John 15:1-8 Part 4 Only branches abiding in the vine bear fruit

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

The fruit producing life and vitality of the branch comes from the vine. A branch disconnected from the vine is merely dead wood. It cannot of itself bear fruit. The same is true for us. We cannot bear fruit by ourselves.

Therefore Jesus commands His disciples to abide in Him. He does not want us to try to find some power within ourselves. There is none! The life and vitality to bear fruit can only come through vital union with Jesus. Any attempt to bear fruit which does not recognise our absolute inability is fundamentally wrong-headed. When we abide in Jesus, He also abides in us and brings forth fruit in our lives. Abide in Him.

John 15:1-8 Part 3 You are already clean

“Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.”

In the previous verse, Jesus spoke about the Father pruning (Greek. kathairei) the fruit-bearing branches. The word kathairei in an agricultural context gives the sense of pruning, whereas in a moral or religious context it means ‘to clean’. Therefore the pruning of the Father is His cleaning away of sin from the lives of those who truly abide in the vine.

The ongoing cleansing work of the Father is important, but Jesus is careful not to divorce it from the fact that in a real sense the branches the Father is cleaning are already clean. “Already you are clean…”

Paul reminded the Corinthians of this fact. ‘And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God’ (1 Corinthians 6:11).

In regard to our standing before God in Christ we are perfectly clean and acceptable to Him. But In regard to our practical state we are in need of ongoing cleansing. Consider how these two truths are brought together in the following verses:

Hebrews 10:14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified (perfected).

1 Corinthians 5:7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

The reason you are already clean says Jesus is “because of the word that I have spoken to you.”

John 15:1-8 Part 2

“…and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”

The Father, as vinedresser, is after a fruitful vine that glorifies Him (v. 8). To this end He works in two ways:

First, the Father takes away the dead wood. The fact that He takes away branches bearing no fruit shows the impossibility of being a fruitless Christian. There are many who profess faith in Christ but in reality are dead wood. Their fruitlessness proves they have no true vital union with the vine. These are taken away and eventaully thrown into the fire (v. 6).

Secondly, He prunes the fruit-bearing branches so that they will bear even more fruit. Pruning is painful, but necessary for maximum fruitfulness. As Christians we should therefore expect pain and suffering in our lives as the Vinedresser prunes away our hindrances to fruitfulness. The writer of Hebrews teaches the same idea but in terms of Fatherly discipline.

Hebrews 12:10-11 …he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

John 15:1-8 Part 1

“I am the true vine…“

The Old Testament often refers to the nation of Israel as God’s vine.

Psalm 80:8 You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it…

Jeremiah 2:21 Yet I planted you a choice vine, wholly of pure seed. How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine?

Isaiah 5:1-7 Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!

In contrast to Israel, Jesus declares Himself to be the true vine. This is not to say Israel was the ‘false’ vine, but rather the shadow compared to the reality. Just as  Jesus supersedes the temple (John 2:19ff) so ‘He supercedes Israel as the very locus of the people of God.’ ¹ Those who are part of God’s vine are those who are incorporated into Jesus.

In contrast to Israel, which failed to bring forth fruit, Jesus, as the true vine will produce fruit in all who abide in Him.

¹D.A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, 513

Psalm 105: You shall be my people and I will be your God

At the heart of the covenants God makes with His people is the promise, “You shall be my people and I will be your God.”  This Psalm calls us as the people of God to remember this wonderful promise and to live accordingly.

The Psalmist reminds the people again and again throughout the Psalm that they are the LORD’s people.  Verse 6, “O offspring of Abraham, his servant, children of Jacob, his chosen ones!”  Verses 24 and 25 Israel is called “His people”.  In verse 37 He speaks of “His tribes”.  And finally in verse 43 we read, “So He brought His people out with joy, His chosen ones with singing.”  The nation of Israel was God’s people because He chose them and entered into covenant with them.  And we who have embraced Jesus as our Lord and savior have also been chosen to be God’s people.  We are the recipients of the promises of the New Covenant which Jesus purchased for us by His death.  At the heart of the New Covenant is exactly the same promise.  “You shall be my people and I will be your God.”

