And that {f}
- "there is Mercy for Israel, but judgment for the rest of the nations.''
- And on those words in Isa 21:12, "the morning cometh", and also the night, they observe {g},
- "the morning is for the righteous, and the night for the wicked; the morning is for Israel, and the night for "the nations of the world".''
And again {h},
- "in the time to come, (the times of the Messiah,) the holy, blessed God will bring "darkness" upon "the nations", and will enlighten Israel, as it is said, Isa 60:2.''
Once more {i},
- "in the time to come, the holy, blessed God will bring the nations of the world, and will cast them into the midst of hell under the Israelites, as it is said, Isa 43:3.''
- To which may be added that denunciation of theirs {k}
- "woe to the nations of the world, who perish, and they know not that they perish: in the time that the sanctuary was standing, the altar atoned for them; but now who shall atone for them?''
- Now, in opposition to such a notion, our Lord addresses this Jew; and it is as if he had said, you Rabbis say, that when the Messiah comes, only the Israelites, the peculiar favourites of God, shall share in the blessings that come by, and with him; and that the Gentiles shall reap no advantage by him, being hated of God, and rejected of him: but I tell you, God has so loved the Gentiles, as well as the Jews,
- that he gave his only begotten Son; to, and for them, as well as for the Jews; to be a covenant of the people, the Gentiles, the Saviour of them, and a sacrifice for them; a gift which is a sufficient evidence of his love to them; it being a large and comprehensive one, an irreversible and unspeakable one; no other than his own Son by nature, of the same essence, perfections, and glory with him; begotten by him in a way inconceivable and expressible by mortals; and his only begotten one; the object of his love and delight, and in whom he is ever well pleased; and yet, such is his love to the Gentiles, as well as Jews, that he has given him, in human nature, up, into the hands of men, and of justice, and to death itself:
- that whosoever believeth in him, whether Jew or Gentile,
- should not perish, but have everlasting life; [See comments on Joh 3:15].
This content is taken from this document.
[1] Brown-Driver-Briggs' Hebrew and Greek Definitions. Taken from the Bible software The Word. See “Resources.”
[2] ESV Study Bible, 2008 (Crossway...
ESV Reformation Study Bible[4]
2:1 all people. As can be seen from the next expression (“for kings and all who are in high positions”), this does not mean “every human being,” but rather “all types of people,” whatever their station in life.
2:4 who desires all people to be saved. This does not mean that God sovereignly wills every human being to be saved (i.e., that God saves everyone). It may refer to God’s general benevolence in taking no delight in the death of the wicked, or to God’s desire that all types of people (v. 1 note) be saved (i.e., God does not choose His elect from any single group).
NLT Study Bible[5]
1 Timothy 2:1 all people: The prayers of the false teachers and their disciples were evidently not consonant with God’s will to save all kinds of people (2:3-4).
1 Timothy 2:2 all who are in authority: Those who had the power to persecute or to protect the church (see also Rom 13:1-7; 1 Pet 2:13-17). • live peaceful and quiet lives: The point was not for Christians to blend in and be unnoticed, but to display the beauty of the Good News and allow the church’s mission to proceed without unnecessary complications (cp. 2 Tim 3:12;1 Pet 3:13-17). • The word godliness and its cognates (also at 3:16; 4:7-8; 5:4; 6:3, 5-6, 11) sum up the beliefs, attitudes, and lifestyles that accord with right and reverential knowledge of God, obedience, and authentic worship.
1 Timothy 2:5-6 Compact teachings, as in this passage, occur throughout the letters to Timothy and Titus (see also 3:16; 2 Tim 1:9-10; 2:8, 11-13; Titus 3:4-7). They might be adapted bits of creeds, hymns, or prayers that were known to the churches. The doctrines referenced probably relate to Paul’s trouble with the false teachers; it appears that their teaching undercut the universal appeal of the Good News and the effectiveness of the Gentile mission. The false teachers also had a deficient understanding of Jesus and his salvation.
Will of Desire
God’s will of desire: ESV MacArthur Study Bible:[6]
2:4 desires all people to be saved. The Greek word for “desires” is not that which normally expresses God’s will of decree (his eternal purpose), but God’s will of desire. There is a distinction between Go...
In Romans 9:22-23, it is said:
What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of Mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—
God will display both the glory of His justice and wrath in bringing just punishment upon the reprobate, as He will glorify Himself in the riches of His glory for the elect. Proverbs 16:4 says, “The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.” Romans 9:17 says of Pharaoh, ‘For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”’
All things were created and exist to glorify God and God will glorify Himself in all things, no doubt!
