Taxes for Jesus? ...

Not talking about tithes, they are an opportunity to share in the ministry of redemption with Jesus.  Tithes are asked of your increase (to remind you that you experience increase).  Tithes help you prioritize the value of what is important to you – hint: if money is what is important, you are missing quite a lot.  Then there are offerings.  Offerings are as the base of the word implies, an offer, of your treasure back to God from the free will choice of your heart.  You give to Him whatever you see fit to give.  You are not constrained to any limits of 10%, so no gift from you is too small, or too large.  It is only a reflection of your heart as you give it.  The joy you experience doing that, is a joy you alone can realize, and God alone can share as your heart shines open to Him.  Your gift is never made fun of.  It is never ridiculed.  It is never wasted.  It changes your heart each time you give it.  Repeated giving has a profound effect on you, and if it is accompanied by joy you feel from doing it, even more so.  If you would rather keep your treasure than give it, or giving it makes you angry, the sacrifice is not truly an offering.  Keep it.  Hold on to it; and realize the futility of trying to hold on to something as fleeting as treasure.  Give it; and learn to experience that giving is truly better than receiving, and far better than hoarding.  But tithes and offerings are not anywhere near the category of taxes.

Taxes are non-negotiable.  Taxes are certain (like the death they inevitably represent).  Taxes are imposed usually by governmental, or controlling entities interested in the preservation of power.  Taxes are not part of the system of government of heaven.  In heaven, people will long to find another way to give something more of themselves they have not thought to give already.  Ideas will be exercised full time in trying to give more, and make the lives of someone else in heaven, just a bit happier (as if that was possible).  No one will ask you to.  You will do it, because you cannot bear to do otherwise.  This is how God does it.  When you come in closer harmony with Him, it will rub off on you as well.  So in heaven, there is no need for even the concept of taxation.  But in this world, the devil is duly pleased with implementing as harsh a method of taxes as he can impose.  Taxes are never pleasant, usually wasted, utterly futile, and always too high.  So who could have imagined imposing a system of taxation in the name of Jesus?  Church leadership, that’s who. 

Matthew records an incident in his gospel to the Hebrews in chapter seventeen of just such a thing.  Let us take a second look at it and see what lessons may be hiding in these few verses.  Picking up in verse 24 it begins … “And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute?”  Ouch.  To begin, the Temple at Jerusalem was more than just the physical place idealized by the nation as the best place to worship God.  It was also a symbolic seat of power.  What should have been dedicated to God alone, had become corrupted by the politics of trying to run a nation.  Sound familiar?  We need only turn on any news outlet today, and see where the influence of protestant churches attempts to influence the policy of the USA.  Catholics as well, continue to look to influence policies in nations all across the world.  It would seem, Christianity, which should have been a thing left to the pure worship of Christ, has now also become a symbolic power of political influence.

And where there is politics, and where there is power of any kind, there must also be funding to keep it so.  Thus a system of taxation is imposed for the maintenance of the Temple (or at least in theory that what it might be used for).  But then, have you ever known any kind of tax to be used on the thing it is supposed to be used on?  And more likely, have you seen taxes seem to find there way into the pockets of those in power, be they in the church, or out of it.  Here in this system of taxation, yet again the Sanhedrin looks for a way to trip up Jesus.  If Jesus refuses to pay the tax; they will claim He does not care about the upkeep of the Temple.  If He pays it, then He shows humility or deference to the Temple, and by proxy, to them.

Since Capernaum was Peter’s home town, the tax masters approach Peter, hoping to embarrass him when Jesus refuses (or at least that is what they expected).  Matthew continues in verse 25 saying … “He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers?”  Jesus however, had a different lesson to teach.  Instead of focusing on making the tax they asked for, He poses an entirely different question, about ownership.  Jesus divides the audience for tax payers into two camps, the children of the King, and strangers to the King.  He then asks Peter who the King is likely to taxes from, His own children, or total strangers.  Look closely my brothers and sisters, Jesus is here putting you into a classification you might forget you belong to.

