What Happens to Our Souls When We Die?

By J. Warner Wallace 1/3/2018

     There are many good reasons to believe we, as humans, are more than simply physical bodies. Humans are “soulish” creatures; we are living souls united to physical bodies. Even without the guidance of Scripture, there are good reasons to believe our lives will not end at the point of our physical death. The existence of an afterlife is reasonable, particularly given our dual nature as immaterial souls possessing physical bodies. But what precisely happens to each of us, as living souls, when our physical bodies cease to exist? What will we experience the moment we close our eyes for the last time in this temporal life? The Christian worldview offers an answer to this question, and it can be found by surveying the teaching of the New Testament:

     Those Who Accept God’s Offer of Salvation Will Be United with Him Immediately | There is good reason to believe our afterlife experience begins the minute we close our eyes for the last time here on earth. For those of us who are believers, the instant our earthly bodies die our souls will be united with Jesus in the afterlife:

(2 Co 5:6–8) So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. ESV

(Lk 23:39–43) 39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” ESV

     Those who have accepted God’s offer of Salvation will be with Jesus in what we commonly refer to as “Heaven”. But our experience in Heaven prior to the earthly return of Jesus (and the resurrection of our bodies), while much better than our life here on earth, will not be complete. It will only be part of the experience we will one day have when Jesus returns to earth and resurrects the bodies of those who are already with Him in spirit. While He’s at it, He’ll bring those of us who are still alive home as well:

(1 Th 4:14–18) 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words. ESV

     Only then, after the resurrection, will our joy and satisfaction be made complete; only then will we be able to experience the full physical, spiritual and emotional joy we were originally designed for.

     Those Who Reject God’s Offer of Salvation Will Be Separated from Him | Unfortunately our experience of the afterlife is instantaneous upon death even for those of us who have rejected God. While believers will be united with God, unbelievers will not. The New Testament describes two different places where the unrighteous go after death. One such place is called “Hades”. This is described as the place where the unrighteous go immediately upon death to await their final destination. Take a look at this story Jesus told in the Gospel of Luke:

(Lk 16:19–24) 19 “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24 And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ ESV

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J. Warner Wallace is a Cold-Case Detective, a Christian Case Maker, and the author of:

• Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels

• God's Crime Scene: A Cold-Case Detective Examines the Evidence for a Divinely Created Universe

• Alive: A Cold-Case Approach to the Resurrection

• Cold-Case Christianity for Kids: Investigate Jesus with a Real Detective

• Keeping Your Kids on God's Side: 40 Conversations to Help Them Build a Lasting Faith

• Forensic Faith: A Homicide Detective Makes the Case for a More Reasonable, Evidential Christian Faith

The Struggle Is Real

By Erica Boutwell

     There’s this wood art piece (art may be stretching it) I made years ago, hanging over our front door that was inspired by a song penned by a man named David Parker. David was my boss at 121 Community Church for 12 years, but will forever be one of my dearest friends and inspirations. He wrote this song called You Are God, You Are Good back in September of 2010. I remember the time so clearly because the second verse of that song, he told me, was greatly influenced by a situation going on in our family at the time. The words to that verse are:

There’s a mountain here,
And I know this mountain must be climbed,
What awaits brings fear,
But I know You will provide,
I know You will provide

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Who Really Chose the Books of the New Testament and Why?

By Jonathan Morrow 1/3/17

     Were the books of the New Testament selected by Emperor Constantine for social and political reasons in the 4th century (per the claims of The Da Vinci Code ) or were the books included in the New Testament Canon because they fit with the authoritative teaching that can be traced back to Jesus himself? Was this simply a power play? Another example of history being written by the winners?

     I think the best way to come at this is by asking which of these documents tells us the truth about “the faith” that was preached and received in the earliest communities of Christ-followers (see Jude 3). This is a theological question — what did the earliest eyewitnesses of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth believe and preach from the very beginning?

     The Earliest Indicators of Christianity’s Earliest Beliefs | New Testament scholar Darrell Bock points to three kinds of texts contained in the New Testament writings that show us what the earliest Christians believed (and helpfully provides 3 S’s).

     Schooling — We find doctrinal summaries Christians would memorize and read alongside Old Testament texts (i.e., the Hebrew Scriptures) when they would gather together for worship in house churches (e.g., Rom. 1:2-4; 1 Cor. 8:6; 15:1-5).

     Singing — they would sing their theology in hymns and show their devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ (e.g., Col. 1:15-20 and Phil. 2:5-11).

(Jud 3) Greeting
1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,
To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:
2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

Judgment on False Teachers

3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
8 Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. 9 But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” 10 But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. 11 Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion. 12 These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; 13 wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.
14 It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, 15 to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 16 These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.

A Call to Persevere

17 But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. 18 They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” 19 It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. 20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. 22 And have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

Doxology

24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. ESV

     Jonathan Morrow: I am the author of several books including Welcome to College: A Christ-Follower's Guide for the Journey and Questioning the Bible: 11 Major Challenges to the Bible's Authority .

     I’ve also contributed articles to the bestselling Apologetics Study Bible for Students and A New Kind of Apologist.

     My passion is helping a new generation of Christ-follower’s understand what they believe, why they believe it, and why it matters.

The Problem Of The Old Testament

By James Orr 1907

IT is interesting to note what the critics themselves regard as the crucial points in their theory. Here are a few utterances on the subject.

Westphal says: “We shall take Deuteronomy as Ariadne’s thread in the labyrinth into which the historical problem of the Pentateuch introduces us.”

Delitzsch says: “Since then [Graf’s time] the Book of Ezekiel has become the Archimedean point on which the Pentateuchal criticism has planted itself, and from which it has lifted off its hinges the history of worship and literature in Israel as hitherto accepted.”

Wellhausen says: “The chapters 40–48 (in Ezekiel) are the most important in his book, and have been called by J. Orth, not incorrectly, the key of the Old Testament.”

Smend also says: “The decisive importance of this section for the criticism of the Pentateuch was first recognised by George and Vatke. It has been rightly called the key of the Old Testament.”

Wellhausen in another place says: “The position of the Levites is the Achilles heel of the Priestly Code.”

Elsewhere he emphasises the centralisation of the cultus as containing his whole position. “I differ from Graf,” he says, “chiefly in this, that I always go back to the centralisation of the cultus, and deduce from it the particular divergences. My whole position is contained in my first chapter” (on “The Place of Worship.”)

Kuenen also has his Achilles heel. Speaking of Graf’s original division of the priestly history and legislation, he says: “I saw clearly that his division of the Grundschrift was the Achilles heel of his whole hypothesis: the solution of Graf could not be the true one: it went only half-way.”

In the argument in the present book special weight will be found to be attached to the following facts:—

1. The “pre-prophetic” character of J and E, as involved in their admitted priority to Amos and Hosea.

2. The admittedly “parallel” character of J and E, and their marked stylistic resemblance.

3. The admitted priority of J and E, and of the “Book of the Covenant,” to Deuteronomy.

4. The admitted priority of J and E to P (in reversal of the older view), and the fact that P is throughout parallel to, and presupposes, JE (Wellhausen).

5. The admission by many critics (e.g., Driver, Baudissin, Ryle) of the priority of the Levitical collection known as the “Law of Holiness” to Ezekiel.

The turning points in the discussion are those indicated in the text:—

1. Are J and E two documents, or one?

2. The Josianic origin of Deuteronomy.

3. The post-exilian origin of the Levitical Code.

The critical positions on these three points are traversed and the rejection of them is shown to involve as its only tenable alternative (middle views as Nöldeke’s and Dillmann’s being cut out by the Wellhausen polemic) the essential Mosaicity of the Pentateuch.

The Problem of the Old Testament

Read The Psalms In "1" Year

Psalm 4

4 Be angry, and do not sin;
ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah
5 Offer right sacrifices,
and put your trust in the LORD.
6 There are many who say, “Who will show us some good?
Lift up the light of your face upon us, O LORD!”
7 You have put more joy in my heart
than they have when their grain and wine abound.

