Hear Him » event

Origin of Evil

Andre Rabe — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 05:08:43 +0000

Before His infinite mind, lay infinite possibilities. Within His limitless imagination arose limitless options. God chose from all the possibilities, those which would most accurately express Himself. But in choosing these possibilities, in deciding what to create, there were inevitably some possibilities that were rejected. The possibilities and options that were rejected, later became known as ‘evil’. ‘Evil’ is all the possibilities that are not in harmony with the nature and character of God. Evil is all that He chose not to create. The existence of evil does not mean it has any substance – darkness exists only in the absence of light.

However, the being He imagined to be His companion, would be able to choose ‘its’ own possibilities. Love, by its very nature, is free. Love can be awakened, encouraged and stirred, but it can never be forced. And so God determined to create man outside of His control! This meant – and He knew it all before – that man would make wrong choices and in doing so create obstacles to … or maybe opportunities for, the love of God.

How could a completely free and spontaneous being be guaranteed to make the right choices? The ‘Logos’ calculated uncountable scenarios and configurations of the environment to see if there was a way to guarantee the right choice. The answer was produced after an exceptionally long period of timelessness. The fact that this being would not be all-knowing, yet be imaginative and free, meant that this being would indeed make choices and have preferences other than those chosen by God! This creature would be responsible for choosing ‘evil’! For any other logic, this would be an impossible situation – how to plan and purpose the conclusion of this plot, yet give another creature the freedom to choose what role to play within it. But for the Logos, nothing is impossible.

Before anything began, God foresaw the inevitable mistakes, the fall of man, the evil consequences … but He also saw a way in which to provide for every need, overcome every obstacle and restore man to the glory He intended. And so we read about the grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began! (2 Tim 1:9). Before He created anything, He knew it would cost Him everything to redeem man and fulfil all His purpose … and so we read about the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world. Once again, in His own freedom, He determined to give Himself in His Son, to step out of this eternal unsearchable realm, into the temporal, the realm of fallen man. In giving us grace and truth, He would give nothing less than Himself.

When we realise that our Creator foreknew the whole plot before a single event occurred, we are able to recognise His loving and guiding hand in all things. He knew about the temptations, the choices and the consequences of those choices, long before they happened. “He declares the end from the beginning”. Isaiah … He is not the author of all events, but He certainly is wise and able enough to steer even the most evil events toward the conclusion that He pre-ordained.

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Eternity arrived in time …

Andre Rabe — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 05:00:07 +0000

Who better to define eternity than Jesus. He said: This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and the One You have sent – Jesus Christ. Eternal life has much more to do with God, our intimacy with Him, and the quality of life it produces, than it has to do with a long period of time.

There is an event that took place in eternity of such importance and magnitude that it overflowed into our time! This mystery was hidden for ages and generations … but then it happened: Eternity arrived in time; the infinite filled the finite; the eternal filled the temporal, the unknowable God revealed Himself in a way we can all understand. God became man! His mind was made known; His character unveiled; His opinion of you made clear. Like an ocean emptied into a pond, it filled and changed all time – out of all proportion to the fall of man, is the redemption of man. The Lamb, who was slain from the foundation of the world, was born and walked amongst us.

It is this singular event that gives meaning to all other time. It is only within this one event that all other events can find purpose. This event is God’s reference within our time by which all other events are judged. Only within relationship to this event can the temporal, changing, time-bound events find eternal value. Although this single event was concentrated in one individual, Jesus, it included all men. And although it happened before you were born, it has a greater claim on you than your own personal past.

I know something about your past …. !

Andre Rabe — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:16:42 +0000

When Satan reminds us of the past, it is filled with sin, disappointment and regret, but when God reminds us of the past it is overwhelmed with the story of salvation that results in our joy and gratitude. History from God’s point of view, is the story of His initiative despite our failures, His love despite our ignorance, His salvation despite the sin. The event of Christ changes everything – history is no longer defined by fallen man, but by a gracious God.

