Category Archives: Morning Thoughts

Morning Thoughts (John 19:11)

Morning Thoughts,

John 19:11, "Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin."

This morning, confusion abounds about the working of God and the responsibility of man.  The ditches on both sides are full of people that lean too heavily one way or the other.  Quite often, those that overemphasize man's ability and power to do "what he wills" are known as either "free willers" or arminians.  Those that overemphasize God's dealings to make Him over-causative in the affairs of man are frequently known as absoluters.  Generally speaking, most assume the household of faith are absoluters as soon as they hear us mention the word "predestination," and absoluters will assume we are arminians the moment they hear us talk about conditions.  As is quite often the case, Bible students following after God in spirit and in truth seek to occupy the road between the ditches and have folks flinging rocks up from both sides and both ditches.  One of the clearest pictures from Scripture about God's affairs with men stems from His affairs with His Son while Jesus Christ walked this earth, particularly His last hours leading to death.

When you listen to people talk, it is generally amazing to hear them say things that patently disagree with what they believe.  Whenever a problem arises that is too great for an Arminian to handle, they say things like, "Well it's in God's hands," or if they are dealing with death, they say, "It's just their time."  Though they lay the responsibility of getting to heaven upon man's shoulders – the hardest problem known in this universe – and also abhor the idea of predestination, these common statements show some sentiment along those lines.  Likewise, an absoluter will commonly say things like, "Well we all have choices to make that we must live with" or possibly "Be careful about the situations you might encounter."  Though they think that all things are fixed and certain, they still daily operate with notions of condition, choice, and related consequence for the action.  From these observations and experiences, we might conclude and reasonably suggest that most people have a little bit of arminian and absoluter in them.  Therefore, it behooves us as students of God's word to root out those natural inclinations and center our thoughts and attention to the right way of thinking from the only perfect book ever written.

When Jesus walked this earth, He was perfectly attuned and aligned in His will to the Father's will who sent Him.  All that He had to do, He knew what was required of Him, and He joyfully and willingly did those things that were right and pleasing to His Father.  Nothing about His character can be impugned, and nothing that He did in action can be lawfully railed upon.  As it pertains to His death, He both knew and had agreed to come and die for His people.  However, the way we approach His prophesied death and the way that we deal with it says a lot about our theology in viewing God's actions and the responsibilities of man.

Notice Christ's language to Pilate from our study verse.  He very clearly relays that both God and men were responsible to some degree for the position He is now in.  They are not responsible in the same sense.  Far from it.  Christ clearly tells Pilate that any power (ability) he had against Him was from above, but that those responsible for putting Him there were guilty of great – in this sense – greater sin.  Let us consider how Christ ended up standing before Pilate from the perspective of God's hand and man's hand.  At the end of the day, the hope is that our conclusions will lead us to some measure of understanding of the dealings of both in our lives.

It is clear from Scripture that man wanted to kill Christ from the moment He came into this world.  Herod murdered countless children trying to extinguish Him whom the wise men came to worship.  The Jews oftentimes sought to stone Him, and He simply passed through the midst of them.  Soldiers were sent to take Him, and could only respond with, "Never a man spake like this man."  This manifold witness shows that had God so desired, no one could have touched Christ forever as long as God so chose.  However, God does not regulate every activity of life on earth, though He does many, many times shower a hand of providence and protection upon people and events.  God's hand was with Christ at all times, and no one, no matter how savvy could have gotten through to harm Him while such was the case.

Christ's first clause to Pilate shows the veracity of this thought.  Pilate could have done nothing to Him had God so chosen that He not.  However, at the moment Christ stood before him, the providential hand was temporarily removed, which allowed the men to take Him, bind Him, and deliver Him to the magistrate.  Christ tells them in the garden (previous chapter) that it was "their hour and the power of darkness."  The hearts of men were finally able to fulfill what they had wanted for quite some time.  Both the Father and the Son knew that He had come to die, but nothing was going to hurry that death or leave some prophecy of His coming and work unfulfilled. 

