Introduction to “ ‘His Judgment Is Come’ ”
Review of Previous Article
The biblical concept of covenant is a metaphor for God’s own Being, Becoming and Effecting. In his own full divinity and in his own full humanity, God constitutes the Party(ies) to and of the covenant. God constitutes the Covenant — in its beginning, in its agency or means, and in its “fillment.” Thus, in biblical terms, mankind is not a party to or a part of the covenant. Nor is mankind an agent or a means of establishing the covenant. Out of his own kenotic (self-limiting, self-emptying, self-giving) love, God, as the Covenant, has irrevocably, noncontingently and eternally given himself to mankind. God himself is the “Unspeakable Gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15). He is the true “At-one-ment.”
Overview of This Article
The determination of mankind to be, become and effect its partnership in the covenant is the “original sin.” All have been guilty of this mistaken endeavor to intrude upon God’s “Gift” of himself to mankind. Because of its self-deception, all mankind has assumed that religious and other power structures were means to its essential ends. All mankind has tried, wittingly or unwittingly, to appropriate divinity, the attributes of divinity, or the role of divinity for itself.
Christianity, for example, has put the church in the place of God. Thus, in their misguided attempt to be a legitimate party to the “covenant” (a metaphor for God), Christians have contended that they possess God (Gnosticism, panentheism, charismatic movement, New Age movement), are God (pantheism), or are destined to become God (so-called “orthodoxy”). And this delusion is not limited to Christianity. It also is present in both the Jewish and the Islamic communities. All three monotheistic religions have therefore compromised true monotheism, putting adherents, both individually and collectively, in the place of the one-and-only God.
These self-deceptions profoundly impact the condition of our world today. They intrude on God’s covenantal promise to again appear, bringing humanity and all Creation to a truly human future. It is therefore time for all mankind to address its true and ultimate calling.