THE SCENARIO The sacred zone. It is quiet there. There, it is exceeding still, but for the delicate sounds, of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God Jehovah, the great I AM, the living, triune God of Relationship: Father God-holy, sacred, Prime Mover; God the Son-holy, sacred, the God-man, the point of intersection between holy, sacred God, and unholy, unsacred, humankind; God the Holy Spirit-holy, sacred, the Timeless Worker, the manifest point of intersection between holy, sacred God, and unholy, unsacred, humankind, in Jesus’ physical absence. And it is peaceful there. There, peace abounds; there, the peace of God abounds, all around, up and down. Penetrating peace, suffusing peace, is found there. There, the peace of God is found. The sacred zone. Up high, yonder high up, way up there, apart from things down, down here, insensitive, loud, rough, warlike, Godless…, the profane zone. But O my, the sacred zone, it is wonderful, wonderful to be there, wonderful to live there. Yet, not all may enter it. All, are invited to enter, but not all may enter it (“A Letter of Invitation”).
Please pull up a chair, and join us, and let us together engage our God’s good pleasure in, the sacred zone. Let us follow Him in spirit, into His sacred zone just now. TemenoS, a dear Christian friend, and servant of the God Most High Jehovah, will help us in this sensitivity engagement. In the outworking of this scenario please consider the following:
Sensitivity Points under Consideration
2. Indications of the sacred zone in one’s walk.
3. How does one get into the sacred zone?
4. Why does Jehovah God allow His enemy to stymie sacredness in some?
5. A Life down here ever in the sacred zone, is that possible?
6. Characterization of the profane, that which stands against the sacred, a contrast.
1. TemenoS, what is this sacred zone, where are you leading us?
The sacred zone has about it the ambiance of divinity; that is where we are going, into that ambiance, where God is pleased to dwell. There is nothing like it in the world, it is surpassing, a surpassing, wonderful place.
How is all that possible? Sounds sort of “out of reach” practically speaking.
God has given us a roadmap and precedents and welcomes, in fact beckons us to meet Him in the (His) sacred zone (Isaiah 55:1; the best things are found in the sacred zone and, imagine, they are free, “Isaiah Chapter Fifty-five Commentary”).
Tell us more please.
The way to the sacred zone is found in God’s self-disclosure, in His self-revelation, which is found in His holy Word, which is the long-standing written record of God’s self-revelation. You and I oftentimes simply refer to this primary-source attested, long-standing written record, as the Christian Bible. The way is found there because the way to the sacred zone is identically the way to God. You see, the sacred zone is His zone. He, our sacred God, in His deity, qualifies and quantifies His sacred zone. That is why it is so indescribably pleasant to be there. And He possesses it. One must attain to God to attain to His sacred zone, and one cannot attain to God but by His self-revelation and then, practically, in the way by which He is pleased to be attained to, indeed, in the way He makes possible for being attained to. These things follow from His self-disclosure, which is explicit in this matter, and overarching per se. So, the way to the sacred zone, is identically the way to God. And we know how to get there because God has provided an infallible record that discloses the Way; that discloses Himself.
Be a little more specific please—what is the way?
The way is God Himself in the person of Jesus Christ (John 14:6). And because Jesus is deity—this follows factually from the written record we hold concerning Jesus—He is both the way to, and in fact embodies the sacred zone we have set out to sensitize ourselves to in this sensitivity engagement. The Way is like, well, you remember our brother Peter, how that suddenly cognizant of the Way, suddenly found himself in the sacred zone, and straightaway was confronted with Truth to the loathing of things not sacred (Luke 5:5-8, 9-11). In the sacred zone, Truth, that is, God’s reality, abides, to the exposition of things that are foreign to the sacred zone, foreign to Truth, foreign to the ways of God (John 1:1-5, 8:12, 12:35-36, 46). This exposition is consistent with God’s self-revelation that was mentioned. God is manifest in, is revealed in, Jesus Christ, and now going forward until Jesus returns God is manifest in God the Holy Spirit, Whom Father God sent in Jesus’ Name (John 14:16-19, 26). So, the Way leads, and lights, the way to God, because the Way is God, an attainment True, the truest, not least in its consistency from first—the Way is God, to last—the attainment is God.
2. TemenoS, I think I understood what you just said about Jesus, the Way, and how that God, and thus Jesus, qualifies and quantifies the sacred zone, but I still do not have a good sense for this sacred zone in the everyday give and take of my life. How do I sense that it is nearby, or that I am in this zone on a practical day-by-day basis? Are there some concrete indications that let me know?
