David - from a traditional church perspective!

 

Blessed Sunday, dear friends! We continue with David, the wisdom tradition of the Bible, and all of its implications for church and tradition…..

Remember that the Blog history is at dreliatjacobsladder.blogspot.com, and that this is not a mission, a fund raiser, a church, a tradition; nothing but a seeking of the one true God who invites us all into the Kingdom of God now…and a sharing of one man’s ongoing journey.

The Christian tradition today, in its evangelical pietism and orthodoxy, continues to preach a theology of sin and salvation, negating this world for one that lies outside the reach of history, and one of which we know little about, but are told to believe in! A place for us, somewhere. No wonder we die so sadly, with fear and trembling. We have no real sense of what lies beyond. We know nothing about what death is and how to engage death as transition. Misery, injustice, and everything tragic is before us in this life, for we are sinners in the hands of an angry God. We live in a sinful world, and even though a child has been born to us, and we may sing about misery and suffering disappearing, they have not.¹⁶ We will have to wait until we make it to heaven, in the wherever and whatever of it! We are led to believe that it will all be made good there. In between, we can only wish each other a good RIP as and when we go, for what else is there to do?¹⁷

The idea of salvation has also been tweaked from time to time, as with the prosperity gospel notion which claimed that giving to God i.e. in reality, to the church, results in receiving material blessings from God! Somewhere in Proverbs it says that a fool and his money are soon parted! The parallel offering has been a long-standing attraction to the 2nd Coming of Christ, as found in the Book of Revelation, with dragons, locusts and other good game stuff. So, are we waiting for the last day on this earth when all will be made good? And all of the bad guys will get what’s coming to them? The ‘end’ seems a long time coming. Might as well count Hindu Yuga’s. Much of Revelation is still up for grabs as to what it is and what it isn’t. The vision of Revelation Ch.22 remains a vision, but it is more. 

The tradition claims to know God’s will and expounds the right to interpret it. But Wisdom says that the church has neither right nor authority.¹⁸ For me, it comes down to the reality I have seen in my lifetime - that while the tradition speaks about spiritual power, it is unable to demonstrate this power in the right living that such power engenders. Not by its leaders, and certainly not passed on to its membership. Seems like PR imaging, perhaps. I need not say more. The tradition insists on speaking within the inherently ambiguous terms of faith and belief and is unable to demonstrate God given reality. The answer to that one is obvious. It’s why Jesus said he that he who has eyes, let him see. As one said of the virus situation, The Lord has seen fit to permit it. Right, sure. Let’s keep describing cause and effect as God’s will. Just a step away from saying ‘The Lord wills it!’, and we can all go back to justifying crusades and warmongering once again!

 

I am not trying to build on Brueggemann’s work on David or continue it. I am coming at it from a different direction and am only passing through. Nor am I in total agreement with his concluding views. My position simply focuses on one aspect that is powerful and relevant. And I have wondered about the spiritual sufficiency of academic scholarship, in and beyond my church ministry, over many years.¹⁹ I have worked backwards from Jesus into David, and from social holiness (corporate, ecclesiological group therapy; easy) into personal holiness (individual, solitary, difficult). And it took me long enough. But the Holy Spirit leads all who seek.

This is why even as a young Methodist Minister, my explanation of salvation was already more than God loves you despite your horrible inherent sinfulness, but rather that

Jesus died for you because of God’s love for you.

You are worth the precious blood of Jesus.

Accept that redeemed worth, and move away from sin

As separation from God via ungodly acts

into successful and measurable living.

It is only the first step that is based on belief and faith.

The next is one of lived reality – successfully.

 

I pastored my first church along these lines, and as long as I was there, it grew, fast. Beyond that it has pretty much plateaued. Spiritual growth is not time bound, and in growing, I have encountered Bruggemann’s work once again, but this time from another perspective.

What makes academic work spiritual? Because you prayed over it? But now, it explains perfectly well what I am seeing in David’s life and personality. Hence the importance of getting to the tradition that stands behind David and not just describing the events of David’s historical narrative.

Grace is more than it has been made out to be. It is indeed amazing, but only because it calls us into taking on the prototokos offer of identity and capacity, by taking off the forgiven sinner face mask and going beyond that into a kind of ubermensch identity.²⁰ The people of God are not an elite group into which entré is enabled by accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior.²¹ Rather, all people of all religions and all cultures are invited into the people of God, into something that is more than being Christian. It is a challenge to enter real growth, beyond a construct that is religious in form - and into God willed human community. 

Brueggemann reminds us that the thinking of those who act as ‘religious despisers of culture’ as opposed to a ‘Christian’ culture, created a vocation of despising culture and community!  Taking our lead from them unwittingly, we have neither affirmed the humanness of our non-Christian brothers, as in 1 John 4:20, nor trusted and believed in ourselves! Nor have we fostered an inclusive faith. Rather, we have ended up being exclusive and hegemonic, excluding everyone who is not on ‘our side.’ We have not risked innovation. But God always has! And God is on no one’s side; yet again, God is on everyone’s side. And from the beginning it has been so.

Wisdom’s consequences for the formative tradition of the faith are revolutionary. But like the Cardinal in Ch 11 of Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, Jesus has been quietly sent on his way and the Church has ignored Brueggemann’s leading on Wisdom.²² There is no other explanation for why In Man We Trust didn’t become a runaway best-seller!  In the end, as in the secular world, he who pays the piper calls the tune. Theologians and priests and most pastors are trained and supported by the Church, since the Church supports the academic institutions that train its priests.  It is a rare institution or social structure that will support a point of view that might affect its value, status and funding. And it is a rare individual who would provoke such a point of view.

