THE FOURFOLD WILL OF THE SOVEREIGN GOD (Part Five)

By Bob Myhan

Before the foundation of the world, God determined to create man and give to him the capacity to choose whether to comply with His ideal will or, fail­ing that, His circumstantial will. God’s ulti­mate will is to give eternal life to those who choose to love and obey Him. Those in­cidents in the life of an individual which are not in keeping with God’s ideal will or cir­cumstantial will are in accor­d with His inci­dental will, which is to allow man to make moral choices and to allow him to suffer the tempo­ral conse­quences of those choices.

It seems to this writer that the only alter­native to so differentiating among various aspects of God’s will is to take the position that every­thing which happens is God’s will in exactly the same sense.

REFORMATION THEOLOGY

By “reformation theology,” is meant the theology of the reformers of the 16th cen­tury, especially John Calvin. According to the strictest adherents of Calvinism,

“God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatso­ever comes to pass: yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the crea­tures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.” (The Westminster Confes­sion of Faith, Chapter III, Paragraph I).

If God “did … freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass,” it is difficult for this writer to understand how He is not “the author of sin.” It is equally difficult to see how violence is not “offered to the will of the creatures.”

If, for example, God “did … freely, and unchangeably ordain” that Adam and Eve would eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, how was the eating of that tree a free act? Why would God command them not to eat what He “did … freely, and unchangeably ordain” that they would eat? And why is God not responsible for the majority of mankind being finally lost, if it is the case that He “did … freely, and unchangeably ordain" that they will be? If it comes to pass that “many … go in by” “the way that leads to destruction” (Matt. 7:13), did not God “freely, and unchange­ably ordain” it, according to the Westmin­ster Confession?

“Whatsoever comes to pass” is God’s in­cidental will but it is not His ideal will or His circumstantial will. Man can and does vio­late both the ideal and circumstantial will of God but cannot defeat the ultimate will of God. Oth­erwise he, rather than God, would be sov­ereign. Man can choose his own actions, but not the consequences of those ac­tions. God has predetermined the conse­quences of man’s actions but not the actions themselves. Man is free but God is Sovereign! &

The False Doctrine of the Rapture

By Clif Dennis

On a bumper sticker I saw recently was the statement "In case of the rapture this car will have no driver." The "rapture" is not a Bible doctrine. It is just another false doctrine, among many others created by man. It is a false premil­lennial idea which states that there will be a secret catching away of the saved into the air where they will be with Christ for seven years. A "great tribulation" period will take place here on earth during that seven year period. Great suffering is to be inflicted on the people. But after seven years, Jesus will appear again to bring the tribulation period to a close. This is all false, a "once upon a time" tale of huge proportions. It is another case where Scripture has been manipulated to fit the false, preconceived position of its perpe­trators. Let's see what the Bible actually says will happen when Christ comes back.

In 1 Corinthians 15:52 when the Lord comes back it will be "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." Some people (the "we" in the passage above) will still be living when Jesus returns. Notice that the dead will be raised incorruptible. Those still living (we) will put on incorruptibility instantly. In John 5:28-29 Jesus says, For the hour (one time, not three) is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrec­tion of damnation." I see only one return and one resurrection in the Scriptures. The false doctrine of the "rapture" requires three resurrections and two returns of Jesus.

Other false teaching requires Jesus to come to Jerusalem, establish His kingdom, and literally sit on David's throne and rule for one thousand years, during which time there will be a "second chance" for those passed on to become saved. Our God is a God of second chances, but only while we live. Hebrews 9:27, "It is appointed man once to die and after that the judgment." I see no second chance for the dead there. Christ's kingdom (the church) is already present and has been since Acts chapter 2. Christ is ruling in His kingdom now, from heaven figuratively sitting on David's throne. There's not a hint anywhere in the Bible that He will ever set foot on earth again. According to the apostle Paul, who said it was by the word of the Lord, we who remain alive at His coming, will go up to meet Him in the air and in that way (in the air) and in that place (heaven) we will ever be with Him, not on earth in Jerusa­lem. See 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17. The apostle Peter says the earth will be burned up and the elements (every heavenly body in space) will melt with fervent heat, 2 Pe­ter 3:10-12. I'll choose heaven with Christ, rather than a Jerusalem which will have been melted with "fervent heat." & (The Reminder, Vol. 5, No. 4)

Problems of Dispensational Premillennialism

By Bob Myhan

Its basic problem is that it denies what the Bible affirms: "When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son" (Gal. 4:4). But if Jesus' rejection by the Jews prevented Him from doing what He came to do—establish the kingdom of God on earth—the time was not full. If the time was not full, then “God sent forth His Son” pre­maturely. Such a position is an im­plicit denial of “the manifold wisdom of God.” While it is true that the Jews rejected Jesus, they did so because He came to es­tablish a spiritual, rather than a material kingdom. As a matter of fact, they tried to “take Him by force to make Him king” but He eluded them (John 6:15)!

The Jews had wanted nothing more than a material, earthly kingdom since the time of Samuel (1 Sam. 8:4-7). But Jesus said,

"My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be deliv­ered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here." (John 18:36)

Other Problems

1.  It denies that God's land promise to Abraham has been fulfilled.

So the Lord gave to Israel all the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it and dwelt in it. The Lord gave them rest all around, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers. And not a man of all their enemies stood against them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass. (Joshua 21:43-45).

2.  It denies that God's promise to restore Israel to their land has been fulfilled.

Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem. (Ezra 1:1-3)

And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, since You our God have punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us such deliverance as this, should we again break Your commandments, and join in marriage with the people committing these abominations? Would You not be angry with us until You had consumed us, so that there would be no remnant or survivor? O Lord God of Israel, You are righteous, for we are left as a remnant, as it is this day. Here we are before You, in our guilt, though no one can stand before You because of this!" (Ezra 9:13-15)

And they said to me, "The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire." (Neh. 1:3).

Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.' Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand. (Neh. 1:8-10).

3.  It denies that God's promise to David, to "raise up the Christ to sit on his throne," has been fulfilled.

"When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. (2 Sam. 7:12-14)

"Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. (Acts 2:29-31)

But to the Son He says: "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your Kingdom. (Heb. 1:8)

4.  It denies the church was involved in the "eternal purpose" of God.

To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, (Eph. 3:8-11)

5.  It denies that Jesus has already estab­lished His kingdom in the hearts of men

He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love (Col. 1:13).

I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Rev. 1:9)

6.  And it places more emphasis on highly figurative, hard-to-understand passages than on clear, easier-to-understand passages. &

For more on this subject see Premillennialism by Bob Myhan.

See also THE MESSIANIC KINGDOM by Bob Myhan.