Matthew continues in verse 26 saying … “Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free.”  Peter responds what common sense calls for, a King would take taxes from strangers, never from His own kids.  Jesus then makes a very profound statement – Then are the children free.  You are not a stranger to your King, He calls you His child, and loves you so, and treats you so.  The children are provided for by the King.  The children eat because the King puts His food on their tables.  They wear the clothes the King has seen fit to dress them with (one day this will include a robe of righteousness none of us deserve, but all of us receive washed clean in the blood of our King).  The children need not concern themselves with how they survive, for the King takes care of ALL these worries.  It would stand to reason then, with our survival insured by our King, we are free to give of ourselves completely, without fear or regret.  To mirror for others what our King chooses to do in the great love of His kids.  Religious taxes are an anachronism we need not be bothered with.  However even free children must concern themselves with helping others come to Jesus to find freedom.

Matthew continues in verse 27 saying … “Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.”  Jesus ultimately paid the tax (for all of us), not because He needed to, but because He was free to.  Jesus was more interested in trying to find a way to the tax master’s heart, than He was about making a principled stand on why He did not need to pay this tax.  So He creates a miracle, where money, gold that is, is found in a random fish Peter catches in his hometown Sea of Galilee shores.  I imagine something that had never been done before.  The tax masters bear witness to the miracles of Jesus, even though they never asked for a sign.  The tax was still unfair.  But Jesus paid it.  He did not argue, or raise arms, or hold a revolution.  He did not even try to make sure His next church would never be consumed with thinking about these kinds of things again.  He just went the extra mile.  Because He still craved for the soul of those assigned to collect the taxes, and those wicked enough to dream up that system.

Jesus does not check back up on this tax, to see if it was used rightly.  He knows it will likely never be used rightly.  He is intentionally giving funds to those intent on killing Him.  They may wind up converting this gold coin into several silver ones, that one day briefly line the pockets of Judas who will betray Him over it.  That gold coin may instead have found its way into Roman pockets, funding a spear that would one day pierce His side, or a cross He would one day hang upon.  Where His tax money went was STILL not His concern.  The life of the tax master was.  Life was more important than money.  A pathway to the heart more important that asserting His freedom not to pay.  He did what was not required, because His treasure is in hearts reconciled to Himself.  A silly gold coin was not going to get in the way of that.

And where are we today in how we value our money, and our gold?  Have our Christian churches decided we must defend ourselves, in effect, choosing to take on the role of the King, rather than trusting in the King to do what His love demands of Him.  Have we lost trust in our King, choosing to fight to live, rather than trust that our King has our eternal lives in His hands, and our earthly ones as well.  Have we told ourselves it is our “job” to “provide” for our families, and look to our King, only when we don’t believe we have enough money to get the job done.  We fight to hold on to our taxes, to keep as much as we can.  If not from our churches (and some treat tithes and offerings, not much different than taxation), then from our governments.  And we never once consider trying to find pathways to any heart outside of our own.  We develop a spirit of fighting to keep what is rightfully ours.  And in this spirit, we try to keep those other Christians who may disagree with our beliefs, away from us.  We reason we must fight the devil, and since they do not agree, they must be with the devil.  Yet all of us claim to follow Christ.  And there was no fight in Christ, to keep what was His, not even His life.  He gave all, to reach all, to reach me, and you.

Perhaps our churches today, could abandon ideas of influence and power, leaving behind the provinces of Satan.  Perhaps instead we could hone our skills in loving others, trying to give more of ourselves to others, to meeting needs anywhere and everywhere – without fear, or regret.  In this we would enter the provinces of Jesus, and find a King already there, working so hard already, now looking for those of us who are ready to join with Him, in the ministry of finding a pathway to hearts.  Even if that means we lose a few things along the way or give up what should not be required.  At the end of it all, the real treasure, is the treasure of souls.  Gold is nothing but pavement for city streets, worth nothing more than gravel is today.  But the feet that may one day walk on it, are priceless.

 

Intelligence, Reconnaissance, and Your Need to Know [part two] ...

Our study resumes trying to answer the question of “why” God would reveal such specific details to us about our future city home well ahead of the final battle to take that same city by the forces of darkness and evil.  Of course the outcome of that battle is not in doubt, but the reason behind the revelation must have meaning to us in the here and now, or otherwise why offer it.  There is method, and reason, and love behind every revelation of Jesus Christ, what follows is no different.  Our Lord’s character is to be revealed in the details He provides through His servant John.  It is up to us, to study it, find it, and bathe in the truth of His love.  So we resume in Chapter 21 of the book of Revelations.