See also John Piper, Why Did God Create the World?
The Days
This controversy concerning the days of Genesis started with Augustine, I believe. He believed that God basically made everything in a moment, as time means nothing to an Eternal God. But many have taken Augustine’s position and pointed to it to “excuse” or “support” their radical departure from a straightforward reading of Genesis. What can we learn from the Bible about the days of creation? I believe that a straightforward reading of the account will give us nothing apart from 6 days of God’s work in creating everything and the 7th day for rest. But this has been challenged by the rise of secular theories of origin, and some Christians have been comfortable to come up with all sort of ways to make the Bible fit with “science.” All of these secular theories do not acknowledge that the days of Genesis are straightforward 24 hour days. If Christians accept these theories, then they say that the days of Genesis are long ages. They sometimes even mix and change the chronology of the days. I don’t want to rebut those positions here, but I want to lay down my position. For those wanting to learn of the Creationist position, I point you to Creation.com and AnswersInGenesis.org. This is not the place to learn anything new from this debate.
First, the fact that the days spoken of in Genesis are regular days, much like the ones we have (they may have been an hour shorter or something, but basically they are not long ages) is seen from the way that God closes His work every day. Remember, this is the account of the only Witness that could see the creation and He has been pleased to reveal it to us. At the end of day 1 through 6, there is this reoccurring phrase, “there was evening and there was morning, the X day.” This shows that the days spoken of here are simple days like we have, they constitute an evening and a morning.
| Verse | Evening | Morning | X day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gen. 1:5 | And there was evening | and there was morning, | the first day. |
| Gen. 1:8 | And there was evening, | and there was morning, | the second day. |
| Gen. 1:13 | And there was evening | and there was morning, | the third day. |
| Gen. 1:19 | And there was e... |
Charles Ellicott comments on the Genesis 6:5, saying, “More exactly, form, shape. Thus every idea or embodied thought, which presented itself to the mind through the working of the heart—that is, the whole inner nature of man—“was only evil continually”—Heb., all the day, from morning to night, without reproof of conscience or fear of the Divine justice. A more forcible picture of complete depravity could scarcely be drawn; and this corruption of man’s inner nature is ascribed to the overthrow of moral and social restraints.”[8] Matthew Poole observes that it is “To the heart the Scripture commonly ascribes all men’s actual wickedness, as Psa 41:6; Pro 4:23; 6:14,18; Jer. 17:9; Mat 15:19; Rom. 3:10, &c.; thereby leading us from acts of sin to the original corruption of nature, as the cause and source of them.”[9]
See also Jeremiah 17:9; Mark 7:21-23; John 8:44.
Man Is Unable To Do Good
Indeed, we may do good in the eyes of man, but our works cannot be seen as good by the All-Knowing God Who does not tolerate an ounce of sin. The Scriptures say:
Rom. 3:12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
Rom. 14:23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.
Many may be shocked when they hear that no one does good, surely the Bible is not right here! There are many unbelievers who do good. That is true and that is due to the grace of God in their lives, but even our best deeds are filthy rags in the sights of an all-holy God Who penetrates to the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Isa. 64:6). Biblically speaking, that which is good conforms to the will of God. God is good (Mark 10:18), and that which wants to be truly good must conform to His holy and righteous standard. The first step toward doing that which is pleasing in God’s sight is repentance and faith – the forgiveness of our sins and being made a new creation. We must have faith in the Son of God. This is not generic faith, but saving faith in what God has done in His beloved Son. Hebrew...
2. Greater boldness of access to the throne of grace
This point is similar to point 10 above. The Epistle to the Hebrews says:
Heb. 4:16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive Mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
We have confidence in Christ Jesus to find grace from God. We no longer fear God as a judge who will condemn us, but we love and know Him as our caring and beloved Father who has saved us, although we hated Him. Calvin notes concerning this passage:
Let us therefore come boldly, or, with confidence, etc. He draws this conclusion, — that an access to God is open to all who come to him relying on Christ the Mediator; nay, he exhorts the faithful to venture without any hesitation to present themselves before God. And the chief benefit of divine teaching is a sure confidence in calling on God, as, on the other hand, the whole of religion falls to the ground, and is lost when this certainty is taken away from consciences.[3]
We know and we are confident that if we go to God through Christ we will find Him sitting on the throne of grace from which He will pour His grace upon His needy children. We strive to love God and obey Him, not because we fear His punishment, but because He has displayed amazing grace and love to us and therefore, we strive to show our thankfulness and love for Him. We love Him as our Father, and as His children, we seek to do that which is pleasing in His sight.