It is convenient for religious authority to have control of a spiritually defeated and morally decadent creature, using faith definitions that promote such an identity, as opposed to struggling with the true meaning of the spiritual freedom that the Son offers. All the tradition asks is obedience and acceptance of religious authority and a financial commitment. Further, the ability to carry out what is asked validates that which is professed! In other words, your faith is proven and confirmed by the fact that you are giving to church, attend church, and participate in church. But a true and free reality says, if you can’t heal the blind, why am I listening to you!? And if I can’t find healing for myself, what good is this ‘religion’? or this tradition? or this church?

The church has enjoyed supervision over its members ever since the days of its proclaiming that the keys of the Kingdom had been passed from Jesus to the head of the church, so that whatever is ordained on earth is ratified in heaven. Not that the Lord’s Prayer says otherwise. Days when the church wielded the then accepted power of excommunication, threatening to separate a person from heaven forever, and priests could make Kings kneel in the snow for days, seeking repentance. Along the way, politicians learnt a great deal from the church, and men learned a great deal about claiming superiority to women. Unworthy and sad conclusions for both.  Today, the church still exercises a subtle control, in that if you do not accept the Jesus of the Church there is no other way to heaven.

But deliverance-salvation is not about accepting Jesus by word of mouth, but of walking with Jesus, way beyond the so-called accepting. Then, Jesus accepts you!  Hence his ‘many are called but few are chosen.’ And being in a relationship of accord with the Almighty is something that is difficult to get into and easy to lose. It is also foreign to our experience and understanding. Like the story of the project technician who accidentally stumbled into the cave of Machpelah (of the still small voice of Elijah) and encountered the Holy Spirit, who sang to him. So he said. But the beauty of the singing was such that it drove him mad. He was not prepared for it. Interesting truth. The spirituality of God is not that which we are accustomed to.

Wisdom speaks differently from the interpretive tradition that we are used to.  It says that the way we ought to live is clear for all to see, given to all by God in and through everything that supports and promotes human community. We are all trusted creatures, valued and loved by God. The norms for our rules and our behavior are seen in what squares with life through actions that are authentic and effective. This life here and now is an opportunity for growing in our humanness. And our relationship with God requires us to be totally in synch with each other and with our environment.

We are not so much in need of salvation – to be saved from this life, as much as to be saved for it ie we just need to get the rottenness out of it! So, salvation means first embracing the opportunity to be fully human and to enjoy the abundant life God has given, here and now. Again, we have sheepishly participated in the technological and exploitive economies of human devised systems that function at the expense of human community. Only when we have fixed these things through genuine human growth, societal and individual, will we be ready for what lies beyond. Then we can go beyond the songs about being somewhere out there. But the church has always claimed to have the knowledge of God’s will and insists that it alone can interpret said will. Small wonder ‘faith’ and ‘belief’ are key words in the practice of religion – they are stupefyingly vague and offer precious little concrete direction!

The Implications of Wisdom’s argument for our direction thus far? Working backwards from Jesus - the church, through its traditions and divisions of control, has interpreted the Bible to the supposed glory of God, but in the same vein neglected the God given glory of man. A move essential to maintaining structure and control? When Jesus refers to David, he reverses this trend. You might wonder at the selectiveness of Wisdom, since it apparently only reached David, and neither Saul nor Solomon? Were they not listening? The answer lies in our acceptance of God wholly into our lives and in the degree to which we build a relationship with the friendliness of God. Saul was a raw beginning, a King after the nations, and he would fall, then get up, only to fall again. That process is substantially over-simplified. Perhaps the closeness of God drove him a little mad.  His life is perhaps best symbolized in the sad incident with the medium of Endor.²⁴ Solomon is Ecclesiastes to a T. He has it all, almost knows it all, but cannot see beyond it all. Even though God is right next to him! He learns the language but fails the test of its meaning and significance. As for David, there are aspects to his life that can only be guessed at, like Jesus during the ages of 13 to 33, because historical detail is insufficient, as with the context for Psalm 23. Or Psalm 8.

You see, if the wisdom tradition was a formative element in David’s life, it was only just that, and no more. One shining moment, that fades away too soon. It is like Lancelot’s moment in the movie story of Camelot when he uses the sincerity and will of love to save a life he did not intend to take. He can do so only because he is willing to give up his own. As Kierkegaard once said, purity of heart is to will one thing.²⁵ For a moment, a shining light is seen, and it gives hope and points the way. The challenge for us is to learn from David and to grow beyond him.

Because David begins to anticipate the prototokos offer that Jesus witnesses to, David’s life carries lessons on how deliverance-salvation works for the individual. His relationship with God struggles to move from dependence to interdependence. His transitions are not always smooth and not always successful. This is where Jesus picks up the challenge in his public ministry, bringing to completion God’s will for us. David picked up the challenge but stayed in trial mode and with some error! Nevertheless, extraordinary changes began to take place in his person, character, and perspective - for a while. These are what Brueggemann has focused on.

Before David, the Bible portrays our relationship with God as one in which God leads, and we follow. It is a relationship of dependence. In David’s life, this relationship begins to change. God teaches David that he owns his personal life and needs to follow no one. David learns that God trusts him to be responsible for his own life. This teaches us the true meaning of waiting on the Lord. It is not about waiting. Rather, it is about recognizing God’s timing and not God’s actions. It is about our actions. We can keep waiting for God to act, and we will wait in vain. Because God wants us to go forward and is waiting on us! This is our God given life! We need to make our decisions and our choices and cannot ask God to make them for us. We must own and live our own lives! Many of us think that faith is about stuff like ‘waiting on the Lord.’ But the ecclesiological interpretation of scripture is not always accurate. It is more the perspective of how the church chooses to nuance the interpretation of the Bible. Is it possible that spiritual power and spiritual growth work differently from how the church teaches us to think that they do? That teaching creates dependency. But God leads us into interdependency, into becoming co-workers. And the one in the middle – the necessary but transitional step of independence - is very tricky. To be continued…have a most blessed week in Jesus! Always, G.

