Did God Ordain Evil?

evil9Article by Nicholas T. Batzig (original source men have wrestled with the problem of evil. The question, “How can a good and holy God allow evil to exist in the world that He created,” is one that demands an answer. Or, to ask the question more pointedly, “How can the good and holy God be sovereign over all things including evil?” In his 85th entry of the Miscellanies, Jonathan Edwards gave a most satisfying answer to this question. There, Edwards explained that God eternally decreed every action of men–including those that should be sinful–but that He decreed them, not for the sinfulness of them but for the good that would come from them. In this sense, we can say that all that God ordained was good. Edwards wrote:

That we should say, that God has decreed every action of men, yea, every action that they do that is sinful, and every circumstance of those actions; [that] He determines that they shall be in every respect as they afterwards are; [that] He determines that there shall be such actions, and so obtains that they shall be so sinful as they are; and yet that God does not decree the actions that are sinful as sinful, but decrees [them] as good, is really consistent. We do not mean by decreeing an action as sinful, the same as decreeing an action so that it shall be sinful; but by decreeing an action as sinful, I mean decreeing [it] for the sake of the sinfulness of the action. God decrees that it shall be sinful for the sake of the good that He causes to arise from the sinfulness thereof, whereas man decrees it for the sake of the evil that is in it.1

This is in complete harmony with what the Westminster Confession of Faith says about the eternal decrees of God: “God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass; yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established” (WCF 3.1). So, does God ordain evil? The answer is simultaneously an emphatic “Yes” and “No!” “Yes,” God is sovereign over all evil in the world in that He ordained all the actions of all fallen Angels and men; yet, He does not ordain the actions of fallen Angels and men as evil–though he ordained that they should become evil–but “for the sake of the good that He causes to arise from the sinfulness thereof.”

This leads to the second inevitable question, namely, “What is that good for which God ordained actions so that they should be sinful?” The ultimate good that arises from God ordaining all the actions of fallen Angels and men is the good of God getting glory by a display of His attributes. Edwards tackles this subject head on in his philosophical masterpiece, The End for Which God Ordained the World, by appealing to Romans 9:22-23. There the Apostle Paul wrote:

“What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory” (Rom. 9:22-23).

The Apostle explained that God does all that he does with regard to the eternal decree regarding the destinies of men in order to show forth the glory of His attributes. Those who remain in a state of wrath, God has secured for eternal judgment to show forth his justice. God is a just and holy God and will punish all evil. He does this either by imputing the sin of His people to His Son or by punishing the unregenerate in hell forever. In the latter case, God has ordained evil in order to show forth His wrath and power. This is the good for which God has ordained evil. In the case of the elect, God has reconciled them to Himself by punishing their sin on His Son. This is to display His mercy and grace in the face of their sin. In both cases, good is brought out of evil.

On Judgment Day, we will see clearly what we so struggle to see in the here and now. Augustine once put it so well when he said that there was just enough mercy in the world for us to know that God is merciful and just enough justice to know that God is just. On the Last Day, we will see the glorious good purposes for which God ordained the actions of all of His creatures–including those actions that would be evil.

7 Reasons Worshipers Need The Church

Article: by Jesse Johnson (original source but they don’t love the church. They don’t see why a worshiper needs the church at all. After all, can’t we just worship as individuals? Here is my response:

While it is true that everything a redeemed person does should be done with both an attitude of worship and with the goal of glorifying God, there remains a special and specific role for the gatherings of the local church.

For example, Paul tells Felix that while he used to worship by “going to Jerusalem,” now he worships “according to the Way, which some call a sect” (Acts 24:11, 17). In other words, Paul’s worship was in his heart, but in tune with the worship of other Christians.

This is exactly what was described earlier in Acts, when the church first started. Thousands were saved, and immediately became worshipers of the true God. That worship was evident in the fact that they “were continually devoting themselves” to meeting together (Acts 2:42). Acts 2:46 describes how this wonder and worship continued as they left the Lord’s Day gathering, but was fostered by their repeated meeting together (“in the temple” and “house to house”). Verse 47 describes how these meetings were marked by them “praising God.”

So how is a Christians’ worship fostered specifically in the gathered church? Clearly the Lord’s Day gatherings of the congregation are the focal point of corporate worship. The structure of the Pastoral Epistles highlights this. Worship is seen in the corporate gatherings because there, under the authority and leadership of the elders, the church takes on a life of prayer (1 Tim 2:8), work (v. 10), and instruction (v. 11). This is where the preaching of the word happens (1 Tim 5:17, 6:2; 2 Tim 4:2)). In that context, the elders lead the corporate gatherings which gives rise to the Lord’s Day worship service.

Scripture gives seven basic components of this corporate worship gathering (fellowship, the ordinances, Scripture reading, giving, prayer, singing, and most notably preaching). But it is assumed that all of these happen under the leadership of the elders, and together make up the corporate worship of the church.

