I changed my clocks today. Permanently.
Usually, when I visit family in different time zones I don’t change my watch. But today I set all of my clocks one hour ahead. I changed my computers to the Central Time Zone too. That was weird. We’re really here in Illinois now. It’s kind of surreal to know that, when I look west, I won’t see the mountains anymore and I’m not in the Mountain Time Zone anymore.
You know what? It is beautiful and I love it here!
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Consider all that God controls:
So as you can see from Scripture, there is no such thing as coincidence, no such thing as luck or chance, no such thing as accidents. God doesn’t just “allow” things to happen, he CAUSES them to happen. Think about the tsunami and Hurricane Katrina. Both directly caused by God. (Amos 4:7, 9, 10, 13) Think about Power Ball. Results directly caused by God. (Proverbs 16:33) Think about the last time you were thinking of a song and it played on the radio a minute later. Directly caused by God. Why? Why would God do that? The answer – the ONLY answer for that – is for His glory. How? I don’t know. But God only does anything for His own glory. If it doesn’t bring Him glory, it doesn’t happen.
Now, let me switch gears a moment. The other night you said: “If they’re chosen and predestined and elect anyway, why witness or be a missionary? They’ll still come to repentance and salvation whether we do what we are to do or not.”
Let me put it another way:
Jeremy: Bobby, do you vote?
Bobby: Yes.
Jeremy: Why?
Bobby: Well, because I want a particular candidate to win and my vote counts. I’ve heard of elections being won or lost by one vote and I don’t want that to happen based on my vote.
Jeremy: Well, according to Acts 17:26, God controls nations and their boundaries. And according to Romans 13:1, every ruler is also chosen and instituted by God. Really, the outcome of the election is already predetermined. So – why should you vote?
The answer is because in our democratic process in the USA, voting is how rulers are elected and God uses our votes to elect the particular ruler. In other countries he uses other methods. Either way, God is in control (according to Romans 13:1) of the outcome of the election. And get this: God is so sovereign that He even predestined in which precinct you would live and vote in this election (Acts 17:26). He predestined which voting booth you would choose, which ink pen you would use, and which ballot you would get (Proverbs 16:33). He also predetermined which little dot you would mark. You may think that this is your “free will” in action but, according to Scripture, it isn’t. Your vote and the outcome of the election is already in the bag. So, as I mentioned to you on Sunday – God doesn’t just predestine the end, He also predestines the means to that end.
This is exactly the same argument to election in salvation. God has already predetermined the outcome of each person’s decision in this life – the end as well as the means to that end. And all of this is BEFORE the world was even created! Check this out:
Rev. 3:5 – He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.
So, according to the Bible, if a name is written in the book of life it will never be blotted out. But…when are these names actually written in the book of life? Is it when they get saved?
Rev. 13:8 – all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world
Rev. 17:8 – The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished…
So a person’s name is not written in the Book of Life when they get saved but, instead, it was written before the world was ever created! How amazing is that?
And what happens to those whose names are in the book of life?
Rev. 3:5 says, “I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father.”
Rev. 21:23-27 – The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
They end up in heaven with Jesus! Praise the Lord!!! ONLY those whose names are in the book of life, written before the creation of the world, will be allowed to enter into the Holy City. But what happens to those whose names are NOT in the book of life?
Rev. 20:15 – If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Not a good end to those who’ve not been written in the Book of Life, huh?
OK – so I’ve used Scripture to show you. Now let’s use logic.
1. God is sovereign over everything in life including accidents, coincidences, and men’s “free” decisions.
2. God wrote names in the book of life before the creation of the world.
3. Names he wrote will never be blotted out.
4. If names are not there during the judgement, (a) God never did write them there in the first place [see points 2 and 3] and, (b) those people are thrown into the lake of fire.
So now I ask you: Being true to scripture and the Bible, does God predestine (elect) some people for salvation and others for damnation?
If you are still unsure, I have one more passage for you to read. I would ask that you read the entire passage of Romans 8 and 9 wearing these lenses I’ve just given you. But, the specific passage I want to point out is Romans 9:21-23. It says,
“Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory?”
In advance means “predestined”. He predestined some for destruction and predestined others for glory.
There is a great article online called “Election is Just Not Fair” that you may enjoy reading. Click Here
I hope we can discuss this more in the future. Thanks for taking the time to read this letter.
Sincerely,
Jeremy
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It’s Einstein’s fault, really. His theory of relativity from the early 1900’s has now gone from a theoretical model of how the universe operates to a post-modern view of a life with no absolutes (which is a contradiction in itself).
I’ve been through it once, but I’m about to begin going through “The Truth Project” again. If you haven’t heard about it, click the link on the right. You can go read about it there.
I will be posting my thoughts in this category on each of the twelve topics in the project. Feel free to comment. But if ANYONE says, “Hey, what’s true for you may not be true for someone else,” I will delete your comment. I believe in absolute Truth with a capital “T”. And this is simply reality as GOD sees it. I do not claim to know the Truth about everything – but I know that there is One who does. And I’m sure that He would delete your comment too!
So stay tuned for more.
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I’m tired. Sick and tired, actually.
I’ve lived in the city of Colorado Springs, Colorado for nearly two decades. It sits at the foot of Pikes Peak – a 14,000+ foot mountain in the front range of the Rocky Mountains. The scenery is beautiful. Gorgeous, actually. And if I could live in the mountains forever, I’d be a happy man. But the city itself is just another city. We have crime just like everyone else: murders, meth houses, rapes and robberies. I’ve watched it double in size in the short amount of time that I’ve been here. Urban sprawl is rampant as the city expands and makes many farmland-owning families rich as their once prosperous land is purchased for neighborhoods. So we’re moving – to southern Illinois.
Prior to 1991, I lived in Kansas. I was born and lived 11 years in Hutchinson and then ended up living for 7 years in Larned eventually graduating from Larned High School. When I lived there, I couldn’t wait to leave. Now that I’ve left, I can’t wait to return. Go figure.
Have you ever been on your way to a carnival or a water park and felt that excited knot in your stomach grow as you get closer and begin to see the Ferris wheel and smell the diesel fuel and funnel cakes? That is the feeling I get every time I drive through farmland. But Illinois is nothing like Kansas. Where the farmland of Kansas is relatively flat and treeless, farmland in Illinois has rolling hills and is heavily forested.
So, now that we know we’re moving, we’ll fill you in on the details as they come. But for now, at least we know that it’s the simple life for us.
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