A Lesson from the Wilderness

I've been reading through the Pentateuch for my Old Testament class. This past week I was reading Numbers. One of the recurring themes in Numbers is the continual sin and rebellion of the Israelites as they travel in the wilderness. And I mean continual. It almost gets old as you're reading it. You get to, "The people spoke against God and Moses..." and you're like, "Oh come on, guys! Again?! Don't you get it by now?"

And as I was doing that, I was convicted about giving the Israelites a hard time. We've all said this and have heard it said a million times, but if it was us, we wouldn't do any better. So, after mocking the Israelites, my sinful heart engaged in some mocking of those who mock the Israelites.

And before the day was over I had done each again.

But in my sin and subsequent confession and prayer the Lord led me to the following thought.

What's Israel's problem over and over again, even before we get to Numbers? What's their complaint? Check this out:

• Exodus 16:3 - The sons of Israel said to them, "Would that we had died by the LORD'S hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger."
• Exodus 17:1-3 - ...and there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water that we may drink " And Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?" But the people thirsted there for water; and they grumbled against Moses and said, "Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?"
• Numbers 11:1 - Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the LORD.
• Numbers 11:4-6 - The rabble who were among them had greedy desires; and also the sons of Israel wept again and said, "Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic, but now our appetite is gone. There is nothing at all to look at except this manna."
• Numbers 14:2-3 - All the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder.
  
• Numbers 20:2-5 - There was no water for the congregation, and they assembled themselves against Moses and Aaron. The people thus contended with Moses and spoke, saying, "If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the LORD! Why then have you brought the LORD'S assembly into this wilderness, for us and our beasts to die here? Why have you made us come up from Egypt, to bring us in to this wretched place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, nor is there water to drink."
• Numbers 21:5 - The people spoke against God and Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food."

Could you imagine putting up with these people? And did you catch their problem? Either they have no food, or they have no water, or they're afraid that the peoples of the land of Canaan are going to destroy them and take their families as plunder. Even though those might seem like legitimate concerns, it manifests a clear lack of faith in the God who has promised to bless them, and has already proven Himself willing and able to bless them as long as they've known Him.

But that's not the big thing. Aside from the food and water, did you see a theme in their complaints? Maybe this will help:

• Exodus 16:3 - The sons of Israel said to them, "Would that we had died by the LORD'S hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger."
• Exodus 17:1-3 - ...and there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water that we may drink " And Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?"But the people thirsted there for water; and they grumbled against Moses and said, "Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?"
• Numbers 11:4-6 - The rabble who were among them had greedy desires; and also the sons of Israel wept again and said, "Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic, but now our appetite is gone. There is nothing at all to look at except this manna."
• Numbers 14:2-3 - All the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder.
  
• Numbers 20:2-5 - There was no water for the congregation, and they assembled themselves against Moses and Aaron. The people thus contended with Moses and spoke, saying, "If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the LORD! Why then have you brought the LORD'S assembly into this wilderness, for us and our beasts to die here? Why have you made us come up from Egypt, to bring us in to this wretched place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, nor is there water to drink."
• Numbers 21:5 - The people spoke against God and Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food."

Amidst all their complaining, most foundationally they're upset because they think they had it better in Egypt. That's just amazing. This is the land in which they were enslaved, the land in which their hard labor and affliction caused them to sigh greatly and to call out to God for deliverance! This is the land whose people treated them as less than human, the land in which an edict was issued to kill all their firstborn children. They had it better, there?!

It actually gets worse. Do you know what their proposed solution was?

So they said to one another, "Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt" (Num 14:4).

They wanted to go back.

This is the land that Yahweh Himself had judged with the most amazing display of successive judgments since the creation of the world, culminating in the drowning of the Egyptian army in the Red Sea! If there was any doubt about their God's opinion of Egypt, there it was. And if that's not enough, how many times since the beginning of Exodus has Yahweh said, "... so you will know that I am Yahweh who brought you out of the land of Egypt"? God wants them to remember forever that He brought them out of Egypt.

What do you call someone who wants to go back to slavery?!

I call them, "You." I call them, "Me."