Yes, but please allow me to qualify my answer before addressing your question more specifically. I think the sacred zone is uniquely personal; I suppose that God engineered it that way to give it maximum sanctification-utility across a broad and diverse Christian family that is by loving design uniquely different from one person to another. God can deal with diversity like that, no problem, and so while the basis of His sacred zone—Jesus—does not change (as deity Jesus is perfect), the capacity for one person over against another to appreciate Jesus (Perfection), a capacity ever maturing (imperfection), does change over the course of an individual’s life. And I reckon this is a wonderful thing, because otherwise our appreciation of Jesus would be static, and there would be some measure of stagnation in the sanctification-dynamics God has in place for each of the brethren. This has a direct bearing on your questions, namely, there is no “one-size-fits-all” answer to those questions. But I can offer you some personal experience that you may or may not be able to identify with given your own special and unique relationship with God which He may cultivate differently. If you will, let me start with the negative.
· I cannot enter the sacred zone when I am distracted (God will not allow it—of this I am sure by way of multiplied experiences I am sad to confess to you). That is, when my heart is not exceedingly bent toward Him, I cannot enter the sacred zone. And any of the positive offered just next never follows. It hardly fails that distraction is the fallout of sin in my life that must be confessed, and repented of. Dangling sin makes entering the sacred zone impossible; a holy God, of necessity possessing the sacred zone, cannot be found when there is unconfessed, unrepentant, willful sin in my life, yet, parenthetically I say be of good cheer Christian friend, note and cherish 1John 1:9. But let’s assume now that God is squarely on the throne of my heart, that He is there because daily I am on my face before Him begging Him to help me let Him occupy that throne, then some positive may follow, as put forth just next, some positive that may get at your questions.
· A positive, practical, distinguishing feature of “being in the zone” that has come to my attention over the years is unmitigated love for others. It is only when I am in the sacred zone that I can love even my enemies. This one is like a neon sign to me. When I can love others, without prejudices, judgments, one-upmanship, without get-even-vengeance, and so on, I am or have been for some time, in the sacred zone. No question about it in my heart and mind.
· Another is peace. I am certain that the beautiful peace of Christ is found in the sacred zone (Colossians 3:15, Philippians 4:7). Fire storms may rage all about, the bottom may come out of this and that or the other, disappointments and sorrow may loom large or manifest here and there, but still my heart is at peace. Usually attending this peace is an anchoring sort of heart-stillness even in the face of “noise.” That stillness, that quiet, always manifests when I am in the sacred zone. Said negatively, when I am not in the sacred zone, I can find no peace in the face of adversity.
· I have a hard time focusing on eternity more often than I care to admit; the everyday too often dulls my appreciation of eternity, and robs my joy of knowing that I am a child of God headed toward a beautiful eternity in His presence. Since God inhabits eternity, I shudder to think what this says about my focus on God at such times. But when by God’s grace I am in the sacred zone, eternity, not the everyday, is the easy, is the preferred, focus. Clear, spiritual reasoning is manifest in the sacred zone, such that God, eternity, life, death, eternal life, eternal death, heaven, hell, and so forth come into clear, sober focus. And with such focus, my joy swells, knowing that I am destined for the good things of God in the former list (God, eternal life, heaven, fullness of joys in His presence [Psalms 16:11]).
· Another is the love and respect of my family, friends, and peers. This is a reflection not of personal, mundane effort, or worth, but the contagious ambiance of divinity that covers one in the sacred zone. That is, family, friends, and peers are making a statement of love and respect for our God, Jehovah, who possesses the sacred zone, who has pulled me up close and nearby into His zone, and others sense that, sense His presence. This one is a telling sign that must be handled responsibly and humbly. But the point is that it is a direct consequence of being (living) in the sacred zone.
· Another is an insatiable hunger for the Word of God, wherein is found His self-disclosure, wherein therefore is found the very God of the sacred zone. If an insatiable hunger for the Word of God were the main course, then the sweet things an-hungered for would be consistent, intimate prayer, that is, fellowship, communication, with the God of the sacred zone. Here we have the lifeblood of the sacred zone. Intimacy with God. And His Word, and prayer, guide and nourish this intimacy, this lifeblood.
· Another is the transference of all trust to Jehovah God. Please catch it carefully: transference of all trust to Jehovah God. This happens in the sacred zone. The profane zone, by contrast, will have nothing to do with this one (except to mock it). And said transference is not a sort of knee-knocking, whimpering transference, but bold, confident transference. This happens in the sacred zone alone. One may wish to transfer all trust—fine, and good—but actual transference of all trust happens only in the sacred zone. It is accomplished in the sacred zone. Elijah was thus in the sacred zone when he (when God whom he trusted) humbled those profane little prophets of that little god Baal (1Kings 18:17ff), as was Jesus Himself in the sacred zone at Calvary transferring all trust to Father God (Luke 23:46—but of course Jesus always was [ is] in the sacred zone!, He giving expression to the same).
