There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true. —Soren Kierkegaard. "…truth is true even if nobody believes it, and falsehood is false even if everybody believes it. That is why truth does not yield to opinion, fashion, numbers, office, or sincerity–it is simply true and that is the end of it" – Os Guinness, Time for Truth, pg.39. “He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God’s providence to lead him aright.” – Blaise Pascal. "There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily" – George Washington letter to Edmund Randolph — 1795. We live in a “post-truth” world. According to the dictionary, “post-truth” means, “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Simply put, we now live in a culture that seems to value experience and emotion more than truth. Truth will never go away no matter how hard one might wish. Going beyond the MSM idealogical opinion/bias and their low information tabloid reality show news with a distractional superficial focus on entertainment, sensationalism, emotionalism and activist reporting – this blogs goal is to, in some small way, put a plug in the broken dam of truth and save as many as possible from the consequences—temporal and eternal. "The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." – George Orwell “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” ― Soren Kierkegaard
We must pray for grace to preserve us to the end and to fit us for whatever lies before us between this and the grave.
Lord, rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into your heavenly kingdom; 2 Timothy 4:18(ESV) being kept from stumbling, may I be presented blameless at the coming of your glory with great joy. Jude 1:24(ESV)
Lord, make me increase and abound in love for your people and for all, so that my heart may be established blameless in holiness before my God and Father, at the coming of the Lord Jesus with all his saints. 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13(ESV)
If Satan demands to have me that he may sift me like wheat, yet let Christ’s intercession prevail for me that my faith may not fail. Luke 22:31-32(ESV)
Until I am taken out of the world, let me be kept from the evil one, John 17:15(ESV) and sanctified through your truth: your word is truth. John 17:17(ESV)
Build me up, I pray, in my most holy faith, and keep me in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of my Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. Jude 1:20-21(ESV)
Grant that I may continue to call on you as long as I live, Psalm 116:2(ESV) and until I die, may I never put away my integrity from me; let me hold fast my righteousness and never let it go, and may my heart not reproach me for any of my days. Job 27:5-6(ESV)
20. Are all men then saved by Christ, as they have perished in Adam?
No, only those are saved who by true faith are grafted into Him, and receive all His benefits.1
1 Mt 7:14; Jn 1:12, 3:16, 18, 36; Rom 11:16-21
21. What is true faith?
It is not only a certain knowledge, whereby I accept as true all that God has revealed to us in His Word;1 but also a deep-rooted assurance,2 created in me by the Holy Spirit through the Gospel,3 that not only to others, but to me also,4 forgiveness of sins, everlasting righteousness and salvation,5 are freely given by God, merely of grace, for the sake of Christ’s merits.
1 Jn 17:3, 17; Heb 11:1-3; Jas 2:19; 2 Rom 4:18-21, 5:1, 10:10; Heb 4:16; 3 Acts 16:14; Rom 1:16, 10:17; 1 Cor 1:21; 4 Gal 2:20; 5 Rom 1:17; Heb 10:10; 6 Rom 3:20-26; Gal 2:16; Eph 2:8-10
22. What, then, is necessary for a Christian to believe?
All that is promised us in the Gospel,1 which the articles of our catholic, undoubted Christian faith teach us in sum.
1 Mt 28:19; Jn 20:30-31
23. What are these Articles?
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, His only-begotten Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from there He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit; a holy catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen
The law was not given so that we might justify ourselves through obedience, but in order to drive us to Christ to receive His righteousness by faith. In this sermon, R.C. Sproul reminds us of the relationship between the law and the gospel.
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.John 15:7
Note well that we must hear Jesus speak if we expect Him to hear us speak. If we have no ear for Christ, He will have no ear for us. In proportion as we hear we shall be heard.
Moreover, what is heard must remain, must live in us, and must abide in our character as a force and a power. We must receive the truths which Jesus taught, the precepts which He issued, and the movements of His Spirit within us; or we shall have no power at the Mercy Seat.
Suppose our Lord’s words to be received and to abide in us, what a boundless field of privilege is opened up to us! We are to have our will in prayer, because we have already surrendered our will to the Lord’s command. Thus are Elijahs trained to handle the keys of heaven and lock or loose the clouds. One such man is worth a thousand common Christians. Do we humbly desire to be intercessors for the church and the world, and like Luther to be able to have what we will of the Lord? Then we must bow our ear to the voice of the Well-beloved, treasure up His words, and carefully obey them. He has need to “hearken diligently” who would pray effectually.
Ye shall be named the priests of the Lord.Isaiah 61:6
This literal promise to Israel belongs spiritually to the seed after the Spirit, namely, to all believers. If we live up to our privileges, we shall live unto God so clearly and distinctly that men shall see that we are set apart for holy service and shall name us the priests of the Lord. We may work or trade as others do, and yet we may be solely and wholly the ministering servants of God. Our one occupation shall be to present the perpetual sacrifice of prayer, and praise, and testimony, and self-consecration to the living God by Jesus Christ.
This being our one aim, we may leave distracting concerns to those who have no higher calling. “Let the dead bury their dead.” It is written, “Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vine-dressers,” They may manage politics, puzzle out financial problems, discuss science, and settle the last new quibbles of criticism; but we will give ourselves unto such service as becomes those who, like the Lord Jesus, are ordained to a perpetual priesthood.
Accepting this honorable promise as involving a sacred duty, let us put on the vestments of holiness and minister before the Lord all day long.
Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge. (1:21–22)
As important as they were, Paul’s ultimate claim to integrity and authenticity as God’s messenger and Christ’s apostle was not his loyalty, honesty, reliability, or any other personal feature; it was what God had done in his life. Paul described four glorious works that God had done in his life with the four verbs establishes, anointed, sealed, and gave. The phrase with you and the fourfold repetition of us indicates Paul’s confidence that the Corinthians also experienced those divine works, as do all believers. First, God establishes believers in Christ at salvation. This is the work of saving grace that puts believers into union with Him (cf. 5:17; Rom. 8:1; 16:11–13; 1 Cor. 1:30; 3:1; 7:22; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 5:8; Col. 1:2, 28; 4:7) and with each other. Paul’s authenticity was inextricably linked with that of the Corinthians, and to deny it was to deny the reality of their own spiritual life. Because they were fellow members of the body of Christ, by attacking Paul’s authenticity, the Corinthians ripped the fabric of the church’s spiritual unity. Since Paul was their spiritual father (1 Cor. 4:15), to deny his authenticity was, figuratively, to saw off the branch on which they were sitting. Second, God anointed believers. To anoint someone is to commission them for service (cf. Ex. 28:41; Num. 3:3; 1 Sam. 15:1; 16:1–13; 2 Sam. 2:4; 1 Kings 1:39; 5:1; 19:16; Ps. 89:20). The verb chriō (anointed) appears four other times in the New Testament, each time in a passage referring to Christ (Luke 4:18; Acts 4:27; 10:38; Heb. 1:9). The related noun chrisma describes the anointing all believers have when they receive from Christ the Holy Spirit (cf. 1 Cor. 12:13), who guides, empowers, and teaches them (1 John 2:20, 27). Third, God sealed believers. Sphragizō (sealed) refers to stamping an identifying mark on something (cf. Matt. 27:66; John 3:33; 6:27; Rom. 15:28; Rev. 7:3–4). Here, as in Ephesians 1:13; 4:30, and 2 Timothy 2:19, it refers to believers’, stamped as God’s, receiving the indwelling Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:9), whose presence identifies them as God’s true and eternal possession, whom He will protect and keep. Fourth, God gave believers the Spirit in their hearts as a pledge. The indwelling Holy Spirit is not only the anointing and seal but also the down payment or guarantee of believers’ eternal inheritance (cf. 1 Peter 1:4), the first installment of future glory. Later in this epistle Paul wrote, “Now He who prepared us for this very purpose [believers’ eternal existence in heaven; cf. vv. 2, 4] is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge” (2 Cor. 5:5). To the Ephesians he wrote, “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory” (Eph. 1:13–14). God set both Paul and all believers on the unshakable and eternal promise of salvation in Christ. God has guaranteed that promise of eternal inheritance through the indwelling Holy Spirit. How foolish it was, in light of Paul’s preaching those glorious, eternal divine realities, to question his legitimacy as an apostle because of a minor change in his travel plans!
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2003). 2 Corinthians (pp. 45–46). Moody Publishers.
21. Now it is God who confirms us with you in Christ and has anointed us. 22. He also has sealed us and given us the first installment of the Spirit in our hearts. First, we make a few preliminary observations:
With these two verses Paul concludes his remarks on justifying his trustworthiness.
The apostle teaches the doctrine of the Trinity by noting that God confirms believers, anoints them in Christ, and seals them with the Spirit.
The wording in these verses—confirm, seal, down payment—has been borrowed from the legal sphere and has commercial implications.
A degree of parallelism is evident in these two verses; each has two verbs with direct objects: confirm us and anoint us (v. 21), seal us and give us (v. 22).
