I
was meditating on perceptions about God's voice that float around out there. To
some, their experience of the prophetic message has been harsh, judgemental,
and condemning. They relate strongly to wrath-of-God texts and visualize
roaring, hairy prophets and flying spittle. Indeed, I’ve run into many a
bleeding lamb who suffered abuse at the rod of messengers purporting to speak
for God.
Others
encounter a version of God's voice that seems too nice, continually evoking
God’s love in syrupy forms that seem as banal as a “Precious Moments” figurine
(and just as apt to sit dusty on a shelf). I received two emails this week that
challenged me on that, warning me against hearing and teaching a sugar-coated version
of Christ as we engage in “listening prayer.” As I’ve tried to discern the real
issue in the company of some wise counsellors, what came was a balanced
acknowledgement that the voice of Christ is both sweet and salty, but neither
bitter nor sour (Rev. 10:10 notwithstanding).
I. The sweet voice of
Christ: The
voice of Christ is sweet like honey to our lips when / because:
A. Its first and final concern is the testimony of the gospel [good news] of
Jesus. "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." (Rev.
19:10) The prophets themselves are to be ministers of the gospel / of
reconciliation and regardless of the firmness of their [hopefully tearful]
rebuke, we should always be able to hear in them an invitation of hope.
B. Its tone should conform to the fruit of the Spirit. A word from the Spirit
will be consistent with the fruit of the Spirit. So prophetic words (reporting
God's voice) will sound like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithful, gentleness, and self-control. (Gal. 5) A prophetic word that is
inconsistent with the character of Christ as expressed by the Holy Spirit
should give us serious pause. Remember that the gift of prophecy without love
is nothing... apart from the lovingkindness of God, ceases to be neither a gift
nor a prophecy.
C. Its function in the assembly will be for strengthening, comforting, and
encouraging. (1 Cor. 14:3) It will edify (feed, nurture, uplift) the church
(vs. 4-5). When a mature prophet with a track record of healing-love delivers a
rebuke at the request of the elders that is one thing. But when in open
assembly, all may prophesy in turn (vs. 31)... this openness is not a
free for all, but done in an orderly way according to the parameters of
love [not control] set by Paul (vv. 29-33). I see this modelled well in a good
number of churches, such as the Gathering at Caronport, SK;
all are welcome to share what God reveals to them during the service. Whatever
verses 24-25 mean about the unbeliever being convinced and "judged"
by all, we know that Paul is not talking about personal condemnation (Rom. 8:1)
but about the felt sense of God's presence through the prophetic ministry. The
unbeliever’s response is not, “Woe is me,” but rather, “God is here!”
D. If in
Christ there is no condemnation, this applies to the voice of God in
our lives. To those who stand condemned, it comes as comforting balm,
as good
news, as a gentle brook. To the wayward it comes as kindness,
tolerance, and patience (Rom. 2:4). It ends up being the grace of God
that teaches us the “love-no’s” of God
towards ungodliness (Titus 2:11-12).
E. Specific to my own ministry with the broken, the prophetic word (both
what I share and what the broken hear for themselves) comes softly and sweetly
most often... like a feather rather than a hammer. Our model—and Christ’s own
pattern—comes from Isaiah 42:1-7 and Isaiah 61. We especially take to heart
this kind of prophetic ministry:
A bruised reed he will not break, and a
smoldering wick he will not snuff out. (Isa. 42:2)
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on
me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the
captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the
day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those
who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of
praise instead of a spirit of despair. (Isa. 61:1-3)
One important thing to note here is that NOT ONLY does the primary prophetic
message come to the broken with and about the lovingkindness of
God, BUT ALSO, the primary target recipients of the prophetic message ARE the
broken-hearted and crushed in spirit. I.e. Isaiah not only tells us the content
and tone of prophetic utterance, but he also tells us to whom and for whom the
New Covenant prophetic promises is mainly directed!
To
summarize part 1, am I sugar-coating the voice of God when I hear his first and
foremost and most prevalent message to be one of love? Only if the message of
the healing, saving love of the God who IS love is honey on my lips (for
the religious, it is not). How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth! (Psalm 119:103).
II. The salty voice of
Christ:
Having
said all that about the sweetness of Christ’s voice, one runs into difficulty
when you start actually reading the prophetic words of Jesus in the Gospels and
in Revelation (even restricting ourselves to His words to the church in Rev.
