Human Nature – Us Against Us
Human nature pits us against us with a hidden God that causes even the righteous to fall.
God seems to have masterfully used human nature – us against us as the means to build his kingdom. Human nature is powerful and built into our core to the point we cannot overpower our instincts or intuition as we reflexively respond to our unique environment. These characteristics are pride, lies, climbing, blind followers, and stubbornness. The Bible uses animals to depict these natural characteristics. Sheep follow blindly while goats climb and eat everything in sight. Dogs tear and search out their owners. Donkeys are stubborn, while horses are obedient and swift. Bears hibernate but are powerful hunters, while lions crouch and wait for the right time to pounce. The stage is set for the three-ring circus of life to begin.
The Fall
Creation developed from a heavenly fallout where it appears ‘people’ were shocked that God could have mercy. They grumbled under their breath about it but would not say anything. They knew better, but God knew their hearts and minds. This means God would inflict the same measure on them as they inflicted on him. This leads to a hidden presence and only grumbling or moaning. God agreed to stay away (the promise), but he broke that promise by sending Jesus, or so it seemed. The Pharisees could not believe it. They accused Jesus of blasphemy because it was not allowed at that time. Full stop. So they thought. That’s interesting, however, as maybe it did not work out quite like that. I’ll leave this for another day but suffice it to say there are many clues about the spiritual movement of Christ that lead to another perspective.
Distance
God keeps his distance until it is time. Those are the rules (2 Tim 2:5). One must not make a copy or idol of anything in Heaven, or he will break the second commandment. So, God changes it by coming in the spirit. He used human nature to eat itself by pride and stubbornness while also calling on the prophets to take down the mighty (Isaiah 6:9-11, 29:11-12, Jeremiah 8:8). This fall is on our own as we would believe the rules set out before us are the ones to follow. They are, but it is complicated. It is specifically complicated by the first rule, which is not to eat of the tree of knowledge – so we will not be like God. The serpent causes the woman to fall because the man would not be on his own. She was custom-built for the project of making a man fall. We must learn. We are strapped to the kitchen chair and force-fed the fruit of life.
The Rib
The rib is fashioned into the woman, but the translation and meaning are purposefully vague. The concept might be better stated as the door of the ark is put into the woman so she won’t say a thing. She will not divulge what is in her treasure chest. More importantly, she won’t even know it’s there. This is the Church. It does not know what it has, and until it does, the door cannot be opened. This is accomplished by the misunderstood Word of Christ, like the Tower of Babel. The woman does not know the rules, so her merciful side eventually causes her to reach out. That is the only humane thing to do, but the other side sticks with the rulebook. The chasm is set.
The Divisive Word
The Word, it turns out, came to divide (Luke 12:51), that the house may fall (Mark 3:25-26). So, likewise, Jesus came to divide Satan. That means the single-mouthed snake must become two. It will eat itself in the process.
So, we have the Word. We can’t understand it because of the prophets and parables, but we think we do. The one thing that’s not allowed is for Jesus to admit who he is because of the requisite divide, and he is perfect. The tree of knowledge and life must be separated. Jesus, however, promises cross-pollination to the horror of his followers in John 6. They will eat his flesh, or family line, and witness the offspring, or blood. That’s hell, and they know it. They run. The problem is human nature kicks in, and the Pharisees, like the modern Church, take the bait. We read the Bible as we attempt to learn good from evil, despite God’s command.
The Battle of Knowledge
That pride leads to segmentation, accusation, and adversarial positions. This is fitting as Satan means adversary or accuser. That, of course, requires two sides. Those two sides are division. So the whole house falls, like the spotted, speckled, and striped sheep of Jacob that no man can boast (1 Corinthians 1:29).
We use the Word like a sword flaming with the fire of hell as it keeps the ones who are faithful and stricken with the promise and curse away from the doors of the Church. They are scared and harmed by repeated cutting because the Church cannot figure out how to forgive. That keeps everyone from the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:24).
