Question 14. How does God carry out his decrees?

 

Question 14. How does God carry out his decrees?

Answer. God carries out his decrees in the works of creation and providence according to his absolutely certain foreknowledge and his free and unchangeable will.

 

God predestined Christ before the creation of the world, and He carries out His will according to His predestined plan. First, God created heaven and earth to confine the fallen angels to the material world, then He created man, and then He created man and woman through the first man, and then He chose the pioneers of faith after Adam to carry out His will.

However, humans show that they are trying to pursue their own righteousness while ignoring God's will. So, through the flood of Noah, God showed that all humans are destined to die, and only saved Noah and his family of seven through the ark, which symbolizes Christ.

After the flood of Noah, God chose Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Israel, and revealed His will to all the people of the world. However, when Israel betrayed God and worshipped idols, God made Israel subject to foreign nations and brought them back to Him through prophets. However, although the prophets delivered God’s words, many kings did not follow God’s words.

While Israel was under Roman rule, they sent the Messiah, but they also crucified the Messiah. However, God resurrected Jesus Christ and decided to save everyone who is united with Jesus Christ. This was already decided before the creation of the world.

Ephesians 1:4 "Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love, having predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will."

"Choosing us in Christ before the foundation of the world" tells us that the spiritual is more important than the material. Pro kataboles (πρὸ καταβολῆς) means before the foundation of the world. The words "choosing in Christ" come before kataboles. This means that Christ's predestination (in Christ) comes first, and then the results that are realized in the world.

Most church people say that certain saints were chosen before the foundation of the world. This means that those who were in Christ were chosen before the foundation of the world.

The joyful will is the 'good joy according to the will of God'. The will of God is that the saints become God's adopted children. Proorisas (προορίσας) means to mark first. The mark is the mark of adoption. The mark of adoption shows the result that is accomplished in Christ's predestination. It is not that they were adopted before the creation of the world, but that they become adopted children in Jesus Christ. The priority is to enter into Christ.

God's plan of salvation is not to establish the kingdom of God that the saints go to after they die, but to establish the kingdom of God on this earth while the body is alive. In this way, the things of heaven and earth are united.

Ephesians 1:10-11 says, "To bring together all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even under him: in whom also we were chosen, being predestined according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." If we translate this again from Greek,

εἰς οἰκονομίαν τοῦ πληρώματος τῶν καιρῶν, ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι τὰ πάντα ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ, τὰ ἐπὶ τοῖς οὐρανοῖς καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἐν αὐτῷἘν ᾧ καὶ ἐκληρώθημεν προορισθέντες κατὰ πρόθεσιν τοῦ τὰ πάντα ἐνεργοῦντος κατὰ τὴν βουλὴν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ

『This is to fulfill the perfect (pleromatos) administration (oikonomian) of his time (ton kairon) to gather together all things in heaven and on earth in Christ, according to his purpose, according to the counsel of his will, in whom we have also obtained an inheritance』

The way to know the secret is through the relationship with God. When those who have entered Christ are hypomones (Christ’s second coming into the heart: presence), Christ, who is present in the heart, reveals the secret. Everything is accomplished according to Christ’s plan. And the saints come to know the secret of the kingdom of God through the revelation of Christ. That secret is the relationship between Christ and the church (the saints).

Ephesians 5:31-32, "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a great mystery, and I am talking about Christ and the church." A person is Christ, and a wife is a sinful spirit that has left God. Therefore, it is a great mystery that sinful spirits become one in Christ and return to God the Father.

Ton kairon (τῶν καιρῶν) means God's time, that is, within the time that God has set, pleromatos (πληρώματος) means fullness, and oikonomian (οἰκονομίαν) means management. Full management means stewardship. A steward means one who has all the keys to the master's house. God intends to establish the saints as stewards who have the keys to the kingdom of God.

The world is under the devil's control. It is like a prison. However, Christians have the key to the kingdom of God and seek out those who repent in the world. So they try to release those who are imprisoned and give them freedom. With the key that the saints have, what is done on earth plays the same role as what is done in heaven.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The tradition of the elders

  The tradition of the elders   Mark 7:5-9  『 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands? He answered and said to them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. 』 In the Galilee region, Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem came to Jesus. They came with accusations against Jesus. This is because Jesus' disciples neglected washing their hands, a Jewish ritual of purification. They called it  “ the tradition of the elders. ”  The Jewish leaders ...
Read more

Question 32. How is the grace of God manifested in the second covenant?

  Question 32. How is the grace of God manifested in the second covenant? Answer. The grace of God is manifested in the second covenant, in his free provision and offering to sinners of mediation, and of life and salvation by it; and by requiring faith as the condition of their entering into a relationship with Christ, the mediator; and by promising and giving the Holy Spirit to all his elect, he works faith in them, with all other saving graces, and enables them to do all holy obedience; which obedience is a true evidence of their faith and gratitude to God, or the way which God hath appointed for their salvation. If we divide God's covenant into two for convenience, the covenant that appears in the Old Testament is called the first covenant, and the covenant that appears in the New Testament through Jesus Christ is called the second covenant. Luke 22:15-16 “ And he said to them, ‘ I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will n...
Read more

Healing a man with a withered hand

  Healing a man with a withered hand Mark 3:1-5 『 And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day; that they might accuse him. And he said unto the man which had the withered hand, stand forth. And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace. And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he said unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other. 』 The Greek word for “ the man which had the withered hand ” is “ ἐ ξηραμμέ νην ἔ χων τ ὴ ν χε ῖ ρα” . In Revelation 14:15, “ And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; “ Exerande ” is the same wor...
Read more