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CHAPTER 10
WHY ?
START WITH GOD, PROCEED
WITH HIS WORD
AND YOU WILL FIND SOLUTIONS ARE AS READILY AVAILABLE AS YOUR BODY:
GOD'S WORD HAS MADE BOTH, AND THE ONE FOR THE OTHER.
Here follows a something close to a further letter (cf. Ch. 7 above) which may be of help to some with similar problems. For obvious reasons, it is less personal than the original, and it is redrafted slightly for the purposes of this volume. However the main issues and substance are carefully conserved.
Dear Correspondent,
Thanks for your many questions.
As you will perhaps have realised,
it is easier to ask the weight of the earth than to give it. Such questions take
a little time.
1)
You say:
‘One point I think you missed is where I said
Why do we pray for his will his desire to be done
and then believe that his will will not be done’
You do not
appear to have given any such separate question in your earlier letter, but
asked in one sentence concerning both His will and kingdom, why pray for this
and not expect it
to be done.
The generic is answered already, as I cite for you from my earlier reply,
below. My words on that point follow in red. You asked, Why do you ask
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done and not believe it will happen ?
The short answer of course in any case is that I do not do this, but believe. I do not feel any need to explain why I do what I do not do. That is getting a little too outrageous.
It is, then, not my practice to do that. However, for your edification, I answered as below.
This is what I wrote in reply in my last.
Again, in this
world of your own making, these factitious contrasts, you
ask : Why do WE pray, Your kingdom come, and not believe it will
happen ? This you are asking me ?
WHO are the WE ? For my part, I do not so pray, not believing. I certainly believe it will happen, see it happening in some things, am shown in the Bible not only that it will happen but in what sequence of events. Believe, it is a choice delight to believe it, since God is reliable. It is HIS WAY!
Meanwhile we who are His, are already living in the Kingdom of Heaven and seek to do so irrespective of what others say and do. It is there that peacemakers are to be seen; but peace is not found in pretending truth is error, but in being gracious to those in error, seeking more sharply to correct them when one can, and being at peace and seeking no evil to any. Doctors in their field can be like that:
If you can, heal with ointment.
If you cannot, try an operation;
but ensure that you have the consent
of the patient first; and in this, seek for his best health as he is made!
It is nothing strange then, this Kingdom of Heaven, though it is entirely different from this world.
So there is nothing there in what you say at this point. The kingdom query has indeed been answered, and it involves the quality of the Sermon on the Mount, being merciful, seeking purity of heart, righteousness with hunger and thirst, the way of peace-makers, being recipients of persecution for His sake and being persistent in piety, believing in heart and aware of the chasms sin can make, mourning for it and trusting for its remedy. It works by faith and faith works in its resting place, God, who DOES the work! Faith works, in turn, by love (Galatians 5:6).
Actually, the kingdom of heaven is very wonderful to inhabit, and you can find much more on it in The Kingdom of Heaven Ch. 3. If you want more, there is plenty available.
Without faith, in the ways of God, you can know nothing; and it is therefore nothing surprising when the deaf without relish attend a concert, or the unbelieving find nothing. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6), and without it you do not so much as enter the country that is His. Try reading Hebrews 11. You may even wish to read the sermon notes from last Sunday's sermon on this, at The Site, No. 59. )
That will begin to introduce you. If things do not work where faith is absent, this merely attests biblical truth. If without surrender to Christ, you do not know Him, the case is the same; for unless you give up your very self to Him, you CANNOT be His disciple (Luke 14). He means what He says, as always, and does it. It all fits snugly, but it is difficult when it is not worn.
Incidentally, you may be separating your question about WHY ask for the kingdom to come and His will to be done, into two, rather than taking them as having one pith as suggested with your 'it'. Since you do present it as a separate point in this, your present letter, it will be given more attention now to meet your possible need. Thus, if you want this, the separable point will be answered a few paragraphs below, in meeting your new query, 'Will God's will be done, yes or no.'*
 |
The short answer of course is this, concerning
God's will, |
2)
You seem next to proceed to repeat a number of points answered in some depth and
detail already.
