1 John 2:2 - The Silver Bullet?

 Is 1 John 2:2 the fatal blow to the doctrine of Limited Atonement? 

1 John 2:2 "and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world." (LSB)

Limited Atonement, the L in the TULIP acronym (which is descriptive of the Calvinists' view of soteriology), is the idea that Jesus Christ did not die for the whole world, but only for the elect. Now at first glance, this passage seems to rule out any possibility of that being true. But I think that is often the issue whenever this text is used by someone who rejects Calvinism. It may not be true in every case, but more often than not, they never go any further than the first glance at this text. They see the use of "whole world" and say "ah ha! It says whole world, that means He died for every single person in the world!". So let's take a closer look and see if this text is indeed the silver bullet to the doctrine of Limited Atonement. To do so, I'd like to add the verse prior to our chosen text to add a bit of context.

1 John 2:1-2 "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world."
I want to make two quick and simple observations to show that verse 2 does not refute the Calvinist's doctrine of Limited Atonement:
1. Verse 2 is a continuation of verse 1. They are directly linked together. In verse 1 we see that if we sin, Jesus Christ is our Advocate with the Father. According to the Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, advocate, παράκλητος (paraklētos), means "called to one's aid in in a judicial cause, an advocate, pleader, intercessor". This is Christ's High Priestly work of interceding on our behalf to the Father. This is a gift and a privilege, yet it is only a reality for believers in Jesus Christ. Would anyone say that Jesus Christ is interceding for unbelievers? This is extremely important to understand because it lays the foundation by which we should interpret John's use of "whole world" in the next verse. 
2. The use of the word "propitiation" in verse 2 is very important and must be considered carefully lest we miss the meaning of the text. Propitiation, ἱλασμός (hilasmos), is a word to describe an appeasing of God's wrath. Jesus Christ is the propitiation for our sins because He gave himself up for us, and took our place on the cross under the wrath of God. This substitutionary sacrifice of the sinless Lamb satisfied or appeased God's wrath on behalf of the believer. To say that Jesus Christ is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world, meaning every human being in the world, is to say that the sins of every unbeliever have been paid for. If this is true, then how could you avoid universalism? For what reason is the unbeliever going to hell if Christ is the propitiation for his sins? 
Therefore, I believe that John's use of "whole world" is actually in reference to the fact that God's elect are spread throughout every tribe, nation, and tongue of the world. The gospel message and hope is not only for Jews, but for the Gentiles as well! 

Completed Book List:

 Book Title:                                                                   Author:                                  Review:

The Glory and Fullness of Jesus Christ                       William McEwen                        Great 

The Gospel According to Jesus                                    John MacArthur                       Great

Last Days Madness                                                      Gary Demar                   Great/Challenging

The Puritan Hope                                                         Ian Murray                             Good

Communion with God                                                 John Owen                              Excellent

The Mortification of Sin                                              John Owen                              Excellent

Echoes of Exodus                                                        Alastair Roberts               Great/Quick Read

The Jerusalem Sinner                                                  John Bunyan                            Excellent

The Dawning of Redemption                                      Vaillancourt.                             Great

Classical Education and The Homeschool.                 Callahan, Jones, Willson.         Helpful

A Body of Divinity                                                       Thomas Watson                      Excellent

In the Fullness of Time                                               Richard B. Gaffin Jr.               Good

Gospel of the Kingdom                                                Charles Spurgeon                    Excellent

A Case for Classical Christian Education                    Douglas Wilson                       Great

Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners                    John Bunyan                            Excellent

Disciplines of a Godly Man                                         R. Kent Hughes                       Great

Whitefield's Letter to Wesley on Election                    George Whitefield                    Great

The Secret of Power in Prayer                                    Charles Spurgeon                      Great

The Doctrine of Repentance                                        Thomas Watson                        Life-changing

The Lord's Supper                                                        Thomas Watson                        Very good

Knowing God                                                                J.I. Packer                                Great

All Things for Good                                                     Thomas Watson                        Great

A Little Book on the Christian Life                              John Calvin                              Fantastic

The Hole in our Holiness                                              Kevin DeYoung                        Very good

Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross                                    Nancy Guthrie                          Great

The Lord of Psalm 23                                                   David Gibson                           Very good

Selected Sermons                                                          Lemuel Haynes                        Good

What is Baptism?                                                          R.C. Sproul                                Interesting

The Godly Man's Picture                                              Thomas Watson                        Great

Hard Sayings                                                                R.C. Sproul                                Very good

All Loves Excelling                                                      John Bunyan                             Great

Is the Sabbath Command for Today?