2-3). Some of the words are very stern, and they did come through men (in
Revelation, through John. in the Gospels, through Jesus the perfect New
Testament man and prophet). These sombre warnings are described by analogy in
Scripture as a hammer that breaks stone (Jer. 23:29), a consuming fire and earthquake
(Heb. 12:25-29), and a sharp two-edged sword (Heb. 4:12-13). The prophetic
word warns, corrects, confronts, calls to account, and rebukes. It
lays bare secrets and even judges motives (back to 1 Cor.
14:24-25). And all this, ONLY in love and with NO condemnation?
We do know his voice is not bitter. Nor is it sour. But is his voice as salty as it is sweet?
It's tough to suggest that God's word is not also inherently salty, considering
who he is and who we are.
So is it a misdirection to equate love with sweetness, rather than thinking of
love as a mixture of salt and sweet? In either case the salt needs no
coating—the sweetness will always be inherent, in
the core of the taste.
If God's voice is equally sweet and salty then I'd want to learn about it in a
way that helped me understand that God's voice has these various functions and
that they are also pleasant tastes.
Yes.
The Word of the Lord can be salty; and eventually ALL are “a salted with fire”
(Mark 9:49) But this salt is also a word of love from an adoring Father who is
committed to train us and heal us. As the author of Hebrews said,
Endure
hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not
disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes
discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we
have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How
much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers
disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us
for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant
at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of
righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Therefore,
strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. "Make level paths for your
feet," so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.
(Heb. 12:7-13)
This can come in
many forms, including various hardships. Some people's understanding of love is
that it punishes and hurts. They believe, "If i love you i will confront
you in love which means accuse and judge you--make all my suspicions into condemnations.
I hit you because i love you. If i didn't love you, I would just let you get
away with it.” That is how many people go through this world. Yet in this
passage, each manifestation of God’s discipline is for training [not punishment] and again, it
strengthens and heals us in our shortcomings and weakness. Even as God shakes
down and consumes all that is combustible (the world, the flesh, the devil),
His plan for us is not to topple or harm us
(Jer. 29), but to make sturdy our feeble knees and redeem our broken lives. Therefore, see that you do not refuse Him
who speaks (Heb. 12:25)… it’s all a function of Christ’s voice.
As I
reflect on the biblical prophets, Jeremiah 23 and 28 come to mind: dire
warnings about those prophets who bring good news of peace when in fact the
storms of God are on their way. Yet Jeremiah himself comes with the good news
of the New Covenant—some promises in chapters 31-33 are so great that even the
New Testament doesn't echo them. More importantly, one needs to look at Jesus'
own prophetic words to examine their intensity and indignation at times. The
very One who shattered judgement and condemnation on the Cross was not shy
about brandishing words of woe and doom.
As
often happens lately, I end with a proposal that seeks to answer this
quandary in Jesus' own distillation of the prophetic tradition: the Beatitudes.
(For the best work I've seen on this, cf. Ron Dart's, The Beatitudes: When Mountain Meets Valley ). Those few simple
verses clearly show us the content, tone, and fruit of the true
prophets' ministry. They model the Word of the Lord as the coming together of
honey to the lips and salt to the soul, both mercy and justice complementing and highlighting each other… like
saltwater taffy. I close with that text in Ron’s own translation:
Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up on the
mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his
mouth and taught them.
“The Divine Life is for those who
die to the demands of the ego.
Such people will inhabit the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Divine Life is for those who have
lived through tragedy and suffering.
Such people will be comforted at a
deep level.
The Divine Life is for those who
bring their passions under control for goodness.
It is such people that will inherit
the earth.
The Divine Life is for those who hunger
and thirst for justice.
Such people will be fed to the full.
The Divine Life is offered to those
who are gracious and merciful.
Such people will be treated in a
merciful and gracious manner.
The Divine Life is offered to those
whose Home is clean on the inside.
Such people will know the very
presence of God and see his face.
The Divine Life is offered to those
who are Makers and Creators of Peace.
Such people will be called the
children of God.
The Divine Life is known by those
who are persecuted for seeking Justice.
Such people will know what it means
to live in the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Divine Life is known by those
who are mistreated and misunderstood in their passion for justice. They will
inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.
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