The Spirit of the Strong Man
The hidden crisis of the church

The church in Australia in general, and churches with a conservative biblical background in particular, is in crisis.  Publicly, we have been repeatedly called into disrepute over the sexual abuse of children, homophobia and (in some cases) mistreatment of women.  For many it is a crisis of reputation, numbers and finance, but the true crisis is a divine judgement (1 Peter 4:17).

It is a crisis whose roots have long been present, but until recent times hidden by the Christianised nature of modern western culture.  In a post – Christian and post – modern world, God is revealing that the dominant male culture that has served the church faithfully in its own way must now transition to a different form of leadership (Acts 13:36).  The time of “the strong man” confronting doctrinal, moral and church – political issues is over; for the “spirit of the strong man” has bound the expressiveness of women and children, driven “effeminate males” into the homosexual community, and stagnated many marriages.

The new form of leadership that is emerging shares in the sensitive and gentle spirit of Jesus (Matthew 11:29).  This spirit will create in the church an inclusive culture embracing on equal terms women, youth, children and sensitive males.  Where a “blokey” outgoing culture characterised by the sporting / mateship style has prevailed, God is creating a communion of spirits which together respond to him as their Father (Hebrews 12:9).

He is about to release many men from unconscious generations – old cultural bondages that have kept them from discerning and reciprocating the spiritual sensitivity of women, children and soft males.  The transformation of male Christian leaders into sensitive and gentle persons (1 Corinthians 4:21) will mean a new authority: the ability to initiate intimacy with God and others.  From this will flow spiritual power and presence.

This transformation will come only through intense spiritual warfare because from the nation’s foundation as a penal colony, through its many struggles against drought, rejection and in war, an evil spirit being has held captive the thought life of generations of Australian men and fathers (2 Corinthians 10:5).  Many Christians, unwittingly influenced by the “elemental spirits” of legalism and moralism (Galatians 4:2,9), have taken unswerving stands for right, but few have possessed the moral and spiritual sensitivity to feel the depth of pain in the lives of abused women, indigenous people and homosexuals.  Most potently, the distant father who has forgotten the relational pain of his own childhood, has been unable to initiate and impart intimacy to the next natural and spiritual generation.  At this level, many men have sadly remained boys.

Through the release of intimate spiritual fathering in the whole church, God will break the stratification by age and gender that mirrors the wider culture.  He will renew the one holy temple where all are indwelt with the Spirit (Ephesians 2:21 – 22).  At Pentecost all believers received the outpoured Spirit in the same measure and worshipped with the same inner authority (Acts 2:4).  None of the old power divisions based on age, sex or class remained (Acts 2:17 –18).  The ascension – gifts (Ephesians 4:11- 13) and charismatic gifts (1 Corinthians 12:7- 11) are to be imparted to the whole church.  This is the shape of the revival God is seeking and which has been held back by the dominant strong male culture.

The Elijah task in the present time is “to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children” and roll back what seems to be a curse of ungodliness and judgement on our land (Malachi 4:5 – 6).  Fatherhood is the key to revival because it is the foundation to God’s own identity.

Jesus was eternally sensitised to his own identity as Son by the impress on his being of the Father’s indwelling presence (Hebrews 1:3).  This remained in his earthly life because it is the Father’s initiatives in intimacy that reveal to Jesus he is the Son of God (Luke 3:22;9:35;10:21- 22).  Only in this awareness can he express spiritual power and authority in creation (John 5:27; 17:2).

This principle of self-understanding through fatherhood flowed down to the human race as the image of God through the first father, Adam.  Adam had authority from God to reveal to his wife and children their inner identity by initiating intimacy with them (Genesis 2:23;3:20; 5:3).  If he had been a faithful father his wife and family would have ruled the earth with sovereign power and authority as God decreed (Genesis 1:28).  Despite the fall of humanity and the relational separation it brought, fathers retain the primary authority to image emotional and spiritual intimacy to women and children.

God is requiring “strong Christian men” to step out of the form of masculine assertiveness learned from their natural and spiritual forefathers, rather than from the Father of Jesus.  He is asking for risk taking in seeking and cultivating intimacy with him, other men, women and children.  This will require corporate confession by men for their participation in a national male culture that is defensive and ungodly.  It will mean seeking forgiveness from God, women, children and sensitive men for being passive in the realm of intimacy.  Only under these conditions can we anticipate that the Father will be able to “restore the ancient foundations” (Isaiah 58:12) and bring the whole church into revival for the good of the whole nation.