 As I sat down early this morning to continue my reading through Exodus, I encountered the mention of the sabbath in two different chapters. First, in various places in chapter 16, where I began my reading. Its next mention is in chapter 20, The Ten Commandments, where I finished my reading for the morning. The sabbath is mentioned in the following verses of these chapters:

            Exodus 16:23 "then he said to them, "This is what the Lord meant: Tomorrow is a sabbath observance, a holy sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil,and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning."

            Exodus 16:25 "Moses said, "Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field."

            Exodus 16:26 "Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the sabbath, there will be none."

            Exodus 16:29 "See, the Lord has given you the sabbath; therefore He gives you bread for two days on the sixth day. Remain every man in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day."

            Exodus 20:8 "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy."

            Exodus 20:10" but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you."

            Exodus 20:11 "For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.

In the Christian culture of our day, it is a commonly held belief that the sabbath command has no application to believers today. But is this true? I was listening to Voddie Baucham preach a sermon on Exodus 16 and he said this, "You talk to 10 Christians out there on the street, and 8 of them are going to tell you that there is no longer a sabbath command. That it's done away with. Now, they are also going to tell you that the rest of the commands have not been done away with." Isn't it interesting that most Christians would say all of the other 9 commandments are still applicable, but not the 4th commandment? He goes on to say, "Of the other two who do believe that there is still a sabbath command, one of those people is probably going to belong to a Sabbatarian cult." This would be your Seventh-Day Adventists or something similar. The other person Voddie mentions that would say the sabbath command still remains would be one who belongs to a confessional reformed church, and holds Sunday, The Lord's Day, as the Christian Sabbath.

So which is it? I would number myself among those who say that there is still a sabbath command, and I can joyfully proclaim that I do not belong to a Sabbatarian cult. Though I am still early in my years of searching and studying scripture compared to more seasoned and mature brothers, I have found no biblical basis for believing that the Sabbath command is no longer applicable. The reason being, is that this command is not only found in Exodus 20, when God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. No, we see this holy day mentioned before the command was given on Mount Sinai (Exodus 16 for example). In fact, this ordinance is rooted in creation, "Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work which he had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made." (Genesis 2:1-3 NASB)

You may be lead to think next, "But that verse says that the seventh day is sanctified, which is why the Jewish sabbath was on Saturday.". This is true, but was changed by the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is not explicitly described in scripture, yet we do see clearly that the early church would gather together for worship on Sunday, in light of the resurrection. I recently read something in a book that I thought was most appropriate to share in this blog post. In the book, The Glory and Fullness of Jesus Christ, by William McEwen, in reference to the Passover Lamb in Exodus and the marking of the first month of the year, he writes, "If the beginning of the year was changed to the Israelites, and the seventh became the first month, much more may the beginning of the week be altered to the Christians, and the seventh day be changed for the first, for a Sabbath unto the Lord, for on that day a much more glorious work was finished than when He brought Israel out of Egypt or even when He finished the heavens and all their host and laid the foundation of the earth." Thus you see the great magnitude of the resurrection of Christ as the center of history. 

I recently heard Sinclair Ferguson say something on this topic that I found pretty amazing. He said, "Isn't it interesting that the Sabbath was in a sense Adam's first full day. It wasn't the last day of the week for him. So in a sense, what the resurrection of Christ does is bring us back to that..". 

