Tag Archives: divine intervention

Jesus’ Return for His Saints

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Jesus Coming for His SaintsThe eschatological subject of the Rapture of the church can be related the study of Soteriology because it is regarded as a form of deliverance. When Messiah returns at the end of the church age, He will deliver His church from an evil world and a coming judgment that will last for seven years (Read Revelation chapters 6-18). A distinction is here drawn between Jesus coming for His saints at the Rapture, and Jesus coming with His saints at His Second Coming (Dan 7:13-14; Matt 19:28; 25:31; Rev 19:11-21). Jesus is now in heaven preparing a place for believers to be with Him there (John 14:1-3). Paul revealed Jesus will return for His church and that all Christians will be “caught up” to meet the Lord in the air (1 Th 4:13-18).

The doctrine of the Rapture was first presented by the Lord Jesus when He provided new information to His apostles on the night before His crucifixion. After speaking of His soon departure (John 13:33), Jesus comforted them, saying, “Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:1-3). The place where Jesus was going was heaven. The purpose of His going was to prepare a place for them. And, at some unspecified time, Jesus promised He would come again to receive them to Himself, that they may be with Him.

Paul described this as a time when “we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.  For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality” (1 Cor 15:51-53). And, when writing to the church at Thessalonica, Paul  explained, “the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Th 4:16b-17). According to BDAG, the meaning of caught up (ἁρπάζω) is “to grab or seize suddenly so as to remove or gain control, snatch/take away.”[1] John Walvoord states, “The important point is that the verse says Christ will come for believers and take them from the earth to heaven, where they will be in His presence till they return with Him to the earth to reign. The Rapture will mean that all believers ‘will be with the Lord forever,’ enjoying Him and His presence for all eternity.”[2]

As Christians, we are “looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus” (Tit 2:13). This Rapture is immanent, meaning it may occur at any time and without prior notice. All Christians who are alive at the time of the Rapture will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, will go with Him to heaven, and be saved from the wrath to be poured out during the seven-year Tribulation. Our future is not one of judgment; rather, we are assured we will be saved from God’s future wrath, both in time and eternity (Rom 5:9; 1 Thess 1:10; 5:9; Rev 3:10).

Dr. Steven R. Cook

Related Articles:

[1] William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 134.

[2] John Walvoord, eds. Charles R. Swindoll and Roy B. Zuck, Understanding Christian Theology (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003), 1265.

The Role of God the Father in Salvation

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Bridge_to_SalvationGod the Father is seen as the initiator, planner, and orchestrator of the salvation of mankind. God the Father is loving, merciful, and kind, and “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4), and is “not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Pet 3:9). Salvation is necessary because of the problem of sin in the human race. All mankind is utterly helpless to bring about a remedy by human effort (Rom 3:10, 23; 5:6-10; Gal 2:16, 21; 3:21-22). Everyone is said to be “darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart” (Eph 4:18), and “dead” in their “trespasses and sins” (Eph 2:1; cf., Col 2:13). This refers to spiritual death, which means separation from God. We are trapped in sin and stand guilty before a holy and righteous God and are completely unable to save ourselves. Warren Wiersbe observes:

The unbeliever is not sick; he is dead! He does not need resuscitation; he needs resurrection. All lost sinners are dead, and the only difference between one sinner and another is the state of decay. The lost derelict on skid row may be more decayed outwardly than the unsaved society leader, but both are dead in sin—and one corpse cannot be more dead than another! This means that our world is one vast graveyard, filled with people who are dead while they live (1 Tim 5:6).[1]

If God had not made a way for us to be saved, we would be forever lost. But the Father made a way for us to be saved, and this because He loves us. Robert Lightner states:

God is the only one who could solve the problem which man’s sin presented to Him. After man’s fall God the Father began in time the plan of salvation which He devised before time began. This divine plan centered in his divine Son: “He gave His only begotten Son” because He “so loved the world” (John 3:16). “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us” (1 John 3:16). “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only-begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him” (1 John 4:9).[2]

But God intervened. He broke into time and space and displayed His mercy, love, and grace upon mankind. The apostle Paul wrote:

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Eph 2:4-9)

The Father’s actions are based on His love for all mankind. He loves because of who He is and not because of the beauty or worth of the object. Scripture reveals that “God is Love” (1 John 4:8), which means love is part of His nature. God loves because it is His nature to love.

