Chapter 16 The Land of Beulah
If I had to describe God in one word, it would be "love." I find His love in the land of Beulah. A sentence from the worldly life comes to mind for a moment. "If I were to die tomorrow, I would have no regrets about this moment." To be honest, I don't like this saying, but as long as I'm walking in this land of Beulah right now, it's all I have to say, because God loves me and all of us so incredibly.
The two pilgrims entered a magical land, and strangely enough, it was a land of drowsiness. The shepherds had warned them to be careful, so they pushed through their drowsiness and entered the land of Beulah (Isaiah 62:4).
There the birds sang continually, the ground was covered with flowers, and the cooing of doves could be heard; the sun shone day and night in this land; it was the border land of heaven, where the pilgrims enjoyed a sweet rest; and they could hear a loud voice from heaven.
"Say to your daughter Zion. Behold, your salvation has come; behold, your reward is with her, and your recompense is before her" (Isa. 62:11).
People of the Land of Beulah (2023)
At last the Heavenly Gate came into view before them, but before them lay a river with raging torrents. Suddenly the voice of an angel was heard.
"To get to the Heavenly Gate, you must cross the River of Death. It is the last gateway before you reach the Heavenly Gate." Christian asked, "I can't see anything, how am I supposed to walk across it, shouldn't I pick a good place to cross it, make some plans on how to do it... and is there a way back?" Again the angel replied.
"You won't see the river until you set foot in it, and there's no way back, it's just a path you have to take."
Holy ecstasy
As I enter the twilight of my life, as a Christian, it is time for rest and spiritual refreshment in the land of Beulah, a pilgrimage that I have been unable to make until now. A naturalist's eye caught a glimpse of two Black-naped Orioles competing for mates among the leafy zelkova trees. It was a moment of ecstasy for a living creature, and it struck me that there was too little terminology to describe it as just a bird's courtship dance. I don't think we need any other word than "ecstasy" for the creator. Modern scientists, especially animal behaviourists, explain this behaviour as being driven by the interaction of external stimuli with internal hormnal stimuli. Right now, this planet called Earth is travelling around the sun at a speed of 100,000 kilometres per hour, and it hasn't stopped since the creation of the heavens and the earth. As the Earth gets closer and closer to the Sun, the amount of light increases, and this light triggers the release of gonadotropins in the brain through the visual (eyes) of the Oriole. This hormone, in turn, leads to the release of sex hormones in the genitals. These hormones cause the male to sing. Stimulated by the song, the female is ready to mate with the male and begins to take an interest in building a nest. It is at this point that the male and female go into ecstasy as they compete for the mate. The female releases a hormone called prolactin, which gives her the urge to nest again. The feathers on her chest fall off, revealing bare skin. The mother places her eggs there and radiates her warmth to the eggs.
Flowers and Birds in the Land of Beulah(2016)
This has been happening since the beginning of time when God created these creatures. I like to call it holy ecstasy. An animal behaviorist, I read about God's great love for us in the Bible's Song of Songs. "The winter is past, the rain has ceased, the ground is blooming, the birds are singing, the voice of the dove is heard in our land, the fig tree is ripe with green fruit, the vine has blossomed and is giving forth its fragrance; arise, my beloved, my fair one, and let us go together" (Song 2:11-13).
John Stott, the English theologian and famous preacher, wrote in his book 'Birds, our Teachers' that we learn faith from watching God feed the raven, repentance from watching the stork migrate, freedom from watching the eagle soar, and joy from listening to the lark sing. I see Adam and Eve, when sin had not yet entered the earth, in the mating behaviour of Orioles. One day sin entered this planet, and the Bible says he was Adam. The apostle Paul writes, 'Just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.' (Romans 5:18). It was a disconnect from the heaven that God created in the beginning, and it was Jesus who restored that disconnect. We humans have experienced a disconnect from God because of the sin of one man, and in this moment, on my pilgrimage, I meet the One who will undo that disconnect, the One who laid down His love for us.
