Prior Book | Prior Chapter | Prior Verse | Next Verse | Next Chapter | | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
NASB | Revelation 13:8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Revelation 13:8 All the inhabitants of the earth will fall down and worship him, everyone whose name has not been written since the foundation of the world in the Book of Life of the Lamb who has been slain [as a willing sacrifice]. |
Subject: Whose will causes a believer to sin? |
Bible Note: Good stuff, Joe. God ordains that good and ill work to His glory. As I understand free will, the one thing God can't ordain is our loving obedience. He can lead us to Him, but He deliberately can't make us love Him. He can search the heart (here Hezekia's): 2Ch 32:31 Even in the matter of the envoys of the rulers of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that had happened in the land, God left him alone only to test him, that He might know all that was in his heart." (NASB) He can search for the heart: 2Ch 16:9 "For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His." (NASB) He can harden the heart: Deu 2:30 "But Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing for us to pass through his land; for the LORD your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, in order to deliver him into your hand, as he is today." (NASB) Stir up the heart: Ezr 1:1,2 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying: "Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, 'The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah." (NASB) And give the gift of love to the heart: 1 John 4.19 "We love Him, because He first loved us." (KJV). But I can't find any scripture which says that God can make a heart to love Him. Nothing is impossible for God, except, it seems, this one thing. I conclude that He has deliberately limited His omnipotence in this amazing way: that love for Him is up to us. I think you phrase it correctly with, "God doesn't sin, but ordains "that" the wickedness of men and Satan...", the stress being on "that"; God doesn't ordain sin, but "that" sin be used and directed to His glory. Since He loves us, sin is one of His intruments; if He didn't love us, sin would be his handiwork. Love seems to be the answer at heart of the question whether God tempts to sin and ordains the commission of sin. Colin |