When Satan reminds you of the past it is all about what you did or did not do, what you said or did not say – its all about your actions. When God reminds you of the past its all about what He did for you when you least deserved it, His initiative when you did not seek Him, His action when you were helpless. Despite our wrong choices and the ways it which we’ve excluded Him from our lives, He remained faithful, remained involved, committed Himself to pursuing us and making us His own. In fact David says in Psalm 139 that even when he deliberately wanted to flee from the Lord …”He found me, His arms surround me”

Even your past is beautiful from His point of view, because He is in it and He works all things together for your good!

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You are older than what you thought!

Andre Rabe — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:07:01 +0000

Before our milky way was formed, before our sun ignited, before Jupiter or Mars began their orbit, before the earth was able to support life … you were planned, identified and named for a very specific purpose. You predate the dinosaurs! You began way before your conception – you began in the mind of God. “Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days of my life were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them.” (Ps. 139:16). It is this realm, this eternal dimension, that preserves the truth about you. In our temporal, time-bound realm there might be many events, circumstances and experiences that try to contradict the truth about you … but they are as shadows compared to the unchangeable truth that was decided before this world began and will remain the only truth after this world has come to an end.You are older than what you thought!

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Beyond pride and regret

Andre Rabe — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:52:27 +0000

What do you refer to, to describe yourself? Is it your family traits; your unique childhood; your achievements? Or maybe you have allowed some tragedy to become the defining event of who you are. There is a more valid reference! If you don’t discover that reference, you will allow experiences to shape and twist you. But when you discover that your identity was established in eternity, no temporal event will have the power to deceive you anymore.

Come to this conclusion: I am more than the sum total of my experience. I am greater than all the events in my life joined together. I’m bigger than my biggest disappointment or achievement. I am the image and likeness of God and not a fraction of me has been revealed.

Another way in which a person can define themselves is by what they have gained or by what they have lost. Pride and regret are both deceptions, designed for the same purpose: to blind man; to keep man from seeing his true value, a value far beyond all the wealth you can attain; a value untouched by anything you have ever lost.

Narrowness of experience

Andre Rabe — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:00:43 +0000

Another aspect of perspective is that one can get so close to an object, that it obscures one’s view from all else. For many, personal experience has become the ultimate authority and measure of truth – it is the only thing they’ll believe or place any confidence in. But there are few things that can skew our perspective more than personal experience. Let me explain:

In my early childhood – I was about five years old – we moved into a new house. Most of these houses in South Africa had big back yards and these made ideal playgrounds for small boys. We called it a ‘yard’ instead of a garden because it wasn’t really a neatly kept garden – it was more like a large enclosure. On the day we moved in I noticed something very tempting: the neighbour had a small orchard of mango trees in his back yard … and I loved mangoes. My dad must have read my thoughts because at the moment I noticed these trees, he said to me: “Don’t even think of going into the neighbour’s yard – there is a vicious dog guarding the trees”. That was a very disappointing piece of information as through the days and weeks that followed I witnessed the mango fruit ripening.

I often played in the back yard in the afternoons and felt terribly tempted by the ripe mangoes over the fence, however my fear of the vicious dog prevented me from even attempting to pick a mango. One afternoon, while playing, I became desperately ‘hungry’ and the fruit seemed particularly inviting. I nervously sneaked onto the fence at the far end of the yard to have a better look at the dog, but I couldn’t see the dog anywhere. I took my chance and jumped over the fence, grabbed a couple of mangoes and jumped back into my own yard. They were delicious!

It did not take me long to realise that there was no dog! The moral of the story is not about temptation or repentance or anything deeply spiritual like that. The point is simply that my experience of hunger was real, my experience of fear was real, but these real experiences were based on the lie that I believed regarding a vicious dog. The moment I realised that there was no dog the fear disappeared … and as a consequence so did the hunger. How many of our real experiences are based on lies? How different would our experiences be, if we believed differently?

