In the Old Testament when men were “cast off”, they thought of wrath. Also when circumstances fell upon them like, God hiding His face, drowning waters, darkness, desertification, drunkenness, blindness, etc., they thought of wrath. As it was then, so it is now… but it is important to note: such experiences are, by biblical definition, for salvific repentance and reprobating damnation, for good and evil, undergone by saved and reprobated men, and all the while as these men walk their pilgrimage, there are simultaneous and contradicting emotional desires wrestling in the heart of God.
We need to understand how these curses operate in their phases prior to falling so that we might be kept from falling, because if we do fall, as long as we remain in a fallen condition before God – we would be under the aim of God’s weapons of damnation (“the instruments of death”-Ps.7:13), and without recovery therefrom, the operation of damnation that has then begun will take us into eternity. Thus, I beg you that you would hear me, my reader. I know this is hard for you to hear or comprehend. You would say, “What about God’s chastening of us as sons? Isn’t a backslider’s chastisement done with a Father’s heart toward us, and our suffering therein, isn’t it redemptive and remedial to us, not for our condemnation but rather our salvation?” Please follow with me as we go through this matter in this order:
- A Biblical Study of God’s Fatherly Chastisement
- The Wrath of Jesus Christ
The Paradigm of Parental Chastisement
The ROD of chastisement was used upon Israel, as seen in the former volume, because they had backslid (read specifically in the chapters titled, “Have You Discerned Your "Day" & "Time"”(chapter 16), “A Biblical Study of Spiritual Infancy” (chapter 17) [for proper context please read chapters 16 & 17 in order, back-to-back] and “The Goodness of God Leadeth Thee to Repentance”). They became an “evil” “fool”, “void of understanding” (Prov. 20:30, 17:19, 26:3, 10:13) like all once-born sons of Adam are from their birth (Prov. 13:24, 22:15, 23:13-14, 29:15), when formerly, before their backsliding, they were righteous, wise, and full of the knowledge of God. In such a circumstance as this, there is a Divine remedy, namely the ROD of chastisement. When it is spiritually administered by God the Father to Israel, its effect has the same potential and promise as in the earthly scenario, father to son. Chastisement is, in both cases, a means of grace - a holy instrument by which God will interrupt and suppress the course and chaos of depravity, making room for heartfelt conviction and eventual salvation. Though the earthly scenario, father to son, is a similitude of the heavenly scenario of God the Father’s chastisement of Israel (2 Sam. 7:14, Ps. 89:32), the two are not synonymous. The vertical and horizontal scenarios have similarities (Heb. 12:5-10, Rev. 3:19), yes, but also stark differences and astonishing contradictions! The similarity between the two is simple to understand: the chastisement-exercise of both scenarios is one of hope and promise that the beating-ROD will break the pride of rebellion and establish repentance, therefore chastening is, in this situation, a means for the recovery of backsliders, or, a means which empowers present-progressive repentance and sanctification in faithful believers, and thus, chastening is meant to be a redemptive process. In this vein, chastening is an experience of the privileged: God’s sons and daughters. However, my reader, do you remember the stark differences and astonishing contradictions which exist between the two scenarios - “God-to-man” and “man-to-man” chastisement?
Do you remember how Job cried out, “Let Him take His ROD away from me, and let not His fear terrify me” (Job. 9:34)? Remember how the beating ROD was, for him, an instrument of destruction and tearing (Job. 19:10, 21:9, 16:9)? Yes, my reader, God was moved by wrath, Divine hatred, and spiritual enmity against His servant Job (Job. 19:11, 16:9, 13:24), and being thus minded, the Lord beat with the rod! And Job, whelmed by spiritual darkness, knew that God had hidden His face (Job. 13:24, 19:7-8). Their vertical friendship which was once so warm (Job 29:2-5) took a stark color change! When such opposition ensued, such “God-to-man” contradiction, their relationship took the appearance of spiritual war! Job, running scared, felt chased by Divinely-commissioned archers; he, overwhelmed and surrounded by them, felt as if no one cared; he, without escape and nowhere to flee, was shot at mercilessly; thus he, being arrow-stabbed and heart-pierced (see Job 16:13, 19:11), was Divinely-doomed to agony! Yes, my reader, according to scripture this is “God-to-man” chastisement! Do you agree?
David, Jeremiah, and Moses didn’t disagree. Apprehensive and fearful of “God to man” chastisement, David lamented… will you? Or are you more holy than David? Are you in need of less Divine-chastisement than him? David, under Divine-chastisement, was frightened by God’s “anger” and “hot displeasure” because it was bringing him to the point of weakness, wounds, and bone-vexation (Ps. 6:1-2)! David’s personal experience with God’s chastisement was, like Job’s, an inescapable hunt which ended in the same agonizing press. David cried out to God, “Thine arrows stick fast in me, and Thy hand presseth me sore” (Ps. 38:1)! To Job, David, Jeremiah, and Moses, chastisement was a matter of life and death (Ps. 119:77), a situation of Divine-anger which had the potential to bring men to nothing (Jer. 10:24)! What do you think about when you consider God’s Fatherly chastisement? Do you think of such incapacitating beatings as these biblical potentials heretofore described? Or are you interpreting God’s Parenting, “God-to-man”, to be like man’s parenting, “man-to-man”, forcing them to be exactly the same? Are you confining God’s Parenting with the same boundaries, possibilities, and potentials which are humanly acceptable, denying that ulterior realities are possible, “God-to-man”? If so, you are subverting the scripture with your own philosophy of parenting!
My reader, what hinders you from accepting the scriptural description of “God to man” chastisement? Do you think God is a “monster” of a Person now, and you are, rather, a good parent? My reader, remember, God gives better gifts than you, is more merciful than you, and He killed His Son to provide a means whereby He might not kill us, but nevertheless, just as God gives better gifts than us, He chastens better than us! This means, He delivers chastisement-blows of harder, more precise, life-threatening power, which have, as you can see, become terrifyingly famous throughout history. As for God the Father, whether it be the goodness of His blessing, or, the severity of His wrath, whether it be the compassion of His condescension and humility, or, the overpowering fierceness of His punishment; my reader, “if ye then, being evil,” know how to “give good gifts” to your children, and also, “if ye then, being evil,” know how to demand “reverence” from your children by the severity of chastisement and “correction” you deliver, “how much more” mature, superior, infinitely perfect, and trustworthy is God’s Parenting in both veins, and, “shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live” (see Matt. 7:11 & Heb. 12:9)? When God said of us that we are parents – comparatively “evil” – when in the light of God’s Parenting, He means to explain that our parenting philosophies are stinking with depravity, are twisted with corruption, that they are inferior in fatherly compassion and fatherly chastening. He means to show us that we would never “love mercy” or “do justly” like as He does, and therefore we need to learn of Him, His ways, and “walk humbly with [our] God” (Micah 6:8).
