Destiny, Random Allowed, Intervention or Punishment …Sovereignty?

When anything happens, good or bad, do we ask ourselves, did that happen because of destiny, that our future was already written? Is getting married, having children from DNA of parents, divorce, re-marriage altogether due to destiny without freewill or randomness?

While everything is known to God from even before fetal development as in Jeremiah 1:5 and onwards, are all our day-to-day-activity, education, profession, job, spouse, children etc., already “set for each and everyone of us” ..,or only to some people but not to others, every time or some of the time? Or, did any of it comes randomly, sometimes and specifically? Was it because of God’s intervention? Or, was it allowed to happen by God, or actually a punishment? Which one is it?

Very challenging issues, indeed. Ultimately, only God knows, yet many preachers go one way or the other in interpretations and presumptions. Any middle-ground or another concept? Let us then take this difficult but important issue together with an open mind and with all humility we can muster. Remember, no human has a monopoly on what is right. But, we learn from God using a Berean principle(Acts 17:11) of “trust but verify”.

God’s Sovereignty

It is well-accepted by believers that nothing happens without God’s knowledge. He knows the past, present and future, thus the descriptive name I AM. He is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent. He is beyond the measure of time. Got it. Moreover, he is sovereign.

But, does sovereignty mean “all steps are ordered”? That, nothing happens “by chance”? That, anything that happens is because God wills it to be or merely “allowed it“. Certainly, when God says, then it happens as in Genesis1:3-31. And, biblical references proved God intervenes in the affairs of man as in the blazing furnace set for Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (Daniel 3:8-18) and prophesied destiny of earthly kingdoms in Daniel 2. Moreover, who can forget what God did to the northern 10 tribes and 2 southern division of Israel? (See also https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1551/jewish/Israels-Enslavement.htm And, there are other examples of destiny, intervention and punishment.

Is this really what sovereignty means? Did Adam and Satan sin because God allowed that to happen for a “grand purpose”, as many of us can assume? Where is and what happened to their freewill? Why fault Adam or Satan for their sins without them having freewill? It certainly is not God’s will for anyone to sin against him. That being said, if he just allowed (following the principle of “free will”)what he did not like to happen, although he could intervene, is that being complicit? In which case, God could be blamed?

However, the Scriptures say, he could not be faulted nor can he do anything wrong (Job 34:12) because “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD( Isaiah 55:8). So, how could this comport with God’s sovereignty? In Ecclesiastes 9:11 it says:

“I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.“

The preceding verse states that the winner of a race, or having food, wealth or favor is not necessarily because of the person’s advantage, nor “destiny, intervention, allowed or as a punishment “. It really “depends on situations”. And, “time and chance happen to them all.” meant it can happen “randomly”. It is no longer “chance” if it is already “written in stone”, as it is no longer hope if the outcome is already known(Romans 8:24).

Even the narrative of Jonah was not forced on him in a way that he did not have free will and could not say no. Instead, he learned “wisdom to choose” from right or wrong. After Jonah’s death in the “belly of big fish 3 days and 3 nights” and resurrection at “dry land, 3 days journey to Nineveh”, he had second-thoughts. For who wants to die again in a ghastly death swallowed by a big fish? He could still freely go against God’s will, but he chose wisely, not to and so he traveled far to Nineveh on his own freewill. He learned “wisdom” by having experiential fear as in Proverbs 9:10 “fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”.

God does not have to allow, intervene or act as punishment, when anyone gets into an accident, exposed to inordinate risk or got into throes of death. After all, it was said, Hebrews 9:27

“And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment“(ESV).

Everyone dies the 1st death which is physical and temporary as everyone will be given a chance at “time appointed” to receive the “Holy Spirit of power”. Judgment comes only after this “empowering spirit in-dwells” to each one of humanity. As 1 Peter 4:17 says, ” judgment begins with God’s household…”

As everyone will experience death(reversible), God already has a plan for any permutations. Randomness is still within the purview of God’s sovereignty. A soldier with freewill to volunteer and fight is a better soldier than when conscripted or forced by events.

