Cabin Pressure

Last month I wrote an article about my misadventure on a trip from Taiwan to the United States, and how the flight on the first leg of my journey from Taiwan to Tokyo was diverted to Okinawa due to a mechanical problem. I never actually mentioned what the nature of the problem was, but in fact it was something that affected the aircraft's ability to maintain proper cabin pressure.

As I said in that article, none of us was aware that anything was wrong—the oxygen masks never popped out of their overhead compartments or anything like that. As far as I know, none of us felt ill or experienced any type of discomfort. All we knew was that the pilot made an announcement that they were having problems maintaining cabin pressure, and that the standard procedure of bringing the aircraft down to a lower altitude had failed to alleviate the problem. He told us that for our safety, we would be forced to make an emergency landing, and every traveler's nightmare began to unfold.

On the long flight from Tokyo to Portland and in the days following, however, the Holy Spirit led me to reflect on how a commercial airliner suffering from a loss of cabin pressure served as an apt metaphor of the fallen, sin-infected world in which we live, and how the availability and use of oxygen masks on the aircraft provided an equally apt metaphor of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the resulting effects of both believing it in faith and rejecting it.

In the beginning...

In the beginning, Adam and Eve enjoyed perfect communion with God in a veritable heaven on earth, and all was well. Metaphorically speaking, the plane was fine. In fact, why don't we give our metaphorical plane a name: World Air. The cabin pressure on our World Air flight was perfect, and no one was adversely affected.

When Adam and Eve sinned, however, everything changed—the curse of sin and death was introduced, and it began to affect them, all their human descendants, and the beautiful world over which they had been given dominion. World Air experienced a malfunction, and it became unable to maintain the proper cabin pressure. The plane started to drop in altitude, and everyone onboard began to succumb to the resulting insufficiency of oxygen.

At one point during World Air's steady spiritual descent, the oxygen masks popped out of their compartments, providing desperately needed oxygen to anyone who would take a step of faith and don a mask and begin breathing deeply. These masks and the oxygen they provide are a beautiful metaphor for the gospel and its message of redemption, and those who don a mask in faith receive the life-preserving oxygen of the Holy Spirit. They are sealed until the day of redemption, and are guaranteed to survive the flight with no ill effects. No one can remove that mask from them; and although the flight may not always be as comfortable as they'd like, their ultimate survival is assured with 100 percent certainty.

Nobody said it would be easy: Nowhere in the Bible are born-again believers promised smooth sailing through the storms of life, much less to avoid them altogether. As a matter of fact, Jesus said that since the world hated Him, it would hate us too (John 15:18–21) and Paul wrote that it would persecute those who strive to live godly lives (2 Tim. 3:12). On World Air, the simple fact that we have donned oxygen masks and are connected to the life-giving oxygen of the Holy Spirit doesn't mean we can just kick back and watch movies for the remainder of the flight. Our seats are just as cramped as everyone else's in Economy Class, and we feel the same turbulence everyone else feels.

Those oxygen masks popped out of their compartments two thousand years ago. That's when the Son of God came to earth to live a sinless life in the flesh as a man, and be crucified and resurrected to provide atonement for our sin.

But many of the passengers on World Air choose not to don an oxygen mask for various reasons. Maybe they feel fine, and think they don't need one. They grow accustomed to their lack of oxygen, and they believe everything is OK and there's nothing whatsoever wrong with the plane. Maybe they are convinced they can manage to continue breathing without a mask, or believe they have found some alternate source of oxygen to sustain them. Maybe they simply do not believe the oxygen masks are real or actually provide oxygen, and argue about their supposed effectiveness.

Not only that, but they mock and belittle other passengers on World Air who have chosen to put on oxygen masks, and treat them like superstitious simpletons who have been suckered into thinking the masks provide some benefit. Similarly, the world scorns born-again believers as naive dimwits for placing their unquestioning trust in a mythical being, His equally mythical Son, and a book of mythical tales that they arrogantly assume has been thoroughly discredited by modern science and secular scholarship.

But whatever their reason for refusing to put on an oxygen mask, they invariably begin to suffer from a lack of oxygen and begin to experience the symptoms of a medical condition known as hypoxia. In spiritual terms, they reject the message of the gospel, casually assuming they don't need it, stubbornly insisting it's a bunch of foolishness, and vainly imagining they can do just fine without it in a world they are unable to see for what it truly is: a hopelessly flawed cesspool of sin that is on a collision course with the judgment of a holy God.

