Living in the River of God
Introduction
“Glory to God for all things.” (John Chrysostom). This is how I finished my last short teaching (Deeper Glory). I believe we need to take Chrysostom’s words in the broadest biblical way. This came to mind last week through a seemingly minor episode. Calling a friend in Adelaide who I’d not spoken with for several years, in the course of conversation he excitedly remarked, “something else has happened recently”, going on to tell me about the birth of a first grandchild. When I, in a rather muted fashion, related this to Donna, she told me that I was being less than fully human and needed to be more of a friend to my old mate. She remarked, “when you reach 70 and no grandchild has been born, you must wonder if you will ever see one!” I knew that Donna was correct (no surprise here), but since it was Jesus who had redefined friendship for us in terms of himself (John 15:15), and that he is the model of perfected humanity (John 1:14; 1 Tim 3:16), I sensed there was much more to what she was saying than she realised. I set out to ask the Lord in prayer what these further things might be, this teaching is a result.
The River Includes All Things
In bed praying one morning I could sense that the many coloured River of God, best understood as the fellowship enjoyed by the Persons of the Trinity between themselves (Luke 3:22; Rom 14:17) encompasses all things. The River brings “life” wherever it goes (Ezek 47:9; Rev 22:1). It is ultimately the River of God that is foundational to all authentic human experiences of joy, including joy at the birth of a grandchild (John 16:21; Acts 14:17). Whilst there are perverse joys to be avoided (Luke 22:5), most of us do not abide in the “inexpressible and glorious joy” (1 Pet 1:8) the Lord constantly offers us.. In prayer recently, speaking to the Lord about “listening to the Word of God” I had a very clear awareness that the Word is infinitely greater than all things it has made (Acts 3:21). “All things” are subject at the deepest level of their life, movement and being (Acts 17:28) to the all- creating/preserving Logos, who is the glorified Jesus. Practically speaking, Jesus is already present everywhere and longs to be manifest in every place through his earthly Body i.e., us!
Look More Carefully, See more Fully
Walking past the home of an impoverished indigenous family in prayer, I was strangely reminded of an event I witnessed years ago in remote WA. A middle-aged white woman gave testimony which included her rolling around in the fine red dirt to show how degraded she once was as an alcoholic. Through her, Jesus personally, in his unlimited humility, was communicating to the very depressed First Australians of how he has taken their poverty in order to bring them into his glory (2 Cor 8:9). Those who know the covenant God will do “great exploits” (Dan 11:32) of this character as they commune with the ever-present Jesus. After this I was moved to thank God my name for all who I would see that day as I sensed that each one was specifically/particularly “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Ps 139:14 cf. Acts 1:15). Made by the ever-abiding Word=Jesus. As I “toil and struggle” (Col 1:29) to listen to the Word who upholds all things (Heb 1:3), I am increasing sensitive to the fact that all people are created, sustained, and directed towards the climax and End of all things which is Christ (Eph 1:9-10). All that you have ever experienced is headed for the measureless splendours of eternal glory. As a young drinker all the future seemed dark, empty, and depressing. In Jesus the future is glorious light, “the glory of God gives the city light, and its lamp is the Lamb” (Rev 21:23 cf. 1 Pet 2:9).
The River Bursts Through Us
As I was interceding for someone by name, and reflecting on John 7:37-39, I sensed a bursting forth from my innermost being of the multicoloured River all over this person. This was an outpouring of all the Spirit’s “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, itself-control” (Gal 5:22-23) for broken humanity. These are all attributes which Jesus as Word has attained in the Spirit for the salvation of the world (John 13:34; 14:27; 15:11; 1 Tim 1:1; Rev 19:11; Matt 11:29; 1 Pet 2:21ff.). This vital outpouring of the Spirit prophetically testifies that Jesus in himself is “the Lord of the Breakthrough” for the created order. As king David testified ““Like a bursting flood, the Lord has burst out against my enemies before me.” Therefore, he named that place the Lord Bursts Out.”” (2 Sam 5:20).
Trans-dimensional Christianity
I awoke one morning recently with a sense of a vast space/void/abyss. This was not the Void or Abyss Jewish and Christian mystics love to meditate on, it is an emptiness now filled with the love of God in Christ. All emptiness exists to be filled with Jesus. The deep, dark, empty void of Genesis 1:2 has been taken into the vast domain of the darkness of the cross embrace by the Lord, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34). He has filled all nothingness with the fullness of the revelation of God in himself. The inexpressibility (2 Cor 9:15) of what has come in Jesus overwhelming all dark powers is the revelation of the fulness of the Word in the Spirit’s power. Paul’s prayer, “I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Eph 3:14-19,) is a prayer for us to be filled to overflowing with all that Father, Son and Spirit have become for us in Christ. This means to be filled with all that is in the River of God.
Conclusion
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) should be received within a framework bounded on one side with John 1:1, “the Word was with God, and the Word was God”, and on the other with, “God gives the Spirit without limit” (John 3:34). There are no limits in the love fo God for the lost world. The Father loves the all-creative Word who penetrates all things in the energy of his Spirit in their deepest depth as the Lamb of God now crucified and glorified (Rev 5:6; 13:8). To put the same thing a different way, Jesus is inescapably present in the past, present and future of all things (Heb 13:8). It’s time to stop downsizing the riches of the Lord of glory (1 Cor 2:8; James 2:1) and to believe that “revival” is the re-normalising that Father, Son and Holy Spirit always aim for in the Church. The Church as an icon, representing by grace where all creation is heading in Christ. Let us pray for the revealing of these things in union with all the saints in heaven and on earth, “Glory to God for all things.”