At this
point, I want to introduce a rare word. This word is so rare that few would
know its meaning and that makes it
particularly useful for us here because few people will come to it with a pre-conceived
idea of what it means. But before I introduce the word, I want to make some
small comment on the use of Paul's idea of
our being ‘ambassadors for Christ’. Ambassador and Embassy are linked words since an Ambassador is
an agent of and for a foreign country, situated in a small territory of the host country. We call
that territory an Embassy. While in
Uganda, I regularly passed by the
United States Embassy, located on a piece of land on Gaba Road in Nsambya in
the Ugandan capital of Kampala. Located
in Uganda, the Embassy is a little part of the United States of America and within it, the US Ambassador to Uganda carries
out his duties and his mission.
Another way
of seeing an Embassy – such as the US Embassy in Kampala – is as an exclave (as
distinct from an
enclave). Let me quote Wikipedia:
In political geography, an enclave is a territory
whose geographical boundaries lie entirely within the boundaries
of another territory. An exclave, on the other hand, is a territory legally or politically attached to another
territory with which it is not physically contiguous.
[Wikipedia: Enclave and Exclave, March 2012]
To a considerable extent, it is a matter of perspective - as can be seen
in the following diagram.
As Wikipedia
points out, C is an enclave to A, but an Exclave to B.
The
US Embassy in Kampala (C) is an enclave in Uganda (A) and an exclave of the
United States of America (B).
In
a similar way, Paul's understanding of the place and the role of the New Covenant People
of God in Christ (C) is that they are an
enclave in the world – the kingdom of
man (A) and an exclave of the Kingdom of God (B).
And there is an important extra dimension to this illustration: The
Kingdom of God – the place God inhabits – is eternity, a ‘place’ not
constrained by time, space and matter. The
kingdom of man is the
place of time, space and matter. The new
covenant people of God – what Paul calls the ecclesia – is a volatile state of transition between the two. The people of God have ‘eternity in their
hearts’ (Ecclesiastes 3:11) and are
undergoing a permanent transformation into the likeness of Christ (Romans 12:2
and 1 Corinthians 3:18) while still being largely constrained within the time,
space, matter continuum.
We are an
outpost of Eternity (the eternal Kingdom of God – the realm of God and His Son)
placed within the
world (the temporal kingdom of man – the realm of Satan and his entourage) for
the purpose of representing the interests
of the Kingdom of God and His Son and of providing the ‘bridge’ or way of
passage from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of His beloved son as Paul
described in Colossians 1:13.
This is the place and
the role of the exclave of the people of God. That is on the macro level – the universal plane of the whole of the new covenant
people of God in all of history. It is
also the place and the role of local groups of disciples of Jesus in
their localities, towns, cities, suburbs, etc. And both,
in the language of scripture, are the ecclesia
– God’s called-out company of disciples who are in transition. As Paul says, “For He delivered us from the
domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son”
(Colossians 1:13). But we are still
constrained by earth’s time, space, matter
continuum.
Apostle
Paul had an interesting take on this matter: he told the Philippians, “But I am
hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with
Christ, for that is very much better, yet to remain on in the flesh is more
necessary for your sake” (1:23). I echo
his sentiments: to make the
move from exclave to homeland is ‘very much better’; yet to remain in exclave
as ecclesia is necessary for a variety of
reasons and purposes.
At this
point, I want to draw into this meditation a critically important trinity of
ideas that I came across as I plied God with questions and delved into the
scriptures. I got just so far down this
study track when I discovered that other people in other parts of the world
were doing the same thing. So much so
that I stopped writing on the subject: because one such fellow-traveller is
Frank Viola. Mid-study, I found his
wonderful book From Eternity to Here (David C Cook, 2009). The rear
cover of the book says this:
Deep within God's Word lies a wondrous story
like no other. A drama that originated before time
began. An epic saga that resonates with the heartbeat of Go. As story that
reveals nothing less than the meaning
of life and God's great mission in the earth. (Italics added)
[I added the
italics here because when I began my study in 2008, I was looking to find the missio
Dei (God’s mission in the earth) and I called my study – and this document – The Meaning of Life.]
What
is so important about this book? The
back cover continues:
From Eternity to Here
presents three
remarkable stories spanning Genesis to Revelation. Each story traces a divine theme
that is woven throughout scripture. Seen together, they offer an extraordinary glimpse
into God's highest passion and grand mission. What we discover will forever change
your view of life, the church and our magnificent God.
I
couldn’t agree more – but it’s not the book that will do that, but the truth
that the book unveils. I struggled for some time with the very thing that
Viola addresses at several points throughout his book: the vast bulk of
theological, ecclesiastical and missional understanding that underpins “church
life” as we know it starts at Genesis 3 and ends at somewhere around Revelation
20.
But,
whether we like it or not, things did not begin with the fall – they didn’t
even begin with creation. And they don’t end with judgment; they end
with what is often called ‘the marriage supper of the Lamb’ and the
beginning of the new order with the Father, the Son and the Bride. They began
with a passion in the heart of God for three things. They end with that same passion now a
living reality on the new earth. These
are the ‘three remarkable stories’ referred to in the quote above. In my estimation,
they are best seen and summarized in Viola's Introduction – Disclosing the Divine Story.
What I will share in the pages
that follow are three narratives, which woven together, tell the epic story of God's ageless
purpose. All three narratives are solidly grounded in scripture. In fact, they embody the whole
story of scripture, streaming through it like a constant current.
The first is the story of a God
who is an ageless romantic, driven by one consuming pursuit. The second is about a God who
has sought since eternity to have a resting place, a habitation, a home. And the third
reveals a God from another realm ['B' in my earlier illustration] who visits planet earth '['A'
in that illustration] to establish a heavenly colony that will give Him visible expression
['C' in that illustration].
In the economy of
scripture, 1+1+1 does not equal 3, but 1. The
story of God's ageless purpose is one grand
drama...
Part 1 of this book is dedicated
to presenting the Bride. Part 2 is dedicated to presenting the house. Part 3 is dedicated to
presenting the body and the family. Interestingly, all of these images are
different aspects of one reality. Taken together, they embody God's grand mission in the earth, [the
Missio Dei]
This progression is also rooted
in scripture. And it is the heart of the biblical story, the metanarrative
(overarching story) of holy writ. The Father obtains a bride for His Son by the Spirit. He then builds a house in which he, the Son,
and the bride dwell together in the Spirit. The Father, the Son and the bride live in that house as an
extended household and they have offspring
by the Spirit. The offspring constitutes the family, a new humanity called "the body of
Christ", [the ecclesia]
Most of us will
be familiar with these terms, but, as Viola astutely points out, “Christians
have been given a
steady diet of biblical terminology. We
speak it fluently because it’s the tribal language. But the reality and the power behind our
terminology has largely been lost.”
I join my hope with
his: “... that as you read this book, new life will be breathed into these
familiar terms. I pray that the Holy Spirit would fill them
with their original beauty and awe to this end: that you would be given
a dramatically new, if not a staggering, look at the ageless purpose that
drives your God. For that purpose is the
very reason you exist.”
And that purpose is central to the life and mission of
the ecclesia today.
End of series
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