John continues in verse 14 … “And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.”  What struck me first about this text, was a prior misunderstanding I had in reading it.  I mistakenly thought this text referred to the foundations of the city of heaven, it does not.  It refers to the foundations of the wall itself.  You will recall John has just recorded that this wall is both great and high.  It is entirely possible, the foundations of this wall are above ground and visible even after the city reaches its placement upon the earth.  There is no mention made of the thickness of each layer of this foundation of the wall, or whether it is planted in the earth and how far, but given there are names applied to each foundation, it is more likely the construction of the wall is layered upon this stack of 12 layers of precious stones, where the names of each apostle is in plain view of those who take a walk around the city.

Here our Lord reveals that while things evolve based on our decisions and choices, He is able to reach both backwards into our history as well as forwards.  The names of the 12 tribes of Israel have been inscribed on the gates, now also the names of the 12 Apostles on the wall foundations.  The church, both in history, and going forward, is forever memorialized in the new city of heaven.  Keep in mind this city is not one that will ever perish or be altered in the future.  Perhaps John sees inscribed here in one of the layers of this foundation of the wall, of the mechanism by which access is gained into the city, and the city is protected, his own name by the mercy of God.  For Israel gave birth the hope of the world in the Messiah, and the Apostles then took the gospel of the Messiah the lengths of the world.  Had it not been for the faithful choices of both to follow God, you could not be reading the precious Bible presented to you.

But this passage poses an interesting question.  Could the name of Judas be inscribed in one of those layers?  The natural assumption is that Matthias who is later chosen to replace Judas would have his name there instead.  Or perhaps Paul would have his name there having been chosen directly by Christ on the road to persecute the faithful.  But why not Judas; because he betrayed our Lord?  Have we done anything worse?  Did Peter?  Peter denied Christ three times when He perhaps needed the support of His disciples the most.  Yet Peter is forgiven.  It is not the magnitude of our sins, but whether we will humble ourselves and yet seek forgiveness for them that matters.  The very soldier who pierced the side of Christ, and drove the nails into His hands, is not beyond the realm of the forgiveness of our Lord. 

Judas may have betrayed Him.  The Roman may have killed Him.  But you and I stand equally guilty of both crimes every time we choose to embrace the love of self, and sin against God.  We demand the cost of His sacrifice yet again for the actions we take.  And what is more, we know better.  We have the insight of history and scripture to record what had to be done to pay our cost.  Yet with this knowledge, we have the audacity to require it yet again.  If we are not beyond forgiveness and redemption, can we be so quick to assume Judas was not either?  Can we be so quick to assume his last prayer was not one of a penitent sinner for forgiveness because he could not live, knowing the magnitude of the sin he had committed?  Imagine what the name of Judas there on a foundation of the wall of heaven itself, says about the character of God, about His willingness to forgive, about the intensity of His love for even one like Judas, or you, or me.  Whether his name is there or not, will be determined by how he spent what time he had left before he ended his life, only he and God know that.

John continues in verse 15 … “And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. [verse 16] And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.”  So here we go again, why is John now revealing yet more precious intelligence and reconnaissance about the nature of heaven ahead of the final battle, why do you need to know?  In this passage we learn the city of heaven is in the shape of a square.  Or at least, the base of the city is in this shape.  This means the walls that surround the city are approximately 1500 miles long each.  A wall that long easily displays the need for multiple gates for access to and from the city.  3 gates along each side of the wall, if spread equidistant from each other, one might guess they are positioned 300 miles from each other and 300 miles from the corners of the wall.  

But even 300 miles is no short distance.  Try walking from Orlando to Miami sometime to get a feel for it.  In today’s age, or in the age of John, one might reasonably attempt to walk 15 miles a day with some effort.  It might also depend on the conditions of the pathway, whether hilly terrain, or difficult surfaces. The short story being, it would take significantly longer to get from one gate to another than a single 24 hour day at current walking speeds.  If a horse could ride 30 miles a day, that still leaves 10 of them.  In a car driving 60 miles per hour it would still take 5 hours to get there.  Even in a plane that takes an hour’s flight.  This is just to move from one gate to another.  To get from one corner of the wall to the next on foot given today’s rates is 100 days, or 50 days on horseback, 25 hours in a car, or 2.5 hours by plane.  This is NO small city. 