At the beginning (v. 1-6) and end (v. 45) of the psalm the focus is on how we are to live as God’s people.  I see 9 characteristics:

1. We are to be a thankful people. Verse 1, “Oh give thanks to the LORD.”
2. We are to be a prayerful people, who are reliant on God. Verse 1, “Call upon His name.”
3. We are to be a proclaiming people. Verse 1, “Make known His deeds among the peoples!” At the end of verse 2, “tell of all His wondrous works!”
4. We are to be a worshipping people. Verse 2, “Sing to Him, sing praises to Him.”  And in verse 45 the psalm ends with, “Praise the LORD!”
5. We are to be a people who rejoice in the LORD. Verse 3, “Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice!”
6. We are to be a people who depend on the LORD. Verse 4, “Seek the LORD and His strength.”
7. We are to be a people who seek the LORD’s presence continually. Verse 4, “Seek the LORD and His strength; seek His presence continually!”
8. We are to be a remembering people. Verse 5, “Remember the wondrous works that He has done, His miracles, and the judgments He uttered.”
9. We are to be an obedient people. Verse 45, “keep His statutes and observe His laws.”

This is how God would have us live as His people.  We could summarise all of these by saying that as God’s people we are to live so as to glorify God.  Listen to how God describes His purpose for creating His people.  Isaiah 43:6-7 “bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

In verses 7-44 the focus changes, beginning with the words, “He is the LORD our God.”  Now the Psalmist moves on to tell God’s people what it means to say that the LORD is our God.

First of all the Psalmist reminds the people that God is sovereign over all the earth and that He made a covenant with Abraham which He then confirmed to Abraham’s descendants after him.

Psalm 105:7-11 “He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth. He remembers his covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations, the covenant that he made with Abraham…”

God is not some small local God restricted in power and authority to a certain area or region.  God is the eternal creator who is sovereign over all His creation.  This teaching comes through loud and clear through the rest of the section.

This sovereign God has bound Himself to His people through promises.  How absolutely amazing!  We are so unworthy of any good from God, and yet from grace God comes to us and says, “I will be your God, and you will be my people.”  He takes the initiative.  It is His covenant; the word that He commanded; the covenant He made with Abraham; His sworn promise.  By making a covenant, God has committed Himself to work for the good of His people in fulfilling His promises to them.  And this He does.  We are told, “He remembers His covenant forever” which means He always acts to fulfill His covenant promises.

It is so important to hold these two themes together.  If God was sovereign but had not committed Himself to us through promises, then we would have no hope of Him being for us.  It would be terrifying!  And if God had bound Himself to us with promises but wasn’t absolutely sovereign, then we wouldn’t have confidence that the promises of God to us are sure.  God might be hindered or unable to keep His promises to us.  But what a rock we have to stand on when the God who binds Himself by covenant to us is sovereign over all!

The Psalmist focuses on the promise of land.  “To you I will give the land of Canaan as your portion for an inheritance” From verses 12-44 we are given the history of God (remembering) working to fulfill this promise from the time of Abraham until the time the LORD finally gave the nation of Israel the land.

Let us note first that God fulfilled this promise in His own time according to His own purposes.  It took many hundreds of years for this promise to come to fruition, but despite the delay God was faithful to His promise.  From our human perspective, we often don’t see the invisible hand of God at work and conclude that God has forgotten His promises.  But this Psalm reminds us God “remembers His covenant forever.”  Don’t let delay cause you to doubt God’s faithfulness.  God was at work the whole time acting according to His promise, even while delaying the final consummation of the promise.

The passage is too big to touch on everything, but let us see how it picks up on the two themes of God’s sovereignty and His faithfulness to His promise.

