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| Thursday, November 27, 2008
Everywhere, Jerusalem by Wang ChuqiaoWhen one speaks of Jerusalem, one cannot help but think of the present-day Arab-Jew wrangle over Palestine. One also wonders how Old Testament personalities might have configured and grappled with their sense of physical space and place. In this aspect, the Biblical examples of Jonah and Abraham are revealing. In Genesis 20:10-11, it is recorded for us the dramatic exchange between Abimelech and Abraham, after the former confronted the latter about his lie that Sarah was his sister. Abraham's answer was, "Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake." In Jonah 1:3, it is said that "...Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD." To modern day believers, their perplexing behaviour may seem lacking in faith or even illogical. Was Abraham implying that his God was "less powerful" in this heathen land? One is all the more bemused upon realising that Tarshish, where Jonah was fleeing to, was a landlocked city-- to travel by sea was simply counter-intuitive. A possible interpretation may be that Abraham and Jonah had a mistaken understanding of God which extended to and manifested in the ways they grappled with their sense of space. Perhaps at a subconscious level, they believed that their God was merely powerful within certain physical domains, territories and boundaries. Outside of this space, they were neither granted His continued protection (Abraham) nor under His prevailing wrath and the survey of His eye anymore (Jonah). Yet our Lord would later lay this misconception to rest. In John 4: 20-24, Jesus corrected the woman from Samaria and revealed a great spiritual truth to her—that the controversy between the Jews and the Samarians regarding the "correct" place to worship would be obviated when worship is of the Spirit and in truth. "Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father." (John 4:21) Have we also fallen into the same mental trap? At some level, do we believe that we can willfully draw up boundaries in our lives, surrendering some territories to the lordship of God while keeping other territories under the strongholds of our pet sins? Have we denied God the "space of Jerusalem" over all aspects of our lives? Yet the Psalmist said, "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there." (Psalm 139: 7-8) Since New Jerusalem is seen as the New Heaven and teleological "final destination" for all believers; it is perhaps instructive to look to the alternative ending of the story-- Hell-- to shed some light on Heaven. From there, we will see that Jerusalem is not just a physical space; it is also a condition and a state of being. Just like Hell. In Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, the protagonist interrogates the fallen angel Mephistopheles about Hell. What ensues is a most poignant definition of Hell ever described in literature, past or present. "Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it: Think'st thou that I, that saw the face of God, And tasted the eternal joys of heaven, Am not tormented with ten thousand hells, In being depriv'd of everlasting bliss?" Mephistopheles further elaborates that "Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscrib'd In one self-place; but where we are is hell, And where hell is, there must we ever be: And, to be short, when all the world dissolves, And every creature shall be purified, All places shall be hell that are not heaven." For fallen angels who have seen the face of God, Hell is where He is not. For children saved by the blood of Christ, Heaven or the New Jerusalem is where He is. If God's presence is everywhere as the Psalmist claims, then Jerusalem is everywhere. When faced with the promise given at the daunting task of the Great Commission, that "lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world" (Mat 28:20), we no longer have to quake in portentous fear as Jonah once did. This is a promise of love and protection that defies all powers, principalities and domains. And so we came to the end-- and know that the end(ing) (in every sense of it) is not just imminent, but immanent. Amen.
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