We Have No King But Caesar
Anyone who elects the government as their King tends to do tragic things, like crucify the Truth.
Such is the folly of humankind: to be inclined to seal its only hope for abundant life in a tomb.
What is Truth
What to do with the Truth? Shall one deny it? Cover it up? Falsify it? Ride its coattails? Or believe it.
Governments and kings will postulate on the matter, but the choice endowed with eternal life was not designed for governments and kings to answer because world structures and systems and positions are not eternal. The choice is a gift for each individual person to respond to.
If only there wasn’t a choice, because a choice guarantees an initial catastrophe. But eternal Truth builds its kingdom with dignity and desire – not by force or contempt – therefore, in the center of everything, a choice is given to us.
We don’t choose what the Truth shall be. We choose whether we will live by Truth or not.
“What is truth?” (John 18:38).
The answer depends on whether that’s a sincere question, or a retort.
“I am the Truth”, said Jesus (John 14:6).
“Anyone who is of the Truth hears the voice of God” (John 18:37). The one listening to the Word of God is hearing Truth.
Pilate proved the words of God by demonstrating that Truth cannot be heard by one who is bound to please the roaring crowd outside, even if Truth is standing right there. “The reason why you do not hear the words of God is that you are not of Him” (John 8:47). Why should one listen to something they don’t believe in?
It’s surprising to think that Truth allows Himself to be denied or suppressed. It’s remarkable that Truth willingly delivers Himself into the hands of those who conspire to lock Him up.
It’s not that Truth is helpless, but it has a patient nature – He has a patient nature – content to wait for a painfully long time before He is revealed in full light.
The waiting time may appear as Truth’s apathy, weakness, subservience, or lack of existence. But the waiting time is purposed to reveal the truth of who we are, in the hope that we will finally choose to live by God’s Truth instead of our own.
All Creation is Bound to the Law of Truth
Every act and atom is accountable to God’s Truth. There is a proper way for everything. It’s written in the law of His Word and reflected in the laws of creation. For every action, there is a reaction. And for every choice there is a consequence. For every sin, there must be atonement. All things are subject and accountable to the order of Truth, through whom all things were made.
Life apart from the law of Truth is not a thing. The only reason we are able to rule against the existence of Truth is because God allows this idea and it suits His purposes, otherwise there would not be choice. But truly, to exist – to be alive – is to align with the laws of the One who created existence.
And the law stated in the very beginning is this: we may either follow the rule of Truth, and live, or follow the rule of something else, and become subject to its short-lived reign. We are either bound to the rule of life or the rule of death. We cannot outwit this. There is no other way. We can escape the binds of death by choosing life, or we can escape binds of life by choosing death; but one thing we cannot escape is the reality our boundness (Romans 6:20-22).
So, when one perceives the Truth to be oppressive or offensive, and conspires to cast off the binds of Truth, he or she is still, in fact, not free. This law is echoed throughout the Bible, and it is uniquely illuminated in John 18 – 21: when one sets out to make a mockery of the Truth, give it an unfair trial, publicly execute it, and finally become liberated of it, one doesn’t actually get liberation in its place. That one is instead, now, in bondage to “not-Truth”. They are bound to a lie.
The Playbook of a Lie
The pathology of a lie was exposed in the beginning. It enters, masquerading innocuously, and lobs a barbed comment, begging engagement. With convincing authority, it presents a single, attractive morsel to chew on followed by crafty reasoning replete with infectious disease.
Somehow a belly-crawling lie with no leg to stand on can turn even the most devout ear by suggesting that, 1) the Truth of God ought to be questioned, and then 2) proposing that good and evil can be determined apart from God (Genesis 3:1-7).
Following the path of this logic terminates in a belief that in order to be saved, one must now hide from the Truth (Genesis 3:8) or destroy the Truth (John 11:50).
These are the thoughts of the Father of Lies who was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the Truth for there is no Truth in him (John 8:44).
The voice of a lie uttered from the Serpent suggested that God was holding out on the woman and man based on the idea that God could become envious of them – afraid that mankind would become like Him.
Surely the Serpent, who wanted to be his own God with his own followers, was implicating God of the Serpent’s own governing sin: envy. God had already made man and woman like Himself. He had already created humankind with the authority and capacity to:
- dwell and commune with Him
- rule with Him
- display God’s magnificent wonders.
Yet the sin of envy worked its way through the mind of Eve like leaven, and she rose to act upon the conviction of a lie: that it would be better to rule apart from God. The concept of knowing apart from God became appealing, and with that, self-determination became the highest ideal.
The prospect of self-determination always presents as enlightenment (Genisis 3:4-5; Proverbs 14:12; Isaiah 65:5), but usurping God’s Truth with one’s own knowledge is God’s definition of foolishness (1 Corinthians 3:19). Good and evil which have been determined apart from God is a lie, and the law of God has predestined the way of a lie to end in death.
The one who allows anyone other than God to say who and how and why one is, is one who will tragically miss the mark of Truth. God underscores the importance of knowing whom we have appointed to authenticate our righteousness or our unrighteousness, and to determine right and wrong: “Who told you…,” asked God (Genesis 3:11). Who is the one now informing you of your shame or virtue – good and evil?
The one who defines good and evil by any voice outside of the person of God – even if it’s a voice coming from within the garden of God – will not become True enough, or also-True, or safely within the realm of Truth. Even the Devil speaks in part-Truths. No, the one who has determined to follow anyone other than God alone stands in opposition to eternal Truth.
Any King Other Than the Truth Will Be a Tyrant
What to elect in place of Truth? What self-determined image shall be placed on the ruling throne, apart from Truth? I suppose it doesn’t matter.
The only suitable King is God. Nothing else can occupy the temple’s Holy of Holies and give abundant life – not money, power, duty, piety, law, government, enlightenment, mother or father, or any idealized image of God or creation.
Even God’s chosen people – the Israelites, whom the Truth revealed Himself to and chose to make His nature known to the world through – even they were inclined to want a created ruler. To be fair, they were not seeking a ruler apart from God. Instead, they beseeched God to choose a human representative of God to rule over them as king; and ultimately, God would come in human form as their King. But a human representative of God as King in the meantime would miss the mark of ruling as God rules.
The people pleaded still, “We want a man-king to rule over us!” (1 Samuel 8).
They had their reasons:
- To fight their battles for them
- To judge them (determine good and evil)
- To be like other nations
- To settle their disputes for them
“But,” God warned, “your king will be a tyrant.”
God explains in the book of 1 Samuel what this means: a tyrant takes the people and their money and possessions for the tyrant’s own sake. Tyrants are destined to set themselves up as equal to God – as the only God.
No one will serve a tyrant with pleasure; rather, they will be slaves under the rule of cruelty and coercion. Furthermore, tyrants pick their battles and delineate their own version of justice to magnify their own name, as opposed to lifting up the name of Truth.
