Satan's Downfall and our Vanity

Satan's Sin and Judgment

Outside Coventry Cathedral there is a rather striking and evocative sculpture depicting Satan's final defeat. He has been bound by the Archangel Michael. Michael is mentioned few times in the Bible: three times in Daniel, once in Jude and once in Revelation. He is the highest angel, and not having fallen, is more effective than Satan, because he is holy and uncorrupted and working in the original harmony with God as intended.

I can't say I have a very definite view of the timeline of every aspect of Satan's fall. He is being judged progressively. Jesus saw him fall form Heaven like lightning, Luke 10v18. He will be bound, released, and then thrown into the Lake of Fire prepared for him, Revelation 20v10. We see many things in the heavens through a veil. We cannot comprehend eternity fully; it is a higher, more facetted, framework of being than our own. Satan's demise is certain, though.

If, like the Rolling Stones, you are foolish enough to sympathise with him, you'll end up there too. Unless you repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Satan himself is hardened beyond appropriate response toward God, which is a fearful state to end up in. He deserves no sympathy because he is cynically malicious toward anyone but himself. If you worship bitterness, rebellion, envy and a thousand other destructive tendencies you might identify with him, but you are on a loser to end all losers. We might ask why Satan and Satan worship appeals to so many, especially in the more dilute and indirect forms. Some of these are just 'ways of the world' of whom he is ruler. I'd suggest the answer is related to self-aggrandisement, selfish ambition, and attempts to control your own destiny. All this will fail in the end. (Self-aggrandization is a dilute version of self-glorification).

We know Satan corrupted himself and defied God's warnings. He got himself into a condition where he is beyond repentance and therefore beyond redemption.

Some places in the Old Testament allude to his fall.

The Book of Ezekiel moves rapidly from describing the sins of the people of Tyre in Chapters 26 and 27, to those of the Prince of Tyre in Chapter 28. The inhabitants' willingness to prosper while Jerusalem suffered is recorded in 26v2-5. They show selfish ambition and no reverence for the people of God. Judgment is prophesied. Tyre shall be 'in the midst of the sea'. Today, a city named Tyre has been rebuilt close to the ancient Tyre, while the remains of the old city can be seen surrounded by the waters of the Mediterranean. Verse 16 is fulfilled literally; 'your mighty pillars will fall to the ground'. Ancient toppled pillars indeed poke through the waves near the coast.

Chapter 28 moves from describing the Prince of Tyre, an earthly ruler, and on to the 'King of Tyre'. He seems to be a supernatural being. It is here that we find the allusion to Satan.

“Son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord GOD: “You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared. You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you. In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned; so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you. By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade you profaned your sanctuaries; so I brought fire out from your midst; it consumed you, and I turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all who saw you. All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you; you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever.”

Ezekiel 28:12-19

Satan is the entity behind the prosperity and pride of Tyre and its physical ruler. We see his giftedness, and the mistakes he made. Satan is a created being, who wanted to be on a par with God; something God didn't intend. The emergence of envy, violence and pride are described in the passage. 

I want to focus verse 17.

Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.  Ezekiel 28v17

Clearly Satan was exceptionally blessed and gifted. Yet he allowed himself to become discontent. He saw the Trinity and he knew he would never be part of it. He saw humans and their designed place before God and he was envious. Man is made for a likeness with the Father the angels don't have: Hebrews 1v4-6, 2v10-11. We as created beings have to accept our limitations. In his insecurity, Satan, the Devil, acted as if he was responsible for his greatness and giftedness. Pride is excessive self-promotion and self-worship. 

You'll never make yourself more than God intends you to be. Those who usurped the authority or office of others in the Old Testament were severely reprimanded, disciplined or punished. Saul usurped priestly office, as did the sons of Aaron. God took it extremely seriously. When we step out beyond God-given security and calling, we want to show off, to impress. We'll do it at the expense of others, not caring if it results in them looking and feeling bad. We become afraid of being seen for who we really are. We hide our folly, and we hide our hiding. Our pride is a form of inflammation, not genuine healthy growth. Healthy growth is growth in love and servanthood.

Pride like this is clearly not wise. Wisdom, on the other hand, accepts our limitations, our boundaries, so accepting the way God made us. It celebrates who we really are in the eyes of God. Indeed there is a right pride. 

Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else

Galatians 6v4

We are made to play our part, and only our part. True meekness and humility is not cringing low self-worth, it's accurate self-worth.

Satan corrupted himself for the exaggeration of his splendour, or brightness, as the Ezekiel quote says. This 'brightness' could be dangerously close to what we call 'star quality'. People lie, prostitute themselves, cheat, take short cuts in an attempt to build themselves up, or to enhance their reputation, often for fame and fortune. What they do in an attempt to get where they want to be destroys wisdom, and erodes true character. There are many forms of this. If we habitually hide or camouflage our sins and shortcomings, we do so out of some mixture of pride, self-promotion and fear. What went wrong within us, and how do we fix it?

The answer to both questions is through faith in God, though that might not seem obvious. There's a simple story in Genesis 2 and 3 which tells us the essentials. In the Garden, Adam and Eve were told not to eat from a tree. The tree seemed good; it promised to expand their consciousness so they could make moral judgments. But God told them not to partake of it. He didn't tell them to ignore it, but He did tell them not to partake of its fruit. Perfect faith would've trusted God and what He said. All He said was 'don't eat the fruit'. The woman added 'or touch it' when responding to Satan's question, but God didn't say that bit. They were free to eat from all the other trees in there. The command was highly specific and singular; there was a lot else to explore and experiment with. If Adam and Eve had obeyed, they would've made a step in perfecting their faith in God. They would've put substance on their trust in God. Instead, they went the other way, and schism developed steadily. What tragedy!

The problem was a lack of faith in God, and the answer involves faith too. We must put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who has destroyed the power of the Devil. He has brought the old man to death that a new man with a new heart might be born within us. The corruption birthed in us through Adam, the image of Satan, is far too deep for self-remedy. We inherit this condition without consciously choosing it. Only faith in Christ, his finished work, will fix it.

Adam and Eve were tempted into the same self-corruption Satan deceived himself with. Satan is self-deceived. He is permanently in that state. They chose to be unhappy with their God-given state, and eventually with themselves, Genesis 3v7.

If we are happy with ourselves, with who God made us to be, there's no need for strife or selfish ambition. We are secure in His love for us. There's no fear of rejection, mockery or condescension from others. When it comes, we disregard it, unless it's true. We can sympathise with the people who mock us, they do so because they aren't happy. People, unlike Satan, can be redeemed. Safe in God, there won't be fears about a fall in status before other people. We are a New Creation, 2 Corinthians 5v17, with a new name, Revelation 2v17. Our identity and purpose are established by God. We are secure.

God gave us a character and an identity. We are first and foremost a son of love. He also gave us a set of giftings to bless others. The deep lack of self-acceptance and the resulting attempts to radically alter identity we see today are ultimately acts of rebellion against God. They signify a lack of faith in Him and what He has done in creating us. The answer is to acknowledge that He has also paid the price for sin so that we can be redeemed and restored to a full love relationship with Him.

Misrepresenting ourselves to exaggerate our successes and hide our weaknesses and failures will compromise real wisdom. Our brightness, our splendour, rightly proceed from God, and from His wisdom in us. Any efforts we make to elaborate on our splendour will not increase our wisdom, instead they will deplete it or veil it. We are complete in Him, Colossians 2v10. We don't need artificial enhancements.

The answer as always is to seek His face, to share our hearts in humility and contrition, to allow ourselves to be taken over by love. Real love, His love. When we see pride at work in us, we need to repent and believe we are New Creations. By faith, put off the Old Man and put on the New Man. Ask for the grace to make decisions, day-to-day, large and small, in line with His Word and with who we truly are.