Verses 12-15 speak about the time when God’s chosen people were very few in number and were sojourners in the land.  They were small and insignificant.  They were strangers, not belonging to any particular nation.  Therefore they were very vulnerable.  But we are told throughout this time God “allowed no one to oppress them.”  Here we see God’s sovereignty over the nations acting in accordance with His covenant.  No human power can threaten the sovereign promises of God.

In verses 16-25 we are reminded of the story of Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his brothers and put into prison in Egypt where we are told, “His feet were hurt with fetters; his neck was put in a collar of iron.”  Surely this is evidence God had forgotten His promises.  Surely here, in view of Joseph’s suffering and misery, we can’t say that the LORD was Joseph’s God acting for his good!  And yet we are told all this was indeed the work of God acting for the good of His people in fulfillment of His covenant promises.  “When He summoned a famine on the land and broke all supply of bread, He had sent a man ahead of them.”  Joseph was brought out of prison and made ruler of Egypt just as the word of the LORD had told him in a dream many years before.  His God given wisdom provided the means for Israel to survive the famine.  Because of Joseph Israel had the opportunity to settle in Egypt temporarily where God “made His people very fruitful and… stronger than their foes” in preparation for the Promised Land.  No suffering or disaster can threaten the sovereign promises of God.  This is even true with the slavery of Israel in Egypt since it was the LORD who “turned [the Egyptians] hearts to hate His people, to deal craftily with His servants.”  The LORD was behind the suffering of His people in Egypt.  It was in accord with His covenant promises.  Don’t let suffering cause you to doubt the faithfulness of God.

Then in God’s perfect timing, according to His covenant promises He sent Moses and Aaron to lead His people out of slavery in Egypt.  They performed His signs and miracles in the land of Ham.  These demonstrated the sovereignty of God over nations, nature and foreign gods.  Nothing is able to keep God from fulfilling His word.

In remembrance of His holy promise He brought out Israel and preserved them through the wilderness, by providing food and water in abundance.  He protected them from the sun by day with a cloud, and gave them a fire for light by night.  And finally, “He gave them the lands of the nations” as He had promised.

Let us rejoice that we are the LORD’s people and He is our God.  Let us trust Him to be for us and to work in our lives for our good according to His promises, even when it doesn’t seem like He is.  Let us seek to glorify our God as His people.  Praise the LORD!

Lessons from Paul’s Apostolic task

Romans 1:5 through whom [Jesus] we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations,

Paul mentions three things about his task as an apostle.

First, the immediate purpose was to bring about the obedience of faith. This phrase is rightly translated ‘the obedience that comes from faith’ by the NIV. In other words, obedience that is produced and naturally flows from faith. James calls this living faith as opposed to dead faith (James 2:14ff). Paul was not after an empty profession that Jesus is Lord. He wanted genuine faith in Jesus as Lord which would submit gladly to His Lordship and result in transformed lives.

Second, the scope of this obedience of faith included all the nations. Paul was referred to as the Apostle to the Gentiles, not just of the Jews only. As Paul goes on to say in verse 16, the gospel is ‘the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.’ It is this universal scope of the gospel which drove him to preach the gospel among all the nations.

‘We too, if we are to be committed to world mission, will have to be liberated from all pride of race, nation, tribe, caste and class, and acknowledge that God’s gospel is for everybody, without exception and without distinction.’^[1]

Third, the ultimate purpose of Paul’s task was the honoring of Jesus among the nations. He did all that he did for the sake of Jesus’ name. This means that what drove Paul in his missionary work was not ultimately the misery and need of people but the desire for Jesus to be glorified. As John Stott rightly says,

‘The highest of all missionary motives is neither obedience to the Great Commission (as important as that is), nor love for sinners who are alienated and perishing (strong as that incentive is, especially when we contemplate the wrath of God, verse 18), but rather zeal – burning and passionate zeal – for the glory of Jesus Christ.’^[2]

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[1] J. Stott, The Message of Romans (Leicester: IVP, 1994) 51-52

[2] J. Stott, The Message of Romans, 53

No sex in heaven

For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.  (Matthew 22:30)

The above verse is the first part of our Lord’s response to the Sadducees when they challenged Him about the resurrection (Matthew 22:23-28).  As I was considering it, a stunning implication came to mind, which I would like to now share with you.  It is certainly not the main point of what Jesus was saying, but I think it is a valid implication nonetheless.

