By Dr. Matt Pandel
Through a series of detours, some their own fault and others not, Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years before reaching the Promised Land...when the distance between the two points could have been traversed in 40 days.
Now fast forward to the Church. Early accounts from the first century following Jesus reflect their belief that His bodily return was imminent, any day now. It would have never occurred to them that slightly less than 2,000 years later and His bride is still waiting.
Which prompts the question: What's the hold up?!
Hebrews 10:13 says He waits "UNTIL HIS ENEMIES BE MADE A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET". Now don't get dispensationally carried away. Father, Son, and Spirit have no enemies in the classic sense of the term. But through our union with God, He identifies as an enemy that which threatens mankind, anything that diminishes our awareness of our identity in Him. So what then is our enemy?
Death.
1 Corinthians 15:26-28 (NASB) The last enemy that will be abolished is death. For HE HAS PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET. But when He says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him. When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.
Stick with me on this. Follow my train of thought...
If Jesus is delayed because there remains an enemy in the land...and that enemy is death...how exactly is death finally and completely vanquished?
LOVE
Song of Solomon 8:6 (NRSV)
Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm;
for love is strong as death,
passion fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
a raging flame.
Love. The same love through which we are conformed into the image of Christ Jesus (Romans 8:29) and by which we are empowered to see ourselves and others clearly, as clearly as Father has always seen us (1 Cor 13:12)! The love of Love Himself!
We have prioritized everything over love. Theology. Being right. Being holy. Winning at all costs. Anything but the simplest - and equally the hardest - choice of all, to simply love.
Ephesians 4:11-16 (NRSV)
11 The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. 14 We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. 15 But speaking the truth IN LOVE, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in BUILDING ITSELF UP IN LOVE.
If God is indeed LOVE as 1 John 4 argues, then the 'fullness' to which we grow into Christ is to grow into Love.
Maybe, just maybe, two thousand years later we yet wait to see the final enemy void of any presence in the earth, and true apokatastasis (the creation fully restored to it's original design and purpose, that which was objectively accomplished through the cross) our present subjective reality, not because Jesus is mercurially dilly dallying in heaven - but because we have failed to love.
If the absence of love is the problem, then Love is the solution.
Passages to Consider:
Romans 8:29 (NRSV)For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family.
Romans 13:8 (NRSV)Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
1 Corinthians 13:12-13 (NRSV)For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 16:14 (NRSV)Let all that you do be done in love.
1 John 4:16-19 (NRSV)16 So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. 17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. 19 We love because he first loved us.
Colossians 3:14 (ESV)And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
Dr. Matt Pandel is a trained behavioral psychologist and theologian, who is first and foremost a communicator. His experience is varied and includes over two decades in mental health practice and academia. He holds terminal degrees in Theology and Psychology, as well as undergraduate and graduate work in education, ministry, and family therapy. He is a member of the American Psychological Association and the Societies for Pediatric Psychology and Clinical Neuropsychology, holding board certification as a trauma specialist.
In addition to his work as Academic Dean and Professor of Theology & Coaching at Global Grace Seminary, Dr. Pandel is a published author, maintains a private consulting practice, and serves as a regional mental health policy advisor. He resides in the picturesque Shenandoah Valley of Virginia with his wife and best friend, Carrie.
To learn more about Dr. Matt: https://linktr.ee/drpandel
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