On the point about God desiring all men to be saved, I have just
completed a new chapter which, if you are really interested, you can read. It is
at Outrageous Outages, Awesome Inputs and the Courage of
Christ Ch. 9. and for that matter, more may be found in
SMR
Appendix B., as in The Kingdom of Heaven
Ch. 4 already available,
with much, much more. You could consult the index on the love of God (under 'l',
or God's love under 'God').
Further, I dealt with this personally for you, and now cite from my last letter again, since it seems clear that you have neither carefully studied it first, as recommended, nor perhaps read it.
God in love has done all. There is nothing more that could be done than has been done. If you reflect on what HAS been done, then you will begin to appreciate the nature of love. You might like here to read Great Execrations, Great Enervations, Greater Grace Ch. 7. It is when sin obscures the vision, like spiritual macular degeneration, and seeks to blind to the fact that the rescue operation for us who have fled for refuge in Christ (Hebrews 6:19) is a marvel of concern making D-day for Hitler's Europe a small thing by comparison, and the rescue of Dunkirk a minute matter by comparison, that blind de-recognition occurs. Those things were for troops, or for Europe; but this is for mankind.
Those things helped people to find their feet; these enable them to find their hearts, and to have them healed into holiness, bred into beauty and cleansed into a new purity which Christ is able to keep continually, washing and cleaning better than any mother, watching more than any Father, reliable, faithful, already having gone to death in His rescue, and now living for evermore in His keeping (cf. Revelation 1:18-19, Romans 5:1-17).
You are concerned at those who find darkness their desire and this their destiny. This is understandable, but it is necessary to consider again what is actually the case in the biblical picture, before standing back to review it. It is necessary to look at what is there.
Those who are to be separated from you, if you become a surrendered and actual Christian, are not some people PUSHED OUT. I would personally sympathise with your problem if this were the case. This however is not so.
It is because this is CONTRARY to the Bible that it is irrelevant to our issue! God WOULD HAVE all to repent (I Timothy 2, Ezekiel 33:11, Colossians 1:19ff., Matthew 23:37ff., Luke 19:42ff. cf. SMR Appendix B) and come to the knowledge of the truth, to be reconciled to Himself. It is not He who prevents faith, but He who has done all but use force, to enable it. Certainly He is sovereign, but He is a loving sovereign and this is what He seeks, in the limits of love which does not force, for then it is love no more, but pretence, and God is truth, pretending not at all, but rather amending not Himself, but those who are willing to come to His changeless purity and truth.
If however they want to be separate from God, and you for your part are drawn to become one of His, what is that ? Are you to hate Him because others do ? It is as simple as that.
SO far there seems nothing new, except my finding that you do not yet seem to have read what is said, and so do not reply to it.
3)
Will God’s will be done, yes or no! you ask.
Yes. It is His will that all be allocated by faith or by rebellion, but not without His selecting those who believe, and that in the end the chaff be burnt with unquenchable fire. It will be. It is His will that the kingdom of heaven come, and it will do so fully when the tests are passed; and in its own invisible but delightful way, it comes for those with faith in the meantime, even now. As Christ once put it (NASA translation - Luke 11:20, cf. Matthew 12:28):
"But if it is by the finger of God that (I) drive out demons,
then the kingdom of God has come upon you."
Another similar translation is: "the kingdom of heaven has overtaken you", and the famous paraphrase of J.B. Phillips has that the kingdom of heaven "has swept over you unawares." The Greek verb can have a sense of coming upon you, of priority. By His grace, I am a citizen of it (cf. Philippians 3:20 cf. Ephesians 2:6). When He states what is to be, yes, it is done, always. This has already been explained. You see illustrations in some detail on this site, at The Pitter-Patter of Prophetic Feet Ch. 4., and at SMR p. 713.