My reader, the experience of chastisement which Job underwent as an individual, it was not for him alone. ALL OF ISRAEL, as a nation, went through the same exact experience word-for-word when and if they provoked God into the final phase of chastisement (see Leviticus 26:27-39). The experience of Job was parallel to the experience of backslidden Israel (see Lamentations 2:4-5, 3:2-3, 7-13, 42-43, 47)! Jeremiah also, he confirmed it (Jer. 30:11-14)… only this time, for Israel, God’s beating-ROD is the Assyrian and Babylonian armies (Isa. 10:5, 15, 24, Micah. 6:9). This time, God’s son is the whole nation of Israel. Thus according to scripture, the chastisement which can and is experienced individually can also be experienced corporately or nationwide.
As we have in former chapters exhaustively addressed the near annihilation of God’s people in the Captivities (“The Near Annihilation of God’s People”, “I Am Weary With Repenting”, “Mercy On Whom I Will Have Mercy”), we can understand that this chastisement was one of condemnation and salvation, hatred and mercy, but only those who survived it were redeemed by it. Not all chastening is a condemning stroke from God’s ROD. Remember how there were four phases of wrath which went before this fifth phase, all of which were not of the intensity of the fifth phase. When the first four phases of wrath were not responded to, and sin remained yet un-surrendered, the flames of wrath which burned against sin did turn upon the people who held it dear. The five phases increasingly intensified until, alas, this final end! – plagues of damning force fall upon backsliders, but nevertheless let us take note: with every increase of force in each phase of chastisement (from 1-to-2 or 3-to-4), with the increase of phase there is an increase of Divine-plague, but this is manifest because there is an increase in the wrath of Jesus Christ.
Do you remember how Job cried out, “Let Him take His ROD away from me, and let not His fear terrify me” (Job. 9:34)? Remember how the beating ROD was, for him, an instrument of destruction and tearing (Job. 19:10, 21:9, 16:9)? Yes, my reader, God was moved by wrath, Divine hatred, and spiritual enmity against His servant Job (Job. 19:11, 16:9, 13:24), and being thus minded, the Lord beat with the rod! And Job, whelmed by spiritual darkness, knew that God had hidden His face (Job. 13:24, 19:7-8). Their vertical friendship which was once so warm (Job 29:2-5) took a stark color change! When such opposition ensued, such “God-to-man” contradiction, their relationship took the appearance of spiritual war! Job, running scared, felt chased by Divinely-commissioned archers; he, overwhelmed and surrounded by them, felt as if no one cared; he, without escape and nowhere to flee, was shot at mercilessly; thus he, being arrow-stabbed and heart-pierced (see Job 16:13, 19:11), was Divinely-doomed to agony! Yes, my reader, according to scripture this is “God-to-man” chastisement! Do you agree?
David, Jeremiah, and Moses didn’t disagree. Apprehensive and fearful of “God to man” chastisement, David lamented… will you? Or are you more holy than David? Are you in need of less Divine-chastisement than him? David, under Divine-chastisement, was frightened by God’s “anger” and “hot displeasure” because it was bringing him to the point of weakness, wounds, and bone-vexation (Ps. 6:1-2)! David’s personal experience with God’s chastisement was, like Job’s, an inescapable hunt which ended in the same agonizing press. David cried out to God, “Thine arrows stick fast in me, and Thy hand presseth me sore” (Ps. 38:1)! To Job, David, Jeremiah, and Moses, chastisement was a matter of life and death (Ps. 119:77), a situation of Divine-anger which had the potential to bring men to nothing (Jer. 10:24)! What do you think about when you consider God’s Fatherly chastisement? Do you think of such incapacitating beatings as these biblical potentials heretofore described? Or are you interpreting God’s Parenting, “God-to-man”, to be like man’s parenting, “man-to-man”, forcing them to be exactly the same? Are you confining God’s Parenting with the same boundaries, possibilities, and potentials which are humanly acceptable, denying that ulterior realities are possible, “God-to-man”? If so, you are subverting the scripture with your own philosophy of parenting!
My reader, what hinders you from accepting the scriptural description of “God to man” chastisement? Do you think God is a “monster” of a Person now, and you are, rather, a good parent? My reader, remember, God gives better gifts than you, is more merciful than you, and He killed His Son to provide a means whereby He might not kill us, but nevertheless, just as God gives better gifts than us, He chastens better than us! This means, He delivers chastisement-blows of harder, more precise, life-threatening power, which have, as you can see, become terrifyingly famous throughout history. As for God the Father, whether it be the goodness of His blessing, or, the severity of His wrath, whether it be the compassion of His condescension and humility, or, the overpowering fierceness of His punishment; my reader, “if ye then, being evil,” know how to “give good gifts” to your children, and also, “if ye then, being evil,” know how to demand “reverence” from your children by the severity of chastisement and “correction” you deliver, “how much more” mature, superior, infinitely perfect, and trustworthy is God’s Parenting in both veins, and, “shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live” (see Matt. 7:11 & Heb. 12:9)? When God said of us that we are parents – comparatively “evil” – when in the light of God’s Parenting, He means to explain that our parenting philosophies are stinking with depravity, are twisted with corruption, that they are inferior in fatherly compassion and fatherly chastening. He means to show us that we would never “love mercy” or “do justly” like as He does, and therefore we need to learn of Him, His ways, and “walk humbly with [our] God” (Micah 6:8).
My reader, the experience of chastisement which Job underwent as an individual, it was not for him alone. ALL OF ISRAEL, as a nation, went through the same exact experience word-for-word when and if they provoked God into the final phase of chastisement (see Leviticus 26:27-39). The experience of Job was parallel to the experience of backslidden Israel (see Lamentations 2:4-5, 3:2-3, 7-13, 42-43, 47)! Jeremiah also, he confirmed it (Jer. 30:11-14)… only this time, for Israel, God’s beating-ROD is the Assyrian and Babylonian armies (Isa. 10:5, 15, 24, Micah. 6:9). This time, God’s son is the whole nation of Israel. Thus according to scripture, the chastisement which can and is experienced individually can also be experienced corporately or nationwide.
As we have in former chapters exhaustively addressed the near annihilation of God’s people in the Captivities (“The Near Annihilation of God’s People”, “I Am Weary With Repenting”, “Mercy On Whom I Will Have Mercy”), we can understand that this chastisement was one of condemnation and salvation, hatred and mercy, but only those who survived it were redeemed by it. Not all chastening is a condemning stroke from God’s ROD. Remember how there were four phases of wrath which went before this fifth phase, all of which were not of the intensity of the fifth phase. When the first four phases of wrath were not responded to, and sin remained yet un-surrendered, the flames of wrath which burned against sin did turn upon the people who held it dear. The five phases increasingly intensified until, alas, this final end! – plagues of damning force fall upon backsliders, but nevertheless let us take note: with every increase of force in each phase of chastisement (from 1-to-2 or 3-to-4), with the increase of phase there is an increase of Divine-plague, but this is manifest because there is an increase in the wrath of Jesus Christ.