 

The Wisdom of David

Sun Jul 20th 2025

My dear friends,

This is where the Jacob’s Ladder work starts moving towards the mind of Christ! After some prep work, I have slowly started on what the Bible really shows us – we begin with David, go on to Elijah, and then to the Lord Jesus! It is a journey, as much for me as it might be for you! Every blessing. G.

 

3.I The Wisdom of David

JL Ch 3 on David……

The Old Testament stories about David show us challenging and powerful aspects about being a community-oriented person and having a close relationship with God! Again, the necessary aspects of social holiness and personal holiness! David manages to get on this path, but only for part of his life. His path will become clearer as we move along and as we learn from his achievements.  And his mistakes.

To do this, we must understand a little of the foundation of the wisdom tradition of the Bible. All Pastors are not equally trained, and our denominational tendencies have perhaps not helped as much as they could; further, most pastoral ministry continues to be based on academic training. God’s reality asks much more.  The Wisdom tradition continues to be seen, as it has for a long time, as a collection of poetry and sayings from the Books of Proverbs, Psalms, The Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, et al. But wisdom is far more than poetry in motion.   

There are many bible ‘experts’ who claim to provide interesting academic information, but only a few have the added virtue of spiritual insight. Walter Brueggemann is one of the few. While pursuing research in the Hebrew text of the Psalms, I was referred to his work and learned enough to identify and interpret corresponding forms, even in contemporary music! In the process I learned a great deal about the man and his work.¹

Brueggemann’s discoveries about the significance of events in David’s life reached a high point in the early 70’s, with implications disturbingly relevant to our understanding of church and salvation. Many failed to catch this, having their own agendas. A quote from Stephen King’s ‘The Stand’ always comes to mind – ‘I don’t believe in God.’ ‘It don’t matter, He believes in YOU!’ Thus went the conversation between Nick and Mother Abigail! 

Then, we must journey through the events of David’s life that provide ‘breakaway’ incidents² which will help us see some of the continuity, the issues, the events, the interactions, that run from David to Jesus, and this continuity is essential to understanding the challenges that accompany the prototokos offer that God makes to us all in Jesus!

Wisdom:  A neglected aspect of Biblical Theology

The focus of Brueggemann’s ‘In Man We Trust’ , a frighteningly amazing book he wrote years ago, works to show us what salvation can mean, as experienced through the events of David’s life.³ In the process, its description renders the church’s traditional presentation of salvation as problematic. Why? Because that effort carries a ‘high Christology’ (high view of Jesus) while leaving us with a depressed anthropology  (a low view of us - humanity). Jesus is everything (up high), and I am nothing (down low). Is such a position accidental, or intentional or simply true?⁴   

The Church’s interpretation of the Gospel begins with Paul and works its way down through Augustine, Luther and those who follow. That interpretation portrays God as the Almighty and gracious Father, working through Jesus Christ the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to ‘save’ all of us. Our word of mouth (confession of faith) acceptance of Jesus as Savior provides access to new spiritual life. A wonderful picture is painted, and inspiring words are used. But the claim does not catch fire at the altar of ecclesiology, and then it dissipates into notions of faith and belief and finally dies a slow and painful pseudo-pietistic death. In its place we are left with doctrine, not a real-life experience of love and joy in a livable reality. All you get is a ‘someone said so’. We are told that we are ‘saved’ to await a great and wonderful event which will be experienced beyond this life. And there the ‘being’ of salvation stays. Stuck. It’s not a state of inherent spiritual power? It is unable to do anything other than make the subject feel good about it?  Exactly. A feel-good experience, where we can all feel our hearts strangely warmed!

And what exactly has Jesus saved us from? Why, from our sinful selves, of course! Salvation is received by us as folk who speak from an ‘ I, who have nothing’ perspective.⁵ And what then have we been saved for? Why, a glorious new life of course, in a far, far better place than this one. There’s a place for us, somewhere…a time and a place…hold my hand and we’re halfway there …hold my hand and I’ll take you there……some way, somehow, somewhere.⁶ But that refrain sadly summarizes what little we know about life beyond this one. Not much, really. The audacity of hope? The New Testament teaches that we become a new creation here and now! But how that happens is not clear and has been vague, difficult, and with precious little demonstrated example per the pedagogy and inadequate witness of the traditional church, which reads more like a history of socio-political indoctrination spotted with abuse, than one of spiritual heavenly reality available now.

We have been told that belief and faith affect present reality. That has not happened. It needs to be more than argument, persuasion, and a thought process.  Though historically preached by many, and believed by many, this ‘closer walk with thee’ has been, most of the time, nothing more than a social walk with others.

The traditional Gospel message reduces human value. It defines us as worthless wretches saved from a fate worse than death by amazing grace. But why do we still have to be centuries old in our understanding and practice of religion? Why have we not grown? Can we not move from outdated archaic thinking into actual present-day spiritual experience? Ah, but nothing good is to be expected of us. We must deal with the difficulty of this world as best as we can. Hence, Jim Reeves version of ‘this world is not my home’ becomes a banner anthem, for we are just a-passing through!⁷ We cannot be at home here because this is not our home! Such has been our belief, our faith, our conviction. And our misunderstanding.  And such is the ‘faith’ many if not most, continue to profess.