The symptoms

Hypoxia has a number of symptoms that vary according to the severity and duration of the insufficiency of oxygen, and what I would like to do in this article is discuss the parallels between some of the physical symptoms of hypoxia and the spiritual symptoms of rejecting the gospel.

I did a bit of googling and came up with some of the most common symptoms of hypoxia, and narrowed it down to the following list of six items for the purposes of this article:

1. Sense of euphoria
2. Confusion
3. Dimmed vision
4. Memory loss
5. Lack of coordination
6. Death

Just as passengers on a plane that is losing cabin pressure will begin to experience some of the above symptoms because they aren't getting sufficient oxygen, people in this world who refuse to avail themselves of the free gift of salvation offered to them by a loving God suffer parallel symptoms by virtue of the fact that they are cut off from the indwelling, life-giving pneuma of the Holy Spirit, which eternally seals those who have believed the gospel in faith—just like the passengers on World Air who took a step of faith by donning an oxygen mask and are thus able to survive the remainder of what they know from God's Word is a doomed flight.

Let's run down this list of symptoms and see how they apply to our passengers on World Air, some of whom have believed the gospel in faith and some of whom have not.

1. Sense of euphoria 

One of the initial symptoms that appears at the onset of hypoxia is a sense of euphoria, and ironically this intense, elevated sense of pleasure and well-being can actually mask the progression of more serious symptoms because the affected individual feels great and has an illusory sense that everything is wonderful—they feel on top of the world.

It's worth noting that when people today think of the word "euphoria," they often think of it as having an artificial or induced quality to it, as if tuning out reality was part and parcel of the intense feelings of pleasure and well-being associated with euphoria. After all, achieving a temporary, artificial state of euphoria is the primary reason people drink and take drugs, and it's clear that alcohol and drug usage has reached epidemic proportions in today's world.

On a bigger scale, many people are convinced that we can fix society's problems and make the world a better place through our own human efforts (check out the United Nation's 2030 Agenda). They think that man can actually achieve peace and security, and in the last days the time will come when the world will believe it's on the brink of realizing that goal. The world will celebrate the fact that world peace is finally within reach with an unprecedented sense of global euphoria, but it will be a deception orchestrated by Satan that will quickly come crashing down as the world is plunged into the Tribulation:

But as the world giddily celebrates the possibility of global peace and security like so many college kids at a frat party, believers are admonished to watch and be sober, because we know only the Prince of Peace can and will bring peace:

But does that mean believers are supposed to walk around with long faces and wag our bony fingers at anyone who dares to have fun?

Hardly:

Rejoice...ALWAYS! But note that it says rejoice in the Lord. The Lord is the source of our strength and every good thing in our lives, so it is the Lord who should be the source of our joy.

This is something that mystifies the world. Born-again believers have every reason to rejoice in any and all circumstances, because it is God who orders the steps of our lives (Ps. 37:23) and who works everything together for our good (Rom. 8:28), and that is indeed a reason to rejoice. Not only that, but the more we rejoice in the Lord, the easier and more natural it becomes for us to obey the Lord's command:

So those passengers on World Air who have refused to don an oxygen mask and have rejected the message of the gospel may be filled with a temporary sense of pleasure and well-being, but those who have donned a mask in faith and believed the gospel are the ones who truly have a reason to be happy.

2. Confusion 

As both the severity and duration of the lack of oxygen increase, more serious symptoms can manifest themselves, and one such symptom is confusion. As the condition worsens and the confusion grows, the person's thinking becomes increasingly sluggish.

The Bible says that all men are born with an innate awareness of God's existence, a fact that atheists stridently deny, insisting they see no evidence that the universe we inhabit has a Creator.

The Bible has more to say about such people:

The Bible says people who refuse to acknowledge God as Creator become fools, but they imagine themselves to be wise. This is an apt description of many of the atheists I have interacted with online, who invariably see themselves as being possessed of towering intellectual acumen in their adamant denial of the abundance of evidence of God's existence in the physical universe we inhabit, on both the macro and micro levels.

Many such people end up worshiping the things that He created instead of worshiping Him: They worship the natural world, they worship science, and ultimately they worship themselves and their own paltry capacity to understand science and the natural world.

This is confusion of the first rank.