Another resource that I found quite helpful on this topic was that great 1689 confession. It states:

"As it is of the Law of nature, that in general a proportion of time by God’s appointment, be set apart for the Worship of God; so by his Word in a positive, moral, and perpetual Commandment, binding all men, in all Ages, he hath particularly appointed one day in seven for a ⁿSabbath to be kept holy unto him, which from the beginning of the World to the Resurrection of Christ, was the last day of the week; and from the resurrection of Christ, was changed into the first day of the week ^owhich is called the Lord’s day; and is to be continued to the end of the World, as the Christian Sabbath; the observation of the last day of the week being abolished. The Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering their common affairs aforehand, do not only observe an holy ^prest all the day, from their own works, words, and thoughts, about their worldly employment, and recreations, but also are taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of his worship, and in the duties ^qof necessity and mercy." (The London Baptist Confession)

Here is a quote from B.B. Warfield on the subject:

"I am to speak to you today, not of the usefulness or of the blessedness of the Sabbath, but of its obligation. And I am to speak to you of its obligation, not as that obligation naturally arises out of its usefulness or blessedness, but as it is immediately imposed by God in his Word. You naturally dwell on the joy of the Sabbath. This is the day of gladness and triumph, on which the Lord broke the bonds of the grave, abolishing death and bringing life and immortality to light. As naturally you dwell on the value of the Sabbath. This is the day on which the tired body rests from its appointed labor; on which the worn spirit finds opportunity for recuperation; an oasis in the desert of earthly cares, when we can escape for a moment from the treadmill toil of daily life and, at leisure from ourselves, refresh our souls in God. I am to recall your mindsóit may seem somewhat brusquely óto the contemplation of the duty of the Sabbath; and to ask you to let them rest for a moment on the bald notion of authority. I do not admit that, in so doing, I am asking you to lower your eyes. Rather, I conceive myself to be inviting you to raise them; to raise them to the very pinnacle of the pinnacle. After all is said, there is no greater word than "ought." And there is no higher reason for keeping the Sabbath than that I ought to keep it; that I owe it to God the Lord to keep it in accordance with his command." (The Foundations of the Sabbath in the Word of God)

In conclusion, I do believe that the sabbath command is still for today. I believe we obey this command and keep the sabbath holy by gathering together to worship God with our brothers and sisters in Christ, at our local church, on Sunday, the Lord's day. I believe that in light of this command, we must not forsake the assembling with other believers (Hebrews 10:25). Yes, we most certainly "ought" to keep the Sabbath, but it should also be our great joy to do so. This is a command for our benefit, for our rest, where we can rejoice and take refuge in our gracious God who has sent His Son to die for us. 

So, ye fearful saints, go to church this Sunday.

The Mountain of the House of the Lord

 Recent discussions about the mountain of the house of the Lord in Isaiah chapter 2, along with discoveries within my daily Bible reading have left me in awe of the beauty and consistency of scripture. While this post will be brief, I hope that it will be encouraging to my brothers and sisters. Our Lord and sovereign Savior, Jesus Christ, has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Be uplifted, believer.

Isaiah 2:2-3 "Now it will be that in the last days the mountain of the house of Yahweh will be established as the head of the mountains, and will be lifted up above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it. And many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may instruct us from His ways and that we may walk in His paths." For from Zion the law will go forth and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem."

There is much debate over what exactly this passage is talking about in regards to the millennial kingdom. Personally, I'm alright with this being the millennial kingdom, although I am not sold on a literal 1000 years here on earth. I'm also okay with the mountain of the house of the Lord being representative of the kingdom of God in general (the Church), but that is not necessarily what I want to deal with in this post. I want to discuss this idea of the mountain of the house of the Lord, so let's do a quick Bible study.

Daniel 2:34-35 "You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth."

To give a brief summary of what occurred before these verses, Daniel is interpreting a dream for Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. It was a dream of a great statue, made of different types of material to represent different kingdoms (I take the kingdoms to be Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome). It is amazing in and of itself that the rise and fall of these kingdoms was predicted in this dream, but what is truly amazing is the mention of this stone which becomes a great mountain. When I read this passage, I was reminded of something Jesus said in the gospel of Luke at the end of the parable of the vine-growers, "But when Jesus looked at them, He said, "What then is this that is written: 'The stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief corner stone'? Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust."(Luke 20:17-18). Jesus Christ was the stone in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, He is the stone that shatters all earthly kingdoms, and the kingdom of God is the mountain that fills all the earth. Further down in Daniel 2 we read, "And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will cause a kingdom to rise up which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself stand forever." (Daniel 2:44). 