Wisdom, however, sees such an identity as incomplete and points to a strong image that threatens both the position of the church and the profession of its clergy. Sounds scary, no? And this image and its constituent identity is revealed by the wisdom tradition that lies behind the David story. David gets the opportunity to personify wisdom. He attempts to live his life accordingly, and it is why he sometimes acts the way he does. What does the wisdom tradition stand for? Brueggemann describes Wisdom’s 5 key principles thus:⁸

 

1.      The goal and meaning of human existence is Life in itself. The entire book of Proverbs provides guidance on how to maintain this life in its fullness.

2.      The authority for Life is to be found in our common experience i.e. what is right and good comes through the patient and careful discernment of what we ought to be doing as human community! It is utilitarian. And there are no authority figures! Nor any specific body of learning! It is amazingly radical!

3.      We have the primary responsibility for our destiny, which is decided by our choices.

4.      We are meant for an orderly role in an orderly cosmos and must discern this order and decide on and for our responsible share of it. (shades of Genesis?)

5.      Wisdom celebrates humankind as the crown of God’s creation, and our capabilities and responsibilities relate to our social and natural environments; we are ordained, trusted, endowed and even enthroned by God.

 

What exactly does this mean? For starters, Brueggemann’s distinction about faith existing in culture and not apart from it, is ground-breaking.⁹ But that reality has always been there. We’ve just not been able to see it, having been taught otherwise. And it has been historically convenient for superior economic powers to impose their religious and cultural beliefs upon ‘lesser beings’, shall we say. Analyzing the primary principles Brueggemann presents, we get:

 

1.      The goal of human existence is THIS LIFE in itself. The here and now is our primary goal. Read Proverbs 10:17, 27. 11:10-11, and 13:12; 21; 25. for brief examples. There is much more. And note that Brueggemann links to Matt 6:33 and John 10:10 on life in its key aspects of joy, security, and wholeness. This life is intended to be fulfilling, and we can make it so.

2.      Further, the focus is not on individual, personal life, but on life-in-community, with one central goal: the well-being of all! A critical shift from self-centeredness to ‘other’ centeredness. And when Wisdom speaks of no reward in heaven it is not saying that there is no heaven. The notion of heaven in the Old Testament shifts as the people grow, from the time of Samuel to that of Ecclesiastes. We will find similar contradictions when we come to the New Testament idea of heaven and find that it does not negate this life but speaks of a continuity little understood.

In the here and now, what happens when we get to thinking about ‘heaven’ as a place in the sun where there’s hope for everyone?¹¹ Well, it helps us to live with the injustice of the present order, doesn’t it? Perhaps even to rationalize the experience! (no hope for us down here!) We think about a new order outside of and beyond our historical lives. And our historical experience is accordingly devalued.  A matter of belief, but one that brings hope and so is supposedly audacious. What a profound way to go! But God intends a lot more for us than hope. Our world and its historical and current forms are not the result of God’s will, but of ours. Not God’s style. Not of ‘God’ even, because the word ‘God” as we use it is just a generic catch all term. More as we go.

3.      Community is the authority. Fascinating! No need for leaders who claim to know what’s best. They don’t. And you can add that to every bit of disinformation. And the present model of leadership? A model that claims to be what it’s not. We just took God’s intentions and ran with them, per our own preferences. So, we end up with an Old Testament narrative about magnificent men in leadership, here and there. Is that what it is? Ever notice what ‘short shrift’ is given to the women of the Bible? Even Abraham tried to pass off his wife as his sister. (she was, he claimed, his half-sister). True, but ugh. Preservation of the self, exploitation of the other. But the truth that we need pursue is always found in our common experience. Instead, ‘truth’ has become the domain of the priesthood, and of philosophers et all, including the elected politician. For wisdom, there is no monopoly of the truth by any one person, ever. No secular versus sacred divisions, but of both contributing to a whole. No special people of God, but all of us together.  Can you see now how amazing God really is? You saw shades of this in Chapter 2. God has given wisdom and grace to all. Wisdom is international in its outlook. That blows the claim of all cultures that profess a religion or an educational culture that supports the hegemony of their cause. The last thing we need are more crusades! Perhaps without such claims many would leave their professed religion, for it would no longer serve their socio-political or personal ambitions. And moral failure? That comes out of our irresponsibility. Not that we are rejecting God. Rather, that we are rejecting the expectations that the traditions say God has set for us! No praying for peace, security, justice and happiness either. Instead, we need to make those experiences a reality for ourselves. And we can. We’ve just gotten used to passing the buck. We play ‘we’ll ask the Lord’ and ‘we’ll leave it in his hands’. Then we tell ourselves how much better we feel, having committed the issues to God. But God is watching as we attempt to play change partners on all the challenges before us, as sincere as many might feel that process to be. 

 

4.      Humankind can and must choose. As I work through Brueggemann’s notes, I watch language shifting from the use of ‘mankind’ to a more nuanced ‘humankind’ to a plain old ‘us’. The seventies were fifty + years ago! Choice is always there, and choice = responsible decision making. We must take on the seemingly difficult but worthwhile godly choices. If we do not, we suffer the consequences. But we have avoided this. We would rather God made those decisions and solve our problems for us. After all, how can we sort ourselves out? We’re sinners! Sure, we’re forgiven, and we can rejoice in that. But let’s not forget who and what we really are.  We’re just sheep, aren’t we? Unthinking, incapable sheep that need to be led by the nose. We need the Good Shepherd! Or at the least, a pastoral sheepdog. We’re still too sinful to exercise responsible decision making! Or show creative imagination that results in social innovation. Must have someone else do it for us. And we’ll elect them. Hence the functional notion of Leviathan in political theory.¹¹ But God does not call us to be sheep, but to participate in a God-given creation that is described as being a little less than the angels. (Psalm 8!) Speaking for Wisdom, Brueggemann asks, are we as God intended us to be? Or have we castrated ourselves?¹² A really challenging question for the days ahead.

