17. The Story of the Song I

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The pattern of story is not overtly Biblical, although it is certainly inside of Scripture and part of its flow. The present layout of this pattern of story comes from Carl Jung, although what he did was basically state the obvious, though as a full and connected layout.

Every story has a hero and every story has an enemy. What makes it a story is the tension between the two. And the conflict in every story is over who keeps the kingdom. The qualities of the protagonist and the antagonist and the nature of the “kingdom” over which the struggle is taking place vary widely from story to story.

Story Examples. In Pride and Prejudice, the heroine is Elizabeth Bennet, the enemy is pride and prejudice, and the marriage of true love is the kingdom. In War and Peace, Natasha and Pierre are the protagonists, the enemy is not Napoleon and the French, who provide only the backdrop, but rather purposelessness and not knowing their true hearts. Family in every direction is the kingdom in contest.

The Lion King is the typical layout, however. Simba is the son of the king; Scar, the enemy, is his uncle. And the kingdom being contested is the animal kingdom of that part of Africa.

The Climax of the Story. I have set out two facing pages in The Jesus Secret II for showing how the patterns of story fit with God’s meaning in John’s vision, specifically the story of the Song. We will make use of the basic layout of story as it is found in world literature. There is a unique element to the present unfolding of God’s story, however, that is a complete and unexpected surprise.

Here is the climax of the Bible story, what everything is all about. – And THEY overcame him [the one who accuses their brothers and sisters] (Revelation 12:11). Our question is, what actually pushes the accuser out?

Took Possession. First, let’s set out our examples in these terms. - And Elizabeth and Darcy defeated pride and prejudice and took possession of a marriage of love. - And Natasha and Pierre received the Lord Jesus into their knowing, defeating purposelessness and wrong directions, and took possession of family gathered together in peace. - And Simba faced the lie and defeated it, cast down Scar the imposter, and took possession of the kingdom, bringing peace and joy to all.
 
- And THEY defeated the accuser and took possession of a marriage of love, of family gathered together, and of the Kingdom filling all the earth with peace and joy.

Fitting the Story to the Song. Yet there is an aspect of God’s story that is hardly known in human story. I believe, however, that we can find human story pointing to this aspect. Here is that aspect as it appears in John’s vision. – And they sang the song of the Lamb.

I guess we can say that there is an inner story taking place and an outer story taking place and that the connection between the two is not always obvious. The inward story is union with Christ; that story takes place entirely inside each individual person. The outward story is the revelation of Christ; that story is the Church.

An Element of Life. You can see that I am reaching for a clarity yet to come. We want our two Jesus Secret pages to reflect the generic pattern of story, but we also want them to fit the entirety of the Story as John’s vision expresses it.

The element of LIFE is far greater in John’s gospel and vision than is found in typical human stories. That element of LIFE is best expressed by this line. – And they sang the song of the Lamb.

Let’s just start with the generic pattern of story. We will hope to see how this Song fits into or even alters that pattern. We will use The Lion King as our backdrop.

The Downfall of the Hero. The hero grows up inside the wisdom and care of his father and mother. He is aware of the jealousy of his father’s younger brother, but he does not know what that means. The day comes when the enemy kills the father by trickery and deceit and then accuses the hero of causing his father’s death. The henchmen of the enemy chase the hero into the wilderness. The hero believes falsely that his father’s death is his fault. In the wilderness, the hero finds refuge with his companions. At first, these companions are only a silly distraction, filling the hero with absurd story lines to quiet the void inside.

The Turning of the Hero. At the same time, the hero does not comprehend that his mother and his future wife and all the kingdom of his father live now under darkness and oppression in his absence. When the hero is of age, three things happen that turn him back to his true purpose. These three things are essential to and are found in various ways in all stories.

In Simba’s story, first his lover confronts him with the reality of the darkness under which all now live. That’s not enough to turn him, however. Then the wise character inserts pain into his false story and points the hero to his true task. Again, this is not enough. The thing that finally turns the hero is a divine revelation of who he really is.

The Return of the King. The hero then returns with his companions. He faces his enemy again, specifically at the point of the lie. When the truth is known, the hero finds the strength to defeat his enemy and cast him out. Meanwhile, his companions, who were once a silly distraction, now give their all to defeat the enemy’s henchmen. Then the hero restores the kingdom into harmony and joy, marries his lover, and brings forth new life into the world.