Just as God has delivered Israel from their slavery of Egypt, He has delivered us from our slavery to our sin. And yet, we want to go back. We want to go back to prison. It doesn't matter that God has executed the most amazing events that have ever taken place in history, that ever will take place in history -- namely the incarnation and death of God Himself -- to deliver us from our slavery. It doesn't matter that it cost Him the life of His Son. It doesn't matter that it brought shame, disrepute, scorn, and hatred on the most precious Being in the universe. It doesn't even matter that it made our lives miserable.

We want to go back.

Despite all of that, we love our sin, and we want to go back to our slavery. God forgive us. And we deserve the fire to come out from His presence and consume us (Num 11:1). We deserve the plague (Num 11:33; 16:46, 49). We deserve the fiery serpents to poison us (Num 21:6). We deserve the ground to open up and swallow us into Sheol (Num 16:31-33).

But because of the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ our Lord, we don't get that. He got that. We got adoption as sons (Rom 8:15). We got every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies (Eph 1:3). We got God Himself (1Pet 3:18).

And we still want to go back to Egypt.

Dear friends, I pray that God gives you and me the grace to see how insane that is. I pray that our spiritual eyes would be so open and so fixed on the glory of Jesus -- on the glory of what we've got now as compared to what we deserve -- that our sin looks ludicrous to us. It is easy to criticize the Israelites sometimes. But the next time you think to do that, let their bad example show you that you're doing the exact same thing.

Don't go to back Egypt. There really isn't anything there for you but miserable slavery for eternity. We've got a better country, that is, a heavenly one. One that God Himself has prepared for us.

Hate your slavery.

Prefer the better city.

And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out,
they would have had opportunity to return.
But as it is, they desire a better country,
that is, a heavenly one.
Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God;
for He has prepared a city for them.
- Hebrews 11:15-16 -

Genesis at a Glance

In the book of Genesis, Yahweh reveals His glory in the manifold perfections of His character by disclosing His dealings with the people of His creation.

His glory is displayed in His fellowship with and blessings to Adam and Eve before the Fall in the garden (Gen 1-3).

His glory is displayed in His justice, righteousness, and wrath against sin (Gen 3:14-24; 4:11-12; 6:5-7; 7:23; 11:8-9; 19:24-25).

His glory is displayed in His mercy and compassion on a single family in the whole earth (Gen 6:8; 8:1; 9:1, 8-9).

His glory is displayed in His goodness to one man on whom He sets His covenant love and through whom He blesses all the nations of the earth (Gen 12:1-3; 15:5, 18; 17:1-8; 24:1; 26:24; 35:9-12; 50:24; Rom 4:16-17).

His glory is displayed in His free and sovereign grace in the election of a particular covenant people for Himself, to whom and through whom He magnifies His faithfulness (Deut 7:6-10).

The Doctrine of Regeneration: Introduction

Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
- John 3:3 -

I’ve wanted to do this series of posts on regeneration for a long time. The doctrine of the new birth has unbelievable importance and relevance for everyone in the entire world. For non-Christians, this new birth needs to happen to you, and so you need to know about it. For Christians, this doctrine is a cornerstone for our entire understanding of our God Himself, of the Savior Himself, and the nature of His work -- this great salvation that has happened to us.

Now, I know that not all Christians believe the same things about this issue. And neither do Christians all agree on the implications this doctrine has on so many areas of Christian life and thought. So my aim in doing this series is not to say vague enough or basic enough things that everyone can superficially agree with and then pad my ego by telling me how great a series it was. My aim, understanding that there is vast disagreement, is to confront ideas that are not in accord with the Word of God, in hopes that those holding views contrary to Scripture (including myself) would disown those views. And then in place of those views, I pray that by the clear presentation of truth, that God’s view would be embraced in place of those false views. Said a bit more simply, I want people – including me – to be taught. So I’m inviting questions and disagreement. Tell your friends.

This study was born out of a Sunday school lesson at my home church based on John Piper’s What Jesus Demands from the World, in which he picks 50 commands that Jesus gave in the gospels, and hopes to serve the Church by “teaching them to obey” (Mt 28:20). The very first command in that book is the command to be born again. That’s fitting, because without that first one happening, obedience to the others is impossible. And so I’ll be quoting from that short chapter here and there.