3. Fuller communications of the free Spirit of God
The work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the believers after the ascension of Christ is greater than His work prior to that event. John says that the Spirit “dwells with you [the disciples] and will be in you” (John 14:17). He is at the present with them and around them, but in the future, He will be in them. Furthermore,
John 7:39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Albert Barnes notes:
For the Holy Ghost was not yet given. Was not given in such full and large measures as should be after Jesus had ascended to heaven. Certain measures of the influences of the Spirit had been always given in the conversion and sanctification of the ancient saints and prophets; but that abundant and full effusion which the apostles were permitted afterward to behold had not yet been given. See Acts 2:1-12; Acts 10:44; Acts 10:45.[6]
It was necessary for the Son to go back to Heaven for the Spirit to descend upon the disciples (John 16:7). The Lord Jesus says that we should be happy that He is going back to heaven, but He will not leave us alone. He will send His Holy Spirit. It is good for us that the Lord Jesus went back to heaven and sent His Holy Spirit. Sam Waldron writes:
The language used of the new presence of the Spirit—baptism, outpouring, river—all speaks of increase. This seems logical, because really to know the increased truth of the New Covenant requires increased measures of the Spirit.[7]
Moreover, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are, unlike under the Old Testament, distributed according to God’s will to all believers (1 Cor. 12-14; Rom. 12:3-8). This was not the c...
All that this means is that Word and Spirit create and call the church from the darkness into the light. The gospel, as used by the Spirit, creates the church. Since it creates the church, it stands at the center and core of the church. The gospel simply is Jesus Christ in all His beauty, glory, Mercy and grace given to us to be received and adored by faith.
Local Churches
What the Confession here calls “particular societies, or churches” are what we call local churches. As paragraph 2 said, “All persons throughout the world, professing the faith of the gospel, and obedience unto God by Christ according unto it...are and may be called visible saints; and of such ought all particular congregations to be constituted.” A local church is a company of believers gathered for worship and mutual edification. A. H. Strong has a good definition of the local church:
The individual church may be defined as that smaller company of regenerate persons, who, in any given community, unite themselves voluntarily together, in accordance with Christ’s laws, for the purpose of securing the complete establishment of his kingdom in themselves and in the world.[31]
As we noted in paragraph 2, the descriptions given to the church in the New Testament make it clear that they were composed of professing believers. No author of the New Testament assumed that he is writing to an unbelieving church. Even when they had hard words to say, they did not assume that the church may remain mixed and unpure. They had hard words to say exactly because the purity of the church is important to God. The purity of a church is tied to the purity of its individual members. If there are unbelievers among its membership then this obviously defiles the purity of that particular church.
To minimize or overlook the importance of the local church is to minimize or overlook the context of the New Testament. The majority of the New Testament books were written to particular churches. They were not written to the universal church, but they were written to local churches in various areas in the Roman world. They were composed of definite people who belong to a particular congregation in a city. So, the epistle to the Romans is written to the Christian congregation in Rome which Paul so longed to see (Rom. 15:23). So also all other letters of Paul with the exception of the pastoral and Philemon. The dual letters to Timothy were written to him as Timothy ministered as an elder in Ephesus, which had a congregation whom Paul knew (see Acts 18-20). Peter addresses his first epistle to various churches located in “Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia” (1 Pet. 1:1). Revelation is explicitly written for seven particular churches in Asia Minor (Rev. 1:4, 11; 22:16). If these local churches did not exist, then the New Testament itself would not exist. The New Testament was not written to or entrusted into the hands of a heavenly and mystical body, but various local ones.
As we said, a local church is a gathering or an assembly of believers. The New Testament speaks in various ways of these assemblies. As to location, the...
The regeneration view sees support in John 5.
John 5:25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
Here regeneration is seen as a resurrection from the dead. Resurrection from deadness in sin.
This is further confirmed in the many ways that Paul refers to our old self and regeneration:
Eph 2:4 But God, being rich in Mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, Eph 2:5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— Eph 2:6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, Eph 2:7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Here is it of special importance because in a certain and real (because the Bible affirms it) sense we are already seated in heaven (on thrones?) and are reining. In what way? Reining in life (Rom 5:17) and against sin.
