Clarity

A few years ago at our old church, as a sign of commitment and dedication to God for the coming year the congregation were asked to recite the prayer of Brendan, the Navigator. This prayer began “Lord, I will trust you, help me to journey beyond the familiar and into the unknown. Give me the faith to leave old ways and break fresh ground with you. Christ of the mysteries, can I trust you to be stronger than each storm in me?” My husband and I both felt very uncomfortable with this prayer, especially with the title “Christ of the mysteries”, and didn’t join in.

Since then I have discovered why this prayer made us so uncomfortable. For the God of the Bible is not shrouded in mystery and unknowing, rather as Daniel tells us “there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries” (Daniel 2:28). God ultimately reveals Himself through His Son, Jesus Christ - “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.” (John 1:18).

In Genesis, we read that man’s eyes were first opened when Adam and Eve disobeyed God “and they realized they were naked” (Gen 3:7). Yet this opening of their eyes to their sinful condition only resulted in spiritual blindness. We read in Romans 1 that despite God clearly revealing his invisible qualities throughout creation, man turned away from God. God’s wrath against man is then revealed by Him giving them over to the sinful desires of their heart, shameful lusts and a depraved mind unable to see the Truth.

Blinded. Helpless. Hopeless.

A promise from Isaiah rings out into this hopelessness: “I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.” (Isaiah 65:1). And John’s gospel paints a vivid description of this: “As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.” (John 9:1-7).

A man blind from birth. There is no indication given that this man was seeking Jesus, it was rather Jesus who saw him and went to him. It was Jesus who gave him sight. Does this not describe our own experience of Jesus too? Spiritually blinded, not seeking God, but then God in His great mercy opened the eyes of our heart that we might see Him, repent and believe.

Now that we can clearly see, I believe we have an obligation to clearly speak. It is becoming fashionable to see confusion and mystery and doubt in the matters of God – but this is simply not true, we have been blessed with a revelation of the Father Himself! “No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Luke 10:22). There are those for whom the language of Jesus is not clear, and who are unable to hear what he says – those who do not belong to God. Yet “he who belongs to God hears what God says” (John 8:47).

Paul recognised the necessity of clear speech as he coveted the prayers of the church: “And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.” (Col 4:3-4).

The mystery of Christ is no longer hidden in obscurity. He revealed Himself when He came to this earth 2,000 years ago, to live a sinless life in perfect submission to His Father, to lay down His life that we might be saved from our sins, to rise again in triumph from the grave to give us a living hope and an inheritance kept in heaven for us which can never perish, spoil or fade. This is surely the greatest message of hope, and it deserves to be proclaimed with boldness and clarity!