God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble. If we belong to Christ, we are basically contrite about our lives. We just need to learn to put the remains of proud thinking to death.

....God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

1 Peter 5:5-6

But he gives more grace. Therefore (the Word) says He opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

James 4:6-7

We can learn in the time and space God has granted us. Satan is beyond truly listening or learning. We are fortunate that God has taken us on as His sons and daughters. He is patient with us, yet He is also a perfectionist. He will complete the work He has begun in us, as we allow Him to.

He's showing us how Heaven does and does not work, and getting us ready.

So We won't Die, but what is Eternal Life actually like?

And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Daniel 12:2

....and I have the same hope in God as these men themselves have, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.

Acts 24v15

I've talked a little about the permanence and security of the life we have in Christ. There's a lot more to be said about that, and a lot of verses to work through and contextualise. But for now I want to look at this new life we are receiving. As we saw, the New Testament calls it zoe life. In fact, zoe aioneos. Eternal life. We discussed what 'eternal' might mean. Regardless of exactly how time is experienced in eternity, everyone agrees there is no end to it. What is it like? How does it feel? How much can we know about it now? If Heaven isn't a wonderful home, why aim to go there at all? 

Winston Churchill was voted the Greatest Briton a few years ago. However I read that as he approached death, he told his doctor that life had been fun, just the once. He didn't want a re-run, or an extension. That's sad but illuminating. Life lived eternally in the Kingdom of God will have qualities which we don't experience now. We won't want this life to end. Not with the entirely new quality of life He gives.

We must trust God knows what He's doing, and that eternity with Him will have no place for boredom or disappointment, trials or tedium. We must believe that all negatives like these will find no place.

The whole aim of dealing with sin is for opening up and perfecting relationships. Sin is in a sense a secondary issue with the Gospel. We need the root of it dealt with, and it has been. We need, as these verses below say, to walk free from it without getting entangled again. But the aim, and the aim for Jesus, is the joy of friendship and spiritual family.

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:1,2

God is not tempted by, or fixated with, sin. He just knows it needs to be got out of the way for life to work. The Westminster Catechism is right when it says the chief purpose of man is to know God and enjoy Him forever. Sin is merely a passing obstacle. Christ dealt with it. He dealt with it because He wants an eternal, big happy family! He's not selfish but He does have a big heart for family relationships. He has very high ambitions for His children!

We may not understand how (or if) time works in eternity. We may not be able to fully anticipate the 'physics', the environment, the 'architecture' or 'scenery'. But we have been told quite a lot about how relationships will work in Heaven.

Jesus spoke mostly about relationships. John and others got some physical information about eternity, things like streets and a city.

The Flesh

Relationships on Earth work according to the 'flesh'. Though men want to put on a 'righteous' front, they are not righteous in God's sight.

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Galatians 5:19-21

That is about real human nature without the Holy Spirit. There is conflict, greed, oppression, manipulation, fear. When God withdraws fully from people, relational and social Hell will result. The environment of Hell will just be a fitting backdrop. Many unbelievers are now living in the blessing of praying, Spirit-filled Christians. The Holy Spirit is still active even in this fallen world. In Hell, that will not be so. Envy, strife, conflict, cheating, getting one over on people, every kind of turmoil, uncertainty and insecurity. There will be no real harmony and no real rest and peace.

Those who have come to love the strife, the ruthless competition, the exploitation, the greed, the selfishness, the lust and oppression, the lying and cheating, and have rejected their answer in Christ, will be removed summarily from the presence of God and the sanctified. Done at the end of the age, this is necessary for the blessing of the righteous. God won't tolerate the nonsense of sin forever. They will burn with these feelings and motives eternally. Conflicts will arise and escalate. There will be no real or lasting resolution. They will burn with regret and never achieve real peace or fulfilment.

The Spirit

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23

Here are listed the attributes which make eternal life viable and enjoyable. Believers are filled with the Holy Spirt, the person of the Trinity who inhabits us. When His virtues have taken over completely in us, leaving no room or desire for the fleshly things, God can trust such people and bless them with Heaven.

In Heaven there will be an intimacy of relationship, totally impossible when people don't trust each other. There will be a framework allowing for true harmony and fulfilment, a hosting of the blessing of God.

In the present age, we have been delivered from the penalty of sin, which is death and Hell. We are being delivered from the power of sin. We are often still aware of it tainting our lives. 

We will, at the resurrection of the righteous, be delivered from even the presence of sin completely. No inward or outward presence of defilement!

Loneliness will not exist, because people will be free to know each other completely and love each other completely, without the fear of rejection or alienation. We have been reborn to dovetail with each other. There'll be no need to hide or pretend. We will all understand that Christ saved us from our depravity, and that we are all recipients of His mercy. But there will be a permanent chasm between our past sins and our present reality. We will be distantly aware of our past sins and failures, but we will feel no embarrassment over them, or even any sense of identification with them. They will be a remote, distant folly. There will be no judgment and no condemnation, from ourselves, or others, or from God. There will be no sense that our past sins define who we are now, or taint us to any degree. We will be absorbed in enjoying the new, and the past will only be relevant because we are so thankful it is behind us.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

John 10:10

Do we sometimes feel a fleeting longing for something we can't put into words? A sensation that there is more to be known, experienced and enjoyed, in our inward life, in our emotions and thinking? That there are vistas and nuances of consciousness we can't quite get in touch with fully? A childhood friend who lived life 'down here' full on, seizing every opportunity to have fun, good or bad, once said 'there must be more than this'. There is. Our hearts tell us.

At the moment there are aspects of mortal life which are in the themselves death. They are the fruits of the flesh mentioned above. We might think we'll miss them, if only for the contrast and the intrigue. But in God's eternity, new aspects of life will be present. People who have had experience of Heaven have mentioned this. There are new colours, new sounds, new experiences. Completely new. We won't miss the old order.

We will have so many people to spend time with, and we won't be restricted to a small context of relationships by proximity, by money or even by earthly family. We will be understood, heard, loved, cared for, by all.

While we don't know, and probably couldn't presently understand, our new physical context, we can deduce a few things about it from the character of our Maker and Redeemer. Our environment will be granted by God to please and delight us. It will lack the marring hand of sin we see now, seen as it is alongside the shadows of glory this fallen world undoubtedly still shows. It will be wonderful, in ways we can't yet even imagine. It will be harmonious, without jarring elements. It will resonate with possibilities and discovery. It will satisfy every corner of our being. We will have an eternal home. Many are seeking a little escape, a paradise for themselves and those they clique. But in Heaven there will be no need or desire to escape, or to shun. The fulness surrounds. It's the natural backdrop. It's who we all are and where we all are.

God has always planned to put sin in remission and then to do away with it entirely. With no efforts spent on security and secrecy, our creativity will flourish as never before. The God who granted us a context of existence also grants us an ability to help create it for ourselves and others. There will be work, but not toil. Our minds will be sharper, our perception clearer. We will enjoy the abundance of very good thing.

When I got saved, the staleness went, and freshness came. It was vivid like nothing else before. I haven't remained in that emotional place constantly, but it was the first installment and foretaste of what awaits. A new sense of wonder, praise and thankfulness, along with a new pleasure and satisfaction in life. In Heaven, these blessings will abide permanently.

The sorrow and sighing, the longing for more and different, will have dissolved into pure daylight. Frustration and disappointment move into satisfaction, satisfaction for all who came.

The Beatitudes 

That's some taster, some deductions based on Scripture, about eternal life for the redeemed.

How are things in the meantime?

These verses are found in Matthew 5v3-12.

They tell us what the hunger for the final fulfilment of eternal life, experienced in the here and now, feels like.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. 

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Those who are not self-satisfied, and hunger for something else, something altogether better, may feel longing now, but they are blessed. They will be fulfilled. The depth of their longing will be more than met in the delight of their fulfilment. 