What about man's actions in this whole ordeal?  God's hand cannot be charged upon those men to do what they did, for notice the wording of Christ's second clause.  He that delivered me to thee hath the "greater sin."  Christ is telling Pilate, "If you put me to death, that's wrong, but those that sent me here are more wrong than you are."  In other words, the men that did the things to Christ were not fulfilling God's grand scheme and design of things.  Rather, they were following their own fleshly and sinful desires.  Pilate had a desire to advance his political position and would placate people to make it happen.  Sinful.  The men wanted Christ put out of their sight, for He was a great thorn in their side that needed to be eradicated for their peace of mind.  More sinful.  God did not move those hearts, but they manifested in full what they had wanted for years.

One thing this verse also shows is that not only was God not culpable for their misdeeds, their misdeeds were ranked.  There are greater sins than others.  The wicked Jews were more sinful in their conduct than the wicked Romans were in the execution of that conduct.  Just as a leader or teacher is more at fault than those that they lead and teach, so also those that delivered Christ to the tribunal were more sinful than the tribunal that scourged and eventually crucified Him. 

Now, at this point in the reasoning, one might cry, "But Christ was supposed to die.  He was supposed to die that way.  It was prophesied."  However, though God knows someone will do something, that does not make Him culpable for the action.  The fact that He removed His hand of protection from Christ Jesus – knowing full well what they would do – does not make Him responsible for what they did.  Their wickedness was their own.  The thoughts and intents of their heart were on display for all to see and observe.  When Christ bowed His blessed head and gave up the ghost, their accountability for His death was fully demonstrated as they thought He was finally removed from their sight.

So, we see from Christ's statements to Pilate that nothing could have happened to Him in this manner had the Father not allowed it, but that all the heinous actions that transpired were accounted to the men that performed them.  This same sentiment is echoed by Peter on the Day of Pentecost when he tells the Jews that Christ was delivered by God's determinate counsel and foreknowledge, but they wickedly crucified Him. (Acts 2:23) No amount of rationalization can successfully exonerate the wickedness of man or condemn the righteousness of God in this setting.  God's actions – as always – are fully righteous and not responsible for sin.  Man's actions in this setting are bad to worse depending on whether part of the sin or the greater sin.

How does this translate for us today?  While it is undoubtedly true that God knows all that will happen to us during the course of our lives, we cannot say that our lives have been prophesied about to the level that Christ's was.  I have no idea what is in store for me, nor can I accurately predict what form of death I will endure.  However, between now and then, I am assured that God will be with me in all things.  Because Christ was forsaken by the Father in the work that He had to do, I will not ever have to worry about being left alone. (Hebrews 13:5-6) Now, that does not necessarily mean that He will protect me from all things, but He will be with me in all things.  Without a doubt, my life has been preserved and spared on numerous occasions, and probably many, many more that I fail to even see that it happened.

Yet, in our lives we will suffer at times and endure pain and afflictions.  In many of those pains and afflictions we will see the wickedness of man's heart on display as we endure reviling and suffering from them.  When someone looks upon the scene of the early disciples of the cross, we see them counting it all joy that they were counted worthy to suffer these things for His names' sake. (Acts 5:41) While trying to follow after Him in gospel obedience, they felt a kinship to Him by undergoing those types of beatings, suffering, and death.  Though they experienced the cruelty of man's depravity, they understood that God had not forsaken them though He didn't spare them from everything.

Friends, I would like to say that following God yields a care-free life, but the truth is that the forces of darkness will desire our demise in direct proportion to our attempts to live righteously in this old world. (II Timothy 3:13) Many times, God delivers us from things, but He also delivers us through things as well.  No matter how bad the depravity pressing upon us from within or without becomes, never mistake God's hand in that.  He has not brought these things upon us any more than He brought those things upon His Son.  Man in all of his ugliness is responsible for those things.  There will be varying degrees of depravity that we see, but through it all, may we see that He has been with us, stands with us, and is waiting on the other side for us.  Knowing that deliverance has come in our lives, may we anticipate it even moreso in the life to come.