The truth that Jesus introduces us to is of a much higher authority than our experience – it is a truth that is able to transform our experience. He wants to introduce us to a truth much broader than our narrow experiences.

“… my judgement would be true because I wouldn’t make it out of the narrowness of my experience but in the largeness of the One who sent me, the Father.”(John 8:16 MSG). If Jesus considered his own experience as narrow compared to a much greater reality, then we too might have to re-evaluate the importance we attach to personal experience.

In the same way as our personal experiences are to narrow to reveal our true identity, so too is our culture too narrow; our language too narrow; our society too narrow; our race too narrow; even our relationships, no matter how precious, are too narrow. He reveals that all the measures we’ve used to measure ourselves with are completely inadequate. “but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding” He shatters our illusions, but at that very moment He also brings to light the truth of our design. We are eternal beings, which means that anything temporal will not do justice to God’s estimation of our worth and He invites us to see ourselves from His point of view.

Awake (a visit to India)

Andre Rabe — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:17:09 +0000

Have you ever seen the wonder and excitement in the eyes of a young child at the discovery of something new? You might even remember what it felt like when the world was still an unexplored mystery. Every day we wake up in a world we did not make, in a solar system that supports our existence without any direction or guidance from us. And no matter how much we think we know, we have barely begun to discover the wonder of all that is around us.

It’s so easy to lose this sense of wonder. We get busy. We get occupied with the familiar. Before we know it, we are bound to routine. Unconsciously we come to the conclusion that there is nothing new. Childlike excitement disappears, and often it gets replaced by cheap thrills. Survival replaces abundant life.

But from time to time something happens that jolts us; shakes us; awakes us. Our senses are aroused and we witness life again the way we were always meant to witness it. It can be the simplest event: the smile of a baby, the roar of an ocean, a kind word, a harsh word, or walking down a street you never walked down before.

These moments interrupt our slumber and remind us again that there is so much more. The past week was such an event for me. I came to India as part of a group on a 10 day work assignment and thankfully I also had a few days for myself over the weekends. The first Monday was a public holiday and together with a few work colleagues we went on a city tour of Mumbai. There were masses of people everywhere and the slum shacks were build to the edge of most roads. The tour guide informed us that there were, officially, 18 million people in this city, but unofficially the figure was closer to 22 million. Then, pointing to some of the slums, she said something that stuck with me for the rest of the day: “it’s because these people don’t count”.

Our first stop was the city ‘laundry community’ where thousands of items of clothing are hand-washed every day. I missed most of the explanation and information given by the guide as I was pre-occupied with a few small children who were simply delighted to say hello to someone who would at least make eye contact with them. In their smiles and sparkling eyes I started to recognise something … something that counts for plenty.

Street after street was filled with activity and masses of people. Through all the hours we traveled we did not find one quiet location. And in face after face I witnesses the same spark, the same quality, the something that counts for plenty.

The day flew by. We arrived in the surreal environment and luxury of our hotel. Back in my room I started writing a quick note to a few friends, intending to just give them a summary of the day’s sights and sounds. Suddenly I was overwhelmed. Face after face, street after street flashed through my mind and I realised that each one counted – each one meant everything to their Maker and the spark of their origin is still so visible in them. In the midst of dire circumstances and a filthy environment, their value far transcends their surroundings. The enormity of their value, and the enormity of their ignorance of this truth was simply overwhelming.

As I wiped tears from my face and tried to compose myself, I realised that an hour had passed and I had hardly written anything in the email. I hastily tried to capture a few of my thoughts with inadequate words.

Although the wonder and mystery of God can be recognised in all creation, no creature gives clearer definition to who God is, than the creature He named: “My image and My likeness”. No matter how corrupted and how perverted man becomes, the image and likeness of God, although suppressed and dormant, remains an indestructible quality of what makes us human. And nowhere do we find a better definition of man than in the person of Jesus Christ. Eph 4 calls Him the measure of a perfect man.

