9.2 The Right Message
© 2016 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come (Matthew 24:14). Let’s give a closer paraphrase to the Greek. And there will be proclaimed this gospel of the Kingdom in all the earth, for a testimony to all peoples; and then will come the completion of God’s purpose.
I operate on the premise that this gospel of the Kingdom has never before been preached – and – that this word I share (along with anyone else sharing similar things) is that gospel. I do not blow my own trumpet, for NO sectarian heart can ever proclaim this gospel.
Life Together
I want to bring in several statements from Lesson 8.3 Walking in Life Together.
– You can see how most everyone misses God entirely, because they are looking for the WRONG picture. – The only thing I have ever wanted to be was part of God’s heart. If you are drawn to what I write, it is likely because you share the same drawing of God.
– We walk, right now, AS IF we are this very heart of God extended over His body, this care of God flowing out through us to each member of this great body, each of whom belongs utterly to Jesus, to Father, and to us. – It’s all about life laid down and love poured out, bearing all for all, believing all for all, Father’s heart, revealed.
David’s Sorrow
Why then are so many running with every wrong word?
I want to share a story from David, a story that marked my heart over many years. The story is found in 2 Samuel 15-19. This is the time of David’s sorrow, when Absalom his son has rebelled against him and taken the kingdom for himself. David walks away from everything God had given him rather than bring bloodshed upon Jerusalem, broken hearted for his wayward son.
David’s commanders, including Joab, do not share his sentiment for Absalom; they are men of war and want to take Absalom down. But David commands them not to harm his son.
Absalom Is Killed
David flees with his followers to Mahanaim east of the Jordan River, and about seventy miles northeast of Jerusalem. Absalom’s forces follow. David’s people do not allow him to go out to battle, however, for they do not want him killed.
The two armies meet in what are called “the woods of Ephraim,” which, I suspect, were in the basin of the Jordan River nearly ten miles southwest from Mahanaim. In the ensuing conflict, Absalom flees on a mule through the thick trees and is caught in the fork of a tree. Then, Joab comes along and puts three spears through Absalom’s heart as he hangs from the tree.
Two Men Running
The battle is over; David’s throne is safe. A young fellow, Ahimaaz, son of the high priest, is eager to run to David with a message of victory. Joab tells him, “No.” Rather, Joab sends an unknown and unnamed African man with the message he knows David must hear.
But Ahimaaz is convinced that he is the man with the message, after all, isn’t the high priest his dad? Joab caves in and lets the young fellow run.
The African has set himself at a pace to run steadily the 9-10 miles ahead of him, but Ahimaaz is so eager, he outruns the African.
Two Words Spoken
Here is what David says regarding Ahimaaz when he is told of the two approaching runners. “He is a good man, and comes with good news.” Here is Ahimaaz’ message: “All is well!” When David asks him further, Ahimaaz says, basically, “I don’t know.” So David says, “Turn aside and stand here.”
Then the African arrives. Let me paraphrase his message. “The enemies of the king are dead.” This so upsets David that he weeps, but crafty Joab has sent the right man. Joab later rebukes David for not leading the celebration of victory.
Do Not Run
I have read the Old Testament almost 23 times through. Thus over the years I have read this story at least 23 times, not counting when it was included in a Bible lesson or sermon.
Since I was nineteen, I have known a word arising in my heart, a word I must speak or die. Yet for many years I had no real articulation of that word. And God answered my desire to speak His word, over and over, with this story from David. Do not run if you do not have My real message.
I wanted that message, the longing of that word arose always within me, yet I was forbidden to run or to speak or to write what I did not know.
Mercy to Me
That hand of God through that story of David’s sorrow marked more than thirty years of my adult life.
Words are insufficient to convey to you my utter gratefulness to God for His hand of restraint, binding me up with ropes, hedging me in with thorns, preventing me. No matter how humiliated I may have felt, it was His incomprehensible mercy to me.
And now I look across the earth, and I see millions of God’s precious people running with a “good news” message they do not know. “All is well. All is well.” The gospel of the Kingdom is not being preached.
Good News, Good News
“Good news, good news, after your enemies kill you, you get to go to heaven.” “Good news, good news, you are ‘saved,’ but everyone else is going to hell forever.” “Good news, good news, now seek God’s will and not your own, for you are still an enemy of God; you are just a sinner ‘saved’ by ‘grace.’” “Good news, good news, Christ is in you, way back there, behind this evil self that you still ARE.” “Good news, good news, but if you don’t measure up, God will throw you out.”
They do not know either Father or His Heart.
The Right Messenger
The point I am driving towards as part of a definition of the Kingdom of God, however, is not the right message only. The point is the right messenger with the right message; the message cannot be separated from the messenger.
Ahimaaz’ message was not wrong; it just was not complete. But the message was incomplete only because Ahimaaz was incomplete. At the same time, the African was not anything in himself, he was the right messenger because he had been prepared with the right message.
