Mary was greatly troubled by
the angel’s words, “But the angel said to her,
“Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You
will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The
Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and
he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end” (Luke
1:30-33 NIV).
1 comment:
Gail;
-----Ancient religions as far back as the first texts we have make the struggle between chaos and order their central theme. Amongst the Pharaohs duties were rituals for preserving order against the onslaught of chaos. Early creation stories often involved a characterization of order slaying a characterization of chaos and making earth and sky from the carcass. Philosophers over the ages have even jumped into the chaos/order game. And so, even the opening verses of the Bible are seen by some as representing the chaos/order struggle in the earth’s being without form and void.
-----Order is an interesting concept. The American Heritage Dictionary says it’s “a condition of logical or comprehensive arrangement…of methodical or prescribed arrangement…such that proper functioning or appearance is achieved.” If one is trying to run from God, such a placid definition will do nicely. But if one is intent on finding the truth of matters more than arranging ideas into what can seem true, the dictionary concept falls flat.
-----I think I was most fascinated with the “modifying principles” of English when in grade school. Of course, we didn’t call them such. They were just adjectives, adverbs, articles, phrases, clauses, and even direct and indirect objects and other accusative forms. They impressed me in the sense they were limiters. The more use a sentence made of them, the fewer situations and things it could represent. The tidier the idea gets, you might say.
-----Order is like that. It is extremely limited compared to chaos, for it represents a condition of relationship and purpose. Everything in its being and place is purposefully related to everything else. Order is about everything existing in such a manner that its state of being supports everything else and is supported by everything else. It is that "we have our existence in God" kind of thing. Therefore, in order for order to be, righteousness must be. Everything being in such condition and place required of it for relating supportively to all else is what we can say is being right.
-----That the requisite of righteousness, or order, is a precision state of being dependent upon the entire system of being is a giant limiter. Chaos does not want limits. It desires unfettered freedom. It is a move away from limits. This is not what the Word means when it talks about “freed from sin” and “freedom in Christ”. The more righteous we become, the more limited by precision we become. From the perspective of a messed up world, that does not seem very free.
-----But all chaos has a designated place of eternal existence. I don’t know if chaos is the fires of hell, but it is hell’s nature. No chaos is Heaven’s nature. Christ’s reign forever will be that all things relate supportively to all other things. “No chaos allowed!” reads the sign on Heaven’s gate. With none of that in the nature of its existence, no wrong is even possible there. And if no wrong is possible, then everything thought or done is right. If everything is right, then anything you think or feel to do is right to do, since “anything” is a subset of everything. And that is perfect freedom.
-----This physical existence is messed up at its most fundamental level. The second law of thermodynamics is about everything seeking its lowest, most chaotic state of being. One of my favorite speculations is that Heaven has in that law’s stead everything seeking the highest order of being, not just of its being, but of everything’s being, such that the order of heaven is supportive interrelationship of all things. Christ came to support us; we come to support Him. In Him is this right way of being which causes all things to build up instead of break down. In that vein of thought, it is not just that His reign will never end, but also that the increase of His glory will never cease.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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