The Wrath of Jesus Christ
These days “we are so learned”, we suppose that we know all there is to know about the doctrines of grace, or, the love of Christ, or, the sufficiency of Christ’s Person and Work, but how much do we know about Christ’s wrath? It is written, “Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them tempted, and were destroyed of serpents” (1 Cor. 10:9). The inspired writer forewarns us, sin incites the wrath of Christ. We are warned of the wrath of Christ, yes, but more specifically how that, when it is kindled to a certain vehemence, Jesus Christ has, does, and will lay hold upon a Divine-judgment whereby He will destroy those who tempt Him. Therefore just as we are looking at the differing phases and degrees of Divine-plague and Divine-curse, we need to understand how this is proportionately connected to the emotional fluctuation of God’s heart. Did not the psalmist also forewarn us of this grave matter: not the love of Christ only but the anger of Christ, and how that when “His wrath is kindled but a little” men do “perish from the way” (Ps. 2:11-12)!? God’s says this is Zion’s King, the ruler of God’s holy hill (Ps. 2:6), and should not the citizens of Zion beware? Jesus Christ is our King, and “a King that sitteth in the Throne of Judgment who scattereth away evil with his eyes” (Prov. 20:8), yes, and we have long-stood before His eyes with flagrant evils left un-scattered. Therefore, I say, necessity is laid upon us – we need to understand how, why, and in what operations Jesus Christ is angry!
“Wherefore [Jesus Christ] is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him,
seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” – Heb. 7:25
seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” – Heb. 7:25
Christ, who ever-liveth to make intercession for the saints, insists an unavoidable conclusion that we need to reckon with: God’s wrath ever-liveth, being kindled, because the sinning saints are ever-aggravating it to surmount salvific mercies unto just retributions, but, nevertheless, Christ ever-liveth to stand in between US and IT, to pacify it, in heaven by Himself and on earth within His brethren (Rom. 8:26-27), except when, alas, Christ Himself is tempted against us! NOTE: The ever-living intercession of Christ is a reality of an OT shadow, when Moses interceded for forty days and nights without ceasing, having no leisure or idle time, no, not so much as to eat or drink, because his employment of intercession was before so great a pummeling force of destruction which nigh overflowed (Ex. 32-34, Deut. 4-5). Yes, my reader, the sinfulness of saints before the holiness of God, as seen in the Old Testament, is the same scenario of salvation for us in the New Testament (take heed my brethren that it is written, we should give “the more earnest heed” [Heb.2:1] to God’s retributive wrath toward us in the New Covenant, much more than in the Old Covenant: the book of Hebrews laid for the argument, “Let us therefore” [Heb.4:1], and, “Of how much sorer punishment” [Heb.10:29], and, “much more shall not we escape” [Heb.12:25]). But when one does not recognize the NT applications of these OT shadows, he falls prey to the peace-preaching devices of false prophets! Christ – the Second Person of the Godhead – is able to intercede before God’s actual abode! Not at Sinai, but the most holy Mountain of Heaven, and not before a mere 40 day anger, but an ever-enduring fire, and He, being so much greater than Moses, is not entangled with the human necessities or affairs (i.e. eating, drinking, or sleeping). With this in mind my reader, think of it! Christ, the very embodiment of mercy, our nail-pierced, merciful, and great High Priest, whose scars remain upon His hands even now – this Christ – my reader, does warn us that, we BETTER-NOT-TEMPT-HIM! Did you know “the destroyers” of the OT are reckoned as NT realities, in their own right? [For more information see “The Near Annihilation of God’s People”, “Tracing Hebrews”, and “The Prophet Like Unto Moses” – a sermon.]
In consideration of so grave a prospect – the wrath of Christ – we need to understand its differing degrees of fury and how they operate differing phases of Divine-plague, according to New Covenant situations. In such a study, the following subjects are of relevance:
In consideration of so grave a prospect – the wrath of Christ – we need to understand its differing degrees of fury and how they operate differing phases of Divine-plague, according to New Covenant situations. In such a study, the following subjects are of relevance:
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5) The Instrumentality of Demonic Spirits
6) God’s Love Interrupted = Promises Breached God’s Love Restored = Promises Restored Slipping => Non-Damnable Wrath 7) God’s Love Wrestling With Wrath and the Intercessors Relevancy Blessings and Curses / Wrath Pacified and Wrath Kindled / Sins Forgiven and Sins Marked 8) The Earth & Heaven Interconnectedness of Courtroom Appeals and Legal Transactions The Priesthood of All Believers The Saint’s Responsibility in Preaching The Saint’s Responsibility in the Priesthood |
The Instrumentality of Demonic Spirits
Like the physical alien armies which would invade, oppress, and take Israel captive during certain phases of chastisement, the invaders of the NT dispensation are satanic spirits, or, alien armies of temptation which lead into the oppression and captivity of actual sins committed. These temptations or actual sins increasingly intensify, to the agony of soul and body, and devils are connected to this process of chastening as it intensifies more and more. This is how God uses devils as an instrument – a ROD – just like God used heathen armies for OT Israel. This rod of chastisement delivers NT Christians over into drunkenness, darkness & the spirit of sleep, desertification, and adulterous rioting etc. When grace for perseverance is taken away from the regenerate man, then suddenly, he is overtaken by the instruments of death and affliction, and, God willing, the man is thereby brought to repentance quickly, long before he ever comes near to absolute captivity into sin and the final result – excommunication. This means, when the light of God’s face begins to dim, or when you get just a bit soul-sluggish and sleepy, or just a little desert-dry and weary, or just a little flirtatious with worldly lusts, then turn to God with HASTE – turn at His chastening – and by God’s grace it will go no further. But if you persist without responding in repentance, then the lashes of the rod increase with strength, intensifying the pain of every blow, and the demon spirits are those forces which will inflict these horrid spiritual conditions: drunkenness (Isa. 19:14, Micah 2:10-11), darkness & the spirit of sleep (Isa. 29:9-10, Eph. 6:12, 2 Cor. 4:3-6), desertification (Luke 10:19), adulteries (Hos. 4:12, 5:4, 1 Tim. 4:1, James 4:7), etc.