Next, let us look closely at the wording of the passage verse by verse. a. “Now it is God who confirms us with you in Christ and has anointed us.” God is the One who performs the act of confirming Paul and the Corinthians—an act that occurs in the present time (compare 1 Cor. 1:8). He creates, strengthens, and sustains the fellowship that believers have in Christ Jesus. The basis for this fellowship is God’s promises given to his people through his Word. God’s Word is indisputably valid and, to make it unchangeable, God even swore an oath (see Heb. 6:17–18). The Corinthians, with Paul and his co-workers, can trust the Scriptures. It is God himself who confirms their relationship to Jesus as his true disciples through the preaching of his Word. God has made a contractual agreement with his people. He guarantees the covenant he has made with them in Christ, who is the mediator between God and the people. The promises of God, therefore, are in the form of a legally certified security in Christ.62 God is the One who anoints his people. The Greek shows an unmistakable word play (Christos and chrisas) that we can capture by saying, the anointed One and anointed ones. But what is the significance of the term anoint? In Old Testament times prophets, priests, and kings were anointed with oil that symbolized the gift of the Holy Spirit. They were appointed to assume an office and to fulfill a task in the service of God. Similarly, God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and power (Isa. 61:1 and Luke 4:18; Acts 4:27; 10:38; Ps. 45:7 and Heb. 1:9). At Jesus’ baptism, he received the Holy Spirit. Does this mean that believers at baptism likewise receive the Spirit, so that the act of anointing is equivalent to baptism? Perhaps, but the reference to anointing is broader. God anoints his people with the Holy Spirit (1 John 2:20, 27). This occurs at the time of regeneration (John 3:5), at special occasions (Acts 4:31), and when believers receive spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12:7–11). b. “He also has sealed us and given us the first installment of the Spirit in our hearts.” Scholars present two divergent interpretations of verses 21 and 22. Some scholars see these two verses as parallels, so that the second (v. 22) explains the first (v. 21). Others take the four Greek participles (confirm, anointed, sealed, given) and declare that the last three participles explain the first one. They advance the view that Paul refers to baptism. I favor the first interpretation for the following reasons: First, these two verses depict parallelism, whereby the two participles of verse 22 strengthen the two in verse 21. Next, in the Greek text the word Theos (God) stands last in verse 21 and marks the end of a clause. And last, although all four Greek participles display elements that characterize baptism. Pauline usage of these words elsewhere in his epistles does not support an interpretation that implies baptism. The members of the Corinthian congregation no doubt had received the sign of baptism. But this passage (vv. 21–22) appears to reveal the entire process of a person who comes into a living relationship with the Lord: conversion, faith, baptism, and the presence of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life. “[God] also has sealed us.” Seals denote ownership and authenticity. Not only in ancient times, but also today, seals are placed on legal documents to authenticate them. Moreover, logos stamped on printed on articles are marks of ownership. By analogy, God attaches a seal to his people for two reasons: to confirm that they belong to him and to shield them from harm. “[God] has given us the first installment of the Spirit in our hearts.” Verse 22 is echoed in another epistle, where Paul writes: “Having believed, you were marked in [Christ] with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory” (Eph. 1:13–14). God has given us the Holy Spirit as a deposit, a first installment. We have the assurance that after the initial deposit a subsequent installment follows. Paul uses the expression heart as a figurative abbreviation for the entire person. He implies that the Holy Spirit lives within us and continues to supply us with spiritual strength and vigor.
Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953–2001). Exposition of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians (Vol. 19, pp. 62–64). Baker Book House.
Wittenburg Door. The beginning where the 95 Theses by Luther were seen and loved by the masses.
Prayer of St. Augustine St. Augustine (354–430) link
God, our true Life, in you and by you all things live. You call us to seek you, and you are ready to be found. You tell us to knock, and open when we do so. To know you is life, to serve you is freedom, to enjoy you is a kingdom, to praise you is the joy and happiness of the soul. I praise, and bless, and worship you, I glorify you, I give thanks to you for your great glory. Abide with me, reign in me, make my heart a holy temple, a dwelling prepared for your Divine majesty. Maker and Preserver of all things, visible and invisible! I trust in your mercy alone for safety and protection. Guard me with the power of your grace, here and in all places, now and forevermore. Amen.
A Prayer for Those Who Have Passed
On November 1, the Christian church remembers those who have died in faith, and now enjoy eternal pleasures at Christ’s right hand as his church triumphant. We, too, are his saints, but in the church militant. link
O Lord Jesus Christ, you are the Resurrection and the Life, and through your victory you have attained eternal righteousness, joy, and holiness for us. As you have promised, we pray, come soon to judge, and bring us a joyful resurrection to life and a homecoming in the eternal paradise of our Father’s kingdom. You, Jesus, are arisen from death, and rule with the Father and the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.
Behold Lord, an empty vessel that needs to be filled. My Lord, fill it. I am weak in the faith; strengthen me. I am cold in love; warm me and make me fervent, that my love may go out to my neighbor. I do not have a strong and firm faith; at times I doubt and am unable to trust you altogether. O Lord, help me. Strengthen my faith and trust in you. In you I have sealed the treasure of all I have. I am poor; you are rich and came to be merciful to the poor. I am a sinner; you are upright. With me, there is an abundance of sin; in you is the fullness of righteousness. Therefore I will remain with you, of whom I can receive, but to whom I may not give. Amen
The topic of dreams and dream interpretation can be confusing, especially for new Christians who read the Bible stories about dreams. After all, the Bible has several narratives about people who received personal revelation from dreams and dream interpretations.
New Christians may wonder if God is delivering a personal message through their dreams. Or they may mistakenly assume that New Age dream interpretation books are safe, and not realize that they’re actually a form of divination.
Yet, when we look carefully at how dreams are interpreted in modern times, we see that it has nothing in common with the biblical examples of Joseph and Daniel. The dream interpretation dictionaries offer formulas and symbolism, that contradict the Bible’s descriptions.
For example, when Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dream and when Daniel interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, they made it clear that the interpretation came only from God and not from themselves. Joseph told Pharaoh, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer” (Genesis 41:16).
Daniel confessed, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries” (Daniel 2:27-28).
These were revelations directly from God through His chosen prophets at specific times in salvation history, and they were directly from the Lord, who used those dreams to accomplish His sovereign purposes. The authority rested in God alone, not in human imagination, not in self-help guides, and not in any kind of dream dictionary.
Contrast that with the modern practice of dream interpretation that’s so popular in the new age, where people buy books filled with long lists of dream symbols and so-called meanings, or they go to a dream interpreter who will assign personal or mystical significance to colors, animals, or objects that appear in a dream. I apologize because I co-wrote a book about dream interpretation before I was saved (and if you have that book, please destroy the book along with any other dream interpretation books you may have).
The problem with dream interpretation books is that they’re not biblical and they also contradict one another. This exposes them for what they really are, which is guesswork and speculation, rather than the infallible truth of God. One author might say that dreaming of water symbolizes forthcoming blessings, while another insists it signals danger, and still another claims it points to the unconscious, which shows that these interpretations aren’t grounded in any authority at all.
Modern dream interpretation is actually very close to divination, which God repeatedly condemns in His Word because it tries to access hidden knowledge apart from Him. We need to trust in the Lord, not in dream interpretation books.
Dreams of Deceased Loved Ones
Many women have shared with me that they’ve had dreams where a deceased loved one appeared so vividly that it felt like a visitation. Because the dream felt comforting or real, they wonder if that person truly came to see them. Yet, Scripture is clear that the dead don’t return to visit the living. Hebrews says, “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27), and when Jesus told the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, He explained that there is a great fixed chasm between the living and the dead that no one can cross (Luke 16:26).
So when someone appears in a dream it’s not the departed person. Therefore, such dreams are most likely a combination of memory, longing, and sometimes even spiritual deception, since the enemy tries to exploit our grief and stir confusion. While you can thank God for the sweet memories of your loved ones, you should never interpret these dreams as communication from the dead, because that opens the door to the same kind of spiritism and necromancy that God strictly forbids.
Dreams that Seem to Foretell the Future
Sometimes people experience what seem like prophetic dreams that appear to foretell an event before it happens, and that can feel very convincing because the details line up. Yet, we need to be very careful here, since even before being saved many of us had such dreams. These foretelling dreams weren’t from God, but were more likely coincidences, products of something we read, heard or thought during the day . . . or in some cases spiritual deception meant to lure us into trusting experiences instead of trusting God’s Word.
God’s Word warns, “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods’ . . . you shall not listen to that prophet or that dreamer of dreams” (Deuteronomy 13:1-3 truncated).
Satan tries to counterfeit God’s work by mimicking revelation, so we need to beware. God has already given us His complete and sufficient revelation in Scripture, so we don’t need to depend on dreams for direction. When a dream seems prophetic, the right response isn’t to exalt the dream but to run to the Bible, testing everything against His unchanging truth. Pray for God to guide you with His wisdom and expose any deception.
Does God Still Guide Us Through Dreams Today?
Does God still speak to people through dreams as He did in biblical times, or are we chasing shadows when we look for spiritual guidance in them today? The Bible never says that God has lost the ability to use a dream if He chooses, and some people testify of the Lord using dreams to draw them to Christ. We need to test the spirits with dreams, to insure that the true Jesus Christ is being confessed.
The key is that we’re never told to seek out dreams as a form of guidance, because we already have the sufficient and complete Word of God in Scripture. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). That means we don’t need to go hunting for hidden meanings in our dreams when the Lord has already given us everything we need in His Word.
Remember that the quest for hidden secret knowledge is what led to humanity’s fall in the Garden. If you feel tempted to dig for hidden messages, stop, repent, and pray for God to lead you back onto the narrow path of trusting Him and His Word as sufficient.
That doesn’t mean you must ignore every dream you ever have, because sometimes they may reveal anxieties that we need to bring before God in prayer and repentance. Yet when it comes to seeking direction or guidance, dreams are a very unstable foundation and can easily mislead. The danger lies in giving them too much authority, as if they’re prophetic when they’re not. If you allow dreams to steer your choices, you can quickly find yourself off the solid path of God’s Word and into the shifting sands of human fears and imagination.
The safest and wisest course for a Christian woman is to trust God’s sufficient Word for guidance, to test everything against Scripture, and to remember that Joseph and Daniel didn’t dabble in dream dictionaries or rely on symbolic lists. They were specifically called by God and they relied entirely on the Lord. Before Jesus’ earthly ministry, God spoke through His prophets but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son (c.f., Hebrews 1:1-2).
So, if you find yourself waking from a disturbing or confusing dream, bring it to God in prayer. Ask Him to search your heart and to comfort you with His truth, but never chase after mystical interpretations that mimic the occult. God’s voice is clearly found in His Word, so that’s where your eyes should remain. God hasn’t left you in the dark but has given you the Light of His Word to guide your steps. Trust in the Lord with all of your heart.
Sound Theology and Discernment with Justin Peters • November 2
Show Summary
Justin Peters evaluates public claims of modern “visions” attributed to the Holy Spirit, explains why such
claims contradict the Spirit’s holy character and the sufficiency of Scripture, and urges believers to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (1 John 4:1). This episode applies biblical
qualifications for ministry, calls for repentance where necessary, and anchors discernment in the Word of God.
Why Scripture, not private revelation, is our final authority (2 Tim. 3:16–17).