Any King other than God – even a man-king appointed by God, selected for the purpose of representing God – will be a flawed representation at best, and will grow to become a tyrant whose rule (and rules) will burgeon into chaos, futility, and destruction.
The downfall of God’s chosen ones on the heels of turning from His way throughout the Old Testament – the ruin of the people and nation appears so brilliantly choreographed – so perfectly tuned to turn fruitful gardens into plundered battlefields, why it almost looks as if tyrannical, mastermind, human hands had schemed their demise from the beginning. But that implies too much credit to human hands.
The rulers who sabotage foundations and poison the waters – the authorities who steal and kill – these seeking to destroy the place of God’s people are not of flesh and blood. It is the power of evil and darkness, bound to this world, having its way in the flesh (Ephesians 2:1-5; Ephesians 6:12; Romans 7:23). For this, the Truth is the only weapon.
The Truth is the only way forward because only God can crush the true enemy in this world. When God’s people engage their course assuming flesh is the enemy, they carry out the work of a lie.
A lie works quickly because its time is short. Before long, a single inclusion in one body can give birth to a whole city of lies. Lies produce fruits born selfish ambition: there is fear, shame, envy, deceit, malice, self-interest, disorder and every evil thing (James 3:16; Romans 1:29-31).
This is true of families and nations, in metropolis and desert, and Jerusalem and Babylon, starting in the days of Cain on up to the present day.
The Mark of a Nation without Truth
A society without Truth is no less religious than a Truth-filled one. The recordings and letters in the Old and New Testament demonstrate that a Truthless society absolutely worships something. Actually, a society without Truth is compelled to worship a lot of somethings.
In Athens, the aristocracy knelt at the temple of Popular Thought, complete with babblers and influencers posing on their platforms, purveying current ideology (Acts 17:18). The loudest and most fanatical voices reacted properly in step to that moment’s messiahs, pariahs and darlings.
Pedestals exalted the deities of the day, plus one empty pedestal for the unknown deity which had yet to reveal itself – an exhibit displaying that newness and openness were among the highest virtues in a sophisticated, polytheistic land whose citizens were cursed with the knowledge of their incompleteness.
Can there be any rest for the one whose saving goodness is contingent on being in step with the latest human constructs? But what good is it to please a society bound to a lie? What complement to the soul is it to be considered moral by those who write their own, temperamental, self-centered moral codes.
Cities which are opposed to the Truth create upside-down systems of justice. Prone to justify new ways of doing evil, its scales are weighted against the truth-teller while murderers are released onto the streets. They prize self-indulgence and thrive on discord. They offer their children as sacrifices to mythology, and elevate sexual perversion to a temple rite. They deny what is visibly and plainly true in favor of images of creation and self-determined truths. And even though these ways end in destruction, the citizens not only affirm, but applaud those who practice these ways (Romans 1:21-32).
A place without Truth is breeding grounds for insincerity, superstition, and volatility. It only took a matter of hours for the Apostle Paul to be greeted as a god in Lystra, and then stoned and dragged out for dead.
But even the descendants of the Israelite nation – the Jews and the Jewish leaders who were given the oracles (and the very Word) of God – were just as susceptible to the woes of a lie, exhibiting the pitfalls common to the whole of human landscape: ignorance, arrogance, elitism, hypocrisy, greed, exploitation, and presentism.
Their city was home to a shepherd-less crowd, pious virtue signalers, doctored law, an old guard who preferred tradition over the Word of God, and an elite class who enforced (John 5:16) a fraudulent and ineffective mode of healing the poor and the sick and the marginalized.
Even a place with Truth can become erratic when the Truth is seen as a threat to one’s place, or is mistaken as the Savior of one’s worldly place. Volatility reigns, even in Truth’s temple, when the flesh is seen as the enemy, and one’s place in this world beckons as the reward. It took less than seven days for Jesus to be welcomed into Jerusalem as a King, and then crucified with the thieves.
The Way of Truth
It is possible to spend a lifetime studying and practicing and ministering the Truth and still not recognize Him when He comes. It is possible to spend years with the Truth and have a pleasant relationship with Him and still not know Him as the only hope for salvation.
It’s possible to wield swords in vicious defense of the Truth, yet carry out the work of a lie (John 18:10).
The utter contrast of Truth’s ways versus man’s, and the cost involved for believing Him, can turn the most rock-solid disciple. On the darkest nights, Truth’s most enthusiastic friend might step away and deny knowing Him. His most devout follower may deny having truly understood Him. He might even deny having associated with Him because anyone who publicly identifies with the Truth will suffer the same fate of being condemned by the world.
There comes a moment when it is time to decide what to do with the Truth.
“Behold the man,” said Pilate hoping to defuse the bleating crowd by showcasing Jesus’s pitiful appearance (John 19:5).
There He was, the Son of Man – man’s beginning, his highest form, and his destiny. With all power, He embraced humility, clad in torn and pierced flesh, bleeding the blood that would atone for every sin in the entire world from the beginning to the end of time.
To perceive Him as benign is to receive impotency. The Jews knew Jesus was not benign. The Jews argued that Jesus was a threat to Caesar because Jesus had claimed to be the Son of God – a king! In civilizations where the king is perceived as a god, anyone challenging one title is challenging both titles.
But Jesus never claimed to be the king of Rome. And perhaps because Jesus is more desirous of what each person has to say about who He is than what He had to say about Himself (Luke 20:8; Mark 8:29; John 18:34), Jesus’s works and ways proclaimed His deity more than His words did (John 10:22 – 39). And though He did use divine language to describe Himself, He never technically said, “I am the Son of God”, though He did not deny this title when confronted with it by the Sanhedrin. And for this admission, He would be crucified.
According to Old Testament Law, blaspheme was punishable by death, with stoning. But the Romans forbade prominent executions to be carried out by any power other than the Roman government, which meant that if the Jewish leaders wanted Jesus (who was becoming very well known) to be killed, the Romans had to do it. And the Romans executed their criminals by crucifixion.
Supporting this resolve to hand Jesus over to the Roman government was the retribution the Jewish leaders would surely face from the Jewish citizens if the Jewish leaders killed Jesus (who was becoming very well loved). Better to pin Jesus’s death on the government, and direct any blame or animosity for His death, toward Caesar.
The greater the tyrant, the more likely he is to interpret anything as insurrection, and the more disproportionate he will be in retaliation. Pilate was currently under scrutiny for being too drastic in his measures against dissent, so he was eager to avoid being caught in any controversial rulings.
Pilate had the power to execute, yet he could not determine any violation of Jesus’s that warranted execution according to the law of Caesar. At one point he tried to pawn this case off to Herod Antipas – son of Herod the Great – who was in town visiting. Pilate’s wife weighed in to affirm Pilate’s hesitation, sending him a note which pleaded for Jesus’s release.