The spirit of the Strong Man: the Hidden Crisis of the Church

Introduction

In introducing this article I need to explain that its core teaching came as the result of a period of intense prayer concerning personal and corporate spiritual blockages in the church in Perth,Western Australia.  As it happened, a body of men were led by the Spirit of God to pray into issues to do with fatherhood, human and divine.  Much of the insight in the paper was actually received in a very intense manner as I was driving to a pre- dawn prayer meeting.  I need to explain this, as the form in which the material below appears could easily camouflage that it is in fact prophetic teaching.

This article deals with a complex interaction between elements of the nature of God as Trinity, spiritual warfare, human culture and personal identity formation.  Though it may have application to other English speaking nations and beyond, it has particular relevance to (white) Australia.  In it, I make the claim to express (though not uniquely) what is an essential key to long – term sustainable spiritual renewal of a widespread nature in this nation.  Put most briefly, I argue that the whole people of God, regardless of gender or age, can be filled with the Spirit only when appropriate spiritual fathering is in place in the church.  This invites men to take up the call of God in expressing a sensitivity or softness of spirit to those who are not like them, especially women, children and male homosexuals.  This counter – cultural spirituality follows in the way of Jesus and opens up the riches of the Godhead to all of humanity.

Differentiation in the Godhead

The most foundational truth of the Christian faith, though greatly neglected and misunderstood in our day, is that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19).  When the truth of the Trinity is inwardly discerned and appreciated, it forms the basis for all other knowledge, especially the knowledge of oneself.

In scripture, the order in the Trinity appears to be invariable.  In particular, the Father always precedes the Son.  Paul comments, “For us (Christians) there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.” (1 Corinthians 8:6).  He is not denying the equality of the persons of the Godhead, but differentiating them.  Jesus himself could say, “Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father” (John 6:57) and “the Father is greater than I” (John 14:28).  This was not a statement that he was a different sort of being from the Father, a “lesser god”, but a different sort of Person from the Father.  He and the Father are “one”, not in their identity as God (John 1:1;20:28etc.), but in their distinction as Father and Son.  The oneness of their unity is a matter of complementary difference.

Jesus may only say, “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9) because he is not a “second Father” but a Son who is essentially different as a Person from the first member of the Godhead.  This truth comes out most clearly in the language of Hebrews 1:3.  “He (the Son) is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being.”  The key word in Greek is karakter, translated by the NRSV as “exact imprint”.  This is a good rendering for a term used only here in the New Testament, for it refers to the mark made on a coin by the die that imprints it.  The Son is the impression of the Father, not in a superficial sense but of his “very being”.  Here the word in Greek is hypostasis, that which makes a thing to be what it is.  Since the impression of the Father is in the Son, he is the complete expression of God.  We may therefore directly recognise the Father through Jesus.

The foundational truth of the Son is the Father.  The deepest truth of Jesus’ life is not found in himself as an isolated ego, but that he is the Son of God.  The principle of differentiation of the Persons of the Trinity lies in God the Father.  For Jesus, this does not mean an abstract sense of Sonship, but a Sonship whose content is filled out by the love – initiative that the Father takes in his life.  The church has always affirmed that the Father “eternally begot” the Son, an act that logically though not temporally precedes the response of the Son to the Father.  Yet it is the Incarnation, the reality of the Word made flesh in time (John 1:14), that enables us to give content to the concept that Jesus knows who he is through the Father.

A few outstanding events illustrate this.  We know almost nothing of Jesus’ childhood, but at age twelve his point of reference is “his Father’s interests” (Luke 2:49).  At baptism his self -consciousness as Messiah and Son of God reaches a climax enabling him to minister in power because the Father sends the Spirit and affirms him openly, “You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:22).  It was in the strength of an anointing of joy that Jesus went forth to battle the devil in the wilderness and proclaim the kingdom of God (Nehemiah 8:10; Luke 4:1, 14).

In a similar vein but from another angle, when Peter confesses him as “the Son of the living God”, Jesus replies with “Blessed are you Simon son of Jonah!  For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.”  (Matthew 16:16-17).  Peter is the recipient of a joy – giving insight that flows from God’s heart, for the content of that revelation is that Jesus is the Father’s Son.

