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intimacy and the Second Coming

2009-05-01 - 11:33 a.m.

I am learning to wait on God. to experience His Presence in continual communion with Him. this morning I am relaxing in His Presence, feeling the gentle carresses of His love wash over my soul and body. they feel sort of like the hands of angels stroking my hair. these manifestations prove to me His love and affection for me on a daily basis. it is difficult to describe to someone who has never experienced it. if someone hadn't come to me two years ago and taught me that this kind of life was available to anyone, I myself may not have found it on my own. it is not called the "Secret Place" for no reason at all. I have found this place in secret, and I could not have done it without belief that He would have me seek it out. I believe that it is His Presence that we are to be most diligent in seeking after. if we don't, we run the risk of our souls becoming dehydrated. we cannot allow absence of thirst to lead us not to pursue Him with all due diligence. I have learned that ecstasy with God is the true aim of the Christian. to be a Mystic. a lover of His perusia (Presence). consider this excerpt concerning the Second Coming:

"Finally, the Second Coming entails a new heaven and a new earth. How else could you speak about it if you had been with Peter, James and John on the mountain of the transfiguration? When you came back down to level land would it seem like the same old world you had left, or would it seem strangely, mysteriously new? When we have had a profound spiritual experience, though it takes place inwardly, can't we best describe it outwardly - for instance, "as a whole new universe!?"

I am making the case for a metaphorical understanding of the Second Coming. The case gets stronger when you take into account the Greek word for 'coming,' perusia. Perusia can also be translated 'presence' - thus, the Second Presence. Doesn't 'presence' correspond better to our lived experience? Countless generations have lived and died without experiencing the Second Coming; but in every generation many people have experienced the Second Presence. If we take the Second Coming, not literally, but as a description of what happens to us when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, then Jesus' comparison to the fig tree in spring makes perfect sense. The Second Presence does feel like a gentle, up-welling of new life."

from http://skeinsoffaith.wordpress.com/2008/12/01/mark-1324-37-the-second-coming

I think I lean towards this man's interpretation of the Second Coming, moreso than the traditional interpretation. will Jesus split the sky and come back to earth in bodily form, for all the world to see, with vast media coverage and judgment and wrath poured out? yes, in some form, I do believe this will happen. but will it happen much sooner than that? yes, in some form, this will happen too. His Presence will be poured out in greater measure than ever before. we will see vast millions saved before we ever see vast millions perish. or perhaps they are both true, I don't know. the wheat grows with the tares until they are both fully ripened, so it has been said. perhaps we will see the "best of the times" and the "worst of times" at the same time. what I know is that I experience this Second Coming of the Presence of Jesus on a daily basis. this Presence heals me, it restores me, it satisfies my deepest cravings for friendship, companionship, and renewal. His Presence brings freshness into my soul, awakens desire within me, and affirms my need for a lover's touch. after much heartache and suffering (some due to the misunderstanding and rejection of others, some due to my own misunderstanding), I have come to the conclusion that I have only two options:

go back to the world, to try to fill the void in some way the best way I can or Press in for more. Press in for the impossible.

I have decided to Press in.

in a way, I would like to usher in the Second Coming by becoming a Second Coming and living the life of Christ having been conceived by the Holy Spirit within me, breaking forth into new life and territory in the realms of His Spirit, and fulfilling the greater works.

this is my fast. this is my wilderness of encounter. to wait on God. to be still in His Presence. to learn the ebbs and flows of His nature, to find intimacy as He tabernacles with me amid the mount of uncertainty and confusion. to discover His transfiguration, and thereby be transfigured, to become a new mystic, an incarnational vessel of habitation for Him to dwell.

so, Lord, come into your Garden.