Insolomonsporch's Blog

Chapter Two

The Bride Falls…and is Broken

“And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”

Mt 21:44

There is a passage from the unpublished manuscript Sifting Oklahoma that relates an incident between two of the characters, Michael Goodman and Archer Reed.  They are preparing to perform a laboratory experiment when the glass bell jar Michael is holding falls to the floor and smashes.

“His lab-partner, Archer, bent down to help him retrieve the broken pieces.  As he worked, he paused momentarily to look with kindness into Michael’s troubled eyes.  He spoke softly, ‘You know, in the world’s natural order, things are useless when they are broken.  But in God’s supernatural order, things are useless until they are broken…’” (p.28)

Someone gets saved and suddenly they are suffering loss, or illness, or some sort of attack.  Later in their walk – devastation again occurs and it shakes their world to the core.  Depending on where they are in their relationship with Christ and their maturity, the event can leave them shipwrecked in their faith, or stronger than before, or absolutely becalmed and unable to move forward for lack of understanding (why this happened).

I want to step back for a second and refer to the Scripture at the title of this chapter, Mt 21:44.  Jesus has just related to the chief priests and elders of the temple the story of the wicked vinedressers.  He explains how the landowner decides to send his son after previous servants have been killed by the vinedressers.  The landowner’s thinking is: they will respect my son. But the vinedressers see the son and say, “This is the heir. Come let us kill him and seize his inheritance.”  So they take him and kill him.

Jesus quotes to the chief priests:  “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.  This was the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes.”  He continues by telling them the kingdom of God will be taken from them and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it, and then He quotes Mt21:44.

A Perfect Patch

Our Lord Jesus came to the world as the Word of God, in the flesh.  He came to free us from our sin nature, to cleanse and deliver us from all unrighteousness, and to give us His new redemptive nature.  Think of the world at that time as one single garment – a piece of cloth, terribly marred and rent by an imperfect fabric content that could not stand up to the pressures against it.  Jesus comes as the perfect patch, to permanently cover that rent for all time so that the garment will be of use and service as it was designed.  But the Scripture in Mark 2:21 is revealing – it says:  “No one sews a piece of un-shrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse.”

The world (mankind) is the old garment needing repairs.  Jesus is the piece of cloth that repairs us – but here we are shown an important thing.  The patch for the garment must be shrunk, or conditioned, to be in a similar state to the old garment – otherwise it won’t adhere.  Jesus had to come in the same form as the garment.  He had to come to the world in the form of flesh – however He was free from sin!  He is the Son of Man for that reason.  But also, He had to suffer, and be crucified – literally shrunk, divested of all fluids, and to be conditioned for His role as the eternal patch and restorer of mankind.  Therefore, His work is forever.  He will never be pulled away from His service as The Perfect Patch.  There is perfect adhesion because of His coming as He did, and His willingly submitting to being shrunk by the Cross.

Like Him in Brokenness

Now as disciples of His, we are told in Luke 6:40 that we are not above our teacher, but when we are perfectly trained we will be like Him.  Interestingly enough, when we look at the patch verse in Mark 2, verse 20 talks about days to come when the friends of the bridegroom will fast because he has been taken away from them.  Fasting is an activity that brings us into a place of greater obedience in our flesh, and allows the spirit man to rule in us.  It too is a form of conditioning – just one such practice of discipline that helps us to become more perfectly trained.  Brokenness is also such a training that allows us to become like our teacher.  But it is not something we can schedule ourselves – we can only hold on tight and allow the work to be accomplished.

We are going to look at some of the instances of brokenness that have occurred for the Lord’s servants in the Bible.  But first let’s layout some introductory perspectives, to get things lined up.  Back for a moment to the Matthew 21:44 verse, it uncovers some important information about people.  In fact, you could almost make the statement – there are really two categories of people in the world (as seen from the Matthew verse).  There is one who falls on the stone and is broken, and there is one upon whom the stone falls, and they are crushed and winnowed like dust.  This is all from their experience with the same singular source – the Stone or the Chief Cornerstone – Jesus Christ.

When we come to Christ as a new believer we indeed do “fall” upon Him.   We put our trust in Him — we rely and lean on Him.  Strong’s concordance renders the word “fall” from #4098 in the Greek, pipto.  It says that it is probably akin to #4072 through the idea of alighting; to fall (lit or fig): — fail, fall (down), light on.

That’s all good and understandable.  The Lord is like the mother ship, and we are little tiny drone ships coming to land on Him.  He is home, like an aircraft carrier perhaps (forgive what seems irreverent here) and we are always aware of our distance in flight from Him.  He is our constant reference point, our source, and provider.