We can bury our longings under worldly ambition and escapism. Or we can wait patiently for the coming King and His Kingdom.

Getting Saved - What is Repentance?

Repent of your Sins?

I do street preaching, and the approach preachers take, in any context, to preaching the Gospel is important. We want to convey God's heart to people. All are called, indeed commanded, to repent, Acts 17v30. Some preachers exhort listeners to 'repent of their sins'. 

Listeners don't always know exactly 'repent' means.

'Repent of your sins' was used in 'sinner's prayers' from people like Dwight Moody and Billy Graham. It's still commonly used during a call for salvation. These were great men of God, and achieved amazing things in their times. However I want to go back to the Scriptures and see how the Gospel was preached by the early church.

'Repentance' can sound like a heavy word, full of impending gloom and judgment, and can give a sense a sense of impossible demands from an angry God. However it is part of the Good News, the light yoke Jesus offers us. Has something gone wrong in our perception of a word intended for our immeasurable blessing?

'Repent' is the first word the evangelist should use in his exhortation. 'Repent, believe, and be baptised'. That sequence is there in the New Testament many times. However you'll find the phrase 'repent of your sins' is not. Not directed at the unbeliever.

Why would this matter? A series of conversations with others made me think perhaps it matters quite a bit. Does this 'repent of your sins' phrase scare people away unnecessarily? Are we burdening people in a way God is not? I love to hear that people are getting saved, and I love to listen to their individual experiences. But people being convicted about a list of sins to repent of hasn't really come around in the conversations. Instead, when they came into the Kingdom, the people I spoke to called out to Jesus; not always out loud but in their hearts. They were hoping for mercy and not judgment. I've yet to hear an instance where a person laboured over individual sins at the point of salvation.

Now it is perfectly true that people must, in turning to Christ, turn away from their life without Him. It's similar to when a man marries; he's very likely to lose certain facets of his previous life, good or maybe bad. Our old life without Christ was full of sin, infected with sin beyond self-remedy. We are, in repenting, turning from that life. We are now joined to Christ. 

Before we get to looking at the scriptural salvation-call records we have, I want to highlight the fact that Jesus, according to Paul, is not wishing to impute (or account) our sins to us. 

.... in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

2 Corinthians 5:19

What the NKJV calls 'impute', and the ESV here calls 'count against', is a Greek word 'logizomai', which basically means 'to take an inventory of' or 'to reckon'. God is not wishing to take an inventory of people's sins to use against them. 

We have Good News. There is no answer until we have embraced Him. So what we don't need to do is make people think they have to sort their lives out and clean themselves up first. 

When Christ came, His emphasis was on reconciliation.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

John 3:16-17

 

Interestingly the popular NLT (New Living Translation) does use the phrase 'repent of your sins' several times in Acts. It is always an addition to the original text. The Good New Bible does the same sometimes. You can see it at Acts 26v20. Other translations, such as the ESV, NIV, KJV, and NKJV, are more literal.

Here's the NLT 

...all must repent of their sins and turn to God—and prove they have changed by the good things they do

The ESV has

 ......that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.

If you search an accurate New Testament translation you just won't find 'repent of your/their sins' anywhere.

Acts 2v38, 3v19 and Acts 17v30 have also been doctored in this way by the NLT. 'Of your sins' is an addition. 

At the end of Acts 3 is a verse which accurately sums up the dynamic of salvation as it concerns our sins. 

To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”

Acts 3:26 NKJV

Iniquities are sins. God is the active lead in turning us away from our sins. We are not required to identify our sins. We are not event required to turn from them by ourselves.

In every instance I'm aware of, when directed to unbelievers, the New Testament sees the forgiveness of sins as a result of repentance. It's a by-product, an outcome! There's no real sense we need to confront our sins and tackle them in some manner first. Yet a lot of our outreach is inclined to make people think they need to do this. I know one person who wrestled with her inability to sort her life out and it prevented her from thinking Christianity was for her. Iin outreach, believers often emphasise sin, and name individual sins, like adultery, theft or homosexuality. Well these things are sin, and they do need dealing with at some point if we want eternal life and not Hell. But it seems God's preferred emphasis is on the invitation to eternal life, and His desire to have us and include us as family members.

Meaning of the word translated 'Repent' ?

The Greek word metanoeo is translated 'repent' in nearly all English versions in nearly all cases.

Metanoeo means 'think again', 'change your mind', 'reconsider'. It derives from two other Greek words meaning 'again/after' and 'think'. 

Over 200 years before the time of Christ, a Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament was made, which we now call the Septuagint. It uses metanoeo in 1 Samuel 15v28,29. Speaking to Saul, through Samuel, God says He will not metanoeo concerning His decision to tear the Kingdom from Saul and give it to another. He won't change His mind. The word does not inherently refer to sin, regret or shame. God is repenting here, and He doesn't suffer from these problems.

You'll find plenty of people out there saying 'repent' means 'turn around', and even that it was a Greek military term. You won't find any actual evidence for that. It appears to be hearsay with no distinct source. My wife heard a sermon saying that Alexander the Great spread the common Greek language (true) and that the term was used routinely by his soldiers to get them to march in the opposite direction. It's a nice story, and variations of it are in widespread circulation, presented as fact. Try Googling what 'repent' means in the Bible; you'll see all sorts of posts from church leaders saying stuff like this. It's just that it's flat out wrong. If metanoeo  means 'change course', it means it only in the metaphorical sense for a change of mind.

There's also a problem with the word as it's usually understood by English-speaking people. 'Repent' is a word in  common English usage. But the English word has come to mean something substantially different from the word it is used to represent.

Repent (Cambridge English Dictionary) 'to be very sorry for something bad you have done in the past and wish that you had not done it'

Repent (Greek metanoeo) 'to reconsider (something in the light of new knowledge)'

The result can be that we impose a meaning on the text which isn't there. We must go back to what the writer meant, not what the translation has come to mean to us. To re-iterate: a call to repent is simply a call to change your mind and think differently. Of course a change of mind about one thing, here Christ, will affect many other things.

It is noteworthy that there are 30 occurrences of metanoeo, 'repent', as a command, in the New Testament, and of those, only in Luke 17v4, Acts 8v32, and Revelation 2v21,22 are there things to be 'repented of'. The context of Acts 8v32 is Peter rebuking Simon the Magician, who has already believed and been baptised. In Revelation 2 Jesus is confronting churches. Luke 17 is talking about forgiving a 'brother'. In all other cases, the 'repent' command stands alone; no object is given.* 

In summary, two things are often misunderstood. The meaning of 'repent', and the fact that 'of your sins' was not present in the Greek texts. Between these two things, we could easily get the thrust of the 'repent' message in evangelism wrong.

People will not first turn from their sins, and in fact they cannot. They will likely be driven away, unnecessarily. But they can turn to Jesus. The twelve disciples were not told to 'repent of their sins' by Jesus before they could follow Him. Neither did He say to the crowds, 'Come to me, you weary and burdened, and I'll also demand you work out where you are sinning and deal with it all'. 

Now it's true, you cannot turn to something or someone, and not turn away from something else. In turning to Christ, it is implicit that you turn away from your life without Him, sin and all. But the focus is not on the sin. The focus is on giving everything to Him, and living with Him, accepting Him as He accepts us. He is after relationship. Once we have that connection established, He can work in our lives to clean us up and transform us.

Christianity is first and foremost a release from burdens, an empowerment, a gift, and a change of identity; 2 Corinthians 5v17, 21. There are requirements too, but the requirements follow on, and they flow from the new identity, the new sense of personhood! And they are an outcome of walking in the Spirit! The Holy Spirit graciously provides the power to live differently, and He changes us, mostly, in gentle stages. He is not an impossible taskmaster, as the wicked servant accused in Matthew 25v24. This difference concerning repentance I've outlined here may seem subtle but it is important, and it seems to me we may have had this rather wrong!

