22.1 A Glorious Liberty
© 2018 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
It is the Cross that puts us into the Way, and it is Boldness that takes us into the Holiest. But it is Love inside of which we turn around. And having turned around, we find ourselves inside a very safe place looking out. Here, in this safe place inside of God, we never go out again.
And that’s so cool, because we go anywhere and everywhere without ever “going out again.” From the moment we turn around upon the Mercy Seat, we take our Home with us everywhere we go. But the one place we never go again is into mindless separation.
Liberty Comes First. The creation itself also will be made free from slavery and corruption into [penetrating with purpose] the freedom [liberty] of the glory of the children birthed out from God (Romans 8:21 – JSV). Setting creation free does not come first; glorious liberty comes first.
I did not include Romans 8:18 with this most important verse in Symmorphy I: Purpose, but we need it here. I reckon indeed that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy, have no value compared towards the glory ready to be unveiled inside of us (JSV). “Ready to be unveiled” means already complete.
Freedom. Let’s consider this freedom/liberty further. Indeed, the law of the Spirit of life inside of Christ Jesus has made you free out from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2 – JSV).
Where [is] the Spirit [of the] Lord; [there is] freedom. We all, moreover, having been unveiled [the cover removed] in face, [and now] reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed [metamorphosed] into the same image out from glory into glory, in just the same way as out from the Spirit [of the] Lord (2 Corinthians 3:17b-18 – JSV).
In freedom, Christ has made us free; stand firm, therefore, and do not ensnare yourselves again under the weight of slavery (Galatians 5:1 – JSV).
Upon the Mercy Seat. These verses show three things that are together, part of each other – glory, freedom, and the Spirit of life. And these together are inside of us, ready to be unveiled. And it is into this glory that we are bringing the entire creation, the glory and the safety of the Holy of Holies.
I would refer you back to Symmorphy IV: Covenant, 12. The Mercy Seat. Take the time to peruse that chapter again. We are seated upon the Mercy Seat, upon Blood. Our back is resting on two wings of the cherubs and our arms upon the two wings in front. Behind us and on both sides of us, above us and extending out, is a solid wall of protection. Yet there is no veil before us or upon our face. And we see out to the view before us, best described as beauty and as slavery.
The Place Called Liberty. Now, I have no idea whatever what any of this means, of course. I just know that we have to get things out there where we can have a look at them. We are the tip point of the pillar of fire, that is the Energeia that is God flowing into His creation as God, yet through us as part of the creation. And there, at that tip point of Fire above the Blood, that is the place called LIBERTY.
Yet we are no longer speaking of ourselves as separated individuals, but as part of one another inside of life together. It is the Mercy Seat that carries all; it is the Mercy Seat by which you and I, together with God, MAKE all things free.
A Society of Freedom. But let’s make this practical. We are talking about a society of freedom, a cosmos inside of which freedom is the law. The principle of freedom in society is called libertarianism, which simply means one thing – NO force or aggression against anyone. No obtaining of compliance by violence.
Here is the law of a free society. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God (Romans 8:14). The Spirit of God is inside of each individual person as the guide and the energeia of their lives. To direct violence against any individual is to direct violence against God. Each individual person is led only by that which is inside of them, of their own person and being, for each is one Spirit with the Lord.
The Seed of the New. Here is what I am saying. The way of living that we enjoy together inside of Christian Community as the Church of God, as I have described it in this text, that is, as the Spirit of Christ births in each place, that way of living, then, is the seed, the spring, the model, the source, out from which a truly free society comes into being inside the cosmos, a cosmos coming out from the tree of life.
People will know how to be free only when they see the glory and the freedom in which we live.
And as we learned in Kingdom, glory is the highest value inside of God, that is life laid-down and love poured out, humans setting forth their souls for one another, the very proof and testimony of Christ.
Refuge and Outlook – from Patterns of Home.
One of the fundamental pleasures that shelter offers is the sense of a solid, stable, and protected place from which you can look out over a “great beyond.” This can be vividly experienced on a hike in the hills, when you finally arrive at a stone lodge that provides shelter and a view out over the landscape below. Good homes invite their inhabitants to enact this drama daily in a variety of spaces. Some examples from our everyday experience in good homes include sitting inside the house near the fire with the rain beating down on the roof and looking out the window to see the water coming down; hiding upstairs on the balcony, peering through the railing, and listening to the adults' party below; and relaxing on a covered front porch, watching life go by on the street below.
In all cases, the core of the experience is being able to comfortably observe the outer world from a position of relative security. Usually, the refuge is at a higher position and is enclosed and dark; the outlook is normally below, unenclosed, and lighter. At its simplest, we are inside, looking out. …
This instinct to locate oneself in a safe, easily controllable position that permits observation of the wider world beyond is very deep. Understanding this can help us do a better job of designing buildings.
Working with the Pattern.
Beyond simply providing physical shelter and safety for our bodies and possessions, a house must meet our psychological needs for shelter and safety. In a truly comfortable house, the inhabitants will feel sheltered and safe. Combined with this sense of refuge must be the opportunity for prospect, for a view out, overlooking the wider world beyond. Based on our deep and ancient experience as hunters, we need the experience of being able to look out and down on the outside world from a protected position of advantage and safety.