Is it God’s will that Satan get Judas and Judas betray Christ ? Why yes, as part of the program for freedom and for everything showing in time, fit for eternity, what it really is; this is His will. Does He then make sin happen ? No, but He does ensure that given this misuse of freedom, it WILL have its due and determinate result.
Is freedom God’s will ? Yes. Is its misuse God’s will ? No, but it is His will that the program contain what it has to contain, so that the results are indeed His will. The total plan allows for the options and is His will, and WILL be done.
The freedom being not only His will but His invention, it is His will that it have its due results to the instruction of all, and that the love of God intervene for those who believe, and that those who reject it go where it is their desire, without Him. Those who love darkness can have it.
For my part, I delight in the will of God, seek for it to happen, expect it to happen, whether in victorious and triumphant overcoming of evil, correction if I err as from a good Father, outwitting of the devil when he manages to mislead some Christian temporarily, in exposing his fraud, testing of the saints, exposure of pretence, letting evil have its head in measure long enough to exhibit its nature and so forth. He is grand in conception, mighty in power, understanding in heart, and His will will certainly be done, even if it means the removal of a civilisation as with Assyria, its grand capital Nineveh lost long in the very sands; and if He so desires, yes, He will predict this to fortify the fact that HIS WILL WILL BE DONE!
Believe it, I witness it! How could I not believe it!
4)
The (apparent) question: God will have all men to be saved … (related probably to I Timothy 2:4) is merely a problem you seem to have with the translation. The meaning is not WILL HAVE, but WISHES TO HAVE. It is sometimes wise to use a more modern translation, like the New King James Version, and to avoid misunderstandings from translations made when the language was younger. We speak modern English, and there is much to be said for reading the Bible in it!
If in freedom they are not available for love, then although it is not what He would like, it is His WILL that the results accrue. In this way, those who are reached in love are redeemed, while those who are not so reached, instead of becoming myths of manhood, manipulated, they attain also their desire, and live in darkness for which they show a preference.
God is deep, and you seem to have a problem with that; but even you may scar your hands to rescue a child from under an automobile, a thing which is perhaps your will on that occasion; but perhaps you would rather you did not have to do so.
Is it your will to scar you hands, yes or no!
This is what is called simplistic. You say, YES, and I ask if you like to mar your body. You say, NO, and I ask if you do not care for the child. It is, you see, at times necessary to think rather than shoot out virtually meaningless questions, which you would have to answer even concerning yourself, with a measure of thought, rather than cockatoo screechings, yes or no.
In short, yes, God’s will is being done even where in the interests of love (which requires freedom), the freedom has its due results. Who is He who can restrain Him! (Isaiah 43:13). Indeed, "He works all things after the counsel of His own will" (Ephesians 1:11).
Yes, God WOULD like all men to be saved, but does not WILL it, since it would breach the very nature of love and thus be meaningless; nor does He anywhere say that it will happen, since He has instituted freedom. He says what is the outcome elsewhere quite clearly (Matthew 7:15ff.).
That, it is simplicity itself.
5)
Jesus will draw all men ... you seem to question this (John 12:32). Yes, Jesus is lifted up from the earth, and draws all men towards Himself. The lifting up is fundamentally that on the Cross - verse 33 declares that it relates to His death. However, as He stated also in John 6, none can come unless the Father makes it so, not only drawing but bringing, for it is those whom the Father GIVES Him who come to Him (John 6:37,44).
To draw is not to net! To influence is not to gain. To reach out is not to take; and to attract is not to have.
The Greek verb used here is not the one which must mean by force. The Greek preposition used means to or towards. People will be drawn towards Him. Indeed, we must stress that the drawing and the coming are two different things. You find this with ordinary relationships - someone is drawn to someone else, but then, in the end, does not make friends.
In general, it is necessary to read the record and certainly to know correctly the topic being talked about, if you have even the slightest desire to understand it. Scriptures must be read and considered carefully, as in any effort to grasp a subject.