God’s Love Interrupted = Promises Breached
God’s Love Restored = Promises Restored
God’s Love Restored = Promises Restored
Reckoning the Implications:
According to scripture, when the force of salvation (the law of Life) is interrupted by the force of damnation (the law of sin), the love of God is interrupted by an operation of God’s wrath. At such an interruption: the Fatherly, salvific, familial love of God toward His children is interrupted; the same love which is the source of our faith and perseverance, and therefore, justifiably so, we are left to the devices of our own iniquity. God’s saving love toward man is confirming (1 Cor. 1:8-9), of present-progressive vitality for salvific obedience (2 Thess. 2:16-17), the origin and hope of salvation begun and salvation persevered (1 Jn. 4:19, Rom. 5:8-10, John 5:19-20, 13:1, 15:8-17, 17:6, 12, 14, 21-26), but love interrupted or love withheld means, God’s promises of our perseverance are partially interrupted or altogether withheld. The oaths of God’s promise are verbal expressions of God’s active love toward us, His children, and if they are interrupted then, verily, the loving relationship God has toward us as Father, and we, His dear children, is interrupted in proportion to the breaches made (breaches which can be partial and entire, depending on the state of the saint: whether slipping, fallen, or reprobate). 2 Corinthians 6:17-7:1 & 1 Peter 1:14-17 are clear affirmations that the promised relationship of God towards us as Father, and we His dear children, exists within the Covenant agreement as all other promises: as those which are bound with conditions (conditions which warn that, upon transgression, the promises will be breached in proportion to the transgression of the saint [i.e. slipping, fallen, or reprobate]).
- God’s Love: the source of our faith and perseverance.
- God’s Promises: oaths of devotion to and faithfulness in, the Covenant of God’s saving love in Christ; God’s faithfulness which makes us faithful to Him, and, God’s love which causes us to love Him.
- Breaches: God’s saving love is partially or entirely withheld, depending on the condition of the man (slipping, fallen, or reprobate).
According to scripture, when the force of salvation (the law of Life) is interrupted by the force of damnation (the law of sin), the love of God is interrupted by an operation of God’s wrath. At such an interruption: the Fatherly, salvific, familial love of God toward His children is interrupted; the same love which is the source of our faith and perseverance, and therefore, justifiably so, we are left to the devices of our own iniquity. God’s saving love toward man is confirming (1 Cor. 1:8-9), of present-progressive vitality for salvific obedience (2 Thess. 2:16-17), the origin and hope of salvation begun and salvation persevered (1 Jn. 4:19, Rom. 5:8-10, John 5:19-20, 13:1, 15:8-17, 17:6, 12, 14, 21-26), but love interrupted or love withheld means, God’s promises of our perseverance are partially interrupted or altogether withheld. The oaths of God’s promise are verbal expressions of God’s active love toward us, His children, and if they are interrupted then, verily, the loving relationship God has toward us as Father, and we, His dear children, is interrupted in proportion to the breaches made (breaches which can be partial and entire, depending on the state of the saint: whether slipping, fallen, or reprobate). 2 Corinthians 6:17-7:1 & 1 Peter 1:14-17 are clear affirmations that the promised relationship of God towards us as Father, and we His dear children, exists within the Covenant agreement as all other promises: as those which are bound with conditions (conditions which warn that, upon transgression, the promises will be breached in proportion to the transgression of the saint [i.e. slipping, fallen, or reprobate]).
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“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” - 2 Corinthians 6:17-7:1
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For more information which proves the veracity of the above statement, please see “Christian Perfection” (sermon), “Worthiness” (sermon), &“The NT Gospel Call to Worthiness” (chapter 22).
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“As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:” - 1 Peter 1:14-17
My reader, think of it! Sin pertaining to holiness, purity, and cleanliness are so grave and abominable, they can interrupt the affection of this most sacred bond – God the Father to redeemed humanity, His sons and daughters. For this reason it was written, “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life” (Jude 1:21), and, “Looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God” (Heb. 12:15), for indeed there is a responsibility commanded of saints that they believe once and continue to believe, and upon the interruption of faith which consequences the deeds of wrath-provoking sin, there is an interruption of the salvific love of God, and this also means that there is a breaching of the promises of God. To what degree wrath breaks forth is dependent upon the state of the saint (his faith and sin at hand). As God beholds the saint in the differing positions a saint can exist (i.e. if he is slipping [in 4 phases], falling [in 10 provocations], or reprobate), the means of intercession which are available do proportionately fluctuate (and intercession is breach-filling and promise-restoring). The means of intercession do proportionately fluctuate because the power and forcefulness of wrath is fluctuating – and in this fluctuation there is also a wrestling. A wrestling takes place within the heart of God, wrath-against-love and love-against-wrath, as all the variables of the process do change. This happens now, in the New Covenant, according to the mysterious wrestling in the heart of God seen written by the prophet Hosea, “Mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together” (Hos. 11:8-9).
My reader, think of it! Sin pertaining to holiness, purity, and cleanliness are so grave and abominable, they can interrupt the affection of this most sacred bond – God the Father to redeemed humanity, His sons and daughters. For this reason it was written, “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life” (Jude 1:21), and, “Looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God” (Heb. 12:15), for indeed there is a responsibility commanded of saints that they believe once and continue to believe, and upon the interruption of faith which consequences the deeds of wrath-provoking sin, there is an interruption of the salvific love of God, and this also means that there is a breaching of the promises of God. To what degree wrath breaks forth is dependent upon the state of the saint (his faith and sin at hand). As God beholds the saint in the differing positions a saint can exist (i.e. if he is slipping [in 4 phases], falling [in 10 provocations], or reprobate), the means of intercession which are available do proportionately fluctuate (and intercession is breach-filling and promise-restoring). The means of intercession do proportionately fluctuate because the power and forcefulness of wrath is fluctuating – and in this fluctuation there is also a wrestling. A wrestling takes place within the heart of God, wrath-against-love and love-against-wrath, as all the variables of the process do change. This happens now, in the New Covenant, according to the mysterious wrestling in the heart of God seen written by the prophet Hosea, “Mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together” (Hos. 11:8-9).
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Slipping =>
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Non-Damnable Wrath: God yearns after, laments over, and desires to save those He presently chastises with the instruments of destruction. This means that God yearns after those who He is presently angry with, but this anger that I am speaking of is not kindled to a condemning degree. This anger moves the hand of chastening by the beating ROD, and it beats. Under this affliction God is hoping for remedial repentance, but with real anger God afflicts His people that they may beware that, the manifestation of this wrath-authored affliction can be a small taste of what can become eternal, overpowering, unrelenting, and unchanging. These afflictions are categorically: darkness, blindness, drunkenness, etc. These are attributes of God’s curse which were inflicted upon the damned, and when such things come upon us, how should we think and feel? This manifestation of wrath has the potential power to break you off of the Tree of Life! It could be the beginning of your damnation, that is, if you do not savingly respond to it. One should acknowledge that there is wrath alive in the heart of God which is potentially damning, nevertheless it is inflicting you in hope that it is, rather, provision for your repentance.
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God’s Love Wrestling with Wrath and the Intercessors Relevancy
In the courtroom of God’s verbal edicts (by way of condescension to us and not in terms of sovereignty) there are courtroom appeals possible IN GOD. Meaning that, if He wants to appeal the edict so as to interrupt it from its final course, He is able to do so, but, shockingly, the means by which He makes these appeals are fantastically interconnected to us, His people. A courtroom appeal is almost, if not entirely nonexistent unless it is coming from a Spirit-filled man of God. Men, seized by the inspiration of the Spirit, are emboldened to stand opposed to, verbally contradict, and appeal against God – standing in between the movement of God’s wrath so as to impede it from approaching the object of its fury – this is called, INTERCESSION!