The new life is connected with resurrection in Ephesians 5 also:
Eph 5:13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, Eph 5:14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
I think both views have good support and there remains questions to be asked about each (and more research and re-checking for me).
This is indeed not meant to be an exhaustive exposition of Revelation 20 and answering objection, but that’s exactly the reason why you should get the book and study it for yourself. [In re-reading on the subject of the First Resurrection from Sam Storms[3], Anthony Hoekema[4], Meredith G. Kline, I now believe that it refers to the entrance of believers into Intermediate State rather than regeneration.)
The Consummation
As seen in the chart above the Amillennial view of the End is pretty simple:
- One visible and glorious coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
- One general resurrection of all humanity.
- One final judgment and reward of the righteous and the wicked.
Or, better said by Dean Davis. We expect:
- The Last Battle
- The final clash between God and Satan, Christ and the Antichrist, the Church and the World
- The Parousia
- The visible and glorious coming of the King of kings and the Lord of lords
- The Resurrection
- This is the one and final general resurrection of all men from Adam onward. Both just and unjust, righteous and wicked, elect and reprobate.
- The Last Judgment
- Here is the general judgment of all men and angels. Those who are in Christ will receive their reward and be welcomed into the Kingdom of their Father. Those of the wicked both men and angels will be thrown into the lake of fire and will receive proper retribution.
- The Restoration of all Things or the Regeneration
- This is the restoration, renewal, recreation, transformation, glorification of the present cosmos into the New Heavens and the New Earth (Acts 3:21; Mt 19:28)
- The Delivering Up of the Kingdom
- This will be done after the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God will create the New Heavens and the New Earth and deliver them to His Father.
Of...
I very much enjoyed these two chapters and benefited from his insights and was strengthened in my position.
In chapter 14 he lays out the nature of the New Covenant in contrast to the Mosaic Old Covenant. The differences include federal headship, theocracy, carnal perpetuity. He furthermore examines a few things like substitutionary atonement, the efficacy of infant baptism and nature of the Church in light of the knowledge gained about the nature of the New and Old covenants.
Chapter 15 is titled “The Meaning of Circumcision.” Here he brings up the two texts most often used by Paedobaptists to make the connection between baptism and circumcision. Those are Genesis 17:10 and Romans 4:11. He examines Romans 4:11 and shows the difference between Abraham’s circumcision and infant circumcision. He furthermore argues that the covenant of circumcision was pertaining to the natural seed of Abraham and not the spiritual seed.
This leads us to the next chapter which is titled “The Error of Integrating the Flesh with the Spirit.” In chapter 16 he seeks to show “the impossibility of applying this verse [Romans 4:11] to new covenant baptism without mixing physical and spiritual realities in the process.” (p. 195)
Covenantal Dichotomism
This book is dividing into two parts. The first was the Fatal Flaw where the Paedobaptist Covenant Theology is examined and combated. The second part is dedicated to the study of continuity and discontinuity between the covenants of God.
Part 2 is a very quick read containing small chapters exploring the connection between the various covenants of God. He focuses on the Abrahamic, Mosaic and Davidic.
Throughout his work (part 1 as well as part 2), Johnson tried to establish and make clear the distinction between Abraham’s twofold seed. So here he also shows and stresses that. It is crucial not apply those things which pertain to the fleshly seed of Abraham to the spiritual seed.
I very much enjoyed the second part also. It was a quicker read, but nonetheless helpful and biblical.
Johnson believes that the covenant with Abraham concerning the fleshly seed under which circumcision was included was ...
