My understanding of the gospel

My understanding of the gospel starts with man's condition and position before God. After our first parents partook in the forbidden fruit, they plunged all of their children into a condition of moral and spiritual crookedness. All of the actions of every man, except the God-man, are touched by the sinful nature that they have inherited from their federal head, Adam. The position of humanity before God was also affected by the rebellion of our first parents. Our position from the womb is sinner, rebel, enemy, and unrighteous. But when the time was right, God sent his Son into the world. He actively obeyed the commands of God, he was crucified as a sacrifice, a substitute, a Messiah, and as the loving bridegroom who purchased his Bride, the Church. He then resurrected from the grave, defeating death and sin, so that he could give life to his Bride. All those who come to him in repentance and faith are welcomed as sons, brothers and sisters, redeemed, reconciled, and beloved saints.

Eschatology? We can all agree on 3 things... (I think)

While some people believe that the world will never end, others believe that when the world ends, nothing will exist afterward. Both of these assumptions are not consistent with the biblical text. While Bible-believing Christians know that there will be a clear end to this present age, they also know that it will not be the end of existence, but rather the beginning of eternal existence. But what will happen before this present age is finally ended? This is a question that the Biblical text answers, but a question with which many Bible-believing Christians disagree.  The word “eschaton” in the Greek language is translated as “final.” The definition of the word deals with the final or last things in the divine plan that are to take place before the very end. The study of these last things is then called eschatology. Many different eschatological perspectives are held within the Church, and while there is so much disagreement as to what the final things will be, there are many points on which every eschatological perspective can agree. After a careful study of eschatology, one must come away with a renewed appreciation for the significance of the work of Christ, an urgency for the proclamation of the gospel, and a confident hope in the return of Christ for his Bride.

           
The work of Christ in his life, death, and resurrection has struck a blow to death that death itself cannot overcome. When one is physically born into this world, a law of nature is that he or she will also die physically in this world. When Adam, the representative for all humanity, sinned in the garden against God, all humanity was then condemned to eternal spiritual punishment, which is known as the second death in the book of Revelation. But the plan of redemption was already in place from the beginning when God promised that the seed of the woman would bruise the seed of the serpent’s head.[1] This meant that Jesus would strike a fatal blow to death by overcoming the power of it through his resurrection.[2] Jesus provided, through his complete work on earth, a clear way of salvation from the second death of this world and to an eternal resurrection from the first death. When one is saved from this second death, Jesus called this event being born-again, or a second-birth. Dr. Steven Lawson once said, “If you are only born once, you will die twice; but if you are born twice, you will only die once.” This is a personal resurrection that is inaugurated at the moment of regeneration and will be consummated when Christ returns for His Church.[3] The significance of Christ’s complete work on work is significant to eschatology.

           
The second point that is significant to eschatology is the urgency of the proclamation of the gospel. As one studies eschatology, he or she may be moved to an overwhelming sense of praise to the One who has conquered death. He or she may also be moved to a greater acknowledgment of the weight of rebellion against the One who has conquered sin. But no matter what the other outcomes are to studying eschatology, one must come away with a significant burden and urgency to share the gospel of the kingdom. We see in Revelation 7.9-10 that there will be people “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” represented at the throne. Later in the book, John tells us that there will be a great worldwide judgment day.[4] Jesus also talked about the judgment day during His Olivet discourse.[5] When we think about the judgment day, we feel a sense of urgency to let people know about this way of salvation. This is why Jesus told his disciples that “this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”[6] Jesus gives us the direct command in the Great Commission to “go into all the world and make disciples of all nations.”[7] We must feel a sense of urgency to share the gospel, not only because we’re commanded to, but also because all people who are not saved in the end will be judged for their rebellion against God.

          
  Along with a renewed appreciation for the work of Christ and a sense of urgency to share the good news to those who have never heard or do not believe, we must come away with a confident hope, or expectation, for Christ’s arrival at any second. In three different places, the return of Christ is described in terms of coming like a “thief in the night.”[8] We must always be ready for the appearing of our Savior. Paul describes in His letter to Titus that we are “waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.”[9] The word hope, as described in this verse, is a confident expectation. We must be confident and ready for the appearing of our great God and Savior who may come at any moment.