Jesus tells us there will be no marriage in heaven.  That seems plain from the text.  There will be no weddings and those who were married on earth in this present age will no longer be married (therefore the women in the Saducees’ story won’t be anyone’s wife).  What is the implication we can draw from this?  If there is no marriage in heaven, then there will be no sex.  Now stop and ponder that for a moment.  Does this fact affect your conception of how good heaven will be? Does it sound disappointing?  Be honest.

The fact remains that the bible presents heaven as a place of infinite pleasure.  The lack of sex will in no way affect the eternal satisfaction we will experience there.  This means that in heaven there is something or someone infinitely more satisfying for us than sex. That someone is none other than God.  Our delight in heaven will be found in knowing and worshipping our great and glorious God.  The Psalmist certainly knew and looked forward to this reality:

You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever.  (Psalm 16:11)

Our fullest and most enduring satisfaction is to be found in God.  The pleasure of sex cannot even compare to that of knowing God and being in His presence.

Now what is the point of all this?  We live in a society that glories in sex.  Sex is everywhere (television, movies, ads, books, magazines, the internet, billboards, etc).  “Sex sells,” they say, and the reason it does is because people love it.  The message that constantly bombards us is, ‘sex will satisfy us’.  And we are buying it.  How many of us have struggles with pornography, or fidelity in relationships, or masturbation?

Sex is of course a good gift from God, but it is not to be our god. God alone is the fountain of living water. To turn from Him to try to satisfy ourselves in sex is firstly to greatly dishonour and displease God and secondly to dig for ourselves broken cisterns that can hold no water (Jeremiah 2:13). Turn from your broken cisterns to Jesus. He says, “whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

God has spoken

God is not silent. ‘Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son’ (Hebrews 1:1-2). God has spoken directly to people from time to time (Genesis 2:16f; 12ff). But God’s usual way of speaking to us is through His spokesmen (prophets and apostles). 2 Peter 1:21 tells us, ‘men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.’

Deuteronomy 18:18-20 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’

The prophet is a person called by God to speak God’s words. God calls the words of the prophet ‘my words’ so that the person who disobeys the prophet disobeys God.

In order to preserve His word and make it available to us, God caused His prophets and apostles to write it down. This process began with God Himself writing the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone (Exodus 32:15-16). Moses, as God’s prophet, followed suit by recording God’s laws and the history of God’s dealing with His people. By Jesus’ day the collection of writings we know as the Old Testament had been formed. This collection was called ‘the Scriptures (writings)’. Paul teaches us, ‘all Scripture is breathed out by God…’ (2 Timothy 3:16). In other words, Scripture is spoken by God. The theological word for this idea is ‘inspiration’. The words of Scripture are the words of God. Inspiration ‘does not set aside the human authorship of the books. But it puts behind the human also a divine authorship.’

It is clear from the gospels that Jesus accepted and believed this view of the Scriptures.

Mark 12:36 David himself, by the Holy Spirit, declared, “‘ The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.’

Jesus declares David spoke by the Holy Spirit. The next verse is much more explicit.

Matthew 19:4-5 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh’?

The ‘He’ Jesus speaks of here is God. God did two things: he created humans and he spoke the words, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh”(quoting Genesis 2:24). But in Genesis these words are those of the human author of Genesis (Moses) commenting on the historical story of Adam and Eve. Clearly Jesus shares the view that the words of Scripture are the words of God Himself.

For every follower of Jesus who has doubts regarding the inspiration of the Scriptures, it must be asked, “In what sense can you call Jesus teacher and Lord if you do not accept His view of the Scriptures?”

This establishes the inspiration of the Old Testament, but what about the New Testament? Is this to be regarded as God breathed Scripture too, and on what basis?