THE MANIFESTATION OF SUPERNATURAL KNOWLEDGE AND CONTROL
After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, “I am thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth. Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. (19:28–30)
After tenderly establishing His mother’s care, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, “I am thirsty.” In His omniscience, Jesus knew there was only one remaining prophecy to be fulfilled. In Psalm 69:21 David wrote, “They also gave me gall for my food and for my thirst they gave me vinegar (the Septuagint uses the same Greek word translated sour wine in v. 29) to drink.” Jesus knew that by saying “I am thirsty” He would prompt the soldiers to give Him a drink. They, of course, did not consciously do so to fulfill prophecy, still less to show compassion. Their goal was to increase the Lord’s torment by prolonging His life. From a jar full of sour wine that was standing nearby, one of the bystanders (probably one of the soldiers; or at least someone acting with their approval) put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop (cf. Ex. 12:22) and brought it up to His mouth. This was the cheap, sour wine that the soldiers commonly consumed. It was not the same beverage that the Lord had earlier refused (Matt. 27:34). That beverage, which contained gall, was intended to help deaden His pain so He would not struggle as much while being nailed to His cross. Jesus had refused it, because He wanted to drink the cup of the Father’s wrath against sin in the fullest way His senses could experience it. Having received the sour wine, Jesus said, “It is finished!” (Gk. tetelestai). Actually, the Lord shouted those words with a loud cry (Matt. 27:50; Mark 15:37). It was a shout of triumph; the proclamation of a victor. The work of redemption that the Father had given Him was accomplished: sin was atoned for (Heb. 9:12; 10:12;), and Satan was defeated and rendered powerless (Heb. 2:14; cf. 1 Peter 1:18–20; 1 John 3:8). Every requirement of God’s righteous law had been satisfied; God’s holy wrath against sin had been appeased (Rom. 3:25; Heb. 2:17; 1 John 2:2; 4:10); every prophecy had been fulfilled. Christ’s completion of the work of redemption means that nothing needs to be nor can be added to it. Salvation is not a joint effort of God and man, but is entirely a work of God’s grace, appropriated solely by faith (Eph. 2:8–9). His mission accomplished, the time had come for Christ to surrender His life. Therefore, after “crying out with a loud voice … ‘Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46), He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. Jesus voluntarily chose to surrender His life by a conscious act of His own sovereign will. “No one has taken it away from Me,” He declared, “but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father” (10:18). That He still had the strength to shout loudly shows that He was not physically at the point of death. That He died sooner than was normal for someone who had been crucified (Mark 15:43–45) also shows that He gave up His life of His own will. No human words, no matter how eloquent, can adequately express the meaning of Christ’s death. But the words of the familiar hymn “At Calvary” express the gratitude every believer feels:
Years I spent in vanity and pride,
Caring not my Lord was crucified,
Knowing not it was for me He died
On Calvary.
Mercy there was great, and grace was free;
Pardon there was multiplied to me;
There my burdened soul found liberty,
At Calvary.
By God’s Word at last my sin I learned,
Then I trembled at the law I’d spurned,
Till my guilty soul imploring turned
To Calvary.
Now I’ve giv’n to Jesus ev’rything;
Now I gladly own Him as my King;
Now my raptured soul can only sing
Of Calvary.
O, the love that drew salvation’s plan!
O, the grace that brought it down to man!
O, the mighty gulf that God did span
At Calvary!
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2008). John 12–21 (pp. 356–357). Moody Publishers.
No Death like Jesus’ Death
John 19:30
When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
If Christ is Christianity and if the final week of Christ’s life is its center, then the center of that week is certainly the moment of Christ’s death on Calvary. That moment is therefore the focal point of all history, and the words “It is finished” are an important expression of it. The importance of those words, the sixth in the series of seven spoken from the cross, is that they point to Christ’s death as an achievement. Elsewhere in the Gospels we are told that Jesus uttered a loud cry just before his death (Matt. 27:50; Mark 15:37; Luke 23:46); since two of the Gospels also tell us that Jesus had been given a drink just before this, it would seem that this was Christ’s cry. In other words, Christ’s words were not the final gasping sob of a defeated man or even the firm deliberate declaration of one who was resigned to his fate. They were a triumphant declaration that the turning point in history had been reached and that the work that Jesus had been sent into the world to do had been done. It is this that makes Christ’s death unique. As an example of patient endurance of abuse and suffering, it may perhaps be matched by other deaths. As a fitting end for One who, like the prophets, bore a faithful witness to God’s truth even when that truth was rejected, it may perhaps be paralleled. But Christ’s death cannot be matched in its fullest sense, because Jesus (and no other) achieved our salvation by his suffering. The apostle Paul speaks of it, saying, “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons” (Gal. 4:4–5). Again he writes, “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus” (Rom. 3:21–26). Because Christ’s atonement is so important, we need to consider it at some length. In this and the following studies we will look at the nature, necessity, perfection, and extent of the atonement.
Christ’s Death a Sacrifice
When we consider the nature of the atonement we immediately find ourselves in the midst of a world of biblical ideas and imagery without which its nature cannot really be understood. Central to this world of ideas and imagery is the notion of sacrifice and the accompanying thought of substitution. Sacrifice has to do with the death of an innocent victim, usually an animal. Substitution means that this death was in place of the death of someone else. The background of this concept lies in the truth that all who have ever lived are sinners, having broken God’s law, and that the penalty for sin is death. The Bible declares, “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one” (Rom. 3:10–12). Moreover the Bible declares that the penalty for sin is death. It says, “The soul that sins will die” (Ezek. 18:4). This death is not merely physical death, though it is that. It is spiritual death as well. Death is separation. Physical death is the separation of the soul and spirit from the body. Spiritual death is the separation of the soul and the spirit from God. This is what we deserve as a consequence of our sin. But Jesus took that death to himself by his sacrifice. He became our substitute by experiencing both physical and spiritual death in our place. There is a very vivid illustration of this principle in the early chapters of Genesis. In these chapters Adam and Eve had sinned and were now in terror of the consequences. God had warned them. He had said, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of food and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die” (Gen. 2:16–17). At this point they probably did not have a very clear idea of what death was, but they knew it was serious. Consequently, when they had sinned through disobedience and then later had heard God walking toward them in the garden, they tried to hide. They could not hide from God. No one can. So we are told that God called them out of hiding and began to deal with their transgression. What should we expect to happen as a result of this confrontation? Here is God who has told our first parents that in the day they sinned they would die. Here also are Adam and Eve who have sinned. In this situation we should expect the immediate execution of the sentence. They had sinned. So if God had put them to death in that moment, both physically and spiritually, banishing them from his presence forever, it would have been just. But that is not what we find. Instead, we have God first rebuking the sin and then, wonder of wonders, performing a sacrifice as a result of which Adam and Eve were clothed with the skins of those animals. This was the first death that anyone had ever witnessed. It was enacted by God. As Adam and Eve looked on they must have been horrfied. “So this is death,” they must have said. “How horrible!” Yet even as they recoiled from the sacrifice, they must have marveled as well, for what God was showing was that although they themselves deserved to die it was possible for another, in this case two animals, to die in their place. The animals paid the price of their sin. Moreover, they were now clothed in the skins of the animals as a reminder of that fact. This is the meaning of sacrifice: substitution. It is the death of one on behalf of another. And yet we must say, as the Bible teaches, that the death of animals could never take away the penalty of sin (Heb. 10:4). These were a symbol of how sin was to be taken away, but they were only a symbol. The real and effective sacrifice was performed by Jesus Christ. We sometimes read in theological literature that the ideas of sacrifice and substitution are alien to our culture and therefore that we cannot use these terms to speak of the meaning of Christ’s death anymore, at least if we want to be understood. But we must not think that it was any easier for those who lived in earlier stages of the world’s history to understand them. These concepts have always been difficult; that is why God took so much time and such elaborate means to teach them.
Stilling God’s Wrath
A second word for understanding the meaning of Christ’s death is propitiation (Rom. 3:25). Propitiation also relates to the world of sacrifices. But unlike substitution, which refers primarily to what Jesus did in reference to us (he died in our place), propitiation describes that death in terms of its bearing upon God. The background for this term is the wrath of God which is directed against all sin. Propitiation refers to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ in which the justified wrath of God against the sinner was stilled or turned aside and the love of God was enabled to go out to save him. An Old Testament illustration is helpful. It is the ark of the covenant and the sacrifice which involved it. The ark of the covenant was one of the pieces of furniture for Israel’s wilderness tabernacle. It was a chest about a yard long, covered with gold and closed by a solid gold covering known as the mercy seat. The mercy seat had two figures of cherubim standing on either end looking inward. The cherubim had wings which stretched out over the ends of the ark and then came together over the top. The stone tables of the law of Moses were kept within this ark, and the ark itself was kept within the Holy of Holies, the most sacred part of the tabernacle. The most significant thing about the ark of the covenant is that it was thought of symbolically as being the earthly dwelling place of God. God was thought to dwell in the space between the outstretched wings of the cherubim above the mercy seat. And of course, this is why no one but the high priest was ever to enter the Holy of Holies, and even he was to enter only once a year on the Day of Atonement. God was holy, and sinful men and women who came into his presence would be consumed. The picture of that ark is a terrible picture, as it was meant to be. There we see God dwelling between the outstretched wings of the cherubim. There we see the law, which we have broken. As God looks down upon the affairs of men this is what he sees—the broken law. So the picture tells us that God in his holiness must judge sin and that sinners are subject to his judicial wrath. But that is not all, for now the Day of Atonement comes, and on that day the high priest takes the blood of a sacrifice and, bearing it carefully according to all the regulations for this ceremony (for violation of these regulations entailed death), enters the Holy of Holies where it is now sprinkled upon the mercy seat between the presence of God and the law. What is symbolized now? Gloriously, the picture is now no longer of wrath directed against the violators of God’s law but rather a picture of mercy in which the wrath of God against sin is satisfied and the sinner is spared. Now when God looks down from between the wings of the cherubim he sees, not the law we have broken, but the blood of the sacrifice. An innocent has died. He has borne our penalty. Thus, we can live. In discussing sacrifice, I pointed out that the blood of animals could not actually take away sin but that these pointed forward pedagogically to the work of Christ on Calvary. That also applies here. The blood of the sacrifice sprinkled upon the mercy seat by the high priest did not remove sin, but it pointed forward to the One whose death would remove it: Jesus Christ. When he died God’s wrath against sin was literally propitiated, which God himself demonstrated by tearing the veil of the temple, separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, in two from top to bottom. Thus did God show that the way into his presence was now open for all who should believe in Jesus. An interesting sidelight on this meaning of God’s death is the speed with which blood sacrifices disappeared in the ancient world once the gospel of Christ was proclaimed. At the time of Christ’s death sacrifices were performed everywhere—in the Roman and barbarian worlds as well as within Judaism. But, as Adolf Harnack once pointed out in a striking passage, “Wherever the Christian message … penetrated, the sacrificial altars were deserted and dealers in sacrificial beasts found no more purchasers.… The death of Christ put an end to all blood-sacrifices.” Why did this happen? Harnack explains, “His death [Christ’s] had the value of an expiatory sacrifice, for otherwise it would not have had strength to penetrate into that inner world in which the blood-sacrifices originated.” Sacrifices ceased because the death of Christ alone met the need they were supposed to satisfy.