       
The confident expectation we have in the return of Christ, the high-priority we much have to share the gospel of the kingdom, and the renewed appreciation in the work of Christ are all results of a good study of the eschaton. We can be sure that, in the end, death will ultimately be destroyed when Christ comes for his bride, to judge, and to consummate his kingdom on earth. Let us say with John, “Come, Lord Jesus!”[10]

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[1] Genesis 3.15

[2] 1 Corinthians 15.50-57

[3] 1 Thessalonians 4. 15-17

[4] Revelation 20.11-15

[5] Matthew 25.31-46

[6] Matthew 24.14

[7] Matthew 28.19

[8] 1 Thessalonians 5.2; 2 Peter 3.10; Revelation 16.15

[9] Titus 2.13

[10] Revelation 22.20

who is Jesus? (a quick overview)

Jesus is considered to be one of the most influential people to have ever lived. Realizing this, we must look deeper into who this man was and why he is so influential. He is known as the most important leader of Christianity. Jesus of Nazareth[1] is known as a prolific teacher by almost everyone who believes he was real because he taught good morals and encouraged help for the needy. While this is all true, it significantly falls short of the true account of Jesus as can be found in the Bible. Jesus is known in the Bible as the Son of God, God himself, Lord, and Savior. As one considers the Bible more fully, they find more titles given to Jesus identifying this person as the true Savior of men.

Jesus is known rather fondly as the Son of God. It is very difficult to take this title at face value and believe in the oneness of the Trinity. If Jesus is the “Son”, then it is obvious after some amount of reasoning that someone “begot” or “created” Jesus. But as we look at the beginning of John, we find the following:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”[2]

Jesus is referred to as “the Word” in this text, and it is obvious that the author makes it clear to his audience that Jesus was “with God” and at the same time “was God.” This means that he was both God and a different person from God. God did not beget Jesus, but rather Jesus was given the title of Son So that his personage would be seen as separate from God the Father. We find something along these lines in the beginning verses of Hebrews when Jesus is described as the “Son,” yet having the exact “nature” of God and being the “radiance” of God’s glory. Dr. Sproul explains that this radiance implies that Jesus is also the “exact image of God.”[3] Grudem would explain that this the “exact representation (or ‘exact duplicate’) of the nature of being of God.”[4] John 20.25-31 also gives a very good description of Jesus’ person being both God and a separate person from God. This seasoned concept is well known as being the “hypostatic union.” After inspection, it is clear that if one recognizes what the Bible says about Jesus as truth, then one would have to come to the conclusion that Jesus is both God and the Son of God.

            As we continue to consider the person of Jesus, we have already acknowledged His deity, and now we must examine his humanity. First, as we look at the biblical account of Jesus’ birth, we find that a Jewish girl, Mary, was chosen to bear the Messiah even though she had never been with a man in an intimate way. Jesus was then born to his earthly parents, Mary and Joseph. It is interesting to consider the people that were the chosen parents of Jesus, because after careful analysis of Joseph’s lineage, we find that he was of the tribe of Judah and of the lineage of David the King. As one reflects on the Old Testament, he will find in Genesis 49 the prophecy to Judah that his “brothers shall praise you” and that the “scepter shall not depart from Judah.”[5] We also find in 2 Samuel 7.12-13 a covenant made from God to David that He would “raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body…and I will establish his kingdom forever.” We see both of these passages fulfilled in Jesus in his birth as a human. Jesus is seen as human in his birth.

            Jesus then lived the life we couldn’t live. As we reflect on Christ’s life on earth, it is important that we look at the ministry that he was so popular for. Jesus is known for his unique ability to do miracles and teach parables that taught such potent truths. But we must look deeper into his ministry. Jesus was able to live a sinless life, which is completely unique to him because no other human has been able to live this kind of a life.[6] Again, Jesus lived a life that we could never live. Also, being sinless meant that Jesus did not lie, but that everything that he said was truthful. This fulfilled the prophecy in Isaiah 53 that “neither was there any deceit in his mouth.” Because he spoke truth from God and never spoke any deceit, Jesus can be considered as the perfect Prophet.

            Jesus then died the death we deserved to die. He lived a sinless life and did not sin even to the point of death. But as he died, he took on the sin of many, resulting in the separation from His Father, because God cannot look on sin. We find this substitution for people’s sins described again in the account of the suffering servant of Isaiah 53. Paul says that Christ became “ a curse for us.” Because Jesus died the death we deserved to die, we are obligated to recognize that Jesus atoned our sins and became a propitiation for us. Jesus literally turned away God’s wrath from us. We deserved to die for our sins, but Jesus, because he was sinless and God, was the only worthy candidate to both turn away and absorb God’s wrath for us, so that he can take us to a state of being “at-one” with God.[7] It is obvious from the 2 Corinthians 5.21 that this sacrifice and act of substitutionary atonement appeased the wrath of God. Because Jesus lived the life we could not live and died the death we deserved to die, we consider him to be the perfect Priest because he has perfectly mediated salvation to those who would believe.

