This is a two part series on seeing as God sees. This paper concentrates on the intensity of the revelation of the divine righteousness as an illuminating power. The second article will discuss the breadth of God’s vision for the nations as a key to motivating presence.

Introduction

Why can’t people in Western countries “see God”? Militant atheism is growing and the sense of the presence of God in everyday life is plunging. We must recognise that the church as a whole has lost “the power of God for salvation” (Rom 1:16), the gospel. For where the gospel is proclaimed, “the righteousness of God is revealed” (Rom 1:17). The solution to our current spiritual malaise is for the church to recover the good news as the revelation of God’s righteousness[1]. Such a recovery has always precipitated tremendous moves of repentance, prayer, mass turning to God and waves of missional activity. Genuine revival/transformation can come in no other way [2].

I feel like we are at a time in the history of the church summed up in the words of a man who launched a global movement back to Christ and the scriptures almost a century ago. According to Barth, theology had become “religionistic”, “anthropocentric” and “humanistic”. “The ship was threatening to run aground; the moment was at hand to turn the rudder an angle of exactly 180 degrees.” The essential problem is the same now as then, man rather than God is in the centre.

Over recent decades people in the church have shifted their focus from wickedness to a concentration on suffering. The language of sickness (“mistakes”) has replaced the language of sin, and the message of healing dominates that of forgiveness. “Relevant” churches no longer offend because the message is “recovery” rather than salvation from God’s judgment. The contemporary Western church has become “therapeutic” in its approach: the individual self has become central, personal “felt needs” are primary, self-esteem is substituted for the image of God, evil becomes an emotional state and “help” replaces truth[3]. Victimhood has displaced rebellion as a primary way of interpreting human ills. We have lost the prophetic tension generated by the sensed discord between human wickedness and divine righteousness. When this godly tension is restored the nations will once again see God through his justice. To grasp this we must go back to the beginning.

The Seeing and Unseeing of Adam[4]

Adam and Eve were created in an atmosphere of undiminished blessedness, “And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”” (Gen 1:28). The blessing of their Father empowered them[5] to fulfil their vocation to fill the earth with the presence of God[6]. In exercising dominion on earth, Adam and Eve occupied a kingly office, a role that always in scripture is linked with one particular attribute of God- righteousness[7]. Whatever strengthens our relationship with God and others is righteous and whatever damages relationship is wickedness[8]. The fullness of the power of God’s blessing could only be imparted when the first couple were able to see his righteousness, a simple paradise made this impossible.

To be fully like God in character Adam and Eve needed an opportunity to love righteousness and hate wickedness[9]. This necessitated the creation of a zone forbidden as evil, ““of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”” (Gen 2:17)[10]. This tree was indispensable to reveal the seriousness of the divine-human relationship.

Implicit in the divine ban on the tree of knowledge[11], was a terrible truth expounded later in scripture, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked” (Ezek 33:11). God’s “no pleasure” in condemning the wicked means the exclusion of his fatherly light-bearing blessing. When Adam and Eve sought their own standard of good and evil they substituted self- righteousness for divine right[12], lost the blessing of the divine presence and were plunged into spiritual blindness (Rom 1:25, 21). The just judgement of God fell upon their wickedness and under wrath they could no longer see any righteousness but their own. All was plunged into darkness (John 3:3; 2 Cor 4:4; Eph 4:18).

Between the Trees

Between the tree of the Garden of Eden and the tree of Christ[13] the seriousness of God’s commitment to humanity was always in question. The Old Testament seems to cast a shadow over how much man is worth to God[14]. Deuteronomy, the book of “the greatest commandment” (6:5), promises that if the statutes of God are diligently obeyed, “it will be righteousness for us” (6:25), but much of the remainder of the text seems to be a balance between covenantal blessings and cursings (e.g. ch. 27- 28). Moreover, if God is really a hater of evil of the evil that destroys us, why did he not act decisively and indisputably against it from the beginning[15]? These deep tensions can only be resolved by the gospel of Christ.

The Coming of the Righteous One[16]

Jesus’ Sonship is luminous, radiating the presence of the Father[17] as wholly Righteous. In a manner that was never attained by Adam, an intimate relationship between righteousness, joy and the kingdom of God is at work in Christ. Only Jesus fully reveals that the Father’s blessing is the power to see his righteousness.

When Christ takes up the reins of his kingdom at baptism prophetic truths are released, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The sceptre of your kingdom is a sceptre of uprightness; 7 you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions” (Ps 45:6-7)[18]. Full of zeal to establish God’s righteous rule through destroying all wickedness, the Spirit descends on Jesus with power and he hears the word of joy, ““You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”” (Luke 3:22).