Reconciliation
A third word used for describing the effects of Christ’s death is reconciliation. Second Corinthians 5:18–19 provides us with a key passage: “All this if from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” Reconciliation means “to make one,” so the background for this term is the broken relationship between ourselves and God because of sin. We have already seen one example of this in Genesis, for when Adam and Eve sinned and God came to them in the Garden, our first parents hid from God. This had not been the case before their disobedience. Before there had been openness. They had talked with God joyously. Now the relationship that they had enjoyed was broken, and they showed their deep psychological awareness of this by hiding. In a sense men and women have been hiding ever since. We hide through a self-imposed ignorance of spiritual things, through our supposed sophistication or culture, or even (strange as it may seem) through religion—for many religious experiences are attempts to get away from God rather than attempts to find him. But God comes to us; that is the glory of the gospel. Moreover, when he comes he does what is necessary to heal the broken relationship and bridge the gap. In Eden it was the inauguration of sacrifices. On Calvary it was the ultimate bridge to which the earlier sacrifices pointed. Paul writes, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5). He means that it is on the basis of Christ’s death that the reconciliation takes place.
Bought with a Price
The final word of those most significant for describing the death of Christ is “redemption.” “Redemption” is derived from two Latin words: re, meaning “again,” and emere, meaning “to buy.” So redemption means “buying again” or “buying back,” as in redeeming something that has been pawned or mortgaged. We use the word of material things. The Bible uses the word to signify that we are God’s, but have nevertheless fallen into bondage as a result of our sin and now must be purchased out of that bondage by Christ’s sacrifice. Our bondage is to sin’s penalty and power. Christ’s death frees us from both. On this subject John Murray writes, “Just as sacrifice is directed to the need created by our guilt, propitiation to the need that arises from the wrath of God, and reconciliation to the need arising from our alienation from God, so redemption is directed to the bondage to which our sin has consigned us. This bondage is, of course, multiform. Consequently redemption as purchase or ransom receives a wide variety of reference and application. Redemption applies to every respect in which we are bound, and it releases us unto a liberty that is nothing less than the liberty of the glory of the children of God.” Paul speaks of that redemption in Romans: “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24). Peter speaks of it in even more explicit terms: “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:18–19). “It is finished,” Christ’s declaration from the cross, is particularly appropriate for understanding his death as redemption; for one of the meanings of the Greek word tetelestai, which underlies it, is “Paid in full!” The word was used in this way in secular business transactions. Here we come back to the point with which we began. What makes the death of Christ so unique and indeed marks it out as the focal point of history is that it accomplished precisely what needed to be accomplished in regard to our salvation. We deserved to die for sin; Christ died for us. We were under the just wrath of God by reason of our transgressions; Christ bore that wrath in our place. We were alienated from God; Christ reconciled us to him. We were sold under sin; Christ bought our freedom by paying sin’s price. From one perspective all this is spiritual. It has to do both with moral matters and with spiritual relationships. But from another point of view, this is as concrete and historical as the birth of Julius Caesar or the death of Socrates.
Why Did Jesus Die?
John 19:30
When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Those who know anything at all about Christianity know that Jesus died to save us from sin, and they know that the source of the decision to save us from sin was God’s love. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). But why was it necessary for the love of God to achieve its end in this way? Why Jesus? And why the cross? This was the question raised by Anselm of Canterbury in his famous essay Cur Deus Homo? (“Why God Became Man”), in which he asked, “For what reason or necessity did God become man and, as we believe and confess, by his death restore life to the world, when he could have done this through another person (angelic or human), or even by a sheer act of will?” Was the cross necessary, or could God have saved the human race through another person or even by a sheer act of will? One writer puts it like this: “If we say that he could not, do we not impugn his power? If we say that he could but would not, do we not impugn his wisdom? Such questions are not scholastic subtleties or vain curiosities. To evade them is to miss something that is central in the interpretation of the redeeming work of Christ and to miss the vision of some of its essential glory. Why did God become man? Why, having become man, did he die? Why, having died, did he die the accursed death of the cross?”
Two Necessities
In the history of Christian doctrine there have traditionally been two ways in which the necessity of the death of Jesus has been spoken of. One is what we might call circumstantial necessity. The other is absolute necessity. Let me explain. The view that we call circumstantial necessity maintains that God, being free and infinite, always has an infinite number of possibilities open to him. Consequently, although he chose to save men and women by the death of Christ, he did not need to do so and could actually have saved them in an infinite number of other ways. If we ask at that point how we can then speak of a “necessity” in the atonement at all, the answer is that because of the circumstances under which God operated, this was the way (chosen out of many ways) that the greatest number of advantages would occur, including the greatest possible glory being given to God. God could have saved us without Christ’s having died. But he could not have done so and yet have showed the greatest measure of wisdom and love in the circumstances. When we read that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” of sins (Heb. 9:22), that is indeed true. But it is true only because God has chosen to do things that way. He could have saved us without blood shedding. The other way to talk about the necessity of Jesus’ death is to see it as an absolute necessity. This means literally that, having elected to save some of Adam’s fallen race, God had no other means at his disposal than the sacrifice of his beloved Son. This does not mean that God had to send Jesus. He could have elected not to save anyone. But having elected to save them, he was under the necessity of accomplishing this by the death of his Son, a necessity arising out of the perfections of his own nature. At first glance it might be thought presumptuous for us to speak thus of something being absolutely necessary for God. “After all,” someone might object, “who are we to tell God what he can or must do?” But this is not the way in which this statement is made. Obviously we cannot tell God to be or do anything. Yet he has revealed something of his nature in Scripture, and it is not impudent or improper to inquire on the basis of that revelation whether God can or cannot do a thing, particularly when it is as central to the Christian faith as the atonement. For example, is it possible for God to lie or speak falsehood? If we answer no, as we should, we are not limiting God by telling what he can or cannot do. We are simply acknowledging that deceit is impossible for one who is characterized by utter truth, as God declares himself to be. Far from dishonoring him in this, we actually honor him. Moreover, we are led to a valuable conclusion; for, on the basis of God’s inability to lie, we perceive that he can always be trusted. It is not improper or even impractical to conclude that God was under an absolute necessity in the matter of Christ’s death. He may not have been. But the answer to whether he was or not is to be determined solely by the teaching of the Scripture and not by any prior conclusions as to what is required by our understanding of God’s freedom.
The Divine Necessities
When we turn to the Bible we find a number of necessities pertaining to God which bear upon our subject. They are like the necessity for God to speak truth, being Truth, but they relate primarily to the matter of salvation. The first of these necessities is the hatred of God for sin, which we may express by saying that God must hate sin if he is to be as he declares himself to be in Scripture. The background for this necessity is the holiness of God. In Scripture God is more often called holy than anything else. This is the epithet most often affixed to his name, for instance. We do not often read of his “loving name,” “mighty name,” or “eternal name.” But we are often reminded of his “holy name.” Moreover, this is the attribute of God which is invariably mentioned in any vision men have of him. Isaiah, in his great vision of the Lord “high and lifted up,” stressed the holiness of God more than any other attribute. “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty,” cry the seraphim. Isaiah’s immediate reaction was to bemoan his own sinful condition: “Woe is me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty” (Isa. 6:5; cf. vv. 1–6). The holiness of God lies at the core of his being, then, and the dismay of Isaiah was the recognition that in his holiness God cannot be indifferent to anything which opposes it. Holiness involves the elements of majesty and will. When we ask, “What is that will primarily set on?” the answer is: God’s majesty. Thus, God’s will is inevitably directed against anything which would attempt to diminish that majesty or flaunt it. That is what sin tries to do. So God is against sin; he is wrath toward it. Many people today do not like the idea of wrath. But like it or not, Scripture teaches that it is a necessary aspect of God’s nature in relation to sin. The Old Testament alone has nearly six hundred important passages concerning God’s wrath. His wrath is directed against injustice, corruption, and offenses against his own glory and majesty. The New Testament has equally important passages. Romans 1, for example, speaks of God’s wrath revealed “against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness” (v. 18). Other passages speak boldly of “the wrath to come” (1 Thess. 1:10; 2:16; cf. 5:9; Rom. 2:5). The teaching of these passages is that God will not and cannot look with indifference upon the unrighteous. A second necessity of the divine nature relating to the matter of salvation is the obligation of God to do right. This obligation is based upon God’s role as ruler and judge of creation. “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” asked Abraham rhetorically on the occasion of God’s revelation to him of the pending judgment of Sodom (Gen. 18:25). The answer was obvious: the Sovereign must do right. In fact, Abraham used this necessity to plead for the salvation of Sodom. God had told Abraham that he would destroy Sodom, and Abraham remonstrated, “Will you destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city: will you also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are in it? Far be it from you to do this, to slay the righteous with the wicked. Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” Here are two divine necessities pertaining to salvation: first, that God must hate sin, and second, that the Judge of the earth must do right. What is right where sin is concerned? The answer is judgment, as the destruction of Sodom indicates. True, we do not see the fullness of that judgment now, for God has largely withheld his judgment. Yet it must come. It must come later if not sooner; and when it comes, it must result in the eternal destruction of the sinner.