            Jesus did not stay in the grave for long, though. It is recorded that after three days in the tomb that he was physically resurrected.  This resurrection has a lot of significance for the Christian because Jesus is now alive. As Grudem would put it, “Christ’s resurrection ensures our regeneration.” This means that everyone who comes to faith in Jesus has been made alive from his or her spiritual deadness. This is reassuring that God has given us salvation, that it is a divine act. Another significance is that Jesus was “raised for our justification.”[8] This means that Jesus was raised to make us in right standing with, or acceptable to God. We are declared righteous because Christ was raised. Jesus also ascended and has taken his seat at the right hand of God according to Ephesians 1.20 and Hebrews 10.12. Jesus has sat down because he has inaugurated his Kingdom here on earth, and has sat down as the rightful King to rule His kingdom. This signifies that Jesus is the perfect King.

            We have seen throughout this paper that Jesus is fully God, fully man, and that he has lived the life we could not live, died the death we deserved to die, he was raised, and he ascended into heaven to rule next to God. He fulfilled His offices perfectly as Prophet, Priest, and King so that he can be recognized as the only worthy Savior of men.

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[1] This is a title given, not because he was born in Nazareth, but rather because the majority of his early years as a boy was spent living in Nazareth. Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

[2] John 1.1-4

[3] Quote from Dr. R.C. Sproul’s “Overview of Hebrews” on his lecture series entitled “From Dust to Glory.”

[4] Grudem, Wayne. “Systematic Theology.” Page 236.

[5] Genesis 49.8, 10

[6] 1 John 3.5

[7] These are a few passages on propitiation: Hebrews 2.17; 1 John 2.2; and 1 John 4.10.

[8] Romans 4.25

worship without words?

         

        At the start of John 4, we find that Jesus was attempting to escape the Pharisees because they “had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (the Baptist).” Jesus decided to cut through Samaria on his way to Galilee. As Jesus was sitting at Jacob’s well just outside of Sychar, a Samaritan lady had come up to the well for some water. Jesus, sitting all alone, asked this woman for a drink of water. Seeing that every time He could share the gospel with someone was a good time, Jesus decided to converse with the Samaritan woman about living water. She didn’t understand, so she changed the subject by asking the question “Where people ought to worship?” Jesus ushered in a new form of worship when he said, “The hour…is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” This passage has become the foundation for my philosophy of worship, which is that God is actively seeking and pursuing those who will worship him truly, both in spirit and in truth.

The word “worship” automatically entails the aspect of emotions in it. In order for anything to be worshipped, there must be the highest regard, respect, and admiration for the object. An extent of great affection must be present when something is worshipped. For a football team, television, or worshipped to be worshipped at all, there must be an overflowing desire for satisfaction emotionally.  God desires and seeks for those who will worship him in this way. The reason He sent His Son to the cross, opened up salvation for gentiles, and gave an assured hope of eternal life was so that we would be emotionally driven to worship Him with our lives and to sacrifice our lives to magnify His great name. But one without the Holy Spirit cannot worship Him rightly because our spirit has not been made alive. Jesus tells Nicodemus in the previous chapter, “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit…’You must be born again’” Our spirit must be made alive with Christ by the Holy Spirit in order for true worship to take place. This means that the Holy Spirit is the only means of driving our spirit to worship God rightly. Our spirit, or emotions, must be made alive and then engaged for a true worship experience.

This is not the only part of the equation, though, to truly worshipping God the way he wants us to. Emotion without truth is dead emotion. Paul gives us clear instructions in his book to the Colossians on this matter of worship. He says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” As we dissect this passage, words are at the forefront, but they are not just any words. These words that are the focus are true words of Christ and about Christ. They are psalms and hymns that are meant to be affirmed through the activity of singing. Words of truth put to music are preeminent to the music itself. The music of a song reinforces the message of the words, never the other way around. 

It has become popular in some of our evangelical churches to have a music-only time as part of the corporate worship time (usually during an offertory or special music). Unless the song is familiar or words are put up on the screen, I find this practice to be useless in the setting of a corporate worship service. If we are seeking in our corporate worship to give the best opportunity for the body of Christ to worship God in spirit and in truth, I find this to be a waste of time. Music that stirs emotions are helpful only if words of truth are being simultaneously proclaimed. If the musicians play their instruments while the Bible is being quoted, or a prayer is being spoken, or the body is singing then this is helpful and very useful to the body of Christ. But the playing of instruments alone as a special music or offertory “filler,” then I have found this to be useless. From my own experience, I have experience my sisters playing the piano on multiple occasions as an offertory or special music. As they play, I am amazed by their skill at the instrument, but I am not drawn to glorify God as a result of the piece. It wasn’t until I heard my sister play her piece at the piano and words were put up on a screen that I really was drawn to the majesty of the true and living God who should be worshipped in all aspects of life and especially through an instrumental piece. The glory of God was proclaimed through the words with the music in a way that words cannot describe. 

This is why I have come to the conclusion that all Christian music, especially that which is performed in a corporate worship service, need to always have the emphasis of spirit and truth at the focus. This is what David meant as he penned the words to the fortieth psalm, “I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my fee upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD.” Let us always strive to have the Holy Spirit drive our emotions, grounded on truth, to a state of true worship to our majestic God.

who is God?