Don't get me wrong. I'm not trivialising sin. Sin is eternally lethal and needs an answer. The answer is costly, and precious, the Blood of Christ. But the answer is freely available. As far as paying the price, the penalty, is concerned, Christ has done that and we who believe are free from the judgment and penalty. That is wonderful. That is grace. A free gift of true life, and a paying-off of what you could never, ever pay yourself.

How many of us, prior to conversion, remember being convicted of particular sins and felt the need to try and change our behaviour? If you did, maybe it showed you were serious, which is not a bad thing. But I know someone well who had no sense of that. She merely cried out involuntarily 'Oh, alright then!' when Jesus was preached. She was prayed with and told to tell someone. Her life was one of much frustration and despair. But her awareness of her sin came later. I was similar. I was not convicted of particular sins before I confessed Christ publicly. I had been feeling a sense of general failure in relationships, and a sense of wanting to hide. Two others I think of were each walking away from God and each nearly died, one from drug use and one following a car crash. They experienced a sense of dread and terror. Both thought they were going to Hell. They cried out to Jesus to save them. Both had some previous knowledge of the Bible. The central decision was to reconsider Jesus and the direction of their lives and to turn to Christ. Acts 3v19 and Acts 26v20 add the extra word 'epistrepho' to denote the 'turn' bit. 

It's easy to see why people who are disappointed with behavioural lapses in new believers want to get them to put away sins, or promise to put them away, before they believe and are baptised. But that doesn't seem to be God's way of doing things. We see who Jesus truly is, we believe, we are baptised. He is the answer to our sinful condition. Our sins are forgiven, and we are given a new life. God has dealt with the root of sin, which is unbelief. He will graciously deal with sin which lingers around, and this may require our co-operation, but He isn't asking for our resolve to sort sins out before we receive Him! He came to bring rest for the penitent. Now if we are sincere, we will hand our lives, sins and all, to Him, to make what He will out of them. It's true we can't insist we keep hold of our sins. That is different from thinking we have to acknowledge them and get rid of them before He will receive us.

I encourage you to look at the Acts outreach sermons in a fairly straightforward translation such as the ESV or NKJV and see if they fit with the 'repent of your sins' teaching. I really don't think they do. We repent toward God, away from our life without Him. When we do that, forgiveness of sins is found too. We then believe, and get baptised. We also receive the Holy Spirit. We are thereby born again, saved, children of God. Good News.

Repentance is salvation. For salvation, repent and believe are inseparable processes. There's a rethinking of life and a believing in Jesus. Baptism is a visible sign and seal, ideally performed very soon afterwards, or immediately, in Acts at least. 

God is emphasising answer, not problem. I think we should do the same. The answer needs to be kept in easy sight. Jesus is the Way. 

A person stubbornly persisting in their sins will die in them, but usually they know they are sinning, or if they don't they will deny the very concept of sin, and probably deny God too. It is true that a person who says they are a good, kind person, and either denies their need for God, or believes He'll accept them because of their balance of good, likely needs to have the severity of their sinful condition spelled out to them. It is here that there seems to be a place for preaching very clearly on sin, and the fact that God cannot tolerate it in eternity. But perhaps we should wait for this defensive talk before we preach too much on sin. Again, emphasise the answer. God won't condemn people for their sin. They are born in a sinful condition. He'll condemn them for not taking the answer.

*A further 4 verses from Revelation report the failure of mankind, under suffering, to repent of things like idolatry and murder, and of not glorifying God. These verses are not recording rebellion, and are not a command to repent and be saved. 

Certainly, there are other contexts to repentance. Repentance happens for people who are already believers in Christ, and it happened in the Old Testament. That's another discussion. Here we are looking at how it works at salvation.

How Safe and Secure are we before God? Part 3 - Passing from Death to Life

Entering Eternity

...Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

1 Peter 1:23-25

The word of the Lord remains forever. We have simply believed. It is the imperishable seed. You have been born again of it. There's no going back possible for the real eternal you, because the new birth was the birth of the real eternal you.

The phrase 'born-again' is Johannine. It occurs only in John, of the four gospels, and only in the Nicodemus discourse. A similar phrase is found, just twice, in 1 Peter chapter 1. It is a minority teaching, therefore, in Soteriology, the study of salvation. But it has something very important to say. Behind the Pauline concepts of the new man, the new creation, there is first the need for new birth. The new birth births us into these things. And the concept of birth, used as an analogy, is very illustrative of the experience of entering the Kingdom of God. 

We have, for all time, entered into a new realm of existence, with a new type, a new quality, of life within. This was discussed in Part 2. We've entered into His love, which will take us over by degrees. We don't cease to have personality and individuality. Instead we are recreated in spirit and infused with the nature of God. We are family members. If you don't want this, you are not a Christian believer. He doesn't push you where you don't want to go, He is honourable, genuine, sensitive, gentle and considerate. And so He wins us over in that way.

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

1 John 4:16-18

John is saying that love will be perfected in us, and it leaves no remaining place for fear. In other words, God's end game is that we are completely swallowed up in love. This love will then govern our behaviour. Love is sufficient. Our new, true, nature is designed to be indwelled by love, at one with love. Man may think in terms of a little fear to keep us in line, but this is unnecessary and undesirable. We don't need the fear of damnation to keep us in line, not once we are saved. The closer we get to God, the less fear we have. When we fully share His nature, there will be no danger of us showing Him treachery by walking out. And He hasn't even mentioned the possibility of throwing us out. His nature is not treacherous, and so His nature in us is not treacherous either.

Human seed is sperm. It is perishable. It requires moisture and body temperature to remain alive. (It can be cryogenically frozen also, we won't go into that). If it dies, it cannot initiate reproduction and there will be no subsequent natural birth. But you are born again from imperishable seed, and into eternal life. It's extremely hard to argue that, based on scripture, the new birth is temporary or reversible. If you're born again, that's it. It is true there may be a gestation period; the seed needs to be sustained until the birth actually happens. There will be a certain time between planting and birth, during which the decision to go through with birth needs to be upheld.

By all normal word meaning and analogy, I'd say the new birth once it occurs is permanent and irreversible. The life it brings forth is eternal.

Entering in to the Kingdom

So entering the Kingdom is through the new birth. It isn't by membership of a church. It isn't by our own efforts at behaviour improvement. That's putting the cart before the horse. (The true church consists of born again believers. The church of God is a body of believers first and foremost, not an organisation with buildings).

When I read John 3, I'm struck by how radical Jesus sounded to the stunned Nicodemus. The encounter  reminds me of Rudolph Hess, a very senior Nazi who wanted the British on side against Russia.  He approached a member of the British gentry in an attempt to win him over. The mission was secret, only a handful of sympathetic Germans knew about it. (The analogy has its limits). 

Nicodemus was also a reconciler. As a respected Jewish religious leader, he approached Jesus at night, early in His ministry, perhaps because he didn't want to be openly associated with Him for fear of his fellow jews. Nicodemus seemed to like Jesus and clearly esteemed Him. Perhaps he was going to try to 'tone Jesus down'. He states that Jesus is clearly from God because of the signs He performed. God was with Him. Jesus had read out Scripture and spoken in synagogues for a while without much problem. Maybe Nicodemus thought, 'if only we could get Him to do away with the bits where He implies He is God, we could do a deal and understand one another. He'd be a decent Rabbi. I can broker it. The Pharisees will be OK with that. So Jesus; just be a great Jewish teacher, maybe even a prophet. Don't stretch it too far. Everyone might benefit' 

All this is indeed conjecture. If it's so, Nicodemus was to be disappointed and further challenged by what Jesus said next. 

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

John 3:3

Bam. Nicodemus, there's way more to my ministry than you think. There won't be a watering down.

Born Again and Saved

So we need this new birth from on high. This is the 'passing from death to life' experience we spoke about earlier.