After Jesus’ commissions the seventy to heal the sick and proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God, his response to the effectiveness of their mission is directed beyond himself to the Father.  “At that same hour, Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have…revealed these things…no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.’” (Luke 10:21-22). There is a clear order of revelation here, Father to Son to disciples.  What links these revelatory experiences is joy flowing from a knowledge of God’s Fatherhood in Jesus as the Son and (so) Saviour of humanity.

This sequence of self- knowing becomes clearest as Jesus approaches the cross.  In the midst of his agony in Gethsemane he prays in a way that is unprecedented in the Gospel record: “ ‘Abba, Father,’” he said, everything is possible for you.  Take this cup from me.  Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36).  As he draws closer to death his awareness of God as his Father intensifies.  The writer to the Hebrews explains that the groans of Gethsemane are a prayer for deliverance from death, and that this cry was answered (Hebrews 5:7- 8).  Since Jesus did in fact die physically on the cross, there must be another deliverance in mind.

At the height of his sin-bearing (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24), Jesus “cried out with a loud voice…My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” (Mark 15:34).  What is lacking here in the self- awareness of Jesus under the wrath of God (Romans 3:25; 1 John 2:2) is the knowledge that he is the Son of God.  The cross is paradoxical, for on it Jesus does not experience God as he really is but God as sinners experience him.

The Bible never speaks of a wrathful Father, because the truth of God’s Fatherhood and wrath are essentially incompatible.  The Father does indeed “discipline” or “punish” in love, but this imparts to those who experience it the realisation that they are sons (Hebrews 12:5 – 11).  “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons.  For what son is not disciplined by his father?…How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!” (12:7,9).  True sons of God, as Jesus fully was, know in their hearts, “Although he causes grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not afflict or grieve anyone from his heart.” (Lamentations 3:22-23).  The experience of godlessness in the heart and spirit of Jesus, who reveals the heart of the Father (John 1:18), necessarily brings about the deepest possible crisis, the crisis of self-consciousness or self-knowledge.

So deep is this crisis that Jesus, taking our place as one “without God and without hope in this world” (Ephesians 2:12), has lost the knowledge of his Sonship.  Since the Father must allow the Son to experience the condition of our rejection of his Fatherhood, Jesus must die a death where there can be no sense of the pleasure of the Father (Ezekiel 18:23).  It was this joy – bringing presence that Jesus had known his whole life and that had imparted to him the inner knowing that he was the Son of God.  Now he must endure our fallen humanity’s confusion concerning the nature of “God” and what in turn it means to be human.  The very psalm that Jesus cites on the cross in his cry of dereliction (Psalm 22:1 = Mark 15:34) continues with these terrible words, “To you they (Israel’s fathers of faith) cried, and were saved; in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.  But I am a worm and no man; scorned by others and despised by the people.” (Psalm 22:5 – 6).  The loss within of the presence of the Father means for Jesus a loss of understanding of who he is also.  This is how he bears and takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

The next step in the history of the restoration of human self – understanding is the resurrection.  Here the Father “declares with power” that Jesus is “Son of God” (Romans 1:4), and since the essence of Sonship is to know the pleasure of the Father it is fullness of joy that Jesus enters into (Hebrews 1:9; 12:2).  It is this unsurpassable and indestructible “fullness” of joy that the resurrected Jesus passes on to his disciples (1 Peter 1:8).  No one can take this post – death gift of joy away (John 16:22); it is Jesus’ joy with the Father in eternal glory that is made “complete” in the church (John 17:13).  The impartation of this joy is a dominant note in the resurrection –ascension appearances of Jesus for he is imparting to his followers the perfection of his knowledge of his own Sonship in the new world with the Father beyond the impediments of sin, suffering Satan and death (Matthew 28:8;Luke 24:41, 52).

This is what he will seek to pass on to his church, to all, regardless of gender, age, race etc., who are the children of God.

Creation and the Priority of Fatherhood

The truth that the revelation of fatherhood is the key to self – identity carries over into the nature of the created order.  Paul expresses it like this, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.” (Ephesians 3:14).  Somehow impressed upon the identity or nature of every sort of family, whether angelic (“heaven”) or human (“earth”) is the foundational reality of fatherhood.

