Revise Us Again

by Frank Viola

  I’ve watched this sort of behavior poison many relationships. The “cheap shot” that gets a laugh is the fleshly instrument of the insecure leader. Consequently, those who relish mocking others only reveal serious interior problems that they’ve never dealt with. Jealousy and envy are chief among them.

  Even so, those who are captured by the same spirit they oppose cannot abide diversity. Instead of embracing it as a mark of fullness, they do all they can to squash it. And ridicule—a tool of the old man wielded by self-indulgent souls—is one way that it’s accomplished.

  (5) Embracing Self-Righteousness

  Self-righteousness lies at the taproot of those who are captured by the same spirit they oppose. Self-righteousness is the attitude that makes one believe that they are more righteous, more holy, and more spiritual than others. It’s an attribute of the flesh. The Pharisees of Jesus’ day had PhDs in it. And for that reason, our Lord leveled the strongest words against them.

  You can spot self-righteousness in a person pretty easily. Whenever people are quick to condemn others but excuse themselves, they are being self-righteous. Whenever they evaluate their mistakes and shortcomings as being “less severe” than those of others, they are being self-righteous. Whenever they are blind to their own flaws but concern themselves with the flaws of others, they are being self-righteous.

  There’s only one Person in the universe who has the right to be self-righteous. And He isn’t.

  The Lord Jesus hates self-righteousness, plain and simple. The truth is, we are all unrighteous in ourselves. Our only righteousness is Christ. Who, then, can boast about that?2

  All told: As the wind of God’s Spirit blows on His body today, may He mercifully keep us from being captured by the same spirit we oppose.

  Notes

  1Saint John of the Cross, The Living Flame of Love (New York: Cosimo, 2007), 76.

  2For a fuller treatment on the cancer of self-righteousness and how the Lord views it, see chapter 8 of From Eternity to Here.

  CHAPTER 8

  THE GOD OF UNSEEN ENDINGS

  REVISING OUR SPIRITUAL EXPECTATIONS

  The psalmist said that the Lord made known His ways to Moses but His acts to the children of Israel (Ps. 103:7). We have a God who doesn’t do anything arbitrarily. He’s quite deliberate in what He does.

  It takes a lifetime to understand the ways of God. But the more we understand them, the more we understand who He is. For His ways give us insight into His character.

  Each Christian has an expectation of who God is and how He should act under certain circumstances. When the Lord doesn’t act according to our expectations, our faith gets tested. Some people are “offended” and fall away. Note the words of Jesus Himself about this.

  Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me. (Luke 7:23)

  Here’s the context behind those words. John the Baptist had just been put in a dark, cold prison. John’s prison experience caused him to doubt that his cousin was in fact the Messiah. So John sent emissaries to Jesus, asking Him, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” (Luke 7:19).

  Jesus’ reply to John comes straight from Isaiah 61: “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.”

  Jesus, however, leaves out one very telling phrase from Isaiah 61, the one John would have expected to hear: to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.

  John never left the prison.

  “Blessed are those who do not fall away from Me, especially when I do not meet their expectations.”

  He Takes Away the First to Establish the Second

  Along this same line, there’s a passage of Scripture that sheds light on one of the ways in which God works, especially when He doesn’t seem to follow through with what we think He’s promised. It’s found in Hebrews 10:9 (NASB):

  He takes away the first in order to establish the second.

  In this text, the writer of Hebrews is discussing the old covenant. He points out that God took away the old covenant to establish the new. God took away all the ceremonies and sacrifices of the old covenant to establish the new covenant embodied in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the reality of everything in the old covenant. Christ is the real lamb, the real sacrifice, the real priest, and the real temple.

  The writer goes on to say that God takes away the first covenant to establish the second, and the second covenant is better than the first. Note the principle: God takes away to establish, and what He establishes is always better than what He takes away.

  For this reason, the word better is used thirteen times throughout the book of Hebrews (NASB). Christians have a better sacrifice, a better hope, a better tabernacle, a better priesthood, a better covenant, and better promises than what the old covenant provided.

  “He takes away that He might establish” is a principle that governs one of the chief ways that God works with His people.

  Evening and Morning

  Let’s trace this principle throughout the Bible. Return with me to the creation of the earth. When God created the planet, it was formless and void, and darkness covered the waters. After the darkness, God said, “Let there be light.” Notice that the darkness preceded the light.

  This establishes an important principle. When God begins something new, He always starts with darkness rather than light. First the darkness, then the light.

  God then begins to create life-forms on the earth. The Scripture says, “And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.… And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.… And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day,” and on and on until the seventh day.

  Notice that the evening comes first. God’s day starts with darkness, not light. It begins with evening, not morning. And when the seventh day arrives, God rests. The Scripture does not say, “And there was evening, and there was morning—the seventh day.” On the seventh day, there is no evening and no morning mentioned. We are simply told that God ended His work and rested on that day.