I believe if we have really received salvation, we have undergone the new birth too. They are essentially terms for the same thing. Believers are saved. It's in the past for us. (It's true the final salvation of our bodies awaits us, so in the bodily sense, we will be saved, although we have, in essence, already been saved. Similarly, we are being saved from the remaining power sin has over us. There is a progressive sanctification of the soul. At the end of the age, at the resurrection, we will be saved from the power of sin altogether. But these future 'salvations' are inevitabilities after initial salvation. It is worth bearing these tense distinctions in mind when we encounter the words for salvation). 

How does it happen?

So what does it mean to be 'born again' ? And what do we do to choose, or allow, this new birth ?

“How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

John 3:4-6

The new birth is instigated by the Spirit. We are born again of the Spirit.

Water and the Spirit

Opinions vary on what Jesus meant by 'born of water'. I'm inclined to think He meant born of amniotic fluid, mostly water, i.e. the mother's 'waters'. He might also be alluding to Ezekiel 36v25, one of several Exile-era Messianic prophecies from Jeremiah and Ezekiel. This one speaks of a sprinkling with water for cleansing, which was prophesied to occur prior to the granting of a new heart and the outpouring of the Spirit. This seems less likely to me.

Now a person cannot birth himself. (They cannot, incidentally, baptise themselves either). Either naturally or by supernatural re-birth, another is the agent. In the case of natural birth, a newly-minted little person merely yields to processes already in motion in the mother's body. With the new birth we also consent to what God already wishes to do. He does it though. If it were a question of saying a prayer, or washing ourselves, or vowing to try to improve ourselves, we could do that. But this is a spiritual birth, and only God can do it. The Christian life, in authentic form, is supernatural. It's not something we can conjure up ourselves.

So what is our part? How do we chose this new birth? How do we allow it to happen? First we must understand God passionately wants it to happen, and it is definitely something where God has to 'kick in' for it to be happen. 

I believe it is chosen by us and by God. If we choose, He chooses. It is a meeting. He doesn't force us. That would be close to spiritual assault. Instead He wins our hearts, by degrees, usually. If we let Him.

Can two walk together unless they are agreed?

Amos 3v3

God already wanted to save you. He has said so pretty clearly.

(God our saviour) who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

1 Timothy 2:4

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

2 Peter 3:9

Calvinism

A few hundred years ago John Calvin and the Armenians developed rather differing views of salvation, which they believed were derived from scripture. Calvin emphasised the sovereignty of God, while the Armenians emphasised human choice. There are various forms of Calvinism, and a popular strain is known by the mnemonic 'TULIP'. As far as I can see the verses above cause great difficulty for this five-point Calvinist doctrine. Two of those five points are;

-Limited Atonement. The sacrifice of Christ on the Cross only paid for the sins of the elect. If so He isn't what 1 John 2v2 says He is.

-Irresistible Grace. You don't choose Christ at all. You can't resist. If salvation is irresistible, then logically, so is damnation. Those not chosen are damned. God must surely know this, and yet scripture says He wishes all to be saved. 

Well it's true there are verses like:

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

John 15:16

This clearly says He chose us, rather than us choosing Him. Jesus came along and pretty much commanded these first disciples to follow Him. If any refused outright, it is not recorded. But some seemed to follow more closely, to take their call more seriously. One ended up betraying Him outright. We seem able to veto, or even sabotage, God's calling. People can refuse God's call to salvation, which, based on Scripture, is a universal call. This will lead to perdition and damnation. (As Christians, we can also decide to resist God's will in our lives. However, I don't believe that jeopardises our actual salvation. There will be loses, perhaps serious, but our new spirit survives, 1 Corinthians 3v14,15. God also chooses certain people for particular tasks, people who have already chosen salvation, such as Paul and Silas in Acts).

Now there do seem to be contradictions on some points. God wills all to be saved, but some He hardens and gives over to a powerful delusion, 2 Thessalonians 2v11. But the powerful delusion only comes on those who have hardened their hearts by refusing to love the truth. In other words, harden your heart for long enough and God has set things up so as to further harden your heart. You can't sit on the fence forever, you side with sin and fallen angels or with God. He needs to fit you for Heaven or give you over to Hell. Even when God sends a delusion, I don't think He is the author of it. He merely gives a person over to Satan and his schemes, which is where they are headed. The road to destruction is wide, Matthew 7v13.

And so how to escape all this....

How to be born again

The really important bit. Nothing in life is more important.

We come back to how to be born again, as John 3v3 stipulates we must.

Jesus of course understands what is necessary. The experience is obviously not the same for everyone. Some just slowly realise they now believe, often when very young. Actually the terminology 'born again' is never used in association with an individual being saved in the New Testament. Instead, when people come to Christ, we see other words used. If there is a formula, it is 'Repent, believe and be baptised'.

That fits with Romans 10.

.. “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Romans 10:8-10

So it's extremely simple. You believe, form the heart, and you are saved. What do you believe? That Jesus is the Son of God. He came as a man, died and rose from the dead. He took our sins and is ready to give us new life. By simply believing these things we are justified, or put right with God. In addition, we are to confess Him as Lord before men. Clearly, we use our mouth. If you are mute, believe for healing, and God will accept your public act of acknowledgement at baptism. There is a command to be baptised. There need be no time delay; there generally wasn't one in the New Testament. Acknowledge Him before men. Invite family, friends, colleagues.

As faith, confession and baptism occur, the new birth will occur too.

Only if the actions did not stem from heart faith is there the possibility that a person is not really saved.

I believe a good test of heart sincerity here is if a person asks himself or herself whether they are making a permanent decision to give God everything, as best they know. They are then truly trusting Him with their lives and giving them over to Him in every area, for ever. That's all God requires. We don't have to change first, we can't. Without Him we can do nothing, John 15v5.

How Safe and Secure are we before God? Part 2 - Three Categories of Life: We now have all three!

Three Kinds of Life

We're looking at security with God and whether we can lose it. We've looked at God's foreknowledge, from eternity, of what we decide about Him and His Son, our Christ, our Lord and Saviour. We then talked about predestination; about how God actively tracks us to our final destiny. Our destiny is the glory of Heaven. Because God speaks from eternity, He sees this as a done deal. This positive predestination, this secure track to glory, applies only if we are believers.

Now let's look at what we mean when we talk of Christ's life in us.

When we are born again, we pick up a new and extraordinary 'flavour' of life, unavailable any other way. It's a free gift. How does the Bible describe this life?

For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself

For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.

John 5v26,21

Here Jesus refers to a particular type of life possessed by God. It is not a derived, created, life. It is a self-existing, self-sustaining, uncreated, indestructible life*. It is beyond our present knowledge and experience. If God wants us to know anything about it, He must chose to reveal it, because we aren't going to work it out for ourselves. And if He does reveal, we must humbly accept what He gives us, and the manner in which the revelation arrives. The supreme revelation is someone who, like us, lived as a mortal man, Jesus Christ. We know Him now through His Word and His Spirit. Jesus possessed this same special type of life as the Father; unique among men. But then He started to give that life to others. It's infinite, from eternity, so He didn't give it away, in the sense of losing some of it in the process. It stayed fully with Him. But He imparted it to others. The widow's flask of oil from 2 Kings 4 is a type of this life. It doesn't deplete when poured. It only stops flowing when it has completed its purpose. We also get the fullness of it. We also won't lose anything if we give it away either. It's more blessed for us to give than to receive, because God is a limitless, enthusiastic replenisher.

For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for He gives the Spirit without measure.

John 3:34

The Father gives this life to the Son, and the Son gives it to whom He will.