Piper has also recently done a sermon series and written a separate book called Finally Alive on the doctrine of regeneration. When Piper was interviewed and asked why he wrote the book, he said the following:

I am deeply concerned that there are many church members in America and beyond who think they are saved when they are not. Part of the reason for this nominalism is a failure to teach and understand the true meaning of the new birth.

You must be born again. It is a miracle. Many, I fear, don’t even want to think in terms of “being saved” as being in the category of a miracle that only God can perform. They want it to be a decision based wholly on human power involving no necessary miracle. That is deadly.

For those who are truly born again, I want them to exult in what has really happened to them. Many who are truly born again do not know the nature of the change that has happened to them. It is a good thing to know—so that Christ can be honored for the fullness of his glorious work, and so that people can enjoy the assurance of being the objects of that miraculous act.

Finally, I want the new birth to happen more and more. God does the new birth through the word. I pray that the sermons and the book will be a means used by God for the working of this miracle of new birth.

I thought that was a great, very insightful quote about the topic, and I agree with all of it. And in it I noticed three components. I noticed a theological component, where Piper says we just need to know what this regeneration/new birth thing is because we’re naturally inclined to think it’s something else. I noticed a Christian living component, where a Christian knowing the fullness of the truth about the new birth gives glory to God and satisfies that Christian. And I noticed an evangelistic component, where he says he wants the new birth to happen more and more.

That summed up my thoughts pretty well. So in the coming weeks, that’s actually going to be my outline:

1. The theology of the new birth.
2. The implications of a correct understanding of the new birth on the Christian life.
   
3. The implications of a correct understanding of the new birth on the ministry of the Gospel.

So the goal of all the talk there will be during this series on the doctrine of regeneration, – what I’m after – is that you would (1) know God better, (2) thereby know your own experience of the new birth better, (3) know yourself as a Christian better, and (4) know how to minister the Gospel, or evangelize, Biblically.

I hope you’ll read, think, pray, comment, and be benefited. To that end, here’s a tentative, more detailed outline for where I hope to be going:

1. The Theology of the New Birth
1.1. Man's Spiritual Death (Total Depravity)
1.2. The Dead Cannot See
1.3. The Wind Blows Where it Wishes: The Freedom of God and Irresistible Grace
1.4. Regeneration and Faith: Temporally Simultaneous but Logically Distinct

2. Implications for the Christian Life
2.1. God Grants What He Requires
2.2. The Impossible is No Longer Burdensome
2.3. The Means of Justification is the Means of Sanctification

3. Implications for Gospel Ministry
3.1. Introduction
3.2. Evangelism
3.3. Apologetics

Sponsor Us! Walk for Life

A Special Thursday Post

So in a couple of weeks, Janna and I will be participating in "Walk for Life," which is basically one of those walks people do to raise money for particular causes. This particular cause is the Pregnancy Resource Center of the San Fernando Valley. We learned about it at church (members of Grace had one of those announcement tables).

The Pregnancy Resource Center is a wonderful resource for women who are pregnant. They counsel against abortion, present the Gospel to every woman, and provide friendship and support for each person who contacts the center. Because they've chosen not to receive funding from the government (to free them up for a Biblical ministry without interference), they need funding from others. You can check out the website for further information if you're interested.

Also, if anyone is able to and would like to sponsor either my wife or me for the walk we would really appreciate it. The walk is in 2 weekends (October 10th) and there are all different amounts you can pledge, starting at $5. You just need to go to this webpage. Then click on "Sponsor a Walker," fill out the form and select me or Janna.

Thanks guys.

Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account.
- Philippians 4:17 -

God is the Gospel: Fasting

In this next post in the series of going through Piper's God Is the Gospel, I have very little to add to his comments, mainly because I don't have much experience with fasting, and also because I don't think I have anything better to add. But let it land on you, and let it shape your understanding of what food and drink are, what fasting is, and how we're to do all things to the glory of God.

Why did God create bread and design human beings to need it for life? He could have created life that has no need of food. He is God. He could have done it any way He pleased. Why bread? And why hunger and thirst? My answer is very simple: He created bread so that we would have some idea of what the Son of God is like when He says, "I am the bread of life" (John 6:35). And He created the rhythm of thirst and satisfaction so that we would have some idea of what faith in Christ is like when Jesus said, "He who believes in me shall never thirst" (John 6:35). God did not have to create beings who need food and water, and who have capacities for pleasant tastes.

