The following is an excerpt from a conversation I am having with a friend of mine about miraculous healing, I thought it was worth sharing:
My overall sense from what I have heard you say so far (and I might be way off here) is that you place a high importance on supernatural healing, both physical and psychological. And I guess I wonder where that comes from. I mean, I see the importance of healing and exorcisms in the gospels, and I believe that the healing that Christ manifested is still available to us now, and I believe that the future Kingdom of God is something at hand, now. But, I guess, for me, instead of wanting to say that the future Kingdom is breaking into the current Kingdom particularly in things like supernatural healing. I would argue that the current world is infused with the in-breaking Kingdom of God and that every time there is a healing in this world (be it supernatural or aspirin) it is a sign of that in-breaking kingdom. I can’t say exactly why I feel like the difference is important, but I do.
Their Reply:
QUICKLY, from Genesis to Revelations there is a pattern where God reveals his nature through teaching and demonstration. Has this changed because of Western philosophical materialism/and the influence of Greco/Roman dualism on the church culture?
My Response:
I think what has (potentially) changed is the way we understand and speak about God’s “demonstration”.
So, in a world of competing deities (Egypt) we see and tell the story of locusts and plagues.
In a world of traveling healers (Jesus) we see and tell the story of healing and exorcisms.
In a world of science and governments (ours) we see and tell the story of Mother Teresa and doctors without borders.
I am not saying that plagues and locusts and healing and exorcisms don’t still happen. I am only saying that God is active in all things that work for life and freedom and He always has been. And only looking for it in the same ways as we see it in the stories in scripture is to miss out on a lot of what God is doing in the world today.
Jason, thanks for the discussion.
Could we distinguish the created world order from the Incarnation?
The cosmic order fell into time and space, contingency and death. We can talk about the fall but I don’t think we can ever understand the implications. It is impossible for the human eye to be able to fully separate good and evil. The aspirin that you take may relieve a headache but it is impossible for you to understand all contingencies in that simple act. Ruthless business practices, unknown workers in unknown countries toiling for an unknown wage, the thinning of your blood, the damage to the liver (read about recent deaths attributed to aspirin), we can’t contemplate every contingency every time we act or we would never act at all. The world of contingencies is a result of the fall and is brought to futility by the One who created it. Romans 8v20
The Incarnational world is the power of Heaven breaking into time and space. The OT brilliantly foreshadows it, Jesus embodies it, the Holy Spirit continues the work of Heaven. The reason that I said dividing spirit and soul is so important is that the Holy Spirit is perfect and undivided. When the Holy Spirit is allowed to work there are no contingencies, history itself can be reversed, and earth is reconciled to Heaven even for a short epoch or moment of time. Heaven is the Presence of God. it knows no contingencies, and it is not dependent on time and space. We are commanded to pray for it by Jesus in the Lord’s prayer. We should be longing and praying for it, groaning with nature itself, awaiting a promise so blinding that it took God 4,000 years to reveal it, a promise that not even the disciples had seen completed but for which they continued to pray. Romans 8v21 ff. If we lose this terrible longing for God’s will on earth “as it is in Heaven” we just revert to self-satisfaction or striving.
We must fight to improve and care for the created order. That is the requirement of justice and why Job argues his own righteousness before his friends and even God. That wasn’t improper even though it may strike our ears as self-exalting. But righteousness, or right relations with the created world, is demanded by God. The godly Jew could not ignore the cries of the oppressed or earth itself, and then safely appear in his robes before God. The prophets are almost wholly devoted to this subject and to the ultimate consequences when God’s chosen ignore the rightful care of the created world order.
But that was always a prelude to the Presence of God, the coming of the Kingdom, the Glory of the Lord filling the temple and appearing as a brilliant cloud over it. Like the ancient Israelite’s we engage in elaborate preparation for the appearance of the King. If we choose to turn it’s back on God’s plan that His Presence will be thwarted and finally depart. I think, the most tragic moment in the OT is when Aaron falls back and breaks his neck after he learns that the Ark had been captured. He dies as his daughter-in-law gives birth, to Icabod. Icabod means ‘ the Glory of the Lord has departed the Temple’. What happens then? Tragedy. Today we are individually and collectively that Temple of the Lord. Does the Westerner refuse His Presence when he relies solely on the created world order? (science, tech, govt) Yes I think so and I think we are going to come to a very bad end because of it.
One might argue that the whole of the OT argues vehemently that the Presence of God is contingent on the right acting, righteousness, or the justice of His people. But this can never fully satisfy us as we were created for the eternal nor is human righteousness ever enough to hold a small earthly kingdom together for long. What is strange to me is now that we have Jesus as our Righteousness we seemingly have lost interest in the Coming of His Kingdom to Earth. Not the eschatological, not apocalyptic or future Kingdom (but all are caught up in the present moment), the Kingdom coming now, to the everyday. This is what the disciples preached!
The disciples announce the Kingdom of heaven is near…
The ultimate question in our discussion is what is the Kingdom of Heaven and/or Kingdom of God?
I suggested that for the godly outsider the Kingdom of God was announced as the Rule of God (God’s justice, mercy, salvation) But for the Jew (Matt) the Kingdom of Heaven would be understood as the Very Presence of God. The Jews were the people chosen for this unique relationship with God THAT the rest of the world might be blessed. Gen 12.3 Did not every dot and tittle of the OT prepare the Jew for this understanding?
It is not just head or even psychological knowledge. It is more than experience, since experience can be subject (to all those darn contingencies).
It is not justice or even mercy. It is the very presence of God on earth. Now, to understand that, we must go back to our definition of God. And that is, I hope you will agree, wholly undivided, never subject to contingency.
I’m not disparaging medicine but I am putting it under the category of the created world order. Do you remember when Jesus takes some dirt and spit and puts it on the eye of the blind man as he heals him? Jesus is not disparaging the created order either but I think we have to be very careful here to define our terms.
Incarnation defined by antonym would be ‘exclusion’. The Incarnation does not exclude anything by definition. It’s definition is matter or personification. Synonyms are embodiment, manifestation, incorporation, body, substance, flesh and blood.
WOW what an awful lot of words I have in me. Sorry. But some primitive Christian in a hut somewhere, or some Muslim mama with a dying baby, is right now receiving that truth based on simple need and cries to the King. May His Kingdom Come AS it is in Heaven!!
Under His Mercy,
Elizabeth
This should not be confused with the created order.
Romans 8.18 ff
That’s Eli not Aaron. Sorry.
I have to admit, Elizabeth, that your writing is a little bit above my pay grade but I enjoyed reading it. I think the dichotomy between the created world as “contingent” in your words, and God as “never subject to contingency” is interesting and something I will need to ponder further.