This principle certainly holds true in the history of humanity.  Adam is the progenitor of the entire human race.  It is he, rather than Eve, who is always placed at the head of human history (Luke 3:38; Rom 5:1-12 etc.).  Eve draws her identity as a woman from Adam who is her husband: “She shall be called ‘woman’, for she was taken out of man.” (Genesis 2:23).  Further, it is Adam as the father of all who names his wife “Eve” as “the mother of all the living” (Genesis 3:20).  Later, Adam is said to generate a “son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.” (Genesis 5:3).  This passage is deliberately set in parallel with the story of the original creation of humanity in Genesis 1:26-28, a matter summarised in Genesis 5:1-2.  Put together, these passages indicate that the principle of differentiation within humanity is founded on a relation to fatherhood.  What the Father is to the Son in terms of Jesus’ self – understanding, Adam is to humanity’s self-understanding.  We all bear the impression on our natures of the first father.  We may not be able to understand how this is so, but the scriptures clearly affirm it:  “We have borne the image of the man of dust” (1 Cor 15:48) and “by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners.” (Romans 5:19).

Following this principle of the foundational nature of fatherhood through to present families, cultures and churches, it lays a special calling and responsibility upon men, especially those of the age to be natural fathers.  Here the basic truth needs to be applied, “But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual.” (1 Corinthians 15:46).

What I am suggesting, first from scripture, then from my own counselling experience, is that the dominant aspects of self – identification in cultures, families and churches derive from “father- figures”.  These father – figures may be natural fathers, as in nuclear/extended households, spiritual fathers for churches/denominations e.g. St Patrick for the church in Ireland, Luther and Calvin for Reformation Protestantism, nation founders, like the Pilgrim Fathers in America, Ghandi in India and Nelson Mandela in South Africa, fathers of culture, like “the bushman/drover/pioneer – explorer” in Australia, coaches of sporting clubs or pastors/ministers of local congregations.  Whilst recognising that I am generalising at this point, and that a certain amount of this phenomena has to do with mythologising rather than historic fact, nevertheless the general principle of self-identification through fatherhood is a universal truth imprinted upon creation because of the nature of God as Trinity.  To make this point clearer, I will apply it to the Australian context.

The Land of the “Strong Man”

It has been remarked countless times that Australians have a rejection complex.  No doubt this can be attributed to the reason why this nation was settled by Europeans – solely to be a prison colony.  Virtually no – one freely chose to be here at the inception of this modern nation.  If the father – nation was England then it would seem that what was impressed upon (karakter) this land at its origin was a spirit of being punished.  Certainly in countless ways up until at least independence from Britain (1901) there were constant reminders of colonial = cultural inferiority.  The very term “down under” in reference to global location may have a trace of endearment but certainly reflects European arrogance of superior perspective.

Added to these pressures of historical generation was the harshness of the landscape.  Long dry summers with the recurrent possibility of drought were completely alien to the first settlers.  Many explorers perished because they underestimated the arid nature of the interior.  Other factors came strongly to play in the twentieth century.  Americans celebrate Thanksgiving and 4th July, but we remember a bloody war loss in far off World War I Turkey (Gallipoli) as a foundation stone in our national consciousness.  ANZAC day here in Australia is the most sacred day of the year when the whole nation pauses in remembrance of thousands of young men who died in the major wars of the twentieth century.  Christmas and Easter are not in the same league

All these factors have combined to produce an emotionally distant male culture in terms of vulnerability and intimacy.  Men would happily die for their “mates” on both battle – field and sports arena, but never express deep inner feelings.  (Or perhaps be aware of these.)  The drinking culture is part of this complex.  Whatever the changes in legislation and elite attitudes to homosexuality, homophobia is not far below the surface in multiple situations, and very overt amongst the working class.  The “sensitive man” is a conscious minority where the “spirit of the strong man” predominates.  Australian fathers may be very defensive towards their children (especially daughters), but emotional distance is the norm.

Some of the results of these cultural dispositions penetrate very deeply into the life of the church.  Despite formal changes in most denominations, women are only marginally represented in positions of leadership, especially over men.  Children remain on the margins of the larger church community. Kidz Church may have replaced Sunday School but the dynamics of the relationship between ages is fundamentally unaltered.  Behind all this is a problem that appears to dominate the relational needs of Christians; God is not known as a protective and compassionate Father.  Indeed, prayer to God the Father, rather than “Jesus”, “God”, “Lord” or “Holy Spirit” is a widespread omission, especially among youth.