Just as people suffering from hypoxia become confused due to a lack of oxygen, people who reject the gospel and so lack the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit become utterly confused about spiritual things because they simply do not possess the ability to understand them:

The things of God are spiritually discerned. And this is only possible through the Holy Spirit—which is precisely what people who reject the gospel are depriving themselves of.

On the other hand, people who have believed the gospel in faith have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, and the next two verses speak to us:

We have the mind of Christ, which means rather than being confused about spiritual things like natural men, we have the Holy Spirit to reveal the mind of Christ to us, and guide us into spiritual truth:

Just as people on a plane losing cabin pressure are depriving themselves of oxygen by refusing to don a mask, people on World Air are depriving themselves of the Holy Spirit by rejecting the gospel, and the result is total confusion concerning spiritual things.

3. Dimmed vision 

Hypoxia can also cause dimness of vision, and the passengers on our World Air flight are no different. Those who reject the gospel cannot see clearly—in fact, they have been blinded:

Satan has been busy blinding men to the truth of the gospel for two thousand years; and as the end-time scenario rapidly unfolds, his efforts are reaching a crescendo and are reaping a bountiful harvest indeed.

Not only that, but Satan has been successful in manipulating unwitting believers into doing damage to the body of Christ by failing to rightly divide the Word and promoting deceptive false teachings that rob God's people of hope in His promises.

But when the Holy Spirit indwells us, our spiritual vision is sharp and our body is full of light:

Those on World Air who have donned oxygen masks by believing the gospel have had their spiritual eyes opened and as result are filled with light.

4. Memory loss 

Another symptom of hypoxia, and one possibly related to the confusion I mentioned earlier, is a loss of memory.

People who reject the gospel, however, suffer from a type of selective memory loss, as they seemingly "forget" all about what God has done in the past and mock those who believe He will perform His Word down to the last detail just as He has done throughout the ages:

They wilfully forget. God showed Himself mighty on behalf of His people Israel all throughout the Old Testament, but people today just write it off as if it never happened. It's all just a bunch of legends. Myths. Fairy tales.

In a sense, this attitude the world has is understandable because during the Church Age, God is sitting on His hands, so to speak, because He wants to take for Himself a body of people who will believe in faith without seeing any overt, tangible expressions of His power and presence—unlike what He expressed in Old Testament days and will again during the Tribulation.

In a sense, that's what defines the Age of Grace, or the Church Age. During the Church Age, people don't get wowed into believing by fire falling from the sky. They don't need that. They simply respond to the conviction of the Holy Spirit and believe in faith—the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. This is yet another reason why it makes no biblical sense whatsoever to imagine that the Church will be on earth and growing during the Tribulation, a time during which people will know they are witnessing the hand of God moving in judgment (Rev. 6:16–17).

That's what Jesus was talking about when He said to Thomas...

That's the Church, and they have seen nothing. But people on earth during the Tribulation are going to see w-a-a-y more than they bargained for.

Where is the promise of His coming? This has become the rallying cry of not just the world, but of a tragically large portion of the Church today as those who take God's promises seriously are mocked and made sport of.

Now, I can understand this coming from unsaved people who reject God's grace and mercy. Satan has blinded them to the truth of the gospel, and as a result they are thoroughly confused about spiritual things. I get that. That's one thing.

But it's another thing entirely when I hear this exact same sentiment coming from professing believers who name the name of Christ, yet viciously mock those who hold to a pre-tribulational view of the Rapture as they promote fear and peddle prepper supplies and encourage hapless believers who are failing to rightly divide the Word to stop looking for the Lord and instead store food and guns in the basement to prepare for the Tribulation.

This is what grieves my spirit these days more deeply than almost anything else I can think of, and I am convinced it is yet another sign of the nearness of the Rapture. It's little wonder Jesus said:

As I wade through the rank apostasy that is being vomited from the mouths of many professing Christians today—even well-known Christian ministers, I wonder if Jesus will indeed find any faith on earth when He returns. If He does (and He will because God always has a remnant), it will be in spite of these people's best efforts.

The passengers on World Air, however, who have donned their masks in faith and believed the gospel, have some assistance in this area from the Helper, the Counselor, the Comforter:

We are commanded in 2 Timothy 2:15 to study Scripture (yes, study it, not just settle for a half an hour of passive, breezy exposure to it on Sunday morning), and the Lord promises us that part of the Holy Spirit's ministry to the Church is to bring to our minds spiritual truth He has taught us.