You move these elements around just a bit and you have the layout of The Lord of the Rings, War and Peace, Hamlet, Gladiator (with Russel Crowe), and every other “story” written or told.

Tragedy and Comedy. Western literature, however, comes out from Greek culture. With the Greeks there were two kinds of stories, tragedies and comedies. In a tragedy, the hero dies. In a comedy, everyone lives happily ever after. By that definition, The Lord of the Rings and War and Peace are comedies, whereas Hamlet and Gladiator are tragedies. The modern definition of “comedy” does not work, however, and so we will use the term “romance” instead.

Just as God’s story takes place in two different arenas, so it is both a tragedy and a romance. The tragedy comes first. The romance comes out from the tragedy, but is a separate story. Yet the issue of the two stories is the same.

Passing the Baton. This is a very important point. God’s story is as a relay race and the passing of the baton. God told David, “You will not build My house because you are a man of blood. Your son will be a man of peace, and he will build My house” (paraphrased). God told Jesus, “Sit here at My right hand, – and let Your firstfruits build My house and finish this story.”

The first story is the Lamb slain. The second story is the Song of the Lamb that we sing, His name written upon us. These are two different stories, yet they are targeting the same issue. Indeed, it is the issue that makes the story.

A Lie That Was Told. The issue of God’s story is very simple. The issue is a lie that was told. BUT – Look at The Lion King, The Lord of the Rings, Gladiator, Hamlet, War and Peace, Pride and Prejudice – on and on. In every one of these stories, the issue is a lie that was told. And in every one of these stories, the structure of the plot is guided by the exposing of this lie. In the tragedies, the death of the hero exposes the lie. In the romances, the exposing of the lie results in the restoration of joy.

Consider this line coming up. – I watched when the Lamb removed one of the seven seals. – We cannot understand this line without understanding God’s two stories.

Believing the Lie. The Lamb Slain exposes the lie, yet it is THEY, not Jesus, who cast down the accuser. It’s not the telling of the lie that causes the darkness, however, but the believing of the lie. Simba believed the lie; Jesus refused the lie.

Simba cast out Scar because he faced the lie and the awfulness of his false believing. Humans believed the lie; humans must cast down the liar. Jesus, the Lamb Slain, makes that possible. In Hamlet’s story, as the lie is exposed, everyone dies. Jesus’ “tragedy” is the same – “If One died for all, then all died.”

Laying out Our Page. I think we have enough to lay out this first page, though not the second. We will have three boxes on the page, of about equal size. The first will be the generic layout of story, except we need to set out the difference between tragedy and comedy first. We’ll call this “The Patterns of Story.” The second will be a concise explanation of the issue of God’s story, titled “The Issue.” The lie spun in the garden by both Adam and the serpent is incredibly complex. The third box will be titled “Two Stories in One.” In this box we will attempt an explanation of “passing the baton.”

The Patterns of Story. By definition, a story is an account of the ongoing tension between a main character, the ‘hero,’ and that which opposes the hero. This tension is a conflict over a certain terrain or “kingdom.” In most stories, the hero wins and takes possession of the kingdom, but in a ‘tragedy,’ the hero dies. In both cases, that moment when the conflict is fully resolved is called the climax. A good story presents “character arcs” in which the observer identifies with the gradual maturing of the characters.

The opposition and the tension is what makes the story. The hero has a purpose or goal and must embark on a ‘journey’ of some sort to achieve that purpose. The ‘enemy’ matches the hero; the greater the opposition, the greater is the story. In a great story, the hero’s inward truth and the “enemy’s’ falseness are opened wide for all to see. An observer identifies with great stories, for they enable him to make sense of his own life.

God is the ‘writer’ of a great story. Yet God’s story has two large parts. The first is a ‘tragedy’ in which the hero, Jesus, dies. The second is a romance in which the hero, the Church, sets creation free. John’s vision is all about the climax of the second story and must be known as such.

The Tension. Here is the tension of God’s story. – Let God be true and every man a liar [a fake], as it has been written, “That You may be justified inside Your words, and will overcome when You are judged” (Romans 3:4).