Yes, the Father knowing all, with His word has from before the Age, determined all, but HOW He has determined it is with the love of Christ operative, as shown in Matthew 23:37, John 14:9. It is accorded reality in terms of its life and given outcomes fitting for liberty; but it is not shoved! That is because, made in the image of God, we have the liberty that can love, and that can do far worse!
6)
Is all scripture inspired ?
Yes, if it were not, then the fact that man is both sinful and limited would
make of the result nothing of value, and God would be bad at expression, which
is rather ridiculous, since He made expressive units called man. On that, you
may care to read first SMR Appendix D, and then
News 94 and It Bubbles …
Ch. 9, with Little
Things Ch. 5. Part of its inspired
quality is found in this, that it predicts forward and retrodicts backward in
time, and after more than 3 millenia stands, while science for its part, can be
found wrong in a decade, and often is nowadays. Another part is this, that its
principles work when (as is not very usual), they are followed; for there are
far fewer Christians than those who use Christ's name (cf. Matthew 7:21); its
promises are reliable; its perspectives solve problems (cf. SMR
Ch. 5) and its focal character, Jesus Christ,
did all that was predicted, while history in turn does just what He has foretold
(cf. SMR Chs. 8 and
9).
7)
Is sin punishable by infinite punishment ? you ask. I do not know. Your term here is your own. I can show you only what is written, when this is your appeal. This is not written. Just as, however, it is punishable by death, so Christ bore this for any who comes in faith for clearance, and He knows whom He has in His family. It was excruciating for Him to do so, since severance from God is more excruciating than having a head cut off; for that is partial, this is total. That gives some measure of the total depravity and horror of sin: it is most costly to cover. Part of its horror is this, that it takes its citizens where its nature is to be found, that is, where it is out of joint, where life is out of its due function, where death is near and detestable distortion is in the atmosphere. It is not exactly a welcome home party thing; and those who love it will find that the 'fruit of their doings' as the Bible puts it, are sour to the taste.
Christ bore this guilt, vicariously, not for His own sin, absent in total, but for the sins of all who confer them on Him by faith, and receiving Him as Lord, become part of His family.
However, the feeling of separation, which He had to experience (Matthew 27:46, cf. Psalm 22:1 which predicted it), was not fortified by eternal fact. Crushed, He was not destroyed (Acts 2:24), since His innocence prevailed before the justice of God, and He rose. Through Him, life eternal rose for man, ready for gift. If this REMEDY for sin is rejected, then of course you are not merely being punished for sin, if you are thinking as you appear often to do, of hell: those who reject His salvation, so costly, so sure, are condemned for refusing the love of God and mocking the pardon available. THIS is their condemnation that light has come and they have preferred darkness (John 3:19). It is not just illumination; it is light which is filled with agony, which presents power, which opens highways, which gives free entry.
Reject this!
In that case, it is not just a misfortune but something almost infinite in the way of rebellion. It is unnecessary and seems absurd. Does it hurt if you cut all your face with a razor ? No doubt, but whose fault is that, if YOU DO IT! If however someone else is so cut for you, and you reject that, it is more severe. If again, it is GOD who as man does this, it is all but infinite in its horror.
It is then, in endless rebellion, that the question of punishment for sin arises, since mere sin has a grand cover already. It is like objecting to getting wet when you close your umbrella. That is no longer really the point; it is rebellion or foolishness, not mere rain, which is now the question. That is a tough thing to have, and its end is according to its nature. Judgment is according to truth (Romans 2:1ff). This question in essence was addressed and I think answered also, last time.
8)
What does, Let your yes be yes … mean ? This you ask, citing Christ in the Sermon on the Mount.
It means, Stop pretending, stop prevaricating, consider actually making your words MEAN what they say! Be honest and honourable, weigh what you say, and do not imagine your carrying on will change facts. Face them.
You mention, as far as I can make it out, the continuing point, Everything else comes from the evil one. In fact, the word is this: "whatever is more than this is from the evil one." It can also be translated from the Greek as 'springs from evil', which is what one of the translations has.
