Hi. Cheyne here. Thanks for stopping by and listening to my podcast today.
I thought I'd start out this episode by having us play a little game.
I'm gonna sing part of the opening of a song. Let's see if you can name the song.
Ready?
"There's a lady who's sure
All that glitters is gold
And she's buying..."
(pause)
So, did you guess the song?
Of course, if you've read the Episode title you've probably figured it out.
It's "Stairway to Heaven", by the famous rock band Led Zeppelin.
It was released as part of their fourth album, over 50 years ago in 1971.
It was never released as a single, but not long after the album released,
"Stairway To Heaven" quickly became the most requested song on FM radio stations ALL OVER the US.
Since its release, that song has been played so many times, and covered so many times by other bands, that its fame is arguably more ubiquitous than certain well-known coffee brands.
There was even a joke about it in the 1992 movie "Wayne's World", pointing to how annoyed guitar store managers can become whenever they hear a potential buyer playing the opening run through an amp.
But here's the thing... Just about anyone who spent time playing records or listening to the radio in the early 70s, or has spent time learning to play guitar, or anyone addicted to rock music, knows this song. And they recognize the opening lyrics.
Why did I decide to open the episode talking about a 70s rock song? Well, partly it significantly impacted my own drive to learn guitar. The song inspired me to spend countless hours in my bedroom learning how to play it MYSELF, which I'll have to talk about in more detail another time.
But that's the point... I spent "countless hours" learning the song. Trust me, if you had spent as long as I spent learning it... you would be able to remember those opening lyrics the next time you heard it.
(pause)
You know, religious institutions have been writing hooks to songs for centuries, to reinforce their teachings.
In fact, we have a book of 150 songs right in the Bible (or 151, depending on which Bible version you're looking at). As no doubt you're aware, it's the book of Psalms.
King David, and the Hebrew culture as a whole were, and still ARE, a musical people. And they were also really into memorization. Back in their day, when someone recited the opening words to a Psalm or a passage of Scripture, so many people were familiar with the song or passage that it caused them to recall the entire song or passage.
In fact, the preachers of that day would use that trick in meetings, so they wouldn't have to recite the whole passage. Everybody knew what they were talking about.
It was kind of like an old school version of a hyperlink, to access a certain part of the cloud that was the Hebraic mind.
You know, Jesus grew up in that culture, and so He would've also picked up that trick. In fact, I believe He used that trick, during an historical moment.
He recited these words late into the afternoon the day he was on the cross:
"My God, My God; why have You forsaken me?" (Mt. 27:46, Mk 15:34)
Those words are the opening words to Psalm 22.
Now, just because this was a thing in HEBREW culture, not everybody in the world at that time got it, because not everybody read the Hebrew Scriptures.
So, not everybody was familiar with Psalm 22.
And perhaps, some of the ones who probably should’ve had Psalm 22 memorized, FORGOT Psalm 22.
Because in the gospel accounts, in Matthew chapter 27, verses 39 through 44, it says this about that day:
"Those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads and saying, 'You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross!'
In the same way, the chief priests, scribes, and elders (that is, the religious influencers) mocked Him, saying, 'He saved others, but He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel! Let Him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in Him. He trusts in God. Let God deliver Him now if He wants Him. For He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’
In the same way, even the robbers who were crucified with Him berated Him."
Now, if they just heard the words Jesus recited, without knowing the rest of Psalm 22, they might have concluded, without that full context, that God must’ve turned His face away from Him.
(We'll come back to that in a moment.)
The irony of all this, is that Psalm 22 has a lot of parallels to what I just read out of Matthew 27.
You see, in Psalm 22, David wrote that All who saw him that day mocked him, sneered, and shook their heads, saying virtually word-for-word the things said in Matthew 27.
Because of this, it's what some people call a "prophetic song"... because it spoke of the future. It spoke about what was to take place that day. And according to accounts, Psalm 22 was written as far back as 1000 years before Christ's death on the cross.
(pause)
Now, you may be wondering.... WHAT IF, there just happened to be one of those Hebrews in earshot who knew the song and started humming it when Jesus said the opening line? What if, while humming it, they happened to recall the rest of Psalm 22, just like with any other song they would've sang countless times in the synagogue?
Well, then, they probably would've remembered this line in Psalm 22:
"For He has NOT despised or detested the torment of the afflicted.
He HAS NOT HIDDEN HIS FACE FROM HIM, but has ATTENDED his cry for help."
The Face of God represents something very significant in the Hebrew Scriptures.
To talk with God face-to-face basically meant that you were friends with God (if not family).
Moses had this kind of relationship with God. And so did David.
When David wrote that God had not hidden His face from the afflicted person, it meant that God had not turned His back on the afflicted.
He had not abandoned the afflicted.
And for David to write that God "ATTENDED" the afflicted person's cry for help meant that God was prepared to grant whatever the afflicted person requested.
In other words, when Jesus recited these opening words, even though it sounded to the casual observer like God had turned His back Jesus while on the cross... the hearer who knew Psalm 22, and understood what Jesus was doing, might have done the math… that Jesus was signaling the fulfillment of a prophecy!
But ALSO.... that God the Father had NOT abandoned Jesus.
Because God, who is Love… TRUE Love… doesn't do abandonment.
