“The Greatest of These Is Love“
In the beginning, God…
Genesis 1:1 KJV
Jesus opened His first recorded public address with these words: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Matthew 5:3 In the original Aramaic language, the word “poor” carries the strongest possible meaning, describing an abject, penniless poverty. Think of the most disenfranchised refugee, living without food, shelter or anything of value.
In this incredible speech, where He introduces the counterintuitive culture of the Kingdom, Jesus first asserts that we are remarkably blessed when we recognize and admit that we bring nothing of value into our relationship with God. But that request seems to strip away my bargaining power! In that verse, we are encouraged to realize that we stand spiritually naked and destitute before God – devoid of any inherent value. We have no negotiating strategy; our intelligence, education, economic prowess, family reputation, and followers on social media don’t impress God Almighty.
Nothing from this planet improves our worth in the eyes of the Lord. For a moment, this sounds like a vulnerable, even horrible condition, but Jesus claims it actually initiates our citizenship into his Father’s Kingdom.
(NOTE: Jesus did not say, as some commentaries imply, “Blessed are the economically poor people who have no earthly goods.” Spiritual poverty is the necessary condition, not the economic type.)
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father…
James 1:17 NKJV
Here we are at the beginning of this book and already I must acknowledge my own intellectual poverty. I am personally incapable of describing the origins of the Lord’s spiritual government. Maybe you can help us both. How should I convey the fundamental premise of Principles of the Kingdom? I need to describe what happened “before” the beginning of time. It sounds silly. “Before” is a word that places one action prior to another. What is the correct way to describe the actions of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit “before” they collaborated to create the universe, prior to the first moment of Day One?
…We declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.
1 Corinthians 2:7 NIV
The very first principle I wish to convey, a description of what was going on prior to Genesis 1:1, is bent back on itself. My language skills run into walls on this vital, fundamental issue. Here’s the point: God was a supernatural being before the first dawn. His time framework is eternal (kairos) while ours is temporal (chronos). Faced with this incredible challenge, we nevertheless begin.
AN ENCOUNTER WITH GOD
Lord, unless you provide the words, this book, which you called me to write, will be a record of random spiritual theories. It ought to be an encouragement and a blessing to the reader, a systematic revelation of your remarkable government. But, I have an empty thesaurus and an absence of credentials. If the words are to come, they will flow from your Spirit to my mind or else this book will never be written. Continue to remind me of my utter dependence on you, my Lord.
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