Jesus, an example

A supreme example of “freewill within God’s sovereignty ” was shown by Jesus.

As EL SHADDAI, YHVH or LOGOS, he consented to become incarnated to “anthropos-Jesus”(1Timothy 2:5); he was not forced to do that. Being forced and doing it without his consent, takes away the enormity and great value of his sacrifice. As flesh-composed human, he did not sin on his own, as Job likewise did not sin. But what the Father required were not “own works“ but works expressed in “fruits of the Holy Spirit“. All his personal “purity/perfection” was through his own (like Job) without the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit.

As promised, he was the first man to receive this in-dwelling after water baptism in river Jordan as in John 1:32. Then and only then did he “express the empowerment that comes from the Holy Spirit”, e.g., overcoming Satan’s temptation, turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana, making blind see, deaf hear, lame walk and dead Lazarus to be resurrected to flesh–composed life, etc. All of these “miracles” were “fruits of in-dwelling Holy Spirit of power“.

Notice, that no miracles did Jesus do prior to the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit. The water-to-wine in the wedding at Cana was not the first miracle; it was instead the overcoming of Satan in the wilderness. Notice also that in the garden of Gethsemane, this man-Jesus still with the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit in him maintained his freewill not to die, but finally (after 3 times seeing truly the flesh is weak and needed the empowerment of the Hoky Spirit) chose instead to follow the “will of the Father” and “not my will“. True, these events were known to the Father from the beginning of time. But, this final action of Jesus was solely based on him, his freewill, the “hope” (Jeremiah 17:7), that he in fact would follow the Father’s will. There could not have been any need to “hope” (Romans 8:20; Romans 15:4 ESV) if the outcome is pre-destined or already known. The Father chose not to know do he can base it on “hope“.

Although prophesied and predestined as Passover, Jesus was not forced to be a Savior of mankind. He chose to be so. Still, he had to bring it to fruition himself as empowered by the Holy Spirit. He did this as a freewill expression of his love that flows out from the love of the Father for the world as in John 3:16 True love shows by giving your life for another as in John 15:13.

Learning from DNA

The teaching of who and what is the “real you” will help us understand even more about “randomness“. Keep in mind the 2 components of man. Creation of man in Genesis teaches us that our material body( all organs including brain) came from the “ground, earthy”, and still “without life“, i.e. dead. The life-giving energy was breathed into that body; aka “breath of life” (spirit-of-man) and this combination became a “living person”(soul).

Human DNA is also “material and not spiritual“. While the union of sperm and egg can be random, the union of one strand with another strand to make a double-helix DNA is very specific. Without these double-strands, no human can be made. In human fertilization, a released ovum (a haploid secondary oocyte with replicate chromosome copies) and a haploid sperm cell (male gamete)—combine to form a single 2n diploid cell called the zygote. A zygote (from Greek ζυγωτός zygōtos “joined” or “yoked”, from ζυγοῦν zygoun “to join” or “to yoke”) is a eukaryotic cell formed by a fertilization event between two gametes. The zygote’s genome is a combination of the DNA in each gamete, and contains all of the genetic information necessary to form a new individual. 

Similarly, the God-given spiritual strand of DNA in man through the breath of life/spirit-of-man has to be “joined” or”yoked“with another “spiritual strand” also coming from God as “Holy Spirit” to form a double-helical union in the creation of a “new spiritual body“. The “spirit-of-man/breath-of-life” that gives life to humans has to “join” with another “spirit-component” (both given by God and planned before the foundation of the world based on love) through the concept of “in-dwelling” to become a “new creation”,i.e., 2Corinthians 5:17
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” This change on dynamics takes time with nurturing growth and development.