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Blessings and Curses / Wrath Pacified and Wrath Kindled / Sins Forgiven and Sins Marked:
all these are synonymous situations, and shockingly, all these are movable based upon OUR actions, not just in sins committed BUT sins forgiven. This is a very sharp blade to tight-walk upon, a narrowness which only Christ can operate within us, especially when so much blasphemy has been spewed into the world by men who have added ANYTHING to the penal substitutionary atonement of Christ, and that to their own destruction. Nevertheless, should we not reckon the places, persons, and situations in which Christ, “the Substitute”, does more or less bless mankind, affecting wrath’s vehemence or its satisfaction, because of outstanding sins more or less forgiven? Brethren, I am talking about the ambassadorial officers of the New Testament: God-sent messengers (2 Cor. 5:18-20, Rom. 10:14-15), God-empowered preachers (1 Cor. 1:21, 2:4-5, 1 Thess. 1:5, 2:3-5, 13), lip-inspired judges (1 Cor. 5:3-5, Matt. 18:18-20), life-restoring intercessors (1 John 5:16, Jas. 5:14-20), fault-clearing spiritual men (Gal. 6:1, Matt. 7:5), weapon-wielding, stronghold-destroying, captive-freeing preachers who release the saints from their ensnarement in rebellion, making them, rather, captives to Christ (2 Cor. 10:3-6)! I am speaking specifically in regards to the officers of intercession whose active duties do change the amount of sins forgiven or unforgiven, depending upon the various means in which Spirit-led intercession is successfully accomplished. How many sermons do we have to hear like David Platt’s, The Role of Desperate Prayer in Relenting Wrath? Sermons that try to make us behave as though the aforementioned situations actually exist, situations which, according to our theological systems, cannot be entirely real… but if we were allowed to believe that these biblical realities are “real life situations” right now, we would LIVE IT! Dear remnant, we have been awakened to the snare of decisionism pertaining to initial conversion to Christ, but now we must wake up even further and see: our theological systems are turning present-progressive salvation into transactions of decisionism instead of vital-reality with the Living God! |
There are three ways of intercession that are addressed in the Old Testament: (1) Spirit-filled prayer, (2) sacrificial or ceremonial atonement, (3) and acts of judgment. New Testament renditions of these ways of intercession would mean that, any act of intercession by a man would be of no original inspiration or human merit existing apart from the Person of Christ, for, truly, nothing else can intercede before God’s wrath. Therefore, New Testament saints participate in New Testament renditions of Old Testament means of intercession by, an intercession which is mysteriously connected to and originating in unison with Christ’s all-sufficient and heavenly intercession: (1) Christ-inspired prayers prayed by men who are filled with the Spirit, (2) making the sacrifices of themselves in differing senses (Rom. 12:1-2, Gal.2:20, 1 Cor. 15:31, 2 Cor. 4:8-12, Php. 2:17), offering the sacrifices of thanksgiving and praise (Heb. 13:15-16), offering the incense of prayer (1 Tim. 2:1-8, Eph. 6:18-20, Jude 20-21, Rev. 5:8), ceremonial sprinklings (Heb. 10:22), and ceremonial washings (Titus 3:5, Heb. 10:22, Eph. 5:26, Col. 1:28-29, John 7:38), (3) and doing acts of judgment (Gal. 6:1, 1 Cor. 5:13, etc.- firstly, in helping men abide in the spiritual identification of Christ’s death, which means in biblical phraseology, killing men by preaching to them (Rom. 8:13, Col. 3:5), and if this means of grace is not successfully carried out then there remains one alternative, an alternative which is, secondarily, the expulsion of the malefactor by the power of excommunication [casting them out into “the congregation of the dead”-Prov.21:16]); keeping in mind that this third act of judgment is for the sake of the whole, so that corporately speaking, the entire Church and remnant of God could be presented to Him as one acceptable sacrifice (Rom. 15:15-19, Php. 2:17-18, 1 Cor. 10:16-17).
The Earth & Heaven Interconnectedness of Courtroom Appeals & Legal Transactions
The Priesthood of All Believers
A lifestyle of intercessory employments which is relevant to the legal processes of salvation: forgiveness granted and forgiveness withheld, grace dispensed or grace restrained, salvation experienced or damnation enacted, and thus, inevitably, the destiny of individuals as it pertains to heaven or hell.
The Priesthood of All Believers
A lifestyle of intercessory employments which is relevant to the legal processes of salvation: forgiveness granted and forgiveness withheld, grace dispensed or grace restrained, salvation experienced or damnation enacted, and thus, inevitably, the destiny of individuals as it pertains to heaven or hell.
Let us note: Where, how, and through which mode, medium, and expression Christ does on earth what He is doing in heaven… shall we contend with it? The eternal sufficiency of Christ ALONE in salvation is not to be contested with nor added to, this is sure. Nevertheless, how Christ chooses to express the work of His Kingdom and the intercession of His priesthood to the people of earth is another matter which we must not deny. God chooses persons, yes, and He establishes Lampstands of His Kingdom in certain places on earth, this is also true, and the officers and priesthood of these Churches are mysteriously cooperative with and co-laboring in Christ’s heavenly works for the purpose of expressing and displaying it on earth – God is Light, and so are we. What Christ is doing, shockingly, He does it through us, His body. Therefore where His Kingdom is going forth in conquering power, His people are going forth to bodily represent it and verbally herald it, as its ambassadors.
Think of it, my reader. The all-sufficiency of salvation in “Christ alone” is not threatened by the fact that, the mode by which His salvation ordinarily comes to a lost individual is interconnected to God’s people by way of preaching. God has employed His people in this duty, for “it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe” (1 Cor. 1:21), and again, “how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And How shall they hear without a preacher” (Rom. 10:14)? Even though the conversion of lost souls is interconnected with our instrumentality, we are forced to assent that, it is of God and not of man. This is an uncontested affirmation among us: that if a man’s feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace (Eph. 6:15), and, those feet took journey over the mountains, it was God that shod this man’s feet, yea, and if he is walking a mountain range or hiking any length, the beautifulness of “how beautiful” the man’s feet are (Isa. 52:7) has nothing to do with the man himself, but Christ who walks within the man! Amen! Woe to those who deny it! Nevertheless, there is something else of relevance that must be mentioned in connection to this affirmation. Even though the scriptures affirm that salvation is not dependent upon us in the aspect of God’s absolute sovereignty, yet, there is another aspect which is of supreme relevancy to us and mysteriously paradoxical to the former affirmation. After being properly instructed, it is easy for us to agree to and rest upon the aspect of God’s sovereignty in salvation, and so, we rejoice to know that salvation is dependent upon God alone “in Christ alone”, and yet we do err my beloved brethren. We are too much reliant upon our own logic, so that we will not tolerate another aspect which is non-contradicting in connectedness, an aspect which is scripturally affirmed as legitimate and eternally binding to our reality. Being too much guided by our inferior logic, we are led to affirm only what we can understand by reason of it. Should we not be led, rather, by the quickening Spirit of God, for He understands all things, and having communicated them to us by His written word, it is He that commands us to believe it – thus faith mingles together with the word so that IT works effectually in us; God performing it in us what He has written to us. Even so, Amen.
