A friend wrote me recently about a surge in Messianic Judaism in his
country; it is a blend of evangelical Christian theology with Jewish traditions, like observing the Sabbath and Jewish
holidays. I told him this movement is nothing new.
Paul warned Peter against those who
were compelling Gentiles to live like Jews, denying them their
freedom in Christ, and putting them under a yoke of slavery for
not celebrating holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths, things
that were only shadows of the reality yet to come, Christ himself (Gal. 2:14, 5:1; Col 2:16-17).
It is easy to see these practices as shadows. But to some
degree, and in our own ways, do we not find ourselves still living in the shadows rather than the full light of our freedom in Christ? “Satan, the god of this
age, has blinded the minds of unbelievers [and ‘unbelieving’ believers] so
that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory [the reality] of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:4).
In yesterday’s Sunday newspaper, the phrase “Unhappy Anniversary” grabbed my attention. Not an article about our 9/11 commemoration, it was about Japan’s 3/11 half-year unhappy anniversary of the tsunami that killed 24,000. Immediately I thought of all the unhappy events this year that will be forever annually commemorated: the Joplin, Missouri Tornado; the senseless mass murder of 84 teenagers in Norway. “Unhappy Anniversaries"... those dates we hate to remember—untimely deaths; floods, fires—events that changed lives forever.
But Paul’s assuring words remind us that we are not defined by unhappy histories. Rather, our co-death and co-resurrection with Jesus brings us into the ‘newness’ of life (Rom. 6:4). It seems to me that the “newness of life”—a word, by the way, that defies logic—demands that we live in a new reality where God causes all things to work together for good, where history does not control us, and where the hope of a new heaven and a new earth is more real to us than the unhappy one we’re living in.
In fact, when we live in the new reality, outside of time and earthly 'dates', we live in the promise of endless “days” of “goodness, peace, joy” (Rom. 14:17). And finally, reflect on this: “Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past, for I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?” (Is. 43:18-19)
I read an article in USA Today about the “unreality” of “reality” TV shows. What you see as “real’ is the result of many ‘takes’ and ‘retakes’—the result of camera crews and directors behind every otherwise private moment. “Reality” shows like Survivor, The Amazing Race, The Bachelor, and The Apprentice are not ‘real’ at all, which begs the question ‘what is real?’
In his classic “Pursuit of God,” A.W. Tozer defines reality.
“What do I mean by reality? I mean that which has existence apart from any idea any mind may have of it, and which would exist if there were no mind anywhere to entertain a thought of it. That which is real has being in itself. It does not depend upon the observer for its validity…. A spiritual kingdom lies all about us, enclosing us, embracing us, altogether within reach of our inner selves, waiting for us to recognize it. God Himself is here waiting our response to His Presence. This eternal world will come alive to us the moment we begin to reckon upon its reality.”