If this is your meaning, then MORE than this in this context, means that Christ is denouncing mere blather, and asking you to make yourself clear, to avoid mere rumbling. If you just act on your own emphasis, as if your force were titanic, and you a considerable power, then this is no fit replacement for honesty, truth and integrity. Knowing all the answers is not enough; you need to understand the questions! One of the questions is this: Who are you ? what is your identity ? and do you realise the answer to this ? If not, then it is time to seek the Lord; and if so, then act like it.
You need also to consider the context of this statement about yes and no, from the lips of Christ. It is in Matthew 5:37. Could I suggest now that you open your Bible, since talking without it is rather like not having a yes and a no, but a maybe. What is certain is that here maybe is worse than useless, since it wastes time and fails to achieve anything, where faith is the minimal function!
You cannot yes and no when what it is about is unknown, can you! You need to find out first. Hence it is vital for any proper enquiry to read thoroughly and exactly the matter you wish to address, in your case, the Bible.
The context in Matthew 5 here is about NOT being able to alter many things in life, and pointing out to Christ's auditors that you need to trust God and not in your own imaginary and wonderful wisdom, and while you are at it, to be clear-cut and reasonable about things, not vowing that you will do this, not acting as if you were a god. You do not need to VOW this or that in His name, swearing that you will do it, and act in larger than life style. It is GOD who is God and there is no other, so act like it, as a derivative, a creation, and when it becomes your part by faith, as a redeemed creation; and then you will, being in action as what you are, become more meaningful.
Delusion is useless. Pride and rampant self-assertion has an unpleasant source and exemplar, the evil one. Affirm what is to be affirmed, deny what is to be denied, and to do so, know your place and the power and majesty of God whose word is final, and whose will is performed.
9)
You ask concerning the scripture: It is appointed to
men once to die, and after this the judgment.
(You mention the Greek
idiom, but there is no difficulty here in language: it is the meaning which is
to the point.) You do not die twice, in
the body that is yours. You do however after death, of course face evaluation; and if you
trust in yourself, it is not difficult to see how perfection measures up. After
all, if you reject Christ, you are putting yourself up instead of Him, and
without a Saviour you cannot be saved. Heaven is not heavenly by pretence, but
by perfection. If you imagine less, it is in vain. The place could not contain
such a thing as sin, while still being heaven. Sin rumbles, reflects, reacts,
responds; heaven with sin is hell by another name. The judgment comes after
death, and it is to be a case of being ready, for if Christ finds even those
called by His name, obviously frauds, there is no heaven there, for He is the
God of truth (Matthew 7:21). You do not really need to worry about what horrors
some perform, whose bibles are not their guides, whose God is not their Saviour,
but whose religion is still for some reason called 'Christianity', a thing quite
common as foretold (cf. II Peter 2-3, News 121).
A free way in is provided, in which the same power of God which made you, pardons you and prepares you (Titus 3:5-7), so that when the time comes, you are made ready. The spirits of just men made perfect is to the point for heaven (Hebrews 12:22-24), not of sinners scurrying about like mice in the household. The opportunity for the transformation is there. It is a visa. What it lets people into at the resurrection is the presence of God where those who are Christ's are restored in bodies now fit for eternity (II Corinthians 5, I John 3:1-3). Like a huge development project, it has stages, now and then, and grounds, His death and resurrection, and a bridge, Himself believed in by faith; and it is all confirmed at every point.
If however you reject the Saviour, then you have no shield for your sin, and this is your own idea (Hebrews 2:1-3). That is the nature of the case for people who go that way. What is the word to such persons ? It is this: Live with it, since you are then considering yourself wiser than God.
The case is incomparably more severe than mere failure. It is this, inane rebellion against reason, love and truth, shattering peace and soiling all purity, rather than simply not having stolen and so on. It is this terrible escalation which is the result of ignoring or rejecting the prodigious work which Christ has done. In condemnation, this is the chief point (John 3:19). It turns on this.
