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Front Page Article
"The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Awakening" by Dr. Patti Amsden God gave Adam (and thus humanity) the job of tending the earth as God’s vice-regents. Although that mandate was an enormous job description, Adam had all the tools to be successful because he had access to the Creator and had the ability to learn the job from the One who knew how all things were designed to work. Adam was alive in God; and from the light and life inside of him, Adam could manage earth after heavenly reality.
Reformation lens #1 – In the beginning, Adam operated in the light of eternity and had the potential to align all his earthly activity with heavenly reality. Adam and Eve sinned when they partook of the Tree of Knowledge. They stepped away from the light of heaven, and immediately entered a state of darkened understanding. They lost their light covering and the nakedness of their fleshly bodies became obvious. Inside and outside, they fell from the realm of light. As a part of their discipline, God expelled them from His presence. Death replaced life and darkness replaced light. Not only was Adam’s person affected by his new reality, so were his labors. He shifted from building a heavenly culture in the earth to building a fallen culture in the earth. Reformation lens #2 – Fallen man with a darkened mind builds a fallen kosmos rather than a heavenly kosmos. Because God did not cancel His commission upon humanity to be earth managers, fallen man in Adam built a fallen earth while God set about to restore humanity to a place of life and light. Throughout the biblical narrative, God called out replacement adams (Noah, Abraham, Moses, etc.) to impart to them truths from heaven. Once these patriarchs got light and life from God, they could align their earth with heaven. Once they were awakened by God’s Spirit, they could affect their culture with that awakening. Reformation lens #3 – To awaken the culture to the light or truth of heaven, man - as the culture builder - must have an awakening. While the concept of awakening indicates a change in the internal status of an individual, the change of the internal grants opportunities for the external to be altered. Consider a man who is asleep and, while in that state, is not managing or building his world. When he awakens from his sleep, he has power to change his reality and to develop new opportunities. Reality changes after an awakening. As it is in the natural, so it is in the spiritual. “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising” (Isaiah 60:1-3). Reformation lens #4 – When God by his Spirit awakens someone, that person will operate in the light of the new day and transform his or her world in the light of that awakening. As reformers, we acknowledge that we must be active in our commission to manage the earth after heaven’s pattern. We do not sit and expect God to do our part. He has mandated that His people tend the earth and build heaven into the earth. We do not sit on the sidelines and petition the Lord to do the part the He has given us to do. However, we cannot do the part that only God can do. Only God can shine down the light of heaven and illuminate the dark parts in our understanding. God gives the light; we walk in the light. Only God can bring a spiritual awakening into the inner heart of a person. We respond in faith when he awakens us. We must preach the gospel, but our words are interpreted as foolishness to the unbeliever. When God awakens or makes alive the one hearing the good news, that word is God’s power for salvation (1 Cor. 1:18; Rom. 1:16) Therefore, we pray, “God, awaken the inside of men, women, young, and old by your Spirit; and Lord, awaken the world and culture though your awakened people.” |
The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Awakening
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March, 2019 |
