Category Archives: Jesus Christ

Remember the Resurrection!

Posted by Dan C. on

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Throughout history there have been events so significant that we have been encouraged to never forget them, but to remember them and what their importance in the history of our nation.

“Remember the Alamo!” was a rallying cry to Texans at the time of the war with Mexico. “Remember the Maine!” served the same purpose at the time of the Spanish American War, following the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana harbor in 1898. In World War II the saying was “Remember Pearl Harbor!” More recently, and perhaps most vivid in our minds is “Remember 9/11!”, when terrorists flew planes into the Twin Towers in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C..

In his second letter to a young pastor, the apostle Paul told him to remember that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead according to the gospel that he preached as the most significant event in all of human history! In fact, earlier in his ministry, Paul told the church at Corinth that without the resurrection of Jesus Christ all of his preaching was in vain, along with our faith (1 Cor 15:14). More importantly, how should Paul’s emphasis on the resurrection of Jesus Christ affect how we share the message of the gospel with the lost world around us?

First of all, we should remember the resurrection because as long we remember it, the gospel we share will be a simple message. It is indeed a simple message, but it’s not ‘simplistic’ or merely superficial in that it omits the very issue/problem with all of humanity that made it necessary. The simple gospel that Paul preached and that we share isn’t just the resurrection, but will also include two other important events immediately preceding the resurrection itself that are essential to the message.

For the most simplest and most concise definition of the gospel we need only listen again to the apostle Paul and what he wrote in his first letter to the church at Corinth:

“1Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: 4that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” (1 Corinthians 15:1-4, NKJV)

In that short passage, Paul reminded believers in Corinth that the gospel he preached, that they received, by which they were saved, and in which they stood firm was the same gospel he himself received directly from the Scriptures. Then, in a single verse (v. 4), Paul defined the three essential facts of the simple gospel message he preached in his day and that we share today to a lost and dying world. According to the Scriptures,

 Christ died for our sins,

  Christ was buried, and

  Christ rose again.

Remember those three facts and you will have the most important message in all of human history locked in your mind and heart forever!

It goes without saying that there is much more to the longer story surrounding each of the three points that define the core of the gospel message. What do the essential points of the simple gospel message really mean? What’s the BIG picture of the good news of Jesus Christ as it’s recorded in the Scriptures the Apostle Paul spoke of?

Well, it’s a spectacular journey through the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation! And when sharing the simple gospel message that Paul preached, we need to be able to discuss the biblical history of each event and their spiritual meaning. We can think of at least two important results of really knowing ourselves the meaning of each event.

First, our own salvation becomes our most precious possession here and now and for all eternity! And secondly, when our salvation is our most prized possession, our enthusiasm in sharing the gospel and the love with which we share it become instantly apparent to all whose hearts have been opened by God to hear what we have to say.

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Be Blessed!

The Plot that Failed!

Posted by Dan C. on

“On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, 63 saying, “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ So the last deception will be worse than the first.” (Matthew 27:62-64)

It’s Saturday, the day after the crucifixion of Jesus. The chief priests and Pharisees, who probably didn’t actually believe in the resurrection, did remember that Jesus had said while He was alive that he would rise again on the third day. They did however seem to be afraid that if His disciples stole His body and claimed that Jesus had risen from the dead, it would be harmful to them and their place in society. To protect their status in Jewish society they determined to do everything in their power to see that nothing happened. And so they went to Pilate, who was in charge of Jesus’ execution and burial, and reminded him of Jesus’ teaching and ask that the tomb of Jesus Christ be sealed and soldiers be posted as a guard.

clip_image002Pilate granted their request. He said, “Take a guard. Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” And that’s what they did. They went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting a guard.

Maybe Pilate was somewhat amused. After all, if Christ was only a man, it certainly wasn’t necessary to guard Him. He was dead. On the other hand, if He was God as He claimed to be (and perhaps about which Pilate himself had some intimation because of the trial), then all the guards and all the seals in the world would never keep Him down.

The tomb had been sealed shut and the guards are at their posts. Then comes Sunday morning, just before dawn.

