten suggestions.
The reformers divided the Bible into law and gospel, and into the indicative
and the imperative. The indicative points out truth, the imperative a form of
command or request, signifying the possibility of choice. Law divides what we
call the "thou shalt nots" but the law also denotes the indicative of
truth. "Don't do this or this will happen." The gospel however, is a
statement of God's grace issued through Jesus Christ. This comes from the Greek
word we would translate evangel, or good news.
Confusing isn't it. Old and New Testaments, indicative and imperative, law
and gospel, all dividing the same book. But if we look at the whole thing in
the freedom of 21th century pragmatism, we can divide the Bible two more ways.
Hallelujah! "What did God do."
"What can I do for God?"
God in the Bible establishes the rule of law.
This
is what God did.
1. He made a list of rules for
life.
2. He established a system of justice for those who break the rules.
3. He ordained a method to show mercy to those He determined to show mercy.
In this light we see that the Reformation division of law and gospel are
really within God's rule of law. The indicative is also part of these rules,
but the imperative is not so clear, because it contains the concept of choice.
God establishes the rules of justice, but man makes the choice from his free
moral agency.
This is the confusion that ultimately leads to Calvinism and Arminianism.
From the time of the Reformation until now it is not that we don't have the
facts right, we have just lacked the frame work of pragmatic freedom to ask the
right questions. This comes to us in the fullness of God's timing, aware of the
values of true freedom, but also understanding in this present era, that it is
a priceless commodity, more valuable than gold. It is only within that modern
revelation does the pragmatic "What can I do for God?" make sense.
So
what can we do?
1. Don't mess with what God did! God's rule of law makes the rules, sets
their boundaries and establishes justice and mercy on God's terms.
2. Present your life as a living
sacrifice, per Romans 12:1,2; last week.
3. Walk with God in obedience to that friendship and legal adoption, in the
family of God's love.
These three are the exhortation essences the Bible points out in contrast to
God's rule of law. That is what we can do, no more only less.
American evangelicalism, based on Lutheran pietism and the Wesleyan Arminian
progressive sanctification, should now see that the ship has left the harbor,
and sank. We have bet the gold on our own horse, and he died. We brought this
refining upon ourselves because we have tried to play the role of God,
following Adam and Eve, and the world stinks.
Gold is where you find it. In the dust of the ground. The source of the
natural body of man. In that respect, gold is either found in placer deposits,
or hard rock. Placer deposits are really rocks ground by natural acts of God
before we went searching for the gold. Hard rock deposits must be crushed by
special equipment before the gold can be extracted. Which gold mine are you?
In the same way as gold mining becomes profitable, some people are crushed
before they finally repent of their sins and seek the freedom established under
God's rule of law. Others being harder, must be crushed after they are
converted. In both cases rocks become sand. It is from the sand, with gold
present only in the parts per million range, will the everlasting gold
specified in the church of Laodicea be refined.
God knew the value of our gold ore before the beginning of time, however
from time to time He runs and assay on us to see how the conversion of sand
into eternal preciousness is coming along. God knows that value, but he is
seeking to reveal our personal understanding and to help us to refocus our
lives upon Him. That is the eternal value of gold He is seeking. Just as He
created the mountains from nothing, and man from the dust of the mountains, He
creates and recreates eternal gold in those whose lives are subject to His rule
of law, and seek that freedom present in the adoptions of sons or daughters, of
the Creator of the universe. That exhortation goes out to all mankind. Our
exhortation is to take the message to the ends of the earth and let God handle
the stuff we can not in this fullness of time understand.