But if Pilate did not appease the Jewish leaders, there would be strain on the working relationship between Pilate and members of the Sanhedrin. There would also be tension within the Roman government if Pilate handed Jesus back to the Jews to carry out their own execution, or if Pilate allowed this “king” to become a rival to Caesar as the Jew’s court ruling alleged Jesus surely was. Meanwhile the pressure was mounting from outside Pilate’s palace as the crowd was chanting their demand to crucify Jesus.
There is no evil where there is no good, nor is there a light to illuminate sin. So, Pilate, born of darkness and unable to hear the Truth, was led by a lie to a place where he did not want to go. His hand forced, he made a Godless judgement and enacted a Godless existance.
He handed Jesus over to be crucified, and posted on His cross the verdict that warranted His death sentence: “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews” – a phrase ascribed to Jesus at birth by the Wise Men – but a phrase He did not utter of Himself. It was a proclamation that was true in the heavens and became the decree of a kangaroo court, because God is sovereign over everything – even the binds of a lie.
The saddest part about Jesus’s accusation is not that it was false; it’s that it was true – He is King – but the leaders didn’t want this Truth. And God does allow for rulings against the existence of Truth.
“Behold your King,” exclaimed Pilate, hoping the Jews would hear the absurdity of sentencing Jesus, who had Pilate nervously considering whether He might actually be a god (John 19:14). Or perhaps Pilate was just hoping to wash his hands of any guilt – your criminal (or King), your ruling, your conscience (Matthew 27:24).
But there He was, the King – the Son of God, one with God, and the answer to man’s incompleteness. He did not set his sights on earthly thrones; instead, He came to overthrow the prince of darkness, sin, and death. His birth meant God could dwell in flesh; His death meant God could dwell within our flesh. To consider that He might actually be God is to be gifted the choice: what to do with this Truth?
In the case of The People versus Truth, in the court of Jerusalem, in the era which split time in two, Truth was convicted on charges of blasphemy and punished for the crime of insurrection. Just like that – without a proper witness or defense or legal testimony, Truth was swiftly sentenced in the dark of night, and condemned to death in the interest of preserving the people’s place and peace within the kingdom.
He was whipped, beaten, and mocked. Afterward, the soldiers took the Truth to be crucified on the hill of death, and they monetized his garments.
Who Killed the Truth and Why?
Who carried the greatest fault in all of this? Who was responsible for destroying the Truth?
Was it Caesar and all Caesar’s men? Or the bleating crowd? Or the virtue signalers in the town square? The false prophets? Was it the law doctors who weaponized the law to destroy the Truth? Was it the justice leaders who made an artform of hypocrisy by swallowing camels while straining out gnats? Or the religious elite inside God’s very temple?
Who has blood on their hands for the death of Truth?
All are culpable, said Jesus, but “… the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin” (John 19:11).
At first glance, John 18:3 may appear to hold the answer, narrating the part where “Judas… guiding Roman soldiers… and some officials from the chief priests and Pharisees” came to Jesus and arrested Him.
But the soldiers were only there to prevent any rioting of the Jews upon the arrest of Jesus – especially since so many Jews were in Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. And Judas and the Jewish officials were only carrying out Step 1 of a plan which had already been conspired by the high priest and the chief priests to arrest Jesus and have him killed because Caiaphas, the high priest had said, “…it would be better for one man to die than the whole nation perish” (John 11:47-50).
John 18:12-13 recounts that a detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus and handed him to Annas, the acting high priest and father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was the actual high priest that year. But who handed Jesus over to Pilate?
It was an inside job.
Grave concern was mounting within the Sanhedrin. The high priest, the chief priests, and the pharisees were consumed by the fear that the Romans were going to take away their place. They worried it was only a matter of time before the Romans would take their temple and all the positions therein, their status within society, and their space for practicing their way and customs. Certainly, the Israelite nation’s history, wrought with banishments and exiles, couldn’t have been far from their minds.
Furthermore, Jesus’s miraculous signs and wonders were starting to cause people to believe He actually might be God, or at least closer to God than the priests, and therefore these priests and Pharisees might lose their esteemed position within the hearts and minds of their own people.
Not long after the leaders had determined their course of action, the moment to capture Jesus presented itself, and finally “…the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor” (John 18:28).
Their own admission comes in John 18:30 when Pilate questioned the Jewish leaders about the charges, and they replied, “If he were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.”
And finally, Pilate confirms this in his statement to Jesus, “It was your own people and your chief priests who handed you over to me” (John 18:35).
A sovereignty within a sovereignty is a delicate dance. Consider, for example, church within state, or the Spirit within flesh, or the Jewish nation within the Roman empire… Delicate dances and a balance of power only last so long because the nature of power is that it is never content with status quo (so the saying goes).
In Caesar’s day, the Roman officials tolerated the customs and culture of the Jews, but it was a tenuous relationship.
The Romans permitted the Jewish leaders to retain their seats of religious authority in order to keep stability within the Roman empire. The Romans allowed the Jews to practice their religious customs so long as nobody publicly challenged the authority or divinity of Caesar.
Some Jews protested this violently. Certain factions of the Jewish nation would rebel, in the form of deadly riots, against the claim of their host empire’s absolute authority. Zealous Jews like Barabbas, a high-profile murderer and notorious criminal, frequently led deadly insurrections which was cause for intervention from both Romans and Jews.
Riots led by Jewish zealots were bad for the Roman governors because it reflected poorly on Rome’s regional officers to have such unruly areas under their governorship.
Understandably, there was also pressure from the Roman citizens for the local politicians to get these reoccurring outbreaks under control. Citizens do not want to live in volatile cities constantly under threat of riots.
But it was also in the interest of the Jewish religious leaders to quell these zealot-uprisings. Ultimately the priests held their positions, and the Jews retained their place, so long as Caesar approved. Too many Jewish zealots and too many riots might cause the Roman government to gaze in the Jew’s direction one too many times, with unfavorable results.
And certainly, a Jew who would even allude to possessing divinity or lordship was not good news for the future of the Jews in Roman land. If Jesus’s claims of being “the light of the world” and “before Abraham” for example, or if His growing number of followers posed as a threat to the rule of Caesar, the Romans would have cause to address this in any manner they saw fit.
Crucifying Jesus appeared to be the better, if not the only, option for the good and the safety of God’s chosen people. The hour had come when those who would destroy the Truth would do so thinking they were offering a service to God (John 16:1-3).
So, the high priest and the chief priests, who were appointed by God to bring sacrifices to God, brought the ultimate sacrifice to Caesar instead, and solidified their allegiance to the government.
It was a strategy for image management, posing God’s people in a favorable light, hoping to not appear as hostile or unenlightened to the surrounding rulers and any citizens with sway.