The Father’s Plan for Salvation

God the Father’s soteriological work is traced back to what He planned before time began. He was motivated to provide for our salvation before we existed. According to Lightner, “We are often led to believe that our salvation began when we made our decision to trust Christ as Savior. The fact is, God was at work on our behalf long before that time.”[3] Paul wrote that God the Father “chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him” (Eph 1:4). That the Father elected us to salvation is straightforward in this passage, and the doctrine of election will be addressed later in this work. For now, this passage is noted because it speaks of the Father’s salvation-work “before the foundation of the world.” According to Lightner:

God the Father’s work in salvation centers primarily in what he did before time began. With infinite love and compassion he acted on our behalf even before we were born. Paul told the Ephesian Christians that they had been chosen in Christ by the Father before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4). To the Roman Christians the same apostle wrote about the Father’s foreknowledge, predestination, and call of them before time (Rom 8:29–30). Peter, writing to saints scattered throughout Asia Minor, described them as “elect” of God the Father (1 Pet 1:2). While evangelicals differ on how these and other such passages are to be understood, they all agree that God the Father initiated the plan of salvation in eternity past.[4]

God’s election starts with His sovereign choice, but also includes the individual choices of those who trust in Christ as Savior. Both are true. Though there is tension at this point—and this because of limited information and limited human capacity to comprehend—both God’s sovereignty and human volition must be acknowledged at the same time. Lightner states, “God the Father is sovereign. He must be to be God. Human responsibility is just as biblical as divine sovereignty. Jesus stressed both. Jesus said no one can come to him unless drawn by the Father but he also said none who come to him would be cast out (John 6:37).”[5] And Paul Enns states, “While there is human responsibility in salvation, there is first a divine side to salvation in which God sovereignly acts to secure the sinner’s salvation.”[6] The Christian must be content to live with this tension and not try to force a solution one way or another.

The salvation of mankind, with all its details, was fully comprehended and planned by God the Father from eternity past. It’s not as though God was surprised by the fall of Lucifer and mankind. He is eternal, and His plan is eternal. Lightner states, “We must never view salvation as an afterthought or as the only possible way out of a hopeless dilemma on the part of God. The plan of salvation is as eternal as God is. God was not shocked when Satan and then man fell. He is eternal, and his plan is from eternity past to eternity future.”[7]

God the Father Commissioned God the Son

God the Father commissioned God the Son to provide our salvation. God the Son agreed to the Father’s mission, came into the world, added humanity to Himself, and executed the Father’s plan perfectly. Though Jesus said and did many things during His time on earth, of which many books have been written, His primary mission was to save sinners. Jesus said, “the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10), and “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Jesus lived a sinless life and then sacrificed Himself on the cross as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of humanity. Through His death, burial, and resurrection, salvation is offered to all who believe in Him as Savior. Bruce Ware notes, “In eternity, the Father commissioned the Son who then willingly laid aside the glory He had with the Father to come and purchase our pardon and renewal.”[8]

God the Father Sent the Son to Die

It was the Father’s will for the Son to go to the cross to die for lost sinners, and the Son willingly went to His death and bore the Father’s wrath in our place. This was explained in Isaiah, where the prophet wrote about the Suffering Servant, saying, “But the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering” (Isa 53:10a). It is simultaneously true that the Father sent and the Son went. In the Gospel of John, we’re told, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:16-17). Jesus said, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent” (John 6:29), and “I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (John 6:38). The apostle John wrote, “God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:9-10), and “the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14). John Walvoord states:

Jesus Christ’s main purpose in coming to the world…was to provide salvation for those who put their trust in Him. Jesus expressed this in Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” In His public ministry Jesus spoke of many truths, and His teachings were so comprehensive that a systematic theology could be written based on what He said and taught. However, this was a background to His dying on the cross for our sins. In this supreme act of dying, He fulfilled His main purpose in becoming incarnate, of being “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).[9]

Dr. Steven R. Cook

Related Articles:

[1] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 18.