Those three short passages show just how glorious and amazing Jesus really is, and the Bible as well! We could spend a thousand lifetimes studying God's word and we would not scratch the surface of it's glory. 

To cap off this post, I want to take a look at Daniel 7. In this chapter we have a different vision, but a very similar interpretation. This time it was Daniel himself having the vision, and he saw four great beasts coming up from the sea. Just like chapter 2, these four beasts would be representative of four different kingdoms, but what is interesting is the end of this vision. Daniel saw the Ancient of Days seated on His throne, and eventually these beasts were killed and given to the burning fire, similar to how the statue was shattered in chapter 2. 

Daniel 7:13-14 "I kept looking in the night visions, and behold with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and came near before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and men of every tongue might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not be taken away; And His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed."

Two dreams/visions experienced by two separate people are both gloriously consistent in proclaiming that Jesus Christ and His kingdom will grow through all the earth. The gospel will go forth and succeed! His kingdom will not be destroyed or thwarted. Every knee will bow and every tongue will profess that He is Lord. Oh, what a mighty God we serve. 

Meat and Potatoes: Foreknowledge

 Recent conversations on the aspect of God's foreknowledge in relation to His election or predestination have inspired me to begin a series of blogs where I dig into the meat and potatoes of theology, hence the main title. In this particular post I want to deal with what foreknowledge really means in the Bible, specifically the New Testament. I am aware that this has been and will continue to be heavily debated amongst evangelicals, so I will leave my comments open for disagreements and corrections if there be any. I'm certain that there are many different views and opinions on the meaning of foreknowledge, but the debate seems to be mostly between Calvinists and Arminians, so these are the two camps I will be dealing with. Before I begin I want to be perfectly clear that it is not my intention to be divisive or arrogant in any way. If I appear to be either one of those things at any point in this post, please forgive me in advance. I simply love God's word and theological discussion, so I would like to enter my opinion into the public square. I can lock arms with any brother or sister who takes a different theological stance, as long as it is under the banner of Jesus Christ as He is revealed in the holy scripture (within orthodoxy).

If you look up foreknowledge in the dictionary, you will find that the word means the awareness of something before it happens or exists. This definition is certainly helpful to grasp a general understanding of what we are discussing, but my endeavor here is to determine the biblical definition of the word as it relates to salvation, and more specifically - predestination. 

The two main views of foreknowledge in the Bible laid out in quick and basic terms are as follows:

1. God's election is based on His foreknowledge of who would have faith. This view of foreknowledge suggests that God looked into the future through the corridors of time, saw who would choose to place their faith in Christ, and predestined them for salvation according to that knowledge. This view still allows for the autonomous free will of man, and is prevalent in Arminian theology. 

2. Foreknowledge means that God, in His grace, establishes a love relationship with someone before the foundations of the earth, without consideration of any merit or foreseen faith. This suggests that God's election is totally and completely by His sovereign choice. Faith and repentance are granted to the elect as a gift when God takes out our heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh. This would be the Calvinistic position on this issue. 

With the basic understanding of the the two views and their clear differences, I would like to dig into a few different texts in the New Testament where the word foreknowledge is used, but before doing so - I have a few objections to the Arminian position. 

When I began to think about this issue logically, I was quickly confronted with this thought; God is the creator of all things, including time itself. Why would God have to look through the corridors of time as if it is a crystal ball, when it is His own creation? To further this objection, to suggest that God did indeed look into the future to see who would choose Him, seems to also imply that God learned something He did not initially know. If this view is followed to its logical conclusion it lands on very shaky ground. To be fair, I don't know of an Arminian who would deny the omniscience of the Almighty, but it seems that in order to hold to this position, one would have to do some theological gymnastics not to uproot this very attribute. This view of foreknowledge is shown to be inconsistent when confronted with the doctrine of regeneration. Ezekiel 36 is a beautiful description of what God does to the sinners heart in regeneration. He takes out the heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh, and sprinkles clean water on us, cleansing us from iniquity. We are unable to do this for ourselves, God must do it for us. A heart of stone is dead, unresponsive to stimuli. If we know this to be true, and we take into account from Paul's writings that both faith and repentance are granted to us as a gift from God, then it is God who does all the work in salvation and to Him be all the glory! This brings up another issue with the Arminian position. If God does all this for the elect, then He would in effect be looking through the corridors of time to see what He Himself would do on our behalf. To hold to this position, one would have to deny that faith is a gift from God, and take the stance that faith is something mustered up by mere man. This is a shaky view in my opinion, but I am fallible so lets go to the infallible text of scripture. 