 

5.      There is an orderly cosmos, and there is order for humankind. But the wealthy and powerful have rejected and twisted this order in favor of personal greed.  Our history consistently demonstrates this. Where does order come from? From right choices. How do we know? We all know. We know what hurts. We know what supports well-being. But we live in a world where a few have everything and decide reality through the monopolies they control, while others have little and can do little to change the status quo. So, most of us are screwed. And we sing, that’s just the way it is…some things will never change...¹³

 

6.      Humankind is the crown of creation. Genesis. Psalm 8. We are trusted, ordained, endowed, enthroned. And creation can be a happy place. Nothing to stop us from recreating Eden except ourselves! We’ve just exploited the heck out of our world. But Jesus demonstrates and fulfills the prototokos potential in each of us! We can unscrew ourselves! Wisdom, way before Jesus, was already singing the original salvation song! It has always been God’s one and only song to us. And it wasn’t amazing grace the way we sing it. It had a couple of other verses about amazing us – fueled by amazing grace! New Testament theology and church tradition, in their haste to adopt medieval self-flagellation, lost sight of that part.

 

We have an orderly role in an orderly Cosmos. But in allowing disorder we have failed to convert negativity into positive, creative options. We need to be co-workers with God. We must disengage our uncritical acceptance of the status quo and change things for the better. Our focus should not be on the historical interventions or intrusions of God as described in biblical narrative, because that approach leaves us in the hapless position of waiting on God to do something. Our focus should be on sustaining and growing human community. And we are God’s good creation – trusted, ordained, endowed, enthroned. But the Gospel that has been proclaimed and that many have accepted, defines us as flawed humans existing in flawed cultures. And what excellent religious culture has replaced these flawed native cultures? Nothing but equally flawed notions!

 

Wisdom sees all of this very differently. We know, intuitively, what needs to be done to make things good and right. We just don’t do it. We fail to grasp and utilize the strength of God given human will. Then we ascribe our failure to our ‘sinfulness’. And we prescribe Christ as the remedy. And that does not work since it just attempts to pass the buck! Hence, the Church has struggled with improving the world it purports to serve. It lacks the spiritual energy to do so. We must look within our own God given selves first, find the godly notion, and choose it. Then we must decide to will it into being, via mind, body and spirit. Then only, does the power of God begin to surge in us. Only then will our self-understanding begin to mature into self-realization and grow into God-realization.

 

A lot to chew over. Items 1 & 2 are unacceptable to historical and current definitions. But you might recall my earlier comment on the Jacob-Ishmael origin and subsequent separation.¹⁴ God does not seek to divide but to unite. Human society has continued to create human division. If you wonder why you never encountered these ideas before, ask your religious advisor or guide! (pastor?) It’s only been a lifetime of work on Brueggemann’s part. And it’s there in front of us, in all of the Books of the Wisdom tradition in scripture. But it requires a spirituality that exceeds the intellectual and emotional aspects of mind and self. Not too many have worked with and listened to this part of scripture, and so it perhaps never generated much discovery.¹⁵ Scripture has always been a traditional order – books chosen by a Council; texts written, edited, redacted. But only in successful lived reality does its truth exist, and not in that which is thought, said or printed. Only in what is doable and really happens in our lives. Wisdom carries an indicator of the real Good News, unconditionally open to all persons, with no restrictions and no conditions because we are all God’s children. No ‘if-then’ conditional clauses. Quite a different apple….

 

FYI…

All JL posts can be found at dreliatjacobsladder.blogspot.com in chronological order;

This is not an enterprise of any sort – just a ‘no frills, no catches’ sharing of one utterly serious Christian journey beyond Christianity into God Almighty!

 

Prophecy and Crucifixion

 Sun Jul 13th 2025

In the midst of the times of the divided Kingdoms, the prophets speak. They are sent to call Israel (and Judah!) back to God’s will.  But neither Israel nor Judah will listen.

Beginning with Isaiah chapters 40-66 (academic theologians call it 2^nd Isaiah) new direction emerges. Isaiah points to a possible future when Israel will have another chance at the glory of being a blessing to all peoples. But Israel thinks only of a different glory – of the wealth and might of Solomon’s great Empire. It does not understand the prophets. And this is where Isaiah’s prophecies of the Suffering Servant are critical, because the servant is no longer Israel. The people have been replaced by a person. And the sacrifice of the servant person?

The way the tradition goes is that we are saved by the blood of Christ, and that Jesus gave his life for us. That is not wrong, but it needs unpacking. It goes much deeper than being a blood - life sacrifice, which was common to the religious practices of those days. Remember Abraham’s test in Gen Ch. 22? Sacrifice your only child! Remember the Day of Atonement? Read Leviticus Ch 16. Once a year, a sacrifice made in the holiest of holies; with blood poured out as an offering for the sins of the people. Good for a year. Then the ‘forgiveness’ license expired.

Is that it, or from the perspective of Jesus’ words on the vine and branch in John Ch. 14 is it perhaps not a matter of life and blood but of a separation from God which is not easily understood and is difficult to explain from a human perspective.

This sacrifice offers self-separation and it means being cut off from the blessed existence of God’s presence. A death that is more than a loss of physical life, but of soul life, for it involves loss of spiritual life-energy. It is an estrangement that leads into utter desolation. We experience this when death cuts us off from someone whom we are deeply attached to, and we cannot do anything about it. We cannot reach them, and they cannot reach us. Such separation is a desolate isolation. We are adrift and disconnected, and relationship no longer exists. And if that relationship is everything to you and is an integral part of you, what happens then? And all this is from a human perspective.¹⁰ What would it mean for God? That, you see, is just how much the Lord our God loves us!