8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.

The Inspired Order of the Bible 6

By Dr. Judd W. Patton

Book of Hebrews

     Another truth that is readily established is that the book of Hebrews should not be positioned as the last book of Paul’s epistles, and thus the book that precedes the General Epistles. Why?

     The historical record, Dr. Bullinger informs us, is that, “In the best and oldest Codices, Hebrews follows 2 Thessalonians instead of Philemon.” (13) Again, the Bible itself removes any doubt.

     The first seven books of Paul expound the ABC’s and XYZ’s of Christian theology, Romans through Colossians. These letters were written to six specific churches with the Corinthians receiving two letters. The seventh church letter, the eighth and ninth of Paul’s fourteen, is Thessalonians, which also gets two letters apiece. It is interesting that the letters of the seventh church area address end-time events ( 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 and 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 ).

     Bible students know that Christ will return at the seventh trumpet. “Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!’” ( Revelation 11:15 ). After Christ returns to the earth, He reigns forever, but He reigns for a thousand years before the second resurrection ( Revelation 20:5 ).

     Finally, the Book of Revelation has to be at the Ph.D. level of education with all its symbolism and prophetic utterances. Moreover, it brings the Bible to a conclusion with end time events, the return of Christ and the New Jerusalem.

     Interestingly, in the book of Hebrews the millennium is addressed. Paul speaks of “the world to come” in Hebrews 2:5, the millennial rest in Hebrews 4, the New Covenant in Hebrews 8, and in Hebrews 11:16 the City of God, the New Jerusalem.

     The millennium, of course, follows the end-times or latter days and the return of Christ. Likewise, the Feast of Tabernacles (picturing the 1000 year reign of Christ) follows the Feast of Trumpets as seen in Leviticus 23.

     Let’s connect the dots. 1 and 2 Thessalonians, covering the doctrine of the end-times and the second coming of Christ, must logically precede the book dealing with the millennium - Hebrews! Hebrews, therefore, follows 2 Thessalonians without a doubt.

     Jerome should not have let his prejudice for Rome and Gentiles over Jews prevail in his Latin Vulgate translation by pulling Hebrews to the end of Paul’s books.

     Once this order is recognized, another small but significant insight emerges. Paul introduces Timothy in the last few verses of Hebrews. “Know that our brother Timothy has been set free, with whom I shall see you if he comes shortly. Greet all those who rule over you, and all the saints.”

     The first letter to Timothy is the book that follows Hebrews in the Inspired Order. Thus Paul introduces the young minister Timothy at the end of Hebrews and even leads into the book’s purpose of ministerial leadership principles and proper rulership. This fit does not occur when Hebrews is shifted to the end of Paul’s books, i.e., after Philemon.

     One final point, the last four books of Paul’s epistles, known as the pastoral epistles, are: 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. They obviously go together as books providing ministerial instruction. These four books of the Bible provide information on church government, encouragement to maintain pure doctrine, and principles to be effective leaders in the congregations of God. They are fitly joined together in purpose. By contrast the book of Hebrews is doctrinal in nature, not pastoral. Here is another proof that it does not belong as the last book of the Pauline epistles, as the Traditional Order maintains.

Conclusion

     There is indeed an Inspired Order of the books of the Bible. Historical and Biblical evidence reveals that there are forty-nine books divided into seven divisions. These divisions are the Law, Prophets, Writings, Gospels and Acts, General Epistles, Paul’s Epistles and Revelation.

     The Traditional order of sixty-six books owes its origin to the ideas and prejudices of Jerome contained in his Latin Vulgate translation. Jerome’s arrangement of the books of the Bible, as shown in this paper, are contrary to the historical record and Biblical precepts that God gives us in His Word.

     Earnest Martin had it right: “All the teachings in the Bible become clearer and plainer when the Biblical books are placed back in their correct order. It is truly amazing what the books of the Bible have to tell us when we read the Holy Scriptures in the context that was first intended by God and those who officially canonized the Bible.” (14)

     It’s time to recognize this truth and reject a tradition of man. Any publishers who want to break with an erroneous tradition and publish the Bible in the God-ordained Inspired Order?  lol, not in an anti-semitic world like ours..

Endnotes

(1) Earnest Martin, Restoring the Original Bible (Ann Arbor, Michigan: ASK Publications, 1994), p. 20.
(2) E.W. Bullinger, The Companion Bible (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Bible Publishers, 1974), p. 139 (Appendix).
(3) Martin, Restoring the Original Bible, pp. 17-18.
(4) For additional proof and quotes from numerous Bible scholars, see Chapter 1 of Martin’s book.
(5) The Introductory remarks of the New King James Bible also point out this relatively unknown fact about the Hebrew titles of the books of the Torah (Law).
(6) Martin, Restoring the Original Bible, pp. 477-478.
(7) Ibid., pp. 130-131.
(8) Ibid., pp. 9-10.
(9) Ibid., p.8.
(10) I owe this analogy to Earnest Martin.
(11) Martin, Restoring the Original Order, pp. 346-347.
(12) Ibid., pp. 348-350.
(13) Bullinger, The Companion Bible, p. 139 (Appendix).
(14) Martin, Restoring the Original Bible, p.6.

Subbiblical Views of Inspiration

By Gleason Archer Jr.

     Those who incline to a Neo-Orthodox approach in dealing with the inspiration of Scripture have usually (like H. H. Rowley of Manchester) set up the so-called “mind of Christ” as a standard for judging between doctrinal truth and error in the Bible. For example, they say that when Joshua and the Israelites slew the entire population of Jericho, this was due to their primitive or savage ideas of justice, rather than to the express commandment of God, as recorded in Deut. 20:16–18. Statements or judgments attributed to God in the Old Testament but which seem to be too severe for Christ’s standard of meekness, patience, and love as contained in the New Testament, are to be rejected as mere human inventions concocted by Israel in their backward stage of religious development. The criterion of truth should be “the mind of Christ” as understood and approved by modern scholarship.

     Nevertheless, investigation will show that many of Christ’s statements recorded in the New Testament clash with this supposed “mind of Christ” in a most startling way. Note, for instance, Matt. 23:33: “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” Again, Matt. 25:41: “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” We have no accredited record of what Christ’s mind actually was other than the sayings recorded in the gospels. It is fatally inconsistent to set up a philosophic notion as to what the viewpoint of Christ actually was, on the basis of some of His recorded statements, and then to reject the authenticity of other statements recorded in the same source, simply because they conflict with modern preference.  Such a procedure really amounts to imposing human judgment upon the written Word of God,  and allowing only that portion of the Word to be true which the human mind endorses. But we have already seen that the human reason is an inadequate and discredited tool for attaining true religious knowledge. If the Bible is truly the Word of God, it must sit in judgment upon man; man is not competent to sit in judgment upon the Holy Bible. His reasoning powers are to be employed in the task of consistent interpretation of the message of the Bible, in order that he may be sure to understand what God means by the words of Scripture. But never may he pass judgment against the clear teachings of Scripture as established by exegesis; for if he does, he by implication rejects the authority of Scripture as a whole.

     More typically Neo-Orthodox is the view which regards the Bible as something less than the written Word of God; the Bible is merely a witness to the Word of God. According to this view, the Word of God is a dynamic principle which comes into operation only when there is a living or “existential” encounter between the believer and God. God speaks with power to him from the pages of Holy Writ and establishes a personal relationship, rather than merely instilling propositional truth into his mind. (Propositional here refers to the kind of truth which may be stated in propositions, such as, “God is an eternal Spirit.” Propositions may be grasped as mere objects of knowledge, like mathematical formulas; but divine truth, it is urged, can never be mastered by man’s mind. Divine truth reaches man in an “I-Thou” encounter; it is like an electric current with both a positive pole and a negative pole as conditions for existence.) Since the biblical text was written by human authors, and all men are sinful and subject to error, therefore,  it is claimed,  there must be error in the biblical text itself. But, it is argued, the living God is able to speak even from this partially erroneous text and bring believers into vital relationship with Him in a saving encounter. Such a view of the Bible leaves ample room for all manner of scientific and historical errors, and for all the adverse judgments of rationalistic higher criticism against the authenticity of the writings of Moses, Isaiah, Daniel, and all the rest. All these findings may be (and undoubtedly are) true as an accurate account of how the Bible humanly originated. Nevertheless, God has appointed this error-studded Scripture to be a uniquely authoritative witness to His revelation, and He is able to use it in a dynamic way to “save” men.