Think of it, my reader. The all-sufficiency of salvation in “Christ alone” is not threatened by the fact that, the mode by which His salvation ordinarily comes to a lost individual is interconnected to God’s people by way of preaching. God has employed His people in this duty, for “it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe” (1 Cor. 1:21), and again, “how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And How shall they hear without a preacher” (Rom. 10:14)? Even though the conversion of lost souls is interconnected with our instrumentality, we are forced to assent that, it is of God and not of man. This is an uncontested affirmation among us: that if a man’s feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace (Eph. 6:15), and, those feet took journey over the mountains, it was God that shod this man’s feet, yea, and if he is walking a mountain range or hiking any length, the beautifulness of “how beautiful” the man’s feet are (Isa. 52:7) has nothing to do with the man himself, but Christ who walks within the man! Amen! Woe to those who deny it! Nevertheless, there is something else of relevance that must be mentioned in connection to this affirmation. Even though the scriptures affirm that salvation is not dependent upon us in the aspect of God’s absolute sovereignty, yet, there is another aspect which is of supreme relevancy to us and mysteriously paradoxical to the former affirmation. After being properly instructed, it is easy for us to agree to and rest upon the aspect of God’s sovereignty in salvation, and so, we rejoice to know that salvation is dependent upon God alone “in Christ alone”, and yet we do err my beloved brethren. We are too much reliant upon our own logic, so that we will not tolerate another aspect which is non-contradicting in connectedness, an aspect which is scripturally affirmed as legitimate and eternally binding to our reality. Being too much guided by our inferior logic, we are led to affirm only what we can understand by reason of it. Should we not be led, rather, by the quickening Spirit of God, for He understands all things, and having communicated them to us by His written word, it is He that commands us to believe it – thus faith mingles together with the word so that IT works effectually in us; God performing it in us what He has written to us. Even so, Amen.
The Saint’s Responsibility in Preaching
The imputation of guilt and legal responsibility for temporary or eternal death, which could have been prevented by your verbal witness.
The imputation of guilt and legal responsibility for temporary or eternal death, which could have been prevented by your verbal witness.
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Old Testament =>
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“Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand. So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.” – Ezekiel 33:2-9
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New Testament =>
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“And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.” – Acts 18:5-6
“Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.” – Acts 20:26-27 |
According to God’s written word: it is man’s responsibility to preach and warn, and we, the saints, bear a legal responsibility for souls that perish on account of our neglect; souls that would not have perished had we been faithful to “go” on God’s command! How such a legal responsibility is righteously imputed into men so that they bear the guilt of it, and yet, God’s sovereignty is still hailed as the originating force by which all the elect are effectually saved, this is a question too high for me to answer – and I will not darken God’s courtroom with my excuses on why His word cannot be! So much the rather, my brethren, let us agree with God. In agreement to this, my reader, we affirm the existence of both circumstances, and thus we must see our responsibility as it relates to our salvation and the salvation of others, and at the same time we must reckon how the responsibility is God’s, and His alone – a mysterious paradox. As much as a Calvinist feels forced to affirm that, salvation is dependent upon God’s sovereignty alone, and with no competing force in existence it is genuinely HIS, even so, likewise, let us feel forced to affirm another compelling argument of scripture – man’s responsibility. The former does usually usurp the latter among Calvinists, but it ought not to be so. When only one truth of this paradox becomes a subject of grave meditation and personal relevance, this is our folly. To be led by our logical capacity, feeling comfortable to relate to only that which we can understand, scripturally speaking, this is to be led by carnality! But we should rather be empowered to “walk in” those matters which only God understands – by walking in God! What God understands He can operate in us, even if we don’t understand it! Simply because these two realities appear to be logically irreconcilable to us, they are logically consistent to God, so let us give Him the glory so that, through Him, we might walk in them, for our salvation is in Christ and not in ourselves. Salvation begun is not decisionism, even so let the remnant recognize, salvation presently and progressively persevered is not decisionism! It is God who understands these paradoxical realities, and it is God who is willing and working within us for His own good pleasure (Php. 2:13), therefore let us walk in Him. Let us not be busybodies about God’s matters. Let us instruct Him no more. Let us rather, agree with Him, and by His quickening Spirit let Him instruct us (1 Cor. 2:16) how to walk. So shall it be said by us, “My heart standeth in awe of Thy word” (Ps. 119:116)! Amen.
The Saint’s Responsibility in the Priesthood
Christ is the incense, the sacrifice, the High Priest, the Temple Building, the Courtroom Officer, the Seated Judge, and the Monarch of Law who stands in check to no ulterior power of Government, but in a mysterious way of union in Him, He does, in us, act out these intercessory deeds before God, not just in heaven by the sufficiency of His own person, but on earth and in us, by the Spirit of His Person who dwells within us – and when God sees and hears Christ in us, it is as if Christ is interceding in Heaven, therefore this doctrine, though it may appear to be an attack upon the sufficiency of salvation in Christ alone, and though it may appear to add something to the sufficiency of Christ’s substitution, and though it may seem to be an affront upon the title, “in Christ alone”, IT IS NOT as long as ‘Christ in us” and “Christ operating us” empowers these priestly duties.
Take for example, the Old Testament. The sufficiency of Christ’s salvation was not added to or threatened by Old Testament priestly duties; neither should it be by New Testament priestly duties. The Old Testament priestly duties were genuinely existing, effectually atoning, typologically declaring, yes, but they were temporary in their wrath-absorbing effects only because they were supported by the eternal substance Itself – the Sacrifice of Christ – we know this because, when men believed in the priestly ceremonies in the Old Testament they were, by shadow, believing in the gospel messages which declared Christ, thus God imputed it to them for righteousness on the basis of their faith so that the ceremony in operation had an eternal and lasting effect to save the soul in this wise. Therefore the Old Testament was not, nor is it, null and of no profit to the Old Testament saints, but it was effectual because of the Person and work of Christ (see 1 Cor. 10:4, 9, 1 Pet. 1:11), and now for us in the New Covenant we are taught that Christ did not abolish or make void the law, but He fulfilled it. Yes, and by fulfilling the law the scripture means to signify, the law was a shadow cast upon a wall, but the actual object itself was in heaven, and Christ went to heaven to perform the ceremonies of salvation like as they were seen on earth, only now He appears in heaven for us. Christ, after the eternal and undying order of Melchisedec, is employed in the wrath-atoning, intercessory labors of a Priest, like as the earthly priests which the Old Testament demonstrated.
