tragedy – Dancing In The Kingdom

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom – Chapter 4– Retreating to chaos

Hope in the brokenness

[Bible references: Genesis 2:16-17; 3:14-15, 23; Psalm 4; 102; Isaiah 1:26; Jeremiah 29:11; Acts:318-26; Galatians 3:13-14; Ephesians 1:11-12; Romans 5:12; 8:18-3; Hebrews 1:1-4]

Grief is the normal response to loss or separation. We may grieve when we lose dreams, jobs, health, family members or friends and many other things. Death is separation. Physical death is the separation of the soul from the body. Spiritual death is the separation of the soul from God.

The first humans voluntarily separated themselves from God so that they could grab what they wanted. This was spiritual death. When the non-physical angels rebelled against God, they too suffered spiritual death. For the angels, the separation was permanent with no hope of reconciliation with their Creator. But the first humans were given the possibility of hope.

Humans were also physical creatures, with mortal bodies, physical bodies that could die. Indeed, the humans needed access to the Tree of Life in order to keep on living. When the humans rebelled, they immediately suffered spiritual death. When the humans were also denied access to the Tree of Life, then their physical death was ensured. Spiritual death followed by physical death. A double grief. But the double grief contained the possibility of hope.

The consequences of rebellions created a great tragedy that could not be undone, not by the image bearers. But even so, as we look around us, we can see that despite the tragedy around us, things aren’t totally bad. Even though evil is very evident around us, goodness is also evident. It is in that observation that we can glimpse the possibility of hope. Amidst the consequences of rebellion, there are hints of hope.

When God confronted the first humans with the consequences for their rebellion, He also gave them a hint of the undoing of death, a solution to the problem created by sin. This hint would only be the first of many other hints to come that we can see revealed in the Biblical text.

We can also see evidence for hope in the continued creation by God, as he continues to sustain the universe he created, continuing to create new living things, plants, and animals alike. There is also hope hidden in the mandate given to the image-bearers. Their mandate of stewardship of God’s creation was still in force, although there would now be suffering involved in the fulfillment of the mandate. There was hope hidden in the name of God’s Son.[1] There was also a strange hope in the banishment from the Tree of Life; the consequence of physical death would provide a way to free us from an eternity of being separated from God and open a way for our redemption.

The sacrifice of Jesus followed a life in which Jesus successfully waited to receive those things that His Father intended to give, resisting the temptation to grab those things for himself. In his life and death, Jesus successfully accomplished what Adam and all those who came after Adam had not.

In the beginning, we were eager to grasp for ourselves wisdom and the knowledge of good and evil on our own terms. What we didn’t plan on was the consequences that would follow. Sometimes God gives us what we think we want even though it would bring us the suffering that God was trying to steer us from. It’s a continuing pattern we see from the beginning until now, that it is not always a good thing when we get what we think we want.[2]

But Jesus life did not end with his crucifixion. Jesus’ resurrection was the proof of redemption and of the hope of restoration. Sin had corrupted all of creation and all of creation is groaning and awaiting its restoration.

The universe is not what it’s supposed to be. We are not what we are supposed to be. We are creatures created with the imprint of the image of God but broken in body, soul and spirit. Our brokenness shows up in our actions, words and thoughts. Our brokenness shows up in the way we are treated and the way we treat others. And our brokenness even shows up in the bodies we are born with. But in His death and resurrection, God is able to redeem and restore all of us, all of who we are, all of what we have done, all of what has been done to us, and even all of creation. God is able to use all of our suffering and use it for our good, making something beautiful out of what was broken.

[1] See Chapter 2, The Mystery of God’s Name

[2] See Chapter 8. Rejecting God as King

Reflect

It’s not hard to see signs of brokenness around us. Are there any signs of hope that can be seen?

Observe

Read Isaiah 1:26; Jeremiah 29:11; Matthew 17:11; Acts 3:18-26; Galatians 3:13-14; Ephesians 1:11-12;. Throughout the Bible, God has chosen to share his future plans in pieces at a time. What those plans are, have been the subject of much debate within the church. What is your understanding of God’s plans for the future?

Dancing in the Kingdom – Table of Contents

Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom, Chapter 4 – Deforming the intended direction for creation

[Bible references: Genesis 2:16-17; 3:14-15, 23; Psalm 4; Hebrews 1:1-4]

Everything was broken and separated from God. Spiritual death, the impaired relation between God and His image-bearers was immediate and would be mirrored by the physical death caused by separation of the people who would no longer have access to the Tree of Life. This was a great tragedy that could not be undone, not by the image bearers. But as we look around us, we can see that, despite the tragedy around us, things aren’t totally bad. Even though evil is very evident around us, goodness is also evident. It is in that observation that we can glimpse the possibility of hope.

God had ordained the penalty of death, spiritual and physical, to be the consequence of turning away from him. Spiritual death, the separation God’s image-bearers from God happened immediately, but physical death, the separation of soul and body, did not happen right away. What God did, was to apply discipline to his image-bearers. He also gave a hint of the solution to the problem created by sin, the first of many other hints that were to come.

There was also evidence for hope in the continued creation by God, as he continued to sustain the universe he created, and within that universe He continued to create new living things, plants, and animals alike. Related to that hope, was that the mandate given to the image-bearers was still in force, although there would now be suffering involved in the fulfillment of the mandate.

There was also hope hidden in God’s very name. The name given to us, which was given to Moses and first revealed in Genesis 2, is “Yahweh” (Hebrew, יהוה). In the ancient Hebrew, the characters would have looked a little different and each character would represent an object or action.^[1] In Hebrew, the characters are read from right to left. The first character (י) represents a hand or arm and could also represent work or worship. The character (ה) represents a man with arms raised and could also represent displaying or revealing something. The (ו) character represents a nail or tent peg and could also represent fastening something together. So, embedded in the name יהוה is the message “hand revealed nail revealed” – a foretelling of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.

In the beginning, we were eager to grasp for ourselves wisdom and the knowledge of good and evil on our own terms. What we didn’t plan on the consequences that would follow. Sometimes God gives us what we think we want even though it would bring us the suffering that God was trying to steer us from. It’s a continuing pattern we see from the beginning until now, that it is not always a good thing when we get what we think we want.

^[1] Benner, Jeff A. “Hebrew Alphabet Chart”

Reflect

It’s not hard to see signs of brokenness around us. Are there any signs of hope that can be seen?

Observe

Read Galatians 3:13-14; Ephesians 1:11-12; Jeremiah 29:11; Isaiah 1:26; Matthew 17:11; Acts 3:18-26. Throughout the Bible, God has chosen to share his future plans in pieces at a time. Because of that, what exactly those plans are, have been the subject of much debate within the church. What is your understanding of God’s plans for the future?