     Thus, in their zeal to sidestep the assaults of rationalistic higher criticism upon the trustworthiness of the biblical record, and to rescue the significance of the Christian message in the face of scientific objections to the supernatural, the theologians of the Neo-Orthodox movement have resorted to a paradoxical view of the nature of revelation itself. They hold the position that by its very nature, divine revelation cannot be inscripturated. As soon as it is imprisoned in words, especially words setting forth propositions about God and spiritual truth, then it becomes the object of men’s minds and cognitive powers. It thus falls under the control of man, and finds itself imprisoned within the covers of the written word. Revelation therefore is not to be equated with revealed doctrines or propositions about theology; rather, it consists of a direct encounter between God and man, as one subject confronting another subject. Revelation thus bears an analogy to a personal encounter between human beings; they experience each other as personalities, rather than as a set of statistics or items of information on an identification card.

     From this same viewpoint it may be urged that it is a matter of no consequence whether the accounts recorded in Scripture are accurate or not. The gospel record of the virgin birth, for example, or the bodily resurrection of Christ, may very well be unhistorical (since modern scientific theory leaves no room for such miraculous events), but this makes no particular difference. Through these pious legends of the early church, we may encounter God and the suprahistorical realities to which these stories point. To rely upon the infallible accuracy of the written record of the Bible is held to be an obstacle to true faith. The dogma of an infallible Scripture operates as an unhealthy crutch upon which to lean; true faith soars above the manifest errors of the Bible to the transcendental truth to which the Bible points—truth available to the believer only through a personal encounter with the living God.

     But this Neo-Orthodox view is confronted with a host of logical difficulties. It puts the authority of Scripture on the basis of sheer unverifiable faith. How can we be sure that God has not spoken to us from the record of the Koran (which is demonstrably full of errors and anachronisms), or from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, or from the Hindu Vedas? Why only from the Bible? Objective verification is not only discarded as impossible, but the desire for it is condemned as reprehensibly earthbound and rationalistic. One must simply believe! Whom or what? Why, the Scripture, of course. But regrettably enough, the Scripture itself seems to be totally unaware of this Neo-Orthodox approach to religious knowledge. It positively bristles with propositional truths about God, truths which may be reduced to creedal statements which the human mind may intellectually grasp. Perhaps this may be explained away as a manifestation of the fallibility and frailty of the sinful men who wrote the Bible. But how does one get beyond the text of the Bible to the more rarefied, ineffable, suprahistorical, personal-encounter truth which is supposed to lie beyond? Why, by a direct encounter with God, of course! Yes, but whose direct encounter? Barth’s? Brunner’s? Niebuhr’s? Tillich’s? These giants of the Neo-Orthodox movement have many stark disagreements among themselves on matters theological. Some, like Barth, disagree even with themselves quite noticeably from decade to decade. It is hard to see how the eternal and unchanging truth of God can be validly interpreted in Barth’s celebrated Commentary on Romans, when his views are modified so remarkably as they are from edition to edition of that work.

     As a matter of fact, then, this Neo-Orthodox view of Scripture raises far more serious difficulties than it seeks to solve. It is virtually impossible for Crisis theologians to make any affirmations at all about God or faith or any other aspect of religious truth which do not ultimately rest upon the propositional statements of the written Word of God. For example, to quote from William Temple’s dictum concerning Holy Scripture: “No single sentence can be quoted as having the authority of a distinct utterance of the all-holy God.” But how does Archbishop Temple know that there is a single God, rather than a host of gods, as pagan religions teach; or no God at all, as Marxism teaches? Only from the authority of the written Bible, or of a confessing church which demonstrably trusted in the infallible authority of that Bible. Again, how does he know that the one true God is “all-holy”? Only because the Scripture affirms Him to be so—a propositional affirmation! Remove the authority of the written record of divine revelation, and the statement of Temple or Brunner or any other religious teacher concerning religious truth is reduced to the status of a mere conjecture, completely devoid of authority, and resting upon the same questionable basis as any other human opinion.

     How may we know that faith is an important and saving principle, as Neo-Orthodox teachers insist? Only because it is so taught in the written Word of God. Otherwise it may well be, as most of the non-Christian world believes, that salvation is achieved only by good works. Even the possibility of an encounter between God and man is only guaranteed to us by the affirmations of Scripture, and its numerous records of such encounters. Otherwise the whole “experience” of divine-human encounter may be a mere matter of hallucination and autosuggestion, devoid of metaphysical reality.

     Thus it turns out that every religious affirmation of the adherents of this school is ultimately dependent upon the truthfulness of the written Word of God, the Hebrew-Christian Scriptures. If these are erroneous in any portion, then they may be erroneous in any other portion; no reliance can be placed in them at all, or indeed in any affirmation which Neo-Orthodox theologians have derived from them—and all their doctrinal statements about God, encounter, and faith have in fact been derived from them. In other words, if the authority of the Bible as written cannot be trusted, then no insight of crisis theology has any more value than a mere human opinion—unless perchance the theologian happens to enjoy in his own person the very attribute of infallibility which he denies to Scripture.

A Survey of Old Testament Introduction

Escape For Your Life (Spurgeon)

Charles Haddon Spurgeon February 17, 1895
Scripture: Genesis 19:17
At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

     THE Lord Himself said to Lot, "Escape for your life," although the command was sent by one of His chosen messengers. God has messengers, nowadays, and He still sends by them short, sharp, urgent, stimulating messages like this, "Escape for your life." This message was sent in love. God loved Lot and, therefore, He would save him from the impending doom of Sodom. I doubt not that this message of love was spoken by the messenger in very solemn tones. I do not know how angels speak, but I am certain that the very heart of the messenger was apparent in the message when he said to Lot, "Escape for your life." Whether he whispered it in Lot's ears, or uttered it in a loud voice, I cannot tell, but anyway, I am sure that it was delivered as it ought to be delivered and it had an immediate effect upon the man who heard it, for he was obedient to it.

     Now, it may be that God has designs of love towards you who are here, who, as yet, have never fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before you. Remember that the Gospel admonition comes to you fresh from God — it has been in this blessed Book for ages — but it has not grown stale! It still leaps from the mouth of God, filled with all its native energy, and though I who have to deliver it to you may not speak it as I would desire, for I am very feeble, I will at least speak it out of the very depths of my soul while I try to plead with every unconverted man or woman whom my message may reach — and this shall be the one burden of my pleading — "Escape for your life."

     I. Notice, first, that THERE WAS NO SAFETY FOR LOT WHERE HE WAS.

     He must escape from the doomed city. The angel did not propose to him that he should stop in Sodom and, beneath some sheltering arch, hide himself from the fire-shower. No, the message was, "Escape! Flee from Sodom! Escape for your life." So, to you who are unconverted, we can bring no proposals of hope if you stay where you are! We can hold out no hope to you either in this world or in that which is to come! Neither a lesser nor a "larger hope" do we believe in, apart from your laying hold on eternal life by faith in Jesus Christ! Stay where you are and you are doomed. Remain what you are and you must perish in the overthrow of that City of Destruction which God will certainly burn up before long!