The Bible tells us what happened next:

“Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.” (Matthew 28:1-4)

imageThe scribes and Pharisees had hatched plot that would ensure the continuity of their religious authority over the Jewish people. Were they afraid that Jesus might do something, just has He had claimed he would do, either raise Himself from the dead or some miracle take place? That would be absolutely devastating, and of course that is exactly what He did.

They had posted a guard and sealed the tomb. but the Jesus who was more than a man, the Jesus who had said of Himself, “I am the resurrection and the life,” simply broke their seal, scattered their guards, and rose triumphant on that first Easter morning.

As we sing in that great Easter hymn:

“Vainly they watch his bed—Jesus my Savior;

Vainly they seal the dead—Jesus my Lord.

Up from the grave he arose,

With a mighty triumph o’er His foes.

He arose a victor from the dark domain,

And he lives forever with his saints to reign.

He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!”

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5 Results of Christ’s Death

Posted by Dan C. on

John Owen (1616–1683) was an English scholar, theologian, chaplain, tutor, pastor, vicar, dean of Christ Church College, and author.

In The Death of Death in the Death of Christ, Owen writes of 5 benefits that flow from Christ’s death for us.

First, Reconciliation with God

God reconciles us to himself by removing and slaying the enmity that was between him and us. For “when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son,” Rom. 5:10. “God was in him reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them,” 2 Cor. 5:19. He has “reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ,” verse 18. If you want to know how this reconstruction was effected, the apostle will tell you that “he abolished in his flesh the enmity, the law of commandments consisting in ordinances, to make one new man in himself from two, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both to God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby,” Eph. 2:15, 16: so that “he is our peace,” verse 14.

Secondly, Justification

Christ justifies us by taking away the guilt of our sins, procuring remission and pardon for them. He redeems us from their power, along with the curse and wrath that are due to us for them. For “by his own blood he entered into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us,” Heb. 9:12. “He redeemed us from the curse, being made a curse for us,” Gal. 3:13; “his own self bearing our sins in his own body on the tree,” 1 Pet. 2:24. We have “all sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” but are “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins,” Rom. 3:23-25. For “in him we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins,” Col. 1:14.

Thirdly, Sanctification

The Holy Spirit sanctifies us by purging away the uncleanness and pollution of our sins, renewing in us the image of God, and supplying us with the graces of the Spirit of holiness. For “the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself to God, purges our consciences from dead works that we may serve the living God,” Heb. 9:14. In fact, “the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin,” 1 Jn. 1:7. “By himself he purged our sins,” Heb. 1:3. To “sanctify the people with his own blood, he suffered outside the gate,” Heb. 13:12. “He gave himself for the church to sanctify and cleanse it, so that it would be holy and without blemish,” Eph.5:25-27. Uniquely among the graces of the Spirit, “it is given to us, for Christ’s sake, to believe on him,” Phil 1:29; God “blessing us in him with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places,” Eph. 1:3.

Fourthly, Adoption

We are adopted, with that evangelical liberty and all those glorious privileges pertaining to the sons of God. For “God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons,” Gal 4:4, 5.

Fifthly, Glorification

Nor do the effects of the death of Christ rest here. They do not leave us until we are settled in heaven, in glory and immortality forever. Our inheritance is a “purchased possession,” Eph 1:14. “And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, those who are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance,” Heb. 9:15. The sum of all this is that the death and blood-shedding of Jesus Christ has wrought, and effectually procures, for all those who are concerned, eternal redemption. That consists in grace here, and glory hereafter.

Courtesy of MediaGratiae

Jesus’ Coming and the New Covenant

Posted by Dan C. on

A rather lengthy and rather confusing Facebook post I read this morning had, as it’s central point, that Jesus came ONLY for Israel and therefore, the New Covenant has nothing to do with Christian believers today. This post will focus on the two sentences used to ‘prove’ the author’s point.

Here’s the first sentence:

“Jesus said “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Only in the Greek means only.”

First of all, the original post omitted the scripture reference for Jesus’ words, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It’s from Matt 15:24.