Fellowship as corporate worship
The early church had their corporate worship service marked by fellowship (Acts 2:42). This fellowship grew out of the preaching of the “teaching of the word,” and was seen in the acts of the ordinances and prayer. When a congregation strives for holiness, their weekly gatherings for worship are marked by this “fellowship of light” (2 Cor 6:14). In fact, this corporate fellowship is an act of worship because it flows out of the union each individual Christian has with members of the trinity (Phil 2:1; 1 John 1:3 also ties this Trinitarian fellowship to the preaching of the word: “We proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”)

This fellowship is seen when likeminded believers, united in the pursuit of holiness, join together to celebrate what God is doing in their lives (1 John 1:6-7). It is in this context that the commands to mutually edifying speech become practical in how they create an atmosphere of worship (Rom 12:16, Col 3:9, Jas 4:11, 5:9). Continue reading

An Amillennialist Challenge to Historic Premillennialism

orion-nebula-new-image-from-hubbleArticle: An Amillennialist Challenge to Historic Premillennialism by J. Brandon Burks (original source I would like to consider what an Amillennialist might say to a Historic Premillennialist. That is, Wayne Grudem, Craig Blomberg, Douglas Moo, Jim Hamilton, Albert Mohler, John Piper, Randy Alcorn, or Thomas Schreiner (note: Schreiner has since returned to Amillenialism)? Perhaps in another post we can pose this question in reverse.

In good Van Tillian fashion, this post will use the insights of Sam Storms to deconstruct the Premillennialist position, and then G.K. Beale and others to offer an alternative understanding of Revelation 20:4.

Sam Storms gives six problematic beliefs that must necessarily accompany a Premillennialist view of end times. [For some back and forth on this, see Justin Taylor vs. Jim hamilton]. According to Storms, a Historic Premillennialist must necessarily believe:

1. That physical death will continue to exist beyond the time of Christ’s second coming (Rev. 20:7-10).

2. That the natural creation will continue, beyond the time of Christ’s second coming, to be subject to the curse imposed by the fall of man.

3. That the New Heavens and New Earth will not be introduced until 1,000 years subsequent to the return of Christ [not at His return].

4. That unbelieving men and women will still have the opportunity to come to saving faith in Christ for at least 1,000 years subsequent to his return.

5. That unbelievers will not be finally resurrected until at least 1,000 years subsequent to the return of Christ [though Scripture speaks of only one resurrection]

6. That unbelievers will not be finally judged and cast into eternal punishment until at least 1,000 years subsequent to the return of Christ.[1]

Storm concludes: “’So what is wrong with believing these things’, asks the premillennialist? What’s wrong is that these many things that premillennialists must believe (because of the way they interpret Scripture), the New Testament explicitly denies.”[2]

Having seen some of the potential problems with holding to a Historic Premillennialist position, G.K. Beale and others will offer an alternative position.

Revelation opens with these words: “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John.” The phrase “make known” is the aorist form of the Greek word ???????, and it comes in a context that makes allusions to Daniel 2:28-30, 45.[3] This is significant because the only places in the Bible where the clause “’revelation… God showed… what must come to pass… and he made known (???????)’ occur together is in Daniel 2 [LXX] and Revelation 1:1.”[4] Continue reading

Keeping Short Accounts

Article by Nick Batzig (original source GA in 1989. I was 12 years old. One of the first things that I distinctly remember about that beautiful, little secluded Island was the fact that we could walk into a store, write our name on a ledger and walk out with just about whatever we wanted in the store. I remember my dad and mom talking about needing to pay off their account at the hardware store every month. The owners and my parents both wanted to keep “short accounts.” It was a peculiar and fascinating experience for a boy who moved there from a major city in which that would have never happened. The population of the Island was small enough at that time for store owners to feel as if they could offer that service. Needless to say, it didn’t last long. Within a year or two, you could no longer do so. It is somewhat tragic that this practice isn’t part of our culture anymore, because it serves as an illustration of an important aspect of our spiritual life. In the Christian life, we are–as the Puritans used to say–to “keep short accounts with God and men.”

So, what do short accounts look like in the Christian life? Here are a few thoughts:

1. Confess Your Sins. Believers are people who confess their sin. That is part and parcel of what it means to be a Christian. If a man or woman, boy or girl, never confesses their sin, they reveal that they do not believe that they are sinners in need of a Savior. A true believer is one who has learned, by the work of the Holy Spirit, to say, “Will you please forgive me?” This is true in the vertical dimension of our relationship with God, first and foremost; and, it is true in the horizontal relationships we have with others. If we don’t confess our sin, we evidence that we are not sincere in our profession of faith in Christ. We must first confess our sins to the Lord. We learn this from Psalm 51, where David prays, “Against You and You only have I sinned” (Ps. 51:4). Even though David had sinned against Uriah, Bathsheba, both of their families, his family and all of Israel, he viewed his sin, first and foremost, as that which he committed against the Lord. It was sin because he broke God’s law. We too must first go to the Lord and then to others. When we go to others, but not to the Lord, we functionally act like the man or woman who goes to the priest in the confessional but not to God in heaven.