It wasn’t a hard choice. How much better to preserve the culture of God’s people and therefore, necessarily, protect the place of the religious leaders that the Roman government afforded the Jewish people (compared to, say, life under an oppressive Egyptian Pharoah). How much better to commission one of Truth’s disciples to sell out the Truth with a deceptively affectionate kiss, backed by the law of the land, for a few pieces of silver?
Afterall, what is Truth?
Indeed, there is only agenda.
Why Were the Priests More Guilty in the Crucifixion of the Truth?
There is only agenda, except agendas come and go – they rise and fall – they are enthroned then dethroned by the next one. They never create lasting peace.
Where in world history is there an example of lasting peace and freedom and dignity following the compromise of Truth (with a capital “T” or otherwise)? It was as unsustainable a practice for the Jewish nation as it is now for the church, and one’s family, and one’s soul.
As governor, Pilate had been given the legal authority by God (John 19:11; Romans 13:1-2) to conduct the punishments assigned to guilty verdicts of the Roman and Jewish courts, according to the law. Pilate carried out the sentence issued by the court of the Jews, but he did so despite, himself, finding no fault in Jesus. He did not see Jesus as a threat to the Roman government, yet he authorized his death anyway. For this reason, he carries some guilt for the injustice and the crucifixion of Jesus.
But the more guilty ones were the chief priests and the high priest. God had appointed them to judge fairly and justly – to know God and to follow His law and to procure truthful verdicts. Instead, they manipulated the civil power at hand to carry out their own, self-determined good.
The priests made the common mistake of believing that their place was given to them by man; but each one’s place is established by God. Providing sacrifices and offerings to any other ruler in the name of securing our God-given place only feeds a tyrant who will soon swallow us up and spit us out.
In the end it was envy (Mark 15:10) – the same governing sin as the Serpent – which possessed the priests, and they rose to convict the Truth of being a liar. They removed Him, ensuring that they would retain, for themselves, the people’s adoration.
The court in Jesus’s case was not ordered around God’s law. The crime and the punishment had been decided before there was even a trial. This wasn’t legal, and Jesus pointed this out: “Where are the two or more witnesses who will speak against me (are you asking me to indict myself – John 18:20-21)?” The pharisees had been so quick in prior incidents to go by the book, when it was useful to attempt to disprove Jesus (John 8:13). But now the book was nowhere in sight.
Jesus’s Gospel message was not a mystery. He had shared it with thousands in the open and in the temple and His message was consistent no matter the audience. Why couldn’t two people be found to testify consistently as to the charges of blaspheme against Jesus?
And, “Why do you strike me?” asked Jesus, who was struck by a court official when this punishment was neither warranted nor authorized (John 18:23). All of this went against the law of God.
Meanwhile, the religious leaders were determined to maintain their personal, ritual cleanliness. They did not want to be excluded from the fast-approaching Passover feast based on a technicality, thus the unconventional and nonconforming logistics of the trial. Awash in minutia they followed the ceremonial law so they could hold their positions at the festivals of God throughout the coming day, after having sentenced His Son to death just hours before.
But despite all the righteous posturing and intelligent posits and the cunning measures taken by the chief priests to kill one man in the name of protecting the nation of Israel as a service to God, they were eventually wiped out by the very government that the religious leaders handed the Truth over to.
Thanks to the nature of a tyrant, it was only a matter of a few decades from this deceivingly noble effort to preserve their people, that they were either murdered or displaced, their temple ruined, and their sacred artifacts stolen.
“Caesar” destroyed their place, anyway.
Inside one generation of Jesus’s death, a charismatic, narcissistic, renaissance man was scandalously pulled, with well-connected strings, onto the emperor’s seat, and deftly accomplished everything the Jewish leaders feared would happen, and more.
The depraved annihilation waged by Nero Caesar was so brilliantly choreographed – so perfectly tuned to turn cities into rubble and temples into ruins – it’s tempting to think some mastermind hands had schemed it from the beginning. But that would give too much credit to human hands.
Our Calling as Priests of the Truth
What message might be embedded in this account for believers now, who are navigating places disposed to a lie?
Whether within our nation, our churches, or ourselves, we will walk amidst places which bear the mark of Truthlessness as evidenced by its captured agendas and inverted outcomes, its self-determined truths and weighted scales, and by the movements which deny what is visibly and plainly true in favor of an ideal theory of creation.
Just as with the followers of God who lived in ancient Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, Athens, and Rome, we too are living amidst superstition and volatility.
Just as with God’s chosen people who wandered the desert and found themselves in a captured Jerusalem, we too are navigating the pitfalls common to the whole of human landscape, and campaigns which replace the Truth with agenda.
We too may endure brilliantly choreographed downfalls – perfectly tuned to sabotage foundations and divide member from body – downfalls which appear to have been schemed by mastermind hands from the beginning.
Today, Truth is being culturally martyred and litigiously crucified in the name of morality and peace and preservation, just as it has been for thousands of years. But, while culture and courts may create barriers to the hands and feet carrying out the work of the Truth, they cannot take the Lord away (John 20:13-14), or separate us from Him (Romans 8:39), or even stall Him in the slightest from completing His good work (Philippians 1:6).
Therefore, before we issue any comment or condemnation in the direction of politicians and culture industries for our society’s undeniable movement away from the Truth, let’s first allow for an examination of our own hearts to see if we are somehow culpable in the destruction of Truth – perhaps by our vicious defense of Him, or in our attempt to pose Him in a flattering but false light – for His name’s sake.
For now, we are the priests of the Truth (1 Peter 2:5-9), called to know God’s law, and procure truthful verdicts, and proclaim His determined goodness. Let’s watch that we don’t first, ourselves, compromise the Truth in the name of our own agenda no matter how much of a service to God our agenda might seem to be.
The most beautiful thing about Truth is not that it is relatable or relevant or seeker sensitive or inoffensive or inclusive. The most attractive quality of Truth is that it is true.
Believers of the Truth are called to be like salt – to preserve it and magnify its goodness. A severe disservice is done to the Truth by human efforts to make it anything other than firstly, the Truth.
If we believers are soaking into the landscape of culture, hoping to not appear as hostile or unenlightened to the surrounding rulers and citizens with sway, we may be missing the mark.
If we sell out the Truth with a deceptively affectionate concession for a handful of culture’s currency, all to preserve our place and peace within our worldly kingdom, we will simultaneously seal our only hope for real living in a tomb, and feed a tyrant who will soon swallow us up and spit us out (Jeremiah 51:34).
Truth is not in need of a cultural makeover or a theological update. The Truth does not need our own swords, or our enlightened morality, or any slight boundary revisions to attract more people to Him.
It would probably be enough if the only magnificent wonders of God we displayed were His love and forgiveness which are truly remarkable though they are counterintuitive if we have set our mind on the things of men, and not on the things of God (Matthew 16:23).
Removing a single letter from the law of Truth in order to ensure the people’s adoration effectively hands the Truth over to destruction. It’s no good for the Truth to be mostly-True. Even the Devil speaks in part-Truths.