The Old Testament Priests were performing ceremonies whereby the people were saved, as I have just explained, and they were significant because Christ is their fulfillment, but now in the New Covenant, a Covenant made possible because Jesus Christ has ascended into His eternal employment as our Great High Priest; henceforth, now, those who are saved by Christ and His Priestly effectualness… He makes priests (the priesthood of all believers-1 Pet. 2:9-10); those who He saves by His holiness (Heb. 7:26)… He makes saints (“holy ones”, Rom. 1:7); those who He saves by His redemption (1 Cor. 1:30)… He makes redeemers (Eph. 5:16); those who He saves by His own stand-alone instrumentality and sufficiency… He makes them His instruments of righteousness (Rom. 6:11-13); those who He saves by His own effectual intercession “standing alone”…He makes effectual intercessors (Rom. 8:26-27, 1 John 5:16, John 20:21-23); those who He saves by the body of His death and His resurrected life… He makes them “His body” henceforth, by the power of His death and much more His resurrected Life! Yes! And this means that the saints were saved by Christ’s death, but now much more by the employments for which He exists in His life right now, one of them being INTERCESSION (Heb. 7:25). We are saved by His life right now, in intercession, which is present-continuous and present-progressive! My reader, what does this mean? Oh, God help us to reckon the implications!
Take for example, the Old Testament. The sufficiency of Christ’s salvation was not added to or threatened by Old Testament priestly duties; neither should it be by New Testament priestly duties. The Old Testament priestly duties were genuinely existing, effectually atoning, typologically declaring, yes, but they were temporary in their wrath-absorbing effects only because they were supported by the eternal substance Itself – the Sacrifice of Christ – we know this because, when men believed in the priestly ceremonies in the Old Testament they were, by shadow, believing in the gospel messages which declared Christ, thus God imputed it to them for righteousness on the basis of their faith so that the ceremony in operation had an eternal and lasting effect to save the soul in this wise. Therefore the Old Testament was not, nor is it, null and of no profit to the Old Testament saints, but it was effectual because of the Person and work of Christ (see 1 Cor. 10:4, 9, 1 Pet. 1:11), and now for us in the New Covenant we are taught that Christ did not abolish or make void the law, but He fulfilled it. Yes, and by fulfilling the law the scripture means to signify, the law was a shadow cast upon a wall, but the actual object itself was in heaven, and Christ went to heaven to perform the ceremonies of salvation like as they were seen on earth, only now He appears in heaven for us. Christ, after the eternal and undying order of Melchisedec, is employed in the wrath-atoning, intercessory labors of a Priest, like as the earthly priests which the Old Testament demonstrated.
The Old Testament Priests were performing ceremonies whereby the people were saved, as I have just explained, and they were significant because Christ is their fulfillment, but now in the New Covenant, a Covenant made possible because Jesus Christ has ascended into His eternal employment as our Great High Priest; henceforth, now, those who are saved by Christ and His Priestly effectualness… He makes priests (the priesthood of all believers-1 Pet. 2:9-10); those who He saves by His holiness (Heb. 7:26)… He makes saints (“holy ones”, Rom. 1:7); those who He saves by His redemption (1 Cor. 1:30)… He makes redeemers (Eph. 5:16); those who He saves by His own stand-alone instrumentality and sufficiency… He makes them His instruments of righteousness (Rom. 6:11-13); those who He saves by His own effectual intercession “standing alone”…He makes effectual intercessors (Rom. 8:26-27, 1 John 5:16, John 20:21-23); those who He saves by the body of His death and His resurrected life… He makes them “His body” henceforth, by the power of His death and much more His resurrected Life! Yes! And this means that the saints were saved by Christ’s death, but now much more by the employments for which He exists in His life right now, one of them being INTERCESSION (Heb. 7:25). We are saved by His life right now, in intercession, which is present-continuous and present-progressive! My reader, what does this mean? Oh, God help us to reckon the implications!
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“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His Life.” – Romans 5:8-10
“Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” – Hebrews 7:25 |
Those who He saves by “the body of His flesh through death” (Col. 1:22), they are also those whom, through His resurrection, have become “the righteousness of God in [Christ]” (2 Cor. 5:21), which means, by His resurrected body He is still saving those persons which were saved by His death (note: the salvation which is by Christ’s death is distinguished from the salvation which is by Christ’s Life; the former is a single act of salvation and the latter is a present-continuous act of saving) - therefore in the life of Christ He saves the saints “much more” than in His death (Rom. 5:8-10), and the life which He now lives in heaven “much more” still yet, abounding onward, in a plethora of mysterious workings of godliness (1 Tim. 3:16), we are saved by “His body” the Church (Col. 1:24)! Oh my reader, this has everything to do with salvation by faith in Christ! The perfect work of Christ on the cross is FINISHED – as Christ said, “It is FINISHED” – but our faith in this Christ and His work IS NOT FINISHED! The single act of our salvation at conversion was not a decision but a revelation, and so much more, also, our present-continuous salvation by sanctification and perseverance is not a mere decision, a faith-assenting to a transaction, but a person-to-Person interaction in vital reality, walking with God! “Enoch walked with God” (Gen. 5:24), and by this he “pleased God” (Heb. 11:5), but for many saints who have been genuinely saved, they cease to savingly believe, cease to walk with God, mentally justify their unjustifiable behavior by “the perfect and finished work of Christ on the cross”, and so, going a long-while provoking God in this way, they cease to please God! Oh my reader, don’t be ignorant of what Paul didn’t want us to be ignorant of (1 Cor. 10:1), how that saints had vital reality with Christ’s Spirit in salvation and yet eventually, “with many of them God was not well pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness” (1 Cor. 10:5). Or as Jude said, “I will therefore put you in remembrance, though you once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not” (Jude 5). [For more information on this matter, please see “The Exodus Generation Saved by Faith” (chapter 3, section 2).]
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“much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His Life” – Rom. 5:10
“seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” – Hebrews 7:25 |
This present-progressive salvation by Christ in its interconnectedness to us is a great mystery because, the Kingdom of God in heaven is expressed by and experiential within The Kingdom of God on earth. This is not like the Old Testament because their priesthood was a declaration of Christ’s priesthood by shadow, but the New Testament priesthood is a called out people who are possessed by and unified with Christ who is the Priest of Heaven, and they, standing together and co-laboring within the reality of those heavenly operations that Christ is employed in – they are not mere shadows of what Christ will do, they are ambassadors and vessels of clay which express what Christ IS DOING, therefore what Christ does in heaven He also does on earth, through the saints (according to the will of God).