2. Confess Your Sins Particularly. The Westminster Confession of Faith has an intriguing statement about this in its chapter on repentance, where we read, “Men ought not to content themselves with a general repentance, but it is every man’s duty to endeavor to repent of his particular sins, particularly” (WCF 15.5). In short, we must never conclude that it is sufficient to confess that we are generally sinners or that we have generally sinned. When we confess our sin to God and men, we are to confess our sins specifically. We are to own the guilt of the particular sins that we have done. We are to examine our actions against the Law of God (i.e. the Ten Commandments) and confess the particular ways in which we have broken His law. My wife and I try to teach our boys to do this when they have sinned against one another. We teach them not to say, “I’m sorry.” Instead, we seek to teach them to say, “Will you please forgive me for doing x, y or z.” We also try to do so in our marriage. It is good for husbands to ask their wives to forgive them for sinful anger, for lack of gentleness, for lack of understanding, for pride, for laziness, for indifference, etc. Likewise, it is good for a wife to ask her husband to forgive her for all the ways that she has specifically failed to obey the Lord in her relation to him. Likewise, members of the church need to learn to confess particular sins to one another. When one member of the church has sinned against another, he or she needs to go to the offended party and seek out their forgiveness for what they have specifically done wrong. Sadly, this occurs quite infrequently in the family, in marriages and in the church.

3. Confess Your Sins Quickly. One of the sure signs that there is something out of alignment in your soul is that you do not go to the Lord and confess your sins as soon as you recognize that you have sinned against Him. Pride keeps us from uninhibited confession of sin. The same is true with regard to our relation to others. Like the disciples in the Garden, our flesh would rather sleep than engage in the spiritual work of prayer…especially when we have sinned. The Apostle Paul warned believers not to “let the sun go down” on sinful anger, because Satan will most certainly get a foothold in our relationships when we do so. We must learn to confess our sins quickly. Continue reading

Heaven When We Die?

in a somewhat condescending way, the long-standing belief among evangelicals that when Christians die they go to heaven. In one sense, this outcry is good and constructive. It is an understandable and much-needed response to the unbiblical gnosticism of some “fundamentalist” Christians who denigrate material creation, diminish the reality of a future bodily resurrection, and fail to reckon with the centrality in God’s redemptive purpose of the New Heavens and especially the New Earth.

So, is my answer to the question posed in the title, No? Not quite. My answer is: Immediately, Yes. Eternally, No. Or again, to simplify, when a Christian dies he/she immediately passes into the conscious presence of Christ in heaven. But when the day of resurrection arrives, he/she will be given a new and glorified body in which all of God’s people will live and flourish on the New Earth (of Revelation 21-22).

What we’re talking about is known as the intermediate state, that period and/or experience of the individual believer between (hence, “intermediate”) the time of physical death and bodily resurrection. The biblical evidence for the intermediate state is unmistakable: see 2 Cor. 5:6-9; Phil. 1:21-24; Luke 16:19-31; Heb. 12:22-24; Rev. 6:9-11 (and perhaps 1 Thess. 4:13-18). Our focus here is 2 Corinthians 5:6-9. But first, a brief word about 2 Corinthians 5:1-5 is in order.

In these verses Paul speaks of his desire to be alive when Christ returns, for then he would not have to die physically and experience the separation of body and spirit, a condition he refers to as being “naked” (v. 3) or “unclothed”. Paul’s perspective on life and death may therefore be put in this way: It is good to remain alive on this earth to serve Christ (Phil. 1:21a,22a,24-26). On the other hand, it is better to die physically and enter into the presence of Christ (2 Cor. 5:6-8; Phil. 1:21b,23). However, it is by far and away best to be alive when Christ returns, for then we avoid death altogether and are immediately joined with the Lord in our resurrected and glorified bodies.

According to 2 Cor. 5:3, if the believer remains alive until Christ returns she will be found by the Lord clothed with a body (the present, earthly one), and not in a disembodied state. To be without a body is to be “naked” and thus in a very important sense unnatural and less than ideal. Clearly, Paul envisaged a state of disembodiment between physical death and the general resurrection (cf. “unclothed” in v. 4). Verse 4 I take to be an expanded repetition of v. 2.

We now turn our attention to 2 Corinthians 5:6-9. There Paul writes:

“So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him” (2 Cor. 5:6-9).