This is why it is difficult to describe God’s love for creation. We use human love as a model, but the limits are obvious. God’s love is not selective, and no one is left out. Since Israel favors worldliness, some other must carry out a lasting action. God created us to be Godlike, and we keep failing to reach our full potential.  We keep thinking that material success is the answer, and it is not. We must enter by the ‘narrow gate’ and walk the ‘hard road’. Funny thing - those who do so find that the road is not hard. Why? Because once you are on the road God changes how it works and it becomes a joy to move on! Seeking experiences of earthly comfort won’t get us anywhere near the reality of heaven’s trans-dimensional spirituality, beginning in and then transcending earth’s ‘comfort’ zone.

Our refusal to be in accord with God is unacceptable to God because it leaves God’s loving will for us unfulfilled. I can’t explain that, it’s in the nature of who and what God is. God is Spirit, God is love. We have a sense of that love from what we feel for those whom we care for - family, friends, spouses, children. So, God is apparently unwilling to let us be, so scripture says in John 3:16 that God so loved the world. The Word, the creating power of God, as in John Ch. 1, comes from God to us, to be a part of us as one of us, and to invite us into the Kingdom, to become close to God. A loving Father calling children home! We have avoided and side-tracked that invitation by making Jesus the only point of it all. He is the inviter! Do not short change the Father’s love  in your life!

 Jesus constantly preached the Kingdom! Jesus never said believe in me and you’ll get into the Kingdom of God. Instead, he said ‘the kingdom of God is within.’ Few have figured that one out. But the road into the Kingdom lies within us, and the road and the work to get to the Kingdom lies with and within our spirits. But as long as we think our mind is our spirit we will not get there. That is just part of the first step. Spirit = soul, and that is an entity that is much more than the body! Not the social aspect nor the mental aspect but the spiritual aspect is needed. It is not somewhere out there, beneath a clear blue sky, as the little mouse sang…..but here now in whom we are. You cannot preach Christ without preaching about the Kingdom that he calls us into, here and now. So, in this crucifixion-redemption-deliverance-salvation-atonement- action- sacrifice, there are dynamics not easily discoverable which have been  ‘explained away’ by the convenient interpretation of a blood-life sacrifice. Read Ps 50:3 which says “Will I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats…to what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me?’ And Isaiah 1:11 as well.

A higher form of sacrifice then?  Frighteningly more. This is spiritual death. Soul death. The event is consequential and not related to the duration of time we use to describe it.  3 days, 3 nights – what is that to us? It is nothing. But where God is, neither time nor space exists.  Do we know, then, what 3 days and nights really mean? No.  But if in times of deep meditation or prayer the Spirit moves you here and there and it seems like a long journey and then you come back to find that you have somehow ‘lost track’ of time and that only a couple of minutes have passed - you might begin to get the idea. The Bible at face value is mostly a historical recounting of events. But its spirituality is hidden and waits to be discovered. It is never a matter of reading or of book knowledge. That is just academic and of the mind. There are only vague references if any to the unique and ‘strange’ other worldly experiences that God causes. Read Ezekiel 11:1; 1 Kgs 18:10-12, and Acts 8:26-40, for starters.  Spiritual journeys in the Old and New Testaments. When this chapter is done, we move on to David and then Elijah and Elisha!

It is not blood that enables deliverance for us, but reconciliation of separation. God resolves the separation that we willfully create in refusing the offer of growing in God, in being and becoming Godly beings. God gives up God’s self-essence and energy (blood?!) to bring us back into a place that is already given and is kept waiting for us. Jesus is made sin – made separate, for us. He is not afraid of death and certainly not afraid of death on a cross. Nothing unique about that. People were being crucified daily at the hands of the Romans! What is dreadful is the reality of the spiritual separation that the Word of God faced. That is inconceivable to the human mind, and still only vaguely discernible to the current state of the human spirit.

This is what makes Isaiah’s prophecies of the suffering servant so frightening. No one had the words to explain it then, and we still don’t. But once you get a sense of and experience some of the reality of how the Kingdom exists and functions in and around you, you will see and interpret events differently. Saved by the blood of Jesus is good historical talk that worked well in those times - of being saved by the blood of a sacrificial lamb. Ah yes, behold the Lamb of God. Indeed. But those who grow spiritually keep learning.

 Look at Isaiah for a bit:

40:1-6 the servant will be a light to the nations

42: 1-4 the servant will bring justice

50:4-11 no one follows the lord anymore…walk in the flame of your fire...

52:13-52:12 the servant makes the ultimate sacrifice to deliver us from our self-created fate – cut off from God – separated. His blood, sure; his physical death, yes. But it is his spiritual separation from God that is the clincher.

This is what God does for the creation God loves – God transfers judgment and gives up  God’s own creative power and persona. In balancing this through resurrection-creation, God does not re-give that which has been given, but causes it to become nothingness, for a timeless time. Then new life is given. 

The original Genesis call to Israel failed because Israel would not follow. Yet that is the frightening reality of God’s creative will – once God creates and assigns choice, God limits God’s own control and will not influence. Hence God’s warning about earthly kings who will misunderstand the true nature of power. Tricked by Satan, human ‘Kings’ think earthly accumulation of wealth and material possession is the true power. They miss out on all that God wishes to show humankind. We must find our own way and grow by ourselves, right down to fixing the things that we screw up on. It is a lesson on spiritual growth. God the Father is not a controlling God. Control does not result in maturity. God lets us run free. But this freedom is not to do as we will, but to discover the magnitude of God’s will for our maturity. Those of us who have tried to be true parents understand this to some degree. We may suffer silently, but we are always there. And so is God.

Now there is no longer an ‘Exodus’ type deliverance in a geo-political situation of oppression. This one cuts to the chase. Hence Jesus says ‘come, follow, I am the way’

And the biblical paradigm for deliverance-salvation shifts for the second time. Mission and Covenant are reinstated, but they are now of a new nature.

