A ‘view’ on Election/ Predestination

     Many years ago, C.S.Lewis made the point that no one should ever attach themselves so firmly to the teachings of one man that they couldn’t see anything else. For instance, John Calvin was a great theologian and expositor of God’s Word, and the Reformation relied heavily on his “Institutes of the Christian Religion”. One of his doctrines was regarding “predestination”, to the effect that God chose people to be saved and they should be eternally thankful. On the other hand, what about those who weren’t chosen? There was no hope for them! This is why some denominations (so-called “hyper-Calvinist”) have no evangelical outreach—they think there is no point. Unfortunately, J.I.Packer takes this position, and so does Wayne Grudem, whose other 19 out of 20 doctrinal videos were exhilarating and beautiful. 

     Dare I say that this would be utterly unfair, unjust and illogical of God? It implies merit in some people and none in others. In truth, God’s grace is freely given, without merit, only on faith. 

     I’ve puzzled over this for many years, while always believing that the Good News about Jesus must be made available to everybody. Then I saw a video by David Jeremiah that crystallized my thoughts. 

     His explanation went something like this: — God “wants all men to be saved.” (1 Tim.2:4) “Whoever believes in Him shall not perish.” (John 3:16) “He chose us in Him before the creation of the world.” (Eph.1:4) “He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) David Jeremiah concluded that everyone was chosen to be saved. It seems their names were even written in the Book of Life. This means that everything was ready for them to enter God’s kingdom. There was a great welcome awaiting them. But now “free agency” comes into play. A person can decide for or against the Lord. Ultimately, as Revelation 3:5 says, if they irrevocably reject Christ, God will blot their name out of His Book. (Ex.32:32 and Psa.69:28) 

     Sadly—and disastrously—some turn away! They decide their fate for themselves by disobedience. (1 Pet.2:8) God never, ever, “chose them for wrath!” (1 Thess.5:9)

The Sun did…what?

     The Sun—what do we know about it? In ancient times it was considered to be a fiery disk, just “up there” in the sky, possibly even attached to a track on a vault or dome over the earth. In Greek mythology, Icarus flew too close to the sun, melted his waxen wings and crashed into the sea. If someone could fly on wings and get to the sun, they obviously thought it was very close. 

     In many cases, Scripture adopts “accommodation” as an approach to ancient science, geography, astronomy, medicine, and the like. The Bible uses some of the attitudes of the ancients (in lieu of twenty-first century science)—to them, the sky was a dome mounted on pillars at the outer edges; the sun, moon and stars were attached to tracks on the inside of this dome. This is why the people of Babel thought they could build a tower high enough to reach that “dome”, then they could break through it directly into heaven. (Gen.11:4). 

     The sun features many times in Scripture (at least 173 times according to my concordance). Often it is an astronomical body in the sky but very frequently it has literary or symbolic connotations. 

     Genesis 1:16 tells us that God made “the greater light to govern the day”. Deuteronomy 33:14 credits the sun with “bringing forth the best”. And an event unique in the history of the world occurs when Joshua gives orders to the sun and it stands still. (Josh.10:12-14) The sun is personified again in Psalm 104:19—it “knows when to go down.” This continues in Eccl.1:5—“The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.” Isaiah (24:23) talks about wicked things done on the earth, even making “the sun ashamed”! 

     In Hezekiah’s day, the Lord gives another astronomical sign through the sun: “I will make the shadow cast by the sun go back the ten steps it has gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.” (Isa.38:8) Amos tells us that in a time of trouble and famine, the Lord “will make the sun go down at noon.” (Amos 8:9) This essentially happened at the cross, when “the sun stopped shining.” (Luke 23:45) What a relief to look forward to that future day when, “Your sun will never set again.” (Isa.60:20) 

     Figurative examples are not infrequent. In Genesis 37:9, the sun bows down to Joseph in a dream. David, in Psalm 19, pictures the sun coming out of its “tent” in the heavens, running his course like a champion, from one end of heaven to the other. Psalm 84 tells us that “the LORD God is a sun and shield”, providing both physical and spiritual light and warmth, then moderating it with some shade and shelter. On this same note, Malachi tells us that one day “the sun of righteousness” will rise. (Mal.4:2) Finally, John tells us that, after a great deal of sun-scorching and pain, those who reach the celestial city “will not need the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light.” (Rev.22:5) In fact, “the city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it.” The sun has at last served its purpose. From now on “there will be no night there.” (Rev.21:23-25)    

"Glory"

      In his video on Sunday, May 31, 2020, Lew Worrad touched on the subject of glorification, quoting 2 Corinthians 3: 7-11, where Paul says, “the ministry that brought death…came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory.” 

      Then Worrad explained the picture of Moses on Mount Sinai (Ex.34:29, 30). Being in God’s presence, he caught some of God’s glory. Back down among the Israelites, that glory faded. 

      Another time when Moses caught that glory was on the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus and Elijah. Luke tells us (9:31) that they were talking about His “departure”, i.e., His death, which He would accomplish at Jerusalem. The glory was evident to Peter, James, and John (Mark 9:2-4) in the blindingly white garments, “whiter than anyone on earth could bleach them.” There is even a hint in Mark 9:15 that some of that radiance remained, as with Moses in the wilderness—when Jesus and the three disciples came down to join the others, Mark says, the crowds “were overwhelmed with wonder, and ran to greet Him.” There was still something special that drew them to Him. 

      There may even be another place where Moses shows up. Here we go into “sanctified imagination”, but the possibility is there. Remember all the persons who showed up at the tomb after the resurrection? Matthew (28:2) tells us there was an angel, whose “appearance was like lightning.” Mark says (16:5), “they saw a young man dressed in a white robe.” John (20:12-14) mentions two angels and Jesus at the tomb. But what does Luke say (24:4-8)? “Two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.” And these men mention in some detail Jesus’ death and resurrection. Among all those gathering around the tomb that morning, dare we suspect that these were Moses and Elijah, come to see the results of their talk on the Mount? Jesus had indeed “accomplished” His death, and “accomplished” His resurrection. The only thing left now was His ascension to glory.