     There was no safety for Lot where he was, so, let me say to you who are unbelieving and unconverted, there is no safety for you in unforgiven sin. It does not matter what form your sin has taken — whether you have been a profligate or a moralist — as long as the sin you have committed is unforgiven, there is no safety, for whether your sins are as scarlet, or, in your judgment, of a milder hue, does not affect the truth of what I say — you must be washed in the precious blood of Christ and pardoned through His great atoning Sacrifice received by faith, or else you will die in your sins and you will be driven to the place where hope can never enter! If you die with your sins upon you — where death leaves you — eternity will find you! Once lost, you will be lost forever. So, there is no safety in unforgiven sin.

     And, further, there is no safety in unforsaken sin. No, you must escape for your life from every sin. The drunk cannot be saved and keep to his cups. The adulterer cannot be saved and indulge his evil passions. The thief cannot be saved and remain dishonest. The only salvation for you is salvation from your sins — and that is the salvation that we preach! How many would like to be saved from the punishment due to sin, and yet to be allowed to go on in the sin! But there is nothing of that kind of teaching in the Scripture! God did not send His Son to be the Excuser or the Minister of sin, but to be the Savior from sin! There is no hope for you if you stay in this Sodom — you must get out of it — you must clear right away from it.

     Perhaps you say, "I will change my place of residence. I will go from the slums of the evil city into the cleaner and more respectable part of it." I tell you that you have to come right out of it! You must altogether quit the region of sin. You must flee from the realms of iniquity or else you shall be consumed in the destruction of the city. Up and away from all sin! Up and away! Our cry is not, "Hide in a corner," or, "Shift into a better place," but, "Escape for your life!"

     Again, there is no safety in unbelief. You may say, "I do not believe this," but, as the Lord lives, before whom I stand, it is true! In my own heart, soul and conscience, I know that there is a Judge of all the earth, and that He must do right, and that the day shall come when He will execute vengeance upon those who live and die in sin, for He cannot wink at iniquity. It is not in the Nature of a holy God to suffer sin to go unpunished! You may shut your eyes to this Truth of God, but it is there. You may disbelieve it, but it is there. You may ridicule it, but it is there, and you shall, before long, know it to be so! You must come out of this state of unbelief if you are to be saved! There is no salvation in unbelief. "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved; he that believes not shall be damned." There is to be no flinching in this matter — I am not sent here to please you who do not believe, or to talk with bated breath, as though I sympathized with your unbelief. I denounce it as high treason against the majesty of God and, therefore, I cry unto you, "Repent and believe the Gospel," for if you will not, you must perish in your unbelief! "If you believe not," says Christ, "that I am He, you shall die in your sins." There is no safety in unbelief and, therefore, we say, as the angel said to Lot, "Escape for your life."

     And once more, let me remind you that there is no safety in self-righteousness. If anybody here says, "Thank God, I am no doubter, I am no profligate, I am no open sinner," I am glad if you can truthfully say that, but still remember,  if you trust in your own righteousness, you cannot be saved!  You must come out of that condemned city or else you are a lost man. I spoke with one, this morning, who is, I believe, earnestly seeking salvation, and he said to me, "I have denied myself this, and I have cast away that." I was pleased to hear it, but I said to him, "You have denied these things to yourself, but have you denied yourself? That is to say, have you left off trusting in yourself!" The hardest self-denial is to deny yourself and get right away from all confidence in your own doings, feelings and everything that comes of yourself, for you might as well hope to be saved by your sins as by your good works! The road to Hell by human merit is as certain as the road there by human sin! If you seek to insult the Atonement of Christ by setting up your merit as though it were as good as that Atonement, or by trying to prove that you do not need that Atonement, you are just barring Heaven's gate against yourself! You must come out of that self-righteousness if you would be saved! My only cry to you is, "Escape, escape, escape for your life, for there is no safety for you where you are!"

     II. But now, in the next place, according to this message of the angel, IF LOT IS TO BE SAVED, HE MUST RUN FOR IT AT ALL COSTS — "Escape for your life."

     First, he must leave his former comrades. Have you any jolly companions who are not Christians? "They are bright, lively fellows," you say. But they are doing you infinite mischief — they are leading you away from God and His Christ! Break loose from them — "Escape for your life." Though they seek to hold you back, tear yourself away from them and even leave your garment in their hands, as Joseph left his in the hands of Potiphar's wife! "Escape for your life." Quit all evil company.

     Next, Lot had to leave his former comforts. For the sake of comfort, he had gone to Sodom and, doubtless, he had his house well furnished there. But he must quit it all. Probably it was that excellent house that made Lot's wife look back— she could hardly relinquish all those nice things of theirs even for life, itself! Beware, when you are seeking Christ, that you do not let your money or your business stand in your way! It will be better for you to enter Heaven a beggar than being a rich man, to be cast into Hell! It were better for you to be as houseless as the most unpitied waif about whom the wintry winds are howling — it were better for you to die in a ditch and to be saved — than that you should live in a palace and yet, after all, be cast into Hell fire! I charge you, be ready to give up all things, if necessary, sooner than lose your soul. "Escape, escape, escape for your life!"

     Yet again, Lot must not stop to argue — and nor must you. You do not see the danger. You need more evidence. You have objections — to all of which my one solitary answer is — "Escape, escape, escape for your life!" You have not time for me to discuss your difficulties, now. When you are saved, it will be soon enough for us to argue out the moot points, but now, while the fire cloud hovers above your head, escape for your life! Yonder drowning man will not clutch the rope until I have explained to him the doctrine of specific gravity. O Fool, what have you to do with specific gravity when you are drowning? Lay hold of the rope and live! So, there are some who must have election or predestination explained to them, or the doctrine of the human will — they must have this, that, and the other opened up to them and made clear as daylight. I beseech you, do not be such madmen! Do not trifle with your souls, but escape for your life! That is the one business of the present hour — see to that, first, and let other matters wait awhile till you are in a fit condition to consider them.

     If Lot is to be rescued, he must, as men say, put his best foot forward. It is quite early in the morning, but before the sun has risen much higher, all Sodom and Gomorrah will be destroyed. You have already waited far too long, my unsaved Friend! Gray hairs are on you head here and there — why will you delay any longer? Did you not catch the solemn tones of our hymn—

"Hasten, sinner, to be wise,
Stay not for the morrow's sun"?

     We sang that line over and over again in the different verses—

"Stay not for the morrow's sun."

     Oh, that God would, in great mercy, press that appeal home upon you! "Escape for your life."

     Lot must not sit down and take things easy — nor must you. Lot must not begin to crawl at a snail's pace and amuse himself by looking down every side street of Sodom as he leaves it — he must run from the doomed city and you, also, by God's Grace, must bestir yourself! You must quit your sin by repentance and lay hold of Christ by faith. God help you to do so! Oh, that my lips could speak the longing language of my heart, and cease to utter the feeble syllables that do not express half what I feel! How can words fully express the burning desires of a soul yearning over sinners? But if you become willing to be led, even by my feeble speech, to listen to God's almighty voice as He says to you, through me, His messenger — "Escape for your life."

     I cannot help, just by way of parenthesis, pointing out to you the contrast between the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the repentance of the Ninevites. At the command of God, Jonah went though Nineveh and this was all he had to say, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." Again, and again, and again, in bitter tones, the Prophet cried, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown" — and the whole body of the Ninevites sought for mercy and found it — with nothing to help them to pray but this, "Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from His fierce anger, that we perish not?" Now, if you have nothing better to comfort you than this, "Who can tell?"—

"'Perhaps He will admit my plea,
Perhaps will hear my prayer,'"

why, you have good ground to go upon in approaching your God! But, Friends, you are not under such a dispensation as were the Ninevites — I have not to cry to you, "Yet forty days, and you shall be destroyed." I have to tell you that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners and that whoever believes in Him has everlasting life! I have to entreat and beseech you to lay hold on eternal life by believing in the Lord Jesus. Oh, how you ought to welcome such a message as that!