 Again, ecclesiology misses this one. Why? Because cause and effect also continue.  No free rides. The Jews refuse it. Not their interpretation. The church claims to understand it but uses an interpretation that justifies both ecclesiastical existence and authority. But God is not making a ‘this world’ offer about a life to come. No pie in the sky when you die as someone once cheekily sang. There is always a present offer that takes us into God’s presence and power now, with real life results and real death results. If we namesake the offer, it will remain hidden.

Believing we are not in control, we can only hope and pray at best. This is why many say that God is in control. But God has put us in control! The Christian journey is not a ‘hope and pray’ journey. It may be how we all start out, but it does not stay that way. And it can take a lifetime to learn that. We do not just hope and pray. We make a thing happen. We know what the thing is to be. God has told us. Not a wait and see prayer but rather a know and do prayer! And God walks with us, every step of the way, making it so. This is what we must seek now. The Christian tradition may like to declare a ‘we know the true way of salvation’ proclamation–but it does not. Deliverance-salvation is beyond Christianity and all of the other structured religions, because it is the One God calling everyone to return home in the Spirit now. If we respond, WE will be ready when it is time for US to leave here.

If some of these things seem strange, it is because the Christian tradition teaches a historical and cultural spiel that tells us nothing about how God is working today! Because of Jesus, no one need ever go to ‘hell’. No need to use threatening language to frighten folk into conversion. We can’t convert anyone. Folk will grow spiritually when they are ready – the Holy Spirit will lead and change them. Not us. Only the Holy Spirit can teach you these things. Not the Bible, not your priest, not your pastor, nor I. I only point the way. That’s just dumb pointing, not making great proclamations of a divine nature. You have to figure it out for yourself. And you can. Nothing to do with education nor wealth. See Colossians 3:12 – 17 and figure out what a prototokos can and should be. That is the invitation from the One God. As we work through the strangeness of David’s life and begin to move towards that of Jesus, we will see whatever we are ready to see. Every blessing in Jesus, G.

Kingship, Israel, Cause & Effect

 

Blessed Sunday, Blessed week to you all! We continue our journey through who and what Israel is as we look at salvation working itself out through the things that happened….

(as I have said, the blog address is dreliatjacobsladder.blogspot.com, and this is just a sharing as I walk my journey; no church, no mission, no donations, no political agenda.)

How Kingship Changed Israel and shifted Gods will……

God had accepted Israel’s desire to have a king, just as the nations had kings. Amazing. And God warned of the consequences. Was anyone listening? Even more, who would claim to speak for God? Saul is anointed king. After David’s victory over Goliath, Saul began to see David as a threat to his position and sought David’s death. David had become a popular hero. (see 1 Sam 29:5ff) Once again, in human relationships, holders of power fear displacement. Why? Ultimately, a battle ensues between their forces and Saul is defeated. (Read 1 Sam 28 about Saul and his visit to the medium of Endor to get a sense of how lost Saul had become). Hardly an impressive beginning.

David is anointed King. His greatness and his potential are reflected both in the 8th and the 23rd Psalms, and in others like Ps 103. The decisions David makes and the actions he takes  result from his personal experience of God. God is working with him and he is aware of this, and so he is able to think differently and act differently. Human potential in Psalm 8 is the precursor of the prototokos  - the prototype in the New Testament that is new creation in Jesus. This is what we are building up to because it is of life changing significance. David’s self-discovery of himself ie his newly discovered potential in relation to God makes him a unique example for us - something we will see as we move from the Old Testament and its form of deliverance-salvation to Jesus and the full significance and promise of new creation’s deliverance-salvation in the New Testament. Here, the peace (shalom, wholeness) of God which is present in David’s life carries the promise of provision and protection. It is always there. And there is an even greater promise – to live in the house - the place, the plane, the dimension, the presence - of the Lord….. forever. That means that you learn that your soul is not limited by your body and to your body! It can grow in and of itself! But David only gets so far and no further in this life. We have to wait for that possibility to reach its completion in Jesus. And then pick up from there!

David struggles as he is caught between his zeal for God, his human weaknesses, and Satan’s temptations.  David loves God, but his love for God is not sufficient to fully detach himself from Satan’s insidiously tempting desire for possession and material gain. David is still a work in progress.

Our detachment from material gain and possession is critical for true spiritual growth on this earth. 

We don’t have to shun material possessions – they are essential and useful to this life! We can’t live on fresh air, sunshine and God’s energy just yet! Or rather, to live on divine energy that can sustain us, as Jesus made reference to when he said to the disciples that my food is to do the will of Him who sent me. A strange saying of great depth!

It is why we are placed here, and why Jesus taught the parable of the rich young man. We could make this world so different if we had eyes to see and hearts full of Godly love. Equity would come naturally. Not greed. We could learn the reality of God given power, which will evade us as long as we think of material possession and power! Some have managed this, but they cannot intervene in the lives of others because true growth must happen in and of our own volition for each one of us.

David’s weaknesses lead him into error, again and again; and we begin to see a pattern of cause and effect replace the initial deliverance-salvation pattern, where God always answers cries for help. Now it becomes the reality of cause and effect that must be dealt with, as with an action that creates a cause, and the reaction that is its effect. And we are held accountable. God is always teaching us.  We are to be masters of our own fate, creators of our own consequences. And if you hear someone say accept Jesus and the illness will go away you should know what game is being played. Jesus does not play games with verbal acceptance, public or private.

This is the first major paradigm shift in deliverance-salvation, and it happens in the time of King David. Has ecclesiology ignored this cause-effect-accountability shift?