What then is the principle involved ? It runs like this: If you are too good to need His goodness where it may be found, then face up to your test and the result.
That which you cite about judgment, incidentally is in Hebrews 9:27.
It would help here, as so often, if you actually read it and what goes with it, so I’ll take the time to give you the next verse, together with this one. It is this:
“And as it is
appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.
To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a
second time, apart from sin, for salvation.”
Are you eagerly awaiting His return ? It does not appear to be so. This being so you need to read and weigh, ponder and consider Matthew 24:29-51. Now indeed is the time for salvation (I Corinthians 6).
If you do not respond to His awesome input, who personally not merely supervised the execution of the plan of salvation, but with the utmost courage, allowing the plan to execute Himself, God manifest in the flesh, the Lord of glory, in the person of His only begotten Son, for our salvation that it be offered to all, fit for all, generous for any, then what an outage is made by sheer will, from majesty, love and mercy. The cost of salvation was colossal: what then is to be expected of those who refuse and act as if they could themselves pay it!
Not only did Christ in the peak of courage do all this, but He even made Himself a focus for hate, then for demonstration of power, so that He routed the instruments of torture and the death they devised, to show to all men the way of eternal life! If you neglect all of this input, how to you expect to have a useful output!
The Church started because it could not do otherwise. Death, overcome again and again in the ministry of Christ, and startlingly with Lazarus' case (John 11), became a trouble to the priestly party, so they became afraid 'all the world' would believe and so killed Him. He however made it His instrument. They threw everything, honour, truth, integrity into their evil action; so His action to overthrow it left them without excuse, and short of repentance, without hope.
What then ? He who with astute wisdom and cordial love had planned this outcome so that He could be the sacrifice for sin, giving its date and nature in advance (Highway of Holiness Ch. 4, SMR pp. 755ff.), now being rejected by His own people as He had foretold (Isaiah 49:7), duly broke the power of death with a life that it could not hold, in His own Person. This being done by Him, as He had likewise revealed a millenium in advance (cf. Joyful Jottings 22-25), on His triumphant return to His own disciples, there was nothing for them to do but to accept this life and be thankful to God for it! This they did so the Church of the New Covenant was born, thrived and grasped the globe.
This then is some of the substance involved in the verse in Hebrews 9 which you cite.
As you evidently have not studied what has taken many hours to prepare for you in the last letter, I feel like a chef giving 20 dishes to people able to consume three. Hence of course, there can be no more, until you have done your part. I think you will need to do that before our next.
Be assured of this with all good will, and I believe this will be a good trial for you.
Remember what you said earlier, TEST ALL THINGS. THIS now is a test!! I have responded to your test, and find no residue; now you must respond to mine if you want to continue.
As I always find, there is nothing whatever between a man and God, but sin. When the words are done, the work is there intact, that of Christ's redemption and it still needs to be received (Isaiah 59:1-2, Jeremiah 5:14,23-25, 9:13).
The alternative to contempt for God, which takes far, is the Cross (Galatians 6:14, II Corinthians 6:14ff.), which brings near. The more questions are plied, the more cohesive the answers, the more that is asked, the more it appears where the gap lies. It is never in God or in His word. It is He with whom a man must deal, as revealed authoritatively by Himself. By following His word to His Gospel, you may proceed to His life (John 10:9ff., 6:50ff., 5:24, Romans 10:9). That is where it is more personal, where faith and not spiritual fidgets is necessary.
Your questions are now all answered, and they have been put in perspective both in this letter and the last.
This course accordingly is what I recommend. Take the three letters, the introductory one and the other two in more detail, and do your homework. When at the current seeming rate, you are done, and if you want help to find Him, it will be good to help. One seeks to help where it helps! It is imperative if you mean business to look up the word of God where cited, and work, with heart.
Appetite is necessary. God responds to seeking, and this with all the heart (Jeremiah 29:13).
In the service of Jesus Christ, only Lord and Saviour
Robert Donaldson
for World Wide Web Witness Inc.