Covenant Hearts’ Blog

2 Chronicles 29:36 Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over what God had prepared for the people, because the thing came about suddenly.

Did Hezekiah restore a godly order on his own initiative? Was it by God’s direction? Is free will and sovereignty antithetical?

Psalm 85:1 O LORD, You showed favor to Your land; You restored the captivity of Jacob. 2 You forgave the iniquity of Your people; You covered all their sin. Selah. 3 You withdrew all Your fury; You turned away from Your burning anger. 4 Restore us, O God of our salvation, And cause Your indignation toward us to cease. 5 Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations? 6 Will You not Yourself revive us again, That Your people may rejoice in You? 7 Show us Your lovingkindness, O LORD, And grant us Your salvation.

8 I will hear what God the LORD will say; For He will speak peace to His people, to His godly ones; But let them not turn back to folly. 9 Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, That glory may dwell in our land. 10 Lovingkindness and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. 11 Truth springs from the earth, And righteousness looks down from heaven. 12 Indeed, the LORD will give what is good, And our land will yield its produce. 13 Righteousness will go before Him And will make His footsteps into a way.

I guess it is God. But don’t think that human responsibility is denied by affirming God as sovereign. Just because it may not make sense right now to affirm both doesn’t mean you should throw one of these biblical truths away. Hezekiah did some amazing things, inspiring really. But God also worked out some wonderful things through Hezekiah and Judah/Israel. So we ought to pray that what we do is God’s will because He is going to get His way no matter what. And we should be thankful when what we do is acceptable to God.

John 18:36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”

Note that Jesus is not saying that His kingdom is not in this world but that it is not of or from this world. It is not like the kingdoms of this world but it is in this world as it is “within [us] (Luke 17:21)” Again note that He has asked the Father “thy kingdom come” to this world and that “But if I cast out devils…the kingdom of God is come unto you (Mat 12:28).” and on and on and on. Over and over you hear that the kingdom is near; know that the kingdom is here. Based on what Jesus said, the kingdom came with the coming of the King of kings. His ascension marked His inauguration. The kingdom is not like the kingdoms of this world, thus it is not of this world; but don’t make the mistake in thinking that it is not currently here among/within us. We are in the kingdom of His dear Son even now. There is more yet to come, but that is another story…

John 18:4 Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” 5 They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. 6 When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. 7 So he asked them again, “Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” 8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.” 9 This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: “Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.”

May we only be meek, like Jesus…?

Meek:
1 : enduring injury with patience and without resentment : mild
2 : deficient in spirit and courage : submissive
3 : not violent or strong : moderate

A. Not true. Jesus was bold as well. Notice that He was bargaining with the Roman soldiers for the lives of His disciples. He was also scathing at times using ideas such as “snakes” and “rotting corpses” when referring to some people.

Jesus was perfect. We ought to be like Him. Not only are we to be meek like Him we are also to be bold like Him. No, we are not perfect, but there is a whole body of literature encompassing confrontational Christianity: imprecatory Psalms, apocalyptic literature, and wise warnings all with vivid descriptions of the despicability of the spiritual state of the people you talk to and enloy the company of every day.

We don’t need to unload all of this at once on the people around us but we need to remember that no matter how nice they are, they are not going to heaven without salvation. And how shall they be saved if they do not hear? Have blessed feet…Be bold about your faith.

B. Notice the authority with which Jesus spoke. The soldiers “drew back and fell to the ground” when Jesus spoke “I am he.” That is the power of God. Don’t expect for others to do this when you speak in boldness, but speak with boldness anyways and don’t fear what persecution may come…You can be wise, circumspect, and shrewd in some senses though, note that.

C. Election: “Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.” His disciples were elect for sure but what about everyone else not recorded by scripture as such? Are we elect? “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word (John 17:20).”

It appears that the immediate application of what Jesus spoke directly referred to His disciples. But I think he places a caveat to be reckoned with. Much/if not all (there’s my caveat) of what He says may also refer to “those also who believe,” which would include all covenant keepers of today as well.