Note first of all the contrast set forth in vv. 6 and 8. The contrast is not primarily between two modes of human existence, as if one is in the body and one out of the body (although this is a valid contrast); nor is the contrast primarily that between two possible relationships to the Lord: one with the Lord and one away from the Lord (although again this is valid enough in itself). Paul’s primary contrast is between two successive spheres of Christian residence or existence: now in the body and then with the Lord. The major point, therefore, is that life now in the body is to be followed immediately by life then with Christ.

IN the body = ABSENCE from the Lord
OUT OF the body = PRESENCE with the Lord

As one must be either in or out of his body (for there is no third alternative), so he must either be absent from or present with the Lord (for there is no third alternative). In 2 Cor. 5:1-5 Paul has shown that physical death means the loss of bodily existence. Here he explains what this entails for the Christian. There are but two possible modes of existence for us: if we are physically alive and in our bodies we are absent from Christ / if we die physically and leave our bodies we are present with Christ. The two experiences are mutually exclusive. Departure from mortal corporeality on earth marks the beginning of residence with the Lord in heaven. Continue reading

Romans with Steve Lawson

Dr. Steve Lawson is conducting a (men’s) Bible study through Romans on Thursday mornings and is livestreaming it. You can catch up with two of the studies and join in at his site OnePassion Ministries.

I am not sure if the first study is available, but Romans 1:8-13 can be found here.

v. 14-16 can be found here.

How Not To Preach Boring

bible-preaching-300x207Article by David Qaoud (Original source but one of the highlights from my first semester at Covenant Theological Seminary was hearing Kevin DeYoung give a series of lectures on preaching. Several seminary students and I got to listen to DeYoung speak live in our chapel. And then we got to spend time with him after his lectures for a more personalized “Q&A” session on preaching. The insights that he gave on preaching are things I’m still thinking about today.

In this article, I’ll give you some of those insights. I took a lot of notes in Evernote as DeYoung spoke. Admittedly, the notes are a bit sloppy, sporadic, and at times abrupt. But that’s the nature of note-taking during a live speaker.

With that in mind, the notes have been edited for space and clarity. But none of DeYoung’s thoughts have been altered. You can find the notes below.

Practical Preaching Advice from Kevin DeYoung

“The title of my lectures are, ‘How Not to Preach Boring.’”

“The seven points in my lecture today are veracity, clarity, specificity, ingenuity, authenticity, spontaneity, and authority.”

1. Veracity

“Read God’s Word, and spend some time giving people the accurate meaning of it.”

“Your best content from preaching should be things you learned and discovered in preparation from studying the text. Not from stories or personal testimonies, but from the text.”

“What gets John Piper excited the most is what he sees in the text. What should get you the most excited is what you see in the text.”

“You’re going to burn yourself out if you’re constantly trying to have your best stuff derive from jokes and stories. You should be consumed by the text.”

“Aim first to be a congregational preacher, not a conference preacher.”

“People should have to hold and open their Bibles while you preach.”

“The preacher is at his best when he’s closest to the text.”

2. Clarity

“After veracity, clarity is king.”

“The goal in preaching is not to be thought as clever and smart, but to be understood.”

“Simplicity is the best sign of a good teacher.”

“Art makes bad preaching. Movies make bad preaching. Poetry makes bad preaching. Why? Because there’s too much subtly. They’re great, but it’s not preaching. Preaching should be simple and clear.”

“There can be drama and subtly within the sermon, but you must land in a place that is crystal clear and understandable.”

Quotes Alistair Begg: “Read yourself full. Write yourself clear. Pray yourself hot. Preach yourself empty.”

“Don’t leave it to Sunday morning to make your points clear.”

Quotes C.S. Lewis: “You are not brilliant if you can’t make your brilliant ideas understood.”

“Ask yourself this: ‘Is your sermon a laser or a mist?’”

“Pray for clarity, especially when you don’t want it. The early church prayed that they would preach the Word with boldness. I would have thought that they would have prayed for a change in circumstances.”

“Boldness in preaching is not bravado or arrogance or decimals. Boldness is the ability to be clear in the face of fear. And that’s what you have to do as a preacher.”

“So find out what the passage says, and say it as clear as possible.”

3. Specificity

“We have to be mindful of who is in front of us when preaching. The people who you’re preaching to are all not like you.”

“We tend to preach to our struggles and to the kind of people who are like us.”

“There is no substitute for knowing your people.”

“There is no other place than I would rather preach than my home church.”

“There’s some value in knowing the culture. It is of some value, but it is of much less value than knowing the people you’re preaching to on Sundays.” Continue reading

Heart Detox

Text: Ephesians 4:31-5:2

The human heart, deceitful above all things, is also capable of unbridled malice and bitterness with the resultant bad fruit of rage, anger, slander and vengeance. This should not be the case, especially for those who have received such great mercy from God. But how exactly are we to rid ourselves of this simmering, poisonous venom inside? Here’s how…