But man is not the center of the universe, God is. And everything, as Paul says, is "from Him and through Him and to Him" (Romans 11:36). "To Him" means everything exists to call attention to Him and to bring admiration to Him. In Colossians 1:16, Paul says more specifically that "all things were created by [Christ] and for [Christ]." Therefore bread was created for the glory of Christ. Hunger and thirst were created for the glory of Christ. And fasting was created for the glory of Christ.

This last paragraph is the point, and should be read very slowly:

Which means that bread magnifies Christ in two ways: by being eaten with gratitude for His goodness, and by being forfeited out of hunger for God Himself.

When we eat, we taste the emblem of our heavenly food -- the Bread of Life. And when we fast we say, "I love the Reality above the emblem."

In the heart of the saint both eating and fasting are worship. Both magnify Christ. Both send the heart -- grateful and yearning -- to the Giver. (pp. 140-141)

As you eat, as you drink, and as you give up both for love of the Reality above the emblems of food and drink, let your heart spring up with gratitude and yearning to the Giver of all good things.

...and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God;
and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.
- Romans 14:6 -

Whether, then, you eat or drink
or whatever you do,
do all to the glory of God.
- 1 Corinthians 10:31 -

God is the Gospel: A Matter of Life and Death

It's been a while since I've posted on Piper's book God is the Gospel. In fact, it's been two months since my first post on it, shortly after I finished reading it. So perhaps some review is in order.

The crucial post in this series is the first post after the introduction, which discussed the thesis of the book; namely, that God Himself is His greatest gift. In all the wonderful, unspeakable benefits and gifts brought to us by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the chief gift that they all point to is God Himself. And none of those gifts are good news at all unless they are received for the sake of enjoying the manifold perfections and beauty of God. Here's a quote from that first post:

All the gifts of God are given for the sake of revealing more of God's glory, so that the proper use of them is to rest our affections not on them but through them on God alone. (p. 116)

I think I read that sentence about 10 times as I was reading through the book. The way we glorify God in His gracious gifts and at the same time not idolize them is, in the moment we receive them, to recognize why God is giving them to us. He is giving us gifts and mercies to reveal His glory, so that we might see Him in them and enjoy and worship and magnify His sweetness. Our affections must not terminate on the gifts. We have to push through the gifts and rest our affections on God alone.

And so that's where we are. Every one of the good things the Gospel brings us is to be desired and received for the sake of what it shows of God (p. 144). And there is a way to receive these gifts and enjoy them as good things in and of themselves, and yet not magnify the Giver above His gifts. Piper writes:

If gratitude for the gospel is not rooted in the glory of God beneath the gift of God, it is disguised idolatry. (p. 138)

It is disguised idolatry. Edwards called it the gratitude of hypocrites (p. 137). These are strong statements. And the subject of this post is that these statements get stronger. There are two particular places in the book where Piper shows the level of importance of these things. And so the question is, "What if some people don't believe this?" What if some people don't buy the whole 'joy-in-Giver-above-gift' thing? Is this just a stylistic thing? Is it just another way of looking at things? Is it just a rhetorical device to arouse people's emotions to worshiping God? What if I love my salvation, my justification, my coming glorification, and want to go to Heaven, but I don't find Piper's thoughts resonating with me?

Get this:

If we believe these things [propitiation, redemption, forgiveness, imputation, sanctification, liberation, healing, heaven] have happened to us, but do not embrace them for the sake of getting to God, they have not happened to us. ... People who would be happy in heaven if Christ were not there, will not be there. ... If we don't want God above all things, we have not been converted by the gospel. (p. 47)

That's an amazing statement. And I agree 100%. Because the fundamental change that happens to us at our conversion is that, by our new birth, we get new eyes to see (John 3:3, 1:4; 2Cor 4:3-6). Our spiritual death is manifested in our ability to stare right at Jesus, right into all of the glory of the Gospel, and be entirely unaffected. We see the claims of the Bible and they're boring, or they're fanciful, or we're just indifferent to the most glorious things in the universe. But when we are regenerated, our eyes are finally opened, and we can see things as they actually are.