  Now what caused God to rest? The answer: humanity. God saw His image in the earth. Behold, I show you a mystery. When God sees His image in the earth, He can rest.

  So God’s beginnings start with evening. What we call the end of the day, God calls the beginning. In fact, every life-form begins in darkness. There are nine months of darkness for a human, and then the human sees light. At night when we are asleep, our bodies are resting and restoring, but we are unaware of it until morning. To put it another way, God’s beginnings are our nights. And what we call the end, He calls the beginning.

  Consequently, what may appear to be the end for you is the beginning for God. Our day starts out in the morning with birds chirping, newspapers thrown on the lawn, and fresh coffee percolating. But God’s work begins in the evening. It begins with darkness. So we touch an important principle here. God takes away to establish, and what He establishes is always better. He takes away the darkness to establish the light. He takes away the evening to establish the morning.

  In the Life of Job

  Consider Job. Here is a man who experienced a dark night beyond telling. Job had great wealth, many friends, and many children. God had beautifully blessed him. And what happened?

  God took it all away.

  Job’s dark night occurred suddenly without warning. An angel didn’t send him an email saying, “Get ready, there’s a big one coming!” God didn’t send him a Tweet saying, “Look out, Job, you’re going to lose everything in one day.” No, there was no fax, email, or Twitter announcement.

  It came without warning. In o
ne day, Job lost his cattle, his crops, and his children. It appears that God went on vacation. This was Job’s dark night. God was silent, but He wasn’t absent. The Lord was present throughout the ordeal, from beginning to end. In fact, He was actually behind it—allowing it.

  Job’s drama was being played out on a double stage. Corresponding to what was happening on earth, there were things happening in the heavenly realm, all of which Job was completely unaware. Job was experiencing his evening, his darkness.

  Let me remind you: The evening always has within it the promise of the morning. The night always has within it the promise of the day to come. When you go through the dark night, as a church or as an individual, remember that the morning is gestating, growing, and will eventually appear.

  Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. (Ps. 30:5 NKJV)

  Job endured his evening. He was bombarded on every point to lose his faith in God—by pressure from his friends and his own wife. Yet Job maintained his integrity. His words are revealing: “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away” (Job 1:21).

  Yet after his evening—after his dark night—Job experienced his morning. God restored everything Job had lost and more. Job received double what was taken away (Job 42:10; James 5:11). He received more children. He received more wealth, more cattle, and more crops.

  Not only that, but Job lived for 140 more years, and God blessed him during each one of those years.

  I don’t know about you, but whenever I read that account, I think to myself: But what about those kids who are buried in Job’s backyard?

  I have to believe that the Lord eased the pain and softened the memory somehow, and Job lived a peaceful, satisfied man the rest of his days. For comfort and peace are contained within the blessing of God.

  Again: You and I have a God who takes away so that He may establish. And what He establishes is always better than what He took away.

  In the Life of Joseph

  Let’s move forward in the biblical story. We come to Joseph the dreamer. Joseph was a young man who was part of a large family. He had a father who loved him very much.

  One day, God gave Joseph a dream. In it, Joseph saw his destiny. And he was so excited that he began to brag about it to his brothers.

  This turned out to be a profound mistake.

  What happened? Joseph quickly entered into his dark night. His brothers threw him into a waterless pit—a place of darkness. And he was left there for dead. Not long after, Joseph was promoted to a prison and put on death row!

  The psalmist says that the word of the Lord tried him as his soul fell into iron (Ps. 105:17–19). When Joseph was imprisoned, God’s word was testing him to see whether or not he was going to let go of the vision or still cling to it despite his painful circumstances. Remarkably, Joseph held on to the vision all the way until the end, even though everything around him was contradicting him.

  Joseph finally had his morning. God brought him out of the prison and exalted him to be ruler over Egypt. His family was restored. His brothers’ hatred melted away into love. He regained what he had lost and received more than what the Lord had taken away.

  Indeed, the vision had come to pass.

  God takes away that He might establish, and what He establishes is always better.

  In the Lives of Moses and Aaron

  Enter now Moses and Aaron. These two men are leading the children of Israel in the wilderness. There arises a controversy over their leadership. Moses and Aaron are being challenged by some of God’s people. God says to Moses, “I want you to take a rod from each of the leaders of the tribes of Israel—twelve rods. And I want you to put them in the tabernacle” (see Num. 17:1–4).

  The rods were put in the Holy of Holies where only the high priest had access once a year. The Holy of Holies was the little room in the tabernacle where the presence of God rested on the ark of the covenant. The twelve rods were put behind the curtain in this room where there was no light. The only time that this room was lit up was when God’s presence appeared on top of the ark of the covenant and He displayed His glory. At all other times, the room was utterly dark.