That’s all well and good for later flight operations and landings.  But when we first come to Jesus, depending on many factors, we may not be very much “like Him” or compatible at that time.  We may not sync-up very well! Our systems may not even be able to receive well or communicate accurately with Him. That’s where remembering the previous patch discussion becomes important.  Thank God – He knows how to triage quickly.  He knows what immediately needs to be redeemed in us to have a common ground.  It seems different for everyone.  One drug addict can come to the Lord and be fully delivered from that habit, while others will struggle and have to die to that hold in their life.  The point is the Lord knows what He wants to do, and what will anchor our life to His.  He also knows exactly our substance, and what will agree with and what will resist His life.  So what connects in our life to His life has to be approvable to Him.  It has to be, in-fact, holy like Him.  His ultimate goal is to have all of us able to dwell within Him – and to have union in Him.  That is a work of sanctification and consecration.  We agree with His ownership and submit, and He sets us apart and makes us holy.  Consecration is my active cooperation and choice in being His and becoming like Him.  For good or bad — we can all choose the level of His Lordship in our life.

Now imagine where the world has had a great hold on someone, or where for whatever reason, their ideas and belief systems are at complete odds with the Lord.  To redeem that area, a breaking sometimes has to take place to change the construction and constitution of that area and bring it into alignment with God and His word.   Ultimately, like the earlier story shared, what is useful in the Lord’s kingdom – has been broken, sometimes often, sometimes deeply.  But it is a distinctive of the child that the Lord is using and will use greatly – they will be broken.  How much more, will He also allow His promised Bride to experience brokenness — who is destined for singularity in union with Him, and is on this earth to carry His glory that the world will know He is the Son, and the Father sent Him?

A breaking is none other than a collision of sorts of ourselves with God, which brings about change in us.  It can be a breaking of pride, or self-sufficiency, or error, or sin and its hold on us.  Sometimes even with time following Christ as Lord, you and I hold onto things that are very detrimental to the His life in us or even our own health.  Holding anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, — these put us at odds with the Lord and even bring us under His judgement if we continue to resist His conviction and are not bringing  ourselves captive to the obedience of Christ Jesus.

Think of a candle burning.  The wax closest to the heat is fully liquid.  But as it moves further from the flame it cools and hardens.  The working of the Lord in our life sometimes requires a breaking up of these cooled and hardened areas – to allow His Spirit to flow more freely within us, and to have a larger base of holiness in us from which to operate.

“Whoever falls on this Stone will be broken”, the word here is sunthlao: to crush, to dash together, i.e. shatter: — break.  Where you and I need more in common with Christ, or as He seeks to increase His life in us for greater use, there has to come a breaking, a shattering, that He can reassemble and make like Himself.  Like a bone that has grown wrong, crooked and bent with sin, He allows it to be broken for greater strength, health, and likeness to and a future with Him.

We must realize though, as the sovereign Lord – He knows exactly the level and kind of breaking that will effect the change He desires.  Sometimes it can simply be accomplished by an understanding of His Word that causes us to see ourselves as we are.  Then, our perfect illusion of ourselves is shattered.  Other-times it may require significant loss or change to bring us to that place of repentance.  But the Lord always knows exactly the level of force to effect change.  He doesn’t apply more than is needed – although we may want to debate that.  He is a God of exactness and goodness!

There is a very different future ahead however, for whom the Stone falls upon.  When the Stone falls upon you, it is terminal in the direst sense.  It is a crushing blow, followed by being winnowed like dust.  It is complete destruction — but is reserved for only those who permanently refuse and resist the Lord on every turn.  He gives them the right to choose, but to choose willfully and adversarially against Him ushers in death.  In refusing Him – they also refuse the very life which He brings, thus they reap death.  People may balk at this exercise of the Lord’s sovereignty.  Sometimes from our natural perspective it can seem overly harsh perhaps, at the very least unfair.  So we must see from another perspective.  To understand in any fullness we must see it from God’s perspective and with trust in His character. (I refer you to Romans 9 — and we move on.)

Now let us finally examine a variety of instances in the Bible where breaking has occurred.  We do this in an effort to trust more fully that the Lord knows what He is doing.  In this there is much profit!

Broken Job

We first look at the life of Job.  We see in the first verses of the Book that Job is blameless and upright in the eyes of God, and feared God and shunned evil.  He was the greatest of all men in the East.  So his life was very likely to be noticed by many people (point of importance.)  For the sake of brevity, and to actually get to the point I want to make, Job gets selected for a trial to demonstrate that those who love God do so not as robots, mindlessly, or because of His protection, but because we believe in Him – that He is good.  In a day, Job loses everything, and yet still gives thanks to God, for giving and even for taking away.