Ergo, you may take rest in the fact that Jesus will not lose you if so be that you really are in Him. Seek to be sure that you are in Him and take rest.

LORD, let all of these things mentioned happen/cause them to happen so “That they may know that You alone, whose name is the LORD, Are the Most High over all the earth (Psalm 83:18).”

As Christians we take the Law-Word of God to be our ultimate presupposition, for it is God’s revelation to us. The Scriptures teach that God is the Most High. In theological/philosophical language we say that God is and that God is Sovereign.

If these thoughts are not the starting point of our thinking then we have already gone astray from our very intellectual “birth.” Yes, original sin has even influenced our intellect besides will and emotions; thus it is imperative that we rely on the Word alone to give us the foundations of thought and life.

Following this then, get rid of any ideas of autonomy. Just say no to: natural law theory and instead embrace some degree of theonomy (be pro-God’s law), rationalism and instead let God remain true and every man a liar (even if it doesn’t make sense to our human reason) and autonomy and instead embrace sovereignty (because the LORD He is the Most High).

John 17:6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 “Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; 8 for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. 9 “I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; 10 and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them.

20 “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; 21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.

Did Jesus Christ give His life a sacrifice for all men’s sins or the sins of those God gave Him? And not only the elect that were there with Him, but all of the elect in Jesus’ “past,” present and “future”…

2 Chronicles 25:4 However, he did not put their children to death, but did as it is written in the law in the book of Moses, which the LORD commanded, saying, “Fathers shall not be put to death for sons, nor sons be put to death for fathers, but each shall be put to death for his own sin.”

Yet God will “[visit] the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation (Deuteronomy 5:9).” Although God does this He does not allow us to judge others in this manner. We are not God. We must judge based solely on the actions of the individual…Similarly Jesus Christ “of thine own mouth will I judge thee (Luke 19:22)”…Remember sin is ethical, not metaphysical.

Note: God imputes sin but I’m not sure if He condemns solely based on imputation alone. That is a tough issue to answer, which I cannot at this moment.

John 15:8 “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.”

The presence of fruit doesn’t make a tree. This is a fallacy involving confusion between the antecedent and the consequent. You can say however that the presence of fruit proves a tree (id est: under two conditions:

1. Tree “X” bears “X” fruit [universal affirmative].
2. Only tree “X” bears “X” fruit [universal negative; to see the negative more clearly it can be re-phrased as 'No other tree but tree "X" bears "X" fruit.'].)

A logical case could be made to prove a tree by its fruit, but the fruit does not precede the tree. It cannot make the tree from which it came. Likewise morals/ethics do not save. One cannot make himself right with God by repenting, he must first be restored by God (Psalm 80:19) before he can repent.

Are works necessary? Absolutely. How else are you going to prove to be Christ’s disciples?

2 Chronicles 21:11 Moreover, he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot and led Judah astray.

A government cannot make a nation righteous, but it can lead the people astray. This should be a warning to anyone Christian who may want to get invovled in politics. The state brings only negative sanctions to the nation. The church is to bring the positive sanctions.

Get all the humanitarians out of the government and into the church where they would be more effective (t.i.c.). The Christian in government should have as his priority to prevent/minimize abuses of the tool negative sanctions (a.k.a. “the sword”), but should not be mistaken if he thinks that the state should be used for positive sanctions. Peace will not come by the sword.

2 Chronicles 20:32 [Jehoshaphat] walked in the way of his father Asa and did not depart from it, doing right in the sight of the LORD. 33 The high places, however, were not removed; the people had not yet directed their hearts to the God of their fathers.

This was an indictment against Jehoshaphat; he did good but he failed in other areas. He did not tear down the “pagan shrines” (NLT) and the people did not change their hearts towards God. It is interesting to note that the latter was part of the indictment of Jehoshaphat’s reign. No; government cannot save you, but how much influence can the government have on the hearts of a people?

Forgive my barraging this site with all of my old posts pertinent to this site.  But I am complete and you will only see new posts from here forward.  I will be maintaining both blogs this one aiming to be a more professional blog relating to theology, family and related issues in Christianity.