Gadfly's Muse

Our Assurance From Before Time Began.....

[Budding Leaf, 2016, JA Van Devender]

2 Timothy 1:8–10 (NKJV)

⁸ Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, ⁹ who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, ¹⁰ but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,......

Herman Witsius, "The Economy of the Covenants" (Vol. I, p 298-99 Logos) ......because it is impossible for the decree of God to fail, or the promise of God to deceive, the person to whom God decrees and promises to give any thing may be as certain that it shall be given as if he was already in the actual possession of it. 

 How many times have I, over the years, read those verses in 1 Timothy but did not notice the powerful contribution to our assurance that Paul gives in them?

It was not till I came across Witsius' exposition in his defense of the doctrine of election that it really sank home.  Again I find myself humbled before the sheer eternity of God's purposes and intentions.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the Good News that in Jesus of Nazareth, God has revealed to us His divine intentions for this world and for those who inhabit it.  Paul roots everything about Jesus; His entire history, His works, His speech, His obedience, His death, resurrection and ascension, in this comprehensive summation - "His own purpose and grace... has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ."  Paul affirms explicitly, lest any should doubt, that this was all purposed "before time began!"  

There are no emergency detours in God's providential ordering of all things.  God's purposes in creating the cosmos were to construct a sphere in which He would be glorified through the existence and lives of a redeemed humanity.  The entire universe exists just for that purpose.  Witsius says "For since the manifestation of his glorious grace in man, through Christ, was the chief end of God in creating man, we must look upon the foundation of the earth for a habitation of the good as a means to that end."  I can't improve on that.  This beautiful world, the stars and the sun, the moon and all the depths of the sea, are there for our ultimate blessing.  God does not create futility.  God brings mans prideful endeavors to futility, but nothing He does will be frustrated of the ends toward which they are designed.  That alone should seal the argument that this world will be purged of its sin and corruption one day, but it will not be annihilated.  Rather, as the new leaf shoots forth on the branch that winter "killed", so shall the New Earth erupt in splendor when it is delivered from its bondage at the revelation of the sons of God (Rom. 8:18-22).  And at the center of that glorious reality will be the shining light that is Jesus Christ Himself... but not Jesus Christ alone, but rather Jesus in the midst of a splendid congregation... the gathered saints of the ages, dressed in glory, flashingly brilliant in their eternal bodies and united in joyful celebration of the inheritance they have been granted through grace.

This reality, this ontological certainty, is God's eternal purpose.  The Covenant of Redemption is His eternal purpose codified.  The drama of history is a shining "sea" (Rev. 4:6ff) situated before the throne of God which reflects the progress of that Covenant of Redemption in space and time.  The Scriptures are the record of that progressive revelation of His eternal purpose unfolding and being interpreted to the minds of men.  The heritage of God's people is grounded in that meta-narrative and its call to men to embrace that heritage, to renounce the paltry and prideful substitutes of ethnicity, vain and empty national pride, personal agendas and embrace that lineage.  We are not our own, we have been bought with a price.  We are not slaves to sin but we are bound as servants of the King.  By dying to self and all worldly distinctions, we live to Him who has saved us by His grace.  

This is the amazing transformation in men that is called regeneration or "being born again."  It is a radical revision of every facet of man's physical and spiritual constitution.  It is a renewal of heart, will and affections.  It involves a realignment of thought processes and embraces the new potential for understanding and loving spiritual things.  This is a miraculous transformation that only God can accomplish.   

And God's eternal purpose is that it is in this that He is to be glorified.  It is to this end that the world exists - that in it, men and women, can be reconstituted through grace and once again bear the image of God by reflecting the image of Christ.  The glory of our heavenly bodies will only be the fullest expression of this temporal phenomenon, it will not be something different in essence.  Eternal life begins in this time and age, for that is what Jesus came to establish beyond a doubt.  