For the correct interpretation, those terms/phrases need to be examined in context, so let’s take a look.

Jesus spoke those words to his disciples after a Canaanite woman who had come to him for the healing of her demon possessed daughter. Jesus’ disciples told him to send her away, but she kept crying out for healing for her daughter. Jesus commended the woman for her faith and healed her daughter.

Key to the correct interpretation is understanding Jesus’ claim to be sent “only to the lost sheep of Israel”. Was that “sending” ever and always to be only to Israel, as some would want us to believe? Lets ask Jesus.

“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15  just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16  And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” (John 10:14-16)

Clearly, Jesus’ initial sending was to Israel but was extended to non-Israelites. To use Matthew 15:24 as ‘proof’ that Jesus was never sent to non-Israelite nations cannot be true, by Jesus’ own words!

On to the second sentence:

“Jeremiah 31:31 tells of who the new covenant is for and it’s not us.”

This time a scripture was offered, but not the actual text. Let’s look at that verse in context:

Jer 31:31-33  “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. 33For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Now let’s hear from some Bible commentaries:

“God’s New Covenant will give Israel the inner ability to obey His righteous standards and thus to enjoy His blessings. Ezekiel indicated that this change will result from God’s bestowal of the Holy Spirit on these believers (cf. Eze_36:24-32). In Old Testament times the Holy Spirit did not universally indwell all believers. Thus one different aspect of the New Covenant is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in all believers (cf. Joe_2:28-32).” (The Bible Knowledge Commentary)

In principle, this covenant, also announced by Jesus Christ (Luk_22:20), begins to be fulfilled spiritually by Jewish and Gentile believers in the church era (1Co_11:25; 2Co_3:6; Heb_8:7-13; Heb_9:15; Heb_10:14-17; Heb_12:24; Heb_13:20). It has already begun to take effect with “the remnant according to the election of grace” (Rom_11:5). It will be also realized by the people of Israel in the last days, including the regathering to their ancient land, Palestine (chs. 30-33). The streams of the Abrahamic, Davidic, and new covenants find their confluence in the millennial kingdom ruled by the Messiah. (John MacArthur)

The old law could be broken Jeremiah 31:32; to remedy this God gives, not a new law, but a new power to the old law. It used to be a mere code of morals, external to man, and obeyed as a duty. In Christianity, it becomes an inner force, shaping man’s character from within. (Barnes)

This shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel — That is, with those who are Israelites indeed, in whom is no guile, John 1:47, who are Jews inwardly, Romans 2:29, by the circumcision of the heart and spirit, spoken of and promised by God, Deuteronomy 30:6. I will put my law in their inward parts, &c. — In the times of the gospel God’s law is not abrogated and made void; for Christ came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it: but it is written in the hearts of God’s true Israel by the finger of his Spirit; and they become obedient to it from their secret approbation of it as holy, just, and good, and from the delight they take in it after the inward man. (Benson)

To assert “Jeremiah 31:31 tells of who the new covenant is for and it’s not us,” is a gross and blatant misinterpretation of the context of God’s own words spoken through the prophet!

The original FB post was much longer than those two passages, however it was confusing, terribly verbose, and never actually explained how believers today are saved, if NOT through the New Covenant. So much for a Friday morning ‘spiritual exercise’, of a sort.  I’ll leave it at that.

The lesson to be learned in all of that is once again that the three main principles for correctly interpreting scripture are Context, Context, Context! We must approach and study the Bible with the all-important goal of determining what it says, not what we want it to mean. And remember, any text without a context is pretext for a prooftext! (R. Scott Clark, among others).

Be Blessed!

“In a World Full of Problems, be the Solution.”

Posted by Dan C. on

The above quotation is from the Season 16, Episode 15 of the popular television crime drama, NCIS, titled  crossing the Line. It was spoken by an NCIS Agent to his son. The Agent was later killed in a Navy Yard bombing while his son was visiting him at work. The son visited the NCIS offices as a high school student several years later to try and find closure. But enough of the NCIS episode, and why did I mention it?