So, how shall we live as God’s chosen people, in the light of Truth, in this exact time called “now” which God has determined in advance that each of us should inhabit (Acts 17:34)? What does it look like to know God’s law while occupying our God-given place within our country, our family, and schools, and friendships, and the body of Christ?
How did Jesus do it? It’s an important question because this is what it means to be alive to the way of God – to align, in the place where we are, with the One who created existence.
The Volatility of Jesus’s Time
We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses (Hebrews 4:15).
Jesus faced persistent temptation in the wilderness during moments of tremendous physical weakness (Matthew 4:1-22). He was tempted by His disciples (Matthew 16:23). He was tempted in every way (Hebrews 4:15).
Just as it was prophesied, He endured physical and verbal insults, and was scorned and despised by the people (Psalm 22:6-7). He was “not beautiful” (Isaiah 53:2), His hometown had a lowly reputation (John 1:46), His earthly father had passed away, and His mother had been forever marked by certain people within temple leadership as a fornicator (every Jew knows how to do pregnancy math, and not everyone believed the quaint story of Jesus’s immaculate conception – John 8:41).
The people group Jesus was born into was then, just as it has been throughout the ages, one of the most despised people groups, consistently being made the scapegoat for the trouble in every society.
Jesus’s appointed time and place included a politically occupied temple, and a government which had recently evolved from the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire.
The leaders of the Jewish community were given a degree of political power within the Roman Empire so long as they carried out the will of Caesar. This obvious conflict of interest laid some tricky groundwork for anyone who had a place of leadership within the temple, which was purposed to carry out the will of God.
In 27 BC, Caesar Agustus became the first emperor of Rome. This is the same emperor who years later “…issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world” (Luke 2:2), which forced Mary and Joseph to go to Bethlehem when it was time for Jesus to be born.
Around this time, Herod I “the Great” was serving under Caesar Agustus as Agustus’s client king in Judea which included the town of Bethlehem. Herod was greatly distressed “and all Jerusalem with him” (Matthew 2:3) upon hearing from some traveling scholars about The King of the Jews whose recent birth was announced by a celestial event.
The Jews of Jerusalem were dread-filled because a coming King meant a change in Roman leadership, and a change in leadership was usually ushered in with carnage. As for Herod, who also bore the title The King of the Jews, in order to protect his rulership from this troubling god-baby whose exact location and birth date was unknown, Herod famously ordered the death of all baby boys in the region who were under the age of two.
The Roman Empire had centralized its power. All power, which was once in the hands of the Republic’s officials who were “elected” (quotes added because Roman elections had Roman nuance) to represent the people, was now placed in the hands of a single emperor whose job was to rule the people. The emperor promised to fight the citizens’ battles, and determine good and evil, and settle their disputes for them.
One narrative of Rome’s great Republic-to-Empire transition depicts the citizens of the Republic as having enjoyed peace and prosperity and freedom for so long, that they had no concept of an alternate way of life, nor could they comprehend the possibility of a fall. Consequently, they had no sharpened skill – nor did they feel the need – to address real threats when they came (“How Rome Destroyed its Own Republic” by Becky Little, HISTORY.com).
But the delicate dance of power only lasts for so long. When the threats to peace and prosperity came and established themselves within the Republic and wreaked discord and disorder for long enough, the people became disposed to elect an emperor who promised security, though it would come at the cost of some of their freedom and prosperity.
With more power, an emperor can do more good for the people! As for the Roman emperors, each one after the next set themselves up as equal to God – as the only God – and picked their battles and delineated their versions of justice in order to magnify their own name.
Throughout history, citizens of various kingdoms have been forced to choose between freedom with less peace, or peace with less freedom. And so the latter went, with the dawning of the Roman Empire.
But a closer examination of the Roman Empire hints that this choice imposed on the Roman citizens – between peace or freedom – may be a false dilemma.
The inception of the Roman Empire kicked off an era known as Pax Romana – a time of “unprecedented peace and prosperity”, so say the various historical records. And yet, this was also the era of Herod’s Massacre of the Innocents, and Nero’s savage siege on Jerusalem. So, in truth, it was a mostly pax-ful era.
A tyrant’s subjects aren’t to pay much attention to the events which contradict a tyrant’s promises, especially if it is merely the religious element being attacked within the population. After all, incredible advancements were made within the Roman Empire!
The point being, when a tyrant takes his citizen’s freedom in exchange for peace, that citizen will end up with neither freedom nor peace. There will be limited freedom, and there will be peace… plus wars which aren’t meant to be noticed, and which the tyrant will fight himself (using the people and their money and possessions for the tyrant’s own sake).
What a time for the Messiah to come! If it was ever God’s design to save an earthly nation, the freest period of the Roman Republic would be one to restore!
But, of course, God does not promise national peace or prosperity, though we may pray for these things and work toward them and possess them with generous gratitude (Jeremiah 29:7). We can claim no promise of peace on earth until His kingdom reigns on earth (Revelation 20:4-6); therefore, hoping firstly in the power of one’s nation is to lose grasp of the promise of Truth.
The Jews, including Jesus’s disciples, knew God’s plan did not center on the triumph of Rome, yet their vision of God’s promise did not align with the Truth either. No one’s did. The human imagination is determined to limit the promise of God to a form of victory in this world.
No wonder the disappointment when the Anointed One did not free His chosen people from the political oppression or secure their place in Jerusalem high above Roman Rule.
And it’s no wonder why the high priest conspired to kill Jesus when it became evident that Jesus had no intention of elevating the platforms of the Jewish leaders currently in position. In fact, it almost seemed like Jesus opposed the ways of the Jewish leaders.
Whether for the Roman or Israelite nation, a lie gave way to a fear that inspired a dictatorship which grew into tyranny and ended in chaos. This trajectory is governed by a force as present and predictable as gravity.
Will this be the story arc of our nation? Perhaps.
The rulership (and rules) of this age burgeons, the temples of popular thought aggressively preach and purvey a morality which conflicts with the Truth, and world ideologies are pervading into the body of Christ.
Lies are giving way to fear which is creating a people disposed to elect a dictator who appears to hold the promise of knowing good and evil.
But isn’t this also a page from the playbook of a lie having its the way in the flesh? Wasn’t this the way it went in the garden? Isn’t this a revelation of the tyranny of sin in the heart of God’s beloved creation – male and female – whom He’s purposed to rule in their appointed times and places, separate from evil, and with God for all eternity which includes right now?
A bit of clarifying. It goes without saying, but should still be said, that leadership and authority are good things created by God. The proclivity to be ruled exists in us, that we may search for God. The rule of law is good for a body; but a body who wishes to be ruled by law may be creating a tyrant.
