Seeking God's Face

"You have said, "Seek my face." My heart says to you, "Your face, LORD, do I seek."

All week, I have meditated on that verse. These are the words of David, from Psalm 27.

David had a heart for God. He hungered for God. He starts out in that Psalm by saying,
”The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?... One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.

David longed to live in God’s presence, beholding his beauty, seeing him face to face.

In another Psalm, David put it this way, “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water… My soul clings to you…” (Psalm 63)

How did David come to have such longing for God? I don’t have the answer. I know that he was a shepherd and spent a lot of time alone with the sheep. But there were a lot of shepherds in Israel. When God sent Samuel to anoint one of Jesse’s son as king, he told him that He did not care about outward appearance, but He saw the heart. God chose David, as a young boy, to be the next king of Israel because of something that He saw in David’s heart. God said “I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.”  David was willing to do whatever God said, but, more importantly, he had a heart for God.

We know a lot about David.

David was brave-he was ready to fight a giant when he was a teenager

David was uninhibited in his praise for God-he danced full force before the Lord when they brought to tabernacle to Jerusalem

David was creative-he wrote numerous songs of praise and thanksgiving; and he invented musical instruments to use in worship

David was committed to God-he wanted to build a temple, but when God said that his son would be the one to build it, David collected the building materials for it.

David was honest-the Psalms are full of honest, heart-felt, sometimes painful crying out to God

We know a lot of things about David, but these are just windows into his heart and soul. I want to know how he came to have a heart for God. Back to Psalm 27, it seems like there was a time when David had a conversation with God.

 

David asked God, what do you want from me, and God said, “Son, just seek my face, just love me and want me enough to seek to be with me. I want you to want me.” And David said, “Then that is what I will do. I will seek your face, and strive to live in your presence.”

The Church Needs the Influence of Women

God created male and female, on purpose. Men and women are different, on purpose, designed to be different, to reveal different aspects and characteristics of God. We need to understand the differences, honor and appreciate what each brings to our society, and especially, to the church.

We need both men and women to be fully free, fully functioning in our churches. Just as a family needs both a mother and a father to really provide all that the children need, so the church needs both men and women to function in a whole and healthy way.  Children can grow up to be healthy well-adjusted individuals when raised by a single parent, but we all agree that the best environment for a child is both parents in the home, fully involved in the child’s life. Mothers and fathers interact with their children in different ways. Mothers cuddle their babies; dads throw them in the air. Mothers nurture children, talk with them, teach them how to relate to other people. Fathers teach their children to take risks, to seek adventure, to be independent.  Of course, these are broad generalizations, but they are common traits.

The Church has been like a single Father family. The church leadership has always been dominated by men, so the focus has been very male oriented.  Men and women are gifted in unique ways, and both should be welcomed into important roles in our churches. Speaking again in broad generalizations, women tend to be more relational, more sensitive to the needs of others, more intuitional, quicker to “sense” when something is wrong that is not readily apparent. Women tend to be better listeners, and better communicators. Aren’t these characteristics that are desperately needed in our churches?   Bringing women into leadership areas of our churches could produce churches that are more balanced, healthier, better able to care for the people.

The Role of Women in the Early Church

(This is continuing a series of post started Sept. 13)

Women were an active, important part of the church in the very beginning.  

At the birth of the church, women were engaged in prayer along with the disciples and others.

Act 1:13 -14 And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James.  All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

 In Romans 16, Paul speaks of Phoebe as a deacon  (the word translated servant is diakonos, usually translated deacon), of  Prisca and Aquila as fellow workers in Christ Jesus, and of Junia as “of note among the apostles”.

Euodia and Syntyche are called his fellow-workers in the gospel in Philippians 4:2-3.

Paul tells of women who were the leaders of such house churches (Apphia in Philemon 2; Prisca in I Corinthians 16:19),  Nympha of Laodicea (Colossians 4:15).

Lydia in Acts 16, was first convert in Phillipi The four daughters of Philip appear in Acts 21:9 as prophetesses.

Women were active in service, in speaking, and in leadership in the church.

God designed men and women to be one in Christ. Sin violated this design and made us competitors instead of teammates. But when Jesus died on the cross, He took the whole mass of alienated men and women and brought all of us together.  We are now members of one Body, as Paul said, and there should be no division in the body (1Cor12, Romans 12).
Jesus prayed that we would all be one, and share a fellowship like He had with the Father.