The mystery and wonder of God is not some vague or fanciful philosophy. This mystery found concrete context and focus in Jesus Christ.

Jesus. There is nothing vague about Him. We can date His birth and visit the town in which He was born. You can dip your feet in the river He was baptised in and eat fish from the same lake from which He ate fish. He was no mysterious, holy-man who lived his life in seclusion or dedicated his time to sacred meditation. No! He went to weddings, laid hands on lepers, argued with the religious and embraced children. He demonstrated that human life counts in whatever place or state it is in. He got His hands dirty with everyday people, affirming their value in the very context of their ordinary living.

How often have we missed an encounter with God because we looked for something spectacular and ignored the sparkling eyes of a person right in front of us. Did Jesus not say: “what you do to the least of these, you have done it unto me”. Jesus challenges us to see Him … to see God, in the least of people. Jesus demands more than theoretical and clinically clean pursuits of spirituality, He demonstrated that true spiritual treasure is found in earthen pots – in involving ourselves in the ordinary activity of ordinary people.

Paul’s revelation of Christ did not drive him to a monastery. He did not try and escape the difficulties, the muck and the mundane that is so abundant in real human lives, but he wrote: “We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. … We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus’ sake, which makes Jesus’ life all the more evident in us.” 2 Cor 4:7 – 12

Letting Jesus live in us, is not an escape to an environment of tranquil serenity, it means reaching out and getting involved in the troubled, confused and ordinary lives of people. When John writes about God’s final habitation, in the book of Revelation, he does not write about idyllic natural scenes or majestic cathedrals, but He likens God’s eternal home to a city – men and woman and children living their lives is where God chose to live! He emphasises this point by saying: ” …and I saw no temple there”!

That’s exactly what Jesus did. He didn’t make it easy for Himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out. “I took on the troubles of the troubled,” is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then we’ll be a choir—not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus! So reach out and welcome one another to God’s glory. Jesus did it; now you do it! Rom 15:3-7

The story of this visit to India will not be complete without writing about Bangalore. After a week of long days and late nights working in Mumbai, my colleagues returned to London, while I went on to Bangalore. Dawie Blake put me in contact with some believers in Bangalore and over the weekend we met at a local restaurant. I was so encouraged to hear how these young men met Jesus while at college, and how their new found treasure has influenced and brought many others to the knowledge of Christ. Although they have opportunity to move abroad, which seems to be the ambition of many young people, their passion is to see this gospel reach India. What a joy to know that God is revealing Himself in India – the hearing ear and the seeing eye, God has made them both. The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God.

I’ll leave you with one last thought:

But make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! Rom 13:11

The Crescendo (Chapter 6)

Andre Rabe — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 17:17:32 +0000

Throughout ancient times God spoke in many fragments and glimpses of prophetic thought to our fathers. Now, the sum total of His conversation with man has finally culminated in a son; He is the official heir of all things, He is after all the author of the ages. In Him everything finds their destiny. (Christ is the crescendo of God’s conversation with us.) He makes the glory (intent) of God visible in radiant reflection, He gives stature to the character and person of God. (Gen.1:26,27.)This final powerful utterance of God (the incarnation) is the vehicle that carries the weight of the universe. The content of His message celebrates the fact that God took it upon Himself to successfully purge and acquit mankind. Jesus is now His right hand of power, seated in the boundless measure of His majesty. He occupies the highest seat of authority.
Heb. 1:1-3 Mirror Translation

All the prophets bore witness and pointed towards an event; a person, in which the mystery – the fullness of God’s purpose – would be made known. It was not because of a lack of diligence that they only saw and spoke in fragments and glimpses, but because of the enormity of this revelation. There was only One who was worthy to open the seals; only One who would have the strength and wisdom to accurately reflect God’s original idea; only One who witnessed and was part of God’s original motivation to create. The prophets saw glimpses of the mind of God, but Jesus is the mind of God.

