No...you tied "all flesh" to "those whom the Lord calls"...
No, I think you did that... or at least seemed to. If you agree with me that those who are called by God, by His Spirit, is not all flesh in the sense of everyone, then great.
I will say this, that there is a
general call of Scripture goes out to all people, bar none, to repent and believe on Christ; this is the general call of the Gospel. But there is also the
particular calling of God, made inwardly by the Holy Spirit, that is only given to His elect according to His purpose, which, cannot and will not be thwarted; again, God's Word does not return to Him empty, but it but it shall accomplishes that which He purposes and (always) succeeds in the thing for which He sends it. As Paul says in Romans 11:29,
"the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable."
The "and" speaks of "all" "and" "those called" as being separate but dealt with the same--not "all" as being limited to "those called."
You seem to be... not recognizing, for whatever reason...
who, exactly, God, through Joel, is speaking to. It's very clear in verse 27 that He is speaking
only to those of whom He is the Lord their God. And that is a limited number. He is a covenantal God, and His covenant is not with everyone. Only those who are born again of the Spirit walk in the Spirit and indeed have the Spirit. We can easily see this all through Scripture, Old and New Testaments alike. God has mercy on whomever He wills, and He hardens whomever He wills.
What does God say? "I create darkness...and evil."
Yes, He does. Isaiah 45:7 is to be understood in the sense that He is in control of all things, so He is in the midst of these things, and even uses them to accomplish His purposes... so He makes the rain to fall on the righteous and unrighteous alike, and that He has mercy on whomever He wills, and He hardens whomever He wills, and that He endures with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of His glory for vessels of mercy, which He has prepared beforehand for glory ~ even us whom He has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles. He is God, and we are not. Surely you will agree that God is not Himself sinful. So He cannot be the author or originator of sin, or evil, or darkness of any kind; He Himself, perfectly holy God that He is, is
incapable of sin.
This is not the topic of discussion however. In speaking God pouring out his spirit upon all flesh--which he spoke of separate of those he called, saying the one "and" the other--"all" means "all." "And" then, is simply an indication that there are specifics regarding "those called."
See above.
As for "we cannot know"--sure we can--we have the promise of "all truth" from Christ.
We cannot know the origin of evil. We are not told anywhere in God's Word.
As for "reconciling to Himself all things"--that is not actually a comparable.
Who said anything of the sort? Certainly not I.
The original meaning of "reconcile" would be "separate and change", not making everything evil good, but taking it all back upon Himself. Such is gospel of Jesus Christ.
Hmmmm... I would pretty much agree, except for two things:
- the reconciliation God is accomplishing is in the sense of justification, and crediting His own righteousness ~ Christ's ~ to us in the same sense as He did Abraham long ago (Genesis 15:6).
- and maybe your use of the word 'upon'... I would rather that be 'to,' and so then, again, as in Colossians 1:19, "reconciling to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross."
If we disagree we disagree, and in that case, as you and I both have said, so be it.
Even so--blessings to you as well!
Dear God, let that be the last word... <
chuckles>
Grace and peace to you.