And if we, with our new eyes that can actually see, can look at Jesus and prefer anything other than Him, it would mean that He is actually not the most glorious thing in the universe. And so if you believe that you've been regenerated, your sins expiated, the Father's wrath propitiated on your behalf, Christ's righteousness imputed to you -- even if you say believe all of those things, but your eyes don't work, you haven't got new eyes.

"But I want Heaven! I don't want to go to hell! I admit I'm a sinner! And I want to confess my sin and receive forgiveness! I believe the promises of God and want to receive them!" If that sounds like you, Piper responds to your very thoughts:

There is no sure evidence that we have a new heart just because we want to escape hell. That's a perfectly natural desire, not a supernatural one. It doesn't take a new heart to want the psychological relief of forgiveness, or the removal of God's wrath, or the inheritance of God's world. All these things are understandable without any spiritual change. You don't need to be born again to want these things. The devils want them. (p. 121)

The demons want those things (Jas 2:19). You don't need to be born again to want those things. But you do need to be born again to see the glory of Jesus as it is, and treasure Him as He's worthy of being treasured.

All of life is a matter of worship. And only the Triune Godhead of the Bible is worthy of worship. Him. Not even the good gifts He gives are worthy of worship. The kind of worshipers that the Father seeks are those who worship in Spirit and Truth (Jn 4:23). You can be sure that worshipers of anything other than God won't be worshiping in Heaven.

If, like me, this baffled your sensibilities, and challenged you to examine your heart for the idols we are so adept at erecting, confess your idolatry to God in prayer. Repent of treasuring things -- even good things -- more than you treasure Him. Ask Him to forgive you for dishonoring His name. And ask Him to show Himself so clearly to you, so big and magnified and exalted and sweet and desirable, that His beauty would compel true worship and adoration from your heart.

Jesus answered them and said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you ... I am the bread of Life.
- John 6:26-27, 35 -

But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!
- Galatians 1:8 -

Calvinism, John 3:16, and an Arminian Friend

A couple of months ago, I started thinking hard about what is and is not taught in the most famous, oft-quoted verse in the Bible: John 3:16. While that series of posts outlining my conclusions still lies in the future, I wanted to share an email response that was spawned out of that discussion.

My interlocutor is a dear brother in Christ, whose friendship and brotherhood I have long treasured. (I'll call him Jerry.) Jerry kindly responded to my email concerning John 3:16, probably suspecting that what I was trying to get at had something to do with a Calvinist vs. Arminian understanding of the passage. While that wasn't what I was getting at, I thought that the exchange we had would be particularly beneficial to share.

The following is my most recent response to him. I've reproduced only select portions of his original email to (1) narrow the scope of this post, and (2) to shorten this post to a semi-reasonable length.

Enjoy.

---
Hey Man,

So again, let me tell you that it was a joy to read through what you wrote. At so many of the points you made I found myself just saying, "Amen," and rejoicing and praising God. I particularly enjoyed considering Jesus as the serpent of Numbers 21 and the Son of Man of the book of Daniel, and how you said one image depicts His bringing salvation and the other depicts His deity. Wasn't anything new, but it's always nice to have Christ presented to you by your brothers. So, hear that.

But there were also some things that you presented that I disagree with, and would love the opportunity to present what I think is the Biblical position on some of the topics you brought up. I'll start here. You said:

The world…

I know some respected theologians believes that God offers salvation only to the elect… however I believe the context points toward God loving those that accept and those that reject Him.

I actually agree with you here, too, even though I'm a Calvinist. Some folks say that "the world" refers only to the elect. Some say that "the world" just means that it's in contrast to what Nicodemus would have thought (that is, that salvation would only be offered to Israel). So proponents of that view would say that "world" is contrasted with "just Israel" (as I believe it is in 1 John 2:2). But here, I believe that Jesus is saying that God has loved (note the past tense, denoting that this 'loving' is an action that took place at a particular time) the totality of fallen humanity in a particular way: by sending His Son to die for sinners. This would be contrasted with the angels, who were not loved like that to even have a Savior presented/offered to them, but were damned without mercy (2Pet 2:4).

That the gift of Christ’s atonement has the potential to pay the sin debt of every man ever created, however with all gifts of God (Romans 6:23) it is not forced upon us. We are responsible before God to accept the gift of salvation.