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A Fit Example: The redeemed of God and none else, being sanctified, are enabled to approach the hallowed and sanctified place wherein Jesus Christ said, shockingly, “there am I in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20). All the people gathered together are, Christ said, “in My Name”, therefore whether in prayer or purpose, all who are gathered together “agree” (Matt. 18:18-20)! Being utterly possessed and encompassed by One – Jesus Christ – Who is within them and in the midst of them…this causes a blessed “unity of the Spirit” (Eph. 4:3)! Jesus Christ, standing within and around those who have gathered together, means that, the many persons are in One Person, and thus, they “stand fast in one Spirit, with one Mind” (Php. 1:27), not merely one physical gathering. No, they are altogether in the sanctification of one Name – “one body, and one Spirit…one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Eph. 4:4-6) – and consequentially, the people are one in prayer and purpose, their gathering is in “one accord” (Acts 4:24), and such prayers, being empowered thereto by the unanimity of Christ’s Person, transform this earthly place into a heavenly place (Note: by definition the word “saint” means, “a sanctified one” or “a holy one”, which in turn means, “a heavenly one” –Heb. 3:1, 6:4). All conditions fulfilled, this place becomes hallowed, especially and immediately heavenly, and because of this – what is done “on earth” is one with what is done “in heaven” (Matt. 18:18-19)! This means what is done in this place, on earth, is simultaneously done in heaven! Behold the apex, the chief goal, the essence of what a Christian assembly is - how that, by experience, we are enabled to live out the answered prayer of Jesus Christ: “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth”, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Lk. 11:2, Matt. 6:10). [For more information about intercession see “NT Intercessions & NT Repentances” (chapter 25, section 3).]
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There is a plethora of ways in which the act of legal intercession is typified in the Old Testament, and shockingly, these Old Testament means of pacifying real wrath, of forgiving real sin, and changing the course of real blessings and real curses, which change the courses of temporary or eternal life and death, are all applied in New Testament forms – and because people do not believe that eternity can change, meaning that in actuality, sin is forgiven or remains unforgiven, or, wrath is pacified or kindled onward, on the basis of these intermediary actions of Christ-possessed intercessors, men fail to remember them and do them! Because such acts mean nothing but a figment of “acting”, they don’t feeling responsible for “doing” – thus denying “The Doctrine of Man’s Responsibility” – the saints fail to re-organize their entire lifestyle around the successful accomplishment of their priestly duties; for the which, mind you, we have been born again to walk in. Think of what would happen if the Old Testament priests didn’t go to work one day, just because they forgot. Need I tell you what would have happened? It is a staggering thing that we, the Church, can be called a “House of Prayer for all nations” and yet, we can be so lethargically related to our calling to prayer for the success of “The Great Commission”! Sleeping on, people don’t wake up to their duty, and it is because - whether it is prayer or preaching - preachers have told them that “it doesn’t really matter; it can’t change eternity anyway”. God help us to escape such vain men! Men have become intoxicated by this heresy of biblical truths wrongly emphasized and incorrectly taught, and at some points damnably misapplied so that, alas, “the frozen chosen” are by God forsaken! “You know you’re very sure you’re God’s chosen people and before long, you’re very sure you’re God’s frozen people”, and before long they all will be God’s forsaken people (Leonard Ravenhill).
You see, my reader… there is a knee-jerk reaction of people today. The Calvinists are living for a revival of the “reformation days”, feeling that the fight for this hour is all about “salvation by grace through faith, not of works”, but this is not the fight! The Puritans are holy and God-given examples of faith for us, this is true! But as Rolfe Barnard stated, “Go back to the book!” Yes, even the Puritans had flaws which we need to beware of. Barnard said, “Don’t go to some book some old Puritan wrote, go to the Apostle Paul.” If we are aiming to rediscover what a Church is, Barnard warned, “It’s right in the book. It’s not in the Westminster Confession of Faith, or the Baptist Philadelphia Confession of Faith but it’s in the book, God’s book. The old Presbyterians who started you folks out wouldn’t of known a Church if they had met it in the road, same with us Baptist folks. They knew some things but they didn’t know a thing on God’s earth about a Church. Go back to the book! It’s better than our Baptist confessions of faith. There’s no error in this book, brother, there is in anything that man wrote!” We would be wise to take Barnard’s advice, my reader. The Roman Catholics abused and profaned the doctrines of “The Church”, and the Puritans, fighting against them, were consequentially inclined to an overreaction against their doctrinal abuses so that they were blind to the truth about “The Church” and its relevant interconnection with the doctrines of salvation and forgiveness! My brethren, the Calvinists, we need to get back to the scripture! Oh, how many sermons need to be preached about the same mundane amazement that: prayer does matter but it doesn’t matter, and God did relent but He didn’t relent, God did repent but He didn’t repent, and Moses was desperate for good reason but he wasn’t desperate for real reasons, and we need to pray like him but we cannot ever be in the situations that he was in – oh, this modern day “strife of words” which was warned of old, away with it! This strife genders to the confusion and spiritual-paralysis we are warned to avoid; heresy which makes void the commandments of God.
You see, my reader… there is a knee-jerk reaction of people today. The Calvinists are living for a revival of the “reformation days”, feeling that the fight for this hour is all about “salvation by grace through faith, not of works”, but this is not the fight! The Puritans are holy and God-given examples of faith for us, this is true! But as Rolfe Barnard stated, “Go back to the book!” Yes, even the Puritans had flaws which we need to beware of. Barnard said, “Don’t go to some book some old Puritan wrote, go to the Apostle Paul.” If we are aiming to rediscover what a Church is, Barnard warned, “It’s right in the book. It’s not in the Westminster Confession of Faith, or the Baptist Philadelphia Confession of Faith but it’s in the book, God’s book. The old Presbyterians who started you folks out wouldn’t of known a Church if they had met it in the road, same with us Baptist folks. They knew some things but they didn’t know a thing on God’s earth about a Church. Go back to the book! It’s better than our Baptist confessions of faith. There’s no error in this book, brother, there is in anything that man wrote!” We would be wise to take Barnard’s advice, my reader. The Roman Catholics abused and profaned the doctrines of “The Church”, and the Puritans, fighting against them, were consequentially inclined to an overreaction against their doctrinal abuses so that they were blind to the truth about “The Church” and its relevant interconnection with the doctrines of salvation and forgiveness! My brethren, the Calvinists, we need to get back to the scripture! Oh, how many sermons need to be preached about the same mundane amazement that: prayer does matter but it doesn’t matter, and God did relent but He didn’t relent, God did repent but He didn’t repent, and Moses was desperate for good reason but he wasn’t desperate for real reasons, and we need to pray like him but we cannot ever be in the situations that he was in – oh, this modern day “strife of words” which was warned of old, away with it! This strife genders to the confusion and spiritual-paralysis we are warned to avoid; heresy which makes void the commandments of God.
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“If I profess, with the loudest voice and the clearest exposition, every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are AT THAT MOMENT attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christianity. Where the battle rages the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battle-field besides is mere flight and disgrace to him if he flinches at that one point.”
– Martin Luther |