Watching the old show again (original shows are always better than the spin offs) reminded me that our NCIS quote has been spoken by wise parents to their children, military leaders to their troops, managers to their employees, and mentors to their mentees for probably centuries, in one form or another. It reminds us that instead of complaining about problems and issues, we should be about fixing things if we are able.

As an an old retired soldier myself and also a Christian, I am also reminded of another quote, “Jesus is the Answer”, which was an Andre Crouch song from 1973, and later covered by countless Christian musicians.

The truth is, quite frankly, that Jesus IS the answer to all the world’s problems, both personal and cultural, political, and societal. And while I understand being part of the solution to problems, we as Christians can never “be” Jesus. We cannot, and never will die for the sins of others, but we can share the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ – that it was the incarnate Son of God who did die for the sins of His people, and in so doing be part of the ultimate solution.

Regardless what our temporal purpose might be, we have an overarching purpose to share the gospel of Jesus Christ in a lost and dying world.The Apostle Paul defined that message quite clearly in his 1st Letter to the Corinthian church:

“ Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand,  and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, “ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4, ESV)

Jesus Is The Answer Quotes. QuotesGramBe blessed as you go forth and proclaim it!

“The Death of Death in the Death of Christ” by John Owen

Posted by Dan C. on

John Owen wrote “The Death of Death in the Death of Christ” in 1647. I would be lying if I didn’t tell you that it’s a challenging read. What follows is short excerpt from J. I. Packer’s introduction to John Owen’s classic work:

“Now, here are two coherent interpretations of the biblical gospel, which stand in evident opposition to each other. The difference between them is not primarily one of emphasis, but of content. One proclaims a God who saves; the other speaks of a God Who enables man to save himself. One view presents the three great acts of the Holy Trinity for the recovering of lost mankind—election by the Father, redemption by the Son, calling by the Spirit—as directed towards the same persons, and as securing their salvation infallibly. The other view gives each act a different reference (the objects of redemption being all mankind, of calling, those who hear the gospel, and of election, those hearers who respond), and denies that any man’s salvation is secured by any of them. The two theologies thus conceive the plan of salvation in quite different terms. One makes salvation depend on the work of God, the other on a work of man; one regards faith as part of God’s gift of salvation, the other as man’s own contribution to salvation; one gives all the glory of saving believers to God, the other divides the praise between God, Who, so to speak, built the machinery of salvation, and man, who by believing operated it. Plainly, these differences are important, and the permanent value of the “five points,” as a summary of Calvinism, is that they make clear the points at which, and the extent to which, these two conceptions are at variance.”

“Whether we call ourselves Calvinists hardly matters; what matters is that we should understand the gospel biblically. But that, we think, does in fact mean understanding it as historic Calvinism does. The alternative is to misunderstand and distort it. We said earlier that modern Evangelicalism, by and large, has ceased to preach the gospel in the old way, and we frankly admit that the new gospel, insofar as it deviates from the old, seems to us a distortion of the biblical message. And we can now see what has gone wrong. Our theological currency has been debased. Our minds have been conditioned to think of the Cross as a redemption which does less than redeem, and of Christ as a Saviour who does less than save, and of God’s love as a weak affection which cannot keep anyone from hell without help, and of faith as the human help which God needs for this purpose. As a result, we are no longer free either to believe the biblical gospel or to preach it. We cannot believe it, because our thoughts are caught in the toils of synergism. We are haunted by the Arminian idea that if faith and unbelief are to be responsible acts, they must be independent acts; hence we are not free to believe that we are saved entirely by divine grace through a faith which is itself God’s gift and flows to us from Calvary. Instead, we involve ourselves in a bewildering kind of double-think about salvation, telling ourselves one moment that it all depends on God and next moment that it all depends on us. The resultant mental muddle deprives God of much of the glory that we should give Him as author and finisher of salvation, and ourselves of much of the comfort we might draw from knowing that God is for us.”