Here, though, I perceive some inaccuracies in the way of speaking about the atonement. First, let me state further some agreement with what you say. Neither of us believe in universalism, that is, that everyone in history will be saved. But for a second, let's imagine that they did. I don't believe that Christ would have had to suffer any more than He did to pay for the sins of every single person. That is, I believe the atonement to be sufficient to pay for the sins of every human being ever born.

However, I do not believe that that was the design of it, simply because not everyone will be saved. More on this to follow.

I do have a question about what you said. How do you support the point that none of God's gifts are forced upon us?

Also, you say that "we are responsible to accept the gift of salvation." I have to tell you, brother, I never find that kind of language in Scripture. We are never exhorted to accept a gift. We are exhorted to believe, and so be saved. I would say that it is more Biblical to say that we are responsible before God to believe in Christ, or to obey the Son / obey the Gospel command to believe (John 3:36; cf. 2Th 1:8, 1Pet 4:17).

That whoever shall believe in Him...

Romans 10:9, Romans 10:13 – again it implies that anyone can get saved.

I disagree here. I think that these verses simply teach that anyone who believes (or, calls on the name of the Lord, Rom 10:13) will be saved. These verses simply teach the conditions that must be met for salvation. They do not say a word about whether or not all are able to meet these conditions. I don't think that you can accurately say that the statement of the conditions of salvation implies that anyone can meet the conditions. There's a jump there that the text doesn't make.

So the question becomes: who will meet this condition of faith for salvation? The answer is actually given at the end of the verse that Paul quotes in Romans 10:13. He's quoting Joel 2:32, but only the first half. Here's the whole verse: "And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the LORD will be delivered; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as the LORD has said, even among the survivors whom the LORD calls."

The ones who call on the Lord's name for deliverance, the ones who escape unto salvation, the survivors are those whom the Lord calls. The ones who call on Him are only the ones that He first calls. The reason is because, apart from being given new life, eyes to see, and ears to hear, everyone without exception will remain under God's wrath (John 3:36), in their spiritual death (Eph 2:1-3), in their blindness (John 3:3), in their deafness (John 8:43, 47). It's important to see that John says that God's wrath remains on the unbeliever / the disobedient, because it means that it was already there by default. We were by nature children of wrath (Eph 2:3).

So unless something happens to us outside of ourselves, we will never believe, we will never obey, we will never choose God. Indeed, the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so (Rom 8:7).

And so in John 3:16, salvation by faith alone is offered to every single person in the world. That is love. It is the love of the offer of life. The great tragedy is that no one wants it, and everyone prefers to die in their sins. Our wills are too enslaved to our sin (John 8:34; Rom 6:6, 16-20) and hostile to God (Rom 8:7) to want anything else.

So, in what the Bible calls great love (Eph 2:4), which is a love greater than the general love of John 3:16, God elects, or chooses, a people for Himself (Eph 1:4-5; Titus 2:14), and makes them alive (Eph 2:5), even when they were dead and wanted nothing to do with Him. According to His great mercy (a mercy greater than the mercy of John 3:16), He caused us to be born again (1Pet 1:3). In the exercise of His will, He brought us forth by the word of truth (James 1:18). Indeed, those who received Jesus, who believed in His name, they were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13).

The love of John 3:16 is a wonderful love. But it is not the greatest love that the Bible speaks about. I say that because it is a kind of love that can still let us go to hell. I can be loved by the love in John 3:16 and still die in my sins. But I cannot be loved by the great love in Ephesians 2:4 and still die in my sins. No, by that love I have been made alive! By that love I have been born again! It is by His will that I was brought forth, and was given to His Son (John 10:29), and no one can snatch me out of the hand of the Son (John 10:28) or out of the hand of the Father (John 10:29)! Indeed, the only way we come to Jesus is if the Father draws us (John 6:44), and no one can come unless the Father grants it (John 6:65).

By this great love, Jerry, God has overcome my hostile, enslaved will, even when I was refusing Him (Rom 1:18). By this love He has given me the grace to see the glory of Christ when I was once blind to it (John 3:3), and so having seen the beauty and delightfulness of that glory, I could never choose anything but Him. That's what I mean by what folks call irresistible grace; not that people never resist Jesus / the Holy Spirit, but that in this great love with this grace He overcomes my resistance, and shows me something irresistible: the glory of God in the face of Christ (2Cor 4:6)!