There are three Greek words all translated as 'life' in English Bible versions. They are, transliterated, bios, psuche, and zoe. They represent, loosely, biological life, the life of the soul, and the life of God, respectively. This is how the words are most often used in the Bible. We can see that the English words 'biology' and 'psychology' are derived from the first two. Bios represents the physical processes of life. Bios is impressive enough as far as it goes. When I look at a well-used guitar, someone has maybe played it regularly for decades. It is worn, the fretboard has hollows, the frets are grooved, the finish is eroded. Yet the fingers of the musician are just fine. Bios did that, the callouses may be there but the skin cells are renewed continually. The guitar may be great but it is really just dead matter. Psuche represents the functions of mind and emotions. The mind is complex, nuanced, multi-facetted, different for each person. It may be fragile and delicate. 

But beyond these, there's a further category of life. Jesus used the word zoe to refer to the life He and the Father shared**. The same word is used to describe the life which He gives to us. The verses from John above use zoe (or a derivative of the root word for zoe. The rest of the New Testament does the same).

Now the word zoe was not invented for the New Testament: it was a pre-existing Greek word. Strictly speaking, as originally used, the word does not refer only to 'the God kind of life'. Bible teachers often call it that, and that is how it is used in the New Testament. Originally though, in Greek usage, it referred to what we might call vibrancy, vigour, productivity, freshness. It is the zing, the beans, present in addition to bios and psuche, infusing them with something extra. When we combine zoe life with the Greek aioneos, which means something like 'perpetual' or 'always ongoing', we get a phrase usually translated 'everlasting life' or 'eternal life'. This is the Greek phrase used in the famous verse, John 3v16, for example. Permanence and quality of life are both emphasised by the Greek words used. The KJV sometimes translates aioneos as 'everlasting', and sometimes as 'eternal'. Various other versions may prefer one or other word. The phrase zoe aioneos occurs about 47 times in the New Testament, most often in John's writings.

The exact interpretation of the phrase 'eternal', as found in the Bible, is subject to some debate amongst scholars. Interestingly, Strong's Concordance says aioneos indicates a past, present and future continuity of times. We might think of something described as 'everlasting' as having a beginning, but no end. An 'everlasting' battery for example. (There are things called RTG batteries but they don't really last forever, just a very long time; they got left on the Moon to power instruments. Clearly they had a beginning; someone made them). But 'eternal' has the sense of infinite times past as well as present and future. When we say God has no beginning and no end, we are attributing this kind of life to Him. And, when it is seen in others, He is always the source of it. It is granted at His discretion. He has already granted bios and psuche to everyone born into this world. New Testament zoe, zoe aioneos, is only for born again believers in Christ His Son. The equivalent Hebrew phrase occurs only once in the Old Testament, in Daniel. There it refers to the destiny of the resurrected righteous.

The full nature of eternal life, as it concerns time, remains, frankly, a mystery. It is usually held to be either the the continuation of time forever, or possibly the absence of time. Whatever the best definition, and we are looking through a glass dimly here, we are entering into God's very own realm of existence. All scholars agree it is a realm that has always been. In Christ, He is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last. God's name, according to Exodus 3v14, is I AM. He is present in all our times. We, in our mortal selves, are present only in one instant.

When we become believers, we cross over into this zoe aioneos. It is perpetual, it is not subject to birth or death, although we are born again into it from our natural life. 

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

John 5:24

'Life' here is, you guessed, zoe, and 'eternal life' is zoe aioneos. But notice what Jesus says. He's saying 'he who truly hears and believes has already passed from death to life'.

A few English versions (e.g. CJB, EHV) use 'crossed over' for 'passed'.

If you have passed from death to eternal life, it is very, very hard to see how you can pass back again. You have passed into a realm of permanence. I would suggest this means you simply cannot pass back out again!

For me, the only question is, 'did you really pass over?'

* This uncaused quality of God is called 'aseity' by theologians. It is possessed by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. 

** Jesus very probably spoke in Aramaic most of the time; so this is the Greek word used to record what He said.

How Safe and Secure are we before God? Part 1 - Foreknowledge and Predestination; did He choose or did we?

All Christians will say there is no security outside of Christ. We all know Christ is the only way; He is the Rock, and to build without Him as Lord is to build on sand. 

However there's a continuing discussion among Christian believers about whether you can lose your salvation. It's a deadly serious issue, literally. In our minds at least.

God, as the supreme Good Parent, wants happy, secure, resilient and stable children. He also wants children who behave honourably and show real kindness to their fellow men. How does He build His virtue and substance into us? 

Some think God will threaten us with total rejection based on our lapses in behaviour.

If you think you might lose your salvation, you will at times be on tenterhooks, wondering whether God has lost his patience with you entirely. This is judging by my own experience. We normally feel like this because of our sins and failures. If you have sinned in a way which seems obvious, unacceptable or unforgivable to you, this is particularly likely to be the case. Alcohol or drug abuse, watching pornography, inappropriate angry behaviour and language, are common examples. Perhaps as a Christian you have succumbed to these or other things. You are disappointed with yourself. The devil, the accuser, is very likely also on your case. As Christians, we know sin is sin even with things the world thinks perfectly normal and acceptable. Sometimes a particular Christian community will consider certain things completely off limits, maybe things like failure to submit to domineering leadership, or drinking any alcohol, or dressing in ways they think wrong. Sometimes the 'sin' may not be sin at all, in God's eyes. It's often how we register the sins and what we think the severity is, which gets to us. God may be showing patience with us in certain areas. It's how we think God and others will respond which can get to us. Which is not necessarily how He actually does respond.

Has God rejected and abandoned us? Will our fellow Christians? Perhaps they know what we have done, or maybe we fear they'll find out, not knowing how they'll react, which is probably even worse. This can be a horrible place to be, a place of both shame and insecurity. It is entirely possible to live much of our Christian lives bouncing between these episodes of failure, while having a constant background fear we will fall into them again. I know all this from personal experience. However, I strongly believe these episodes are unnecessary and unhelpful. It is true we will sin, and we may even sin in ways which really are shameful and sometimes where public rebuke and correction are actually appropriate. Especially if others are being harmed or led astray. Mostly this is not the case. Once we are believers, our consciences are more sensitive. And God is gentle with us. We will feel shame over things which society accepts as just normal. The reality is we all sin continually to some degree. But the fear of rejection and abandonment by God is not necessary. God loves us into wholeness, having adopted us as His children. Within the family, He doesn't terrify us into wholeness.  By saying all this I am not condoning or encouraging sin. It's just that, particularly if we have experienced a lot of rejection, especially early in life, we are inclined to expect harsh judgments and rejection from God. God is feeling none. If we turn to Him, He's there for us, forgiving and restoring us. It is His opinion we need to be firstly concerned with. Fear of harsh rejection will only ever succeed in getting us to behave outwardly anyway. God works through love, reaching the inner motives, winning us over from the heart with His mercy. 

We need to trust Him to the extent that we truly open our hearts to Him when we are tempted, and, if necessary, when we have just fallen into sin. He will receive us in love, and handle us with gentleness and patience. If discipline comes, it is corrective and will come in a timely, considered way. There will be no sudden angry disowning.

Eternal Calling, Yes, Eternal Falling, No.

Here's one of the verses sometimes quoted by people who say we can lose our salvation.

Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.

2 Peter 1:10

Peter tells believers to confirm their calling as sons of God. Certainly it's good to remind and reassure yourself of this calling. It should help you live better. But in view of the following Romans verses it's hard to see how you would confirm your calling in God's eyes. He has already predestined you. He has already called you to glory. All because you chose Him. In the thoughts of God, this passage applies:

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Romans 8:29-30

Let's consider these two verses carefully. They're worth reading a few times to let it all sink in. We have a straightforward statement of God's thinking and planning toward us. Falling, if that means losing your salvation entirely, after you gained it, doesn't seem to be on the cards. Here there's a chain of actions, each dependant on the last, each performed by God. Indeed it would be very easy to assume we had no part at all in this process. After all, God is performing every step. It reads as a highway to heaven!