Men find it easier to have fellowship on the basis of a common interest in sport, four –wheel driving, camping, fishing and so on rather than share together the deep things of Christ.  This is what is called colloquially the “blokey” culture.  (It has little room for tears except in the most extreme situations.)

There is no lack of strong male leadership in the growing churches of the nation, whether charismatic or conservative, but a spirit of gentleness is quite rare.  (Aboriginal Christian leadership is often very different in this regard.)

In some places the “strong man culture” has repeatedly manifested itself in what could only be termed moralism.  The primacy of “Christian values” over spirituality has been a dominant feature of Australian Christianity until very recent times.  The emphasis on the negative – no drinking, no gambling, no sex, has left the outside culture with an abiding impression that Christianity is joyless.

Within the church there have been countless situations of politically – minded men, generally elders, who have exerted control to obtain their own wishes at whatever relational cost.

In their inability to be sensitive to the pain of women, children, indigenous people and homosexuals, the “strong men” of Christianity have largely blocked a visitation of the Spirit of God upon the church as an entire community.  In particular, this body of men have modelled a passivity with respect to spiritual intimacy that has long robbed the Australian church of revival.  Many Australian believers lack spiritual awareness because it has not been modelled and transmitted to them by their fathers in the faith.  Such men have no doubt genuinely sought to do the right thing by God and were “faithful in their generation” (Acts 13:36), but now God is signalling a time when the old must be put away and the new must come.

The opposite of the spirit of the strong man is not the spirit of the weak man.  God does not wish men to roll over in the face of opposition, whether human or demonic. The opposite of the spirit of the strong man is the spirit of the sensitive, gentle, soft and discerning man, this is the spirit of Jesus.  “Come to me all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly of heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28–30).  In its immediate context, the light burden that Jesus bears and offers to share with us is knowing the will and way of the Father (Matthew 11:25–27).  We have returned to our foundational principle – the revelation of Fatherhood defines for us who we are as human beings in the image of God.  And as the Son of the Father shows us, we are not “strong men”.

The Strong Man is an Evil Spirit

Whatever may be true in terms of historical and social antecedents to the strong man culture in the church, there is another dimension that must be considered, this is spiritual warfare.  The Bible speaks of a struggle against “rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12).  As far as spiritual warfare is concerned, there is evidence that evil spirit  – beings rule over nations on the earth.  This is clear in the book of Daniel where the angelic “prince of the kingdom of Persia” opposes the angelic messengers of God (Daniel 10:13–14).  There must then be evil powers over the nation of Australia.  Whilst to say more than this is speculative, I believe that there is a “throne” (Colossians 1:16) working over the country that has long sought to consolidate the spirit of the strong man.  It has worked through the historical circumstances of the nation to produce a mental “stronghold” in the mainstream Australian imagination that believes God is a distant person or “hard man” (Matthew 25:25).  Unknowingly, this belief is in many ways a projection of the national consciousness.

Within most of the history of the church in this country we have had the triumph of law over grace.  What Paul calls “the elemental spirits of the world” (Galatians 4:2,9; Colossians 2:20, NRSV translation), have successfully introduced moralistic negativity into Christian culture.  These spirits must be named and resisted.  God himself is sovereignly dealing with these issues.

God is Judging the Strong Man in the Church

One phenomenon that is impacting this nation, with other English speaking countries, is public scandal in the church.  In Australia for some years there have been repeated  exposures of child sexual abuse.  Much of this centred around abuse of young boys by priests in Roman Catholic institutions, but other churches were also named.  With time this issue came to focus on the Governor General who as a past Anglican archbishop was judged to have failed to act adequately to deal with these issues in his domain.  It cost him his position and seemed to confirm to the mass of the population that the church is full of hypocrites.  What has seemed to be lacking from Christians in positions of responsibility was a spirit of compassion for the weak and defenceless.

In the general course of events it is certainly the case that some prominent parts of the Australian church would still be viewed as misogynist in their failure to allow women into positions of top leadership.  Christians have been the most vocal negative voices against state laws broadening the legal rights of homosexual people.  All of this combines to drag the spirit of the strong man out into the open and to expose it as a spirit of hardness.

