Nov 10, 2018
The
more I read the Bible, the more I see Christ and God's election and
the gospel of God's salvation through his Son, Jesus. What I can't
figure out is how anyone can make sense of Scripture without taking
into account the reality of God's election; predestination; His
sovereign and free choice and predetermination over EVERYTHING.
What specifically gets my attention is that without the truth of
God's election or predestination, the gospel of Jesus Christ does not
make sense.
God makes promises and His work secures their completion.
Why anyone would want to remove His doing that (as if they could), is
beyond me. But, people do want to remove God's election and they
suffer weakness in attempting to do it. If God cannot determine, by
His will, to make happen what He said would happen, what would be the
point in promising it? It doesn't make sense.
Look
at this prayer of Jesus' followers that was recorded in Acts:
“Sovereign
Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in
them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said
by the Holy Spirit, “‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples
plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers
were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’—
for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy
servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,
along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever
your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. Acts
4:23-28.
God has a kingdom and
His kingdom existed before the creation of the earth. God has a Son
and His Son was His Son from before the foundation of the earth –
this is the Christ, who is eternal. The Son, the Christ, was
determined to be judge of heaven and earth before the earth existed.
God is creator and He is Savior. It was all His idea and only He
could or would carry it out. To imagine that He waits or moves in
accordance with any human decision just does not make sense.
Then
the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed
by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world.
Matthew 25:34
The
kingdom of God was predestined.
He
was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made
manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are
believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so
that your faith and hope are in God. 1 Peter 1:20-21
For
I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of
him who sent me. John
6:38
Then
Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You
say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this
purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth.
Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” John
18:37
Jesus
Christ was predestined. His birth was predestined. His ministry was
predestined. His death was predestined. His resurrection was
predestined. Jesus Christ's position as judge, savior, and ruler of
heaven and earth was predestined. If these things had not been
elected, predestined, by God and brought about by God's power,
regardless of any man, none of us would have any hope. The good news
of salvation without predestination does not make any sense.
The
saints of old – before Jesus came to the earth, were saved by
faith in God's salvation through the One who was to come. If this
had not already been determined and testified to by God, they would
have had nothing to believe and so would have no salvation. For
salvation is by grace through faith (believing). They were banking
on a future, (already decided) event and a future (already chosen) person
to complete it. The saints of today are saved by the same person and
the same event; namely, Jesus Christ; His birth, life, death on the
cross and resurrection. If the saints of old have no salvation,
neither do we today.
At
this moment God's people everywhere, even in heaven, are waiting for
the King, Jesus, to return to the earth to judge the world and take
His children to Himself forever. The second coming of Christ is an
already appointed happening. The day and the hour have already been
decided by the Father. It is set and cannot be changed. God has
elected a time of judgment; a day of reckoning. It has been
predetermined. If this day has not been determined already by God,
we have nothing to look forward to in the future and our inheritance
in heaven is questionable. Without God's predestination and election
of events, our future does not make any sense.
I
suppose for me, one of the most beautiful things about Jesus is that He submitted perfectly to all that God had destined for
Him. Being God, of course, Jesus knew what was coming for Him. Being
man, He did not flinch, but set His face like flint to His own death
to keep us from the power of death forever. His earthly life was one
of loneliness, disrespect, long hours, weariness, hunger,
sleeplessness, harassment from Satan, unbelief from His own earthly
family, betrayal of a friend, not being recognized as God and Savior
by His own people; being falsely accused, treated like a criminal,
beaten, spit on, mocked, and finally brutally murdered. All of it
was predetermined by God and He knew it.
Where
is the one who will lament that it was unfair that God decided ahead
of time that Jesus was to suffer this way? Who would dare to imply
that Jesus would do otherwise than to perfectly incline to the will
of His Father? How could it be possible that being perfectly One
with the Father, Jesus could do otherwise? Did He have a choice? It
was determined and God had testified by His word through the prophets
to all that Jesus would do and suffer and that He would be exalted to
the highest Authority. God predetermined and elected our salvation
and our Savior. To remove the beauty of God's election in Jesus'
suffering is to make His sacrifice small. Without God's
predestination of His own Son, Jesus' would not have had anything to
look forward to in His suffering. It was “for the joy set before
him” that He endured the cross. Without God's election of His Son
and all the events in His earthly walk, Jesus' suffering does not
make any sense.
The
gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news of a promise fulfilled by the
only one who could possibly fulfill it. Any promise that would be fulfilled must have a
preconceived idea of what is being promised and an existing power to
carry it out. Without predestination, none of God's promises are any
good. Indeed, He has no right to make them if He cannot determine
that they will be completed since the possibility of failure would
make Him not who He says He is; ALMIGHTY.
If
God Almighty, does not predetermine and in sovereign power carry out all of
His plans; if He is not in complete control of all things at all
times and does not have each things already decided -
NOTHING
makes any sense!
