The Established Heart 3 - The Secret Power of Hatred - David Mitts


""If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple." Luk 14:26



In these troubled times, there is a battle for control of our hearts. Our hearts determine how we live our lives. They establish our boundaries, our expectations and what we will do and say.

""But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders." Mat 15:18-19

The place of defilement is the conversation and corresponding actions that proceed from the conversation of our heart. The heart speaks and we become defiled. The defilement comes from evil thoughts which lead to murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness and slander. This is the true battleground in our lives, our own hearts.

The conversation of the heart can either lead us to life or to death. We spoke last week about listening and the sh’ma. The listening of our heart is the great invitation. When we open our heart to the voice of the Lord, we invite Him into our hearts.

The heart is the home of our spirit. Yeshua when He died and ascended, went to prepare our hearts for the invitation, the wedding invite.

"In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also." Joh 14:2-3

In the Ancient Hebrew wedding process, after the betrothal, the groom would go to His father’s house and build on addition for His bride. In the case of the Father and the bride, the chosen of the Lord, the dwelling place that is prepared for us is in our own hearts.

This is the new heavens and the new earth. Many people have an image of the new heavens and earth as a literal destruction and recreation of our physical and spiritual reality. Let’s look at Revelations chapter 21:1-7

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away." And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." And He *said, "Write, for these words are faithful and true." Then He said to me, "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. "He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son." Rev 21:1-7

The first few verses give a very physical picture of a transformation of our planetary reality. You see in your imagination a vanishing of heaven and earth and the descending of a new Jerusalem from heaven. But then a verse perspective comes forth, this new “Jerusalem” is adorned as a bride made ready for her husband. If we connect this imagery with Yeshua telling His disciples that He is going to prepare a place for them, we see in the wedding imagery a new reality being birthed by the death and resurrection of the groom, Yeshua.

Next, we hear the declaration of the Lord, His tabernacle is to be among men. This is the tabernacle in our hearts, the place Yeshua has prepared. Death is no more. When we “die” in our physical body, we don’t die in our spirit. We are eternal. Paul said it this way:

"we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord." 2Co 5:8


Tears are wiped away in this new creation reality because truly there is no more death and separation. We drink of eternal life and we are through the overcoming life, one eternally with the Lord. This is not just about some future promise when Yeshua returns but is already now a reality that we can live in by faith.

Why does Yeshua describe Jerusalem as the bride? What is Jerusalem to God? How does Jerusalem represent us in the new creation reality?

Jerusalem is the city of peace. Its name means literally the foundation or the teaching of peace. It is of the double noun like a pair of eyes or a pair of ears.

This dual reality speaks of a harmony or an interdependence of two parts of a whole. In this sense the “new” Jerusalem of Revelations is new like the new birth in the life of a Believer.

We exist in this world, in a body, with a mind and yet are also seated in heavenly places.

"and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus," Eph 2:6.

The intellectual temptation is to treat these statements as metaphors. Yet the nature of the spiritual life, while certainly full of imagery is no less real for that imagery. Jerusalem descending as a bride is a spiritual description of the peace that is in the foundation stones of our lives through Yeshua. Jerusalem is the place of that authority, the seat of the government of the Prince of Peace, the Sar Shalom who is our groom. When we pray for the peace of Jerusalem, we are not just praying for the current government in Israel. We are also praying our destiny.

"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: "May they prosper who love you." Psa 122:6

The heart is the true location of our Jerusalem, our foundation stone of peace. When we receive the Lord into our heart, His abode is established in and through us. To establish our heart we have to assume our seat at the table of the Lord. What do we need to do to facilitate this?

One power tool is activating hatred. Yeshua told us:

"If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple." Luk 14:26

Let’s unravel this a bit so we can access the power of discipleship. It seems rather harsh, especially given the people mentioned, father, mother, our own children, siblings, and even our own wife. How can a God of love tell us to hate, yes hate those relationships to become a disciple? What can that mean and how can we reconcile that with the parallel instruction of loving our enemies?

""But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you," Luk 6:27

So, on the one hand, we have a father, mother, brothers, children, wife and on the other we have enemies. The first group who we would naturally love, we are told to hate and the second group which we would naturally hate, we are told to love. What is the message?

I think Yeshua is addressing the foundation stone of relationships. How can God give His Son to die? How can Abraham be asked to sacrifice his Isaac? Alternatively, how can Israel love the Palestinians? In today’s culture in our lives, how can we love our enemies? How can I love the abortion doctor? What is this key that Yeshua is giving us access to?

I think the secret is in how we see others. I think there is a system of relationships that drives us that is rooted in how we have lived in the world. We don’t see people for who they are. We see people for who we need them to be. We are evaluating people all the time through a system of likes and dislikes. We fear betrayal and having our heartbroken by those close to us. Sowe “love” them which basically means that the more invested we are in them as a father or mother, a sister or brother, a son or daughter, a spouse, we “love” them. In this way, we never truly know them. We only know them as they relate to us!

Alternatively those who we mistrust as enemies for whatever reason, we feel comfortable in protecting ourselves against them. They are not to be trusted. We don’t truly know them either because we don’t want to.

Now, one group can become the other. A brother can become our enemy. An enemy can become our brother. Friends change allegiances. Enemies join is with their enemies against other enemies. Peace treaties are forged and the illusion of healed relationships continues. It is a system all rooted in self-protection.

So, what is Yeshua telling with the instruction to hate our loved ones and the instruction to love the hated ones? Change the scale, the measure!

"And He was saying to them, "Take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides." Mar 4:24

Notice the admonition is related our listening, our sh’ma. As we shared last week, there is a voice on the inside that is the voice of our pain and our fears of further pain. It distorts our reality. There is also the voice of the Lord which brings a different measure to our lives and the people in it.

The secret of hating and loving is in the Voice. Luke gives us a clue in 6:38:

"Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. "Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return."" Luk 6:37-38

This verse has been mostly interpreted in a financial context. I want to look at it from the perspective of what we have been speaking about hatred and love. When we think we are loving those close to us we are often just judging them as safe to let close to us. When we are putting up defensive strategies against thosewe feel threatened by, we are using the same thinking to separate ourselves from others. This the place of condemning or pardoning. Into this mess the Lord tells us to give. He isn’t talking about just gifts or finances. He is talking about,I believe a heart that sacrifices its perspective and embraces His love. This is what made the cross possible for God.

At the cross, He took whom He loved, His Son and hated him, released Him to death for our sin. He did this because He knew Him beyond this world and its definitions of Father and Son. He knew Him as Christ. He is inviting us to know each other as christ, as whole and complete and children of God. Listen to words of Solomon as he grapples with the issue of hating life:

"So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind. Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity. Therefore I completely despaired of all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun. When there is a man who has labored with wisdom, knowledge and skill, then he gives his legacy to one who has not labored with them. This too is vanity and a great evil. For what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun? Because all his days his task is painful and grievous; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is vanity. There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God. For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him? For to a person who is good in His sight He has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, while to the sinner He has given the task of gathering and collecting so that he may give to one who is good in God's sight. This too is vanity and striving after wind." Ecc 2:17-26

This is a commentary on how we know things, what we judge to be good or evil. It is only when we realize that our perspective is rooted in vanity that we can release our attachments to the relationships in our lives as the source of our contentment. Neither our close relationships orthose we determined are useless are the way we think they are. There is a transcendent beauty is all of God’s creation that calls to us to open our eyes and see!

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