“20 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. 2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while. 4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years. The Defeat of Satan 7 And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. 9 And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, 10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Judgment Before the Great White Throne 11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Rev 20:1–15 ESV)

Everyone dwells at some special or unique, personal level of Engagement with justice. Sometimes we are too quick to forgive ourselves, not because forgiveness isn’t on the table, but because it is in iterations, waves of sea water against the shore, patient Deliberation: come, let us reason together. Come, let us see: child, if you were more Assured that Mercy is yours, then would you in fact See the scope, the tragedy, the Invite to a more solemn Coming to the Table?

Because no drug nor dope nor dreamy escape can quite Match Christ’s psychological Offering on the three years plus: three years plus His Cross, three years Plus His Body bled and hung upon a tree. To engage, to reckon that darn it, we may well have cut off decades with our Apple, of intelligence, of caprice, of sinister motivations, of fleshy Concession. And, “No…” we murmur, “I hadn’t quite Trusted sufficiently for the day’s worries…”. I hadn’t quite Accepted this was expulsion from the community but: but, that Christ Anticipated and Went There for our behalf.

Amidst any such head space, head trip, mental escapade, is the fact of Noise, Stormy Noise, and even—Christ, forgiveness, church, mercy, being such luscious notions, marketable notions—opposites thinking: that we are even the object of jealousies, but no, soldier on we shall, in the Knowledge of Deep Dive, Deep Water, Today as good a day as any to Reflect, Christ is in a business no law man nor preacher can themselves Dispense: complete Renewal, Understanding Embrace, Forgiven Status.

Where-all then did we first Encounter, Begin, Engage the Enemy: why are we today in foxholes clutching our rifle or ducking for cover? Is it—please pray tell—all in service of One Good Thing? One Higher-Up logic and motivation? Quite the contrary: half of war seems senseless, is no “good thing”, reckons with manifest losses, gargantuan expenses, social fabrics Torn; but Yes, the Principle is still Sovereign and God-Ordained. The solemn Confession of Sin, is just akin to the solemn Confession of War: we don’t have a forsooth known Path Forward that is magically free of error. We will trod on landmines. We will laugh when we should mourn (Oh, but allow yourself some laughter).

Because our “special place” is ours in some Divine Internal Logic wherein capacious spacious Peace descends, not on our demand, but when in fact it is necessary. We will remember the Sadness of Christ’s own Cross, but see no reason to Fear it wasn’t capitalized upon sufficiently. We are capitalists of His initial down payment. And dying on a cross… has an enemy poisoned the water, preempted the Gospel Announcement, bah! And humbugged the Experiment?

There again is Gospel Hope that God… His comings to us again and again… is only to a discouraged, unevangelized spirit, taking losses greater than His gains. We must find out some Truth that on some third plane, some fourth dimension, some wildly successful Ecstasy, Progress is made. And to repeat: said Progress, it begins and has seedbed in the deep Recognition that all was for loss, after all.

Not one thousand churches but One True Church, His blood shed and we His people now rabid almost, punching at the gates, helter-skelter behind steel shield and sword and helmet, Urgent and Hate-Filled no longer, but Urgent to charge forth. Because our Savior was mocked. Because our Religion was turned to legal fodder and line items on a balance sheet and measured in numbers rather than in One True Calling, to One, to Two, to Twelve, to Five Hundred, and three thousand, five thousand.

Recreate the safety zone, the sensitivity even as we are Bolstered for War: soldier, you wish to do some penance, to absolve yourself Slowly… but this is not how Christ sees things. He sees a formula Lost, no more to be engaged upon. He sees that we need ramshackle Urgency even Today, immediately to bolster forth boldly out of the gates. Gates of New Gospel, New Imperative, us having lost all according to the world’s institutions and reputations, but Discovering His unction… precisely measured for our age and size and stature. Just what we need, and bye-bye if even for a moment it is under appreciated or banked on in any cynical fashion, any thankless fashion. Bye-bye, then weep O soldier because Again you’ve found your Special Place subtle and Manifest. It all comes charging back, but No! Concede not for a moment to the ill reputations chosen by others; choose your own storyline, offering up a Confession even if it isn’t derogatory enough, ruinous enough. But it is: sin has Ruined our families and prospects, in ways it takes a Christ Experience even to squarely face up to.