And this “new creation” manifests at “resurrection, in a “twinkling of an eye“

Summary

God is sovereign. He is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient. His “thoughts are not our thoughts“. We were given freewill but he can also intervene, allow things to happen or punish for a purpose, as well as execute his predetermined overall plan. He can do anything He wanted, even removing and forgetting our sins forever as in Psalms 103:12 “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.“

He is so supreme, the “God of gods and Lord of lords”, that he has even the power to include “randomness” with his own sovereignty, depending on his unique wisdom. Contrary to the common assumption, randomness (like having “hope“) does not diminish his sovereignty; it magnifies it.

But, more importantly he has a plan for all regarding our salvation that will come in the future. All have their own time as all are given a chance, in this lifetime prior to the Millenium and beyond, according to his timeline. And that plan is “predetermined“. However, the final outcome depends on our freewill to act, much like Jesus did, to follow the will of the Father and “bear fruits of the Holy Spirit“. Freewill is not ignored, marginalized or delegitimized by God’s sovereignty; it even magnifies it.

The “spirit-of-man” given directly by God and therefore spiritual, has to “join” with another “spirit-entity”(Holy Spirit, also given directly by God) and be “one” through a “process of growth-and-development“, a process of “sanctification“. This Holy Spirit is Christ in us, (not another person as previously taught) as in:

John 17:22-26 …’And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.’

2 Corinthians 3:17 “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty”

Accordingly, the tree that does not bear fruit will be cut off and burned(Matthew 7:19). So, rejoice for the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit, the Helper of our “weak flesh“, as our God is supreme, loving, full of grace and is merciful. Our “ultimate destiny within the context of freewill “ is secure.

God Bless😇🙏😊

Original post: May 29, 2019

Edited and reposted 8/20/20.

Hyperlink version dedicated to those who are gratified with their own personal successes and those who are grappling with questions about accidental or any “untimely” deaths or disaster in their life.

Please tap on hyperlinks for references.

Critique is welcome through foundationacts@yahoo.com

God’s choice, yet failed…except?

Throughout biblical history, many have been called and chosen by God, yet they failed. But why? What message is God telling us from these historical accounts? What predicate was he establishing? Since they failed, was God wrong in choosing them? As God cannot be wrong (Job 34:12) nor can be faulted (Isaiah 55:8-9), why then were they chosen?

Consider the following examples:

1. Adam, chosen in Genesis as the first man created to represent mankind. It was this particular man and not any other human living at that time or before. The Genesis account of man’s creation does not exclude pre-Adamic human creation. While he may not actually be the first human created prior to the Moses’ writing of Genesis,(1,2,3), he was the man on which God established the mechanism of creation and imputation (Romans 5:12) of mankind’s sin. He came from “the ground” and became alive with the “breath of life”(Genesis 2:7). He was also the man, whose sin was imputed to all mankind(Romans 5:12). He was chosen, yet sinned, why?

2. Abraham, like all humans sinned Yet, he was chosen from all men and called “father of the faithful.”

3. Israel, also chosen from all nations before and during that time (Deuteronomy 7:6-9), yet abandoned /divorced God(Jeremiah 3:8).

4. David..also chosen and “after my own heart..,will do everything I want him to do“? as in:

Acts 13:22 “After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’‘(NIV).

Yet, David as noted in Psalm 51:1 also sinned.

5. Job, who was described in Job 1:8 as “Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”

“…perfect and an upright man, one that fears God, and eschews evil?“ (Job 1:8, American KJV)

and won over his friends regarding the reasons for his personal disasters, acknowledged in Job 42:5 “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.”

He was “perfect” as defined by humans but God said “my thoughts are not your thoughts” as in Isaiah 55:8 . Job still needs a Savior to make him perfect as God defined it.