· And in the sacred zone all is well, just as well in fact, be it all what it may, and God, who is bigger, who is understood to be bigger than it all, is thanked, ever thanked, in the sacred zone.
3. TemenoS, does Father God bring one into the sacred zone, that is, does He bring one to Jesus? How does that work?
Yes, Father God is the Prime Mover, but it is in the end a labor of love shared by the holy, triune God, Jehovah. God by His Spirit draws people into the sacred zone, that is, to Himself, manifestly, practically, through Jesus (John 12:32, John 10:30). It is so primarily because a holy God cannot draw people to Himself without first drawing them into the sacred zone: Jehovah is a holy God, notwithstanding, a holy God of relationship. But many are unawares or flat disregard His activity in their life, or reject His sacred zone, and thus both the way to God, and God. Now as concerns this activity, the Spirit of God talks to people, predominantly through His Word, we mentioned His Word earlier, and then too in myriad other ways He speaks, not least of which is the lips and activity of His minister servants, clergy, or laity. Relationship is what motivates God’s activity in the lives of people. Please notice that Jehovah God is the Living God (“Jehovah, the Living God”), and as such a God of relationship, as just said (thus He speaks); relationship is one of the core characteristics of intelligent, living beings, of which another distinguishing characteristic is communication. And communication serves relationship, which is what we find here up front, to the extent that manifest disregard or rejection of God in Christ (and thus of His sacred zone) is a consequence of not hearing God communicate: when one hears God speak, it is impossible to deny Him. Said differently, to deny Him, is to not hear Him. As I am sure you know, Jehovah God has an enemy, and that is a spirit creature named Satan, an unclean thing by God’s standards, and this unclean thing does whatever it can to prevent people from hearing God’s Communique (2Corinthians 4:3-4); by default, then, he seeks to prevent their living, and moving, and having their being, in the sacred zone, which is by default a clean zone, an anti-Satan zone. In this way, he seeks to prevent fellowship, relationships, with God, and rather redirect the same to himself. Satan too is an intelligent, living being; he shall live until our Lord returns, and shuts that talking mouth, and binds forever that unclean thing. Anyway, for the time being, Satan lives, and so he communicates, and ferrets out relationships, be that as it may. Such is the testimony of Scripture in the aggregate regarding Satan. So yes, Father God, quite in unanimity with the Godhead, is the driving force that populates the sacred zone, but God has an enemy that presumes to frustrate Him in this regard, rather seeking to draw people into his unclean zone, the hurt zone, the profane zone, the separated (from God) zone. Our God has allowed this unclean creature not a little success here.
4. I do not wish to stray from the main thrust of our sensitivity engagement, but why would that be TemenoS? This is curious that God would allow His enemy success, particularly as allowing the object of His relations to be placed in harm’s way as it were.
God’s Word that we mentioned guides us here. The answer follows from His self-disclosure as a holy God (for example Leviticus 11:44-45, “Be Holy”). We are loathe to give Satan much, if any space, but it should be noted that he is the consummate hater, and killer, of the object of God’s affection, of His relational interests; ever “perched for a kill” is Satan in that regard (Revelation 13:1, “Revelation Chapter Thirteen Commentary”). The tragic irony is that many people, Word-informed and otherwise, upon whom rests God’s relational affections have, down through the ages since the great Fall of which our God’s Word speaks (Genesis 3:1ff), preferred Satan’s profane zone hands down over and above our God’s sacred zone, and so God’s self-disclosure as a holy God is belittled, minimized, and acutely so by those who are Word-informed. One can hardly help but to have heard, or at least had access to, the Gospel, to the sacred zone, in this modern age, and so addressing specifically our day for the moment, there are certainly many people around the world these days who profane Jehovah God by living, and loving it, in the profane zone. Now getting at your question somewhat, it can hardly be otherwise that our God gives lovers of the profane zone, and lovers of its evil lord, in whatever age, over to His enemy and this enemy’s killing fields (deity will not be mocked—this is both axiomatic and stated, Galatians 6:7-8). And who knows (God knows), maybe when they experience firsthand the serpent’s bite in its killing fields, and if allowed to survive their folly, having been brought to sobriety and repentance, will find abundant life and peace and good in the sacred zone; in Jesus. Some do, under sufficient duress, seek to switch zones (see how our God is a patient God of second and more chances). And those who do not survive, or never seek to switch zones, seal their own sore eternity going forward, ever in the profane zone, where the killing fields abound; no spiritual peace, no lasting good, much noise, irrecoverable personal losses, steep costs, personal and spiritual, sore misery, even before sore eternity begins for them. Obviously, these negative things God never intended to be part and parcel of the objects of His relational affections and interests (witness the Cross)! But what is He to do, when some spit in His eyes and mock and reject Him, but give them over to their manifold profane lovers, that will rain this negative on them by and by? And what is one to expect for those who trample underfoot the sacred zone? When their few days of “fun,” and strutting about down here, are over? When there is no turning back anymore, when it is too late (Hebrews 10:29)? So sad; too bad (“A Letter of Invitation”).