God is an interesting topic to discuss in our contemporary culture. In some situations God is very popular and a hot topic, while other times the topic of God is a forgone conclusion of non-existence so there would be no need to talk about him. It is interesting how our American culture is one that likes to blaspheme and deny God while blaming God for all the evil in the world. Our cursing culture uses the term “god” all the time. But our culture is very unfamiliar with the God of the Bible. So I am going to show you who God is by talking about God’s sovereignty in creation, His holiness in existence, and then our need for him in light of his justice in salvation.

From the beginning of the inspired Word we see that God is central to and sovereign over all of creation. Without the Word of God, we as humans are left to reason without God, which results with an innumerable amount of beliefs about the creation of the world. With a multitude of beliefs on how the earth and all of creation came to existence one thing is for sure, creation is immensely complex. For a simple person to observe the universe and conclude it as a result of sheer randomness is to accept the fact that the ideology of any deity as ridiculous. Without deity, human reason is left to trying to prove creation from the perspective of science. Science does not give purpose to man, because science is finite. A system of finiteness cannot explain nor get rid of the idea of infiniteness, such as a deity. The infiniteness that is described from the very beginning of the Bible is labeled as “God.” It is assumed from the first verse of the inspired Word that God exists. God is known from the very beginning as the Creator of the entire universe. When God created man, he gave him purpose. The purpose of man is to have dominion over every animal that is on earth and he is ultimately given dominion “over all the earth.” This purpose is given to man, and this purpose was for the pleasure of God. God was pleased at the end of the day with his creation of man “in his own image” and said that everything he had made was “very good.” This is the purpose that each man has engraved on his heart because from the beginning, God created man with this purpose. The establishment of a Deity is necessary for the discussion of creation because an all-powerful and sovereign being is needed to explain the origin of the universe and give meaning to humanity.

Next, I will argue for the holiness of God in His existence. A popular train of thought is thrown around Christendom when the idea of God’s omnipotence is brought up. This thought says that “God is so powerful, he can do absolutely everything! There is nothing He can’t do!” How encouraging this thought is at the surface, but when scrutinized it comes up very short of the true meaning of God’s omnipotence. God cannot do a lot of things. He cannot lie, change, be unjust, be tempted, and many more. It is a natural human inclination to want to deny the full wrath of God. So when the thought is brought up of “there’s nothing He can’t do,” some people will make an exception for God’s “wrath” as well as the previous list. But God’s holiness is at stake with this exception. As R. C. Sproul urges us to think soberly for a few second, we must see that “If God is holy at all, if God has an ounce of justice in His character, indeed if God exists as God, how could He possibly be anything else but angry with us?” Dr Sproul goes on to list some simple reasons why God would be angry with us, such as our making being flippant about His grace, our defiance of His holiness, and our slighting of His justice. If we believe that God is holy, then we must realize that God is no God at all unless He possess wrath against those who oppose and sin against Him. God must act out in holy justice against those who oppose and sin against Him because He cannot allow sin or opposition into His heaven. As God’s existence is explored, one can see that all of His other attributes must be seen through the lenses of His holiness.

Not only does God’s sovereignty in creation and His holiness in existence shape our view of who God is, it is imperative that we need Him to save us from punishment if we want to live forever, and this can only happen through His justice in salvation. From the time Adam and Eve first sinned in the Garden of Eden, humanity has been under the curse and enslavement of sin. For man’s sin, God has condemned those who die in their sin to eternal death in hell. “But God, being rich in mercy” has made a way that we can be saved from death in hell. It is just and right for God to kill all mankind for their rebellion and to send them to hell. It is just for God to be angry at humanity because of our sin. But God has decided to show save some people so that His mercy would shine forth and his name would be glorified. He decided to save people so that his original purpose for mankind might be fulfilled. This is a stark contrast to the rest of the religions of the world. As Alistair Begg put this idea, “Other religions say 'I obey, therefore I'm accepted.' Genuine Christianity says 'I'm accepted, therefore I obey.'" This is at the heart of God’s justice. He doesn’t have to save any, but he chooses to save a few so that his sovereignty and holiness might be shown through His justice. God’s simple plan of salvation was to send his one and unique Son to earth, to live a sinless life, to die on the cross for the appeasement of the sins of the elect, and then to rise from death so that death can no longer have dominion over those whom God has chosen. This displays God’s justice in the salvation of His people.

God’s justice in salvation, His holiness in existence, and his sovereignty in creation are all facets that make up the one true and living God. These facets show humanity who God is, how He works, and why He does the things that He does. Each of the points shows us our need to be under His covenantal promise of salvation. 

by Kasey Clark