Pure Water
Introduction
My old mentor Geoff Bingham often spoke of the gospel possessing a power to “evoke” (spontaneously draw out of hearers) faith and repentance (Rom 1:16). This dynamic is hard for us to comprehend because it is so rarely seen today. It came to mind in a recent Sunday prayer meeting a brother raised the issue of “spiritual cleansing” (Ezek 3:25-27). In scripture Jesus told Nicodemus, “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3), Paul explains to the Corinthians they have been “washed…sanctified…justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor 6:11), and speaks of the Lord making the Church, “holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word” (Eph 5:26 cf. Tit 3:5). Foundationally, an important eyewitness of the cross testifies, “This is he who came by water and blood… there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree” (1 John 5:6-8). This seems to be a reference to the post-mortem episode when a Roman soldier “pierced his (Jesus’) side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. 35 He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe.” (John 19:34). In the symbolic world of John, the blood brings eternal life (John 6:54 cf. 1 John 1:7; Rev 1:5; 5:9; 7:14) and the water means the promised Holy Spirit (John 7:37-39). Together they bring a total cleansing from the pollution sin, removing the defiling power of guilt, shame and so on. This impact of blood and water will bring about the revival so many are pleading for. We desperately need such action!
Renew Us O Lord
In the Sunday prayer meeting mentioned above some memories flooded my mind from a meeting of around a dozen Christian leaders. It was a dreadful experience marked by misunderstanding, jealousy, and hostility. An older group committed to mission and prayer had sought an audience with a younger group, and its mentors, running a 24/7 prayer house in the city. We were seeking areas of possible cooperation. We were welcomed like Joseph amongst his brothers (Gen 37:3-4). Whilst the demons ran wild in that meeting (James 3:14, 16), I am pleased to report that those fractured relationships have been more than healed. The Lord used that trauma to bring about a blessed revelation (http://cross-connect.net.au/about/cross-connect-vision/) of what I sense he is about to do in our city, which is the subject of this teaching.
Pure Water
One of the brothers at Sunday prayer, who runs a cleaning business, was attracted to this scripture: “since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Heb 10:19-23). He went on to amaze us with the info us that water purified by reverse osmosis and deionisation is so powerful it can eat steel (https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/7467/is-pure-water-very-corrosive). As pure water draws impurities out of impure things so the washing of the Spirit by water and blood has extracted before the sight of God every element of pollution, defilement from the life of the believer. As our consciences are sprinkled by the blood of the cross (1 Pet 1:2) we can no longer see sin in the lives of others as anything other than transgressions cleansed and hidden by the Lord in the depths of the sea and placed behind his back (Isa 1:18; 38:17; Mic 7:19).
Crossed Out
In prayer this morning I sensed how the atonement “works” to annihilate the pollution in our lives. As the blood, sweat and tears of God in Christ’s perfectly concentrated sacrificial Love (Acts 20:28) were shed for sinners in Gethsemane-Golgotha (Luke 22:44; Heb 9:12) they drew out of the whole mass of fallen humanity (massa damnata Augustine) every element of guilt and shame into Jesus body (2 Cor 5:21). When all was fulfilled, Jesus knew in his own perfected conscience a blameless pure new creation had been created, and so uttered the greatest victory cry of history, “It is finished.” (John 19:30 cf. 2 Pet 3:13; Rev 21:1). Everything that once stood against us has been “crossed out” through being “nailed on the cross” (Col 2:14).
Impact
Paul Tournier brilliantly expounds the impact of the gospel: “Then suddenly there dawns upon us the vast, entire endowment of God’s free love and forgiveness, and of the reconciliation he offers us in Jesus Christ. It is this which bowls us over, frees us from the burden of guilt, transforms us, provokes metanoia (repentance)….It is this discovery which periodically…gives rise to an outburst of infectious faith, mass conversions and irrepressible joy.” The impact of pure water and blood sustains a lasting transformation/revival in human behaviour. “the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common….34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. 36…Barnabas 37sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.” (Acts 4:32-37). The sacrificial generosity of the first Christians was “evoked”, spontaneously drawn out, through the impact of the gospel. In the Spirit, I see a day soon coming when swarms of people will bring to the feet of the assembled “elders of the city” a multitude of grace- gifts of every kind for the growth of the kingdom of God here and abroad (cf. Ex 35:20ff; 36:2-7). At that time of spiritual transparency (http://cross-connect.net.au/about/cross-connect-vision/ ) the feet of the elders will function as the feet of Jesus because of their complete transparency and trustworthiness.
Conclusion
I am convinced of the impact of the gospel in the ways outlined because 1. it is part of the foundational biblical record. 2. the Spirit does not conform to the status quo of our miserly expectations. 3. the Lord has directed me to offer as an act of service my prophetic-teaching gift to the city elders for their use once they are assembled (Matt 10:41-45). Some might find the dimensions of this teaching to be quite ridiculous. But they are far less scandalous than the birth, crucifixion and resurrection of the Son of God. Two imperatives follow for my readers. What might you have to offer the Lord’s servants, and are you living a transparent trustworthy life cleansed by pure water? These are matters for serious inquiry before the Lord (Ps 27:4).