So I believe that the Bible presents that it is incorrect to talk about the atonement as if it only made salvation possible. If that's the case, Jesus' death didn't actually atone for anything. It just made atonement possible. That would mean, then, as well, that what does atone is the sinner's choice. The difference between the believer and the non-believer is not God's grace, but that the believer chose to 'activate' the atonement and the non-believer didn't. I think that's foreign to Scripture, and thus a dangerous position to hold.

I think the Scripture presents Jesus' atonement as having actually atoned, having actually purchased redemption for a people that God would call to Himself, and not for others.

• In John 10:11, Jesus says He lays down His life for the sheep. He does not lay down His life for the goats.
• In Acts 20:28, Paul says that God (Jesus) purchased the Church with His own blood. He did not purchase the whole world.
• In Ephesians 5:25ff, Paul talks about Christ loving the Church by giving Himself up for her. He talks about sanctifying her and washing her so that He might present her to Himself. This is a particular people.
• In Titus 2:14, Paul says that Jesus gave Himself to purify for Himself a people for His own possession. This is a particular people.
• That's confirmed when this same phrase is used in 1Pet 2:9: That we are a people for God's own possession. There, that particularity is even connected to His sovereign choice, or a election, in that He calls us a chosen race.
• In John 17:9 in the High Priestly Prayer, Jesus declares to the Father that He's praying for His people, and not the world. And the reasoning He Himself uses for doing this is because the Father gave only His people to Jesus, and not the whole world.

Now, it's important to remember what I said at the beginning of this email (so hard, I know, because of the length!). I do believe God loves the world by sending Christ. And I do believe that Jesus' death brought some good things to all people (i.e., common grace, the influence of God's people in their lives). This is what 1 Timothy 4:10 means when it says that Christ is the savior of all men, especially those who believe. That is, that all men are not damned instantly as the angels were (2Pet 2:4; Jude 6) and that they enjoy the common goodnesses that the Father sends (Matt 5:45) means that the death of Christ purchased some good things for them. But Christ saved "those who believe" especially, meaning that He saved them to the uttermost (Heb 7:25, KJV), in that He paid for their sins and actually redeemed them.

Christ could not have paid for the sins of everyone ever. If He did, all would be saved. But the Bible clearly teaches this isn't the case. You couldn't have Jesus paying for the sins of non-elect Jim, fully propitiating the Father's wrath against Jim's sin, and then because Jim doesn't believe have him be punished for eternity, under the Father's wrath. For those for whom the wrath of God has been propitiated (the elect), there is no wrath of God left (Rom 8:1). By definition, Christ has satisfied, or fully extinguished the wrath of God towards those for whom He died. So if Christ paid the penalty for the sins of every single person everywhere, no one would be in hell unless Christ's sacrifice was not acceptable to the Father. But of course we know and believe that it was (Hebrews 9-10).

Alright... that's about enough, wouldn't you say? I welcome your response, even if it's in pieces! I hope that I've presented to you to the Word of God. It's out of a great desire for you to know Christ as He's revealed Himself, so that you can enjoy Him for all that He is in all His wonderful contours, and so that He can get the glory for being rightly seen and worshiped. I commend this teaching to you in love. I pray that it's a benefit to you, brother.

High Priest

I've posted previously on Christian rapper Shai Linne, and there I've commented in brief on what I think of "Christian rap."

I heard the following song after reading through the book of Leviticus twice, which was very fitting. The song is called "High Priest," and it's basically the experience that the Jewish high priest had on the Day of Atonement each year, told from the priest's perspective. Shai Linne is on point in capturing not only the accuracy and precision of those rites of worship, but the reverence and temerity that the book of Leviticus demands for worshipers of Yahweh.

As I listened to it I thought that our worship today with our hands and voices raised should be no less reverent and grave. It is a serious thing to approach the throne of God. He doesn't have to accept our worship. Our best, purest worship is like filthy rags (Is 64:6). But because of the great, sufficient, finished work of Jesus Christ, we can approach the throne of grace with confidence that He accepts our worship as it's bathed in His Son's blood (Heb 4:14-16; 10:19-22).