5. TemenoS, I would like to live tightly tethered to Jesus, in this way ever in the sacred zone. Can that be done? A life down here ever in the sacred zone?
You are a child of God my dear Christian friend, born of the Spirit, deity dwells within you; that of which you ask is already done. Jesus credited your account with His perfect innocence—He walked the sacred zone walk for you. He did this for you, because He deeply loves you. He Jesus is seated at the right hand of Father God as we speak and He is interceding for you for that very purpose going forward (Hebrews 1:3, 7:25). But notice God’s caveat to us in this blessed verse of His self-disclosure that we mentioned before: 1john 1:9. We must never cozy up to sin, the profane, in our walk. Because we are clothed in mortality, you know, the flesh that Jesus introduced to brother Nicodemus (John 3:4-8, “John Chapter Three Commentary”), yes, thus clothed in mortality, in the flesh, we must recognize we are quite vulnerable and prone to sin, but God has made provisions for that—could it be any other way when holy deity motivated by Relationship undertakes Salvation?! God’s programs do not flop, as in somehow overlooking or not anticipating the cyclic messes and weaknesses of His creatures (theological absurdity). O my, an elegant Salvation it is. We are to confess and repent until the day we die and God calls the Christian soldier, thus fighting, home, to be with Him forever in His heavenly sacred zone, up high, yonder high up, way up there, apart from things down, down here, profane things, that presume to trip us up, that presume to knock us out of the sacred zone. But that is a lie. You can mark it down Christian friend, if you confess, and repent of your sins, and surely you are motivated by reciprocating Relationship in your own right, you remain squarely in God’s sacred zone, in His outstretched arms and pierced hands. Do not be deceived about this matter, do not let that unclean thing Satan confuse your conscience about matters clean and unclean concerning you. Confess, and repent, God made it as simple as that; we must not complicate it—trust Him in it, and hold Him to it (reverently). And give thanks to our great savior God, and move forward. And know that all is well, and ever praise God for it. We praise you great Savior God. Amen. In this way, yes, you shall live a life down here pleasing unto God, ever in His sacred zone, though the profane shall ever assail you (John 10:27-30).
6. TemenoS, how would you characterize the profane, that which stands against the sacred? Please draw a contrast.
I think the profane can be summed up by all, by everything, that stands anti-Jehovah God—anti-Father God, anti-Jesus the Son of God, anti-Holy Spirit the Timeless Worker God, anti-Word of God, which is to say, anti-God as He has disclosed Himself in the Christian Bible. It all adds up to Godlessness. This Godlessness is at the heart of the profane, it is at the root, no, it is the root. From there the profane quite mushrooms outward like convoluted spherical waves encompassing a vast body of particulars that all alike find their motivation in a Godless root, particulars too gross to even hint at in this forum. Sin, is like that convolution; it qualifies the particulars I refrained from mentioning. Sin is the vehicle of evil, and evil is the antithesis of holiness, it is the antithesis of the sacred, the antithesis of the holiness of Jehovah God, a holiness revealed in the Sacred Zone, in the Word of God, which is to say, revealed in and through Jesus Christ (John 1:1-5, “John Chapter One Commentary,” Fig. 2).
This ends our discussion, our sacred zone sensitivity engagement, except for a closing thought and prayer in the last point below. Thank you Lord Jesus, thank you TemenoS, thank you dearest reader.
7. Dear Christian friend, let us think, and speak, and do, sacred zone thoughts, and words, and acts, to the best of our human ability, with God’s help, which help is a given.
Please help us Lord Jesus to shine for you in a world gone mad in its Godlessness, in its profanity. Bless and protect your people great savior God in this profane wasteland down here spiraling out of control with its ever new disdain, and violations, of your eternal, sacred Law. Send us our Lord back soon Father God. Amen. Christ indeed bless you dearest Christian friend.
Praised be your Name in all the earth great savior God…