Okay, I have said some
radical things about God’s power. Strangely, whenever Christians bring
Christianese expressions about this mighty God, I feel like Cinderella, like I
was somehow not invited to the party or missed the boat. Maybe I am a bit dull.
I have yet to see
evidence of this “mighty God”. Of course I am talking in the contemporary
sense, not with respect to a pretty awesome creation.
The thing that gets me
with the Sadducean world of New Earth thinkers, is that God is not even
interested. He sees no reason whatsoever to prove His power. He could have
called ten thousand angels to the cross, but knew that wisdom would claim the day.
Oh sure, when He has
stretched out His hand, awesome things have transpired, but in truth a lot of
that could be attributed to His omniscient knowledge and the power that gave
Him to foresee and anticipate things with such exquisite timing.
New Earth thinkers do
a disservice to God. They mean well, but it is misguided. He has no need to be
defended as it is, but even so, He would far, far rather be known for His wisdom
than for His might.
He will bring down His enemies in His own timing, without
force.
I suppose He could
have taken Satan and crushed Him with His little finger, instead with His
little finger He brought the house of darkness to its knees, through the weakness,
nakedness and frailty of a skin-covered, bone-filled, bloodied son.
There were no miracles
in His greatest hour and only for that hour did He say, “remember me”.
He sought no memorial,
except the simple act of a travelling supper.
No shrines were ever
set up at His behest.
He shunned the limelight
He did nothing to
prevent the most visceral act of history, the impaling of His own, beloved son
on a cruel cross at the behest of a brutal occupying force.
He shunned any
opportunity to lead a rebellion against them or to stage a coup or to stand for
political office. He wanted none of the trappings of power.
Indeed, Satan tempted
Him with power and mastery of the world, and He flat-out denied it. He was only
concerned with doing His Father’s will.
The cross was far, far more court-case drama
than a show of might
Indeed, it was a show
of apparent weakness, yet He made an open show of His enemies and triumphed over them (Col 2:15).
In His weakness,
He finished the courtroom debate started
in the Wilderness, His pretrial, where He was deemed worthy of Calvary - not
that Satan grasped that.
Then in His trial
before the Romans and the Sanhedrin, He removed any speculation about any just
reason for His death. He was tested in every way and found spotless.
Then He reached the
final stage of a lifelong trial, where He hung on the cross for something He
never did, but perhaps for something He was about to do.
In that dark hour, His
wisdom was so veiled that He kept silent to let it all play out. Had the dark
forces ganged up against Him had even a whiff of what was happening, they would
not have crucified Him, but they did (1 Cor 2:8).
Then He gave up the
ghost. He seemed to be a spent force. Three days later He stood before the last
court, Satan’s Kangaroo Court and demanded the keys of death and hell. The
enemy was gutted. They never saw it coming despite 4000 years of hints.
Those who perceive more value in the drama of
creation, miss the point
He could not
manipulate the world He had to judge. He could not contrive the context of the
Cross.
God went to
extraordinary lengths to ensure the credentials and the just cause of the cross,
even to the point of turning away at the darkest moment. The cross was
validated at arms-length to the just, righteous court that will yet prosecute the
great serpent.
The idea of making the
world in seven days, reduces the cross to a sham, a scripted drama for the sake
of the story. It belies the wisdom and restraint that God showed through the ages
to ensure a just prosecution of sin and a defensible plan of redemption.
He will reveal His wisdom, not His power
through the church (Ephesians 2)
I know that making God
look like a wand-wielding magician seems the right thing to do, but it was the
last thing God ever wanted to do. To preserve the plan of salvation, he had to
let life evolve into a self-sustaining reality, from the basic principles and
elements of matter.
To that He added
humankind and gave them freedom of choice, lest he contrive the demarche of
history for what would have been the pageantry of Calvary.
Instead He let it all
be. I have no doubt His wisdom anticipated the course of history. Thus, He used
Satan’s predictable momentum and mad folly, to bring him down the way a judo
fighter uses His body as a fulcrum.
This one thing I know.
God may be unbelievably powerful, although I question the notion of infinite
power. However, it is incidental to a plan that was worked out on the ordinary
clay platform of a very human world - without the power we deem necessary.
He will similarly
guide His church through the darkest moments of history, with a wisdom and
timing that will sow confusion into enemy ranks, until, like Job, we prevail as
the church victorious.
The US has always
tended to prosecute wars with overwhelming power, but that rarely won a war or
sustained any victory. Had the story of salvation been scripted by us, the same
outcome was certain. Thanks be to God His wisdom had the last say.
(c) Peter Missing @ Bethelstone.com
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