     If there is anybody whom I am addressing who is actually marked for death and who knows that he carries about in his body that which must, in a very short time, bring him to the grave. One who is well aware that he cannot recover from the incurable disease that has seized him — yet, even that should not hinder him from seeking God's face — rather it should move him at once to turn to Jesus! I can see a man before me now — my mind's eye can see him and I know that he must die, I am sure of it. Poor wretch, he has been a thief! His hands and both his feet are nailed up, they are bleeding from the cruel nails and, within a short time, he must die in agony. Yet I hear him cry out, as he turns his eyes on the crucified Jesus Christ, "Lord, remember me!" He is nearly dead and almost in Hell, but he cries, "Lord, remember me," and he is saved — and today is with Christ in Paradise!

     Now, you who have a cancer, you who are sick and ill, you who are poor and broken down and feel as if you must soon die, you who are as great a sinner as the dying thief was, say to Jesus, "Lord, remember me," and He will remember you! There is no reason under the earth, nor on the earth, nor in Heaven, itself — there is no supposable reason why you should not pray! And if you pray and seek the Lord's face, you shall not come to Him in vain, for He has said, "Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise cast out." God help you to come, now, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake!

     III. Now, to conclude, let me remind you that LOT HAD EVERYTHING AT STAKE and, therefore, the angel said to him, "Escape for your life."

     Suppose he had stayed in Sodom — then he would have lost all. He would not have saved his furniture, or his gold, or his silver — he would have lost all that he had. Suppose you stop your sin — will you really save anything by it? "I shall save myself from thought," says one. Oh, but do you think you are an ox, or a donkey, that thought should be trouble to you? Why, it surely will be your wisdom to addict yourself to the most sedulous care about your eternal interests! Suppose there should be a cry of, "Fire!" raised in this house, tonight, as there was but a little while ago in Spitalfields— how many there are who would rush to the doors in a mad panic to escape for their lives! Yet, surely, the soul's life, the eternal life, is more precious than the life of the body! Will you not make that the first point to be considered and settled for, if you could by sin gain the whole world — yet what would it profit you when you would lose your own soul?

     Again, if Lot had not fled out of Sodom, he would, himself, have perished. Not merely would his garments have been burnt, but he would have perished. Not only would his gold and his silver have melted in the fire, but he would have perished. That was a true saying, though Satan uttered it, "Skin for skin, yes, all that a man has will he give for his life." And all that a man has he ought to give for his soul, for the immortal part of his being, for his higher and better nature! Why, if your soul is cast into Hell, it would have been better for you that you had never been born! If you neglect the Great Salvation and you die and perish in your iniquity, you have lost everything! You are not merely like a bankrupt who has lost his gold, but you have lost yourself! I beseech you, therefore, listen to me as I cry to you, in my Master's name, "'Escape for your life,' your immortal life, which is now in imminent danger!"  Your existence will continue whether you are lost or saved,  but your life! Have you yet received eternal life at the hands of God? Your life! Will you be content to lose it and to perish in your sin?

     The worst point about this story is that if Lot had not escaped, he would have perished with the men of Sodom. He could not endure them — he was vexed with their filthy conversation! How horrible, then, would it have been for him to perish with them! I cannot bear to think that some of you upright, moral people may yet be lost! You were never drunks, and yet you will perish with the drunk unless you repent and trust in Jesus! You were never swearers, but you will be as surely damned as the blasphemers will be unless you come to Christ! You cannot bear impurity or filthy language — there is much about you that is most amiable and excellent — but even to you, the Savior says,  "You must be born again." And if you are not born again, if you have no faith in Christ, if you are not converted so as to become as little children, you will as surely perish as will the worst of men!

     You sometimes read in the newspaper a horrible story of vice and crime and you wish that it had never been printed, and I wish the same. But what must it be for you to be shut up forever with such as those who commit these unmentionable abominations? Yet there are but two places for man's eternal abode — Heaven and Hell — and if you are not saved so as to go to Heaven, where can you go but into the same pit with all the multitude of transgressors who shall perish in their sins? I wish that you who are outwardly moral and upright would think of this Truth of God. It seems to me as if I ought not to further press it upon you, for you are reasonable beings, you are not shut up in Bedlam. I pray you, therefore, run no longer such fearful risks as you have run up to now, but escape for your lives.

     If Lot had been destroyed in the overthrow of Sodom, there would have been one thing about him which there would not have been about the race of the Sodomites, he would have perished after having been warned. When the fire-flakes began to fall and Lot felt the terrible burning, he would have had this barbed dart driven into his heart — "I was told to escape. I was taken outside the city gate. I was led to a place of vantage and charged to escape for my life. Nobody else had that opportunity — nobody else in these cities was called, thus, to escape! I had a special appeal made to me by the messenger of God, and I refused it and, therefore, I shall die a self-murderer, having chosen my own delusions." O Sirs, O Sirs, if you go from this Tabernacle to Hell, it shall be hard work for you! If you perish, I will be clear of your blood. As long as this voice can speak, I will plead with you that you do not destroy yourselves!

     Look at the myriads of Africa, and the millions in China and India who have never heard the Gospel! I leave their future in the hands of God, all merciful, but they cannot enter Heaven! Neither can you! But there will be this about your doom, that you had the means of Grace — you had the invitations of mercy, you had the expostulations of God's Word! And you chose — you resolutely chose — to put eternal life far from you! O God, You who have made these men and women, if they have lost their reason, give it back to them and may Your sweet Spirit teach them, now, to judge righteously! And may they at once count it to be inevitable that every wise man should escape for his life and flee from the wrath to come!

     I shall not detain you much longer, for surely I have said enough. Only this much must be added before I close. There was a special favor in the case of Lot, for Abraham had prayed for him. I should not wonder if some here present are receiving a warning from me just now because someone else has been praying for them. Abraham had prayed for Sodom and, of course, especially for Lot and, therefore, God's messenger must go to bring Lot out of the doomed city. At this moment, while I am speaking, your mother is praying for you. While I am preaching, your wife is praying for you. Some of you have been made the subjects of special and particular prayer — you know that it is so! She who is now in Heaven never ceased to pray for you as long as she was here — and her many prayers — shall they not be now answered? They are undying prayers, though she who breathed them has long been dead — they still live in the Presence of God! Has He not sent His messenger, on that account, to bring you out of the City of Destruction? Here! Here! Let me grasp your hand and let us, together, flee from the wrath to come and run to yonder Cross where there is safety, for none ever looked to the Christ that bled thereon and looked in vain! I feel impressed that there are some persons to whom this message is a peculiar answer to very special prayers that have gone up to God on their behalf.

     This message will, I trust, come to them as a special warning, as the Lord's messengers reached Lot in a mysterious way. How came those angels in Sodom to tell Lot to escape for his life?  How very oddly people are brought where the message of salvation is proclaimed!  You did not intend to be in the Tabernacle, tonight, did you? You had an engagement to be somewhere else, but here you are, and you have never been here before! Yesterday you would not even have dreamt of being here tonight — but here you are! To what end are you here? God has, in a mysterious way, brought you here to look in the face of this man who cares for your soul and who says to you in the name of God, "I beseech you, escape for your life!"

     Then, again, this message came to Lot at a special time — on the morning in which the city was to be destroyed. An hour later, it would have been too late. I sometimes feel an awful solemnity creeping over me as I stand in this place, because I know many things which I cannot tell you about the strange way in which God speaks here. You remember that just before I went away for my rest, I told you the story of the godless young man who left his father's house? He was going to Australia, followed by his parents' prayers. It was Sunday night — he was about to sail on Wednesday and he thought that he would spend the Sunday evening here in this house, as he knew that it would please his mother. Better, still, it pleased God that night to touch his heart and, we trust, to save his soul!