We get a glimpse of this in Acts 1 as the men and women who were followers of Jesus “continued with one accord in prayer and supplication”.  As this group of men and women in “one accord” prayed together, God did an amazing thing. The Holy Spirit came upon them— all of them—“and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance”(Acts 2: 4). The Holy Spirit didn’t just bounce around to the men and skip over the women. He filled them all! As Peter explained to the onlookers, this outpouring was God’s fulfillment of Joel 2: 28-29: "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.

As God poured out His Spirit, He ended the divisions among us. We are one in Christ.
As members of one body, we are all part of a whole, and we must work together to stay alive. We are each different, have different gifts and functions, but we are a team, a unit. We value each other and are connected and we need one another.

Just as we understand that in this body, there can no longer be a hierarchy based on race, economics, or social status, neither can there be based on gender.

Gal_3:28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
 

Jesus came to free women to be everything he created them to be

(This is the fourth in a series began on Sept. 13)

Jesus changed everything for women. He turned the whole old system upside down.

 

Mat 20:25 -28 But Jesus called them to him and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Jesus brought in a new kingdom, one in which the strong would no longer dominate the weak, but would serve. There would be no striving to be the first, but each person would care for the other, would uplift the downtrodden, and reach out to the outcast. That is the picture Jesus brings of His new kingdom. He set that example in His relationship with women.

When Jesus came to the earth, women were at the bottom of society. They had almost no rights, were the property of their husbands. They were generally not educated, were not taught the Scripture, could not recite the evening prayers. Men did not have conversations with women in public.

In John 4, Jesus had a conversation with a woman about theology; it is the longest recorded conversation Jesus had with an individual, in which He revealed that He was the Messiah for the first time. She told her village and they listened. She was the first evangelist.

We are so used to the story of Mary and Martha found in Luke 10:38-42, we miss some crucial facts. We use the story to speak to the issue of busyness verse sitting still. Mary was sitting at Jesus feet, which was a place of a disciple to a Rabbi. This was not a place for a woman. Women were not taught, mostly not allowed to be taught. A rabbi would not waste the time to teach a woman. Jesus not only allowed this, but defended her, said that she was right to sit at his feet to learn.

Women ministered with Jesus, traveled with Jesus and the disciples, and provided for them. (Mark 15:40-41, Luke 8:1-3)

 Women stood by Jesus at the crucifixion when all the men ran away but John.

Women were the first witnesses to the resurrection.  In John 20:1-18, Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene and spoke with her.  Peter and John had been there, seen the tomb, but Jesus did not appear to them.

Christ commissioning Mary to announce his resurrection was a sign of what he had just accomplished through His death and resurrection.  Jesus removed the curse, took away the power of sin and shame, and ended the patriarchal paradigm once and for all.

Jesus buried the old nature and created a new man in Him. We don’t have to live according to the fallen human nature any longer, or the fallen social system. With the new nature, we are free to love and serve as Jesus does. It is no longer right for the strong to dominate the weak. It is not part of the new nature to strive to be on top.

The church, the new kingdom that Jesus established, should be the safest place for the weak, the disenfranchised, the subjugated and marginalized. The church should be the one place that every single person is free to become everything that God created her to be.

Why is Society so Hard on Women?

(this is third in a series started Sept. 13)

The discrimination and prejudice against women was part of society from ancient times, and remarks from history show the continued bigotry and inequality in the church.  The examples are truly shocking.

Plato, 427bc;  “Females are inferior to males in every way”
 

Aristotle, 384 bc;  “The male is by nature superior and the female inferior, the male ruler and the female subject.”

Rabbinical teaching during Jesus day; “Let the words of the Law be burned rather than committed to women…if a man teaches his daughter the law, it is as though he taught her lewdness.”

Saint Augustine, 480; “What is the difference whether it is in a wife or a mother; it is still Eve the temptress that we must be aware of in any woman…I fail to see what use women can be to man  if one excludes  the function of bearing children.”

Thomas Acquinas, 1254;  “The woman is subject to man, on account of the weakness of her nature, both of mind and of body…woman is in subjection according to the law of nature, a slave is not. Children ought to love their father more than their mother.”

Martin Luther, 1483;  “Men have broad shoulders and narrow hips, and accordingly they possess intelligence. Women have narrow shoulders and broad hips. Women ought to stay at home; the way they were created indicates this, for they have broad hips and a wide fundament to sit upon, keep house, and raise children.”

John Knox, 1514;  “Women in her greatest perfection was made to serve and obey men.”

