After the Virus, What?

[HKHaugan]

After the Virus, What?

 

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse (Rom.1:20).”

This comes after Paul’s strong double proclamation. The first part is about the new righteousness which is by faith, the heart of the Gospel (Gk.euanggelion, good announcement). Not only that, it is from faith to faith (pisteos eis pistin, literally, faith into faith or from one faith to the next faith). For emphasis as to the importance of faith, Paul quotes Habakkuk 2:4, “The righteous shall live by faith.” If you want to get right down to it, what Paul is saying here is that every next breath you take, every next movement you make, every next thought your mind entertains, your heart leans into, your spirit is motivated by,---each one is by faith. Your life is an action. You are a verb taking place. There is no sitting in one place basking in whatever accomplishment or emotion or guilt or regret. Real life is faith, a moving forward event. All this is what Paul was saying to the Roman believers he was about to meet on the way to what he had planned was his trip to Spain. That’s the first part.

The second part comes in 1:18 with Paul’s scathing condemnation of godlessness and wickedness. It’s important to grasp immediately that Paul is condemning the behavior not the men. The men are consumed with themselves (Gk.asebeian, ungodly, not being like God and Gk.adikaion, unrighteousness, not being faithful like God). There is no middle ground, no compromise. You are either faithful or you are unfaithful, for God or against Him. They are purposely suppressing the truth which has been made plain to them by what they can physically see. The spiritual dimension underlies all things and everything seen has an unseen parallel, meaning and purpose…”clearly seen, being understood from what has been made…”

Paul, a scholar, had obviously heard about Rome’s reputation as the world’s seat of power and assumed superiority. It was multi-religious, militarily unbeatable, socially stratified, attitudinally the defining elite human existence. It was ruled by an emperor considered to be a god who governed through an assorted group of aristocratic senators. Roman lifestyle? Be a proud Roman citizen working to find one’s place in the power structure and serve it.

The daily routine was to be aware of circumstance, adapt to it, work to survive and get what you can while you can. It is a structure based on fear as are all humanly derived institutions where social standards are the invisible forces to be manipulated for survival and achievement. A culture ripe for the invasion of spiritual darkness. Rome! Mankind’s human pinnacle. All the rest? A lonely desert. Shakespeare caught the essence of Rome and all humanly derived institutions in three words from his play Julius Caesar, “Et tu, Brute?” One might even pose the similar more infamous parallel recorded in Matthew 26:49, the Judas kiss, that is, if you catch my drift about both.

The whole of Rome’s structure has a spiritual parallel in its real ruler being the devil. But it was a structure that set the stage for it being converted to a true spiritual reality, the Kingdom of God ruled by the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and His eliteness; the grace, love and truth of God in Jesus giving all its citizens His presence in their hearts by the Holy Spirit. What the devil uses to separate us from God can be spiritualized by the Holy Spirit for the Father’s meaning and purpose. As Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” Jesus rules through faith and it is an eternal Kingdom in which He is King.

For each of us, faith in Jesus isn’t only centered in my heart to be enjoyed by me alone. That faith is moving around in the world and looking for opportunities to share that faith. When I wake up I start taking each step in faith, a conscious step with the Lord. As I go I’m being alert to the Holy Spirit making me aware of what’s going on around me; the people I meet, the phone calls I get, the places I’m headed for, the unexpected that comes my way. Faith motivates my concentration on each. I go from faith to faith to faith to faith to faith in a destiny to come.

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful (Rev.21:1-5).”