Dwelling in God’s Heart – The Cleansing Bathroom

Dwelling in God’s Heart – The Cleansing Bathroom.

“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.”  (James 4:8).

“I am inside My Father, and you are inside Me, and I am inside you.” (John 14:20).

Even though the phrase “accept Jesus into our heart” is not in Scripture, we get the picture. Accepting Jesus into our hearts means we receive Him into the very core of our being, into the centerpiece of who we are, affecting everything about us. When we receive Jesus into our heart-home, our identity becomes His, the essence of our personhood is intimately wrapped into the essence of Christ’s Personhood. When we make our home in His home, He miraculously become a resident inside each of us as well. And when we experience that Double Union with Jesus Christ, we discover that our spiritual location is inside of the very heart of God. In other words, if the Son is inside the Father, and we are inside the Son, then logically we are inside the Father! By dwelling in the Son’s heart, we dwell in the Father’s heart as well. By living inside the “Person after God’s own heart,” we find ourselves inside God’s heart! As Paul claims in Colossians 3:3, believers are “hidden within Christ, inside of God.”

Way back in 1954 there was a creative little evangelistic tract produced by Inter-Varsity Press, written by a pastor named Robert Boyd Munger. He entitled his brief tract, “My Heart – God’s Home.” I recommend it if you find it. Following up on Revelation 3:20, Pastor Munger imagined a believer opening his door and escorting Jesus through the home of his heart, now that Jesus has taken up residence in him. Now that Jesus dwells in him, and He has moved into his heart, what will Jesus see there? So the believer in the tract proceeds to give a tour of his heart-home with Jesus as he welcomes Christ into his heart. Together they tour the person’s study, dining room, living room, workroom, recreation room, bedroom and hall closet. I thought this was an engaging idea, but now I would like to give the other side of the story. Jesus lives within us, to be sure. But we also live within Jesus, hence inside the very heart of God. So if the Father was to give us a guided tour of His heart, what would we find? What will be waiting for us to discover in the many rooms of God’s heart? We could easily entitle this, “God’s Heart -My Home.”

Like anyone’s home, God’s heart will reflect His attitudes, motivations, personality, character traits, His heavenly “tastes” in interior décor. God’s deeply held convictions will be revealed in His heart-home, as they are in our own hearts. Using Scripture as our guide, we will explore God’s heart as we make ourselves at home and abide in Him. We will explore everything from the front porch to the front door, the living room to the dining room, from the kitchen to the study to the chapel. And many more rooms as well, like the bedroom, the bathroom, and the nursery. There may even be a sneak peek at the family room, the children’s playroom, and the school room.

THE CLEANSING BATHROOM. Obviously, if we need to be made clean, or should I say when we need to be washed clean, what better place than the bathroom?

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites and play-actors! You have become so pretentious in your hypocrisy. You are proving yourselves blind once again by being more concerned about ceremonial cleanliness than inner purity. It’s as if you think your job is done when you wash the outside of yourself, ignoring your filthy inside self. You just care about appearances, forgetting that God can peer inside you with perfect vision. And He won’t like what He sees! You want a religion that helps you look good at a superficial level but is unconcerned about things like greed and gluttony at a deeper level. Learn to scrub your insides, purify yourselves, so that it matches the spotless outside, and your religion will really mean something. (a paraphrase of Matthew 23:25-26).

Possible follow-up questions to us from that Fifth Woe given to the Pharisees by Jesus: Do I care too much about appearing squeaky clean to others, and not giving enough attention to my inner character? Is my clean image, my spotless reputation, more important than the status of my heart? Why do I focus so much on appearances, on being impressive, and not on how God sees me? Am I more concerned with outer purity than inner purity? Do I deep down believe that I am earning my salvation with good behavior?

More cleansing thoughts from Scripture: “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings before My eyes. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, and plead for the widow… Though your sins are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” (Isaiah 1:16-18). ‘O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?” (Jeremiah 4:14). “Purge me with the shrub of purification. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow… Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:7, 10). “Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” (James 4:8).

Any focus on cleaning needs to include baptism, especially the baptism of Jesus Christ. There were no bathtubs back then, so the River of Jordan will have to do.

The Baptism of Jesus.

“One day Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River. As Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Holy Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy!” (Mark 1:9-11; also refer to Matthew 3:13-17; Luke 3:21-22; and John 1:29-34).