In no way does this belittle the prophets, but rather it emphasises the significance of Christ. The messages that came through the prophets had such rich variety, they were relevant in so many different generations and were communicated in such a diversity of ways, but they were all moving towards a climax – the crescendo of God’s conversation with man. The prophets spoke, wrote and sometimes used dramatic action to communicate their message – Jesus is the message. The prophets often spoke a word that was relevant for their generation, their time and situation – Jesus is the complete and eternal Word, always relevant, always fresh. The prophets bore witness to the reality and truth they saw – Jesus is that reality, is that truth. He is the very brilliance and light of God’s character and His aim is not simply to reveal truth to us, but to make us true. As we behold Him we are transformed into that same image!

The One who began it all, the Author of the ages, has not forsaken what He made. He is as surely the Lord of ‘destiny’ as He is the Lord of creation. The Creator is also the Redeemer. He has not retreated into being a distant observer, a purely transcendent God, but continues to be intimately involved, sustaining all existence, upholding the universe.

When John speaks about the Word that became flesh, He is saying that the very mind of God, the reason and very life of God was made visible, so that we no longer have to grope in the darkness, but know His thoughts towards us. He is the true or real light – the essence and reality of everything. If you want to know what God is like, look at what Jesus is like. Jesus said “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”. In this one statement He identifies Himself as the ultimate reality, the mind of God revealed.

God’s Word is Jesus Christ. There is only one Word and only one mediator between man and God, the man Christ Jesus. All He has to say to us, He said in Christ. All He has to give to us, He gave in Jesus Christ, for in Christ, He gave Himself in all His fullness. Not only did He become man, but in His free gift of grace, He makes us like Himself. Our entire relation with God, happens within this Word. This is the Word that planned our existence, this is the Word through whom we were created, this is the Word that is our mediation, this is the Word that reveals the secret of our identity and the purpose of our existence, and this Word is our only hope and destiny.
The Word Eternal

Long before the first line of scripture
was penned on papyrus scroll,
the Word, unwritten,
existed as the mind of God.

Before the books were gathered
collated as sacred text,
the Word, intangible; invisible,
was planning, was ordering
the ages that were to come.
This Word predates the Bible,
this Word predates creation,
this Word is alive and active
and speaking still today.

“Heaven is my throne room;
I rest my feet on earth.
So what kind of house
will you build me?” says God.

What kind of doctrine could enfold Him,
What kind of information could define Him,
What kind of book could contain Him?

Yet, despite His boundless nature,
within His infinite wisdom,
He devised a crafty plan, by which
His thoughts, His intents
would fit themselves into
the form of a humble seed:
The DNA of His own life,
encrypted within the written Word.

And so began the writing
of that which we now call:
the Bible – the Scriptures.
Within the limitations; imperfections
of human words and human authors
God placed His eternal perfect seed.

A seed is not a tree;
the Scriptures are not our God,
Yet a seed is the beginning, the start -
provided with fruitful soil,
encouraged by water and light,
a seed gives birth to a being
much greater than itself.

His plan foresaw the day
in which this seed would blossom
no longer encrypted; no longer disguised
but fully expressed in the person
of Jesus – the Christ – the Son
The One who was in the beginning
revealed within our midst
Immanuel – God with us -
the Word became flesh.

His desire is still the same:
for His Word to break free of the boundaries
of letters and text and theories
and yet again, became flesh,
and yet again find expression in a person:
you – the chosen – the offspring of God.

