One book I recently finished was Crossing the Threshold of Divine Revelation by William Abraham. I had Dr. Abraham for a class in seminary at Perkins School of Theology, SMU about religious knowledge. It was nice to reexamine this interesting text.

This book is very dense. Abraham talks about how we know what we know—which might sound complicated and abstract at first glance, but it really is applicable for everyday life! How do you know that Christianity is true? How do you believe that God exists? How do you have assurance that Christ loves you and died for your sins? These kinds of questions are at the heart of what is known as religious epistemology—a fancy academic word meaning the study of how we know stuff.

Abraham argues that historically speaking, our culture has struggled with things like divine revelation, or things we believe to be acts of God. We are perfectly content arguing from a standpoint of so-called “rationality” or scientific evidence, but we tend to shy away from religious appeals. This hesitancy does have some good reasons behind it. For instance, think of a cult leader coercing followers to commit crimes because he said a divine figure told them so!

But Abraham notes that in order to truly grasp hold of Christianity, one needs to experience God for him or herself. As we come to know the love of God, other things in our life begin to make more sense than they had before. (Abraham argues for what he calls “canonical theism”—that is, a faith grounded in the traditions of things like scripture, the witness of the church, the creeds, saints who have gone before us, and so forth).

One of the key illustrations Abraham uses is that of a threshold. Consider for a moment approaching a mountain pass. You are hiking up a winding trail and can see this pass from a distance. Once you arrive at the high point, you are able to see all behind you, as well as what is on the other side of the valley. Crossing the mountain “threshold” gives someone new perspective. The same is also true if you were to cross a threshold of a house. As you enter the doorway, you can then see what is actually inside. The point is that an area of transition gives someone new knowledge.

This also applies to our faith with how we “know” the love of God. To truly know God is to experience the nature and character of Jesus Christ. Knowing Jesus is much more important than knowing any other fact in the world. As Christians, we don’t need to shy away from sharing the testimony of God’s revelation in our own life. It is certainly meant to be shared… and it can also change the life of another person we witness to as well!

One major “issue” I highlighted about the work of the Holy Spirit is that people sometimes get it wrong. People have claimed that God tells them to do all sorts of crazy things! How can we be sure we are being moved by the Spirit?

One comical illustration of this issue is a story I once heard about a pastor in the early 1900s from the Houston area. During appointment season, this pastor boastfully approached his District Superintendent claiming that the Holy Spirit told him that he should be sent to serve St. John’s Methodist. This particular church was in the downtown area of the city and was one of the largest and wealthiest congregations of the entire conference. St. John’s even gave their pastor a car to attend the fancy elite parties of the parish! The DS was taken aback by this pastor’s boldness to essentially ask for such a “promotion.” Well, months later, the pastor found out he was indeed being sent to St. John’s… only that it was a different St. John’s Methodist church, 100 miles outside of the city in a tiny, struggling town!

So how can we avoid letting pride get the better of us or otherwise being misled for our direction in life?

1 John 4:1-2 provides a sort of blueprint for “testing” spirits–perhaps you’ve heard of this phrasing before:

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.

Did you notice the key detail of this passage? Not every feeling or experience we have is from God. Likewise, we must scrutinize what we encounter in order to ensure we stick to a Godly path. The Spirit of God, in whatever experience we might have, will always acknowledge that Jesus is central to our faith. Your life decisions ought to reflect this truth about who Christ is.

As you discern the work of the Holy Spirit and God’s plan for you, consider the following questions about whatever might be happening in your life. Whether it is tough decisions at work, navigating personal relationships, or making huge life changes, I’ve found these reflection prompts to be extremely helpful in my own walk with Christ…

• Have I taken time to pray for this decision? It is absolutely important to open yourself up to the moving of the Holy Spirit. Without doing so, we truly lack any sense of direction. Make a conscious effort to pray about your situation.
• Is what I’m sensing compatible with the ministry of Jesus? We have all kinds of experiences. We feel all sorts of feelings and think various thoughts. Those that are from God must line up with the life of Jesus Christ. Likewise, something like the decision to pursue revenge or hold onto a grudge is absolutely antithetical to the kind of person Jesus was–that kind of spirit is not from God! The Holy Spirit lines up with the character of Christ.
• Is my “gut” in alignment with or opposition to the broader Christian tradition? Sometimes people may claim God is telling them to do some questionable things (consider the clear problem of the television evangelist soliciting money for a private jet!). Chances are, whatever you feel called to must be in tune with what other Christians have experienced, too. The church has historically proclaimed the Lordship of Christ, the goodness of God, the importance of ministering to our broken world, and so forth. Does your feeling or desire align with this broad mission?
• Who will be glorified in this situation, me or God? Sometimes when we decide what to do in life, we want to advance our own interests (like the St. John’s story above). I would caution against feelings and decisions that would elevate your own position in the world. We must always seek to bring God glory, and the Holy Spirit will “nudge” us in this direction. God’s calling on your life and the moving of the Holy Spirit will almost always humble you in one way or another.

Art is a unique window into how humans view the world. Christian art is obviously no exception to this broader cultural truth. From the lines we sing in hymnbooks, to the ways in which we design stain glassed windows, we often articulate what we think about God in what we create. We’ve all experienced this phenomenon in one way or another. Perhaps a song about Jesus has filled you with indescribable joy–the words, melody, and rhythm somehow capture the love he has for us. Maybe you’ve been moved by a poem, painting, or performance.

As you consider what it means to believe in Jesus Christ this week from our sermon, I thought on the church blog that I would share an ancient and unique artistic depiction of him. Check out the following link…

There are various versions of this scene, which is called Anastasis (ancient Greek meaning “resurrection”). The one above is from a church in Venezia, Italy and is dated to the 1000s AD.

So if art can offer insight about the world, what might the Anastasis teach us about Jesus?

Here Jesus is depicted as conquering death through his resurrection. You may notice the scars on his hands and feet, signifying his actual suffering on the cross. Notice that Jesus has quite literally bound up Satan by tying him up on the ground. Satan is helpless on the floor, underneath Christ’s nail-pierced feet. You’ll notice a strange detail if you zoom in on this painting, which is that the floor has a bunch of broken locks and keys scattered about. Because Jesus rose from the dead and into new life, Jesus has “unlocked” the gates and boxes of hell, freeing people from Satan’s grasp and walking them by the hand to the other side. The people who had been “captured” by Satan extend their hands outward to allow Jesus to help them. The “rescued” on the right side show a hand gesture meaning blessing or an abbreviation of Christ’s name in ancient Greek.

Most other works and variations tend to have the same characteristics. Jesus has defeated and bound up Satan, and he is freeing people from death’s grasp and into new life. In all of them, Jesus is taking the hopeless by the hand and offering them salvation.

For me at least, this piece of art perfectly captures the incredible truth of who Jesus is. Jesus was compassionate, seeking to save the lost. Jesus truly suffered a horrendous death on the cross. And through the act of resurrection, Jesus conquered death and broke open the gates of hell that we might have abundant life.