Incarnation

The preceding choices of humans all failed. And, this failure was purposeful. They were all human types of an anti-type to come. The message is about demonstrating the emphasis and focus on a particular prophesied human. (Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 9:6). The God of Israel, the Almighty God(El Shaddai), the Lord God(YHVH Elohim/I AM), the LOGOS(Word) was planned to be incarnated to a human being, Jesus. This shows that man created from the “ground” and therefore “earthy“, while chosen, was only a “template/image“, an earthly precursor of what was to come. The “true chosen one” had to come “from above/heavenly” and did not carry the imputed sin of Adam to qualify as a Savior of mankind. And, he is the first human, the “anthropos -Jesus”(1 Timothy 2:5), into which the Father will in-dwell his unique Holy Spirit at River Jordan. The Father’s plan has to start with a human being (by incarnation) as a “first of the firstfruits) to become a “captain,author/finisher trailblazer” of our salvation predicated on “faith of Jesus”

Summary

Sovereignty of God is a given and while his choice of humans failed, it was purposeful and based on hope. But, this hope is not on “weak flesh“(Matthew 26:4). Instead, this hope was on a specific human that “came from above/heavenly“(John 3:31), the one who would be the “first of the firstfruits” as in;

1 Corinthians 15:23 “But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.“(New Living Translation)

He was the first man to be empowered by the Holy Spirit after water baptism in river Jordan(John 1:32) and the first man to be resurrected to eternal life as a “trailblazer” for humans. This is why the “hope” of mankind is in Jesus as in Jeremiah 17:7

“Blessed is the man that trusts in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.“King James 2000 Bible

References:

1. Salemi, Peter, Who wrote the book of Genesis? Retrieved 5/21/19from http://www.british-israel.ca/Genesis.htm

2. Sewell, Kurt. The tablet theory of Genesis authorship. Retrieved 5/21/19 from https://trueorigin.org/tablet.php

3. Grigg, Russell, Who wrote Genesis? Retrieved 5/21/19 from https://creation.com/did-moses-really-write-genesis

Original post: May 28, 2019

Hyperlink version: Dedicated to the one having surgery (TEP) today.

Crucified with Christ

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

Among many of Paul’s writings, this verse in his letter to Galatians has powerful connotations that express his beliefs. Other verses provide an exegesis that may still defy credulity and have to be taken contextually. Here is my take:

Crucified/dead

As Paul was still alive when this was written, it is without question that he was speaking allegorically or metaphorically. And, this is how he considered himself, as we should.

“We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” (Romans 6:4)

He was referring to “water baptism” as being “buried“,signifying “second eternal death”,(from sin), that as Christ was raised (spirit-composed resurrection) by the Father from the dead, so shall we have a “new life“, as promised through a process of “ongoing creation”.

Christ lives in me/current body, how?

We were created an “image/likeness“ of God, not after plants or animals

And we turned ourselves from Adam, into “marred clay“. But we have this treasure in us given as a gift(Holy Spirit) from the Father to Son then in us to re-form this jar of clay to be “one” with him, as in:

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. (2 Corinthians 4:7).NIV

Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you–unless, of course, you fail the test? (2 Corinthians 13:5) NIV

But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. (Romans 8:10). NIV

And this Holy Spirit is gifted “to me” through being “in me” and “writing his laws in heart and mind“, (no longer in stones) to form us.

“But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being“Galatians 1:15-16

My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,“(Galatians 4:19)NIV

“…so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love“(Ephesians 3:17).NIV

To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.“(Colossians 1:27) “Christ in you”NIV

Live by faith, how?

Faith is “confidence, assurance and conviction” based on “reality, substance and evidence as in:

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen Hebrews 11:1KJV

Faith is different from belief, hope or trust which are all “evidenced-based“. And faith comes from our eyes/ears being opened to truth through the gift of “in-dwelling Holy Spirit” that leads us to believe and trust.

End-point

And, the long and short of it all is to build the “kingdom of God“, and not a plant or animal kingdom. And, Jesus Ian the “author and finisher” of our faith. He is the, carpenter builder.