A critical factor has been poking into my thoughts, a factor God is placing here inside this definition of “the Kingdom.”
The Heart of the Kingdom
That factor is the breaking of our hearts.
You see, everything found in Lesson 9.1 A Fresh Definition is the structure of the Kingdom of God, an essential picture for us. But the structure is not the heart. The heart of the Kingdom is the throne of heaven, that is, the Mercy Seat of God, that is, our human hearts.
The point of Jesus’ speaking those awful words in John 6 was not to give His disciples a method of knowing some truths about salvation, but to break their hearts. And when we say, “Oh, I know what eating His flesh means – A-B-C,” we miss His whole point.
A Very Private Heart
The Kingdom of God, Father just being Himself, is life laid down. The Kingdom of God, Father just being Himself, is love poured out. These things come only out of the Heart of a Private and Personal Being, whose Heart is broken with the sorrow of all, and whose Heart sings with the joy of all.
For you and me to be the expression of that Great Heart, Father Revealed, our own hearts must be stretched wide and full. But our own hearts are NOT stretched wide and full by beauty or by sorrow, but rather by our practice of being God’s Heart.
The Right Message
And our practice of being God’s Heart is the practice of the Mercy Seat, the very throne of heaven, the authority and the power of Christ. Love bears all for all; Love believes all for all; Love hopes all for all; Love endures all for all.
This is the messenger who alone carries the right message, the gospel of the Kingdom – be reconciled to God. “You are dead – and Christ is now the only life you are.”
And there will be proclaimed this gospel of the Kingdom in all the earth, for a testimony to all peoples; and then will come the completion of God’s purpose. – The completion of God’s purpose.
The Completion
What is the completion of God’s purpose, poorly translated as “the end?” The completion of God’s purpose is the full expression of Romans 8:28-30 through us together, the pro-thesis of God, symmorphy, Father Revealed. And inside of that is pro-knowing and pro-determination, that is, the Heart Determination of the Almighty.
And it is this One, this most Determined Fellow in the universe contending with us Heart in heart, who, just being Himself through us, is the Kingdom of God. A Kingdom of Life Together, loving one another with a pure heart fervently.
The Core of the Kingdom
Let’s pull this back, now, into our definition of the Kingdom. The core of the Kingdom of God, the source out from which the entire ecosystem of God among us flows, is the Heart of God made visible through those who live only inside His Heart. And God’s Heart is made visible only through those with whom God has contended Face to face, and who have contended with God face to Face over many years and through great difficulty and great joy.
I have noticed this about my regular readers, there are no young people among us. Rather, we are those who have walked for decades through much sorrow and into many dead-end canyons in our desire to know the Living God.
Our Task
I have no problem with that. Young people are drawn to power, to outward expression of glory, and to active service. Christ through them defeats the evil one, and we need their function in the overall Kingdom.
You and I are not given the task of defeating the evil one except in our own hearts as we ignore utterly the voice of the accuser. Our task is to reveal the Heart of Father. Young people, moving in the excitement of the outpouring of the Spirit and victory over darkness may not know it, and that’s fine, but you and I are the source of their strength. – Father’s Heart.
Pictures of the Core
What, then, are the pictures that show us the working of this Kingdom core in our lives? Abraham taking Isaac up the mountain, Jacob wrestling all night long with God, Moses stumbling into Egypt ashamed of his gross inability, David fleeing Jerusalem in tears and sorrow, Jeremiah walking around an empty city in lamentation, Jesus stumbling under a cross He cannot carry, Paul singing inside a prison cell.
Have you known the finger of the Almighty pinned against your chest in all sternness, refusing you? And have you sweated under the Terror of the Holy as He pressed against you with thorns and with adamant refusal?
The Beating Heart
Have you narrowly dodged spears meant to take you out while refusing ever to throw spears in return? And have you rested in His joy and the knowledge of Father’s Heart? Do you listen closely for its beating?
The beating heart of the Kingdom of God is not the message itself; the beating heart is those who are the message. Life laid down and love poured out.
Church, the Body of Christ, the Kingdom of God, cannot exist without that Heart. This is the tree of life; will you eat with me of that tree? It’s not about death; it’s about life. The Body needs a Heart.
Our Calling
You see, our calling is not ourselves to defeat sin and death, to cast the curse from off this earth, and to bask in all the glory of acclaim. Our calling is to open wide the Doors to many and then to be the beating Heart of strength for those who will set creation free. And while multitudes rejoice in the Tabernacle of God, God among men, you and I rest unnoticed inside Father’s Heart.
Yet as we step into an eternity of choosing the “lesser” place, we will discover something beyond all belief – Father Himself has chosen also to walk with us.
Will you join with me? Will you be the Father’s Heart? Will you see the Kingdom flowing out of you?