     I put into the "Personal Notes" in The Sword and the Trowel for December, the letter that he wrote home to his parents telling them how God had met with their prodigal boy. That letter reached them only a few hours before a telegram arrived, saying that the vessel had been run into at Graves End and the young man and five others had been drowned! Oh, what a mercy that, just a few hours before he had to meet his God, his God met with him! I may be speaking to some others who are in just the same position, just on the borders of eternity — I cannot tell. You know that it is but two or three Sunday nights ago since one of our Brothers sat over yonder, in the last pew in the middle. He came into the Tabernacle, covered his face for prayer, and immediately died. We had to delay the service, you remember, while he was quietly carried away.

     He was a child of God, but suppose it had been some of you? Suppose it were some of you tonight? What would become of you? God save you even now! Do not run any more risks. There is but a step between you and death, a step between you and Hell if you are unbelievers! Therefore, escape for your lives, and escape tonight —

     "Stay not for the morrow's sun." God help you to have done with delaying and to feel that you must and will run away to the Lord Jesus Christ at once! Put your soul into His hands and if you do, He gives you this guarantee,  "None shall pluck you from My hands." Your soul will be safe enough in His keeping! If I take my money to the bank, it is credited to my account. What do I do, then? Do I loaf about and, at last say to the clerk, "Is that money safe?" He would think that my mind was a little wandering!

     Sometime ago there was a bank in France to which there came a man who had put in some thousand francs or so, and he said to the banker, "Have you got my thousand francs?" "Yes, certainly. Do you want the money?" "I should like to see it," he said. "Well, here is a thousand francs," and he laid them down before him on the counter. "Thank you," he said, "I do not know that I want to take the cash, now — it is there, alright, so I am satisfied." The next morning, he came in again and he wanted, once more, to see his money. I believe that the banker cut the connection and told him that he did not need such a customer as that to bank with him. If he could not trust the banker with his money, he had better take it home with him.

     Now, if you cannot trust Christ with your souls, go and save yourselves! But if you can trust Christ, put away all those foolish doubts, fears and anxieties, and say—

Firm as His throne His promise stands,
And He can wel secure
What I've committed to His hands
Till the decisive hour!
Then will He own my worthless name
Before His Father's face,
And in the New Jerusalem
Appoint my soul a place."

     Finally, the reason why the angel's message had such power with Lot was that God, Himself, was in it. That gave it a special pressure and I have been praying that God, Himself, may be in my message, now — that He may speak, gently speak, and powerfully speak to many of you! You will scarcely know why it is, but you will say, "I never felt like this before. I will arise and go unto my Father. I will repent of my sin. I will look to Jesus, the Crucified Savior, God helping me! But why am I saying this? Why do I feel thus softened, I who used to be hard as steel? Why am I moved to this surrender of myself to my Savior?"

     It will be the sweet Spirit of the blessed God gently working upon your heart and graciously inclining you to yield yourself to the Lord! I pray that it may be so, even now, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.

The Continual Burnt Offering

By H.A. Ironside - 1941

January 6

Son of God, Thy Father’s bosom
Ever was Thy dwelling-place,
His delight, in Him rejoicing,
One with Him in power and grace.

Oh, what wondrous love and mercy!
Thou didst lay Thy glory by.
And for us didst come from heaven,
As the Lamb of God to die.

Genesis 18:17-33, 19:12-28 (Spurgeon)

Charles Haddon Spurgeon February 17, 1895
Exposition Scripture: Genesis 18:17-33; 19:12-28.

      Genesis 18:17-19 And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which He has spoken of him. Abraham is called, "the friend of God." It was not merely that God was his Friend — that was blessedly true and it was a great wonder of Grace — but he was honored to be called, "the friend of God" — one with whom God could hold sweet converse, a man after His own heart, in whom He trusted, to whom He revealed His secrets. I am afraid there are not many men of Abraham's sort in the world just now, but, wherever there is such a man with whom God is familiar, he will be sure to be one who orders his household aright! If the Lord is my Friend, and if I am, indeed, His friend, I shall wish Him to be respected by my children, and I shall endeavor to dedicate my children to His service. I fear that the decline of family godliness, which is so sadly prevalent in these days, is the source of a great many of the crying sins of the age! The Church of God at large would have been more separate from the world if the little church in each man's house had been more carefully trained for God. If you want the Lord to confide in you and to trust you with His secrets, you must see that He is able to say of you what He said of Abraham — "he will command his children and his household after him."

      Genesis 18:20-22. And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down, now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto Me; and if not, I will know. And the men turned their faces from there, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. He was in no hurry to close that blessed interview—when he had once come into the Lord's immediate Presence, he lingered there. Those who are friends of God like to be much in their Lord's company!

      Genesis 18:23. And Abraham drew near. There is nothing like coming very close to God in prayer. "Abraham drew near." He was about to use his influence with his great Friend — not for himself, but for these men of Sodom who were going to be destroyed. Happy are those who, when they are near to God, use the opportunity in pleading for others, yes, even for the most wicked and abandoned of men.

      Genesis 18:23-25. And said, Will You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Perhaps there are fifty righteous within the city: will You also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from You to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from You. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? Abraham bases his argument upon the Justice of God! And when a man dares to do that, it is mighty pleading, for, depend upon it, God will never do an unjust thing! If you dare to plead His Righteousness, His Infallible Justice, you plead most powerfully!

      Genesis 18:26-30. And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: perhaps there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: will You destroy all the city for lack of five? And He said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it. And he spoke unto Him yet again, and said, Perhaps there shall be forty found there. And He said, I will not do it for forty's sake. And he said unto Him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Perhaps there shall thirty be found there. And He said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there. This time the Patriarch has advanced by ten — before, it was by fives. Pleading men grow bolder and braver in their requests! A man who is very familiar with God will, by-and-by, venture to say that, which, at the first, he would not have dared utter!

      Genesis 18:31, 32. And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Perhaps there shall be twenty found there. And He said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake. And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Perhaps ten shall be found there. And He said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake. He went no farther than to plead that Sodom might be spared if 10 righteous persons could be found in it. I have heard some say that it was a pity Abraham did not go on pleading with God, but I would not dare to say so. He knew better when to begin and when to leave off than you and I do! There are certain restraints in prayer which a man of God cannot explain to others, but which he, nevertheless, feels. God moves His servants to pray in a certain case and they pray with great liberty and manifest power. Another case may seem to be precisely like it, yet the mouth of the former suppliant is shut, and in his heart he does not feel that he can pray as he did before. Do I blame the men of God? Assuredly not! The Lord deals wisely with His servants and He tells them, by gentle hints, which they quickly understand, when and where to stop in their supplications.

      Genesis 18:33. And the LORD went His way, as soon as He had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place. We know that the angels went down to Sodom, where they were received by Lot and despitefully used by the Sodomites. We will continue our reading at the 12th verse of the next chapter.

      Genesis 19:12. And the men said unto Lot, Have you here any besides? Son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and whatever you have in the city, bring them out of this place. Let me bid every Christian to look about him, among all his kith and kin, to see which of them yet remain unconverted! Let your prayers go up for them all — "Son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters."

      Genesis 19:13, 14. For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD has sent us to destroy it. And Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law. "The old man is in his dotage," they said, "he always was peculiar. He never acted like the rest of the citizens. He came in here as a stranger and he has always been strange in his behavior."

      Genesis 19:15, 16. And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take your wife, and your two daughters, which are here; lest you be consumed in the iniquity of the city. And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him; and they brought him forth and set him outside the city. I have always felt pleased to think that there were just hands enough to lead out these four people,  ( 8 in the ark, now just 4) Lot, his wife and their two daughters. Had there been one more, there would have been no hand to lay hold of the fifth person — but these two angels, with their four hands, could just lead these four persons outside the doomed city. God will always have agents enough to save His elect — there shall be sufficient Gospel preaching, even in the darkest and deadest times — to bring His redeemed out of the City of Destruction! God will miss none of His own.

      Genesis 19:17. And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for your life; look not behind you, neither stay you in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed. Perhaps the old man's legs trembled under him. He felt that he could not run so far and, besides, the mountain seemed so bleak and dreary he could not quite quit the abodes of men.