So as we approach the Scriptures,
do more than read what is written -
listen to what is spoken.
So once again we can encounter
the mind, the voice, the person
who spoke long before
pen or paper were born.
(by Andre Rabe)
This Great Salvation
Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that would come to you searched and carefully investigated. They inquired into what time or what circumstances the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating when He testified in advance to the messianic sufferings and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you concerning things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. 1 Pet 1:10-12

When they inquired about the time to which all their writings pointed, the event that would be the fulfillment of God’s purpose and the release of His glory on earth, the Spirit of God within them pointed towards the sufferings of Christ. They realised that we ( those who came after the suffering of Christ ) would be the beneficiaries of this event. How many continue to search the scriptures, trying to find another prophesy that points to another time or event, and in the process neglect the greatest event – this great salvation.

The Jews divided time into two parts, namely: the present age, and the age to come. The ‘present age’ was subject to evil and the ‘age to come’ would be the perfect age in which God rules. In between these two ages they saw the ‘Day of the Lord’ which was, as it were the birth pangs of the new age. The writer of Hebrews is saying that the age of glimpses, fragments is gone and the age of completeness has come. The time of shadows and grasping in the dark has gone, the time of reality and truth has come. In Jesus “… the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining” and “you will do well to heed this word as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” (1John2:8, 2 Pet 1:19). Jesus is not just another messenger of ‘the present age’, but He is the Day of the Lord, giving birth to a whole new dispensation.

God anticipated a time and a person in which He would reveal Himself in such clarity and completeness, that for all eternity it would be known as the crescendo, the sum total of His conversation with man. Just as He spoke creation into existence, this declaration would once again be a word of such magnitude that it would give birth to a whole new creation. Just as He originally said: “let light shine out of darkness”, He would once again speak a word that would shine with the knowledge of the favour of God; a message that would radiate the character of God with such accuracy that it would dispel all darkness, destroy all ignorance of His love and leave man without excuse to remain distant. This event would mark the end of the old Adamic race, a race defined by the fall of man, and be the birth of a new humanity, a humanity which God reconciled to Himself, not holding their trespassed against them, a humanity defined by Christ – His final Word regarding man.

Identity revealed
In the face of Christ Jesus the eternal purpose of God, His original intent and thoughts towards man were made plain. This revelation destroys every false identity and unlocks the truth about us. The light that confronted Saul on the way to Damascus was both a destructive force and a life-giving encounter. The flaming fire of the presence of God eternally destroyed Saul, and simultaneously brought forth Paul – the true person that God had in mind since the beginning. As Paul continued to look into this light, he saw the face of Christ shining with the knowledge of the glory of God. As he looked deeply, he became aware of the real significance of Christ, a significance far beyond the miracles He performed, a significance far beyond the few years He spent on earth. He began to recognise, in the face of Christ, the true identity of mankind.

It is this insight into Christ which takes us beyond a mere historic appreciation of Him, into a present awareness of the One who lives; the One who represents my innocence at the right hand of God.

Jesus once asked: “Who do men say that I am?”. After His disciples gave Him all the current opinions and hearsay stories, He asked: “And you, who do you say that I am?”. There is an appointed time for you to move beyond popular opinion and come to your own conclusion. Can you hear Him asking you that question today: “Who do you say that I am?” Seeing Him for who He truly is, is not an intellectual exercise; it’s not simply reading about what He did or said. Even His disciples who were with Him did not come to an accurate conclusion about Him from observing Him in the natural. It was only when the Father revealed His own point of view to Peter, that Peter started to appreciate the real Christ. Jesus then immediately started speaking to Peter about his true identity – that He was a piece of a rock carved and originating in another rock. Reminds us of Is 51: “You who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were hewn” In realising His true identity, you discover your own. “The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.” (Rom 12:3 MSG).

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory. (2 Cor 3:18 NAS). Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, is the reflection of God’s original thought about us, the means by which we were created, the mediator through whom we are justified and made blameless, the mirror in whom we see the truth that we were indeed created in His image and likeness.

