Interviewing God IV

Members of the Christian community often have questions about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.  Most of us have either said or heard someone say “When I get to heaven, the first thing I want to ask God is ….”  In aggregate, the pool of questions becomes quite large.  The drama, INTERVIEWING GOD, depicts a female news correspondent in an informal setting asking God a number of questions.  The answers she receives are from His Word, which the Lord inspired the prophets and apostles to write.  Scripture references are given throughout along with the author’s personal notes.  The interview was lengthy as one might imagine, so here it is broken into parts.  In the initial posting, God used a stage play analogy to answer the ultimate controversy of the universe question – “Who’s in charge?”  He upheld the inerrancy of the Bible, or as He terms it, “the introductory remarks.”  In the second posting, God revealed both the origin and the purpose of suffering.  In the third, God explained key elements within the creation of man plus the devastating fall of man.  He disclosed the choice to continue, nonetheless, making covenant with certain individuals and unveiled a restorative seed principle.  In Part IV, more truths were mined concerning the use of parables, the essence of true learning, plus the principle of authority was revisited.  That part ended with the interviewer “tipping her hand” a bit, asking ever so shyly about the second coming.  In Part V, God plunged headlong into the study of the time of the end – or eschatology – debunking the most common views of our time.  Here in PART VI, some of God’s answers given in PART V are brought into question via the interviewer bringing up His long ago promise to Abraham.  This becomes merely a catalyst for God, revealing His true Israel.

                                                      INTERVIEWING GOD

                                                         (Serialized Version)

                                                                       by

                                                          Michael Lawrence

                                                                          

                                                     PART VI

                                                  “God’s Israel”

I STILL HAVE A PROBLEM ABOUT ISRAEL.  HOW CAN YOU JUST WRITE THEM OFF?  DOESN’T THAT MAKE YOU A LIAR AFTER WHAT YOU PROMISED ABRAHAM?

You remember your student days.  Well, it might help to think about eschatology – the study of end time events – as if it were a giant mathematical equation on the blackboard.  What if in the midst of all those figures there was a slight error like two plus two equals five?  That would lead whatever followed in the equation to a false conclusion – no matter how elaborate or impressive those subsequent figures might be.  That illustrates just what happens to those who rely mostly upon their own understanding and therefore stray from the simplicity of my son’s remarks concerning these matters.[1]  They get caught up in some rather complicated and bizarre scenarios that are fraught with endless circular reasoning.  The blackboard can get quite messy in the process, and they exhaust themselves while leading many others to the same false conclusions.

SO HOW ARE THEY TO GET OUT OF THAT REVOLVING DOOR AND BACK ON TRACK?

That involves going back to where two plus two equals five, but that means erasing all those pretty figures they have amassed.  That involves humiliation and suffering.  Not many opt for that, even though it’s the only way to get on the path to be guided into all truth.  Like I said before, I don’t reveal myself to casual passers-by.  They must invest in intimacy and trust – lay aside their own preconceptions.  Their equations become subtle attempts at control.  I am in charge, remember, and there are no shortcuts to reality.[2]

WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ISRAEL AND YOUR PROMISE TO ABRAHAM?

Everything.  Shortly after my son had ascended back to us and before we sent him back in judgment, there was a great deal of friction between those followers of our new covenant and the sticklers to the old one who were unable to discern what had happened.  One particular fellow from the old camp, an intellectual zealot whom we had been grooming for some time to enter the new way, was wrecking great havoc on our fresh charges.  At a critical point, my son knocked the unruly fellow of his ride, blinded him, and told him where to go.  The man was converted to the new way in the process and would become one of our chief spokesmen.[3]  So much for “free will.”  I meddle – both inwardly and behind the scenes.

Also, can you see a pattern here?  How we use donkeys, horses, camels – various rides – in the production?  It’s quite colorful and the audience loves it.

THE UNRULY FELLOW WAS SAUL OF TARSUS WHO BECAME THE APOSTLE, PAUL?

That’s right, but there is something that I want to reiterate here.  My long suite – taking something very bad and recreating the same into something very, very good.  Think about the introductory remarks and those whom we enabled and inspired to write them.  The major portion of those writings was penned by former murderers or accessories to murder.  Moses killed the Egyptian taskmaster.[4]  David saw to it that his paramour’s husband would not return alive from battle.[5]  While an angry mob of legalistic zealots stoned a chosen young man of ours, a consenting Paul – known as Saul at the time – guarded their coats.[6]

THAT’S AMAZING.  I NEVER THOUGHT OF IT THAT WAY.

Nonetheless, Paul became a key player, and we became quite intimate.  I was able to reveal much to him.  He came to understand just whom my true Israel had always been and will always be.  It’s not those of Jewish ancestry who continue to migrate to the tiny nation of Israel which many of our people are mistakenly fixed upon these days.

YOU’VE ALWAYS HAD SOMEONE ELSE IN MIND?

That’s right, and Paul revealed this to his various charges through his correspondence with them.  We’re back to the seed principle.

HOW’S THAT?

