History does not exist in a paradisical world where time has no meaning. Without birth, death, and all the violence in-between, there is nothing to record for the bliss of every moment is continual, without disturbance. Life in paradise is peaceful, joyful, without need or desire.
Truth is the judgment of the cross on the world, in this world we crucify God daily to our systems as we face our struggle to survive in a hostile world. When truth is silenced, the voice of God is crucified.
The Lord taught his disciples to pray with a model prayer. The prayer affirms the oneness of humanity under the love of God our Father. The prayer teaches us that God’s reality is apart from the daily experience of humanity.
In Scripture, it is not the language of law that communicates God, it is not the philosophers strenuous exercise in dialectics that communicates God - it is the prophets poetry, the wiseman’s story, the language of the song….
The suffering servant songs of Isaiah 42:1–9; 49:1–7; 50:4–9; and 52:13–53:12 all carry the importance of being identified in the NT as portrayals of the coming messiah. I will focus briefly on Isaiah 49 and its ramifications for understanding the relationship of Jesus to his disciples and how the need for Paul the apostle propels him into a role that exceeds the apostles.
