Cities of Blood 2
Introduction
My previous article suggested that the selfish bloodletting of the City of Man directly opposes the sacrificial spirit of the City of God founded on the shed blood of the Lamb. I argued that the prayerlessness of the Church was a result of our being seduced by the material benefits of conforming to the values of the secular city. In a gathering to do with a 24/7 prayer-mission hub recently I sensed the Lord talking to me about a pattern of maturing the Church laid out in the book of Revelation. Chapters 2-3 the focus is on the condition of 7 local churches. The Church as a whole is not the focus of John’s vision. Many congregations have not moved past this part of Revelation. Their outlook is limited to their own growth and ministry and so they tend to be dominated by a pragmatic “what works” outlook. Further into Revelation we meet the Church as “the Bride of the Lamb” (Rev 19:6-19; 21:19). This is a beautiful picture of the whole Church in heaven and earth. Devotees of this image grasp the need for Christian unity, as they say, “Jesus doesn’t have a harem”. Such churches however gravitate to more subjective mystical forms of spirituality and often lack practical strategies of mission. The final vision of the Church in Revelation is its most inclusive. When the angelic voice comes to John, ““Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.””, he sees not a woman but “the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God” (Rev 21:9-10). The Church in its most mature form is represented as a city. Whilst the Bible begins with a garden (Gen 2:8) it concludes with a garden-city (Rev 22:1-2). The reason for this must stimulate the prayer life of the Church in our cities today.
Prayer Night and Day
In his Parable of the Unjust Judge Jesus describes a situation of continuous prayer. The central character is a widow who relentlessly comes to the judge appealing, “‘Give me justice against my adversary.’” Christ concludes the lesson with, “’will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night?….he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”’ (Luke 18:7-8). Jesus expected a sense of justice to motivate unceasing prayer, but anticipated few would have faith in God to act justly (cf. Isa 62:6-7). This is our situation today; lacking faith in God’s justice persevering prayer has become a rarity. In heaven however the righteous (Heb 12:23) are dynamised by a sense of divine justice. John has a vision of perfected martyrs longing for justice; “They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood…?”” (Rev 6:9-10). The New Jerusalem is the longing of the people of God because it is the only place of perfect justice; “But according to his promise we are looking forward to a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” (2 Pet 3:13). Spirit-filled believers having an ecstatic expectation of the city of perfect fairness are moved to prevailing prayer. This is a concept foreign to our affluent culture because only the poor cry to God for justice;
The Poor Cry to God
“This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles” (Ps 34:6 cf. Deut 15:9; 24:15; Job 29:12; 34:28; Prov 21:13). In the Bible the rich cry out in lamentation when the wealth of the great city Babylon is brought to ruin (Rev 18:19). This is not a cry to God but a wailing because the cargo cult of trade in consumer goods has been brought to an end by divine judgement (Rev 18:11-18). This End time fall of the city of evil is exactly what the faithful departed in heaven are praying for. Peter’s tells us that the hope of an eternal city full of justice leads believers to live lives which “hurry along the Day of God” that will End the world (2 Pet 3:11-13). I can’t think of a single congregation in Perth which practices such a world ending mode of prayer. This sort of prayer would be the equivalent to taking Jesus at this word when we pray, ““Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”” (Matt 6:10). Since only “the poor/poor in spirit” understand the dynamic of the kingdom of God and the power of prayer to release it the affluent arrogant Western Church is frozen in the realm of prayer (Luke 6:20; Matt 5:3). Only Jesus can help us.
Jesus and the Cry of the Kingdom
Jesus is “the sun of righteousness” who came in the “way of righteousness” in order to fill the eternal City of God with his righteousness (Mal 4:2; Matt 3:15 cf. Isa 42:1, 6; Matt 13:43). Through his emptying himself in going to the cross Christ became the poor Man who cries to the Lord in the hope of justice (2 Cor 8:9; Phil 2:7-8). Christ’s Parable of the Sheep and the Goats helps us to grasp how this is so. In this parable “the righteous”, those to whom the City of God belongs, are identified by their acts of justice to the needy. They feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, befriend the stranger, clothe the naked and comfort the sick and imprisoned (Matt 25:37 – 40). These are the conditions of powerlessness which Jesus himself endured when he went to the cross. In becoming the poorest of all people on our behalf (1 Pet 3:18) Christ’s cry of ““My God…why have you forsaken me?”” (Mark 15:34) becomes the cry for justice which the Father will answer by releasing his righteous reign. The resurrection is the release of the kingly righteousness of God which will build the City of God (Acts 17:31; Rom 1:16). The death-and-resurrection of Jesus teaches us that prayer for God’s kingdom righteousness is the most fundamental, purest and highest human act of justice. The death and resurrection of Jesus reorientates the ancient question, “Why doesn’t a just God remove the injustices of the world?” to a desire to see God’s justice come quickly. Thus a mature Church prays unceasingly for the advance of the gospel; it cries out for the kingdom of God and his righteousness (Matt 6:33).
Conclusion
It is blatantly clear why the contemporary Australian Church isn’t a praying Church. Despite the state of our Indigenous people, the plight of refugees, child sexual abuse, domestic violence, massive inequalities in wealth, human trafficking, abortion, abounding sexual perversion, massive unbelief, greed in high places, and so on, we belong to the rich of this world who lacking a sense of injustice feel no need to cry out to God day and night. Intoxicated by the pleasures of this passing world and its wicked city we have lost touch with the righteousness which is the glory and the beauty of the City to come (cf. Heb 11:10, 16, 26). We need a heavenly vision of kingdom righteousness and of ourselves as priests and kings to God bringing the glory and hour of the nations into the City of God (Rev 5:10; 21:24-26). We carry this out as we journey towards meeting Jesus face to face and live out the acts of righteousness he has commanded – providing for the physical needs of the poor, supporting our persecuted brothers and sisters, making space for the lonely and outcast, opposing the ruthless exploitation of the weak by the strong, healing the sick and preaching the gospel. In doing such humanly impossible tings we will become tremendously conscious of our spiritual poverty. And so we will PRAY for the justice of God because there’s nothing else we can do.