Then Job goes through another set of trials only to lose his health, his friends, his stature in society, and then be chastised as a closet sinner by those he counted as friends.  Finally, after much obfuscation, a messenger is sent to speak to Job.  As I see it, Job’s spiritual panties had gotten into such a twist he didn’t know which end was up (no disrespect intended).  As the Lord plans to speak to Job, He first allows Elihu to bring him into a better focus, where he can actually receive what God is about to tell him.  Elihu brings clarity and untangles some of Job’s confusion, and even cautions Job against seeing himself as more righteous than God.  After the Lord’s words to Job, he makes some profound observations and admissions.  These are what I want to focus on, for they are the heart of the issue.

Job begins with an acknowledgement. He knows the Lord can do all things and that no thought or purpose of His can be thwarted.  This is amazing and poignant!  You see we now have the Lord’s thoughts, purposes, His very character as “the Word of God” — in writing.  We can know more fully His nature because of His Word.  In fact, the Lord has elevated His Word (in honor) over His very name.  Hence, what is in His Word, you and I can trust and rely upon because He is protecting its truth.  He is ensuring that it comes to pass. Scripture says the Lord watches over His word to perform it.  He makes sure events happen as He desires.  Psalm 119:89 says that the Lord’s Word is settled in heaven – a place where there is no corruption, all things are perfect and good – and that’s where His Word is settled ( there’s no debate on it there).

Also, Job makes an observation.  He says to God that before (previous to the trial) he had heard of God with the hearing of the ear, but that now his eye sees Him.  This is the heart of profit in the trial.  It was not capricious on God’s part to allow this situation.  It stands as a testament for God’s power for all time.  He shows for Job and us that He is bigger than any trial or issue that can come against us.  His goal was to increase in relationship in Job’s life, and that in fact happened.  Additionally, Job lived in fear of bad things happening to his loved ones.  He even confessed, “what I feared has come upon me.”  The Lord wanted Job to know Him more fully, and to be delivered from the captivity of his fear to threats of loss or harm.  It becomes a win-win situation where Job becomes acquainted with the Lord deeply, has all things restored to him, is no longer in bondage of any sort, and gets to pray for his three friends and their healing!  But the point is – there was a breaking for Job which resulted in good in the final outcome for all involved.  This was a breaking which the Lord allowed in his Job’s life, but it also becomes a testament for us all of the Lord’s nature.  This book of Job stands not as a warning of, “Oh watch out – here comes a breaking!”  Rather it says from the Lord, “Be confident in Me.  I am good, and My Works will be no less good than I am!”  This is a book that helps us trust the Lord fully, and correctly.  It expands our understanding of who He truly is, and that He cares for us!  Amazing!

Broken Joseph

The life of Joseph is another place we can look and find greatness and awe-inspiring service because of breaking in his life.  Joseph became a target for his brothers because of what began as parental favoritism.  Eventually, he was thrown down a well and left for dead, only for the plans to change and to be sold into slavery by traveling Egyptian traders.

The story-line worsens.  He gets purchased by a man named Potiphar who is powerful and works for the Pharaoh.  After serving his master faithfully, Potiphar’s wife decides to lustily pursue Joseph and he gets thrown into jail accused of rape.  It gets even worse from there.  What seems like a chance to be released backfires when the Chief Butler forgets to bring his name before the Pharaoh.  Meanwhile, Pharaoh has been plagued with nightmares and he asks for help to interpret them.  When his own team of magicians fails to come through – Joseph’s name is finally remembered and brought before Pharaoh by the Chief Butler.

At the point that Joseph is brought before Pharaoh, it has been years since his first being sold.  Throughout this time, even with discouragement upon discouragement, Joseph encourages himself in the Lord.  And the Lord does not forget Joseph, but He gives Him favor in every situation and prospers him.  But He has also worked carefully on Joseph during the abandonment, the selling into slavery, the false accusation, and the jail-time, to bring his heart to a state of grace and mercy concerning his brothers.

At the moment that Joseph is remembered and brought out of jail before Pharaoh, his life changes.  He is rewarded for correctly interpreting the dreams through the power of God.  He is also promoted to Pharaoh’s right hand man above everyone else, and is tapped to lead (on Pharaoh’s behalf) Egypt through the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine.

Let’s take a moment to now look at Roman 5:1-4.  It makes a number of points that are apropos to the topic of brokenness.  One, it says now that we have been absolved and acquitted of guilt because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we can enjoy peace with God through Jesus Christ.  Two, through this same Jesus – we have access to a state of grace in which we firmly stand.  Three, we are called to be full of joy now!  In fact we are called to exalt and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance.  Fourth, this endurance develops maturity of character, and this character produces a joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation.