[2] Robert P. Lightner, Handbook of Evangelical Theology: A Historical, Biblical, and Contemporary Survey and Review (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1995), 189–190.

[3] Ibid., 192.

[4] Ibid., 191.

[5] Ibid., 191.

[6] Paul P. Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1989), 328.

[7] Robert P. Lightner, Handbook of Evangelical Theology, 192.

[8] Bruce A. Ware, “Tampering with the Trinity: Does the Son Submit to His Father?,” in Biblical Foundations for Manhood and Womanhood, ed. Wayne Grudem, Foundations for the Family Series (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2002), 248.

[9] John F. Walvoord, What We Believe, 73.

When God Disrupts the World

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     Pastors who preach the gospel of grace and accurately teach God’s Word are dangerous men. They will disrupt your worldly thinking and cause great damage to your human viewpoint perspective. And they should. If exposed to their teaching for any period of time, you’ll experience an epistemological shift that will fundamentally shake the foundations of your metaphysical and ethical views on life. The blessed result will be a radical new way of thinking built on the foundation of God and His Word. We have Jesus to thank for such good men. Those who support these teachers through prayer, encouragement, and financial support are accomplices to their disruptive activities and will be appropriately rewarded by God, both in time and eternity.

    Biblically, God has a well-established pattern of disrupting the lives and activities of sinful people. He disrupted and dispelled Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden after they’d sinned (Gen 3:1-24). He quarantined Noah and His family in the Ark and then disrupted the world by means of a universal flood (Gen 6:1—8:22). He confused the languages of those building the Tower of Babel, disrupting their activity and scattering them geographically (Gen 11:1-9). He disrupted Egypt by sending severe plagues that destroyed the nation, and afterwards, His people were expelled in a great exodus (Ex 5:1—14:31). In 586 B.C., God disrupted the Judahites and drove them into Babylonian captivity for seventy years (Jer 25:11-12; 29:10), and this because they broke covenant with Him and worshiped idols and committed horrible sins, including child sacrifice (Jer 7:25-34). Disrupt and divide. That’s the pattern. Those who love God and abide by His Word celebrate His actions in the world.

   God’s greatest disruption so far occurred when He sent His Son into the world, into Satan’s hostile kingdom of darkness, to be the Light of the world and to provide salvation to those enslaved to sin (John 1:5-9; 3:19-21; Gal 5:1, Col 1:13-14). Jesus declared “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life” (John 8:12). When Jesus presented divine viewpoint to others, on several occasions it is recorded that “a division occurred” because of Him (John 7:43; 9:16; 10:19). As a result of His teaching, we learn that “many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him” (John 6:66). But those who were positive to His teaching stayed with Him (John 6:67-69). On one occasion, Jesus said, “Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division; for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three” (Luke 12:51-52). When Jesus commissioned His apostles to go into all the world, they obeyed His directive and became “men who upset the world” because of their teachings (Acts 17:6). As Christians, we are called to be “diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph 4:3), but never at the price of God’s will or at the price of His truth.

     Today, God works through Christians to promote the gospel of grace and biblical teaching. Those who walk with God and teach His Word continue to disrupt Satan’s kingdom by calling out of it a people for God who are to mature spiritually and live in the light of Holy Scripture. By learning God’s Word, Christians can identify worldly conversations and either avoid them or disrupt them by interjecting biblical truth. Of course, not everyone wants to hear truth, and the personal choices of others should be respected. God is a perfect Gentleman and never forces Himself on anyone, and neither should we. However, this does not mean we are to conform to the world about us or surrender our biblical values for the sake of peace. Christians are to be lights in the world and this means learning and living God’s Word and interjecting His truth into our daily discussions and activities. We are not neutral.