The Divine Solution
We know from the biblical record that God elected not to destroy every sinner. Out of his great love he decided to elect a great company to salvation. But the question arises: How can he do this without violating these two necessities of his very nature? How can he save those who actually deserve his just judgment? There is only one way: another must suffer the judgment in place of those who stand condemned. We hear that answer, and we are momentarily relieved. But then we ask, “Who?” and despair settles on us once again. Who is equal to such a task? Who is willing to do it? The answer is: God’s own Son; the only One both able and willing to become man and to die for sinners. Anselm, whom we mentioned earlier, put it like this: First, he said, salvation had to be achieved by God, for no one else could achieve it. Certainly men and women could not achieve it, for we are the ones who have gotten ourselves into trouble in the first place. We have done so by our rebellion against God’s just law and decrees. Moreover, we have suffered from the effects of sin to such a degree that even our will is bound, and therefore we cannot even choose to please God, let alone actually please him. Our only hope is God, who alone has both the will and power to save. Second, said Anselm, apparently contradicting this first point, salvation must also be achieved by man, for man is the one who has wronged God and must therefore make the wrong right. Given this situation, salvation can be achieved only by one who is both God and man, that is, Jesus. Anselm put the argument in these words: “It would not have been right for the restoration of human nature to be left undone, and … it could not have been done unless man paid what was owing to God for sin. But the debt was so great that, while man alone owed it, only God could pay it, so that the same person must be both man and God. Thus it was necessary for God to take manhood into the unity of his person, so that he who in his own nature ought to pay and could not should be in a person who could.… The life of this man was so sublime, so precious, that it can suffice to pay what is owing for the sins of the whole world, and infinitely more.” Only thus was it possible for God to be both “just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus” (Rom. 3:26). This is the ultimate necessity indicated in those well-known verses in John’s Gospel. “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (3:14–17). These verses say that apart from the death of Christ and faith in him, the race is lost. Given the desire of God to save us, there was just no other option.
Curse of the Cross
Yet there is still one matter. At the start of this chapter we asked, “Why was it necessary for the love of God to achieve its end in this way? Why Jesus? And why the cross?” Thus far we have answered the first half of that question; we have seen why it was necessary for the price of our salvation to be paid by Jesus. But we still have not answered why that sacrifice had to be made on Calvary. Why this death? Why this particularly horrible form of suffering? The answer to that question is given in the Book of Galatians, in which Paul says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us; for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree’ ” (Gal. 3:13). What does this mean? Well, it is the Bible’s answer to an objection to God’s way of salvation that we might still make even after we have understood the nature and necessity of the atonement. We might understand that Jesus was the innocent Son of God and that he was therefore the only One who could take our place on Calvary, the just for the unjust. We might understand that God judged him in our place. “But that is still not right,” we might argue. “Even if Jesus died willingly, it was still not right for God to punish one who was innocent of all wrongdoing.” At this point Paul’s answer comes in, for he points out that in the Old Testament there is a verse (Deut. 21:23) that pronounces a curse on anyone hanged on a tree as a means of execution. This may not have meant much to those who lived in that day, but it was part of the law of Israel. Thus, when the Lord Jesus Christ was taken and hanged on a tree, he thereby became a technical violator of the whole law (though through no fault of his own) and could be justly punished. In this way God remained just in his execution of Christ, and Christ remained innocent.
God’s Love Commended
The conclusion to this study is that the achievement of our salvation at such cost flows from the love of God and that the love of God is thereby commended to us so that we might believe on Jesus. To save us it was necessary to pay this cost. Yet God did not hesitate to provide the sacrifice of his Son, so great was his love for us. Can we despise that love? Can we ignore it? The Bible says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). This, of course, is the bottom line of the entire discussion, and it is this that makes it meaningful. Our discussion of the necessity of the atonement has involved us in some careful theological distinctions, and some of this is admittedly difficult for some people, for not all are theologians. Yet the bottom line is not difficult at all. Let me put it like this. The week before I first preached this material in my regular exposition of John on Sunday mornings at Tenth Presbyterian Church, I was discussing these themes at the dinner table to see how the people who were there would react to them. They did very well. But at the end a ten-year-old friend of one of my daughters asked, “What is the main point of your sermon?” It was a question her parents had been teaching her to ask so she could follow the messages better, and (I think) she wanted to get a head start. I replied that the answer was a simple one; for although the theology is difficult, the point itself is not. It is simply this:
There was no other good enough
To pay the price of sin;
He only could unlock the gate
Of heav’n and let us in.
O dearly, dearly has He loved!
And we must love Him too,
And trust in His redeeming blood,
And try His works to do.
Christ has loved us so much that he did not hold back from doing what needed to be done. Because of this we, on our part, should serve him without reservation.
“It Is Finished”
John 19:30
When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
One of the goals of Greek oratory, to which the Greek language generally lends itself, is to say much in few words—“to give a sea of matter in a drop of language.” That goal is reached in the sixth of Christ’s sayings from the cross: “It is finished!” In English this is only three words, in Greek just one. Yet this word sums up the greatest work that has ever been done. Spurgeon said, “It would need all the other words that ever were spoken, or ever can be spoken, to explain this one word. It is altogether immeasurable. It is high; I cannot attain to it. It is deep; I cannot fathom it.” We have been trying to study it, however, and to that end we have looked at, first, the nature and, second, the necessity of the atonement. In this chapter we deal with its perfection, the aspect of Christ’s death that is perhaps more directly suggested by this word than any other. Pink writes, “This was not the despairing cry of a helpless martyr; it was not an expression of satisfaction that the termination of his sufferings was now reached; it was not the last gasp of a worn-out life. No, rather was it the declaration on the part of the Divine Redeemer that all for which he came from heaven to earth to do, was now done; that all that was needed to reveal the full character of God had now been accomplished; that all that was required by the law before sinners could be saved had now been performed; that the full price of our redemption was now paid.” To be sure, as Jesus spoke these words he was not yet dead. But his death was only moments away, and in any case he here speaks anticipatively of the work now done. What did this dying utterance of the Lord mean? What was finished? How does this relate to us and our salvation?
Christ’s Work Done
There are a number of things we can point to as having been finished in the moment of Christ’s death. The first and most obvious one is Christ’s sufferings. These had not taken him by surprise. Long before this the Lord had said, “I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed!” (Luke 12:50). Centuries before, Isaiah had written of him, “He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3). Suffering marked Christ’s life. He had thirsted and hungered. He had ministered for three years without even a place to lay his head. He was scorned, accused, beaten, and now subjected to the horror and indignities of the cross. No one ever suffered as Jesus did. Yet now it is finished. No snarling enemies will spit in his face again. No soldiers will ever scourge him again. No priests will mock him. It is finished; he sits on heaven’s throne, waiting until all his enemies are made his footstool. Spurgeon wrote: “Now Judas, come and betray him with a kiss! What, man, dare you not do it? Come, Pilate, and wash your hands in pretended innocency, and say now that you are guiltless of his blood! Come, ye scribes and Pharisees, and accuse him; and oh, ye Jewish mob and Gentile rabble, newly-risen from the grave, shout now, ‘Away with him! Crucify him!’ But see! they flee from him; they cry to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne!’ Yet that is the face that was more marred than any man’s, the face of him whom they once despised and rejected.”
The head that once was crowned with thorns
Is crowned with glory now;
A royal diadem adorns
The mighty Victor’s brow.
The highest place that heav’n affords
Is his, is his by right,
The King of kings, and Lord of lords,
And heav’n’s eternal Light.
How glad we must be that none can despise him, that the sufferings of which the Savior’s life were once full are finished. The second thing we can point to as finished in the moment of our Lord’s death was his work, that which he had been sent into the world to do. This work centered in the atonement, which we will come to in a moment, but it was more than this. It was also his entire life, undergirded by his utter obedience to the Father and filled with teachings and good works. This work was before him constantly. We are told by the author of Hebrews that on the occasion of his coming into the world he said, “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—I have come to do your will, O God’ ” (Heb. 10:5–7). In John 4:34 we read, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” He spoke of the works that God had given him to do (John 5:36) and of the words that God had given him to speak (John 8:26; 14:24). He said, “The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work” (John 14:10). Then, in his great high priestly prayer recorded in John 17, he said, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do” (v. 4). Throughout his lifetime Jesus had this work in mind, and he devoted himself to doing it. Now it is done, and he points with satisfaction: “It is finished!” None of us can say that fully of our work, but Jesus said it of his. His work was done perfectly. The third area to which these words apply is the prophecies of his first coming. We cannot say that all the prophecies concerning the Lord are finished, for some pertain to work he is yet to do—at his second coming. But those that refer to his Gospel ministry are finished. In fact, it is in direct connection with one such prophecy that these words were spoken. Psalm 69:21 speaks of vinegar being given to the dying Messiah in his thirst. So Jesus, noticing that this had not been fulfilled, said, “I thirst,” and thus provoked its fulfillment as soldiers rushed to offer him a vinegar-wine solution. Immediately afterward we read, “When he had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished’ ” (John 19:30). It had been prophesied that the Messiah was to be born of a woman without benefit of a human father (Isa. 7:14; Gal. 4:4). This was completed. It had been foretold that he was to be the seed of Abraham and of the line of David (Gen. 22:18; 2 Sam. 7:12–13), that he should be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), and he was so born. Old Testament writers had spoken of his flight into Egypt and a subsequent return to his own land (Hosea 11:1; cf. Isa. 49:3, 6). It so happened. Christ’s appearance was to be preceded by that of one like Elijah (Mal. 3:1). John the Baptist filled this role. Christ’s miracles were foretold—that “the eyes of the blind” should be opened, “the ears of the deaf” unstopped, “the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing” (Isa. 35:5–6). Jesus performed all these miracles. His triumphal entry into Jerusalem had been foretold (Zech. 9:9). He was to be hated (Ps. 69:4) and rejected by his own people (Isa. 8:14). A friend would betray him (Ps. 41:9). He was to be numbered with the transgressors (Isa. 53:12), pierced through hands and feet (Ps. 22:16). Soldiers were to divide his garments and cast lots for his outer cloak (Ps. 22:18). All this had been completed. There was nothing of all that had been written of him that was left undone. Moreover, this is not just a conclusion based on our own imperfect knowledge of the Old Testament texts. This is the teaching of Scripture itself. Three times in Scripture the very word that is used in John 19:30, translated “it is finished” (teleō), is used of this fulfillment. Luke 18:31—“Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, ‘We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled.’ ” Luke 22:37—“I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me.” Acts 13:29—“When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead.” Certainly, nothing that was to be fulfilled in the life and ministry of the Messiah was left lacking in Jesus.