Arthur W. Pink observes the following on the meaning of “taste”:
Second, they had “tasted” of the heavenly gift. To “taste” is to have a personal experience of, in contrast from mere report. “Tasting does not include eating, much less digesting and turning into nourishment what is so tasted; for its nature being only thereby discerned it may be refused, yea, though we like its relish and savor, on some other consideration. The persons here described, then, are those who have to a certain degree understood and relished the revelation of Mercy; like the stony-ground hearers they have received the Word with a transcient joy” (John Owen). The “tasting” is in contrast from the “eating” of John 6:50-56.[6]
Dr. Grudem observes the following in a footnote about the word “taste”:
The word tasted is also used in Heb. 2:9 to say that Jesus “tasted death,” indicating that he came to know it by experience (but “tasted” is an apt word because he did not remain dead). The same could be true of those who had some experience of heavenly gifts, as can be true even of unbelievers (cf. Matt. 7:22; 1 Cor. 7:14; 2 Peter 2:20–22). In Heb. 6:4–5 these people’s experience of the Holy Spirit’s power and of the Word of God was of course a genuine experience (just as Jesus genuinely died), but that by itself does not show that the people had an experience of regeneration.[7]
What is the heavenly gift? Commentators and preachers are divided on this one although the majority think that it either refers to the Lord Christ (e.g. Gill, Com. Cri. & Expl., Steve J. Cole, ) or the Holy Spirit (e.g. Owen, Pink, Henry, Grudem, Piper). Both have good reasons to think so although as Pink observes, there is not a great difference since ‘the difference is without a distinction, for the Spirit is here to glorify Christ, as He came from the Father by Christ as His ascension “Gift” to His people.’[6]
John 4:10 seems to be a strong verse to see “the gift of God” which came down from heaven to be the Lord Jesus Himself. Note that the passage does not speak of a gift of God, but the gift of God. See also John 3:16; Romans 6:23. This description would then imply that these apostates had some kind of experience with the Lord Jesus, without being regenerated which is not impossible. Being within the congregation of His called-out-ones they would have certainly known the Lord Jesus through experience in some way. These are not people who have come to church one day, “accepted” Jesus and then went into the world. Rather, these people were steeped into Christ’s religion and then apostatized. They had seen Christianity confirmed in various ways before their eyes and yet still choose to abandon their profession and reject the Christian faith and its founder, Christ the Lord.
For the Holy Spirit being the gift of God, Acts 2:38 is primary where the Holy Spirit is said to be the gift given by God to those who repent. He is heavenly, because He comes from heaven – He comes from God and is God. John Owen humbly defends this view:
It is, as many judge, the person of Christ himself in that place which is intended. But the context makes plain that it is the Holy Ghost; for he is the “living water” which the Lord Jesus promiseth in that place to bestow. And so far as I can observe, δωρεά, “the gift,” with respect unto God, as denoting the thing given, is nowhere used but only to signify the ...
He grounds the Sabbath in Creation, goes to every major text in the Old Testament concerning the Sabbath. Demonstrates his ability in linguistics and in his knowledge of various interpretations of some texts. The footnotes are just great!
He then goes on to make a case for Sabbath observance under the New Covenant, but he does this by first going to major texts on the abiding validity of the Law in the New Covenant. He goes on to demonstrate our Lord's teaching on the Sabbath. He never did abrogated it, but cleared it from Pharisaic legalism. He has two chapters on works of piety and necessity and works of Mercy.
He then moves to consider four misused texts: Rom 14:5-6; Gal 4:9-11; Eph 2:14-15; Col 2:16. He makes a case that none of these texts speak of the abrogation of the moral duty of observing one day out of seven as a Sabbath already established at Creation. He then moves on to consider Hebrews 4:9 wherein we are clearly told that there is still, for the New Covenant people of God, an obligation of Sabbath-keeping.
Until now he had not made a case for the change of the day. His book was about the Christian Sabbath, but what he argued for until now was the seventh-day Sabbath. To be sure, he made passing remarks on the change of the day. But he treats the change of the day in two chapters. The first one is dedicated to "the Apostolic Witness" where he examines the resurrection and the resurrection appearances as the prime reason for the change of the day, the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1), the gathering of the church on the first day to break bread and have Paul preached to them (Acts 20:7), the gathering of alms on the first day (1Cor 16:1-2) and finally, the Lord's Day (Rev 1:10). In my opinion, he makes a good case for the change of the day from these passages and also from his treatment of the abiding Sabbath from Hebrews 4:9.
Then he moves to the post-apostolic testimony to the Lord's Day. He notes that often the word Sabbath was retrained for the Jewish Sabbath and was not frequently used for Sunday. Rather, from the earliest times, the expression "the Lord's Day" was used for the first day of the week on which Christ rose.
Finally, he moves on in the last part (3) to teach us how we should observe the Sabbath. He is careful in his suggestions and what He may say and deduce from God's Word. His desire is not to bind consciences where God has not bound them, but carefully give guidelines and suggestions.
Overall, I very much enjoyed reading this book and I used it a lot in my own study for the 1689 Baptist Confession's chapter 22 on the Sabbath (sections 7-8). It is detailed, it is biblical and it is written in a loving and respectful tone. What more can we expect? Get it and read it already!
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