On some level, keep in your awareness the eternal perspective on things.
The purpose of Creation has always been to vindicate the glory of the Creator. It serves as a demonstration of His justice. It quite naturally reflects His moral character in order to achieve that. How else can His moral justice be vindicated if it is not tested and proved in playing out the scenario based on His declared will?
So the universe reflects His will. It requires a special blindness to ignore His moral character; it’s plainly visible and woven into the fabric of reality. That blindness is precisely what came upon the human race in the Fall. It was a blindness of choice, of usurping the designed function of the human consciousness. Humanity prefers to trust its own capabilities — perceptions and reason — than to rely on the revelation of God’s moral purpose. The Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is all about the choice to decide for oneself what is, or ought to be, good and evil. “You shall be like God, deciding good and evil” was Satan’s lie (the Hebrew word translated as “know” actually referred to a judicial function; it meant judging).
So we became mortal, denied access to the Tree of Life. This mortal existence remains a proving ground, a place where you and I play out for some ineffable audience the difference between what we can come up with against what God has declared, what God built into the very existence of reality. Revelation isn’t merely punitive; it’s primary goal is restoring us to Eden. The punishments are meant to drive us back into His arms. Of course there are thresholds beyond which you cannot be redeemed. God alone knows where that is for each person He has made.
Don’t try to mix in the doctrine of Predestination here; the human mind is incapable of understanding how accountability and predestination work together. They do; God says so. But He also says you can’t comprehend how it works. Stop trying to figure it out, because it will only lead to very confused theology, such as the stupid debate between Arminian and Calvinist theologies.
So revelation is meant to funnel us back into Eden. If you cling to the premise of the what got us kicked out of Eden, you’ll never get back to Eden. There is only one gate, and there is no alternate path. From where we stand today, the one path is the Person of Jesus Christ; the Flaming Sword has become the Cross (Galatians 2:20). It’s not a question of knowing His name or the ritual of declaring allegiance. It’s a question of embracing the path back to Eden consistent with what Jesus taught by His words and His life, His death, His resurrection. He’s there and calling to the entire human race, regardless what name you choose to call Him.
The message is the thing.
Indeed, the message takes priority over human life. It’s more important to you than your continued existence is this miserable fallen mortality. It’s more important to the world than any human life, or all human life. The message — AKA the Word — will be here until the Word comes back for one final act of redemption. In that day, all that fallen humanity has done will be wiped away from Creation. The natural world, the whole universe, is not fallen, but is under mismanagement of morally blind humanity. All the crappy results of that mismanagement will be wiped away and Eden restored to its designed conditions (2 Peter 3:10-13).
Until that Final Day, all things are slowly degrading toward that utter chaos that God can no longer tolerate. Granted, we can see from history that it’s waves of chaos, followed by yet another wave of pitiful human creativity, another fresh rebirth of art and culture. Over and over, humanity builds yet another Tower of Babel to gain access illusory access to eternity. And every new civilization is founded on principles contrary to the Word, so that they will also be destroyed in due time. All of this will testify time and time again to the inherent divine justice of the Creator. What humans can cook up from their own capabilities without revelation is always fatally flawed.
Yes, the Word reveals a path to life that would and could work to provide everything humans actually need, and a good measure of providing for our aspirations and dreams. It would be a culture of sorts, but you would not call it a civilization, because it does not lend itself to living in cities, which is a primary part of the definition of “civilization.” The way of revelation does not answer human greed and lust for control, so nobody much will ever take the Word seriously. Therefore, every civilization will die a messy death.
Sure, mourn at the loss of lives to which you are close. Mourn at the sorrow of being deprived of your happiness. But while you are at it, mourn even more over the rejection of revelation that necessitates death. Learn to expect mortality and destruction and chaos, because it is the nature of his fallen world. Take it with aplomb.
When some talking head on TV mouths the shocked words of sadness at the loss of life, regardless whose life, all I can say is, “Frickin’ moral fool; your life is forfeit, too.” The people who claim the riots are in any way justified by some injustice are missing the point, same as the folks who justify the crack-downs. Both sides want the same thing: wealth and power. One side has it and tries to keep it; the other side tries to take it. What they both want is unjust in itself. The Word says this life is not precious. Injustice is inevitable without the revelation of God. Our whole society was built on injustice from the very start, and it has piled up more injustice day after day by rejecting revelation.
Even people without referring to revelation saw this day coming. They may have attributed it to various mechanical errors in building and keeping a stable society, but they saw it coming. They aren’t surprised by the riots; they saw them as inevitable. But America was not founded in biblical values in the first place. It was founded on Enlightenment philosophical lies. Reading those flawed notions back into the Bible doesn’t make them good or right. Proclaiming yet older Western values doesn’t make it any better; it was founded on a rejection of revelation. The record of that is clear.
The Word will be here after America is long forgotten. We can either participate in the Word or we can let ourselves be wrapped up in the sorrows of celebrating our fallen natures, as if that was something to be proud of. Stand aloof. Weep for your own losses, but don’t pretend God is obliged to take action according to your personal sense of justice. Rather, look for ways to assert His revelation and celebrate His glory in the midst of His wrath. For His wrath on sin is a part of His glory.
Let it shine.