Summary

Indeed, we have to consider ourselves “crucified with Christ“, buried and “dead in sin” accounted from Adam’s sin. This is reflected/symbolized by “water baptism”. We could have been dead eternally were it not for the “faith OF Jesus” in the promise of the Father to him that resurrection to life is achievable.With this faith, evidenced-based as Jesus was with the Father from the beginning as WORD, he then had the assurance and conviction of his belief to trust that what the Father promised would be delivered.

And this promise to build the “kingdom of God” is a process that was authored, being built by Jesus and will reach fruition in due time.

God Bless 🙏😇

Original Post: 5/13/2019

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Faith OF/IN Jesus or Both?

Different translations from original Greek to English, whether faith ”of and in” Jesus, caused people’s confusion. What is the truth? The answer has major effect on Christian teaching. It is therefore a question that deserves an answer. Here are the verses referred to:

Faith of Jesus?

• Romans 3:22
   Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

• Galatians 2:16
   Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

• Galatians 3:22
   But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.

• Philippians 3:9
   And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Faith in Jesus?

Acts 20:21 I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.

Galatians 3:26
For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 1:4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people–

Faith “of” and “in” Jesus

Taking all things into consideration, one can see the harmony of the truth behind these verses. It is clear that faith has to be started by a man (anthropos-Jesus), not a spirit-being like an angel. From Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and on through centuries, no human was chosen to be the “Passover” for man’s sin but a man, Christ. For which reason, incarnation came about. The El Shaddai/Yahweh (God Almighty/Lord God), aka Logos(Word), became man. He was the only man chosen by the Father to be the “author and finisher of faith“, (Hebrews 12:2). By “faith of Jesus” was the righteousness of God anchored on, not by works. And, this righteousness of faith is for propitiation and justification through his death, by taking the consequence of mankind’s sin accounted from Adam , as in:

Romans 3:22-31 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

Jesus is the “carpenter and builder” of the “God-Kingdom“. And rightly so, this has to start with faith of Jesus, which is evidence-based and process-planned. He was with the Father from the very beginning as Word to see evidence of the Father’s wisdom, power and love. He was the God whose name was El Shaddai (Almighty God)to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob but to Moses he was known as YHVH (Lord God/Yahweh/I AM), as in Exodus 6:3.

As he started our salvation as faith-based through the “faith of Jesus” so shall we follow this “trailblazer man” and have to anchor our salvation by having“faith in Jesus” as well. As the scriptures said, “from faith-to-faith“(Romans 1:17).

Summary

The death of the Passover-Lamb (anthropos-Jesus) is imputed as payment and consequence of mankind’s sin which was accounted to Adam’s sin. This promise that Jesus’ death will pay for the sins of mankind has been made by the Father. This promise is the pathway/trail to achieve justification for mankind’s sin, reconciliation of mankind with the Father, Jesus’ resurrection (our’s,too) and for Jesus to receive this gift of the Holy Spirit to in-dwell subsequently in us. All of these were based on the “faith of man-Jesus” who was the only man chosen specifically for this immense task on “hope” that he would follow his Father’s will, and he did, most especially in the most pivotal moment at the garden of Gethsemane. The “faith of Jesus” is his “faith in the Father” that what was promised would be fulfilled. Being the pioneer/captain/author/trailblazer, Jesus will help us go through the same path by being empowered by the Holy Spirit (Helper/Advocate)which guides us, as his “laws are written in the fleshy tables of our heart“.

The “faith of Jesus” is the predicate (based on evidence) for his “faith in the Father”, that made him believe and trust with confidence and assurance. So should we also have “faith in the Father” which is predicated by “our faith in Jesus” . Indeed, “from faith-to-faith”.

Ultimately, both “faith of and in Jesus” are a requisite towards our immortality and salvation from eternal death.

God bless 🙏🎂

Original post: May 14, 2019

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