The statement “God has lied” is found in every word the serpent spoke to Eve and in every thought that directed Adam’s decision. The declaration “God has lied” fills human thought and discourse far more than we can comprehend. It is the singing of the world. Nicene theology is built entirely upon the assumption that God has lied, and “truth” must be explained accordingly.

The Trickster’s Success. Conversely, consider the lie that the serpent successfully inserted into all Christian thinking. “To be like God and to want to be like God is to fall for the deceit of the evil one; it is rebellion. – It is wrong for a human to be like God.” You see how the “trickster” works. A Christian who thinks this way is, in actuality, in rebellion, having embraced a false definition of God and our relationship with Him.

But this is not the real issue. Rather, this way of thinking is the primary method by which humans refuse to look at the real issue. The real issue is an INVISIBLE God.

The Real Issue. An invisible God who is LOVE and who WANTS to be known by created beings faces an overwhelming difficulty. God enters into creation as God in one form only, as a still small voice speaking a Spirit Word. He comes no other way. Therefore, for God to be known, He must be BELIEVED.

This is forever. Forever, God comes as a still small voice speaking a Spirit Word, and forever, He must be believed by humans in order to be known. No utterance could ever be conceived that would strike more severely against the Heart of God, His Love and Desire, than “Did God really say?” spoken to humans.

Abraham’s Place. This is why Abraham is so important to God and to us. Abraham heard this still small voice speaking a Spirit Word to him seven times in his life. When Abraham offered Isaac back to God on Mt. Moriah in response to that voice, he was the revelation of God. Abraham gave his son to God for the Father’s sake; God gave His Son in return for Abraham’s sake – God revealed.

The completion and sealing of this issue, of hearing and believing, is the reciprocal response. This is Jesus saying, “Father, I know that You always hear Me.” And then Psalm 22:21, “You have answered Me.” “God does not hear you, Daniel” are the most Satanic words ever spoken to me, from one selling a small atonement.

David’s Example. David, then, shows us the essence of God’s Heart by placing himself inside of God and God utterly with him, regardless: regardless of what he had done, regardless of his human emotions, and regardless of what God might require of him.

Nothing is more inside the Heart and intentions of God than you and I, hearing a still small voice speaking a Spirit Word to us, a word from a God who is meek and lowly of heart and who gives Himself utterly for the sake of others, when we place ourselves utterly with this God, regardless. The enemy is ANYTHING that we would allow in our imagination, any membrane of separation between us and God sharing our life with us.

The Crux of the Issue. Now, this believing like Abraham is not yet the Song of the Lamb, but it is the source of that song in our lives. It is the only way through which God will ever be known. Grace – “God is always with me and I with Him.” Truth – “I can do nothing of myself; I do all inside of Jesus.” This is the entire crux of the issue.

Abraham was God’s rebuke of Adam; we are God’s rebuke of the entire human race, Jesus proven True through us. What we are and what we do, then, is entirely the transfer from the Lamb to us, from transubstantiation to metamorphy, His Story becoming our story.

The Issue. The issue of the Story is inherent in the nature and being of God. God is invisible; yet He Desires to be known. God makes Himself known inside creation only as a still small Voice speaking a Spirit Word into humans. For God to be known, those humans must believe that God shares all personally with them. God as Spirit Word passing through individual human faith becoming Love in the knowledge of all is forever.

The opposition to the unfolding of God’s Story, then, is the insertion of an anti-spirit-word into the hearing of humans. The essence of this enemy is that God lied, but its primary deception is, “Let’s talk about what God meant.” The tension of God’s story, then, is “Let God be True, and every man a liar.” Inside the human sphere, both outwardly as the world and inside each human soul, the anti-speaking prevails overwhelmingly.

Like Abraham, we believe that this Voice we hear is God speaking personally with us. Like David, we place ourselves utterly into God-with-us regardless. Like Jesus, we ask God to keep us safe from anti-believing. And with Jesus, we speak Christ our only life, connecting us utterly with God our Father. We sing “We Are Redeemed.”

Two Very Different Stories. We have introduced the concept of two stories in one, but what, really, does that mean?

First we have the story of the Lamb slain, but now alive. Yet that Lamb is alive in a very specific and unusual way. Then we have the story of a believer in Jesus. I will use mine only as an example. Thus we have the story of a bumbling and foolish man, stumbling from one confusing bed of pain to the next, longing to know God and failing at every point. How do these two very different stories become one story? How does my life become one seamless story of Christ?

