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Prepared Beforehand
Proverbs 16:4 The LORD has made everything for its own purpose, Even the wicked for the day of evil.
For those who thought that now that I have two books in print, I am now ready to retire for real… I am currently working on a book about the Book of Job. The story of Job is interesting because Job is not an Israelite, he is an Edomite (of the lineage of Esau) whose story so resonated with the Jews, particularly in their period of exile in Babylon, that they included the book in their own cannon of scriptures. Job is a man who despite being perfect in the ways of God, is horribly afflicted by God. While few of the Jews could say they were perfect in God's ways, I am sure that many, if not most, felt their punishment was greater than their guilt.
Job's cries of pain, his declaration of innocence, and his faithfulness despite everything happening to him spoke to the troubled hearts of the traumatized Jewish nation. Christians in pain and affliction have also found a strange comfort in the book. It was a part of official funeral liturgy for nearly two millenia.
Lurking under the skin of this story is a philosophical problem that was already troubling the pagan world of the Greek and Roman Empires: The Problem of Evil. It is often expressed, not as a dichotomy, but as a trichotomy: 1. God (or the gods) are the all powerful creator of all things. 2. God (or the gods) are good. 3. Evil exists. In the minds of the philosophers and theologians, all three statements cannot be true at the same time. Did a good God create evil? If not, where did evil come from?
To make this problem a little more difficult, the Israelites were sure that God was in total control of their history, if not that of all history. Why would a good and loving God allow all this evil to come into being, to continue and to prosper?
Jeremiah 1:5 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.
The philosophical and theological issues are the subject of more than two thousand years of debate, which I am trying to sift through. I won't try to cover that now. The answer generally comes in two forms: God's ways are higher than our ways, which I see as less of an answer than a political dodge; and the Freedom of the Will, i.e. humankind was allowed and has freely chosen to disregard God. As a result, humanity has made an awful mess of things. But, if we choose the second answer, what about God's providence and predestination and the emergence of so much evil?
Many Christians live fairly safe and secure lives. We are rarely confronted with radical evil. In seminary, I had the pleasure of associating with Richard Rubenstein, a Jewish theologian who had authored the popular book After Auschwitz. He suggests that God's hand in history can no longer be claimed without also claiming that the atrocities committed at Auschwitz death camp where God's will. For a further look into the Jewish response to the Holocaust, refer to my newest book, A Cult Challenge to the Church. To contemplate Auschwitz is to contemplate the worst of humanity in a modern Christian nation. Even if your life is rarely touched by radical evil, no approach to Christianity can be healthy without coming to terms with evil in this world and in the life of the Christian. We don't want evil to become our primary focus and we don't want to ignor it. Or as Carlos Anacondia states the case:
There are two big risks in every Christian's life. The first is to believe that everything happens because of demonic activity. When we do this, we take our eyes from Jesus. The second risk is to believe that even if we are in sin or choosing to live our lives contrary to the will of God, we are totally immune to Satan—the worse thing he could do to us is oppress us (Carlos Anacondia, Listen to ME, Satan!, 1998. Pg. 74).
I was listening to a audio interview with Remi Chiu, a professor who has just written a book Plague and Music in the Renaissance. He mentioned scientific studies on the focus of the imagination, while discussing the use of church bells during the plague. Chiu tells us that the bells to signify death where forbidden in many communities. Town leaders did not want to increase fear and panic or depression. But some communities insisted on ringing the bells at intervals, while asking everyone to open their windows and sing at the same time. They were acknowledging the pandemic with a hopeful and prayerful response. Even at that time, they understood the dangers of large social gatherings, and yet many parishes insisted on processions with prayer and singing never-the-less. If we become focused on the bad news, we will eventually be overwhelmed by fear, depression and hopelessness. These may be fruit of spirits, but they are not the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Pastor Che Ahn is among a small number of pastors who has opened his church in defiance of California governor Gavin Newsom. He isn't on a wild radical rant. Ahn has insisted on masks and social distancing, provided extensive sanitizing throughout the church and encourages the congregation to check each other's temperatures. His church has no deaths due to Covid-19, but he has been forced to sue the state government for the right to remain open. He counters that the governor encouraged the Black Lives Matter protests. We cannot allow the voices of anger, resentment and fear to be the only public voice. We need to express the voice of hope, of peace, of healing and deliverance. His stance is measured, carefully thought through, and firm. Ahn remains a firm answer against the swell of violent anarchy. Peter and John's response to the Sanhedrin was also firm. Both paid a high price:
Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” Acts 4:19-20.
