The Head of the Body

Headless in a decapitated world. Such is the current state of affairs. We cringe in horror at the beheadings of innocent victims by the mujahideen of the self-installed caliphate, but we do not identify the real source of the terror. The beheadings are signs to us that we have already been decapitated, even that we are already dead. How can this be?

No enemy can come near us, none can approach our camp, when we recognize our Head (cf. Psalm 91). And this Head is not the caliph of the Islamic state. It is not the president of any nation, not even the vaunted almightiest, nor is it the pope of any eternal city, but we’re getting hotter. Our Head is He who walks amidst the seven golden lampstands, though we recognize Him not.

Humanity in the main is headless, decapitated because they do not recognize their Head. We Christians have no excuse. The Church, not the institutions but the reality, is poised at the edge of life, ancient and venerable, the true ikon of a free humanity that lives in peace, in harmony, and in mutual love, only when it knows what it is, the Body, and recognizes Christ, the Head.

There is, and can only be, one Head for the one Body that is the whole human race, and that is the Christ. In Him we are restored, not to an Islamic state, but to the state of Adam before the Fall. All of creation, looking upon Adam, could not distinguish Him from God the unearthly Triad. Apostle Paul prophesies, ‘The creation waits eagerly for the sons of God to be revealed’ (Romans 8:19).

Does that put things in perspective? Why are we living headless in a decapitated world? Who can cut our heads off, unless we let them? And how could we have let them? Isn’t it clear that only by acknowledging our Head, our own heads are safeguarded? Didn’t the apostle write, ‘I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God’ (1 Corinthians 11:3)?

Brethren, we have no leaders, because we have not acknowledged our Head. Only a people that knows they are a nation of kings deserves to have a King reigning over them. And that is the only sort of King that can ever be victorious, can ever be our safeguard. Acknowledge the Head, not just for yourselves as Christians, but for all people. Then, your heads will be yours, as He leads you to victory.

The cruelty of the assassins of mankind, wherever and however they appear, cannot be opposed or defeated by headless hosts, no matter how well-armed. They behead us in effigy as they harvest the skulls of their victims. Let the nations return to the Holy One of Israel, the only-lover of mankind, the Head of the Body that outnumbers the stars, and to the lake of fire the foe will flee before us.

Postscript

An interesting science fiction novel by C. S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength, introduces the theme of ‘the Head’ from the antichristian point of view: The enemy of mankind uses a severed human head as the vehicle of its satanic communication. Though we hope such a manifestation shall never occur in human history, Lewis was quite correct in describing its purpose and operation. It is the opposite of acknowledging Christ as the Head of the Body of the human race. At present the human world is as it is because the vast majority do not accept that there is, and must be, a Head. To recognize Christ the Head opens the gates of Paradise. To accept an antichrist as the Head, well, we know what that ushers in.