A Larger View. But let’s look at the same thing from a larger viewpoint. First, you have the story of Christ Jesus, from the beginning of the creation of God through His death upon the cross and to His entrance into His Church on the day of Pentecost, a four thousand year Story. Then you have the story of the Church of Jesus Christ, from being drawn out from Jesus’ side upon the cross, through His resurrection, through two thousand years of unbelief and through a thousand years of Tabernacles.

The “unusual” way in which Jesus now lives is as a life-giving Spirit filling us together as His physical Body.

The Center of the Transfer. And so the second story is not just the story of one believer in Jesus becoming the seamless story of Christ, but millions of believers together, their lives intertwined inside of commitment and devotion to become the second Story of Christ, the Song of the Lamb. But the center of that great transfer, two stories as one, many stories as one, is the most valuable thing in all reality, God’s Heart and our hearts shared together, sharing Hheart with the Father, for the sake of others.

Jesus did not believe the lie; therefore, technically, He is not the hero of God’s story. Rather, He becomes that hero inside of and through us. We together are God’s hero.

Two Stories in One. God’s great Story is two different stories in one, yet both stories deal with the same issue and the same lie. The first story is Jesus; the second is the Church, as each member individually and all together. Because humans believed the lie, only humans can be God’s final hero. “By man death, by man the resurrection.” Jesus’ Story began as the speaking of creation and ended as silence in His death upon the cross. The Church’s story began as she was drawn out from Jesus’ side upon the cross and ends with God-known in the earth.

The wonder of God’s Story is that God did not send Jesus to be “the hero” of the Story, but to enable us to be that hero, with Jesus’ ability made perfect inside our inability. The climax of our part of God’s Story, then, is “Now is come the Kingdom – and they overcame him.” This Victory happens inside each of us personally before it becomes the Victory of the Church. The wonder, then, is that Jesus transfers His Story, His Name, His Song into us to become our own story of self, two stories, His and each one of ours, merged in all ways as one, the Song of the Lamb.

Our Task. Jesus is the speaking of God. Jesus is the still small voice speaking as Spirit Word inside of us. Jesus is the divine revelation to us of who and what we are. After completing the part of His Story towards us, Jesus sat down inside the right hand of God waiting for us to bring all that opposes Him into the giving of thanks. That’s a good way to define our task. – Bringing all that opposes Christ into the giving of thanks.

The Song of the Lamb is a through-song. At the heart of our task is our watchcare over that woman, the Church, through whom we bring the singing of Christ into the singing of all.

Reading for Next Time. The next session is titled “The Story of the Song II.” I now have the boxes already on that page. There will be three of them, “A Story in Two Arenas,” “The Transfer,” and finally, “The Song of the Lamb.”

At first I thought these pages would be just a simple application of the patterns of story to John’s vision. Then I saw that God’s Story is unique, but I did not know how to express that uniqueness. The wonder is that Jesus transfers Himself to us that we might be the hero who wins the Victory over the lie. What is unique, then, is that we do the same. It is through others that we sing the Song of the Lamb back to God.

Let’s Pray Together. “God, our Father, it is a wondrous thing that You have made Christ Jesus inside of and through us to be the hero of your great Story, to bring to silence all that opposes You. We know, Father, that Jesus’ ability made perfect inside our human inability is sufficient for every task at hand and for the winning of Your Victory. Father, You stand accused of lying. Let us be the proving of Your Word, faithful and True. Let every Word You speak be all that You mean through Jesus’ confidence inside of us.

“Lord Jesus, You have transferred everything that You are into everything that we are. We now turn and give ourselves with You for the sake of Your Church.

“Be warned all who refuse the good-speaking of Jesus. Be warned all who speak against the kindness and wisdom of God. We will bring you to thanksgiving. We will bring you to acknowledge the wisdom of God in designing you. We will bring you into joy for every circumstance of your life. We will bring you to respect inside the Value of the Lamb.

“We sing a new Song into the Church of Jesus Christ upon this earth. We sing a song of Life through her into her world. We sing a song of ‘Father with me for the sake of others’ through the hearts of every believer in Jesus. We sing the song of giving ourselves for the sake of others into our brothers and sisters.

“We sing the Song of the Lamb.”