Jesus’ first recorded public discourse in Luke[19], proclaims that the motif of divine justice is the catalyst for the revelation of the Father in his ministry. In restoring sight to the blind, causing the lame to walk, cleansing the lepers, giving the deaf hearing, raising the dead and proclaiming good news to the poor (Matt 11:5[20]) Jesus moves powerfully in the favour of the Father. Yet a fundamental inadequacy remains, one highlighted by the behaviour of the disciples.

In a time when we hear pleas that the ministry of miracles is what the Western Church most needs, something more profound calls for our attention. What preserves the saints from falling away[21] and lastingly converts sinners is not naked power, but the fulfilment of righteousness. To understand this, we must take a step back to Jesus’ conversation with John the Baptist immediately prior to his immersion.

“John would have prevented him (from receiving baptism), saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness.”” (Matt 3:14-15). John recognised that Jesus had no personal need for repentance and hence no need for baptism[22], but he failed to discern that for Jesus “righteousness” was more than keeping commandments, it was about enacting the will of the Father with whom he is already intimate[23]. For Jesus to be “the Righteous one” (Acts 3:14; 7:52) was to be the Son fully pleasing to the Father. This is the key to seeing God’s work in the cross; it is the only revelation powerful enough to preserve the people of God from falling away.

When Jesus cries out from the cross, ““My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”” it appears that wickedness has fully triumphed. Christ’s followers of Jesus who heard these words abandoned all hope[24] because they could not believe such an anguished cry was a manifestation of the righteous judgement of God[25] on their behalf. It seems that Jesus himself is questioning whether God is ALWAYS just. So deep is his inquiry that this is the one place where he is unable to call God “Father”, he cannot see that his bearing of wrath is the will of the one he called “Righteous Father” (John 17:25).

Jesus is the despairing Son who feels he is no longer revealing the Father, the sole pleasure of his life. His infinite grief at the loss of the illuminating power of his Sonship is the cost and means of reconciling the world to God. In dying the death we deserved, Jesus enters the place of God’s “no pleasure” in humanity’s wickedness (Ezek 33:11), this is “the outer darkness” (Matt 8:12; 22:13; 25:30) from which the light-bringing blessing of the Father is fully excluded. There is however one infinite difference between Jesus suffering and ours, we mourn for ourselves, but he grieves for his Father’s lost glory, this is why he is the Righteous One of God.

That his grieving fully pleases the Father is revealed by what occurs next. Jesus is moved[26] to ask forgiveness for his torturers, ““Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”” (Luke 23:34). So deep is this intercession that it evokes repentance from a hardened criminal, ““Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”” (Luke 23:42). Finally, when Jesus releases his spirit to his Father in death (Luke 23:46) the soldier in charge of the execution has such a powerful revelation that he exclaims, ““Truly this was the Son of God!”” (Matt 27:54)/“”Surely this was a righteous man.”” (Luke 23:47). The eyes of the hearts (Eph 1:18) of these wicked men[27] were opened to see God in Christ[28]as the Righteous Father (John 17:25) who will go to any lengths to forgive. The rest of the New Testament is a testimony to this revelation, an insight most deeply expounded in the life transformation of Paul.

Paul Sees the Righteous One

The conversion of Saul is one of the most famous stories in the history of Western civilisation, “Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” (Acts 9:3-5). Unfortunately, exactly what was revealed to the apostle on this occasion is often missed. Ananias, the man sent by Christ to expound the heavenly vision put it like this, “‘The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear a voice from his mouth” (Acts 22:14). At one stroke Paul was given to see that God’s will was to reconcile humanity to himself through the suffering of Jesus the Messiah, this was God’s righteousness.

This is why Paul’s writings are dominated by the language of righteousness[29] and why this is the centre of apostolic preaching[30]. For Paul, the resurrection represents the final unveiling of who God is for man[31]in all the seriousness of his commitment to us. The meaning of the resurrection as a revelation of righteousness is most thoroughly expounded in the introduction to the letter to Romans.

“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, … concerning his Son…who … was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord…. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God… For in it the righteousness of God is revealed” (Rom 1:1, 3- 4, 16-17).

