God’s Decrees
Do you believe that God has predetermined all things? If he has not, why do things happen? These are very important questions.
We wish to consider these questions in the next few issues of the News. We want to show what the Bible teaches: that God does determine all things. The Bible teaches this by speaking of God’s decrees.
God’s decrees are His sovereign, eternal determinations concerning all things that are, that have been and that will be, in creation, in history and in salvation. The Bible uses the following words to tell us about those decrees:
- His counsel (Ps. 73:24; Eph. 1:11), stressing that these are the deliberations and purposes of all three persons of the Trinity.
- His purpose (Isa. 14:24–27; Eph. 3:11), showing that His decrees are not arbitrary but have one final goal: His glory.
- His good-pleasure (Isa. 44:28; Luke 12:32), stressing that God’s decrees do not depend on anyone or anything but Himself, not even on the foreseen actions of men or other creatures. His decrees are free and independent.
- His will (Rom. 1:10; Eph. 1:5), showing that His decrees are not mere fate but the thoughts of the heart of the living God.
- His determinations (Isa. 19:17; Luke 22:22), stressing the important truth that His decrees are fixed and unchangeable.
- His decree (Ps. 2:7), reminding us that He determines all things as the great KING, the sovereign creator and Lord of heaven and earth.
Just the number of words used shows how important God’s decrees are.
Knowing of them is especially important, though, if we are to have any hope or peace in this wicked, troubled world.
To believe that God has predetermined or foreordained all things is the greatest comfort anyone can have. Then we can know that things do not happen by mere chance or fate, but by the determinations of one who is all wise and good. Then we do not need to conclude that there is another power, an evil power, which determines much of what happens in our lives and in history. That would leave us without hope or peace.
To have comfort in the truth that God determines all things, however, a person must know that God is wise and good. He must know God’s grace and mercy. That is possible only through faith in Jesus Christ. Grace came through Him (John 1:17). He is the power and wisdom of God (I Cor. 1:24).
Do you know Him and the grace of God in Him? Rev. Hanko
The Nearness of Christ’s Return
“From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 4:17).
“Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom” (Matt. 16:28).
“Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled” Matt. 24:34).
Jesus, who spoke often of the coming of His kingdom, said some strange things about this subject, which have puzzled Bible readers over the years.
One of these strange teachings is mentioned in the verses quoted above. (These are only examples of many such verses.) They all seem to teach that Jesus’ return would take place during the lifetime of the generation to whom Jesus was speaking. But this did not happen. 2000 years have gone by and still Jesus has not returned.
What can these sayings possibly mean? A large part of our problem in understanding these expressions of the Lord is a failure to understand that Jesus refers to His coming in different ways in Scripture.
It is true that Jesus Himself often spoke of His second coming on the clouds of heaven at the end of time when history shall be finished and the new heavens and the new earth be given to the people of God as their everlasting inheritance.
But there are other ways in which Jesus spoke of His coming again.
One very important coming of Christ is the death of a believer. Jesus specifically calls the death of a believer His coming: “Let not your heart be troubled: believe ye in God, believe ye also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself: that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3).
Jesus also calls the pouring out of His Spirit on Pentecost His coming. He specifically says so in this same chapter of John, where the sending of the “Comforter” is said to be Jesus coming to His disciples: “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you” (16-18).
So there are three ways in which Jesus speaks of His coming: the outpouring of His Spirit, the death of believers and His coming again at the end of time.
And yet, these three “comings” are not really three comings, but one coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He comes from His Father to bring salvation to His church. That coming involves all His work.
He comes when He is born of a virgin in Bethlehem so that He may live among us, suffer and die, rise again from the dead and ascend into heaven—all for our salvation.
He comes when He pours out His Spirit from heaven, for by His Spirit He saves the church throughout the whole new dispensation. So truly is this the coming of Christ that Peter, in his great Pentecostal sermon, quotes the prophecy of Joel as being fulfilled, a prophecy which obviously speaks of the last days and of signs of the end of the world (Acts 2:17-21).