Romans 8:29 "Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so the He would be the firstborn among many brothers;"

Now I will submit to you that on the surface, it does seem like this verse could be used as a defense for the Arminian position due to the word "foreknew" being placed before "predestined", but with further study I think you will see that it is not. In this passage, the word "foreknew" is an active verb, not a noun. God is not passively taking in information, He is doing something. This word refers to God establishing a love relationship with a person before the foundations of the world, and I believe that this becomes evident when we see how the Bible uses the word "know". Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain (Genesis 4:1), Joseph did not know Mary until after she had given birth to Jesus (Matt 1:25), Jesus tells those who say "Lord, Lord" to depart from Him and that He never knew them (Matt 7:23). To "know" someone in this sense is to share an intimate relationship with them. In the context of Romans 8:29, we see that those who God chose to establish this relationship with, He also predestined them to become conformed to the image of His son. This definition of foreknowledge is supported also in 1 Peter 1:20

1 Peter 1:20 "He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but appeared in these last times for the sake of you"

The use of foreknowledge in this verse is in reference to our Lord Jesus Christ. Although Peter did not use this word in direct reference to the elect here, we can still gain understanding of the biblical meaning of the word from this text. If we apply the Arminian definition to foreknowledge in this context then we are left to believe that Peter intended to communicate that God the Father looked through time to behold Jesus. This is an insufficient interpretation in my view. This verse tells us that God the Father and Jesus Christ had an eternal, intimate, loving relationship with one another. God knew and loved Jesus from eternity past.

Romans 11:2 "GOD HAS NOT REJECTED HIS PEOPLE whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?"

I think this text is another wonderful example of foreknowledge being used to describe the love relationship God sovereignly establishes. Israel had not been rejected. They were most certainly chastised and severely dealt with because of their sin, but the Lord did not reject His people whom He foreknew. If God looked through time to examine the faith of Israel to determine whether He would reject them or remain faithful to His covenant to Abraham, then we know the outcome would be grim for His people. Just look back to chapter 10, "But as for Israel He says, 'ALL DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS TO A DISOBEDIENT AND OBSTINATE PEOPLE.'" (Romans 10:21). They all deserved to be rejected for their sin against God, but in His grace the Lord set apart a remnant for Himself. My Arminian brothers could make the claim that God did indeed look down the corridors of time to see who would be faithful to Him and declared them as the remnant, but this too is shown to be an insufficient understanding as we read further into chapter 11 of Romans. In verse 5 Paul writes, "In this way then, at the present time, a remnant according to God's gracious choice has also come to be." The remnant were determined according to God's gracious choice. This choice was not hinged on the faith of the individuals, rather, their faith hinged on God's gracious choice! They would have no more faith in Yahweh than the pagans if it were not for His sovereign choice to replace their heart of stone with a heart of flesh. "But if it is by grace, it is no longer of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace." (Romans 11:6)

1 Peter 1:1-2 ".....who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to the obedience of Jesus Christ and the sprinkling of His blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you."

In my opinion this is, on the surface, one of the stronger texts for a defense of the Arminian position, but it is not persuasive. With the hermeneutical principal of interpreting scripture with scripture, we are forced to acknowledge the other uses of foreknowledge when we interpret this text. With the verses that we have gone through, I am convinced that foreknowledge must mean more than God simply being aware of something before it happens. Let me ask you this question, if our God is infinite in His wisdom, then it would follow that there is no beginning to His knowledge, correct? Would that not make it inconceivable that He would look through time and make a reactionary choice based on what He saw? The Lord knew who He would choose before the foundations of the world. He acknowledged them as His and chose them to be saved. How can this be, you might ask. My answer is I don't know. "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgements and unfathomable His ways!" (Romans 11:33). 