But then comes perhaps the most interesting detail of this passage, the city is as tall as it is long.  This means it extends 1500 miles up as well.  The length and width are hardly comprehensible at these measurements, but to be this tall as well is breathtaking.  It then brings up some interesting architectural ideas.  If the throne of God is at the city center, and is also the highest point in the city, then it stands to reason that all the surrounding structures would begin to descend in height, where the buildings closest to God’s throne would be the tallest, and those closest to the wall would be the lowest.  This would give the city the appearance of an ancient Egyptian pyramid from a distance.  This may have been a design Satan inspired the Egyptians to build to mock God by imitation here on earth bathed in a false religion that believes in the immortality of the soul.  A different architectural idea might have been that all structures within the city are equally tall, thus the city might have resembled a Borg cube from the Star Trek series where again resistance is futile (to the power of love that is). 

In either architectural construct, or ones we have yet to imagine, consider what the ramifications are for a building that is constructed that is only one mile tall (5280 feet).  Using the measure of 10 feet per story level of a building, this means just a single mile tall structure would be 528 floors.  Let’s assume we need 30 feet per story now to accommodate high ceilings and much taller people or inhabitants, that still means a single mile high building would be around 140 stories tall.  Imagine walking up the stair case on that one.  Good thing fire dangers are a thing of the past.  Good thing earthquake building codes are no longer a worry.  Good thing tornadoes, zoning, flooding, and shoddy construction is a thing of the past.  But even with speedy elevators going up 140 stories is no small feat.  Now imagine any given building instead of being 140 stories tall (using 30 feet per story and one mile in height) is now 100 miles tall.  At that point you have 14,000 stories tall.  Taking the 100 mile high building up by 15 to make it 1500 miles tall and you have 210,000 stories tall.  Anything above a 100 story “skyscraper” we can see in New York City, or Dubai, or Hong Kong begins to boggle our brains.  The idea of a mile high building begins to threaten the safety of our air travel.

But here is where physics gets interesting, what happens when the city extends 1500 miles into our atmosphere?  This is well beyond the normal air we breathe.  Our present atmosphere is composed of several layers beginning with the Troposphere which starts at sea level and extends up about 7 miles.  It is followed by the Stratosphere which heads up to about 31 miles, followed by the Mesosphere up to about 50 miles, followed by the Thermosphere up to about 440 miles, followed by the Exosphere up to about 6200 miles.  A 1500 mile structure of anything would be well into the Exosphere.  This begs the question, how do we travel at all?  How do we breathe?  What happens to gravity?  If the earth is made new, and substantially larger, would it not have a much deeper atmosphere?  But then if so, how heavy would that atmospheric pressure be on our bodies.  In addition, a significantly larger planet would bring with it a significantly larger gravitational pull, requiring significantly stronger muscles just to be able to walk around at all. 

But let’s get back to the core question, why give us this information?  Perhaps it is to challenge our human wisdom once again with the realities of our God, where nothing is impossible.  Perhaps it is to tell us that the city of heaven will be much larger than anything we can imagine with more than enough room to house every person ever born from Adam until now.  Perhaps it is to give us a hint that travel in heaven will not be as constricted by human limitations as it is today.  Perhaps it is to alter our ideas of a mansion from one of country estate to one of city penthouse.  Perhaps it is to inspire us to dream about what it might be like, and the infinite possibilities we will be exploring just to see all of it from one end to the other might take centuries.

Why do we need to know now?  After all, our minds can hardly comprehend what we are hearing anyway?  What does this show us about the character of Jesus Christ?  I believe it shows us that our very limited thinking, and very limited scale, even in the world of today, are nothing next to how our God thinks about things.  I cannot fathom a city of this size.  I could not possibly guess at the extent of its population ability.  But that our God created this city and modified it so that we could live with Him tells me that 1500 miles in height or length or width is not too far for His light or presence to reach.  For there is no dark corner in heaven.  There is no alley way or hidden space, where the light and presence of our God does not reach.  From end to end, and height to basement, nowhere in this city is absent the presence and light and love of our God.  His bride is meant for our Lord.  We are the treasure that is to be in this city.

