Parades and Peepholes
I've always loved parades. Some of my favorite memories growing up were watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City. The smell of sweet potato casseroles and fresh rolls in the oven, stealing slices of honey glazed ham from the crock pot; it was all part of the family tradition. One of the things that made that morning so much fun was watching the parade with the family. Even now, our kids love to pile up on the couch and watch the larger than life floats and the meticulous marching bands parade across the review stand to roaring crowds of winter bedecked onlookers.
One of the most unique perspectives on how we view time as opposed to how God views time is the analogy of a parade. See, we stare at life as it passes through the peephole in a sequence of time. But God's view of time is that He sees over the fence. That is, He sees what's before and after what we can see in the peephole in real time. He isn't confined to our sequential experience, He sees it as synchronized existence. This was made clear again to me this morning.
For the last 8 months, I've had the privilege of intentionally investing into a few guys through discipleship. We take time to read the word daily, journal our impressions about what God is teaching us, memorize some Scripture and pray for one another. Then we gather together once a week to share what God is teaching us, some highs and lows in the course of life this week, and hold one another accountable. The process of intentional accountability around the word is over time strengthening our faith. Then the hope is after a few more weeks, we will all replicate this process with others in the hope of their spiritual maturity and replication. It's all part of being disciples who make disciples.
This week we've been reading in the book of Nehemiah and Malachi. As we near the end of the Old Testament chronology, today's reading was in Malachi chapter 3. The first four verses read:
“See, I am going to send my messenger, and he will clear the way before me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to his temple, the Messenger of the covenant you delight in — see, he is coming,” says the LORD of Armies. But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will be able to stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire and like launderer’s bleach. He will be like a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present offerings to the LORD in righteousness. And the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will please the LORD as in days of old and years gone by.” (Malachi 3:1-4) (CSB)
What a tremendous blessing begins this chapter. Malachi, the prophet, promises that there will be a messenger before Christ that heralds that God is coming into the world and "clears the way before me (Him)." (Malachi 3:1). Four hundred years later, Matthew chapter 3:3 reads, "This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: "A voice of one calling in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'" The last of phrase of that declaration is ripped straight from Malachi 3:1. John the Baptist's entire message was to prepare the way of the Lord. And then the most staggering promise of all, “Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to his Temple.” What an incredible statement! These people, who had worked so hard to rebuild the wall in Nehemiah and the Temple in Ezra now hear the astounding news that none other than the GOD Himself in the person of Jesus Christ, the very One that they sought would come to them!
In the midst of their sorrow and repentance this GOD they were seeking spiritually would come to them physically and stand in the very Temple that they had rebuilt! But He wouldn't quite be what they were expecting. True to the prophecy, Jesus would call out their hypocrisy and speak out against their ritualistic tendencies and traditions. He would be like "a refiner’s fire," refining the hypocrisy of the Jewish culture and "a launderer's bleach," bleaching out their sin as a cleansing agent. In that day, He would purify the Levite's offerings. At the very end of Jesus' earthly ministry, one of the last things He did was to enter that very same Temple's courts and overturn the marketplace of animals being sold for sacrifice. What we He doing in that moment? He was purifying the Temple. Jesus had done everything the prophet Malachi said that He would do in this chapter. Then just a few days later, He would please the Father with a sacrifice that only He could provide. And on that day, the veil in that same Temple was ripped from top to bottom, symbolically showing that God had removed the veil. Access had been granted to fellowship with the Father through the blood of Jesus, His Son!
This is all fascinating history, but what does it mean for us today? 3 Quick Applications:
The first thing that strikes me is the Providence of God. In the great big plan, on God’s big board; the Game Changer (the change Agent) was about the enter the storyline. The mythical Father Time is a pawn in the hand of a very real Father God. The Father knew all of this 400 years before it happened. We can trust a Father (a Daddy) that is that is intimately involved in the future adoption of His children.
The second thing is that no one expected this turn of events. This wasn’t even on their radar, they were completely oblivious to the things God was doing around them. Often times in our lives, we’re the same way, God is working His master plan around us and we are many times clueless as to what He is doing.
The third thing is that not only does God arrange the events of our lives, He arranges them with the end in mind. Every part of this massive storyline of the Old Testament that began way back with Abraham has come to a culmination in this moment. We can’t trust God in the moments when we are sure He has lost His mind. It's one thing to arrange the course of time, it's entirely another to arrange the course of time to accomplish the purposes that You set out before the world began. (Ephesians 1:4)
Jesus, help us to trust You with the plans for our lives. You are in control, even when we are completely clueless as to what You are doing around the corner. Help us to embrace this reality in every season of our lives.
Whatever the parade looks like through the peephole, remember God's perspective is perfect and He sees what You may not and You can trust Him with it.