We hide behind things like ‘we are supposed to discern’ or ‘the Bible clearly says’ to make our pronouncements of who makes it and who does not. So then, upon being asked a difficult question, someone might say we will never know everything. How can anyone know the mind of God? That’s the point. We don’t. We can’t eat from the tree of knowledge, so stop trying. When you stop trying, maybe God will give you the cipher to figure it out (Rev 2:17). Until we can be trusted with the cipher, we will not be trusted with one (Luke 16:11-12). In other words, we remain, children until we grow up and figure out how big and great God truly is (Luke 2:42, Isaiah 65:20).
Jesus’ Way
Jesus pulls this off by splitting the two sides while each has his own offspring. The children may come to Jesus, but the righteous did not know how that worked (Mark 10:13-16). That’s why Lot’s righteousness caused Sodom to burn (Ezekiel 16:49-50). It was wealthy, but there was no free will – he blocked it. Jesus corrected his disciples and brought them into his house. These are probably the children of Sodom who wanted nothing more than unity with Christ (Ephesians 5:31-32). Jesus stands at the door, waiting on those inside to open it (Revelation 3:20). If there is a door and Jesus is on one side of it, the Church must be on the other.
Tongues
When Jesus came to the disciples, he taught them the secret language of angels, which is also the teaching to love deeply (1 Cor 13:1, Luke 9:5, and 1 Peter 1:12). The impact of this is discipleship moving from one spiritual place to another (Luke 9:58) in the pursuit of casting out demons (Luke 13:32). Jesus accomplishes his mission by working in the shadows. At the same time, mankind does not know what is going on (Matthew 6:3). This secret work means one side is awake and waiting on their other half to find them, while Jesus gives peace to those on the other side who were cast out. Jesus, therefore, creates division because they have a fierce calling of silence so the Satan among us can devour itself.
Apostleship
Jesus created the Apostles for the work of division, which means emissary or sent out for a purpose. That division causes the mighty to fall. We, as man, build up a monster before Jesus rips it down. That temple is the mighty fortress of faith used to veil our pride as we pursue Christ. The problem is Christ would not be caught dead in a place that teaches division. Instead, Jesus lit the fuse by giving us the rulebook encoded with truth. He used human nature to allow us to believe it was meant to be understood, though his apostles sounded insane (2 Cor 11:23). Even Jesus sounded insane (John 10:20). Our pride and stubborn nature, however, blinds us to the things in the dark. The light of our pride hides the humble and meek in the shadows among us. It turns out. However, the meek are the ones who receive the spirit and inherit the earth (Matt 5:5). Man represents the earth; therefore, the spiritual side inherits us in the end. Until then, we use our Bibles like a battle axe to beat them up and tell them they are going to hell unless they accept Christ. The issue is they are already burning in the Hell of Heaven (2 Peter 3:10, 12) in their desire for us as we are unnaturally divided (Hebrews 4:12, Romans 1:27).
The Church Door
The characteristics of Simon Peter tell us how the Church is constructed. The name Simon means confederate of evil, and he is the son of John. John, like Jonah, is a preacher. You don’t have to look past the Book of Revelation to see that John spoke in riddles. The seven peels of thunder were sealed up, like the transfiguration, until the time is right. Peter and John were involved in all these revelations. Peter was also the rock upon which the Church was built. He is stubborn, isolated, proud, and accusative. Jesus even labeled him as Satan. He did not understand how things worked, despite being the one God opened the eyes of to realize Jesus was the Messiah (Matthew 16:17). John, it seems, will not make the same mistake as Jonah and preach clearly. He uses riddles this time around. That is the language of angels. Spoken with love, it is harmony. Spoken without love is clanging cymbals and noisy gongs (1 Cor 13:1).
The last characteristic of Peter is he, as the Church’s foundation, is given the keys to unlock those in Heaven and earth. The gates of Hades will not hold as soon as he lets the fallen loose from their bondage (Matt 18:18). When he does this, he is also let loose (Matt 18:33-35).
If you had Peter’s key, would you turn it?