We don’t believe these things any more, but the underlying feeling is still there. Where did it come from?

Not in creation

Gen 1:27-28  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.  And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

God created male and female as equals, and made then co-regents to care for and rule over the earth.

Not from the first man.

Gen 2:23-24  Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."

From Adams reaction to the woman God created, we see a beautiful equality. Adam said, “She is just like me!...We are meant to be in unity.”

It started with the fall, in Genesis three, where sin, fear, shame and blame entered the picture.

After the woman, then the man, ate of the fruit that God had forbidden, they were ashamed and afraid.

When God confronted them, the man blamed the woman, and the woman blamed the serpent.

God then tells them the consequences of their action.

He told the woman, "I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you."

And to the man, “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken.”

From this time, the man and woman went from being in a great partnership to having struggles in all relationships. When sin entered, every relationship was impacted.  Because of sin, the nurturing, relational woman would long for intimacy with her husband:  the bolder, more assertive, stronger man would be the dominate one. This is because of fallen sinful nature, not because part of the original plan.  

In the following chapter, we see every effect of sin; jealousy, violence, murder, and polygamy.

Gen 4:8  Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

Gen 4:23  Lamech said to his wives: "Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say: I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me.

This starts the pattern of violence being used to gain power and control. Biggest and strongest rule. Women come out on bottom of this. This system became so ingrained that it seemed like the right, the natural, normal way. This has been part of human culture since the fall. The biggest and strongest, or the ones with the best weapons, rule over the weaker.  Humans have fought that battle ever since.

But, Jesus came to end it. 

Did Paul really say that women would be saved through having babies?

(Continued from Sept. 13 post)

As we continue to look at what the Bible says about women, I want to investigate what Paul wrote to Timothy as he served in Ephesus.

1 Tim 2:11-15

11 Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. 12  I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. 13  For Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. 15 Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.

Paul is writing to Timothy, who is serving the church in Ephesus, which is the home of the goddess Artemis. Acts 19 tells the story of the city.  Paul preached the gospel there, and people came to Christ, and turned from the worship of idols and from all their false religions.  A silversmith who made idols of Artemis became upset and gathered other workers together to riot and protest Paul to protect the worship of Artemis. This goddess was closely linked to the city of Ephesus.  Artemis was the goddess of fertility.  She was also a very powerful goddess, and the Greeks believed that she had a twin brother, that she was born first, then helped their mother as a midwife in giving birth to her brother.Artemis was a strong, powerful female who outwitted and overpowered male gods. Women in Ephesus had this as their pattern for behavior. This the the context of the letter that Paul wrote to Timothy.
Paul told Timothy, "Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness".

Quietly:  "tranquillity arising from within," causing no disturbance to others. It is translated "quiet", or "peaceable", and is to characterize the spirit or disposition.

Paul is not telling the women to "shut up and listen", but telling them to have a quite and gentle spirit. 

"With submissiveness" indicates to the teaching, not to a person, but to receive the word that is taught and be obedient to that word.  
The same word is used in 2 Cor 9:13
" By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission flowing from your confession of the gospel of Christ,

Paul's intention is that the women have an attitude to listen well to the teaching and obey the teaching they hear.

Verse 12 "I do not permit.... exercise authority"

The Greek word translated "authority"is "authentein"; the original meaning was “to murder with ones own hand”, and came to mean to dominate, to hold sway over, to gain the upper hand.  This word is only used this one time. Every other time we see authority, it is from different Greek words that have a milder meaning. 

The better translation would be, “I do not permit a woman to teach with a view to dominating a man.”

Because of the influence of the worship of Artemis, some in Ephesus elevated the feminine above the masculine, so that some women would try to assert their status as women to dominate the men.

In verse 13-15 Paul makes some confusing statements.
Adam was born first...
Paul is not saying that men are superior because Adam was created first. To follow that reasoning, animals would be superior because they were created before Adam. Paul is refuting the thought that was prominent in Ephesus that the because Artemis was born first, the female came first and is superior

It seems also, that Paul here is saying that women should be silent in the church because Eve was deceived. I have heard that theory taught, but that would mean that the death of Christ and the forgiveness it bought does not have the power to cover sin and restore both men and women.  Christ’s death defeated sin and freed us all from the curse. Women are not to live under any curse caused by Eve's deception.
Paul is using Biblcal truth to counter Greek mythology and its influence in the Ephesian church.

