The Axis Mundi: Why Christians are Revolutionaries

The term, axis mundi, isn’t used much in common parlance. Just so we are on the same page, I include the Wikipedia definition which is accurate enough for my purposes:

The axis mundi (also cosmic axis, world axis, world pillar, the center of the world, world tree), in certain beliefs and philosophies, is the world center, or the connection between Heaven and Earth. 

Nearly every major religion has such an intersection. The Old Testament has Mount Zion where Moses saw God. Jacob’s ladder is also such an intersection. Mount Kailash is sacred to the Hindu, the Innuit create totem poles, and even Feng Shui attempts to orient the home towards the sky in a practice called geomancy. Christianity has a couple of axis mundi, ostensibly those being Calvary, the Mount of Olives, and the cross.

At least that is how someone literate in religion might see the axis mundi in Christianity. And certainly, the cross is just the right shape with its vertical and horizontal beams literally intersecting heaven and earth. But the problem with this understanding is that it relegates Christianity to the same status as all the other religions, with their sacred spaces and mystical sites. In reality, Jesus transformed the axis mundi as surely as Josiah removed the Asherah poles from the countryside of Israel. Asherah poles, of course, were Canaanite axis mundi.

Not Just a Symbol Anymore

For the first time in religious history, a specific person became an axis mundi. In doing so, He then invited us to be the same. Jesus is the first person in whom heaven truly meets earth, where heaven actually invades earth. Doors are often thought to be an axis mundi. I know Jesus was thinking of this when He said, “I am the door…”

And you and I are called to the same. Before I go on to tell you how to you actually bring heaven to earth, I do want to clarify. All pagan religions are guilty of the same error, an error Christians often fall into as well. We are guilty of dishonor when we honor a place or a thing above God or above man, who is made in His image. No sacred shrine in any religion is more important than ‘the least of these’, over whose care Jesus is very zealous. Even the cross is just a symbol of a spiritual reality inside you and me.

So Jesus, all man and made of the dust of the earth as are we, and all God, begotten of the Father, takes on all the sin and fault of earth and defeats it. The Messiah because He is both human and God, the fulfillment of all the previous thoughts about what an axis mundi is for. Jesus Christ literally brought heaven down here and continues to do so through us. Our Savior didn’t say, “The Kingdom of God is up there, and somehow if you stand in the right spot, you can catch a glimpse of it.” No. Jesus said, “The Kingdom of God is in your midst.’ Our Lord brought it down to earth with Him.

So here is how we become as revolutionary as He is in our world where people are hungry for something spiritual. I am visiting Fredericksburg as I write this. In strolling downtown, I passed four fortunetellers. Their crystal balls and dreamcatchers? All pathetic imitations of the living Axis Mundi living in every Christian’s heart. But we take up our crosses and follow Jesus!

1: Conversion makes us an axis mundi like Jesus!

He lives in us. Everywhere we go, if we incarnate Christ and make Him flesh through our actions and our lives, we are a living, breathing example of the Kingdom of Heaven in a hurting world. When we host the Holy Spirit and Jesus is enthroned upon our hearts, our life in Christ is an overturning of the idols that surround us. We no longer worship money or success. Our motivations are to love, to bring God and His Word onto the earth. That is our commission, in fact. To make disciples of all the earth is to bring Heaven down onto earth one person at a time. Well, more than one at a time if you are like Billy Graham.

2. Heaven meets earth when we lay hands on the sick and the hurting.

When the woman with the issue of blood touched the hem of Jesus’ garment, He felt power go out from Him. She was healed. The Kingdom of Heaven touched her body, and she was healed. So many of the imitation axis mundi try to do the same thing. People of so many religions go on pilgrimages seeking a touch from Heaven. Beloved, if Jesus is alive in you, you have the authority to bring Heaven to people. Prayer is powerful, so He is there when two or more are gathered in His name.

Any prayer from any religion attempts to bring about a spiritual reality. But as Christians, we are the only ones whose God is alive and living in us, through no religious posturing of our own. We have power through grace and not of our own making. This makes us truly axis mundis, bringing the Holy Spirit to earth from Heaven through our broken clay vessels.

3. The Word of God is alive, and when we speak it out, it does not come back void.

Jesus is the Logos, the word, and the deed. If that is not a meeting of the spiritual and the physical, I don’t know what is. The Word of God is a person, not a book. I am not taking anything away from the Bible, which is crucial in understanding who God is. But we change spiritual realities when we speak the Word, preach the Word, and pray the Word. No magic spells or vain repetitions for us. We have the sound of Heaven in our spirits, enabling our creativity, empowering our actions, and exhorting those around us.

So are you a Christian? Join the revolution! We get to pull up all the Asherah poles in our culture and toss them to the wayside! Our God isn’t far away. He is here in our midst, loving you and me right now, from the inside out.

I want to be Dallas Willard when I grow up. If you haven’t read anything of his, you have a real treat in store. Also, you will find yourself going much deeper than usual. I always do.

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