“And when we come to preach the gospel, our false preconceptions make us say just the opposite of what we intend. We want (rightly) to proclaim Christ as Saviour; yet we end up saying that Christ, having made salvation possible, has left us to become our own saviours. It comes about in this way. We want to magnify the saving grace of God and the saving power of Christ. So we declare that God’s redeeming love extends to every man, and that Christ has died to save every man, and we proclaim that the glory of divine mercy is to be measured by these facts. And then, in order to avoid universalism, we have to depreciate all that we were previously extolling, and to explain that, after all, nothing that God and Christ have done can save us unless we add something to it; the decisive factor which actually saves us is our own believing. What we say comes to this—that Christ saves us with our help; and what that means, when one thinks it out, is this—that we save ourselves with Christ’s help. This is a hollow anticlimax. But if we start by affirming that God has a saving love for all, and Christ died a saving death for all, and yet balk at becoming universalists, there is nothing else that we can say. And let us be clear on what we have done when we have put the matter in this fashion. We have not exalted grace and the Cross; we have cheapened them. We have limited the atonement far more drastically than Calvinism does, for whereas Calvinism asserts that Christ’s death, as such, saves all whom it was meant to save, we have denied that Christ’s death, as such, is sufficient to save any of them. We have flattered impenitent sinners by assuring them that it is in their power to repent and believe, though God cannot make them do it. Perhaps we have also trivialised faith and repentance in order to make this assurance plausible (“it’s very simple—just open your heart to the Lord…”). Certainly, we have effectively denied God’s sovereignty, and undermined the basic conviction of religion—that man is always in God’s hands. In truth, we have lost a great deal. And it is, perhaps, no wonder that our preaching begets so little reverence and humility, and that our professed converts are so self-confident and so deficient in self-knowledge, and in the good works which Scripture regards as the fruit of true repentance.”

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Packer’s entire introduction can be found here: Introductory Essay to John Owen’s Death of Death in the Death of Christ (J. I. Packer) (all-of-grace.org)

John Owen’s work can be found here: The Death of Death in the Death of Christ (eBook) | Monergism

A modernized version of Owen’s work can be found here: The Death of Death in the Death of Christ (onthewing.org)

Enjoy!

Martin Luther Loved Christmas

Posted by Dan C. on

No photo description available.Martin Luther wrote about the joy of the Gospel revealed at Christmas when he composed these words in the hymn “From Heaven Above to Earth I Come”:

“From heaven above to earth I come / To bear good news to every home / Glad tidings of great joy I bring / Whereof I now will say and sing / To you this night is born a child / Of Mary, chosen virgin mild / This little child, of lowly birth / Shall be the joy of all the earth.”

Besides the carols, Luther loved Christmas because it mirrors so many elements of the Gospel story itself. To him, the tradition of giving gifts to children on Christmas Eve was an opportunity to educate them on the gift of grace that God had wrapped in a little human baby lying in a manger… just for them. It was a perfect moment to emphasize the miracle of the incarnation. It still is.

According to tradition, Luther may have also popularized the tradition of the Christmas tree as a way to express and teach theology to his family. The story goes that, while he was on his way home one evening, he became overwhelmed by the incredible beauty of a fir tree positioned against the backdrop of the brilliant starlit sky. He so desperately wanted to describe what he had seen to his family, but the words failed him. So he ventured back outside and chopped down one of these trees, bringing it home to share with his family. He even decorated the tree with candle tapers, mimicking the stars that hung over the manger where the newborn Messiah lay.

Christmas is still a time to remember. The sights and sounds may have been different, but Martin Luther loved Christmas because it reminded him of the purity, beauty, and truth of the Jesus story. This Christmas, may Luther’s passion for the real gospel also be a reminder to each of us to listen, remember, and sing the Jesus story ourselves with all the joy its truth affords.

(From the article “Why Martin Luther Loved Christmas” by Keith Getty — H/t: Church History)

Socialism, Jesus Christ, and Opinion Polls

Posted by Dan C. on

Recent polling by Hillsdale College suggests that nearly half of younger Americans would prefer living in a socialist country. One Analysis attributes that to “celebrity politicians”. Others might assume that a preference for socialism might have something to do with their having bought into the “promises” of socialism sans the knowledge of socialism’s abject failure throughout history and even today.