Pilgrimage to St. Isidore 2
Standing in front of the sculpture where the Lord made the blind man see in sympathy, I open my sketchbook to capture an event from 2000 years ago when the Lord healed the sick. When Jesus saw the blind man, he spat on the dirt, beat a paste out of it, applied it to the blind man's eyes, and said, "Go to the pool of Siloam and wash," and the man went and washed and saw (John 9:6-7). This is something that Jesus really couldn't do unless He was the Son of God. According to the Bible, this blind man was blind from birth. He wasn't even suffering from glaucoma or cataracts like we see today. He was born with a congenital disorder somewhere in the nerve cells of his retina, and so he was beyond the reach of modern medicine. Jesus sprinkled saliva on the blind man's eyes and told him to go to the pool to be washed.
Jesus heals the blind man (2023)
When the disciples saw this man who had been blind from birth, they asked Jesus whether it was due to the sins of his parents or his own sins. But Jesus gave them a surprising answer to the reason for his blindness: 'Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.' (John 9:3).
In addition to the sign of opening the eyes of the blind man, Jesus also performed miracles of healing leprosy and haemophilia, and raising the bedridden from the dead. That same power came to his disciples after his crucifixion. I have a question to ask the Lord here. "Lord, can you give me this power to heal?" According to the Bible, this power came to the disciples when they were gathered in the upper room praying fervently on the day of Pentecost after Jesus' ascension. Of course, I believe that if I pray and ask, I can receive healing power like the disciples did. But if we look at the purpose of Jesus' miracles, it was not to heal the sick. When asked why the disciples were blind, Jesus makes it clear that he did it to reveal the existence of God and his glory.
The Haemophilia Woman (2022)
Jesus washing his disciples' feet
As I painted the picture of Jesus washing the disciples' feet, I felt the Lord washing my feet. As Christians, we are told to 'wash your neighbour's feet'. The Lord became the Word made flesh to wash my weary feet. He touched the very place where my body touches the ground. He knelt down, lifted my feet with his hands, and washed them. Then he raised his head, looked me in the eye, and said, "I have washed your feet, and now you must wash your neighbour's feet. I have set you an example, so you must do the same."..... If you know what I mean, you should do the same. Live a blessed life" (John 13:13-17). The humility of living as a Christian was demonstrated by the Lord Himself.
Jesus washing his disciples' feet (2022)
Henri J.M. Nouwen, seeing the Lord kneeling before us, writes: "Only through union with the body of Christ do I know the full meaning of my body. My body is much more than a temporal instrument of pleasure and pain. My body is the house in which God intends to reveal the full glory of his divinity. Human care, therefore, given to our bodies and the bodies of others, is a truly spiritual act. For through it our bodies are brought closer to the glorious experience of the body.
Christian love
Christians are familiar with the Christian virtues of faith, hope, and love, with love ranking above faith and hope. People have a misconception that being merciful is all there is to love. Of course, being merciful is very important, but it's always controversial in our society because it can be overemphasised. It's not a state of mind, it's a state of will, and while we have love for ourselves instinctively, love for others has to be learnt and cultivated, says C.S. Lewis, the Christian apologist of our time, in his book Mere Christianity. Christians need to heed his words here for a moment.
For Christians, love is a matter of the will. If we are trying to do God's will, we are obeying the command to 'love the Lord your God' (Matthew 22:37-38). God will give us the emotion of love if He wants to, but we cannot create that emotion ourselves, and we have no right to ask for it. But the important thing to remember is that our emotions come and go, but God's love for us never does.
In 1 Corinthians (13:4-8), the apostle Paul gives Christians a list of love actions. "Love never gives up, cares more about others than about itself, doesn't want what it doesn't have, doesn't boast, isn't conceited, doesn't impose itself on others, doesn't say, 'I'm first,' doesn't get angry, doesn't pick apart other people's sins, doesn't take pleasure in seeing others behave badly, rejoices when it sees the truth blossom, bears with whatever happens, trusts God, always seeks the best, doesn't backslide, and endures to the end." None of this is easy. God loves us, and if I love God, I always try to memorise these words and put them into practice. So on this pilgrimage, I sing a CCM hymn. "Love is patient, love is kind, It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trust, always hopes, always perseveres." And I take another step toward heaven, filled with holy ecstasy.