John continues his descriptions in verse 17 … “And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.”  John now reveals the height of the wall to be 144 cubits or about 216 feet.  Compared to a city that is 1500 miles high, a 216 foot high wall is hardly significant.  But to reveal this information to the enemy ahead of the battle seems really like revealing the worst secret of your city’s defenses.  You just told them how high to build the ladders to scale the wall.  You just gave them an indication of how thick the walls might be in order that proper battering rams or explosive devices would need to be to take down the wall and grant access to the city inside.  Why give this data away?  Perhaps it is to remind us that war itself is to be a thing of the past.  God does not doubt His victory in the coming battle.  And this wall will be standing to prevent future entry and exit, only like a fence to remind us, that we are ever surrounded by the protection of our God.  A fence He is choosing to decorate in a most ornate manner.  This might be God’s idea of a traditional “white picket fence” so to speak.

John continues in verse 18 … “And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. [verse 19] And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; [verse 20] The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. [verse 21] And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.”  With a city that is 1500 miles high, and an equal distance square, John keeps his attention focused largely on the wall.  He reveals to us that each gate in the wall is a single pearl (must have been some oyster).  He reveals that the bricks of the wall are of the same stones that is reflected in the light of God, and in the appearance of God the Father, a Jasper stone (likely green in color).  Has God perhaps put a part of Himself into the construction of this wall? 

The foundations of this wall, presumably the ones where the names of the Apostles are written, are described in detail.  They represent a variety of colors and textures.  And lastly the streets of heaven are made of the concrete of purest gold, such that they are nearly translucent.  One thing that immediately comes to mind when considering the construction of this wall, and of the streets of the city, is the value of the treasures we value here on earth.  Pearls, sapphires, emeralds, and gold are not done away with in heaven.  But they do represent only building materials.  What we choose to wear around our necks, our fingers, our wrists, and our heads are nothing more than the concrete of heaven.  Pearls are of value because they are rare, as is any precious stone, but in heaven they are as plentiful as the wall itself.  If you define the value of your jewelry because it is ornate and rare and perhaps large, you have not seen the half of it yet.  God has much more jewels than you can possibly imagine.  He had so many, he used them as construction materials; perhaps that was ALL they were ever intended to be used for.

On earth we kill for gold, in heaven we walk on it.  This information, this intelligence, this reconnaissance about our future home was not shared with us to stoke our greed, but to kill it once and for all time.  We do not need jewelry to make us feel better about our appearance.  There is no reason to hoard gold, let alone paper money.  In effect it is the equivalent of wearing bits of gravel, wood, and dirt on our bodies.  For what we prize so highly and sacrifice so much for here in this world is nothing more than beautiful building materials in the only future that matters.  This revelation should give us pause to realize the contents of the city make it the bride of Christ, not the construction materials.  We are the prize.  We are the treasure.  We are the thing God was willing to give His only Son to die in our stead for.   He loved us, not gold, or pearls, or jewelry.  He had plenty of jewels, but treasured you so highly He was willing to die so you would not have to.  Our lives are what matters most to Christ.  He shows us the magnitude of His thinking, of His design skills, or His architectural planning, to show us that size will not be the limiting factor in our participation in heaven.  Heaven is big enough for ALL of us.  There is no limit to His invitations because He does not have enough room, He has more than enough.  The only limitation to entry to this city is because you refuse to do so.

When love of others is perfected in you, you do not value the rubies, diamonds, gold, and pearls, you value the person who wears them or cannot afford to.  The construction trinkets are of no value to the person whose heart has been transformed by Christ.  The goal is to see the person in this city, with you, with me, with Christ.  What we wear matters literally nothing at all.  No designer suit will compensate for a corrupted heart.  No finest gem will replace the loss of a loved one in the kingdom of heaven.  No amount of gold in this world, is worth even the least of these, in the next one.  To “sacrifice” our means in this world to promote the ministry of redemption is NOT a sacrifice at all, it is an investment that has a return more precious than any conceived of since the dawn of creation.  It is our priorities that must be altered by the Revelation of John to us.  It is our hearts that must be remade in order to be in harmony with the kingdom he reveals.  To treasure the rocks of this world over the people of this world, is to miss the point of the gospel entirely.  Rocks will be in no short supply, people are the only unique and truly rare and precious things that cannot be replaced.  The jewels He will place on your head, are merely a symbol of the treasure you are in His heart.

But the revelations of heaven and the messages were not over yet …