Anyway, enjoy the song. As you read the lyrics below, let it spur you on to pure and reverent worship. I encourage you to listen to the song twice, and click on all the links on the second time through.

There's commotion in my brain, strange is the notion,
Words cannot explain my range of emotion.
I'm speechless, my flaws exposed and my weakness,
Each breath draws me closer to a deep test.
It's month number seven, it's been ten days,
I've been awake all night reflecting on my ways.
A threat to my peace in this greatest of moments,
Because I'm the High Priest and its the Day of Atonement.
The LORD is so holy and perfect, I'm nervous,
I'm floored that He chose me to worship through service.
Don't ask me why the God who crafted the sky,
Drafted this weak guy from the clan of Levi.
Preceding generation taught me to read the regulations,
Deep meditation on decreed revelation.
Extreme trepidation breeds hesitation,
Yet I must lead and be the representation.
My occupation: to intercede for the nation,
But indeed my own sins need expiation.
The wrath of Jehovah's grim, sin is no joke to Him,
The hope is slim for unholy men coming close to Him.
He's spoken in His Word the proper way of approach to Him,
Nadab and Abihu got it wrong and He roasted them.
These things I weigh as I sigh,
This could either be the greatest day of my life or the day that I die!

Chorus

So you say that you wanna know the Lord?
Do you really wanna stand before the Lord?
Do you know what it takes to meet the Lord?
God is an all-consuming fire.
So you say that you wanna know the Lord?
Do you really wanna stand before the Lord?
Do you know what it takes to meet the Lord?
Be careful what you desire.

For now, no time to focus on my sinning,
I bathe in the laver though it seems extreme,
I put on the holy coat made of white linen,
Craving His favor -- I'm ceremonially clean.
I check to inspect -- no tangible faltering,
Next I must collect the animals for the offering.
A spotless ram and a bull -- the components,
God gives to make atonement for my own sins.
This part of the ritual makes me real cautious,
Because the very sight of blood makes me feel nauseous.
Still I proceed by snatching him close, slashing his throat,
When his blood splashed on my coat.
Reacting, I choke -- gasping that's when I'm grasping,
God's reaction that sin provokes.
I take a moment to reflect on the blood spilled in this,
Staring at the goat to be sent into the wilderness.
I'll confess Israel's sins with my hands on his head,
Symbolizing guilt transferred in stead
To a substitute the living God provided and stamped,
Guilty of our sin, driven outside the camp.
This beautiful picture of hope and grace motivates,
And I don't want my fear to make this dope occasion go to waste.
Change my outer garments, slow my pace, yo I brace
Myself to stand before Jehovah's face in the Holy Place.

Chorus

The time has come, the great moment has arrived,
About to enter in -- what a lonely enterprise.
Look at the other priests, they speak only with their eyes,
Rope tied around my ankle just in case I don't survive.
I enter through the first curtain to a dark room,
I'm standing in the Holy Place, my thoughts consumed.
I'm caught off guard, I'm unraveling at this stage,
My heart beats so hard it's rattling my ribcage.
Feeling like I'm disintegrating and I can't stand,
Comforted by the light emanating from the lampstand.
This helps my vision -- I can see the showbread,
I think of God's provision, that helps me go ahead.
I need courage to worship! Man, this is intense!
I take burning coals off the altar for the incense.
The sweet aroma fills the room,
The smoke protects my eyes -- one sight of Jehovah seals my doom.
It's no mere coincidence I'm here surrendering,
With fear and trembling I'm nearly entering.
I feel like running scared, hoping I'm not unprepared,
Stunned with fear -- no one comes in here but once a year.
Nevertheless I'm at the point of no return,
Besides, I don't want my anointing to be spurned.
After counting to three, next time I exhale,
I'm in the Holy of Holies, beyond the veil!
The first thing I realize is I'm thrilled that I've
Entered into God's presence and yet I'm still alive.
I'm awestruck by the weight of His terrible beauty,
It's almost unbearable but I must fulfill my duty.
Approach the ark, the first part of my works complete,
when I sprinkle blood seven times on the mercy seat.
Quickly I exit, impressed with the chesed,
that rescues the wretched and left us accepted!