Our God is not reactionary. He declares the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done. "My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose," (Isaiah 46:10). We serve a holy and sovereign God who holds the hearts of kings in His hand, turning them wherever He pleases (Proverbs 21:1). What He as spoken He will bring to pass, and what He has purposed, He will do (Isaiah 46:10). I love and respect my brothers on the other end of this debate, but it is my conviction that the calvinistic view of foreknowledge is the biblical understanding as it is used in scripture. 

Oh, how gracious is the Lord of glory, that He sovereignly chose an undeserving people to redeem, apart from any foreseen faith. We were dead in our trespasses and sins, haters of God, lovers of evil, children of wrath. "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."(Romans 5:8). He stepped in our room, bore our sin on the cross, and underwent the wrath of God so that we could be justified by His blood. He granted us faith and repentance, He conforms us to the image of Christ. Salvation is all God, and to Him be all the glory.

The Promises of God

 Like many other evangelicals across the globe, I have embarked on a journey to read through the Bible in a year. I am loosely following the M'Cheyne reading plan, which was highly recommended by many of the men that I greatly respect. In the M'Cheyne plan, you read a chapter each day from four different books of the Bible. I realize that four different books at one time can be intimidating to some, but it has been such a blessing to me. One of the four books I am reading through right now is Numbers. I would like to share some of my thoughts on Numbers 10:11-13:

11 Now it happened in the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth of the month, that the cloud was lifted from over the tabernacle of the testimony;12 and the sons of Israel set out on their journeys from the wilderness of Sinai. Then the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran.13 So they moved out for the first time according to the command of Yahweh by the hand of Moses. (LSB)
An important thing to note contextually is that a little over two years ago, these Israelites were surrounded by a pagan, polytheistic culture. Under Egyptian captivity, they were constantly exposed to idolatry which was sure to have influenced them.  Moses, the author of the Pentateuch, describes the many instances of Yahweh, the One True God, displaying His glory, His sovereign power, and His faithfulness to His chosen people. So now, as the cloud begins to move from the tabernacle for the first time, Yahweh guides His people towards the land that He has promised them. 
As I pondered this text, I thought through what it would have been like to be one of the Israelites. They had absolutely no idea what they would encounter on this journey. They were not guaranteed an easy path, nor were they told that they would all survive. This would be a very frightening endeavor for any who had not wholly submitted their will to the Lord. They had to trust the promises of God. They had seen Him do marvelous things on their behalf, showing them that His word is true, and that by His providence, He will see to it that what He has promised will come to pass. They knew the Abrahamic covenant, a promise of a land, a people, and a world-wide blessing. Whoever wanted a share in the fruit of this covenant promise had to place their faith in the One True God who delivered them from captivity, trusting in His guidance and protection along the way. 
Things are not so different in the life of the believer today. There are so many uncertainties, so many things that could go wrong in this fallen world. In some way we have all felt the sting of sin. If your life has not yet been touched by the wages of sin, death, you can be sure that in due time it will.  When we rise out of our beds in the morning we don't have a clue what could happen, but we are not to live in fear! We have to trust the promises of God given to us in His word, and in the Lord Christ Jesus. My goal with this blog is by no means to take an Old Testament passage and spiritualize it for my own purposes. My goal is to cause believers to reflect on the promises of God, and in doing so, find strength, joy, and peace beyond all understanding. Lets take a look at a few glorious promises.
Romans 8:1-2"Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death."(LSB)   - What an amazing promise this is! For all who are in Christ, through saving faith, there is no condemnation! Jesus bore our sin, nailing it to the cross, and as our substitute, He took the punishment that we deserve so that we can be justified. To add on to that glorious promise; We have not only been freed of condemnation, but we have also been freed from the law of sin and of death. We have been set free from the bondage that sin had on our lives prior to conversion, and we are enabled by the power of the Holy Spirit to walk in righteousness. We are to be at war with sin, constantly pursuing holiness for the glory of God. These verses are a great help when the temptation to sin arises.
Romans 8:28


