Who would seek for a scheme that is God-proof?
The Bible's plan of salvation is so well underwritten, that I can stand up here
on the world wide web and testify, in all sincerity and a good conscience,
that I am going to heaven and not even God can stop me now.
How is that possible? It's possible because my safety is based upon
unconditional promises rather than upon personal performance.
This is not without precedence. When God passed ownership of the land of
Palestine to Abraham, He covenanted it to him on the basis of a promise
rather than the old boy's performance.
†. Gal 3
:17-18
. . And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and
thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by
God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the
inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to
Abraham as a promise.
The so-called Palestinian Covenant is an unconditional covenant. In other
words
: no matter what Yhvh's people do now, they will never lose either
deed nor title to that land. They may get evicted from the land now and
then; but they will never lose possession of it because their possession is
based upon an unconditional promise rather than upon their personal
performance.
So
: what am I saying? I'm saying that once the Bible's God makes an
unconditional promise, He's stuck with making good on that promise come
hell or high water because He could never justify withdrawing it without
seriously damaging His reputation as a person of integrity who can be
counted upon to never lie and/or make a promise He can't be trusted to
keep.
Where are all these unconditional promises located? Well; the first one is
located in the book of Genesis.
†. Gen 12
:3
. . in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
And a pretty good number of additional promises are interspersed
throughout the gospel of John; beginning with this one
:
†. John 3
:14-17
. . As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so
must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whoever believes in him may have
eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He donated His only begotten
son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
For God didn't send His son into the world to condemn the world, but that
the world should be spared through him.
The incident to which that statement refers is recorded at Num 21
:5-9.
Yhvh's the people became weary of eating manna all the time at every meal.
But instead of courteously, and diplomatically, petitioning their Lord and
Master for a different diet, they became hostile and confrontational, angrily
demanding better food. In reply; The Lord sent a swarm of poisonous vipers
among them; which began biting and killing people; and every bite was
100% fatal, no exceptions. Then the people realized their mistake and asked
Moses to intercede. In reply; The Lord instructed Moses to fashion an effigy
of the vipers and hoist it up on a pole in plain view so that everyone dying
from venom could look to the effigy for relief.
The only act of faith the snakebite victims had to perform was just "look to"
the serpent's effigy and they would be cured. You know what it means to
look to something? It means to fully depend upon it. Moses hoisted the
effigy up on a pole high enough where everyone could see it, and all in the
world snakebite victims had to do was find a spot where they could see it.
The snake-bitten Jews' only hope of escape was that serpentary effigy; there
was no other God-given options . Not synagogue, not yeshiva, not love, not
charity, not piety, not the Sabbath, not morality, not tithing, not
commandments, not holy days of obligation, not fasting, not self denial, not
even one's own personal religious affiliation nor anything else one might
associate with salvation would do-- not even prayers, because that effigy
was it-- as Long John Silver would say
: join or hang, that's about the lay of it.
Now apply that incident to Christ's crucifixion and you've got a pretty good
idea of just how crucial to one's safety the cross really is.
†. John 5
:24
. . I assure you
: those who listen to my message, and believe
in God who sent me, have eternal life. They will never be condemned for
their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.
Standing on the promises of Christ my king;
Through eternal ages let his praises ring.
Glory in the highest I will shout and sing;
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing on the promises that cannot fail
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail.
By the living word of God I shall prevail;
Standing on the promises of God.
Cliff
/