In Hope,

Bro Philip

Morning Thoughts (Matthew 22:29)

Morning Thoughts,

Matthew 22:29, "Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God."

This morning, many undervalue and underestimate the same two things that Jesus referenced above: scriptures and the power of God.  Recent days display man's utter disdain for the Holy Bible, and regardless of the circumstances, man seems bent on discounting the power of God in life's situations.  Consider a mere 50 years ago.  More people were well-studied and adept at discussing the Scriptures, whereas now many are not as they do not know enough of its contents to intelligently discuss it.  Likewise, people back then were more prone to attribute God's power in bringing them through situations in life and marvel at how good He had been to them.  Now, people constantly talk about how "lucky" they or others are.  In both cases, people today greatly err much like the Sadducees in Christ's day.

In this passage, Christ is having a series of conversations with different sects and groups.  Each group is trying to trip Him up – all to no avail.  When the Sadducees come to Him, they present a case according to Moses' law.  In the law, a man that died without children would have his nearest kinsman raise up seed with his widow to his name.  This was done so that he would not go without a name in Israel. (Deuteronomy 25:5-6) The Sadducees present a case of 7 brothers.  When the first takes a wife and dies without children, his brother takes the wife and also dies without children.  This progression passes through all 7 brethren; they all die, and last of all, the woman dies also.  Their question that prompts Jesus's rebuke from our verse is, "Whose wife will she be in the resurrection?"  After all, she had 7 husbands, so who would be hers and whose would she be in the next world?

Before we get to the main point of this writing, a quick side-bar begs investigation.  The Sadducees were a sect that denied the resurrection, and they were therefore presenting a case that they patently did not believe.  Therefore, we see their whole goal is to catch Christ by using a subject (the resurrection) that He believed (not them).  But in so doing, they also presented a patently foolish scenario.  Today, people will attempt to do the same thing to God's children that profess to follow Christ.  Even though people in the world do not believe in Christ or in the Scriptures as the infallible word of God, they will present scenarios about Christ and His word to try to trip us up.  In so doing, they will present just as faulty scenarios as these men presented Christ.  So, when you are questioned about your belief, always remember that people sometimes ask along subject lines that they do not believe solely in an attempt to get you to doubt what you believe or convince you that there is a problem with your Jesus or your Bible.  Remember Christ's words.  Do not underestimate God's power or His Book.  Become familiar with them so that we know a good question from a foolish and unlearned one.

The main point that we wish to investigate this morning revolves around the term "power of God" as it pertains to these Sadducees.  Part of their error was not knowing the power of God.  We today can nurture a mindset like a Sadducee when we fail to consider the power of God, particularly in the context Christ here uses it.  He goes on to say that the resurrection is to a state similar to angels in the sense that we will neither marry nor be given in marriage.  Now, we must here say that we do not go to heaven to be angels.  That is not Christ's point at all.  Rather, our position as the brethren of Christ is a state and place much higher than an angel (for they are celestial servants), but we are "like" angels in the sense of being unmarried, unlike how we are now.  So, how do we today garner the mindset of a Sadducee by not knowing the power of God?

Quite often as a minister, I get asked questions about what heaven is going to be like.  Most of my answers basically boil down to a flat, "I don't know."  Sometimes, my explanation of " I don't know" takes quite a long time.  Sometimes the more I talk the more I display how little I know.  However, Scripture does line out some things about heaven for us.  One of them is the sense that everything in heaven is better than it is now.  Paul so adamantly expressed the thought that he said everything we endure here pales in comparison to what shall be done in us. (Romans 8:18) Go read that text and catch the little but powerful expression "in us."  It is true that heaven is a glorious place full of the wonder and majesty of Almighty God.  However, Paul says that all we have or will have down here does not compare to that glory that will one day be revealed "in us."  Can you imagine a body that is completely free from pain and illness?  Furthermore, can you fathom a body that is so perfect, complete, and glorious that the former things do not even enter?  Consider our bodies ravaged by pain, cancer, etc.  Those same bodies are going to be raised in glorious power so that ALL traces of what was once in them is gone.