Judgement always begins at the household of God (1 Peter 4:17).  If the culture is seeing the “dirty linen” of the church come out, then, however reluctantly, we must recognise that God has an issue with his people.

In addition, the culture itself is more open to change than previously.  It was certainly seen as extraordinary when the coach of the losing 2002 AFL Grand Final team wept on the ground with a player, but the manliness of the individual was not called into question.  This was also true of the public tears of men for their friends killed in the Bali bombing of October 2002.  In extreme situations it is now permissible for adult Australian males to reveal inner pain.  Surely the men of the church can realise that in this nation we have always been in an extreme spiritual situation and that it is well past time for tears.

The Elijah Task and the End of the spirit of the Strong Man

The Old Testament ends with a promise and a warning; “Behold I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the LORD.  He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers, so that I will not come and strike the land with a curse.” (Malachi 4:5- 6).

The Elijah task in the present generation is to pioneer a transformation in the church that will have the spiritual authority to reverse the dominant relational disposition in the wider Australian culture.  God is desiring to raise up a new generation of spiritual fathers who will, by their own sensitivity, discern the sensitivity and vulnerability of women, children and sensitive men.  When the male church leadership take on this disposition it will release a new form of authority in the church, the authority of intimacy with God.  The new wineskin the Lord is seeking to impart is a spirit of sensitivity.

When this release comes in and for men it will mean that women will find a greater freedom to live in the “gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in God’s sight” (1 Peter 3:5). For children it will mean a release of freedom in Jesus and freedom from the limitations of spirituality imposed by older and more careful generations. For sensitive men, especially homosexuals, it will mean a church that is able to reach the pain of their inner lives. For youth it will mean an openness to know God as Father.

This turning of the heart of the fathers to the children will bring about a much fuller participation in the Pentecostal event into which the whole people of God were first baptised in the Spirit at the foundation of the church (1 Corinthians 12:13).  That Pentecost could not happen without the cross is commonly accepted, but it is equally true that the Spirit could only be poured out after Jesus had gone back to heaven to be with the Father in the eternal measure of glory he had always enjoyed as the Son of God (John 17:5).  Only after Jesus had returned to his fullness as Son (Hebrews 1:5 –13) could he receive from the Father the Spirit as the testifier to his own completed identity.

In pouring out the Spirit as the gift of God (Acts 2:33) on “all flesh”, the whole assembled church – old, young, men, women, children, were together baptised in the power of the Spirit of Sonship so that as one they cried, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:16; Gal 4:6).  This was a cry uttered from within the identity of Jesus who as Lord and Christ in this way brings humanity to the climax of its identity as the children of God.

God now lives within a holy temple (Ephesians 2:21- 22).  This temple is not the abode of a restricted priestly class, but a place where all people: men, women, youth, children have equal access to God, for we worship “One God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:6)

The breakthrough at Pentecost was not one of the inclusivity of political correctness or some sort of primitive communism.  It was a breakthrough for the human spirit.  As all received the Spirit equally and spoke in tongues of the mighty things of God (Acts 2:4, 11), it was self – evident that the age – old divisions within humanity had been healed.  “Sons…daughters…old men…young men…slaves” all prophesied (Acts 2:17-19), for they were now equally “sons of God through faith…one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:26-28).  In this temple the Spirit lives (1 Corinthians 3:16) and all worship in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24).  Every human spirit, whether male, female, youth, child, is now recognised as holy and allowed to find full expression in the body of Christ.  This is simply another way of speaking of revival.

Conclusion

Western and post–modern culture is changing at a rate unprecedented in human history.  Where the church remains captured in cultural paradigms inherited from the past, however noble and sincerely held, history will pass it by as archaic and unintelligible.  Jesus however is the Lord of history and of culture (Matthew 28:18; Revelation 5:1- 5).  At a time when he is shaking the foundations of socially inherited truth (Hebrews 12:25- 29) an opportunity is upon us, particularly for men, to return to the ancient foundations (Isaiah 58:12) of truth laid in scripture that reflect the eternal identity of the Godhead itself.  Fatherhood is the beginning and the end of everything that has meaning, first in God then in his creation.  Spiritually, it is a reality that all can enter into and express in diverse ways, but at this pivotal time of possibility for the transformation of the church it is the primary responsibility of the “strong men” amongst us to allow the Father to reform in us the fullness of the sensitivity of Christ.

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