      Genesis 19:18-21. And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my lords. Behold now, Your servant has found grace in your sight, and you have magnified your mercy, which you have shown unto me in saying my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die: behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape there, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live. And he said unto him, See, I have accepted you concerning this thing, also, that I will not overthrow this city, for you have spoken. I think that I have said to you before that this sparing of Zoar is an instance of the cumulative power of prayer. I may liken Abraham's mighty pleading to a ton weight of prayer — supplication that had a wonderful force and power! Lot's petition is only like an ounce of prayer. Poor little Lot, what a poor little prayer his was! Yet that ounce turned the scale. So, it may be that there is some mighty man of God who is near to prevailing with God, but he cannot quite obtain his request — but you, poor feeble pleader that you are — shall add your feather's weight to his great intercession and then the scale will turn! This narrative always comforts me! I think that Zoar was preserved, not so much by the prayer of Lot, as by the greater prayer of Abraham which had gone before, yet the mighty intercession of the friend of God did not prevail until it was supported by the feeble petition of poor Lot.

      Genesis 19:22. Hasten you, escape there. The hand of Justice was held back until God's servant was safe. There can be no destruction of the world, there can be no pouring out of the last plagues, there can be no total sweeping away of the ungodly until, first of all, the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads and taken to a place of security! The Lord will preserve His own. He lets the scaffold stand until the building is finished — then it will come down fast enough.

      Genesis 19:22-28. For I cannot do anything till you are come there. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of Heaven; and He overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. And Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD: and he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. What must Abraham's meditations have been! What should be the meditations of every godly man as he looks towards Sodom and sees the smoke of its destruction? It might do some men great good if they would not persistently shut their eyes to the doom of the wicked. Look, look, I pray you, upon that place of darkness and woe where every impenitent and unbelieving spirit must be banished forever from the Presence of the Lord! Look till the tears are in your eyes as you thank God that you are rescued from so terrible a doom! Look till your heart melts with pity for the many who are going the downward road and who will eternally ruin themselves unless almighty Grace prevents!

By John F. Walvoord

Background of the Covenant

      Genesis 11:10–31. The historical background of Abraham is given in  Genesis 11. He and his family were descendants of the line of Shem. According to verses  31–32, Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot and their wives and started out for the land of Canaan. However, when they came to Haran they settled down until Terah died. The fuller explanation is given in the Scripture that follows, giving the precise provisions of the covenant that was revealed to Abraham.

Provisions of the Covenant

      Genesis 12:1–3. God revealed to Abram the basic provisions of His covenant with him while Abram was still in Ur of the Chaldeans: “The LORD had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you’” (vv.  1–3 ).

     The covenant with Abram was a major step in divine revelation, indicating that God had selected Abram and his posterity to fulfill His purpose to reveal Himself to the world and bring salvation to mankind. Though only eleven chapters were used to trace the whole history of the world prior to Abram, including creation and all the major events that followed, the rest of the book of  Genesis was devoted to Abram and his immediate descendants, indicating the importance of this covenant.

     The covenant required Abram to leave his country and his people and go to the land that God would show him. The expression you will be a blessing (v.  2 ), could be translated “be a blessing.” Abram was essential to God’s program of bringing blessing and revelation to the world and ultimately salvation through Jesus Christ. In keeping with Abram’s obedience, God made the promises: (1) “I will make you into a great nation”; (2) “I will bless you”; (3) “I will make your name great” (vv.  2–3 ).

     The promise of a great nation was fulfilled in the nation Israel, which has had a large place in the history of the world. Their number would be like the stars of the heavens, innumerable ( 15:5 ) and like the sand of the sea ( 32:12 ). As Abram had no children at that time, the promise seemed too extensive to be true.

     The promise of personal blessing on Abram ( 12:2 ) is evident in God’s special dealing with him in calling him, choosing him for his important role, and caring for him throughout his life. It followed that Abram would be famous (v.  2 ), as his name is prominent in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament and highly regarded in Judaism, Christianity, and the Muslim faith. These promises have been literally fulfilled ( Heb. 11:8–19 ).

     Through Abram and the nation that would descend from him came the blessing promised to “all peoples on earth” ( Gen. 12:3 ). God’s promises included blessing on those who blessed Abram and his descendants, curses on those who would curse Abram and his descendants, and the promise of blessing to all peoples of the earth. While most of these promises had a direct effect on Israel, the promised blessing on all peoples would include the Gentiles mentioned in  Galatians 3:6–9. These basic provisions of God’s covenant with Abram were subsequently enlarged in the book of  Genesis and throughout Scripture. Later prophecies emphasized the fact that Israel would continue as a nation throughout human history.

The Prophecy of Possession of the Land

      Genesis 12:7. Though not included in the basic provisions of the covenant with Abram, the central feature of the promise of the land is immediately picked up in the narrative of the book of  Genesis. This promise was part of the original revelation that God gave to Abram when he was still in Ur (v.  1 ). Now it became an important proof of God’s continuing purpose for Abram and his people.

     According to verse  7, “The LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’” From this point on throughout the Old Testament, the land became one of the central features of God’s prophetic program for Israel. As simple and direct as this prophecy is, interpreters of prophecy have made this a decisive point of departure, some interpreting the land as not a literal reference to the Holy Land but rather a promise of heaven. Those who interpret this prophecy in a nonliteral sense point to  Hebrews 11:9–10: “By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”

     All serious interpreters of Scripture agree that Abram had an eternal hope of dwelling forever in the New Jerusalem ( Rev. 21–22 ). This eternal hope, however, does not satisfy the Old Testament description of a literal land in human history. The point is that Abram had a future temporal hope — the land — as well as an eternal hope — the New Jerusalem. It is not too much to say that the interpretation of  Genesis 12:7 determines in a large measure the prophetic interpretation of the rest of the Bible.

     As in all interpretive problems, the important rule of hermeneutics is that usage should determine the meaning of a term. Accordingly, the many references to the Promised Land throughout the Old Testament should provide guidance as to its interpretation here. The concept of the land being heaven, though a popular concept, does  not satisfy the scriptural prophecy.

     The land was the place of blessing, as Abram soon discovered when he went down to Egypt to avoid the famine and left the land. Though this move increased his wealth, it also created a problem for him in that Hagar, the handmaid who would be the mother of Ishmael, was taken from Egypt to the Promised Land on this visit.

      Genesis 13:1–18. In the original command to Abram in Ur of the Chaldeans, he was told to leave his kindred. Instead, his father and his nephew Lot traveled with him. His arrival in the Promised Land was delayed until the death of his father. In  Genesis 13, the herds of Lot and Abram became so large they could not occupy the same area. Because of this Abram offered Lot the choice of the land. Archeology supports the concept that at the time Abram and Lot were in the land, the Jordan Valley was “well watered, like the garden of the LORD” (v.  10 ). Lot chose the valley of the Jordan. Unfortunately, it was also the place where Sodom and Gomorrah were located, which ultimately led to his downfall.

     After Lot had separated himself from Abram, a further prophetic revelation is given to Abram, “The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, ‘Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you’” (vv.  14–17 ). From this passage, it is clear that Abram understood the promise of  Genesis 12:7 as referring to the literal land that God had promised him. This was confirmed by God’s instruction for him to look in all directions because what he saw was what his offspring would inherit.

      Genesis 15:1–6. The promise of the land was complicated by the fact that Abram had no children. How could the promise be fulfilled if he had no heirs? In this situation Abram suggested to God that he consider Eliezer of Damascus as his child and his children would therefore be Abram’s children and could inherit the promise. The reply of the Lord was direct, “Then the word of the LORD came to him: ‘This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir’” (v.  4 ). The prophesied son of Abram was just as literal as the promise of the land.

     In verse  6 the simple statement was made: “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” Abram’s faith was in the character of God and the revelation of God and illustrates the true nature of faith, which in all dispensations is the basis for righteousness with God.