A Perfect Atonement
Having said all this, we must nevertheless add that the primary reference of these words is to the atonement. This was the acme of his sufferings, the chief of his works, and the primary focus of the prophecies. Moreover, this has major doctrinal significance; for if the work of the atonement is finished, then salvation is secured for us by God and there is nothing that we can add or hope to add to it. Indeed, we dare not attempt to add anything if we would be saved. This is the point of the atonement that has always figured prominently in Protestant presentations of the meaning of the death of Christ, as over against Roman Catholic theology. The Roman church (and many unsound protestant churches too, for that matter) maintains that the death of Christ does not relieve the believer in Christ of making satisfaction for sins he has committed. More precisely, it distinguishes between sins committed before and after baptism, and between temporal and eternal punishment for those sins. So far as sins committed before baptism are concerned, both the temporal and eternal punishment are blotted out through the application of the benefits of Christ’s death to the individual through the baptismal rite. So far as sins committed after baptism are concerned, the eternal punishments are blotted out. But the temporal punishments require the making of satisfaction by the individual himself either in this life (through a faithful use of the sacraments and by a meritorious life) or else in purgatory. While this system of salvation allows the greater part of the work to be God’s and even acknowledges that the faithfulness and merit of the believer are attained only through the prevenient grace of God, it nevertheless requires the individual to contribute to his own salvation in some measure. So it is not possible to say that the work of Christ is finished. More is needed. This outlook is evident in the Mass, in which the sacrifice of Christ is reenacted constantly. Thus, Protestant thought has always contended rightly that “the satisfaction of Christ is the only satisfaction for sin and is so perfect and final that it leaves no penal liability for any sin of the believer.” True, the believer often experiences chastisement for sins done in this life (though never in full measure to what he has deserved). But this is not satisfaction. It is discipline only; it is given to help us grow. Even in times of severe chastisement it is still true that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). This is the burden of the Book of Hebrews, to give just one other biblical example. For, having demonstrated the uniqueness of Christ’s person, office, and mission, the author of that book states, “But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Heb. 10:12–14). What can be clearer than that? What can be greater? “From whatever angle we look upon his sacrifice we find its uniqueness to be as inviolable as the uniqueness of his person, of his mission, and of his office. Who is God-man but he alone? Who is great high priest to offer such sacrifice but he alone? Who shed such vicarious blood but he alone? Who entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption, but he alone?” In light of those qualities and achievement it is arrogant to think that we can add anything.
Jesus paid it all,
All to him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain;
He washed it white as snow.
“But then, what is left for us to do?” someone asks. Nothing but to believe in God’s Word and trust Jesus! Jesus himself said it. When some of the Galileans asked him on the occasion of his multiplication of the loaves and fish, “What must we do to do works of God?” Jesus replied, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent” (John 6:28–29). Pink tells a story that may be helpful in this regard. A Christian farmer, deeply concerned over an unsaved neighbor, who was a carpenter, was trying to explain the gospel, especially the sufficiency of the finished work of Christ. But the carpenter persisted in believing that he had to do something himself. One day the farmer asked his friend to make a gate for him, and when it was finished he came for it and carried it away in his wagon. He hung it on a fence in his field and then arranged for the carpenter to stop by and see that it was hung properly. The carpenter came. But when he arrived he was surprised to see the farmer standing by with a sharp axe in his hand. “What is that for?” he asked. “I’m going to add a few strokes to your work,” was the answer. “But there’s no need to do that,” the carpenter protested. “The gate is perfect as it is. I did everything that was necessary.” The farmer took his axe and began to strike the gate anyway, keeping at it until in a short while it was ruined. “Look what you’ve done,” cried the carpenter. “You’ve ruined my work!” “Yes,” said his friend. “And that is exactly what you are trying to do. You are trying to ruin the work of Christ by your own miserable additions to it.” God used this lesson to show the carpenter his mistake, and he was led to cast himself upon what Christ had done for him.
What Work for Jesus?
Yet I must not leave the impression that, having believed on Christ, there is then nothing for the Christian to do or that his conduct after he has become a believer in Christ does not matter. Let us say clearly that nothing we have done or ever will do can enter into the satisfaction that Christ made on the cross. His work is perfect; the atonement is done. But what do we say in that case? Do we say, “Well, if Christ has finished it, I will fold my hands and do nothing”? Not at all! Rather do we say, “If Jesus has finished such a great work for me, tell me quickly what work I can do for him.” Do we need a biblical example? We find one in Saul of Tarsus. When he was struck down on the road to Damascus, his first question concerned the identity of the One who was revealing himself to him. He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” But as soon as he had learned the answer—“I am Jesus, whom you persecute”—and had believed on the One who spoke, Paul’s next question was: “Lord, what do you want me to do?” (Acts 9:5–6). Christ had a work for him to do. He was to be an apostle to bear the name of Christ “before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel” (v. 15). This will not necessarily be your task. You are not an apostle, nor am I. But we each have a work to do. If we have been put in this world by Jesus and have not yet been taken home to be with him, we may be certain that we have not yet finished that work. So get on with it. Did he finish his work? Then you and I must finish our work too. Of course, there are discouragements. Of course, there is suffering and weakness and disappointment. But we must not give in to these. We must keep on until that moment when we, upon our deathbed, can say as did Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing” (2 Tim. 4:7–8). I leave you this challenge from the pen of Spurgeon: “As long as there is breath in our bodies, let us serve Christ; as long as we can think, as long as we can speak, as long as we can work, let us serve him, let us serve him with our last gasp; and, if it be possible, let us try to set some work going that will glorify him when we are dead and gone.”
For Whom Did Christ Die?
John 19:30
When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
For whom did Christ die? Did he die for all human beings, and thus all will be saved (the view of universalism)? Did he die for all, but, for whatever reason, not all will be saved (the view of Arminianism)? Or did he die only for certain individuals, all of whom will be saved (the view of Calvinism)? Each of these views involves problems, so that many people would rather not deal with the question. But we cannot avoid it, at least in this series of studies. It is an area of the atonement with which theology has always dealt. Besides, it is suggested by our text and by the gospel. Our text contains Christ’s sixth cry from the cross, “It is finished.” But what was finished? In our last study we answered that it was, above all, the atonement. But what was the atonement? Was it the actual payment of the price for the sins of some or of all people, as the result of which they are saved? Or was it potential atonement only, that is, something that makes it possible for people to be saved but that in itself saves no one? The Gospel of John gives us the most difficult answer, for it (perhaps more than any other Gospel) presents that view of Christ’s work generally known as “limited atonement.” We think of John 10, in which Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep” (v. 11). A few verses later he explicitly excludes certain of his hearers from that number—“You are not my sheep” (v. 26). Similarly, in John 17 the Lord explicitly prays for those “you have given me,” a phrase repeated six times with only slight variations. This phrase does not include everyone because those who have been given to Christ are carefully distinguished from “the world” (vv. 6, 9, 11–18). It would be easier to skip this subject; but as in the matter of the necessity of the atonement, we would do so to our own hurt. Actually the subject is important and profitable; for what is at stake is nothing other than the nature of the atonement itself, as we will see when we study it.
“The World” and “All Men”
But first we must deal with a primary matter. This is the view that the whole discussion is wrongheaded simply because, so it is said, the Bible gives a clear answer to the question. Is it not true, one might ask, that the Bible often uses universal terms when speaking of Jesus’ death? Take Isaiah 53:6. It says, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Does this not say that all have sinned and that it is for these, all of them, that Christ died? Again, there is Hebrews 2:9, “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.” Or perhaps 1 John 2:2, which seems even more unmistakable. “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” Do these verses not teach unambiguously that Jesus died for everyone? Not necessarily. The reason this is not necessarily the case is that the Bible habitually uses these terms in less than an inclusivistic sense. For instance, the word “world” is sometimes used of the whole fabric of heaven and earth (Job 34:13). Sometimes it refers only to the earth (Ps. 24:1; 98:7), or only to the heavens (Ps. 90:2). There are texts in which it does mean every single human being (Rom. 3:6, 19). But again, it sometimes refers only to one large group (Matt. 18:7; John 4:42; 1 Cor. 4:9; Rev. 13:3). This last is probably the dominant meaning, just as it is in our use of the same word in English. To give an example, when the Pharisees say among themselves, “Look how the world has gone after him” (John 12:19), meaning Christ, they do not mean every person on earth or even every person in Israel. They only mean a very large group of the citizens of Jerusalem. If we insist that “world” always means “every human being,” we are going to have trouble explaining how under Caesar Augustus “all the world” went to be taxed. Did everyone go—barbarians, prisoners, slaves, or others outside the Roman sphere of influence? The point we are making is that the use of words like “all men,” “the whole world,” and “us all” does not in itself settle the matter. Rather, the meaning of each phrase must be determined from the context. Thus, in the case of Isaiah 53:6, it can be argued very cogently that the passage is written of God’s people, all of whom certainly have gone astray (which is also true of those who are not God’s people) and have been redeemed (which is not true of those who are not God’s people). Similarly, in Hebrews 2:9, the reference is to the “many sons” who shall be brought to glory, as specified in the very next verse. Believers in particular redemption have usually explained 1 John 2:2 in terms of John’s emphasis in writing. He is trying to show that the propitiation Christ made was not for Jews only, which might be expected, but for Gentiles as well. The point here is not whether this particular interpretation of these verses is the correct one, though I believe it is. The point is only that they may be so interpreted. Consequently, the matter of limited versus unlimited atonement must be resolved on other grounds.