- Include spaces that are thick and massive feeling, enclosed, and with a solid back.
- Try to make the users less visible from the outer world by keeping the light level lower, by providing screening shades and plants, or by giving the users a deep space into which they can withdraw.
- In general, position areas of refuge and outlook somewhat above the level of the view beyond, so that they provide an overlook.
- The spaces should temper the climate, offering either summer coolness (like a covered porch) or winter warmth (like a sunlit bay window) to encourage longer and more frequent use.
The Proof of Christ. We are using this pattern to depict life together as the true witness and proof of Christ. Yet by “proof of Christ,” we mean, again, the source of a New Creation ordered by the river flowing out from the tree of life.
Before going further, let’s sum up five action points. I find that with this pattern, the action points are less involved with outward particulars of design, and much more that which gives us the sense of our place together inside the Holiest, looking out at a broken, but deeply loved creation. 1. Deepen the sense of shelter and safety. 2. Make the family less visible to those outside. 3. Position the refuge above the outlook. 4. Temper the climate inside for comfort. 5. Make many such spaces, inside to inside, inside to outside, and outside to outside.
The Ninth Most Important Verse. Let’s bring in here the ninth most important verse in the Bible.
I reckon indeed that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy, have no value compared towards, the glory ready to be unveiled inside of us. For the earnest expectation [the eager anticipation] of the creation awaits intently for the unveiling of the sons of God. Indeed, the creation was made subject to vanity and purposelessness, not willingly, but through being subjected on the basis of hope that creation itself also will be made free from slavery and corruption into the freedom [liberty] of the glory of the children birthed out from God. Indeed, we know that all the creation groans together and travails together until now (Romans 8:18-22 – JSV).
Distinct Parts. This pattern of home has two distinct aspects, refuge AND outlook. Those two are quite separate in meaning and must be understood separately.
But then, the ninth most important verse adds a third something to those two. It includes refuge and outlook, keeping both as separate functions, but it also adds the extension of the same protection enjoyed inside, out to all things outside. Refuge AND outlook AND deliverance.
You cannot give what you do not have. And you cannot give in such a way that you lose what you have. Giving that depletes is not the giving of God.
A Disconnection Issue. I have heard grown men, pretending to be “ministers of Christ,” telling little children that if their neighbors next door go to hell, it’s their FAULT. That is the gospel of the devil. Nonetheless, it is a logical assumption of Nicene theology.
Sin is NOT a moral issue. Sin is NOT – you are bad because of what you did. How can we set anyone free if we ourselves are the same mess they are? Sin is a disconnection issue. We are not moral beings; we are symmorphic beings. We do not choose between right and wrong; we connect with the God who would fill us with Himself.
Emptiness. A Christian who is ignorant of union with Christ, of Christ carrying inside Himself ALL that they are, IS living in sin. It’s as simple as that.
God created us empty for the very simple reason that God cannot initiate symmorphy with us apart from our willing participation with Him. Then, into that emptiness, the serpent preached his gospel of moral obligation and self-responsibility.
Yet the delusion of moral obligation, of doing what is right and not doing what is wrong, makes no human moral, but only wicked. God did not create us to be filled with ourselves; He created us to be filled with Himself.
Empty of Knowing God. God does not know good and evil. Never has He ever “chosen” between right and wrong. God is NOT a moral being. God is life; God is love. God does not know evil. God is Himself. And what God is, is good. God made us to be filled with Himself. God made us good and to be filled with good.
The law of sin and death, that is, morality, is living under the weight of always falling short of God, always living disconnected from the God who created us symmorphic. Creation is, in fact, empty of the knowledge of God. God has filled us with Himself and through our life together is made visible to His creation as part of that creation, connecting everyone and everything to the knowledge of God.
A Wrong View. Those who live under the bondage of the serpent’s gospel cannot set anyone free. And yet such has been all Christians; that is, until now.
We are filled with glory, that is, filled with God; we live inside of liberty, that is, inside of God.
And this is why refuge must be known distinctly from outlook. For so many, the view out to a lost creation has been as a siren’s call, persuading them to run out of God in order to weep and wail inside the so-called morality of self-responsibility. They might call themselves “evangelists,” but, although Jesus is always working in all, yet their own effort, their own energeia, bears no fruit unto God.
Knowing Our Refuge. We will save the points from Romans 8:18-22 until the next lesson, “Clothed with the Sun.” We must know absolutely this refuge in which we live, which God calls “the freedom of the glory,” or as the NKJV has it, “glorious liberty.” We take our refuge with us wherever we go; only then do we have something to give anyone.
Then, the third lesson I have titled “The Singularity.” In it I want to explore the meaning of the tip point of the Pillar of Fire as it rests above the Blood, that is you and me. But “singularity” means one point like no other. That point of singularity, then, means three things. It means the narrowest point of the way to life; it means the breaking of the serpent’s image, and it means that first moment when true substance becomes appearance.