Thy Kingdom Come: A Blumhardt Reader - Plough

this the Apostle Paul says, “I no longer know Jesus after theflesh” (2 Cor. 5:16). He does not intend to say that Jesus hadnot lived historically but that the outward history has fallenaway and the life of God remains.When the Spirit of God moves in a person who is seekingproof of God, that spirit makes his appearance in the life ofmen actually upon earth and does not allow himself to beshunted into secondary matters. For the spirit knows thatthe very crux of all truth lies in the kingdom of God—thererather than in the history of man according to the flesh,which shall disappear. A true history of man’s life is in processof fulfillment, bound up with God, even though presentlydeveloping under the husks of an unfulfilled relationship.The Spirit knows that this life history is not that of traditionor historical research but of God himself entering the scene.Thus, after the history of mankind has been lost, the life ofmankind still will be known, because, from beginning toend, it has been represented in the life of God himself.Humanity indeed has its history. We can learn it—andwe also can learn much from it. But this is not the historythat truly brings joy to our hearts. The joy of human historyis not so great that we would not gladly give it up. Butthere is also a history made up of experiences which are notconfined to man himself but which are informed by somethingof the divine. That which is human must be touchedby the divine.When we read of the singular experiences of men of God40