The Central Question
The central question in this entire discussion is not how many verses may be lined up on one side or the other or even whether or not Christ’s death has sufficient value to atone for the sins of the world. The answer to the last question is obvious: Christ’s death has sufficient value to atone not only for a million worlds such as ours but more besides. The question is only: Did Christ’s death actually atone for the sins of anyone? Did it actually propitiate the wrath of God toward any specific group of individuals? Did it actually reconcile any single person to God? Did it redeem anyone? If it did, whom? When the question is asked in this way we can see that there are only three possible answers:
1. Christ’s death was not an actual atonement but rather that which makes atonement possible. It becomes actual when the sinner repents of sin and believes on Jesus.
2. It was an actual atonement for the sins of God’s elect, with the result that these are saved.
3. It was an actual atonement for the sins of all human beings, so that all are saved.
We can dismiss the third possibility immediately, for the Bible clearly teaches that not all human beings are saved and conversely that some specifically are lost. Pharaoh is an example. So is Judas. So is the rich man in Christ’s parable of the rich man and Lazarus. In Revelation we have descriptions of God’s final judgment on such persons. With this possibility eliminated, the choice is between numbers one and two—an actual atonement for the specific sins of the elect and an indefinite atonement for no sins in particular. What, then, is the way in which the Bible speaks of Christ’s sacrifice? The answer has already been given in our earlier studies. We talked of sacrifice and substitution, and the point was that Christ actually became a sacrifice and substitute on the basis of which those who were appointed to salvation were saved. We talked of propitiation, reconciliation, and redemption. Each of these points to a specific aspect of that which Christ accomplished. Christ did not come to make propitiation possible; he came to propitiate God’s wrath against sin. He did not come to make reconciliation possible; he came to make reconciliation. He did not come to make redemption possible; his shed blood was the price of redemption. John Murray poses the issue like this: “The very nature of Christ’s mission and accomplishment is involved in this question. Did Christ come to make the salvation of all men possible, to remove obstacles that stood in the way of salvation, and merely to make provision for salvation? Or did he come to secure the salvation of all those who are ordained to eternal life? Did he come to make men redeemable? Or did he come effectually and infallibly to redeem? The doctrine of the Atonement must be radically revised if, as atonement, it applies to those who finally perish as well as to those who are the heirs of eternal life. In that event we should have to dilute the grand categories in terms of which the Scripture defines the Atonement and deprive them of their most precious import and glory. This we cannot do. The saving efficacy of expiation, propitiation, reconciliation, and redemption is too deeply embedded in these concepts, and we dare not eliminate this efficacy. We do well to ponder the words of our Lord himself: ‘I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that of everything which he hath given to me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up in the last day’ (John 6:38–39). Security inheres in Christ’s redemptive accomplishment. And this means that, in respect of the persons contemplated, design and accomplishment and final realization have all the same extent.” This is called “limited atonement.” But this is not a good designation, for all theologians limit it in one way or another. The Calvinist limits its scope. The Arminian limits its power. The question is rather: How does the Bible portray Christ’s sacrifice? The answer is that it is portrayed as actually accomplishing that for which God ordained it. It is because it was actual that Christ looked upon “the suffering of his soul” and was “satisfied” (Isa. 53:11).
Belief and Unbelief
I can see only one possible way of avoiding this conclusion, and even that is not actually a possibility when it is once examined. It may be argued by someone that the atonement is actual and also for the sins of the whole world but that all are not saved, not because their sins are not atoned for, but because they do not believe in Christ and hence will not accept the gospel. “It is like a gift,” the person might say. “It has been selected and paid for, but no one can be forced to take a gift. The world has been saved, but many persons will not be saved simply because they do not believe in Jesus.” Does that sound reasonable? It does until you ask about the nature of unbelief. Is it merely the morally neutral choice of deciding not to accept salvation? Or is it a sin? The answer is: a sin. In fact, it is the most damning of all sins. And this means simply that if Christ died for all sin and if this includes even the sin of unbelief (as it must if he truly died for all sin), then all are saved whether they respond to the gospel or not. Pharaoh, Judas, Muslims, Hindus, pagans will all be in heaven. John Owen, the greatest of the Puritan theologians, who did for this doctrine what Anselm did for the necessity of the atonement, wrote: “You will say, ‘Because of their unbelief; they will not believe.’ But this unbelief, is it a sin, or not? If not, why should they be punished for it? If it be, then Christ underwent the punishment due to it, or not. If so, then why must that hinder them more than their other sins for which he died from partaking of the fruit of his death? If he did not, then did he not die for all their sins. Let them choose which part they will.” If Jesus died for all the sin of the whole human race, unbelief included, then all are saved, which the Bible denies. If he died for all the sin of the race, unbelief excluded, then he did not die for all the sins of anyone and all must be condemned. The only viable position is that he died for the sin of the elect only. And, of course, this is what the Bible teaches.
Matthew 1:21—“You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
Matthew 20:28—“The Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
John 13:1—“It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.”
Galatians 3:13—“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.”
Ephesians 5:25—“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”
Romans 8:28–32—“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”
Repent and Believe the Gospel
Some will argue that if Christ did not take away the sins of all the world, then it is not possible for Christians to offer salvation to all indiscriminately. In fact, it is not possible to offer salvation to anyone, since we do not know whether the person is one for whom Christ died. There are two answers. First, we are to offer salvation to everyone because we are told to do it and because we have ample biblical examples to that effect. We must say as Ezekiel, “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?” (Ezek. 33:11). Or as Isaiah, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat” (Isa. 55:1). Or as Jesus, “Come to me, all you who are weary and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). This is our great commandment and pattern. The second answer is that, strictly speaking, the gospel is not so much an offer that people may politely accept or refuse according to their own pleasure as it is a command to turn from sin to Jesus. We have gotten into the habit of making the gospel into an offer because this is more socially acceptable in our culture, and God clearly uses our culturally conditioned efforts. But strictly speaking, the gospel is not something lying around for people to take or leave as they choose. They are called to repent. We are to call them. Only after they repent and turn to Christ can we know that they are those for whom Christ died. Spurgeon was a great Calvinist. He believed in limited atonement. But it did not stop him from being one of the most effective evangelists of his age. He did not lie; he did not say, “Because you all are elect, Christ died for you.” It was enough to say, “You are a sinner, and Jesus died for sinners just like you and me. If you would be saved, repent and believe the gospel.” God honors truth. Therefore, we will speak the truth. And what a wonderful truth this is! We proclaim not a mere possibility of salvation, but salvation itself. We preach that Jesus died for his people. He actually died in their place. He propitiated the wrath of God for them. He reconciled them to God. He redeemed them from the terrible bondage of their own guilt and wickedness. He is therefore a sufficient and suitable Savior. If he is your Savior, you will certainly come to him. Will you not come now? Do not say, “But I am not one of the elect.” You do not know that. Just come to Jesus. Jesus has done everything necessary to save sinners. Are you a sinner? Then come to Jesus. He is the Savior. Come!
Boice, J. M. (2005). The Gospel of John: an expositional commentary (pp. 1525–1548). Baker Books.
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Ukraine Accuses Cuba Of Sending Thousands To Fight In Russian Army, Shutters Havana Embassy Ukraine has announced the closure of its embassy in Havana amid escalating diplomatic tensions, especially over the accusation that Cuba has turned a blind eye recruitment of its citizens to fight for Russia in the ongoing war. Kiev is essentially accusing Cuba of inaction and pro-Moscow sympathies, describing that “its unwillingness to halt the large-scale deployment of Cuban nationals in Russia’s war against Ukraine amounts to complicity in aggression.”
Artic Frost And Financial “Crimes” Thanks to releases by FBI Director Kash Patel and Senate Republicans (here and here and here), we are finally getting sunlight into the FBI’s overarching investigation of not only President Trump but of nearly everyone in his orbit – the investigation assigned the name “Artic Frost.” Attempt or conspiracy to corruptly obstruct, influence, and impede the certification of the Electoral College vote (18 USC § 1512(c)(2) and (k)). Obstruction of certain proceedings (18 USC § 1505). Falsification of records (18 USC § 1519). Conspiracy to defraud the United States (18 USC § 371). Mail Fraud (18 USC § 1341). Seditious Conspiracy (18 USC § 2384).”
European Billionaires Funneled $2 Billion Via Transatlantic NGO Network To Erode U.S. Democracy, Finance Anti-Trump Protest Machine A new bombshell report by Americans for Public Trust (APT), based on IRS Form 990s and media reports, reveals that five foreign “charities” have funneled nearly $2 billion into American leftist nonprofits, injecting what can only be described as a far-left extremist European policy agenda and toxic social-engineering campaigns into U.S. institutions like cancer. The report alleges that these foreign influence operations, exploiting the dark webs of the NGO world, also bankroll part of the protest industrial complex that has waged an ongoing color-revolution-style operation against President Trump, his supporters, and seeks to dismantle the Make America Great Again movement.
Shallow M6.0 earthquake hits southeast Indian Ridge A shallow earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.0 struck southeast Indian Ridge at 20:53 UTC on October 31, 2025. The agency is reporting a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). No tsunami warning was issued.
‘It’s scary’: SNAP recipients brace for fallout as benefits vanish during shutdown As the federal government drags into its second month, millions of low-income Americans – including thousands in Illinois – are now facing the cutoff of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, bracing for what lies ahead as food pantry lines grow longer by the day.
9 with life-threatening injuries after UK train stabbing; 2 arrested; motive unclear “Ten people have been taken to hospital with nine believed to have suffered life-threatening injuries,” the statement says. “This has been declared a major incident and Counter Terrorism Policing are supporting our investigation whilst we work to establish the full circumstances and motivation for this incident.”
NYC mayor warns antisemitism spreading ‘like a cancer’ across city New York City Mayor Eric Adams warned Thursday that antisemitism was spreading “like a cancer” across the city and the US, speaking out against anti-Israel rhetoric days before a city-wide vote that could see a strident critic of Israel replace him in office. Mamdani’s anti-Israel rhetoric has alarmed Jewish leaders in the city and beyond, who fear that the statements could fuel backlash against Jews.