Law is not bad, and neither are apples. Idols are. There are bad leaders, and there is abuse or neglect of authority, which is evil. But as far as it pertains to us – God’s first instruction to each of us – is to not put these things, good or bad, above God. The voice telling us to put the fear, or hope, of any created thing above God is a lie. To do so is to crucify the Truth.
How would it look for us to walk in the same manner that Jesus walked, (1 John 2:6) through valleys disposed to a lie, and fear no evil, whether those valleys are in our minds or our relationships or our churches or our workplaces (Psalm 23:4)?
How do we master sin (Genesis 4:7) and cultivate the land before us (Genesis 1:28-30), and walk in the light (1 John 1:7), and practice Truth (1 John 1:6), even while the rulers of this world are having their way for now?
This is a vast contemplation – a lifelong, Spirit-guided meditation and a cover-to-cover study of the whole Bible – but as a place to start, John 18 through 21 provides some illustration of the beautifully unencumbered life of Jesus.
The world hasn’t changed – it is still hostile to the Truth. The Truth hasn’t changed – He still loves the world. Therefore, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Jesus gave us the same directive that He gave to His disciples thousands of years ago: “Receive the Holy Spirit… and follow Me” (John 20:22; John 21:19).
And along the way, in order to remain wise to what is good and unmixed with a lie (Romans 16:19), the Word of God is our only weapon (Hebrews 4:12). Only with God is it possible to walk from place to place without being defiled by the dung on the streets (John 13:8-10); and to eat the bread of this world to sustain the flesh, yet still remain hungry for the bread of life (Matthew 4:4); and to live in fellowship with body of Christ without being corrupted by any of its false teachings (Matthew 16:6-12).
Addressing Some of the Volatility of Our Time
The lie manifests itself uniquely in every generation. Our time and place has its own brand of volatility, but volatility will have a familiar ring in any age. Part-True expressions of Christianity will exist as long as world ideologies exist. But God is not content that we should have a part-True expression of faith which doesn’t mature into a fuller grasp of Truth.
Only by knowing God more and more fully may we have a fuller measure of both freedom and peace; therefore, God implores us to not be satisfied with an un-experienced knowledge of His Truth (John 3:10). It’s not good to be walking in the light of a stagnant and unpracticed faith.
To that end, I submit the following critiques and encouragements (not exhaustive within themselves!) with the hope maturing the part-True expressions of Christianity that have been informed and limited by the popular thoughts of our day:
Justice, Love, and Goodness
With regards to false teaching, our place in time is concerned with justice, love, and goodness; but our world has written its own definitions of these precepts along with the methods and mandates for how each should be fostered. These disordered definitions and mandates have been embraced within some churches who preach the world’s propaganda using the language of faith, and the worldly shade is almost imperceptible.
The scriptures say, “No one is good except God alone” (Mark 10:18); and “God is faithful and just…” (1 John 1:9); and “God is love” (1 John 4:8). Therefore, the most good, the most just, and the most loving thing we can do is to firstly know God and believe Him and become like Him. Obedience to our growing understanding of these qualities as they are determined by God, yields true goodness, justice, and love.
In John 18 – 21, the Truth was not any more popular than it is now, but Jesus proves that by obeying God, we foster the ministry of God’s higher good, justice, and love on earth. By obeying God – not a modern interpretation of His Word, not a critical theory of His people, not a nationally nuanced version of His promise – we bring light to the world.
Political Idolatry
In our nation, there is much debate on the election of our Caesar, because the onus is on us as citizens to empower whatever is good for the people, and to distinguish whether that “good” is patterned after God’s ways or the world’s. To the degree that we are able, it is right to elect a leader whose policies align with God’s ways because God’s ways are good for His beloved creation.
But it is wrong to elect a political Caesar to do the work God has given us to do.
We have a God-given place with privileges and responsibilities as parents and citizens and members of Christ’s body to rule, with God, which He did not create in order that we should abdicate the rulership and the work of this place to Caesar or any other created thing – not even to an enlightened ruler posing as a representative of God – because this is the landscape God uses to work out His salvation in us.
If we have allowed an ideology or a cause to determine moral right and wrong for us, this is ideological idolatry. If we have acquiesced to the government, allowing it to do the work which God has given us to do and to rule the place which God has given us to rule (the dimensions and work of this place is discerned through the Spirit and scripture), this is political idolatry. If the roar of the crowd outside has caused us to forsake our private convictions, this is cultural idolatry. If we implement personal or national policies merely so that we may be like others instead of first considering whether the policies align with the laws of God, this idolatry. If we are clinging to a vision of salvation which is centered on our nation’s triumph, this is national idolatry.
Reasoning Together
Violent and non-violent disruptions to the way of life have long prompted calls for righteous visions of anarchy and glossy visions of totalitarianism, though each one guts the heart of the people. Even more notable, the extremists who call for one solution or the other (who always start in small minority) have a way of creating a less populated “common ground”.
The Church, as with all of creation, is prone to fall prey to surrounding movements and the nature of extremes. At times, it has conformed to the world by taking on part-True, or fact-void, convictions which create great divides, and in the process leave behind the discipline of diverse dialogue and informed reasoning centered on Truth.
It’s clear today that “reasoning together” has fallen out of vogue, but this is nothing new. Peter, Titus, James, Paul and Timothy each saw a need to remind their readers two-thousand years ago to be “epieikes”: reasonable, fair, balanced, gracious, to have a spirit of gentleness that is not derived of apathy or ignorance or timidity, but is derived from holding to the dignity and desire of the Truth (Philippians 4:5; 1 Timothy 3:3; Titus 3:2; James 3:17; 1 Peter 2:18).
“Even the pagans” love those who agree with them (Matthew 5:47). What higher virtue can Christians claim as they do the same? Believers are to be noted for their esteem toward (without an obligation to embrace the narratives of) those who oppose them.
It’s what comes out of us that defiles us (Matthew 15:11); therefore, don’t let a divisive culture cause us to become a divided church. Don’t let a politically occupied culture make us become a politically occupied believer. Don’t let a society which is hostage to a false dilemma bind us to a lie on one side or the other. Let your reasonable-ness be known by all sides (Philippians 4:5).
Our Rights
We have no right that God should grant us any measure of success in this world, or grant us forgiveness or eternal life – all these are gifts from God. If rights existed in the kingdom of God, that would indicate an economy which is sustained in part by God indebtedness to us – God owing us for some act on our part. This is not the way of Truth. Eternity is sustained by God’s gift of Himself and His covenanted promise of eternal life to those who will receive Him.
However, as Christians who are American citizens, we have constitutional rights – not because we are Christians but because we are citizens. Likewise, Jesus, a Jewish Roman citizen had legal rights according to the Jewish law and the Roman law.
Jesus did insist on His legal rights which aligned with God’s law. For example, even though He knew He would not get a fair trial or prevail in the flesh, that did not stop Him from pointing out the injustices occurring in real time – proceedings that were incongruent with the civil laws which governed His place. Paul the Apostle does similarly, for example in Acts 22:25 and 25:10-11.