     In the future, we know God will cause further disruptions when He removes all Christians from the world by means of the rapture (1 Th 4:13-18). Following that event, He will send great judgments upon the earth for seven years, upon the wicked who deserve it (Rev 6:1—18:24). At Christ’s second coming, the King of kings and Lord of lords will slay all who oppose Him (Rev 19:1-21), arrest and confine Satan (Rev 20:1-3), and then establish His kingdom on earth for a thousand years (Rev 20:4-6). The reign of Christ on the earth will be a time when righteousness prevails. Isaiah says of Messiah, “There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this” (Isa 9:7; cf., Jer 23:5; 33:15; Dan 2:44). Afterwards, God will separate forever into the Lake of Fire all who have rejected His offer of salvation (Rev 20:11-15). Finally, God will destroy the current heavens and earth and create a new heavens and earth. For “according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet 3:13; cf., Rev 21:1—22:21). There will be no further disruptions in the eternal state. Until then, we thank and praise God for His disruptions!

Dr. Steven R. Cook

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Suffering and Depression

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A Man Marked by Depression     It was early January and I was dining after dark with friends when I heard faint cries coming from outside. Standing and looking out a nearby window, I saw a young man who looked to be in his early twenties, stagger down the sidewalk and collapse about ten feet from the building. I rushed outside and knelt on the ground next to him while others inside called for medical help (which took about five minutes to arrive). He lay on the cold asphalt, shivering and sobbing, and appeared to be more in emotional distress than physical pain. He looked at me, a total stranger, and through his tears said he was on the verge of losing his girlfriend and newborn baby and that his life had been ruined by bad choices and the use of cocaine and other drugs. After saying these things, he turned his head and cried uncontrollably. His life had not always been marked by bad choices. Phantom memories surfaced and he spoke of a Christian childhood when Christ was Lord of his life. Somewhere in his teenage years he had turned away from the Lord and the suffering of bad choices and worldly friends helped bring about his present sorrow. I put my hand on his shoulder and prayed quietly. He cried out to the Lord, and not knowing what to say, he started praying the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name…” (Matt 6:9, KJV). I verbally joined him in his prayer so that he would not feel alone, but would know he was in the presence of a caring Christian. He heard me praying with him, and through teary eyes stared for a moment. For a brief instant we connected, but a minute later an ambulance pulled into the parking lot and I was moved aside so medical professionals could perform their necessary service. The young man called out to me as he was put on the stretcher and placed in the ambulance and I could only watch and pray for him as he was taken away. I never saw him again, though I’ve prayed for him many times.

I was marked by that brief encounter. That young man was at a place of personal brokenness when the paths of our lives crossed. It mattered little to me that much of his pain was self-induced, but only that he was crying out to the Lord for help. To turn away from him at such a moment would betray a spiritual poverty and sickness within my own soul. More so, it would ignore the sovereign hand of God who creates such opportunities for us to show grace and love to others. A year earlier I was in a similar place of personal brokenness, for my life had been ruined by many bad choices and I knew what it meant to have others praying for me and showing grace and love when I needed it most.

Suffering on Job     Looking into Scripture, we find great examples of suffering. Job and Jeremiah were two men who suffered greatly. Both were sensitive men who knew depression as a result of their suffering, and as we read about their lives we can cry with them. In the midst of his sadness Job said, “why then hast Thou brought me out of the womb? Would that I had died and no eye had seen me! I should have been as though I had not been, carried from womb to tomb” (Job 10:18-19). Because of his sorrow, Job saw his life as a “land of darkness and deep shadow; the land of utter gloom as darkness itself, of deep shadow without order” (Job 10:21-22a). During his time of sadness, the prophet Jeremiah wished that his “mother would have been [his] grave, and her womb ever pregnant” and in his great anguish went on to ask, “why did I ever come forth from the womb to look on trouble and sorrow, so that my days have been spent in shame?” (Jer 20:17-18). 

