Paradoxes of the Kingdom abound to
confuse the ‘righteous’ and encourage the broken. Don’t believe me? Read the
Old Testament. Then read Jesus.
How’s the outworking of Isaiah 61:1-10
in the Septuagint (LXX):
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me; he has sent me to preach glad tidings to the poor,
to heal the broken in heart, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery
of sight to the blind; to declare the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day
of recompence; to comfort all that mourn; that there should be given to them
that mourn in Sion glory instead of ashes, the oil of joy to the mourners, the
garment of glory for the spirit of heaviness: and they shall be called
generations of righteousness, the planting of the Lord for glory. And they shall build the old waste
places, they shall raise up those that were before made desolate, and shall
renew the desert cities, even those that had been desolate for many generations. And strangers shall come
and feed thy flocks, and aliens shall
be thy ploughmen and
vine-dressers. But ye shall be called priests of the Lord, the ministers of
God: ye shall eat the strength of nations, and shall be admired because of
their wealth. Thus shall they inherit the land a second time, and everlasting
joy shall be upon their head. For I am the Lord who love righteousness, and
hate robberies of injustice; and I will give their labour to the just, and will
make an everlasting covenant with them. And their seed shall be known among the
Gentiles, and their offspring in the midst of peoples: every one that sees them
shall take notice of them, that they are a seed blessed of God; and they shall
greatly rejoice in the Lord. Let my soul rejoice in the Lord; for he has
clothed me with the robe of salvation, and the garment of joy: he has put a
mitre on me as on a bridegroom, and adorned me with ornaments as a bride.
(Bolding done for emphasis; italics in original)
God’s key Kingdom reversal is this:
He wants to use the broken to bind up the wounds of the broken. He uses the
broken with power, but those who are proud toil fruitlessly for years. If life
has smashed you up, prepare to be part of God’s Kingdom reversal; and be used
greatly (which is measured in the eternal realm; certainly, not by numbers).
God has no role for the
self-righteous priest. The priest is necessarily from the broken. If the priest is not from the broken, they will be
ineffective for they haven’t borne witness to the power of the Spirit in the
realities of Isaiah 61:1-3 in their own lives. They cannot take persons through
places they themselves have not gone. And they have insufficient empathy and
compassion. God cannot use them who do their ministry for their own kudos. And
be careful, for it is difficult to discern the right minister from the self-righteous
minister.
But God will use the one who has been smashed and dashed on the rocks of life.
It is the broken person that God
has predestined to work great deeds for His glory. Not just the person once
broken and caused to be prideful, but the person who remains broken.
The Holy Spirit works maximally through
broken people who lead as if they don’t.
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