Verse 15 seems to say that women can be saved by bearing children. Of course, that is not consistent with the rest of scripture. Women, as well as men, are saved by grace through faith, by the blood of Jesus. So, what is Paul talking about?

At this time, the mortality rate for both babies and women during childbirth was very high, there was no medical treatments available. The Greek and Roman women prayed to Artemis, the goddess of fertility, to keep them safe during childbirth. Women even travelled to Ephesus to have their children so that they could pray and sacrifice to Artemis to keep them safe, to "save" them through  childbirth.

So, when Paul said that a woman would be saved through childbearing if she continued in faith, he is not saying that a woman receives eternal salvation through child bearing.

What he was really saying is that these women do not need to look to Artemis for protection during childbirth. Jesus will protect them, save them, during childbirth as they look to him in faith.

By looking at these passages with information from the original language, in context, looking for consistency with the entire Word of God, we see very different meanings than what most of us have been taught.
My desire in sharing these thoughts is not to start a revolution in our churches. I just want my grand daughters to feel the freedom to be everything that God calls them to be, to do anything that God puts in their hearts. We are women; loved by God, called by God, equipped to do good works that He has planned for us.
Let's be free to do ALL of those things. 

Another Look at What the Bible Says About Women

Why is this such a difficult topic?
As a woman in ministry, I have always felt like I was walking a tight-rope, trying to be exactly what God called me to be, do everything that God led me to do, but not over stepping whatever restrictions I had because I am a woman.
For the past year, I have read several books, studied Bible passages, and prayed for clarity and revelation about this, not just for me, but for other women. I want to think that my grand daughters would feel free to do anything that God put on their heart to do.
I am finally ready to put my thoughts out there, for whoever may read this blog. Like it, love it, hate it, believe it, or don't believe it. I just want to communicate what I have learned.

I am starting at the end of the study. I have learned a lot, and I have much to say about the positive examples of women in the Bible. But, whatever I have read or seen, there are always a few passages that seem to negate everything else. I want to start with those passages first, to get that out of the way. 

We have seen before that the ancient world had a very fallen view of women.

Jesus set the captives free, which included women.  The way he treated women was revolutionary.

The first person to know that the messiah was coming was a woman. The first person that he told he was the messiah was a woman. The first person to know that he was resurrected was a woman.

Jesus taught women. Women followed him, travelled with him, and supported him.

As the church was born, we read  Peter's words, quoting Joel. 

Acts 2:17  "'And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,

and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

Paul was very bold when he wrote the Galatians. 

Gal 3:28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

But there are some passages that seem to restrict women.

These are from the writings of the Apostle Paul. Paul wrote 13 letters which became books of the Bible, and in only 2 he speaks something regarding restricting women.

We need to look at these in context, with light from the culture of the day, and in light of God’s character, His nature, and in the overall consistent speaking of the Bible.

This is not the only time we do this. We do it other places almost without thinking of it.

Luke 14:26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
We are quick to say that Jesus did not mean we literally to hate our family. We know that because overwhelmingly he spoke of loving other people, of honoring our parents, caring forour family.

Matt 5:29-30 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.  30  And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.
If you came to me and said you had a problem with pornography, and I told you to poke your eyes out, you would think I was crazy. We know that Jesus did not mean that literally because that is not consistent with the rest of Scripture.

And, there are many more passages that we do that. So, we have precedents in looking at the passages about women in that light, and I think we should. 

1 Cor 14:34-35

34  the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. 35 If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.

There are a  few ways that this passage has been explained.  I want to share the explanation that I think is the most accurate.

Paul wrote this letter as a response to a letter that the Corinthian Christians wrote to Paul with some questions.  We can see this clearly in several verses from the letter.

1 Cor 7:1 Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: "It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman."
No one takes that question out of context and makes a rule out of it! We understand that                       Paul is not saying this, that he is quoting what the Corinthians asked.

1 Cor 7:25-26 Now concerning the betrothed,  I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy. 26 I think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is.

1 Cor 8:1

8 Now concerning  food offered to idols: we know that "all of us possess knowledge." This "knowledge" puffs up, but love builds up.

Obviously, he is answering questions.

1 Cor 9:1-4

 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord? 2 If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. 3 This is my defense to those who would examine me.

Paul did not just jump in to defend himself out of the blue. He is answering accusations.

So, it is in this context that we come to 14:35. The Greek language did not use quotation marks, so we can’t look for them.

The clue is in verse 36. At the beginning of this sentence, the Greek has a little symbol,

“e” which is a disjunctive particle. One of its uses is to distinguish things which exclude each other.