Christ is the revelation of your true identity. “When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” (Col 3:4 NAS) The word ‘when’ in the Greek is in the present continuous tense. In other words ‘whenever’ is probably a better translation. The Mirror translation says it this way: “Every time Christ is revealed as our life, we are being co-revealed in the same glory (likeness and image of God) being united together with Him.”

More details of the book here: Secret of Contentment

He blew our definitions away

Andre Rabe — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:30:42 +0000

“We don’t label people like we used to, with our handy pre-printed tags. We even tried doing this with Jesus, but He blew our definitions apart” 2 Cor 5:16 (The Word on the street translation)

Jesus blew our definitions apart … and still does.
Jesus simply did not fit the religious expectations … and still doesn’t.
He did not qualify for any of the official religious positions that were available … yet God highly exalted Him and gave Him a name above every other name. His background was a bit dodgy, too dodgy for some to associate with Him … yet before Abraham was, He is. His authority was questioned because He did not submit Himself under the ‘covering’ of any of the groups of His day … yet the Father acknowledged Him and that was all the recognition He needed. The religious structures of His day could not contain Him … and still He does not dwell in temples or organisations made by human hands.

If there was anyone who should have recognized who Jesus really was, it should have been those who dedicated their lives to the study of the prophetic scriptures … yet, being absorbed in interpreting the past and defining their future hope, they missed the present – the greatest event that occurred right in front of their eyes.

John 5:39 “You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you’ll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me!

How many precious believers are stuck in the same trap today – refining their doctrine; neutralized by a future expectation that contributes nothing to their present encounter with God.

When John wrote the letter we know as 1John, he does not muse on the days gone past, those awesome days when Christ was still in the flesh with them. No. He overflows with excitement about an experience that is present and available to all. He is the same one who wrote: “There are so many other things Jesus did. If they were all written down, each of them, one by one, I can’t imagine a world big enough to hold such a library of books.” (John 21:25) One would have imagined that he would have spend the rest of his life recording these words and deeds – I mean these are the words and deeds of God manifested in the flesh! Yet, he doesn’t! He discovers a greater message than just recording historic facts – introducing his audience into a living present encounter with I AM. (Not ‘I used to be’, or ‘I will be’). He discovered the God who blows our definitions, our doctrines and our structures apart.

There is only one definition of man – Christ
All the old fashions are now obsolete. Words like Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider and outsider, uncivilized and uncouth, slave and free, mean nothing. From now on everyone is defined by Christ, everyone is included in Christ. Col 3:9 MSG

…until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the [full and accurate] knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ’s own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him. Eph 4:13

I think it’s time that we blow every other definition apart! I think it’s time for us to see from His point of view.

New Magazine

Andre Rabe — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:55:10 +0000

Dear Friends
It is with excitement that we announce the launch of a new magazine. This is the first edition of this magazine, so a short introduction would be appropriate.
The first and foremost motivation for this publication is the content itself. The success of what God achieved in Christ on our behalf, the unprecedented significance of that once-and-for-all event, is what compels us to make known, by every possible means, the character of God and His relation to man.
We have so enjoyed the rich conversations on our website, hearhim.net, over a number of years. As we travelled through areas where the internet is not readily available, we have realised the need for a publication such as this in which we can extend this conversation. You will notice comments after some of the articles – these are only a small sample of the many coversations that has so enriched us.
We pray that God would prepare you to receive insight and understanding that will transform you into that which He always knew was true of you. As you behold Him and see Him for who He truly is, your own identity and place in Him will become clear as well.

It is available in a number of ways:

Those resident in the US, UK and Canada, can order it online here: http://connect.magcloud.com/

An electronic copy will be made available to all subscribers to the email notifications by the 22nd of June. So send this link to anyone you think would benefit from it: http://hearhim.net/phplist/?p=subscribe&id=1

We continue to look at ways of doing a bulk print and distribution in Africa. If this is something you want to contribute to, you can donate by clicking on the button below:

In His grip
Andre & Mary-Anne Rabe