And so when Christ comes to take a believer to heaven at the moment of his death, that too is really the end of the world for him. It is the end because at the moment of death he receives His full salvation. And it is the end because the believer is taken out of this world and brought to heaven.
And finally, Christ comes at the very end to destroy all His enemies, bring the bodies of His elect out of their graves, create new heavens and a new earth and complete that glorious work of salvation which He began when He came in Bethlehem.
The passages quoted above, therefore, refer specifically to Pentecost. Then the kingdom of heaven came into the world through the pouring out of the Spirit. Then Christ’s promise to be with His church always, even to the end of the world, was realized. Then the gathering of a catholic (universal) church was begun.
But we are called to live constantly watching for the coming of Christ. We must do that not only because the end can come at a time when we know not, but also because the end of the world can come at any moment for any of us when Christ comes to take us to heaven, for that is the moment of our death. “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh” (Matt. 25:13). Prof. Hanko
What Is the Unpardonable Sin?
Two readers have written asking about the unforgivable or unpardonable sin, sometimes called “the sin against the Holy Ghost,” or “the sin unto death.” One person has asked: “What is blaspheming the Holy Ghost?” The other: “What is the unpardonable sin? Can it be committed today?”
Most would agree that the following passages all refer to this sin: Matthew 12:31, Mark 3:29-30, Luke 12:10, Hebrews 6:4-6, 10:26-27 and I John 5:16. A careful study will show that this is correct.
There are some different explanations of this sin that we find inadequate:
- It was a sin that could only be committed during Christ’s lifetime, that is, attributing His miracles to Satan. If Hebrews 6 and 10 and I John 5 do refer to this sin, then this explanation cannot be correct.
- It refers to final impenitency, that is, a person dying unrepentant. This, however, does not do justice to the passages from the gospels, which obviously refer to a specific sin committed by the leaders of the Jews.
- It refers to falling away from grace, an unacceptable explanation that denies the doctrine of the perseverance of saints, clearly taught in many passages of Scripture.
What, then, is this sin?
A careful study of the six passages that speak of this sin reveals the following:
- It is the sin of wilfully and maliciously blaspheming the work of Christ’s Spirit (this is the context in Matthew and Mark). One often sees this done by those who have made some response to the gospel but then turned away. They become bitter against it and prove to be some of its most implacable enemies, often showing their enmity by mocking the work of the Spirit in the lives and hearts of God’s people.
- It involves a full knowledge of gospel truth (Heb. 10:26-27), even some superficial response to and conviction of the truth (Heb. 6:4-6). As with the Pharisees, therefore, this sin would often be committed by those who have been long under the ministry of the Word and have been carefully taught the truth by parents, ministers and elders. It is not committed out of common human weakness (Luke 22:54-62), or ignorance (Luke 23:34; I Tim. 1:13) but out of deliberate, devilish, contempt for spiritual things.
- It is so heinous it may not even be prayed for (1 Jn. 5:16), which raises the further question whether we can know when someone has committed this sin.
Some conclusions, then:
Can this sin be committed today? Yes, it can, especially in light of Hebrews 6 and 10.
Can we know if a person has committed this sin? Not with certainty, for that would involve judging someone’s mind and heart, something we cannot do.
Why do we read of it, then? By way of warning, especially to those to whom “much has been given” in the church or in Christian homes.
Can a child of God commit this sin? No, he cannot, since Scripture clearly teaches the perseverance of saints (cf. Canons of Dordt, V:6: “But God, who is rich in mercy … does not suffer them … to commit the sin unto death”).
Can a child of God fear that he has committed this sin? Some have, but the very fact that they are afraid of having committed it shows that they cannot have done so. It is a sin committed not in fear but in bitterness of spirit and hardness of heart. Rev. Hanko