My promise to Abraham was to him and to his seed.  While there was by necessity a natural lineage involved, what we primarily had in mind was spiritual lineage.  Our spokesman, Paul, was allowed to discover that my son was the seed in question.  Paul had studied what was then the available portion of the introductory remarks.  He saw my record of continually making covenant with key players.  Through the lens of covenant, he detected that my Israel had always been spiritual in nature.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN?

Paul recognized that those key players and their remnant followers were just a covenant-keeping nation within a much larger nation of merely natural descendants.[7]  Through his seed – my son – Abraham became the spiritual father of all who would allow faith to cause them to obey me.[8]  Paul saw that it was to be through the faithful that my promise to Abraham would be fulfilled.  Of course, that’s what I had in mind all along.  My work has always been about relationships – the union of hearts, if you will.[9]  It was never just keeping a bunch of rules or being of natural lineage.  True family resemblance status cannot be accessed via those things.  They are a hindrance, more often than not.

SO, IT’S THOSE WHO OBEY YOU WITH A HEART OF FAITH – THEY ARE ISRAEL?

You got it.[10]  That’s my Israel, the only one – always has been.  Of course, my son got it too.  When told that his own mother and brothers were trying to get through the crowd in order to see him, he asked the rhetorical question, “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?”  Taking full advantage of the teachable window, he supplied the answer as well.  Whoever was hearing from me and obeying my voice from a faithful heart was his real brother or sister or mother.[11]  Many continue to stumble over that bedrock of truth.[12]

Paul had no idea that he was contributing to the introductory remarks when he wrote to his various charges about these foundational matters.  Remember, we’re talking covenant here.  That remains foreign to the thinking of a majority of our own troupe.  Discernment is a wonderful thing.  Abraham knows that I haven’t lied to him.

                                                            End of Part VI           

Coming soon:  Part VII, “A Rapture, A Resurrection, A Thousand Year Reign”

             

           

           

           

              

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Unless otherwise noted, the scriptural references are from the New King James Version.  All parenthetical items contained within scriptural references are my emphasis.

[1]“But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3).

[2]“The humble, He guides in justice, and the humble He teaches His way. . . . The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant” (Psalm 25:9, 14).

[3]“Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples . . . (gained authority to search them out at Damascus so that) he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.  As he journeyed . . . suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.  Then he fell to the ground and heard (Jesus’) voice . . . So he, trembling and astonished, said, ‘Lord, what do you want me to do?’  Then the Lord said to him, ‘Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.’  Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one . . . (and) was three days without sight . . . . (Simultaneously) the Lord said in a vision (to) . . . a certain disciple named Ananias (that he would be) ‘putting his hand on (Saul) so that he might receive his sight.’  (Ananias expressed fear.)  But the Lord said to him, ‘Go for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel, for I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.’  . . . Ananias . . . lay his hands on him . . . and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized . . . received food . . . was strengthened . . . spent some days with the disciples at Damascus.  Immediately, he preached Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God”  (Acts 9:1a, 2-4a, 6, 8a, 9a, 10b, 12b, 17a, 18b-20).

The author acknowledges that according to Scripture, Saul of Tarsus may have very well been on foot when he “fell to the ground” in awe.  However, in this interview, God makes it clear that he was atop some conveyance of the time.

[4]“So he (Moses) looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand” (Exodus 2:12).

[5]“And he (David) wrote in the letter (to his general, Joab), saying, ‘Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die’” (2 Samuel 11:15).

[6]“Then they cried out . . . ran at him (Stephen) . . . cast him out of the city and stoned him . . . (laying) their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul (who, thereby) . . . was consenting to his death” (Acts 7:57-58, 8:1a).

[7]“For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; neither are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants . . . That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise (covenant) . . . not from among the Jews only, but also from among Gentiles, as He says also in Hosea, ‘I will call those who were not My people, MY PEOPLE’ . . . Of the sons of Israel . . . it is the remnant that will be saved . . . a remnant according to God’s gracious choice” (Romans 9:6b-7a, 8a, 24b-25a, 27b; 11:5b, New American Standard).

[8]“(While) Gentiles . . . did not pursue righteousness . . . (nonetheless, they) attained . . . the righteousness (which is) of faith; (natural) Israel pursuing the law of righteousness . . . has not attained (it) . . . because they did not seek it by faith . . . (but) stumbled at the stumbling stone (Christ) . . . (and) because of unbelief they were broken off” (Romans 9:30-32; 11:20a) . . . Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. . . . And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise (covenant)” (Galatians 3:7, 29).

[9]“’But this is the (new) covenant . . .’ declares the Lord, ‘I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will right it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people’” (Jeremiah 31:33, New American Standard).

[10]“. . . to obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15:22b).  “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart” (Psalm 51:17).  “Bondservants, be obedient . . . in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; not with eye service, but . . . doing the will of God from the heart” (Ephesians 6:5, 6).

[11]“Then His mother and brothers came to see Him, and could not approach Him because of the crowd.  And it was told to Him by some, who said, ‘Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see You.’ 

“But He answered and said to them, ‘My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it’” (Luke 8:19-21).

[12] “(Either) He (and what He says) will be as a sanctuary (or as) a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense  . . . “ (Isaiah 8:14a).