If the voice of hope is silenced, then only the voice of anger, violence, depression and resentment will flourish. We should not imagine that the evil proposed will not touch the church. As Anacondia states above, it is foolish to ignore evil. As a Christian, my heart must suffer with all the victims of evil. Despite the fact that the Book of Job does not cover the topic of suffering on behalf of others, I feel it is necessary to include a chapter on that subject in the book I am working on. To pray only for personal or corporate blessings is to fail horribly as a Christian. We must stand firm against evil:
Santa Claus theology carries within itself the seeds of its own collapse, for it cannot cope with the fact of evil (J.I. Packer, Knowing God, 1973. Pg. 160).
Each of us has been chosen in Christ Jesus for good works. God has prepared a place for you, were you will be a blessing and a fruitful warrior against the darkness. So let's take a look at this preparation, at this predestination.
Jeremiah 1:5 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.
God comes to Jeremiah and tells the prophet that He has prepared a place for Jeremiah in His dispensation from before he was born. Jesus tells his followers: “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). Following the release of Peter and John from the custody of the Sanhedrin, they go out to speak to gathered friends and well-wishers. The group breaks out into spontaneous prayer in which this statement is made:
for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place (Act 4:27-28).
What is clear is that by now no one in the church thought that anything that had happened was accidental. The apostle Paul is clear on this point: God “predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will” (Ephesians 1:5). And most famously, Paul makes this statement in the Epistle to the Romans:
For 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. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified (Romans 8:29-30).
Augustine and many of the thinkers throughout Christian history have adopted a fairly rigid attitude towards this notion of God's predestination. The most pronounced and therefore the most influential is the theology of John Calvin, whose advocates sifted his theology down to five main points, signified by the acronym TULIP:
Total Depravity
Unlimited Election
Limited Atonement
Irresistible Grace
Preservation of the Saints
These five points of Calvinism can be expressed: All humanity is dead in sin and cannot come to God unless called by God. For those called, there are no pre-conditions and there is no ability to resist. For those not called, there is no possibility of salvation. And finally, once saved, always saved. Here is the way that Jonathan Edwards states it:
Every event, which is the consequence of any thing whatsoever, or that is connected with any foregoing thing or circumstance, either positive or negative, as the ground or reason of its existence, must be ordered of God; either by a designed efficiency and interposition, or a designed forbearing to operate or interpose (Jonathan Edwards, Freedom of the Will. Page 253).
It means, simply, God controls everything. As much as I like Edwards, this is one place where I don't agree with Edwards, despite being raised in a Presbyterian church.There are too many places in scripture where it is clear that God has given us choice. Our bad choices can have truely detrimental consequences for us and everyone and everything around us. God did not create Auschwitz, ungodly people did.
Genesis 2:16-17 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Why instruct Adam if Adam's life is already predetermined? Why ten commandments? Why the blessings and curses? Why do we preach salvation if the elect are irresistably drawn, regardless?
The five points of Calvinism came about when a Dutch theologian Jacob Arminius presented his five points which differed from Calvin's viewpoint. He suggested that: 1. our salvation is conditioned by our faith in the gospel message; 2. the Atonement is limited to those who place their faith in Christ; 3. no one is able to come to salvation without the aid of the Holy Spirit; 4. Grace is God at work in the believer, but anyone can resist the Holy Spirit; 5. believers are able to resist sin through the Grace of the Holy Spirit. Arminius and the Calvinists are not far distant theologically except on the one point of the freedom of the will. Are we free to accept the overtures of the Holy Spirit, or to resist them. The Calvinists who gathered to deliberate the issue decided that Arminius was wrong, God's election is irresistable. So let's look at scripture to see who is right:
You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you (Steven speaking just before his matyrdom, Acts 7:51).
Many years you bore with them and warned them by your Spirit through your prophets. Yet they would not give ear. Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands (Nehemiah 9:30).
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30).
These are only a few examples. God does call, but not everyone answers. Bill Johnson uses the phrase: “we are co-laborers with God.” God created us just that way. And what about the opposite resistance? Is our election so secure that we do not need to worry about the Devils enticements? Let's look at that:
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7).
