Blessed and Holy: Understanding Them Better Through Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4 (Train - Part 4 of 5)

INTRODUCTION

At the basic level, a person needs to ask themselves: "How do I intend to accomplish this goal or by what means will I accomplish this purpose?  Today, I am addressing the training in our text.  Training consists of answering two questions: 1) "How?"  and 2) "Why?"  So what are the actions that need to be performed?  We want to learn how holiness is done or how to make something holy.  That is my primary training task for today.

But there is another part of training that goes beyond just this text.  It cuts all the way down to how we going to read or interpret this text and any other.  So what is my method?  (If you want to look at his more in-depth, simply click my communication blog link on the right side of this page.)



METHOD

So let me say a little (not a lot!) about my method of reading (a part of communication).  Let me begin by saying that my method is both cutting edge and the most common sense.  There needs to be a sense of both the edges of our world's global demands and of the core demands of small town and country life.  We need a tool that is usable by both ends of that spectrum.  I believe that the tool I use meets those demands on both ends of our world.

We today live in a world of not just European or American demands, but a world of worldwide or global demands.  We also though need to make sure we do not lose sight of our local demands either.  That must be a constant tension.  I remember this quote from real estate magazine and a discussion with a world traveler that I met in California: "He who is most at home somewhere, is most at home everywhere".   This quote captures part of the essence of my method.

In 1983, I was introduced to a method for everywhere, called the TEAR method.   Its everywhere, from the latest #s (from 2009) that I am aware of, is to 6909 languages in the world (source: SIL).  The TEAR method was designed as a universal tool to measure up to the demands of facing a multitude of languages.  In biblical studies, the demands of language are between 5 and maybe 10 languages (ex. English, Latin, Greek, Aramaic, Hebrew ...  Arabic, Akkadian, Ugaritic, etc.)  So you can see that the method that I was introduced to in 1983 had a demand load of much higher proportions - 1000xs higher at least.  The challenge and demands of more languages, I am convinced, were the mother of invention for the TEAR method.  It was designed so that a missionary (a cutting edge global messenger) could be "most at home everywhere".

In 1983, I was also introduced to a method for somewhere, called the ARCing method.  It's somewhere was going from Greek, Aramaic, or Hebrew to English.  It was heavily immersed in the language of English.  The demands were essentially making sure that our English translation was a good one from these original languages.  The isolated somewhere was even more narrow than English, it was specifically American English. I think that sometimes the most elusive location is finding where in language we are "most at home somewhere".  This is tremendously demanding too, because it says that we have to narrow that somewhere down to one place and not a multitude of places.   It was designed for the demand that a preacher (a home schooled local messenger) could be "most at home somewhere".  

My method for reading the text of Scripture with the goal of it speaking to me, came full circle in late 2013 and in early 2014, so that laying out the common sense level became a real passion for me.  It also is one half of why a publisher is interested in publishing a book I hope to see published yet this year.  I think that I have found that somewhere where you and I are most at home, when it comes to language and communication. The best thing about it is that it agrees with the idea of being most at home everywhere.   In fact, I would say that both the TEAR method and the ARCing method essentially have not seen that "most at home" place as the most essential demand there is in our world right now that overnight became global.  Too often the church is trying to keep up with the world without keeping up their home.  So today you will get to see me use the most at home part of language to get at the definition and meaning of holy through Isaiah 6.

Isaiah 6

Remember he who is most at home somewhere is most at home everywhere.

Here is where I am most at home and I think you will find it is also where you are most at home.  It is the place in language you frequent the most.  That place must be our starting point before we can become most at home everywhere.  So I will be doing my best to begin from there.

Revelation 4


[this piece will have to be revisited due to Good Friday and me having a shorter day to work on things as a result.  That is my tradition and I'm sticking to it.]










In Christ,

Jon