      Genesis 15:9–21. In verses  9–17, prediction of the land was further supported by a solemn ceremony in which blood was shed, certifying that this covenant with Abram would have literal fulfillment.

     Further, the boundaries of the land were indicated in verses  18–21, “On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates — the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.’” It is difficult to understand how capable expositors of the Word of God can make this description of the land symbolic of heaven.

      Genesis 16:7–16. The problem of who would inherit the land was complicated when Abram had a son, Ishmael, by Hagar, the handmaiden he had brought from Egypt. Hagar, attempting to flee Sarai, was instructed to return. Her child was to be named Ishmael. She was told her son would live in hostility in relation to his brothers (v.  12 ). After Ishmael was born, Scriptures are silent about the next thirteen years.

      Genesis 17:1–8. When Abram was ninety-nine years old and Sarai was ninety, having a child in old age was humanly impossible. In this situation God spoke to Abram, changing his name to Abraham, meaning “father of many,” and emphasizing the certain fulfillment of the promises, “I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God” (vv.  6–8 ).

      Genesis 17:9–21. The rite of circumcision was instituted as representing a sign of the covenant of Abram. At the same time God changed the name of Sarai, Abram’s wife, to Sarah, meaning “princess.” Though Abraham found it difficult to believe that a son could be born to Sarah and him in their old age, God reiterated the promise. He also heeded Abraham’s request that Ishmael be blessed (v.  20 ). But God made it clear: “But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year” (v.  21 ).

The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Translated by Henry Beveridge

     12. In support of this view, some make an ignorant and false application of the Apostle's words: "I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me," (1 Cor. 15:10). The meaning they give them is, that as Paul might have seemed to speak somewhat presumptuously in preferring himself to all the other apostles, he corrects the expression so far by referring the praise to the grace of God, but he, at the same time, calls himself a co-operator with grace. It is strange that this should have proved a stumbling-block to so many writers, otherwise respectable. The Apostle says not that the grace of God laboured with him so as to make him a co-partner in the labour. He rather transfers the whole merit of the labour to grace alone, by thus modifying his first expression, "It was not I," says he, "that laboured, but the grace of God that was present with me." Those who have adopted the erroneous interpretation have been misled by an ambiguity in the expression, or rather by a preposterous translation, in which the force of the Greek article is overlooked. For to take the words literally, the Apostle does not say that grace was a fellow-worker with him, but that the grace which was with him was sole worker. And this is taught not obscurely, though briefly, by Augustine when he says, "Good will in man precedes many gifts from God, but not all gifts, seeing that the will which precedes is itself among the number." He adds the reason, "for it is written, the God of my mercy shall prevent me,' (Ps. 59:10), and Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me,' (Ps. 23:6); it prevents him that is unwilling, and makes him willing; it follows him that is willing, that he may not will in vain." To this Bernard assents, introducing the Church as praying thus, "Draw me, who am in some measure unwilling, and make me willing; draw me, who am sluggishly lagging, and make me run," (Serm. 2 in Cantic).

13. Let us now hear Augustine in his own words, lest the Pelagians of our age, I mean the sophists of the Sorbonne, charge us after their wont with being opposed to all antiquity. In this indeed they imitate their father Pelagius, by whom of old a similar charge was brought against Augustine. In the second chapter of his Treatise De Correptione et Gratis, addressed to Valentinus, Augustine explains at length what I will state briefly, but in his own words, that to Adam was given the grace of persevering in goodness if he had the will; to us it is given to will, and by will overcome concupiscence: that Adam, therefore, had the power if he had the will, but did not will to have the power, whereas to us is given both the will and the power; that the original freedom of man was to be able not to sin, but that we have a much greater freedom--viz. not to be able to sin. And lest it should be supposed, as Lombard erroneously does (lib. 2 Dist. 25), that he is speaking of the perfection of the future state, he shortly after removes all doubt when he says, "For so much is the will of the saints inflamed by the Holy Spirit, that they are able, because they are willing; and willing, because God worketh in them so to will." For if, in such weakness (in which, however, to suppress pride, "strength" must be made "perfect,") their own will is left to them, in such sense that, by the help of God, they are able, if they will, while at the same time God does not work in them so as to make them will; among so many temptations and infirmities the will itself would give way, and, consequently, they would not be able to persevere. Therefore, to meet the infirmity of the human will, and prevent it from failing, how weak soever it might be, divine grace was made to act on it inseparably and uninterruptedly. Augustine (ibid. cap. 14). next entering fully into the question, how our hearts follow the movement when God affects them, necessarily says, indeed, that the Lord draws men by their own wills; wills, however, which he himself has produced. We have now an attestation by Augustine to the truth which we are specially desirous to maintain--viz. that the grace offered by the Lord is not merely one which every individual has full liberty of choosing to receive or reject, but a grace which produces in the heart both choice and will: so that all the good works which follow after are its fruit and effect; the only will which yields obedience being the will which grace itself has made. In another place, Augustine uses these words, "Every good work in us is performed only by grace," (August. Ep. 105).

14. In saying elsewhere that the will is not taken away by grace, but out of bad is changed into good, and after it is good is assisted,--he only means, that man is not drawn as if by an extraneous impulse [170] without the movement of the heart, but is inwardly affected so as to obey from the heart. Declaring that grace is given specially and gratuitously to the elect, he writes in this way to Boniface: "We know that Divine grace is not given to all men, and that to those to whom it is given, it is not given either according to the merit of works, or according to the merit of the will, but by free grace: in regard to those to whom it is not given, we know that the not giving of it is a just judgment from God," (August. ad Bonifac. Ep. 106). In the same epistle, he argues strongly against the opinion of those who hold that subsequent grace is given to human merit as a reward for not rejecting the first grace. For he presses Pelagius to confess that gratuitous grace is necessary to us for every action, and that merely from the fact of its being truly grace, it cannot be the recompense of works. But the matter cannot be more briefly summed up than in the eighth chapter of his Treatise De Correptione et Gratia, where he shows, First, that human will does not by liberty obtain grace, but by grace obtains liberty. Secondly, that by means of the same grace, the heart being impressed with a feeling of delight, is trained to persevere, and strengthened with invincible fortitude. Thirdly, that while grace governs the will, it never falls; but when grace abandons it, it falls forthwith. Fourthly, that by the free mercy of God, the will is turned to good, and when turned, perseveres. Fifthly, that the direction of the will to good, and its constancy after being so directed, depend entirely on the will of God, and not on any human merit. Thus the will (free will, if you choose to call it so), which is left to man, is, as he in another place (Ep. 46) describes it, a will which can neither be turned to God, nor continue in God, unless by grace; a will which, whatever its ability may be, derives all that ability from grace.

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[167] The French adds, "Qui a esté une peste mortelle ? l'Eglise, d'estimer que l'homme pouvoit eviter le peché pource qu'il peche franchement;" Which has been a deadly pest to the Church--viz. that man could avoid sin, because he sins frankly.

[168] French, "La premiere partie des bonnes oeuvres est la volonté; l'autre est de s'efforcer a l'executer et le pouvoir faire."--The first part of good works is the will; the second is the attempt to execute it, and the power to do so.

[169] The French is, "Nous voyons que ce mouvement sans vertu, lequel imaginent les sophistes, est exclus; J'entend ce qu'ils disent, qu Dieu offre seulement sa grace, a telle condition que chacun la refuse ou accepte selon que bon lui semble. Telle reverie di-je, qui n'est ne chair ne poisson, est exclue, quand il est dit que Dieu nous fait tellement perseverer que nous sommes hors de danger de decliver."--We see that this movement without virtue, which the sophists imagine, is excluded, I mean their dogma, that God only offers his grace on such conditions that each may refuse or accept it as seems to him good. Such a reverie, I say, which is neither fish nor flesh, is excluded, when it is said that God makes us so persevere that we are in no danger of declining.

[170] French, "Come une pierre;"--like a stone.

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