Subject: Why does God love the world (us)? |
Bible Note: Good Morning Melanie, Before we leap back to Genesis, we probably should cover Acts 4. Acts 4:27-28 "For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur. This verse is not complicated. It states that all these wicked sinners were gathered together in Jerusalem and they were enemies of Christ. It also says that it was God who had predestined them to be there to do exactly what He intended them to do. The question is: if God is not the author of sin and He does not tempt men to sin, then, is the Bible contradicting itself? No. Of course not. Perhaps the story of Joseph and his brothers might shed some light on our apparent contradiction. Josephs brothers were intent upon getting rid of him. Their initial plan was to murder him but God used Benjamin to change their minds. In stead they sold him into slavery and the rest is history. It was God's plan all along to bless His people. Gen 50:20 "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive." You wrote: did God predestine Jesus’ dying (the lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world Rev 13:8) because: 1. He predestined Adam and Eve to disobey, thus the need for Jesus’ sacrifice or 2. He already knew from the beginning that Adam and Eve would disobey His commandment My answer would be No. 1 He predestined the Fall. If one believes that God is in absolute control of His creation how could it have happened otherwise? Were Adam and Eve free to obey God. Yes, they did as they chose. They meant it for evil but God meant it for good. This is a mystery that we probably will not be able to grasp on this side of Heaven. What about option No. 2, where God is seen looking down the corridors of time and seeing Adam and Eve fall into sin and align themselves against God on the side of the serpent. Could He not have changed things in such a way to prevent the Fall? Of couse He could have! "To declare that the Creator's original plan has been frustrated by sin, is to dethrone God. To suggest that God was taken by surprise in Eden and that He is now attempting to remedy an unforeseen calamity, is to degrade the Most High to the level of a finite, erring mortal. To argue that man is a free moral agent and the determiner of his own destiny, and that therefore he has the power to checkmate his Maker, is to strip God of the attribute of Omnipotence. To say that the creature has burst the bounds assigned by his Creator, and that God is now practically a helpless Spectator before the sin and suffering entailed by Adam's fall, is to repudiate the express declaration of Holy Writ, namely, "Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee: the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain" (Psa. 76:10). In a word, to deny the Sovereignty of God is to enter upon a path which, if followed to its logical terminus, is to arrive at blank atheism." "The Sovereignty of the God of Scripture is absolute, irresistible, infinite. When we say that God is Sovereign we affirm His right to govern the universe which He has made for His own glory, just as He pleases. We affirm that His right is the right of the Potter over the clay, i. e., that He may mold that clay into whatsoever form He chooses, fashioning out of the same lump one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor. We affirm that He is under no rule or law outside of His own will and nature, that God is a law unto Himself, and that He is under no obligation to give an account of His matters to any."(Arthur Pink, The Sovereignty of God) John |