All of this comes together and bears this fruit - the possibility of what the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF 18:3, WLC Q-80)¹ calls an "infallible assurance."  To the extent that any fallen sinner can ever rise to a certainty of their own eternal blessing... of their own absolute right to stand among those who will glorify God for eternity, it is upon this foundation:  God's eternal purpose cannot be denied.  Our faith is His seal that we are objects of that eternal purpose.  He knew us before time began... He has done all things for our eternal blessing... and it is in blessing us with all things in Christ that He manifests His glory in its ultimate expression.  He is our hope... and that hope will never fail.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

¹There are many expositions of this doctrine available for study and meditation.  A. A. Hodge's "Outlines of Theology" is concise even if the elegance of 19th century prose diminishes its appeal to modern sensibility.  James Nichols' "Puritan Sermons" is a fine compendium that is very adapted to daily devotions.  J. Pipa's excellent recent work on Galatians also covers this same ground.

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[2015, Wednesday Morning, Dave Johanson]

Malachi 4:2 (NKJV)

² But to you who fear My name, The Sun of Righteousness shall arise, With healing in His wings; And you shall go out And grow fat like stall-fed calves.

We can only dimly speculate how Jesus "felt" on that first Easter morning.  For Him, in His human nature, it was the dawn of a New World of living.  He was no longer the "Suffering Servant."  "Man of Sorrows" was no longer applicable to Him.  He died a man "in whom there was no beauty that we should desire Him."  He arose a man beautiful beyond description.  " You are fairer than the sons of men" (Psa. 45:2) the psalmist exults and so He was.  

Jesus, in His human nature, died condemned.  Jesus, in His human nature, arose glorified... His Divine nature admitted no increase in glory but, in some way we cannot fathom, rejoiced in the long awaited consummation... the end toward which all things were created,... the fulfilled promise of the glorified God-Man union ... the anti-type toward which all "one flesh" relationships typify.  

How can we, this side of our own glorification, do anything other than dream of what that involved for Jesus?  

We shall know... for as He is so we shall be (1Jn 3:2).  We shall be changed, in the twinkling of an eye (1 Cor. 15:52) and the sin induced corruption of our bodies, in whatever stage it has progressed, will be put away, discharged forever, and we shall know even as we are known.  He is the "first-born" of the dead so that He may rejoice before God the Father Almighty in the presence of many brethren... this is the day that dawned on that first Easter.  Jesus awoke to reap the assured reward of His mighty victory.

What energy must have pulsed through His veins!  What power must have crackled and flowed through His Person!  The Revelation (ch. 1) presents Him as glorious beyond description but exuding holiness and energy.  He had only to mount His White Horse (Rev. 19:11-16) and to ride... to cover the whole earth ... to slay His enemies with the sharp sword coming from His mouth and to gather His victorious saints into an unstoppable army.  He died with the work of "Redemption Accomplished" consummated in His ringing cry "It is finished!".  He rose from the dead with the work of "Redemption Applied" dawning in the rising sun.  Now the joy begins.  His Vicarious Substitution fulfilled, the Covenant of Redemption accomplished, He joyfully addressed Himself to the work of Mediator of the Covenant of Grace, to apply all the benefits of His meritorious life and death, to those He came to save.  Now He rises to heaven and enters into the Presence of God, bearing His own blood as holy testimony (Heb. 9:11-12) in order to intercede for His beloved Bride, to cleanse our consciences from dead works in order that we should and will, obey and serve the Living God.

This was the New Day that Jesus arose to and ushered in.  This is the New Day that has not yet passed.  This is the New Life that was opened to the world and is freely offered to all men.  This is the New Heart that draws millions into its love and plants the seeds of love in their breast, transforming them and creating in them a new creature, with a heart of flesh replacing the old heart of stone.  This is He who sends forth His Spirit so that He, the Spirit, may take the things of Christ and make them the possession of His Church, His Holy Assembly, the newly constituted Church of Jesus Christ.

Here are new possibilities made plain.  Regenerated men are no longer under the dominion of sin.  They have choices... they have opportunities .... they face mountains that can be tossed into the sea... they may lift up prayers that bring results... they can discover the joy of reconciliation and forgiveness... they can live in peace with those who once were their enemies... they can find joy in the midst of sorrow, comfort in the midst of pain, and hope in the face of despair.  This is the "healing" that Son of Righteousness arose to bring (Malachi 3 above) and which, even now, is His continuing work.