The big question is why? Why would Jesus the sinless One submit to a baptism which is intended for the repentance of sins?

1. To receive the Father’s blessing to begin His ministry. In His words of affirmation, God gave the heavenly seal of approval to inaugurate Jesus’ mission as Messiah. God’s words were, “You are my dearly beloved Son, and you bring me great joy! With you I am well pleased!” These words are a combination of Psalm 2:7, which is messianic, and Isaiah 42:1, which coronates the role of Suffering Servant, and Genesis 22:2, which brings to mind Isaac and the sacrifice and the fact that God is saying that He is the Father who has a Son who will truly die. God’s affirmation to Jesus confirms that the Messiah King would travel the road of the Suffering Servant.
2. To confess the sins of His people, in the tradition of Nehemiah (1:6), Ezra (9:10), Daniel (9:4-6), and others in biblical history who bore the burdens of the sins of the people. In submitting to baptism, Jesus shouldered the responsibility of Israel’s sinfulness, and acknowledged that Israel needs to be purified and forgiven. Jesus’ baptism was an act of repentance, but for His people, not for Him.
3. To identify with all of humanity and their fallen nature. Jesus is giving a nod to His human identity, wanting to be in solidarity with all people. All people need to be purified, He is a fellow human being, therefore He will identify Himself with humanity out of love and humility.
4. To show an example to believers, to be a pioneer in the baptismal way of turning to God. Jesus did nothing that requires repentance, but He wanted to show the way for those followers who are penitent.
5. To show support for John the Baptist, the “greatest prophet,” in his calling of preparing the way for the Lord. Jesus wanted to show the people that John was following a divinely inspired calling, and so He submitted to John’s baptism to affirm John’s prophetic work, and to confirm that John is preparing the way for Jesus the Messiah.
6. To declare publicly that He was beginning His mission to the world.Jesus is announcing that He will now begin to bring His message of salvation to His people and to the world. It’s interesting that, “In His first pubic declaration of His ministry, instead of going to Jerusalem and identifying with the established religious leaders, Jesus went to a river and identified with those who are repenting of sin.” (NLT notes).
7. To become ordained in His role as Messianic Savior. Jesus was thirty years old at the time of His baptism, which was when rabbis were dedicated to teach and priests were ordained and declared fit to serve in the Temple. Some scholars believe that His baptism was the established time to receive a formal dedication to serve Yahweh, that John dedicated the temple of Jesus’ body, much like Solomon once dedicated the Temple.
8. To symbolize death and resurrection. When Jesus was immersed in baptism, He was symbolically buried in death. And when He rose out of the water, He gave us a picture of how He would minister in the way of new life in the power of the Holy Spirit. In His baptism, Jesus foreshadowed His own death and Resurrection, and He revealed the meaning behind the future sacrament of Christian baptism.
9. To be recognized as the divine Messiah. In a moment of inspiration at the baptismal site, John the Baptist called Jesus “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29). John is referencing the Passover lamb (Exodus 12:3) that was slain to save the enslaved people of Israel from certain death. The Baptist is saying that Jesus is the Passover Lamb that is to be sacrificed to save the people from certain spiritual death. One Bible translator suggests that John’s baptizing of Jesus publicly washed the sacrificial Lamb and fulfilled the requirements of the Law, confirming to Israel that the Lamb was spotless and without blemish. At the baptism, John confirmed that the untainted Lamb was now ready to be sacrificed for the life of the people. (Dr. Brian Simmons, Passion Translation notes).
10. To become the Big Fish. Because of Moses’ prophecy in Deuteronomy 18about a messianic figure called the Teacher, the Jewish people during Jesus’ time were expecting a new Moses to guide and save them, like the old Moses did. They believed that the second Moses would duplicate the teachings and miracles of the first Moses, and would be a mediator between God and the people. Moses was an Egyptian name which meant “taken out of the water,” and when pronounced sounded like swish-swish. So Moses was called the big fish in many rabbinic circles. Jesus in many ways did have many parallels with Moses during His ministry, with some scholar saying there were at least 50 different similarities between Jesus and Moses. Because of the prophecy in Deuteronomy, many rabbinic authorities explored the idea of the Messiah being another Big Fish. And sure enough, here is Jesus, being taken out of the water and revealing to all that He indeed was the Big Fish so often discussed in Judaism.