Joseph was definitely a recipient of many sufferings, but they were rightly suffered and therefore produced patient and unswerving endurance.  How do we know this? He displayed the maturity of character to deal with his brothers in grace and forgiveness.  The truth of Joseph’s developing the character of Christ-likeness is seen as he treats his brothers not only without malice, but with kindness as they arrive in Egypt to purchase grain to take back home.  The Lord’s humbling of Joseph is clearly evident as he is able to forgive and reconcile with his brothers, even though he had the power to dispose of them quickly.  But the Lord’s intention was for Joseph to be more than just a forgiving brother!

Joseph not only stands as a prime example of this Romans 5 description, but he is given a new name to demonstrate God’s pleasure and validation of him – Zaphenath-paneah.  This means savior of the world, and stands as a foretaste of the Lord’s own coming to save us from eternal death.

The Link

Now, you may be uncertain of the link between such breakings, and the Promised Bride of Christ.  That explanation could it-self fill a book!  However, to make the connection clear and concise let us first go to Romans 8:29.  This verse constitutes the Lord’s promise and justification for all that He introduces and allows in our lives.

“For those whom He foreknew [of whom He was aware and loved beforehand], He also destined from the beginning [foreordaining them] to be molded into the image of His Son [and share inwardly His likeness], that He might become the firstborn among many brethren.” (Rom 8:29 Amp)

In this Scripture we first hear a harkening even back to Luke about a servant being trained like their master.  But additionally, the wording is even more specific.  If we are a disciple, a believer in Christ – we are being actively molded into the likeness of the Son.  Why?  We are His Body.  He purchased us with His blood, and Corinthians says your body is the very temple of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you?  You are not your own — you were bought with a price, and made His own!

Being “molded into His image,” and becoming the firstborn “among many brethren” – these both reveal the Lord’s purpose and justification.  The Body of Christ and the “many brethren’ referred to here, are the same thing.   The Body is also another name for the Promised Bride to come.  Hence, you can begin to see the tie in.  The Lord’s intention is that we (the Body of believers – His own Body) would become Christ-like – that is, share inwardly His likeness.  The more “like Christ” we are, the more we are able to have oneness and union with Him.  That union begins here on earth as the Body (The Promised Bride) gets further sanctified by the truth.  It is that sanctification which allows us or makes us safely able to carry His glory into the world.  But the process begins with being made Christ-like.  That is the promise and purpose for being broken.  He is the Lord God – “He changeth not”!  To be like Him – to be qualified to eventually carry His glory before the world – we must be changed!

Just like we fall or alight-upon Jesus when we are saved – He also alights upon us with His enduement of power.  This is what makes it possible for us to be His witnesses, and it is for this purpose that we are given power, efficiency, and might by the Holy Spirit.

One of the things that Watchman Nee says can delay our receipt of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is not having a full work – or full enough working in us of the Cross.  This point requires a moment of our attention to round out our understanding.

We know that Christ suffered in the flesh for us.  We also know He is the Head of His Body.  Philippians 1:29 explains that just as we have been granted the privilege to believe in Christ, so we must also suffer in His behalf.  1Peter 2:21 reveals that as Christ suffered for us, He left us His personal example so that we should follow His example.  But why do we need to suffer? Let’s look at this briefly.

Christ suffered on the Cross for you and I and His work is finished!   However, what stands to be completed is the suffering of His body.  Remember we need to become “like” Him – compatible.  Remember the patch story.  Colossians 1:24 speaks to this:  Paul speaking here, “Even now I rejoice in the midst of my sufferings on your behalf.  And in my own person I am making up whatever is still lacking and remains to be completed on our part of Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of His body, which is the church.” There is nothing lacking for salvation – but there is a need for the Lord’s body to be conditioned (just as He was) to be like Him through its suffering.

Look also at Paul’s comments in 2Cor 12:9.  We all get caught up in Paul’s description of his thorn, but miss his later claim.  He says he will glory in his weakness that the strength and power of Christ may rest (pitch a tent over and dwell upon him)! Short of suffering and going through a work of the Cross and sanctification in the truth – there doesn’t seem to be a shortcut to this process.  To have Him in abundance “upon” our lives will require a falling, and a breaking – that the power of the Cross can possess and reign over our lives.

Lastly, the truth is nailed by Peter as he speaks directly to the Beloved – the body of Christ.  1Peter4:12-14:

“Beloved, do not be amazed and bewildered at the fiery ordeal which is taking place to test your quality as though something strange (unusual and alien to you and your position) were befalling you.  But insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, rejoice, so that when His glory [full of radiance and splendor] is revealed, you may also rejoice with triumph [exultantly].  If you are censured and suffer abuse [because you bear] the name of Christ, blessed [are you – happy, fortunate, to be envied, with life-joy, and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of your outward condition], because the Spirit of glory, the Spirit of God, is resting upon you…”

In Christ you and I as His Body have an amazing destiny – to be fashioned as His Bride.  But in the process – to be usable and of service in His Kingdom — we will fall and be broken.