Another recent poll, by Lifeway and Ligonier Ministries suggests that slightly more than half of evangelical Christians agree that God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, which can be attributed to ‘evangelicals’ who twist scripture to promote inclusivism, and the fact that many evangelical Christians either don’t know or don’t believe their Bibles and what it clearly teaches.

Both polls, one political and one religious reflect a similar root problem – a lack of sound education; concerning history in one case and concerning what God has spoken to his people through his Word in the other.

Concerning young people and socialism, much of the blame for the current situation belongs to educational institutions. Concerning the sad case of evangelical Christians buying into inclusivism there is no excuse. Scripture and the words of Jesus are crystal clear. Jesus is the only way to God. If there are professing evangelical Christians who know what Scripture says, yet choose to believe there are many ways to God. . . . .I shudder to think what that might mean.

I’ll just leave it right there. . .

What Does it mean to Come to Christ?

Posted by Dan C. on


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Before we take a closer look at it really means to “come” to Christ, we need to realize that the term “come” must be understood spiritually and not carnally. We know this because the Bible tells us that our natural mind is actually hostile to God:

Rom 8:7  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. (Rom 8:7)

The Bible also tells us that the natural man is unable to understand spiritual matters:

“But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Cor 2:14)

Our coming to Christ not merely a matter of obeying God’s commandments, attending a Church service, going to a Bible study, listening to Christian music, or even reading the Bible. Anyone can do all of those things. Genuine coming to Christ is a spiritual matter.

With that understanding, we, can now try and describe our “coming” to Christ. To paraphrase John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim’s Progress author John Bunyan described it as a “moving of the mind towards him”, from “a sound sense of the absolute want that a man has of him (Christ) for his justification and salvation.”

In simpler terms, when a person realizes his/her spiritually lost condition in sin, and that justification and salvation are only to be found in Christ, that person willingly comes to Christ. Coming to Christ involves both the will and the heart. So how can we describe those who genuinely come to Christ? Consider these evidences:

· They come with prayers, supplications and tears, demonstrating their heartfelt need for mercy.

“With weeping they shall come, and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back, I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble, for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.” (Jeremiah 31:9)

  • They ‘run’ to Christ, fleeing the wrath to come. Realizing their desperate condition in sin and that Christ is the only way of escape, they fly to safety as fast as they can. (Matt 3:7; Psa 143:9).
  • A genuine coming to Christ is marked by a clear sense of an absolute need of Jesus Christ to save and evident from the outcries of those even as they are coming to him. Consider the following examples:

PETER WALKING ON WATER

“But when he (Peter) saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” . (Matthew 14:30)

PETER PREACHING AT PENTECOST

“Now when they (the crowd) heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37)

THE PHILIPPIAN JAILER

“Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30)

  • A genuine coming to Christ is accompanied by an honest and sincere forsaking everything to follow him.

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26-27)

The above evidences describe all those who have, or are coming to Christ. Anyone genuinely coming to Christ for salvation casts leaves everything behind and forsaking all to follow Christ. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer so eloquently said in his book The Cost of Discipleship:

“When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die”

When we glance at today’s evangelical environment, we can see example after example of invitations to come to Christ for a multitude of reasons focused on what we mortals desire most in this life (our best lives now), rather than what God has done for us in sending his Son do die for our sins. Some have called them “adventures in missing the gospel.”

Anyone who truly comes to Christ comes because of being spiritually awakened to the reality of their sin, the dire consequences of it, and the reality that Jesus Christ is the only escape from the just wrath of God.

My desire is that everyone who reads this has truly come to Christ and is faithfully serving him in whatever vocation they find themselves. If not……..

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Prevailing Views of the Atonement of Christ

Posted by Dan C. on

This is one of those articles this writer has put together in order to have a clear and logical understanding of the two principal views of Christ’s sacrifice for the sins of men. Such an endeavor helps me to maintain a consistent understanding of the topic at hand, not only in my own mind, but it also helps me greatly in communicating what I believe to others. As Christians, being able to articulate why we believe what we believe is spiritually enriching, while at the same time extremely helpful when discussing biblical topics with other believers and unbelievers alike. On to the topic at hand – the two prevailing views of the Atonement!