Now if these bodies will have such a physical constitution of perfection that nothing evil can enter and all traces of the former are swallowed up in immortality, what about the mental faculties?  Paul contrasts our mental state now with eternity by showing the difference between a man and a child's mentality.  The child walks like a child, speaks like a child, and acts like a child.  But, men are required to put off childish things. (I Corinthians 13:11-12) Therefore, our sight and understanding now being through a glass darkly is like the child's life of immature understanding.  The experience of seeing Him face to face is akin to a man's mature understanding after becoming full grown.  Paul concludes the contrast by saying that we shall know even as we are known.  Know who?  While it is undeniably true that we will know one another and have personal identity in the resurrection (I Corinthians 15:41-42), that is not Paul's point here.  Rather, we will know Him who loved us even as He knows us.  What a glorious thought!

Our mental faculties will be so heightened in that glorified air that we know Him as He knows us.  He knows us so completely that He knows the difference between our soul and spirit, the difference between our joints and marrow, and can even discern the thoughts and intents of our heart. (Hebrews 4:12) One day, I will know the Trinity of the Godhead and be able to line out the difference just as He can line out the differences of my person.  Just as He knows my thoughts and heart's desires, so one day I will be able to look upon Him and know why His heart desires certain things.  I will finally be able to answer that question, "Why oh why did the Lord love me?"  I will know His heart's desire.  I will know why.  All questions will be gone as I will know Him completely!

Getting back to the Sadducees' scenario, we see similar mindsets today.  Quite often today, well-meaning but ignorant people will say, "If I don't see my children in heaven, it won't be heaven."  Or they might say, "If I don't see my husband/wife in heaven, it won't be heaven."  More alarmingly, some will say, "If I can't be with my husband/wife in heaven, it won't be heaven."  While these statements miss the mark of Scriptures, how do they miss the mark of the power of God?  If we are raised from weakness to power, we are raised to a state that these minds cannot fully envelop right now.  Heaven is more glorious than our immature minds are able to handle.  Just like a child cannot handle some of the more intricate details of life, so we cannot handle the absolute power and glory that shall accompany our ride into heaven.

While I love my wife and children now to the point of being willing to die for them, I do not expect to love them any more/less than anyone else in heaven.  Nor do I expect my wife to be my wife in heaven.  I do expect to see her there, but it will not be as my wife.  She and I will be congregated in that blessed band with one focal and unified thought: praise to the One that we finally see as He is and can praise Him as we ought.  My children will not be more special to me in heaven any more than your children will be more special to you in heaven.  In heaven, our whole force and energy will be to thank Him for what we finally know IN FULL that He has done for us.

When I consider God's power in speaking this universe into existence, my mind pales at the thought.  It simply blows the circuits to think about it.  Yet, when I think about this body, this mind, this person that I am still plagued by sin actually being perfect, it is absolutely astonishing.  It is astonishing enough to me personally when I am blessed with His power to preach in great power and liberty by His Holy Spirit.  Yet, even that scene does not compare with the glory and the scene of the resurrection.  Imagine to the utmost stretch, but the reality will make that imagination die away in wonder.  Brethren, I simply do not have a lot of answers about heaven, but one thing I know is that the power of God is going to raise us to a point that we simply cannot fathom now.  Natural ties will cease to be important.  What we experience in this life cannot compare to that glory.  What we know of Him there will simply be the most refreshing and delightful thing that has ever been known.  Eternity will not be a whit too short to thank Him or worship Him for all of that goodness.

In Hope,

Bro Philip