  So the Lord says, “Take the rods and put them in the Holy of Holies in pure darkness for one whole night” (see Num. 17:5–8). That was an evening. That was darkness. That was a night. Then the morning came, and Moses took the rods out. Strikingly, one of them—Aaron’s rod—had budded. Life came forth from a dead stick.

  In the midst of the dark night, something was going on that no mortal could have ever imagined. In the morning, there was resurrection. The dead rod had produced blossoms.

  Take note: Evening is the time of death. It’s the time of hopelessness and helplessness. But the evening is always followed by the morning, and that’s when resurrection occurs. Every evening holds the promise of the morning. Every night contains the promise of a new day. The Lord takes away that He might establish.

  In the Life of David

  David was a young boy in a seemingly functional family. Samuel, the heavyweight prophet of that time, selected David out of all the young men in the region. Samuel prophesied over David and anointed him to be king over all Israel. What a great vision and destiny.

  What happened after that? Nothing. David was utterly ignored. Here he thought he was going to be a featured celebrity on TBN, have interviews with Christianity Today, and become a household name. Instead, nothing happened. Nothing at all.

  Then, something did happen—Goliath. After David triumphed over Goliath and the Philistines, he attained instant popularity. People were singing the praises of David on the streets—until God chose to take his fame away. The next thing we learn about David is that he’s in the wilderness being hunted like an animal by King Saul.

  David has no friends, but he has more enemies than he can count. This was David’s dark night. The evening had entered into his life, and it lasted a long time. You can read all about it in the Psalms. David is despairing everywhere. Yet after the dark night, God took away the first king, Saul, and He established the second king, David.

  He took away the first that He might establish the second. And what He establishes is always better.

  David was a better king than Saul. David’s night was over. His evening had passed. Then came the morning and the light, and it was very good.

  We have a Lord who always begins with evening. We have a God who begins in darkness. But He takes away so that He can establish. Look at Hosea 6:1–3:

  Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.… As surely as the sun rises, he will appear.

  What a beautiful passage. God tears us in order to heal us. He smites us in order to bind and revive us. Then on the third day, when the sun rises in the morning, He appears.

  In the Life of Jesus

  We come now to Jesus Christ. Think about our Lord’s birth. When Jesus was born, darkness covered the earth. When Jesus made His appearance on this planet, Israel was under the iron fist of the Roman Empire. God’s people were being oppressed and suppressed. It was a sad, dark time for the people of Israel. It was an evening, a dark night. And then the Light appeared.

  In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.… The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. (John 1:4–5, 9)

  After living on the earth for thirty-three years, our Lord had a profoundly dark night in Gethsemane. It was there that He faced the reality of a gruesome, catastrophic evening that awaited Him at Calvary. But He submitted to it. The writer of Hebrews says that the Lord endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him (12:2). Jesus knew that a glorious morning would succ
eed His evening. He knew that the dawn would follow His dark night. This assurance gave Him the power to endure.

  But look over at the disciples. That’s another story altogether. I want to paint the scene for you. These are the associates of the Lord’s ministry. The last three years have been cushy for them. They got their IRS taxes paid by going fishing. When they were hungry, the Lord created food out of scraps. They were insulated from criticism and persecution. Jesus handled it all. They simply followed and observed.

  But Jesus forewarned the Twelve saying, “I will be taken away from you; but it is better that I be taken away. For if I am not taken away, the Spirit cannot come” (see John 14:2–4; 16:7–16).

  Jesus told the disciples of John the Baptist, “My disciples do not fast when the Bridegroom is here. But when He is taken away, then they will fast and they will mourn” (see Mark 2:19–20).

  The Lord was indeed taken away. And what was the disciples’ response? They went back to their old life. I suspect they were thinking, It’s over. We followed Him for over three years, and He let them kill Him. So where are we now?

  The Lord forewarned that they would experience sorrow. But their sorrow would be turned to joy.

  The cross occurred on Friday. But as the preacher of old said, “Watch out, Devil, ’cause yonder come Sunday morning!”

  Yes, Sunday morning came. But Sunday morning is so far removed from Friday that it’s hard to conceive. Sometimes there are light-years between Friday and Sunday.

  When we are enduring the dark night, we are not thinking about the morning. We are not thinking about the day. We can only see the blackness. Nevertheless, the morning will indeed come to pass, just as it did with our Lord.

  A Woman in Labor

  The Lord used a parable once about a woman who was in labor. Consider this woman. She is pregnant. She must acquire a new wardrobe. It matters not what she wears, she still feels fat. The curves have vanished. Now there are stretch marks. It doesn’t matter how she sits, she still can’t get comfortable. She can no longer wear her two-piece for the summer.