Love didn't leave Jesus that day.
Love didn't forsake Jesus that day.
Love didn't FAIL Jesus that day.
Because Love NEVER fails.
(Pause)
You know, at some point, we ALL experience trouble.
It takes on different forms for different people, but it's trouble just the same.
And trouble happens because we live in a fallen world.
And sometimes we start to feel like we’ve been abandoned.
But Jesus said something very important that, in moments like these, we tend to forget:
"In this world, You will have trouble."
He gave us the heads-up.... trouble is going to happen.
And yet, despite the heads-up, when trouble happens, if we’re not paying attention, we start to act all surprised and distressed.
We’ve ALL done this.
But, just as God the Father didn't turn away while Jesus was on the cross, He DOESN'T turn away from us. Whether we feel it or not, He’s ALWAYS LOOKING AT US.
And maybe that's why Jesus followed that word up with:
"Be of good cheer, for I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD."
Let me suggest this for consideration….
When we start to feel like He's forgotten us, could it be that we feel this way because WE'RE not looking at HIM? That we’re not looking at HIS FACE?
Whether it's the various cares and anxieties, like bills to pay or putting food on the table...
Or the lies we start to believe that we can do life as a solo gig when we’re in a cushy place money-wise...
Or the cravings and strong desires for stuff and status…
Somewhere along the line, we got distracted and took our eyes off the ball, which is Love.
We forgot to “be the ball”.
You know, David wrote in the Psalms about a driving desire to gaze upon Beauty, that is, God’s beauty… God, the definition of Beauty.
David called it "the one thing" he desired.
David didn’t always gaze upon Beauty. He was a human being who made mistakes in his life, just like we do.
But reading his stuff, we see that he realized...
It was the one desire to trump all desires… locking eyes with Beauty.
And even though WE may sometimes stop gazing upon Beauty...
The reality is…. that Beauty... the Beauty who is LOVE... NEVER stops gazing at US.
In fact, Beauty GENTLY calls out to us, whispering to us, to turn around and start gazing again.
And this gaze is not a glare - it's not raging with anger.
Rather, this gaze is filled with interest...
Pursuit…
Goodness…
Mercy…
Generosity…
Wonder...
PLEASURE.
Because Beauty knows that, when we DO turn back and re-fix OUR gaze on the very One we were made to desire all along, we remember once again who we are.
Because it's in Beauty where we find the perfect mirror… this mirror that reflects Truth… the Truth that we are one with the One whose Beauty transcends everything else.
In Beauty, we see that we're not paupers left for dead.
That we're not orphans left to fend for ourselves.
That, in reality, we've always been royalty, from the moment we were a thought in the Father's mind.
And Beauty is the One who reigns as THE ROYAL, the King of Kings.
And, like I shared in Episode 2, this one's word is "beyond contestation".
Which means it's Truth.
He reminds us that Beauty hasn't left us to fend for ourselves like orphans.
Beauty hasn't forsaken us.
Beauty hasn't abandoned us.
Because TRUE Beauty, full of Truth, Beauty who is LOVE, doesn't do abandonment.
Because Love never fails... NEVER.
Despite any opinions we may have about ourselves, Truth declares that we are royalty. And the word of Truth is beyond contestation.
(pause)
So, getting back to the song I was talking about at the beginning…
Unlike the lady in the song, a true royal doesn't have any stairs to climb.
At the end of the day, the stairway that the world has put front of us...
IS JUST A DISTRACTION.
It tempts us to take our eyes off the ball, to “be” the ball.
The reality is, in this Kingdom, where we are declared royals, we're seated together with the One who defined what True Beauty is.
I didn't see that Truth for a long time, but that was because of my own blindness due to a disease I didn't know I had.
But I've been healed from that disease. I’ve been cured of that blindness.
And now, THE Royal, the King of Kings, has shown me that...
Despite what anyone in my circle says...
I'M A ROYAL.
And He's teaching me how to live like one.
Not living to become a royal, but living from the place of knowing that I AM a royal because of whose blood runs in my veins.
Living as a royal comes down... to MINDSET.
This is something we can ALL learn.
As we learn to operate from a royal’s MINDSET... in other words, to "be" who we truly are... we get perspective.
We hear the words of life, and as we trust them and follow them, we learn how to live... how to TRULY live.
We see and understand the power our words carry, and we learn to speak creative words of life OURSELVES.
We hear a new lyric... one we didn't know was there before.
We see how much it changes the song we've been singing.
And we begin singing a new song.
And we stop getting distracted by all the trouble in front of us,
And we start living with an assurance that the BIG DREAMS, the things not yet seen… in reality, are a DONE DEAL.
And ultimately... we learn to FEEL differently.
We learn to THINK differently, TALK differently, ACT differently.
We learn to LIVE differently.
Because we learn to operate from the reality that we're already sitting on a throne that, even though we may not see it, IS THERE.
We're sitting there... HERE... with the best and most powerful Friend we could ever have...
The One who made it all possible...
The One who defines True Beauty,
A Beauty we were made to continually gaze into.
And because we're already seated there... HERE...
In the mirror or True Beauty, we finally see...
There's no stairway for us to buy... because THERE ARE NO STAIRS FOR US TO CLIMB.
(End of Episdoe Body)
(Cut to Outro)