The Rise of Radical Jihadi Clerics, Activists, and Political Operatives in NYC Supporting Mamdani Asra Q. Nomani has written a fantastic piece for Fox News, titled: Mamdani’s God Squad: The clerics, activists and political operatives who have his back. In it, she notes just how well-organized the support is behind Zohran Mamdani and how Islamists have plotted his ascension every step of the way. They are using what they call “racism” and “religious persecution” as their political and PR strategy, and with so many Muslims and foreigners now residing in New York City, it is appealing to the core voting base there.
‘I See Dark Tidings Ahead’: Britain’s Colonized Future Is America’s Warning “British commentator and journalist Carl Benjamin — known to millions online as Sargon of Akkad — delivers a chilling warning through his Akkad Daily report: the quiet conquest of East London is no longer quiet. When UKIP’s Nick Tenconi announced a “crusade to reclaim Whitechapel,” masked men flooded the streets, chanting Allahu Akbar and claiming “our streets.” What emerged was not diversity—it was dominance.”
Providence Baptist Church on RSBN featuring Pastor Dr Rusty Sowell live from Providence Baptist Church in Beauregard, AL Sunday Morning Worship 11/2/25 J
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., joins ‘Fox News Sunday’ to discuss the ongoing government shutdown, President Donald Trump’s efforts to resolve it and the potential lapse in SNAP benefits funding. #fox #media #breakingnews #us #usa #new #news #breaking #foxnews #foxnewssunday #mikejohnson #speakerjohnson #trump #donaldtrump #government #shutdown #politics #political #politicalnews #republicans
Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman told CNN’s “State of the Union” this morning that Democrats should immediately vote to reopen the government and avoid cuts to food stamps, Obamacare subsidies, and airport security. “Democrats really need to own the shutdown. I mean, we’re shutting it down,” Fetterman said. “I know why they claim they’re doing it-because they want to address the tax credits-and I fully support that. I voted for all of our cars-our causes-every single time. But I refuse to put 42 million Americans into that kind of food insecurity.” “This is the wrong tactic. It was wrong when the Republicans did it, and it’s wrong now that we’re driving it,” he said. “This is an absolute fail. It’s embarrassing, honestly. If we can’t even keep the lights on like this-come on.” “It seems like we’re moving against our core values by keeping the government shut down. We’re on day 33 now.”
JAKE TAPPER, CNN: Joining us now is Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman. He’s one of three Senate Democrats who has been voting with Republicans to continue to fund the government. Senator, thanks for joining us.
As you know, 42 million Americans—including 2 million Pennsylvanians—will not receive food stamp or SNAP benefits this month because funding officially lapsed yesterday. The White House says this is the fault of Democrats for shutting down the government. Democrats note that the Trump administration is not dipping into the contingency funds for SNAP, and they think Trump is doing that to pressure Democrats. How do you see it? Who do you blame for this?
SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D–PA): For me, fundamentally, it’s deeply, deeply distressing to know that 42 million Americans are going to lose their SNAP benefits. That’s one of the big reasons why I refuse to shut our government down.
And again, I feel like the Democrats really need to own the shutdown. I mean, we’re shutting it down. I know why they claim they’re doing it—because they want to address the tax credits—and I fully support that. I voted for all of our cars—our causes—every single time. But I refuse to put 42 million Americans into that kind of food insecurity.
Now, this is all solved by just reopening our government. The people need to be paid. If we are the party that’s fighting for working people, we can’t be the ones shutting it down. Every single union that’s involved in this is now demanding that we reopen. That’s the side I’m on.
The four major airlines are also saying we really have to stop this right now. Why would we want to make flying less safe by forcing this kind of situation and making everything that much more stressed? So it’s not something I support, and I don’t want to be involved in it. We need to find a way forward. I do believe we can achieve these tax credits—this is something I support—but this is the wrong tactic. It was wrong when the Republicans did it, and it’s wrong now that we’re driving it.
JAKE TAPPER: Senators say that bipartisan talks to end this logjam seem to be gaining steam, though an actual agreement is still out of reach as of now. Do you know where these bipartisan talks to end the shutdown stand? We’re on day 33 of the shutdown.
SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN: I sure hope so. I mean, this is an absolute fail. It’s embarrassing, honestly. If we can’t even keep the lights on like this—come on.
Federal workers have had to borrow more than a third of a billion dollars just to pay their bills. Those are the kinds of workers that make this country run, and they’re really suffering. And now people can’t count on their SNAP benefits, or on WIC and Head Start. These are the kinds of people I’m fighting for as a Democrat. But right now, it seems like we’re moving against our core values by keeping the government shut down. We’re on day 33—it’s gone on far too long.
JAKE TAPPER: Let’s talk about the issue Democrats say they’re fighting for in this shutdown. Pennsylvania’s Obamacare marketplace says more than 150,000 Pennsylvanians are going to lose their coverage if these enhanced premiums expire at the end of the year. In Allegheny County, where you live, average monthly health care costs are projected to rise 75%. In rural Juniata County, those prices are projected to jump a staggering 435%.
Have any Republicans offered you any assurances that they will work with Democrats to actually do something to prevent this from happening—if Democrats reopen the government?
SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN: Yeah, I absolutely do believe so, because a lot of those counties you just referenced—they’re all very, very red. And I do believe many Republicans realize that we have to address this and extend these tax credits. I absolutely hope we do.
This is what I’m saying: I fully, fully support these things. But this is the wrong tactic. Right now, by doing this—by shutting down the government—we’re getting neither of those things. You’re not going to get your SNAP benefits, and you’re not going to get the tax credits we all need.
Reopen this thing, and we can find a way forward. That’s the way democracy is supposed to operate.
Photo courtesy of the United States Department of State
President Donald Trump’s administration continues to redefine what American strength looks like on the world stage.
Since his first major counterterrorism operation, 393 leading jihadists across the globe have been eliminated, and 76 American hostages who were wrongfully detained overseas have been brought home safely.
These results underscore a level of national security success unmatched by any modern presidency.
WATCH: Hundreds Killed as ISLAMIST Groups Terrorize SUDAN
Under President Trump, America has reclaimed its role as the world’s leading force against terrorism.
His administration rejected the indecisive strategies of past presidents and replaced them with clear, results-driven policy.
Rather than tolerating endless discussions about how to handle global extremism, Trump made it clear that the United States would act with force and precision.
Terrorist leaders who once operated with impunity now live—or die—knowing that America will strike wherever they hide.
The liberation of 76 American hostages stands as one of the administration’s most powerful humanitarian accomplishments.
These are men and women who had been forgotten by previous governments—journalists, missionaries, contractors, and civilians trapped in some of the most dangerous parts of the world.
Trump made their safe return a top priority, coordinating across intelligence, diplomatic, and military agencies to ensure no American was left behind.
From the destruction of ISIS’s territorial caliphate to the elimination of top terrorist figures, Trump’s foreign policy has delivered measurable results.
He expanded the authority of U.S. Special Forces, strengthened intelligence-sharing with allies, and cut off the financial pipelines that sustained extremist organizations.
The combination of strategic force and diplomatic pressure crippled jihadist networks and restored deterrence where it had been lost.
This approach has produced not only tactical victories but long-term stability. Nations that once doubted American resolve now recognize the cost of testing it.
The message has been simple: America will protect its people, its interests, and its allies without hesitation.
WATCH: Trump REVERSES China’s Edge in the U.S. Economy
While Democrats continue to focus on domestic politics or media narratives, the facts are undeniable.
Under Trump’s leadership, hundreds of terrorist leaders have been eliminated, dozens of innocent Americans have been freed, and the world has become safer.
His administration has proven that strength, not apology, is the foundation of peace.
President Trump’s record demonstrates what effective leadership looks like—decisive, focused, and unapologetically American.
The results speak for themselves: fewer terrorists, more Americans home safe, and a world that once again respects the power and resolve of the United States.
Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro is pleading for help from China and Russia as President Donald Trump escalates his military campaign in the region.
While the U.S. has yet to formally invade Venezuela, it has already carried out numerous drone strikes against vessels smuggling narcotics at the behest of the Maduro regime.
According to official U.S. memos obtained by The Washington Post, Maduro is now asking Moscow and Beijing to provide military equipment that will somehow allow him to fend off the American threat.
The article explained:
Amid a buildup of American forces in the Caribbean, Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro is reaching out to Russia, China and Iran to enhance its worn military capabilities and solicit assistance, requesting defensive radars, aircraft repairs and potentially missiles.
The requests to Moscow were made in the form of a letter meant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and was intended to be delivered during a visit to the Russian capital by a senior aide this month.
Maduro, according to the documents, also composed a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping seeking “expanded military cooperation” between their two countries to counter “the escalation between the U.S. and Venezuela.”
In the letter, Maduro asked the Chinese government to expedite Chinese companies’ production of radar detection systems, presumably so Venezuela could enhance its capabilities.
Both The Miami Herald and The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Trump was planning to strike territories inside Venezuela.
The Journal reported:
While the president hasn’t made a final decision on ordering land strikes, the officials said a potential air campaign would focus on targets that sit at the nexus of the drug gangs and the Maduro regime.
Trump and his senior aides have been particularly focused on unsettling Maduro as the U.S. military has attacked boats allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean.
Meanwhile, The Herald wrote:
The Trump Administration has made the decision to attack military installations inside Venezuela and the strikes could come at any moment, sources with knowledge of the situation told the Miami Herald, as the U.S. prepares to initiate the next stage of its campaign against the Soles drug cartel.
Sources told the Herald that the targets — which could be struck by air in a matter of days or even hours — also aim to decapitate the cartel’s hierarchy. U.S. officials believe the cartel exports around 500 tons of cocaine yearly, split between Europe and the United States.
However, these claims were later played down by the White House, with spokeswoman Anna Kelly insisting that “any announcements regarding Venezuela policy would come directly from the President.”
Fox News’ Alexandria Hoff, White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, join ‘Fox News Live’ to discuss a judge’s order to pay SNAP benefits, efforts to reopen the government and updates on the Arctic Frost investigation.
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