We may choose to prayerfully surrender our civil rights here or there, but they are ours to lay down – they are not for someone else to take away. It is not accurate to say that citizens, who happen to be Christians, do not have any rights; or that, as Christians, we should not claim any rights at all. It is good to insist (while knowing we may or may not get our way) on our civil rights which are in step with God’s law and therefore are good for the people, in that they help enable True goodness and justice to be administered to each citizen. Wherever our place is, it is good work to point out when good civil laws which align with God’s ways are being dishonored.
It is not good work to stay quiet in these cases merely for fear of suffering as Jesus suffered.
Submitting to Authorities
When it was His hour, Jesus went out to the religious and local governing authorities who had come to arrest Him (John 18:4). He surrendered Himself to them out of obedience to God. But it begs to be known that there were a handful of times prior when God provided a way out and Jesus did not surrender Himself into their hands as they sought to throw Him off a cliff (Luke 4:28-30), to stone Him (John 10:30-39), or entrap Him with His words (Matthew 22:15-40), or take His life (John 5:18; John 7:1-9) because it was not God’s will at those times.
It is not accurate to say that Christians must submit to the government authorities, period. Rather, we are to submit to the Lord by submitting to the government (Romans 13:1-7), unless the mandates are in conflict with the will of God (Acts 5:28-29).
As long as the government is not causing us to sin (Acts 4:18-20; Daniel 3:15-18; Daniel 6:6-11), we are to submit to our leaders where God has given them the authority (Matthew 22:21), because obedience to Caesar glorifies God, and this serves God’s purposes. It bodes well for our testimony to have a record of obedience, not disobedience, which proves our hope in God.
It is not biblical to defy government orders just because we don’t agree with them. It is also not biblical to obey orders which cause us to disobey God. It’s not biblical to submit to the government merely to be like everyone else, or for fear of public censure, or by blindly following with an ill-formed understanding of what the government is asking.
Jesus modeled a way of being fully aware of the injustice of His trial, publicly pointing out the misconduct of the governing agencies, yet submitting to the consequence of their misjudgment out of obedience to God because this was God’s will.
Worldviews and Critical Theories
The world is continually re-defining, based on an unbiblical matrix, the classifications of oppressed people groups, and this moments’ issues to be properly concerned with. As the matrix and the qualifications miss the mark of Truth, so do the solutions which further compound prejudice and favoritism, and villainize the innocent, and rob from the ones who truly are in need.
Socially conscious gospels have had a way of incorporating themselves into the message of Truth since God began forming a people for Himself (Genesis 1, 3, 17, 18, Exodus, Numbers, Isaiah, 1 John, Galatians 2:11-14; truly the whole Bible). Even now, some messages within the church harmonize and sympathize with the tenets of today’s gnostic-esque heresies, for example: ones which claim that a physical characteristic of the body deems one good or evil, and that those who are good can do no bad and the bad can do no good except to say they are bad. Within this worldview, the exempt are the elite – too sacred for God (Isaiah 65:5) – they are the new authors of love and justice. They rewrite history and claim some special truth which affords them power, and immunity from judgement. Their bad fruit is left unquestioned.
The Word of God sufficiently addresses the real sin that these theories profess to liberate us from. Yet still, some churches have absorbed the socially conscious matrices and corresponding penance schedules which purport to minister redemption through a system of double standards within an insatiable gospel. Many will not test our moments’ truth-claims against the Word (1 Thessalonians 5:21), or try the day’s causes against the Gospel, and will favor instead a message of capricious absolution by way of pleasing man, over forever-salvation by the grace of God.
The result, among other things, is a weary congregation who cannot hear the invitation of Jesus (Matthew 11:28-30) because their place within the matrix nullifies their weariness, and because the matrix presents as an end in itself.
It is not a good look for Christians, who are called to be shrewd discerners of the Truth, to be carried away by headlines, heretics, and matrices which have proven to serve an agenda, perpetuate the work of a lie, and divide member from body.
Serving Others
Jesus emptied Himself and took on the form of a slave (Philippians 2:7-8). Whose will had He come to serve – man’s or God’s? See for yourself in John 4:34, 5:19, 5:30, 6:38, 7:17, 8:28, 12:49, and 14:31.
Throughout the Gospel, Jesus’s servanthood to God took on many forms: washing His disciples’ feet, feeding people, healing the sick, and forgiving the sinner, going out of His way to interact with society’s outcasts, teaching Truth, pointing out evil, rebuking those who purveyed a false gospel, and challenging the religious customs and social messages which supplanted the Truth.
But God gave Jesus, the Savior of the world, twelve disciples to teach and mentor and equip. In our service to God, He does not ask us to be sensational somewhere else, to the neglect of the ones whom He has brought us to train and serve and care for.
In John 5, Jesus went to the Pool of Bethesda and walked by “… a great number of sick, blind, lame, and paralyzed people,” and healed one paralyzed man. Surely others would have thought Jesus ought to serve God by healing them all. Moreover, consider the disciples: surely, they would have thought that the best way for Jesus to serve them would be to remain alive (Matthew 16:22).
Therefore, it is good to draw near to the Lord (Psalm 73:28; Isaiah 30:21). He desires us and wants us to know His thoughts (John 15:15) because we matter to Him. He longs to free us from the anxieties which arise when we’ve become “distracted by our service” (Luke 10:40), no matter how noble the service. It is good to lean on Him and not put our, or another’s ambitions, great or small, above His, even in the name of serving God, for “If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10).
Doing the Work
All of us have parcels to steward for the kingdom of God. The Creator God has dignified us by giving us important work to do, starting with the work within us, of believing He is God. With the measure of belief God has labored to give us, we may now co-labor in our growing belief that what He says is True – that He is abounding in love and faithfulness, and He is our living and active answer for the sin in the world and the sin in us (Exodus 34:6-7).
In light of this faith, we may employ the assets of His kingdom (forgiveness, wisdom, boldness, patience, grace, spiritual gifts, talents, etc.) in the roles and places God has appointed us to.
Jesus uses Matthew 25:14-30 to communicate that burying ones’ gifts as a response to fear of failure or wrath is God’s illustration of wickedness and sloth. God does not demand a specific result, but does command that we boldly put to work whatever gifts God has given us. Forfeiting our place by not doing the work means a loss of knowing Him more precisely and more completely. He gives us enormous agency. He wants us to go for it.
Regardless of the outcome, God edifies us with an opportunity to taste and see for ourselves the goodness of God. This “seeing” comes by way of us stepping forward in faith (Joshua 3:10-13).
He doesn’t want us to be owned by anything other than the One who made us and loves us. He wants to be our governing narrative. Nothing else can occupy our temple’s Holy of Holies and give abundant life. Any other ruler will be a tyrant.