"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose."(LSB)     - This verse is quoted almost as much as John 3:16, and often misunderstood. When we rightly understand what Paul is saying in this verse, it brings amazing comfort through any trial or hardship we experience. Paul is not telling believers that they are going to have a prosperous life if they love God. Instead, the Apostle is saying that even though believers will experience the evils and hardships of this life, our sovereign God is working through these events for our spiritual benefit. John Calvin says this, "Though the elect and the reprobate are indiscriminately exposed to similar evils, there is yet a great difference; for God trains up the faithful by afflictions, and thereby promotes their salvation." When the tides of pain and sorrow rise because we lose our job, or we lose a loved one in a car accident, or we get cancer, God is using that to conform us to the image of Jesus Christ. That is a glorious promise that should fill the believer’s heart with joy! What I take great comfort in is that we do not have to understand how God is working these awful experiences for the good. All we have to do is trust Him when He says that He is! 
Isaiah 41:10"Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.I will make you mighty, surely I will help you;Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’"(LSB) -I want to be sure to note the context of this passage, being directed towards Yahweh's covenant people, Israel; With what we know from the New Testament teaching of the mystery now made clear, that Jews and Gentiles alike are saved by grace through faith in Christ, this passage is completely applicable to believers as well. The believer is no longer enslaved to the dreadful anxiety of this fallen world and the uncertainties thereof. The redeemed do not have to muster up any strength in and of themselves, rather, we are set free from this burden so that we can say as Paul says in his second letter to the church in Corinth, "...Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me." (2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV). We can take comfort and refuge in our sovereign God, who strengthens us, upholds us, preserves us, and who is in complete control.
James 4:8"Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.."(LSB) -It has been vital in my walk with the Lord thus far to abstain from allowing the fluctuations of my emotions towards Jesus to dictate my spiritual health. We have yet to be completely set free from our fallen flesh by our Master. Our love and our zeal for Jesus will experience highs and lows, but He is faithful even when we are not. Jesus loves us perfectly while we love Him imperfectly. That is a solid boulder which we can stand on, but let that never be an excuse to be complacent in our pursuit to know more of God, and to enjoy Him more fully. Charles Spurgeon said in his sermon, The Secret of Power in Prayer, "As believers we are to remain tenaciously clinging to Jesus, livingly knit to Jesus. We are to abide in Him, by always trusting Him, and Him only, with the same simple faith which joined us to Him at the first." We should constantly seek the Lord, crying out to Him in prayer for grace, that He might cause us to bear more fruit for His glory, and to be further conformed to His image. When our love grows cold, we must remember this great promise penned by James, if we draw near to God He will draw near to us.
Ye Fearful Saints:These are just a few small golden truths from the immeasurable treasure trove of God's word. Take hold of these promises, and hide them in your heart. Search through the scripture for the promises of God and believe them with all of your being! Feast on the Word; Taste and see that the Lord is good!

Mission Statement

 What is the purpose of this blog?

    The purpose of this blog is to exalt Jesus Christ by attempting to think through and discuss scripture, theology, and current events in a way that is both faithful to scripture and honoring to the Lord. I have no intention of this becoming a widely known blog read by thousands of people. I would be quite surprised if any other eyes than mine or my family's saw these words that I am typing. 

    So then I am faced with the question, why even do this? That answer is simple. My goal in pursuing this blog is to hopefully deepen my study of scripture in order to stir up my affections for Jesus. In my short time as a born-again believer, I have learned that I am chief of sinners. I've heard it said by a preacher who is so dear to my heart, Paul Washer, that if it were not for grace, he would be most afraid. Oh how that rings true in my own life. So I want to use this blog as a tool to help me cling to Christ with an eternal grip! To set my heart ablaze when my love grows cold, and to move me towards gratitude for God's grace, "which He caused to abound to us in all wisdom and insight," (Ephesians 1:8). 

    I am aware that as a believer I am in a spiritual war. With any attempt to honor Christ as Lord, there too comes temptations from the evil one, as well as the desires of the flesh. I vow to wage war on my flesh and any prideful desire to be praised by men. I will stand firm for the authority, inerrancy, and sufficiency of scripture. I am aware of the accountability that comes with producing something publicly. Even if this blog is never viewed by another human, I know that I will give an account to God for every word and deed, so it is with great fear and trembling that I type each letter. I pray that God would protect me from error, and that the Gospel of Jesus Christ would go forth.... to ALL the nations!