There is very little doubt among Christians that, In his death and resurrection, Jesus Christ became the atonement, or sacrifice for the sins of mortal men. The Bible tells us that there is no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood, in both the Old and New Testaments (Leviticus 16 & Hebrews 9). In the OT, atonement for sin was accomplished by the Jewish High Priests through the periodic sacrificing of ceremonially clean animals. In the New Testament, we are presented with the once for all atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the pure Lamb of God who lived a perfect life on behalf of all who repent of sin and believe the gospel.

Having established that belief in Christ’s sacrifice for the salvation of men, we can ask the crucial question: Did Christ die to merely make the salvation possible for those who repent and believe, or to actually guarantee their salvation? To try and answer that question, let us turn to what has been referred to as The Golden Chain of Salvation recorded in Romans 8:29-30:

“29For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

If you are asking “How do those two verses answer our question?”, you are asking the right question! Those two verses didn’t come to be called The Golden Chain of Salvation on a whim or by accident. The actually present to us the logical flow of the process of salvation, or how God saves men. We are told that those who are saved are those God first of all “foreknew”, followed by their “predestination”, calling”, justification”, and glorification.”

The key to answering our question concerning the prevailing views of the Atonement lies in the definition of the phrase “those whom he (God) foreknew”. It goes without saying that those who are “foreknown” by God are ultimately “glorified” in their salvation. It is also significant that everything that God does in these passages is expressed in the past tense – just something for you to ponder. What does it mean that God “foreknew”? There are two distinct possibilities, and possibly only two.

By itself, the term “foreknew” means literally “knew beforehand”. In our context, that seems to indicate that God either knew personally those who would be saved, or he knew something that would do at some point in time.

By far, the prevailing view in modern evangelicalism is that God, who knows the beginning from the end, knows all of the future actions of all men, and decided to save those who he knew would, at some point in time, hear the gospel message and come to believe in Christ as Savior of their own natural free will.

The other, less popular view, is that God knew beforehand those He would save in a personal way, not because they were somehow ‘better’ than others, or because he knew what they would do at some future point in time. We see a beautiful example of this view in God’s choosing of Israel for deliverance from bondage in Egypt:

“It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 7:7-8)

God didn’t choose Israel because of how great a nation it was or anything they might accomplish in the future. He had made a covenant with Abraham to eventually become a great nation out of which would come His Messiah that would impact all the nations of the world. In like manner, God, also in eternity past, set his love upon and chose all those he would deliver from the bondage of sin through His Messiah.

The last question we can ask is “What exactly does Romans passage actually say?” The text says “for those whom he (God) foreknew”, a personal pronoun. God knew specific individuals he would bring to salvation. The term “knew” used in the text is the same word God used when he called the Prophet Jeremiah:

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5)

As a final check, I examined over 15 different translations. All but three used the same phrase “I knew you”. Two used the phrase “I chose you” and one used the phrase “I selected you”. As a matter of curiosity, I also checked the The Message (MSG) Bible, which claims to be a translation but is, at best, an ‘interesting’ paraphrase. The MSG used the phrase “I knew all about you”, which could support the most popular view of the Atonement, described earlier in this article.

To summarize, there are two main views of the Atonement of Christ. The most popular of the two is that God knew the future decisions of all men and chose for salvation those he knew would choose him of their own free will. The less popular view is that God knew personally, and set his love upon those he would save, and as a matter of sovereign grace, determined to bring them to salvation.

So what?

First of all, both views cannot be correct. Which is most faithful to the text of Scripture? Which do you believe and why? Does one’s view of the Atonement affect how we evangelize – how we share the gospel? Should it?

I won’t share my answers to those questions. After all, my intention in trying to make sense of it all was not to convince anyone of my opinion of the matter. Perhaps another article will address how views of the Atonement impact our evangelistic efforts.

Feel free to comment and let me know if you think I did what I set out to do – properly present the two main views of Christ’s Atonement.