Here are more examples of what it looks like to believe God as we live in this world:
The Manner in which Jesus Walked
Jesus spoke the Truth of scripture at all times, even to the Father of Lies. He issued no curses of hatred toward anyone. He prayed ceaselessly. He pointed out the sin of His betrayer, “You betray me with a kiss?” (Luke 22:48), and still called him “friend” (Matthew 26:50).
He shared the message of salvation with His crucifier, Pilate. He healed one of His arresters – the high priest’s servant – who was caught in the crossfires of Peter’s wrath (Luke 22:51).
When confronted by a lie, Jesus modeled various responses including: remaining silent (John 19:8; Luke 20:8), proclaiming the ways of God (John 3:16; John 14:6-7; John18:37 and more), and rebuking those caught up in it (Matthew 23:13-36). But each response was tuned to the desire for all (rich and poor, high and low) to know the True salvation offered by the Father through the Son.
As he hung on the cross, approaching his own apart-ness from God – a fate so dreadful it had caused him to sweat blood at the thought of it (Luke 22:44) – He arranged for his mother’s care in his physical absence (John 19:26-27).
As he looked down from the cross and saw the soldiers gambling for His clothing, He interceded for them and asked the Father to forgive them.
The promise of suffering did not deter Him. Sin did not overwhelm Him. Lies did not corrupt Him. Shame could not belittle Him. Death could not destroy Him. The tomb could not contain Him. Darkness did not extinguish Him. And all of the hate projected on him did not alter His deep, passionate, unstoppable love for the whole world. The Truth remains true in all things.
We, too, can be like Him in this way as the Truth remains in us (Galatians 2:20; 1 John 3:2).
The Central Choice
Even more striking is what Truth does after He triumphs the worst we can do to Him: He comes back for us.
The fact that He comes back and seeks out each one of us, individually, while we are stuck in a state of hostility toward the Truth demonstrates the stunning fact that choice is central to the reality of Truth, but it is not that we have chosen Him – it is that He chose us. God’s promise for everything is centered on the fact that Jesus chose to give Himself for us.
Jesus is our Tree of Life (Revelation 2:7). By taking our fill from Him, we have LIFE, and we can be rescued from our measured, inverted reality of good and bad – right and wrong – and knowing evil.
How do we lift up the Truth and make Him King? It’s an inside job.
Jesus didn’t give His disciples a strategic schematic for overcoming errant national rulers. Instead, He gave them the plan for overcoming the whole world: “Believe in Me” (John 14:1; John 3:16; 1 John 5:4).
For now, God’s kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). For now, God’s kingdom exists in the places where we have elected Him as King within us, by way of a conscious belief that He is God. His kingdom is magnified as we practice that belief and exercise it in all the places within us.
We will be brought to places that have been captured by a lie. We will be led by various arms of the government and institutions, people groups and churches, our physical bodies, and even our own thought patterns to places where we do not want to go; and yet, we are free to follow Jesus even there (John 21:18-22). Jesus is with us as we follow Him through, or away from, these places which have already been defeated by Him.
We may approach the Pools of Bethesda, the wilderness, and deceit-filled trials, and not be overcome by them. Despite what it may look like, He is leading us in our delicate dance to a God-filled destination.
We may live a long life or a short life. We may die a martyr or a king. We may be admired or scoffed at. We may be influential or insignificant to the world. This is not the point.
The point is, follow Him.
…
1 Timothy 6:3-16
If anyone… does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to (worldly currency of any kind, including power, notoriety, security, and financial wealth).
But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want (worldly currency or an ideal image of creation) fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of (worldly currency) is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for (currency), have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
But you, (men and women) of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time – God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.
…
Author’s note: The great and terrible thing about writing something like this is that it gives me a clearer vision and some handles for “taking hold of” such an abstract concept as eternal life now (1 Timothy 3:12); but it also reveals that my striving and my goals are far more often motivated by self-determined images than the invitation to believe Jesus. I wish I could say “belief in Jesus” is my daily practice. What I can say is that it is my aim.
This essay took me nearly four years to write. It feels like it took longer. I can’t discern whether it is an edifying piece for our time or the most over-processed word salad to have ever thieved a person of their time. I do know that the process of writing this helped me mature in my faith and gave me a greater grasp of the Truth.
I deliberated at length whether to include the subcategories under “Addressing the Volatility of Our Time”. We are all politically fatigued and suddenly everything is political, so shall we not discuss the subject matters of the day in the interest of “not getting political” as Christians? Perhaps! It would probably be enough to discuss the Word of God in the context of the Babylonian through Roman era alone, but it would be to the detriment of our collective reasoning and personal application skills.
As citizens we’re free to have any combination of convictions based on any combination of influencing factors. But Christian citizens who submit that their convictions are ordered according to the way of God provide something to discuss, in the interest of adding knowledge to faith (2 Peter 1:5-8), when one lands differently than the other. Anyway, I don’t know if it was the right decision to include those musings, but it was right at least for me to think through those things. I offer my convictions for you to consider.
I was inspired to write this piece in 2020 when my Bible study group examined the Gospel according to John. The crowd’s line, “We have no King but Caesar!” in John 19:15, jumped off the page and I was convinced there was much to mine in the chapters just before and just after their proclamation.
It was apparent in 2020 that the state of our divided country and our divided church had much to do with our divided citizens who were either looking to blame politicians for everything or put all their hope in politicians for a life of true promise. But, whether we look to Caesar as the problem or solution for all that is good and evil, we lose sight of the Truth.
I spent many years (and am inclined even now to keep on) being angry at various created beings and entities for the divided and Truthless state of our world. I realized, thanks to this meditation, that directing my animosity toward fleshly targets carries out the work of a lie. I’ve found exactly zero joy working for a lie, by the way, despite its promises of satisfaction.
“How shall I now live in light of what is True?” This question was a gift. This isn’t where I was originally steering this essay. For much of the time, this essay was merely a place for me to release my bile. I didn’t know where I was steering it, but it was nowhere good, and I believe God was not content with that (who am I that He should care, yet He does), thus the 3+ years of meditating, chewing, wrestling, rejecting, accepting, and streaming into words.
I know with certainty that God informed me as I was writing, though that doesn’t guarantee infallibility in this piece; therefore, taste and see for yourself whether this is God’s truth. I hope it inspires peace and unity and goodwill, but the Truth will do what is good according to God’s definition of goodness. If all of this goes unread, or strips me of the people’s adoration, what is that to me? I will follow the Lord.
That’s my aim, anyway.
www.IlluminateTheTruth.com 
I don’t have time to digest all this but much of what I read just now sounds like Tim Keller. 😃
I have to submit to Storyworth 40 light hearted chapters this weekend. Over my head. 😳 Grands gave to me last Xmas.
Will try to digest after the rush. ❤️
Proud of you. Who gets to see this???