That's not quite how it is. We are completely involved in the first, crucial, step. 

The only step in the chain of God's actions where He's passive is the first one. Foreknowledge. It's a knowing, not a doing. God is aware of choices we are making here.* Actually He already has all information about all of us and for all time. He knows the complete picture through from Alpha to Omega, beginning to end. Already. He's eternal. In particular, He had foreknowledge of whether we chose Him. But we are an active party in the outcome. When we come to Christ, there's a sense in which He chooses, and a sense in which we choose, or at least we yield to His choice. He chose everyone when it comes to salvation. He doesn't force His love on us though. It is a meeting of hearts and minds, an engagement for marriage. We have, I believe, the power of veto over God's choice.

Isaiah on Foreknowledge and God's Sovereignty

I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’

Isaiah 46:9b-10

The God of the Old Testament is the same God. The first verse here highlights God's foreknowledge. He is aware of what will happen. We are constrained by time, yet it seems God can in a flash of prophetic revelation, reveal something yet to happen, because He has that perspective available to Him. But He did not make all of the choices which produced the future. The foreknowledge is absolute and complete. He also accomplishes His overall purposes; the second verse says that. However this sovereignty does not override our freewill entirely. In His sovereignty He has given us a freewill. It's an astonishing and incredibly precious thing, which He has imparted, in a process of ongoing delegation to the faithful. That freedom, when expressed in actions, has genuine consequences. We can make real choices, and God honours them. We don't have the means, the power, the foresight God has, so our choices have limited implications. In His wisdom, God has not overplayed His hand. But our decisions and actions do have consequences, even for God. This will be at odds with hard Calvinist opinion, but it's what I see in Scripture.

Let's look again at the first two verbs 'foreknew' and 'predestined'. Here's a simple illustration of the difference. Suppose I had a flatmate, and he kept a diary. He'd been very excitable recently. I knew he was always honest, and I knew he kept his word. One afternoon I came across his open diary. Curiosity got the better of me, or perhaps he had told me I was free to look in it! I saw the entry from that morning. There he had recorded his intention of proposing to his girlfriend later that evening. At that point I had foreknowledge of what he was going to do, but I certainly didn't predestine him to do it. 

God foreknew those who would come to Him. That is the information God uses to determine what happens next. After His foreknowing a person did come to Him in Christ, the other four actions in Romans 8:29-30 are active actions on God's part where He intervenes. God is actively, continually supervising our salvation to ensure the outcome. We see several statements in the New Testament which make this very clear. There are also statements which look like they may contradict this conclusion, but I believe that if we understand the context and thrust of them, they integrate into the 'once saved, always saved' picture. Note that it is our eternal soul and spirit which are saved. We can loose our health, our prosperity, and, most significantly our eternal reward, by continuing in sin unnecessarily. 

Joining Him in Eternal Life

God is not constrained by time in the way we are. These verses from Romans chapter 8 read as a fait accompli, a done deal. When God has the foreknowledge that we will accept His offer of salvation, He ensures everything else follows. It is predestined. Even the glorification of the saints is done. He knows who chose Him and who rejected Him. Based on that knowledge, He predestined us to follow through on a track, a road, leading to justification, to conformity to His Son, and eventually to glorification. The last happens when we receive our eternal body and environment. He knows the end from the beginning**. 

He foreknew some would step out of the temporal realm and enter the eternal realm. This happens at the new birth; we enter the eternal realm, with our innermost being, and so the true self, our real identity, is established (Ephesians 2v4-6, 2 Corinthians 5v17). Our mortal body stays where it is for now. 

So can our 'true self' drop back out of eternity? I don't believe so. Please read on.

* Predestination without the condition of foreknowledge leads us to the hard Calvinist theology where we have no active part in our salvation. Hard Calvinism developed a doctrine known by the acronym 'TULIP'. The 'I' represents 'irresistible grace'. God chooses us, we can't choose Him. This leaves us a robots, and leaves those not chosen as damned without recourse. However, including the foreknowledge of God in our concept of predestination resolves the dilemma.

** Yet He is also able to experience and understand human life lived within the constraints of time. This is how Jesus experienced life; the same as we do.

What is real freedom?

'...if the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed'.

John 8v36

Christ and Freedom

Everything a man can have in Christ is the real article. The fresh, vibrant, complete, full, satisfying and abiding version!!

Christ came to bring us freedom. God knows what freedom really is. Man has his counterfeit; it holds false promise, we'll discuss that. But we are set free. (This blog is called flowoffreedom.blogspot because God spoke to me 20 years ago about Him using me to bring freedom. First I have to have living in me in good measure! I'm getting there).

If we have come to Christ for salvation, if we have been born again of the Spirit, we have also been set free! The freedom is an integral part of the package. With Christ, we get everything or we get nothing. You don't choose which bits you want. If you're forgiven, you get new life. If you're righteous, you are free. And so on. You'll get provision. And persecution! We get the whole bundle or nothing.

His freedom is the only true freedom there is, and it's truly wonderful.

Maybe you don't feel free. Often I don't either! But there is hope. God has promised us freedom. What does He mean? What has He actually done? How do we benefit from it?

Human Ideas on Freedom

Most people probably define 'freedom' as 'liberty to do what you want to'. 

Many people are looking for freedom. They don't feel free, and they want to.

The world contends for freedom. Freedom from rules and constraints. Freedom to be who you want to be, to do what you want to do. Anarchy is the idea that your urges are right and should not be supressed. Human freedom, if granted fully, is likely to end in anarchy. But that really won't be good.

Naturally speaking, your freedom to do as you wish will only work for you, if indeed it does work for you, and it won't for long.

My freedom might be your bondage. My freedom to buy what I want may put many factory workers in the East in bondage to long hours and low reward. It might be worse. My freedom to have intercourse when I want may result in the murder of the voiceless, helpless unborn child, a sacrifice to lifestyle preferences as freedom. The loud self-justification of those who pretend otherwise is deceitful and irrelevant in God's light.

Some think money brings freedom. South Africa has a party called The Economic Freedom Fighters. But the rich are not free. They look to money and are insecure about relationship. Everyone might be after your pile. And things do not satisfy for long. There's an illusory running after anything which purports to thrill and satisfy. Nothing is ever perfect enough or exciting enough. They are chasing delusions. No amount of wealth can bring peace, happiness, or indeed, as the Liverpool lads sang, love. It can buy a lustful encounter, but not real love. Love wants the best for the beloved, not some pleasure or status from them.

I could go on. Perhaps for some the motives and goals are higher. Perhaps the freedom fighter wants the poor liberated from exploitation, disease and squalor. Political parties and thinkers may imagine they have the keys to freedom. Che Guevara, the Argentinian-Cuban revolutionary, in an iconic image taken by Alberto Korda, looks like the essence of masculine resolve to bring real societal freedom from oppression. He has spawned millions of trendy t-shirts and caps. Yet he executed many of his opponents. He was unfaithful to his first wife. He stated that he would've provoked nuclear war and billions of deaths to destroy the imperialism he hated during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The champion of the oppressed very often becomes a ruthless oppressor. Guevara always claimed his motives were of love. This only shows self-righteousness as well as self-delusion in an ideology not of Christ. That is always the case.

Human ideas of freedom are subjective, unbalanced and misguided. They do not bring personal or societal freedom, just more strife. The problem is man himself. Man is a sinner, under the power of sin. The problem is deeper than even his emotions, his mind, his capacity for self-reform. Very often it is beyond his self-awareness. 

Guevara was a sinner. He succumbed to self-promotion, vanity, infidelity, vengeance, cruelty, ruthlessness. He was actually an oppressive tyrant. The world would not be free if he prevailed.