It is like a negative exclamation mark, which is at the first of the verse.  This little symbol is usually translated "or", "neither",  “What” or “Nonsense”  like “No way”.
 

The Interlinear Transliterated Bible gives the literal translation of this verse.

1 Cor 14:36

36 What? out from you? the word of God came or unto you only? came it

Interlinear Transliterated Bible. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved. [For more detail see the full copyright page.])

This little symbol is found in the following verses:

1 Cor 6:15-16 Know( ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. 16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.

Rom 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

1 Peter 3:17 For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.

So, Paul is quoting what men of Corinth said about the women, and then he says, “No! do you think God  just speaks to you? "  Or, "What, nonsense. Do you think you have special speaking from God about this?" 

Seeing one little Greek word or symbol makes a huge difference in the way the passage is interpreted.

This is really confirmed when you notice the phrase "as the law also says". The law did not say anything like that. Paul was an expert in the law, and would have never misquoted it. The Corinthians did not know the law and could easily have thought it said something it did not.

Finally, the idea that the women should wait and ask questions of their husbands really does not make sense because they were all very new Christians.  A new believer husband would not likely have any answers for the new believer wife. 

This analysis of 1 Cor 14:34-35  makes sense because in chapters 11, 12, and 14, Paul talks a lot about everyone in the church expressing their gifts when the church gathers. He tells women to cover their heads when they speak. (because in that day only immoral women went in public without head coverings). For Paul to suddenly say that women are to be silent does not fit with those passages. 

Paul was not restricting women in this passage. It really seems that he was arguing against the restrictions that some were presenting.

Celebrate!

Psalm 95:1  Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation  Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!  For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!

 

Psalm 98:4  Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises!  Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody!  With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD! Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; the world and those who dwell in it! Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills sing for joy together before the LORD,

Psalm 100:1  Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth! Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 4  Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!  For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

Clearly, God expects that His people would celebrate Him and the things that He has done.  We have much to celebrate. Christians should be the happiest and most fun people in the world.
I love the picture of Jesus in Luke 10. Jesus had sent out 72 disciples to preach and teach and do miracles.

Luke 10:17-20  The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!" And he said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

 I don’t believe that Jesus is rebuking the disciples for celebrating the victories that they experienced. I think that he is recalibrating their focus. Jesus gave them the authority. He did not want them to ignore the authority that He had given them. But he doesn’t want them to focus on that. He reminds them to rejoice that their names are written in heaven. Everything else can change. You may be living in victory today, enjoying fruitful ministry, seeing miracles every day, experiencing peace and joy in your relationships and in your heart. All of that can change. Or you may be in the pit, after a time of living in absolute defeat…children estranged, an angry husband, no real friends, going through a divorce, facing bankruptcy, depressed, distraught, no impact on your family or friends.  All of that can change.

Every Jesus follower can celebrate that our names are written in heaven. AND THAT WILL NEVER CHANGE. Once we belong to Jesus, we are always his, and that is cause to celebrate.

 Luke 10:21-22  In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."

There are different words used for joy and rejoicing.

10:17 “The seventy-two returned with joy”;  joy – kara “; cheerfulness, calm delight, normal word for joy

10:20  “rejoice that your names are written in heaven." rejoice-chairo; to be full of cheer, calmly happy

The disciples were cheerful, happy.

But look at Jesus.

10:21 “In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit”-- rejoice-agaliao- to jump for joy, be exceedingly glad, jump up and twirl around— rejoiced greatly, exulted, with exceeding joy  

 Jesus is really happy, jumping up and down for joy kind of happy, dancing for joy happy, because His disciples, his friends were getting it. The Father had opened their eyes and revealed to them the authority that came from the Father to Jesus, and passed on to Jesus followers. This is not the 12, He is talking to 72 of His folks.

The 72 were rejoicing, they were happy and excited because they had seen miracles, but Jesus was REJOICING, beside himself with joy because of the experience of these.

Jesus is sitting on his throne in heaven, but he doesn’t just sit there all the time. When Stephen was being stoned to death, he saw Jesus standing, as if he was ready to greet Stephen as he joined Jesus in heaven.

Maybe tonight, Jesus sees some of his children “getting it”, understanding truth, living radical faith, loving Him more, and maybe he is jumping up and down, dancing, twirling around because he is so happy.

 We are to imitate Jesus, and we have Jesus living in us, so we should celebrate like Jesus.  Right???