Well, it is not exactly good for the enterprise of the church which has traditionally emphasized faith and belief as all that is needed. But God requires accountability. We must answer for our actions. We cannot hide behind the notion of a free grace that covers our wrongdoings. We can’t just be ‘forgiven’ and then leave it that at. Our actions have consequences. We have to make things right. We cannot say “I’m sorry” and then walk away.

This is perhaps best seen in the incident of David coveting and taking Uriah’s wife Bathsheba. We will deal with this in depth in the Chapter on David. But in brief, See 2^nd Sam Ch 11. Bathsheba gets pregnant. David’s first strategy is to bring Uriah home for a break, where a pregnancy would be attributed to Uriah. But that does not work. Faithful Uriah would not leave the king’s side, having been ordered home from the field.  So David orders that Uriah be left unsupported at a critical point of the battle (see 2 Sam 11:15) and Uriah is quickly killed off.  David then brings Bathsheba into the palace, but the child that is born falls ill, and despite David’s prayer and fasting, the child dies.

Deliverance from corporate sin is no longer part of deliverance-salvation. Having been consistently ignored by Israel’s leaders and its people, God’s has responded.

The duty that God requires of each one of us is not a duty to church or faith, but one that we demonstrate towards each other. The proclamation that in accepting Jesus our sins are forgiven and we are set free from sin is easily an ecclesiological and limiting interpretation of the Bible.⁷ That statement means a lot more and has huge depth. Unrecognized for what it really is, the true nature of sin just ends up being an ongoing emotional experience quickly and easily dealt with by ritual and sacrament repeatedly. Is this sin insurance! The ongoing reality of being caught in the sin-forgiveness cycle will follow us , despite what we have confessed and/or proclaimed, until we have learned how to break free of it.  And the way to do this is not rule based but relationship based! Then the center will hold, and integrity becomes inherent, clear and a natural consequence.  But talk is convenient and often precludes demonstration.

 The freedom Jesus teaches is way beyond traditional practice and demonstrated ability. It involves accepting the consequences of our actions and living with and going beyond them. God does not reject anyone, nor does God excuse anyone per the claim of ‘I have forgiveness in Jesus’. Yes, we are forgiven. But who told us that forgiveness excuses accountability and responsibility?  The Bible does not say that. It has just been interpreted to appear so. But we can learn from the Holy Spirit.

The church’s proclamation is that because Jesus has died for us we do not need to do anything to be saved except …….accept Jesus. Great. But - this is only the beginning. Just our claim of ‘being saved’ is not going to persuade God to make us channels of spiritual power. There is a wait and see spiritual principle at work here. This is why scripture talks about working out your salvation in fear and trembling. (see Phil 2:12…) The true claim to being saved results in linear growth into a new creation that is evidenced by behavior and ability. And this ability is a lot more than just not ‘sinning’ according to the definitions of sin that we live with.  They are instead the true gifts of the Spirit that we grow into in discipleship. Not eating and socializing and speaking in tongues, or God forbid, false prophesy.

The early church may have decided that ‘the Gospel of Jesus Christ ’ was the most palatable way of getting the message of the Kingdom of God across. But it ended up preaching a somewhat different Gospel from the one Jesus preached. Following that tendency, the church decided what would constitute the Canon – selecting what writings went into what became known as the Bible, and what writings would not. And then the tradition came along and declared all of it as the infallible word of God. Ultimately, The Oxford Annotated Bible editing team placed the Apocrypha of the inter-testament period (writings between the Old and the New Covenant) in their edition. But of course, we are already into carrying the Word of God around, holding it up, and then ‘proclaiming’ it to (or at?) others… a subtle form of supremacy/one-upmanship/hegemony/call it what you will.

Has church tradition presented salvation as a quick and easy comfort fix? Take Jesus as your Savior, and we can all get into God’s nice comfortable safe heaven.  All you gotta do is attend church and give $? Not very hard, is it? But God Almighty is God Almighty. Our accountability remains. Only when we strive to make good for the mistakes we make in this life and grow beyond making them, will we begin to realize the true spiritual experience of deliverance-salvation and new creation for us now, and the power that it brings to us. Being sorry requires concrete follow-up action. And we must know the difference when social reform presents itself as spiritual experience. It must be based on social holiness to be long term effective. If hearts are not changed, events will cycle through and present themselves in different form in another generation. This has always been so. There must be a deeper, stronger basic reset that can be long term effective. This is the way Jesus leads.

We may not take it seriously, but physical death will bring us to the seat of spiritual Judgment. This is where interpretation has been willful and ecclesiology has been vague. I am always mindful of the incident in Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, Chapter 11, about The Grand Inquisitor, and the depiction of Jesus portrayed therein.⁹²

As Israelite history rolls on, much wisdom is given to Solomon, because he asked for nothing else.   Unfortunately, even though Solomon appears to benefit initially, he gradually entangles himself with other ‘gods’, and in the end, the material greatness of the Israel of Solomon’s time does not evidence spiritual greatness. Solomon may have built a marvelous temple, but God resides in the temple of the human Spirit and not in a building.  The opportunity of being blessed to be a blessing appears to have failed. The Kingdom disintegrates after Solomon, and cause and effect prevail in human relationships. The people are divided, with Israel in the North, and Judah in the South. The Tribal Confederacy of the 12 tribes of Israel led into an earthly Kingdom. That Kingdom desired to be like the Kingdoms of this earth. Now, in consequence, it stands divided.

To learn from God, we have to want to grow beyond ourselves, for God has new things to teach us. Jesus walks in that kind of direction. New direction, new ability. Hence the importance of doing what we are doing, seeing how Israel failed and how Jesus pointed new direction and was rejected by Israel for it! Stay well! Every blessing in Jesus, G.