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world (1Peter 5:6-9).
But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified (1Corinthians 9:27).
Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again (Romans 11:22).
Scripture clearly says we must resist the Devil; we must resist sin. The good news is that the Holy Spirit is our advocate and our strength. We are not in this fight alone. Paul, himself, says “provided you continue in his kindness” your salvation is secure, but if not, “you will be cut off.” So why am I discussing all this Christian doctrine? Because it impacts how we think going forward. God has given each one of us a special destiny, but we have to take hold of it. We have to choose it. The Devil does not want you to prosper. He would very much like you to fail to accomplish anything for God.
My conclusion from all of this is that God has predestined everything that is, but that we have been given the option to feed on the Tree of Life, or to feed on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Our first ancestors chose the latter. They chose to decide for themselves what is good and what is not good. God knew immediately what they had decided when they were found wearing fig leaves. When one of their two boys decided it was a good idea to kill his brother, despite God Himself trying to warn him, the horrible results of Adam and Eve's choice was clear. Even Cain, after the fact, realized his choice wasn't good, it was evil. Hitler thought he was doing a good thing, as did the Ottoman Turks, or Communists under the leadership of Lenin, Stalin, Castro, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, just to name a few of the more recent names on the list of human shame. God was not responsible for Auschwitz, we were.
We have access to the Tree of Life through Jesus Christ:
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God (Revelations 2:7).
We have the great priviledge to be grafted into the Tree of Life, Christ Jesus. Through Him the limitations of our political viewpoints, our social problems, and our personal attitudes are transformed to become caring and inclusive, not just of our friends and relatives, but those who don't look like us, don't act like us, don't worship the same God, and believe things that we know from the Bible to be wrong. In short, we are the body of Christ that cares. Jesus died for your transformation.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
God saw you before you were ever conceived, thank you mom and dad. God already had a plan for you, a plan for you to prosper in fruitfulness for His kingdom. Maybe you aren't sure what Jesus wants you to be doing. Ask God. Ask, and keep on asking. Maybe you have had prophetic words spoken over you, which prayerfully considered, and in the voice of several witnesses it seems to be a true word, but you have no idea what to do with that prophecy: ask and keep on asking. Knock and the door will be opened for you (Luke 11:9).
But… here is the point, you must act on what God has given you. You must believe that God loves you enough to not only save you from your sins, but to make a place in His kingdom where your special talents, your special testimony will become a fruitful bough. You have been grafted into the vine that is pure and holy and stands firm and immovable in any and every storm. I am not suggesting that you need to be the next Billy Graham, but you are meant to bear fruit for the kingdom. “Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:10). Jesus explains the process:
I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.
Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples (John 15:1-8).
Abide in Him. Read the Bible. Read the history of saints of God. Pray and pray some more. Listen for the special word of God for you and you alone. You are clean because of His word in you. In Jesus you will have fruit and fruit in abundance. Apart from abiding in Christ, you will wither and become unfruitful. You may be tasked by God to help someone that is in a very dark place. You will need the Holy Spirit to guide you at that time. You may need to call on others older and wiser in Christ. And you may wish you were a little more prayed up. Our friends the disciples were often not ready until they were imbued with power from on high.
Our friend Michael turned me on to a pastor Lucas Welsh from Fort McMurray, Alberta where he also serves as a firefighter. Fort McMurray is the last town of significant size before you reach the end of the road. It is deep in the Canadian forest. Forest fires in 2016 threatened to destroy the entire city. Although the combined crews were able to save 90% of the city, the loss of 10% weighed heavy on the firefighters. Welsh recalls that during the battle he couldn't feel God. Exhausted and despondant over the losses, he felt his best wasn't good enough. As the smoke cleared, he was celebrated as a hero for what he did accomplish. He then had to sit and talk to God:
It's my understanding that the good comes with the bad. And it's this idea that we are given chances to rise, chances to meet the occasion in terrible moments. It's those chances that define us. And if God never gave us an opportunity to rise to those moments, then we'd never know (From an article on the CBC Edmonton website).
Being in Christ, you can do the impossible. “All things are possible with God” (Mark 10:27). You have been created in Christ for good work, which God has planned for you from the beginning. You have a personal destiny.