Christianity is not like other religions which minimize creation or matter and consider it inferior to the mind or spirit. God looked at all that He made and took pleasure in the sight. He enjoyed it not simply because it was beautiful to behold, but because it so perfectly expressed all that He wanted to say. He so delights in what He made that He is perfectly willing to liken Himself to a lamb or a lion or a nursing mother or a mother hen or even appeal to the predictability of the seasons and the sun and moon because all creation reflects His glory. But the greatest of His created masterpieces is mankind. For we are made uniquely in His image and likeness.
The words "image" and "likeness" suggest visibility. It seems then, that even our bodily appearance and shape in some way reflect God (not that God exists in material form, He is Spirit - John 4:24). All of creation points beyond itself to something true about God, but there is something about us that sets us apart from all other creatures as a visible representation that uniquely matches the invisible divine glory. This has to be so because John tells us that the Word of God who was both with God and was God became a man and dwelled among us and we beheld His glory. In fact, He so accurately explained to us God that He could say, "If you have seen Me you have seen the Father." All that God ever wanted to say about Himself He said in Jesus the Word made flesh.
Because the image of God is not something we possess, but rather something that we are, it is not something we can lose. Sin does not delete the image of God, it distorts it. But it really can shamefully distort it ... and I'm assuming that was all the deceiver wanted to accomplish. But Satan will not have the last word. That belongs to our speaking God and that Word became a man and He has regained all that was lost and distorted by our first parents. Human flesh is once again the privileged place of God's self-disclosure and has been enthroned once again as ruler over creation.
Effective communication is an art. The skillful use of creational language and imagery is what the Lord intended for our learning about Him. It must be so for Scripture is filled with creational images. The inspired prophets and poets have a great deal to teach us. Pure abstractions may communicate to some, but the rest of us need to hear the voice of creation through the poetic human voice describe our God and His ways among men. Our imaginations and emotions are rarely stimulated by "pure reason". But they are part of God's good creation and are to be as "intelligent" as our rational minds.
I witnessed something amazing that has helped me in understanding this. There is a poorly supplied medical clinic (redundant statement) nearby where an old lady appeared one day carrying a new born child wrapped in a filthy cloth. The child had been born with spina bifida and needed surgery. The grand-mother knowing that something was wrong brought the child to the clinic. They cleaned the wound and got the child to a hospital to have the needed surgery. Some time later the mother appeared with the child at the clinic again to allow them to set the legs in a cast so that the bones could begin to form in the right posture. It was incredibly painful to the infant to have its legs manipulated into a new position and "fixed" in a cast. It hurt me just to watch. They had no anesthetics to curb the pain and I'm not sure that they could have used any with the child being so young.
In order to calm the child, the young man who was forcing the legs into place and wrapping them in a cast had the mother to bend over the child and place her breast near her son's mouth. The moment the child understood that his mother was near he latched onto her breast and the crying ceased. It is inconceivable that the pain diminished, for he was prying on them like a man pulling a nail out of a piece of oak. But as long as his mother was near and her breast was pressing near his cheek there was comfort and security and the ability to submit to the painful "healing" manipulation of his limbs.
Life is tough. What God's people need most in the midst of the pain and confusion of what is dished out in a day is not merely theological abstractions precisely stated, but awareness of the Lord's comforting presence. Cool logic has its place, but when there are forces that have gripped our limbs, twisting them as though they are going to be pulled right off of our body, it is hard to keep your train of thought to work through a logical formula. But like that infant, we can endure great pain and confusion when we are comforted by the Lord's nearness.
"Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her; that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast; that you may drink deeply with delight from her bountiful bosom." For thus says the Lord: 'Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you shall nurse, you shall be carried upon her hip, and bounced upon her knees. As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice; your bones shall flourish like the grass; and the hand of the Lord shall be known to His servants," (Is.66:10-14).
Sing for joy, O heavens and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the Lord has comforted His people and will have compassion on His afflicted. But Zion said, "The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me." Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands (Isaiah 49:13-16).
I pray for this child that he may grow up to run and play football (soccer) with his friends. I regret that he and his mother had to endure what they endured together. But I am thankful for what they taught me. In that moment God communicated to me something far more profound than anything I have ever read in Berkohf's Systematic Theology. In that moment human flesh interpreted by Scripture instructed me in the way our God comforts His people in their distress - and in that moment it was for me very "good news".
No comments:
Post a Comment