Jesus Christ was not a sinner. He was the only man born of woman who never sinned. He was a revolutionary characterised by genuine and prefect love. He showed no vengeance on his enemies. He died for our freedom. In his Deity, He created the World, the elements, the fundamental particles. He worked with wood from the trees he made, and probably with iron from the stars he made. He was, in dreadful irony, nailed to a cross by angry, jealous, vengeful men. He chose the death, and also took up His life later. He cried in pain, but he never cried in vengeance. He said 'Father forgive'. His death and resurrection are supremely empowering for those who understand it and partake of it. He does impart freedom, and his Kingdom will be perfect for all who come to Him.

Christ's Freedom

Christ has set us free from sin. It is sin which keeps us from experiencing real freedom. Men without Christ are under the power of sin and death. God is spring-loaded, by disposition, to love, to live, to give, to share of Himself, to the absolute maximum, to the limits. He is love. He is life. He is the resurrection. He conquered death. And he wants us to be living in this same spiritual place, actually living out of heaven. He reaches out to all mankind with these things.

He wants us to grow in wonder, in glory, in new life, in freshness, eternal freshness, eternal giving, eternal freedom. He wants to grant us a new heart, aligned with His purposes and yet leaving us fully ourselves, not suffocated or suppressed to any degree.

He has solve the freedom equation, and only He has. He want us to have this life, He doesn't need to be persuaded or nagged into this, it's His passionate desire. Sin gets in the way. Sin poisons everything to the very depths of our being. But He has provided the answer. Sin has been dealt with completely and totally. The price has been paid for all men. The answer, as always, is to believe. Accept the problem, agree with the answer. Again and again, as necessary.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

2 Corinthians 5:17

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

2 Corinthians 5:21

So reckon yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Romans 6:11

By faith, we can truly say we have died to sin. We have moved into freedom. We are free indeed, as the opening verse quoted tells us. The word 'reckon' in Romans 6v11 just quoted is an accounting term. It means 'ascribe correctly as true', and not 'try to persuade yourself and this might work'. To reckon, here, flows from believing. God has done it. To the uttermost.

Real freedom means you feel the sunlight of God's presence within, along with the messages of love He has left even in the present fallen creation. It means you have a supernatural love for God and others. Live from this; if you return to practicing sin these feelings will die and you will struggle to find your way back. When I got born again, I first experienced the freedom and presence of God. It was the most intense and yet the most restful experience I had ever had. Totally different, totally new.

How does our freedom work in relationship, in community? Before God? How can we do what we want and it still be right and good for everyone? 

God is community. It's His idea. God the Father and Christ are one, of one essential nature. To speak of the will of one is to speak of the will of the other. The same with the Holy Spirit, He is along fully too. Jesus in his mortal flesh had to complete and perfect this association on behalf of humanity by surrendering to the Father, in Gethsemane. Even Jesus struggled with this, when faced with what lay before Him. And He came through for us. Our freedom is that important to God. His love for us is that strong. He gave His Son. His Son yielded.

How, in outworking, in community, can Christ offer real freedom, freedom for as many as would come to Him?

The New Birth brings us into a God-orchestrated harmony with Himself. The astonishing thing is that He has also brought about a complete harmony with others, who have also been made new. He is author of a new societal peace and consonance. The Old Man where unbridled and selfish passions and conflicts reign, dies with Christ. We rise new with Him. The New Man is baptised into love, and into a community of love. Christ is the rightful King.

In each of our natural selves is someone like Guevara. A self-glorifying, self-absorbed, self-justifying, self-centred soul is in there, pretending to be pure and good. That soul is inflamed. It is self-righteous and hypocritical.

It is inflamed like yeast or leaven inflames bread. The leaven of the Jewish teachers was hypocrisy, as Jesus warned in Matthew 16. They taught what they did not do, and could not do. The world does that. Leaders demand their rules be honoured, but do not comply themselves. The whole world system of thinking is like a leaven which inflames people. The leaven with the Pharisees was hypocritical self-righteousness. But our natural desires are inflamed in many ways, this being just an example. Greed is natural appetite inflamed. Parts of us are too big, but not in a good way, like an inflamed internal organ. Less functional, not more. We are all, by ourselves, jostling for attention and resource in an insecure, strife-ridden, anxious way.

This utterly corrupt, inflamed soul is not a trivial problem, and so our soul, susceptible to the yeast of this world, must die. But we die in Christ when we come to Him, expressed in Baptism. He died on our behalf. He incurred the necessary penalty for us. Because He was God and Man, He could pay the price for everyone. He paid in kind, in quality, in His humanity. He paid in quantity because He was infinite God. The old man of sin is left behind, at the Cross, and in the waters of baptism. We rise with Christ to a new life, freed from sin!

So God has fixed absolutely everything for the meek, for those who come to Him. They shall inherit earth and heaven, because only they are genuinely worthy, fitted and suitable. Because they have allowed God to orchestrate the community of the redeemed, on Earth as in Heaven, and to perfect their salvation.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Matthew 5:5

The soul, as we have said, needs to die and to be reborn. Then God is in control. He is building a Kingdom. He is including you. He is fitting you in. He is working on your life, your desires, your thoughts, your emotions. The task has been completed in heaven, in our lives on Earth there is a process involved.

Which bit of you, in the here and now, still needs to change? You have already been born again (or need to be). But your mind needs to be renewed by changed thinking. You need to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. The intention of this blog is to help with that, acknowledging it is the Word of God which is the central part. If we are truly born again, we have been changed eternally into a new creature. Our body is the same though, for the remainder of the age, though God may heal and restore it. To reflect who we really are now, our minds need to function differently.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 12:1-2

In verse one, Paul tells us we must yield our bodies to God, to serve Him. In this life, that will require a conscious decision at times. In the age to come, it will be entirely natural. In verse two, he tells us how that is going to happen. We renew our minds, so we think how God thinks and not how this world thinks. There are profound differences. We go to the written Word, the Bible for the necessary input, and change our thinking according to the revelation and doctrine in it.

To use the crude analogy of programming an electronic device, when God programs everything there is harmony. If not, there is incompatibility, driver conflicts and suchlike.

God will not program our desires so those desires are unachievable. Neither will he do so in a manner which causes problems and frustrations for others. We may have to be patient, but He will not disappoint. God will not set our desires in a way which causes another believer to fall short or go short.

God has both abundant love, and intimate knowledge, fully encompassing the big picture. He has the means, the wisdom and the power. He will build His Kingdom how He wants it, and the citizens will be truly happy forever. Only pride keeps us locked out. Those who stubbornly resist God and stay in their prideful ways, refusing to repent and believe the Good News, will be in a disharmonious condition forever.

There is indeed no rest for the wicked, and without Christ, we are evil. Jesus didn't mince words. He told us our natural condition here:

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Matthew 7:11

There's common grace, we all do some good. Hitler was nice to his dog. But we are, without Him, evil. 

Once we are in the Kingdom, and once we have stayed the course and gone to Heaven, we will find the perfect completion of this freedom. Our desires will be our actions, our actions will be righteous. The inner conflicts will be gone, and so will the outer conflicts. We will experience the unity, joy and fulfillment the Father and Son experience.

We can taste these things now, if we walk closely with God, even in the presence of our enemies (Psalm 23).

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Galatians 5:22-24

The virtues Christ won for us come as a package deal. I said this at the start. We can't pick and choose, and stay with the program. We have to continue, surrendering more and more of our lives up and letting Him have His way. The end is rest and peace, true freedom, true joy. It won't always feel that way on the way, but it will start to manifest more and more and if we continue there will be a final consummation into the perfected Kingdom. There's really nowhere to go back to, as Peter realised.

Those who reject God, God will give over to the disharmony, the turmoil, the regret, the frustration.

Like the Father and the Son, we the redeemed will still be individuals. In fact we will have the only truly clear and solid personalities and identities among men. At the same time we will be harmonised within the community of the redeemed, constrained by love. We will do as we please, and yet it will please God and others! That is wonderful. It's life, love, peace and rest.