Jun 7, 2023
What is the upward flow? It is a term based on the prophecies of Isaiah and Micah that Zion will be the highest mountain and all the nations will stream up to it. It is a term that expresses what we are believing for in ending the downward pull of futility that has been on all creation and the beginning of our flowing up into the presence of the Lord and up into His Kingdom. It is something that we reach into today.
Show Notes: In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had everything provided for them, including life. As the result of their sin, God cursed the ground and humans now had to survive with great difficulty, eventually dying and returning to dust. This futility that is on creation, as Paul described it, is truly a downward pull where everything tends to disintegrate. Things that we need, including our bodies, wear out, fall apart, and stop functioning.
The promise in Romans 8, however, is that creation will be released from futility by the sons of God. Also, Isaiah and Micah prophesied that Zion will be established as the highest point and all the nations will stream up to it. The Scriptures thus illustrate how the downward pull will be replaced by an upward flow. There will be the reversal of disease and death, the end of war and of the inability for the nations to relate, and God will come to remove futility from our midst.
As we anticipate this release, we must recognize that we are in travail for it to happen. We know that we have salvation and the forgiveness of our sin, but we also understand that we live our lives daily under this downward pull, this force that is pulling everything away from God. That is why we groan, eagerly awaiting our adoption as sons of God, the redemption of our body. Let us have faith that we are in the days where we will experience the ending of the downward pull and the beginning of an upward flow into the presence of the Lord.
Key Verses:
• Genesis 3:17–19. “Cursed is the ground because of you.”
• Romans 8:18–19. “The anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.”
• Romans 8:20–25. “The creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope.”
• Hebrews 9:28. “Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin.”
• Deuteronomy 29:5–6. “I have led you forty years in the wilderness; … you have not eaten bread.”
• Isaiah 2:2–4. “The mountain of the house of the LORD … will be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it.”
• Micah 4:1–7. “The mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains. … And the peoples will stream to it.”
• Jeremiah 31:34. “‘They will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,’ declares the LORD.”
Quotes:
• “Part of our salvation does include the fact that futility at some point is going to be removed.”
• “God cursed His creation because of man's disobedience. He was protecting man from getting in more trouble than he was already in.”
• “The ability to understand and grasp and hear the Word and walk in the ways of God is opened up to us as futility disintegrates and goes away.”
Takeaways:
1. In the world today, we battle the effects of futility. Futility works against us both on a natural level and on a spiritual level. It is like a tide that pulls us away from God and the things of God.
2. As the Kingdom of God draws near and begins to dawn, the tide of futility will be reversed, acting instead like a river that is pulling us up into the things of God and up into His Kingdom. It is this change of tide that we call the upward flow.
3. We are saved. But our salvation is with the hope of ending futility. Christ came the first time to deal with sin, but He will appear the second time without reference to sin, without sin being the issue. The issue will be lifting the curse that was imposed by God in hope that at some point we will come into the walk of obedience that will allow Him to remove the futility from creation.