What a glorious Savior we have!  All is summed up in this:  it is know Jesus Christ and the power of His resurrection.  It is to know Jesus Christ, the One who stands as having been crucified, killed on a cross and laid in a tomb, but Who is no longer in that state.  He is Risen from the dead and death has no claim over Him ever again.  The last enemy to be thrown into the lake of fire is death itself, but the death blow to death has been struck... Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, dealt that blow on the first Easter morning.

Happy Easter and may God grant you joy beyond description as you contemplate what this day represents!

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[Stark Reality, 2016]

Daniel 12:2 (NKJV) - ² And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt.

John 5:27–29 (NKJV) - ²⁷ and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. ²⁸ Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice ²⁹ and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.

As the soft sunlight pours through my window this morning, I am enjoying my newly retired leisure.  I have many things to do, but no particular pressure to do them.  That leaves time to think, to ponder, and to consider.

For example, the same trees that have the slightest warmth of the sun's orange to them at this moment, were just a few weeks back black and white with icy snow.  The leaves are still not out so the only difference between then and now are the circumstances.  That which is "real" is that which is, as it is, and understood as it is.  

My thoughts drift to Easter and what "it is" and how the circumstances make all the difference in the world about what it means.

I simply don't remember Easter being a miserable day.  I am sure there have been a few drizzly, grumpy weather occasions... perhaps I just block them out.  But Easter, in my memory, is beautiful daffodils and blue skies and little girls in frocks and white hats.  Easter is joy and beauty and the promise of life... life awakening from the dead... life assured to our consciences by the historical fact of Jesus' resurrection.  He is alive!  And all they who died with Him shall be raised by Him and shall, in no wise, lag behind those who are alive at His coming.  Is there, can there be, any more thrilling thought than that?

The Promise of Easter... that is what sells Easter chocolate bunnies and causes the "twice a year Christians" to make their other pilgrimage to the sanctuary.  (And heaven help the poor preacher who dares to preach long or too forcefully while they are there.)  Everyone loves the promise of Easter.

But what about the threat?  What about the threat of Easter?

Easter is not good news for the perishing.  Easter is not only the visible justification of the faithful's hope (Rom. 4:25).  It is also, most certainly, the guarantee of judgment by this same man whom God raised from the dead (Acts 17:31).  With tears we should consider that many who sit in our sanctuaries on Easter Sunday, with smiles on their faces, expressing their delight in the vaulting music ("Jesus Christ is Risen Today!  Alleluia!") are celebrating their own ultimate peril.  

As Christ rose from the dead to ascend into heaven and mediate the benefits of His finished work on earth to all those whom God has given Him (John 17:20-26), so Christ has also risen to sit at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.  As Jesus told the hypocrites in His day (Mat. 26:64) that "you will see the Son of Man, sitting at the right hand of the Power and coming on the clouds of heaven," so Easter proclaims this same message to those whose ears are tickled with words of peace when there is no peace between them and God.

This is nothing new.  Daniel proclaimed it in that Old Testament that so many despise.  Many there are who contemptuously dismiss God's word spoken in it.  Many there are who claim that they are "under grace" and are not subject to  "the law" and hence cherry pick their way through the New Testament, delighting in the promises of Easter and vainly comforting the nagging doubts that rise in the back of their minds.  But Jesus did not ignore those words.  He knew that those prophets spoke of Him and His words ring out in validation of their message... so close in fact as to be virtually congruent.  The promise of the resurrection is the threat of judgment.  That is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Far from being a cause for grief, this is good news for those who are living.  Those who delight in Christ delight in God's justice as well as His mercy.  It is right and proper and much to be longed for, that God will punish evil and injustice.  The cross humbles those of us who know what it means because it means that we have been the proper subject of God's justice by being united to Christ and that this state of grace in which we stand is not of our doing but of His.  But no Christian doubts that the Hell Christ endured was just... no Christian can say anything other than "that is what I deserved."  And if we deserve it then so do all they who despise our Lord.  

That is the "Stark Reality" of Easter.  As the trees glow in the morning light now, so, the same trees were starkly different to the eye on that day a few weeks past.  So Easter portends another day... a day of glorious new beginnings in a glorious new Light for some.  But for others it will be a day of darkness and not light, and that promise is just as certain as the other.  That is reality... as it is... as it must be... and as it ought to be.

May God bless all who delight in His promises and tremble before His power.

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