     What shall we say to Job and Jeremiah? Shall we ask them to be silent and not use such language because it makes us feel uncomfortable? Shall we be callous and accuse them of hidden sin or not having enough faith? Shall we fault them because they are not expressing joy in the midst of their sorrow? There is a joy to be had in life, but let’s not rob these godly men of their sorrow, or turn away from them for expressing themselves with such grief-laden language because it makes us feel uncomfortable. Let’s not turn away from them for at least two reasons:

  1. Because their response to suffering reveals their humanness. Job and Jeremiah were real people living in a real world who were touched by real circumstances. Though most of us will never know the depth of suffering and sorrow that Job and Jeremiah knew in their lifetime, we can identify with their pain and cry with them because we understand in a smaller way what it means to suffer, and this is our connection with them. Suffering connects us all together.
  2. Because despair was not their only perspective on life. Job and Jeremiah also had the divine perspective on life and at times spoke words of truth and hope, and this gives us truth and hope as well. Though they suffered in the furnace of affliction, they proved God and His Word to be reliable and more than sufficient to sustain them. During and after their time of suffering they spoke words of praise to the One in whom they had placed all their confidence. Worshipping God as the One who sustains and gives us hope in the midst of our trials is what binds us together with other believers, even those who lived long ago in a foreign land and who spoke a different language. God and His Word connect believers together.

     Job was a righteous man who loved the Lord and turned away from evil (Job 1:1-5). In one day, Job was confronted with the sudden death of all his sons and daughters, the destruction of his business, and the loss of his personal health (Job 1:6-19; 2:1-8). Though he could have cursed God as his wife suggested (Job 2:9), Job kept his faith and continued to trust the Lord (Job 1:20-22; 2:10). In the midst of grief Job said, “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God; whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes shall see and not another. My heart faints within me.” (Job 19:25-27)

     Jeremiah had witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army. The city had been burned, tens of thousands of men and woman put to death, and many taken away into slavery to Babylon as Jeremiah watched. One can see why he is often referred to as the weeping prophet (cf. Jer 9:1; 13:17; 14:17). Yet, even after witnessing Jerusalem’s destruction and enduring personal persecution, Jeremiah stated, “This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The LORD’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness. ‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, therefore I have hope in Him.” (Lam 3:21-24)

Jesus, a Man of sorrows     Other men in Scripture such as David, Elijah, Peter and Paul all knew suffering and sorrow, yet expressed words of hope and faith in God. Of course, no one knew suffering more than the Lord Jesus Christ, who throughout His life was “despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isa 53:3). During the time of His public ministry, Jesus knew He would suffer and die upon the cross, and He declared, “the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day” (Luke 9:22). And just hours before His crucifixion, Jesus “began to be grieved and distressed” (Matt 26:37), telling a few of His disciples, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death” (Matt 26:38). In spite of His personal pain, Jesus was willing to suffer and die for the benefit of the salvation of others. The Scripture declares that “as a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities” (Isa 53:11). The death of Christ had meaning, because God’s righteousness was satisfied and others were blessed to enjoy the gift of eternal life (Rom 3:21-26). 

     Suffering touches us all. It moves and shapes us in ways we never imagine. It breaks us down and builds us up, but it never leaves us where it finds us. In Scripture we learn that God’s power is magnified in our weaknesses and that suffering reveals our true state as weak creatures who need the Lord in our lives for strength and guidance (2 Cor 12:7-10). As we develop spiritually, we learn to keep our eyes more and more on heaven, knowing that ultimate relief from suffering will only come when the Lord returns and establishes righteousness on the earth (Rev 20-22). There is much Scripture on the subject of suffering and there is hope and strength in God for those who turn to Him in the midst of life’s sorrows.

Dr. Steven R. Cook