5. Lack of coordination 

Another symptom of more advanced hypoxia is a lack of coordination, particularly in regard to walking. As hypoxia becomes more pronounced, a person's gait can become awkward and ungainly.

In spiritual terms, the idea of walking speaks to how people live their lives, and we can either walk in light or we can walk in darkness.

People on World Air who are suffering from this symptom are walking in darkness, because as long as they refuse to don a mask and continue to reject the gospel, they remain cut off from the Holy Spirit—the Spirit who permanently indwells and gives eternal life to all who believe in faith. Because they have rejected the light of the gospel, they are walking in darkness and stumble along the broad road that leads to eternal separation from a holy God who loves them, and they never enter through the gate that leads to reconcilation with that holy God and an eternity in heaven with Him.

On the other hand, all of us on World Air who have donned a mask and have believed the gospel have the Holy Spirit to guide us and teach us, and every step we take is ordered by God:

When we trust in the Lord, He upholds us and even though we fall from time to time, we are secure in His hands. By trusting Christ for our salvation, we have found the way to eternal life and are on the road to an eternity with a loving Heavenly Father who created us to enjoy Him forever in a place too wonderful for us to even imagine.

And the hyper-politically correct liberals of the world can scream bloody murder about Christians being exclusive and intolerant and bigoted and politically incorrect and all the rest, but I don't give a rat's patootie.

And the reason I don't give a rat's patootie is because I believe God's Word and so I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the only way is through faith in Jesus Christ:

The world says there are many ways to God.
God's Word says there is only one.
Who are you going to believe?

So, are believers being exclusive when we say Jesus is the only way?

You bet we are. "Exclusive" is our middle name. But here's the thing:

How foolish and disingenuous is it for believers to say anything else when we know that there's only one way?

6. Death 

If hypoxia is severe enough and continues for a long enough period of time, it can lead to a loss of consciousness and eventually death.

Passengers on World Air who have refused to don a mask by rejecting the gospel don't realize that they are going to die and spend eternity separated from the presence of a God who loves them. That's the kind of death we are talking about here: eternal, spiritual death. And the saddest part of all is the fact that they alone are responsible for their fate. It is their choice:

Nobody can force them to don a mask and receive the free gift of salvation God offers to those who will believe in faith. It is their free-will choice to either harden their hearts, or respond to the conviction of the Holy Spirit and humble their hearts before God and ask for the forgiveness He freely offers based on the perfect sacrifice His Son made on their behalf two thousand years ago.

Those passengers on World Air who have donned a mask and are born of the Spirit have passed from death to life:

And just to be clear, when Jesus says "death," He means eternal death in a place called hell. And when Jesus says "life," He means eternal life in a place called heaven.

Metaphorically speaking...

So, our World Air flight has been losing cabin pressure since the beginning, but in the last two thousand years untold millions of people have donned oxygen masks by believing the gospel in faith, trusting Christ for their salvation, and receiving the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, who seals us until the day of redemption, which is the Rapture.

One thing that occurred to me while writing this article is that I'm a sucker for a good metaphor. Few things are more sublime than a finely crafted metaphor, which Aristotle hailed as a sign of genius.

But finely crafted or otherwise, sometimes the problem for average, non-genius schmoes like me is just knowing when to stop. For example, I could say that the Rapture is when only those on World Air who have donned oxygen masks are given parachutes and leap from the plane's emergency doors before it crashes into the ocean. Or maybe a slightly more dramatic in-flight rescue à la Air Force One.

Or not. After all, even the best metaphor is like a champion racehorse: No matter how strong it is, you can only ride it so far.

But someone on a plane losing cabin pressure who chooses to don a mask to receive a steady flow of oxygen is a compelling metaphor for someone in a fallen world who hears the gospel, responds to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and believes in faith that Jesus Christ died and was resurrected to pay the penalty for their sin. And as a result they are sealed with the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, have Christ's righteousness imputed or credited to them, are spiritually reconciled to a loving Heavenly Father, and are made part of His family for eternity.

Now, if I could just think of something that would be spiritually analogous to being stranded overnight in Okinawa. Think think think...

Hey, I got it! Oh wait, never mind.

Purgatory is unscriptural.

Greg Lauer — OCT '16

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 OCT '16 

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