On the road to Damascus Paul was given to see that God’s greatest pleasure was to raise Jesus from the death and to impart to him the complete blessing of restored Sonship[32]. Nothing made God’s heart happier than this, as such it became the source of all subsequent divine illumination. What totally “blew Paul’s mind” was the immediate insight that the righteousness of God that dwells in Christ is a justice that “justifies the wicked” (Rom 4:5). Once seen, such a revelation MUST unashamedly be proclaimed[33].

As the archetypal wicked person[34], Paul was totally overwhelmed by the revelation that the blessing of the Father that had raised Christ from the dead now lived in him[35]. His wickedness as an adversary of the gospel was swallowed up in the grateful knowledge that he shared the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor 5:21). He was now a living gospel with a ministry of illumination, “For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”” (Acts 13:47)[36]. Possessing such an insight about the essential nature of life in Christ, it was inevitable that through Paul’s testimony many would “see God”.

Darkness in the Nation: A Case Study[37]

How do we apply the above considerations to contemporary Australia where spiritual blindness is intensifying rapidly[38]? This is a question about the application of the gospel. But first we must consider the operation of the wrath of God[39].

Australia was settled with great disregard for justice in terms of the treatment of native peoples[40]. White people set the standard for justice in terms of what suited own their prosperity. Wrath operates in history by handing people over to their own decisions (Rom 1:24, 26, 28) so that they are convinced of their own rightness and progressively hardened to the wrongness of their sin.[41] Those so blinded can no longer perceive the justice of God’s retributive wrath in their circumstances. Everyday life illustrates[42] this to be true. So pervasive is our easy-going, laid back “ocker”[43] culture that it is extremely rare to find a preacher who expounds the justice of God’s wrath in the cross as the key to knowing God intimately.

Righteousness in the Church

Early one winter’s morning about 20 years ago I was on retreat near Mount Bold. As I climbed to a high point overlooking the western suburbs and city of Perth I felt an urge in the Spirit to remain where I was, looking east. Somehow I knew that I had to wait for the sun to rise over the Darling Range behind the city. I waited and waited and waited[44], and then finally the sun came over the hills radiating the city with golden winter light. What happened next gripped me, gradually from east to west all the city lights started to go out until there was but one light filling all things. Then the Lord began to interpret the meaning of what I was seeing.

The revival you are praying for is coming but it will seem to take ages before it comes, yet when it comes all the lesser lights[45] will disappear before the one true light, Christ. “But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.” (Mal 4:2). This sun of righteousness is the light of the Lamb, that light which will illuminate the eternal heavenly city (Rev 21:23). It is the revelation that God’s supreme pleasure as Father is to reveal himself as Righteous whatever the cost. This is the gospel and it is the hope of the nations.

Conclusion

From the beginning the revelation of the righteousness of God was the enlightenment humanity needed to walk uprightly with the Creator. The rejection of this revelation plunged the world into spiritual darkness and idolatry. Christ came and brought eternal life to light through the gospel (2 Pet 1:10). In the message of the death and resurrection of the Son of God for us, totally illumination is imparted of the seriousness of God’s relationship with humanity. This was the power that irradiated the early church and sustained believers through their trials. Although dulled across the centuries, the fiery light of the revelation of God’s righteousness burst forth once again in the Protestant Reformation and has been the source of revival across Christian history. Tragically such insight has almost disappeared in our time. Contrasts across Christian history can illustrate our impoverished condition, and I wish to give two based on the Evangelical Revival of the eighteenth century.

George Whitefield was the greatest preacher of his day. A follow up 10 years after he preached in New York found that of those who had come to Christ 85% were still church attendees. Billy Graham was arguably the greatest English speaking revivalist of the twentieth century. 5 years after his famous 1954 Wembley Crusade in London only 5% of respondents remained in the church. The enormous differences across the centuries can only be explained in terms of differences in the intensity of the revelation of God’s righteousness.

Charles Wesley was a compatriot of Whitefield and penned this hymn as typical of the many conversions that were happening during the Evangelical Revival:

“Long my imprisoned spirit lay, My chains fell off, my heart was free,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night; I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray— My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light; I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.”

What contemporary Western musician could pen a song about mass conversions caused by such radical seeing of the righteousness of God and radical permanent life-changing repentance?

With our many programmes and egocentric therapies we have overlooked the gospel as God’s self-illuminating power. We must pray for the gift of revelation, that for Christ’s sake the Father would reveal once again his righteousness. We need to hear from heaven how seriously God takes his relationship with humanity and how lightly we have treated his justice. Such revelation is the only thing that will precipitate a tremendous move of repentance, prayer, mass turning to God and waves of missional activity. Amen.