In the gospels Jesus created a small band of 12 Apostles, to which He later added Paul. An Apostle is, ‘One chosen and sent with a special commission as the fully authorized representative of the sender.’ Thus the New Testament Apostle is equivalent to the Old Testament prophet. The words of the Apostles are to be accepted as the words of Jesus. And not only did Jesus appoint them as His Apostles, but He also promised them the Holy Spirit to enable them to fulfil their apostolic role (John 14:26; 16:13).

The apostles, as Jesus’ authorized spokesmen, continued to speak the word of God bringing the Scriptures to completion with the New Testament. Peter tells his readers to “remember the… commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles” (2 Peter 3:2). He regarded the letters of Paul as Scripture alongside the Old Testament. “…Just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him… There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures” (2 Peter 3:15-16). Paul quotes from the Gospel of Luke and calls it Scripture (1 Timothy 5:18). So the New Testament, as Scripture, is breathed out by God too. The Word of God is the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament.

Two important and practical implications can be drawn from the fact that the Scriptures are the word of God.

Firstly, since the Scriptures are the words of one who cannot lie (2 Samuel 7:28; Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18), they are perfectly trustworthy in all they say. God’s word cannot err because God cannot err. Jesus Himself said, “Scripture cannot be broken.”

Psalm 12:6 The words of the LORD are pure words, Like silver tried in a furnace of earth, Purified seven times.

In this Psalm, the words of the LORD are contrasted with the words of the wicked. The wicked speak lies; the LORD speaks perfectly pure words, which He will keep. The idea that they are like silver purified seven times means they are perfectly pure, seven being the number of perfection.

In this regard, the terms inerrant and infallible have been applied to Scripture. To say the Word of God is infallible is to say it is unable to deceive or lead astray. To be inerrant means to be without error, or to put it positively, to be true. This is because Scripture is spoken by one who is all-knowing, wise and good. ‘Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.’ (Proverbs 30:5)

Secondly, God as Creator has absolute authority over all His creation. He is King of kings and Lord of lords. He has the right to require submission to Him in every aspect of our lives (actions, thoughts, feelings, motives, desires, beliefs, dreams). The Scriptures, as His word, possess His authority and therefore demand our absolute submission.

1 Thessalonians 5:21 tells us to ‘test everything’ and to ‘hold fast what is good’ (see also 1 Corinthians 14:29). The word of God is the only infallible rule of faith and practice by which everything must be tested. When you ask the question, “should I think/feel/do this?” You must test whether it is consistent with or contrary to Scripture.

Over the course of its history the church has tried to organize and state the teaching of the Bible in creeds and confessions. These are useful, and can serve the church well as safeguards of the faith. But it must be remembered that they are always to be subservient to and tested by Scripture. They are creations of humans and therefore not infallible. The Word of God is the only infallible rule of faith and practice.

People make the effort to listen to those who are wise or famous. The Queen of Sheba travelled a great distance to hear King Solomon when she heard about his wisdom. Upon hearing him she said, “Happy are your men! Happy are your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!” (1 Kings 10:8). In the same way, ‘Happy is the man… [whose] delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night’ (Psalm 1:1-2). Who is wiser than God? Since God has spoken, how can we not make every effort to hear what He has said?

The Eternal God Part 2

The Bible often speaks about God’s relationship to time in terms of duration. For example:

Psalm 90:2 “Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”

God never had a beginning (He is from everlasting) and He will never have an ending (He is to everlasting). He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

We as creatures are within time (we are temporal).  We can’t step out of time and move back into the past and we can’t move into the future faster than time will allow.  We had a beginning and every moment takes us further on in time than we were the moment before.  Is this the way God experiences time?

As Creator, God is separate and distinct from His creation.  Therefore if time is part of God’s creation, then God must be separate and distinct from time as well. In other words He must be timeless in His being.

Evidence for the creation of time

• There are a number of verses that indicate time had a beginning.

2 Timothy 1:9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began (NIV, ‘before the beginning of time’),

Titus 1:2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began (NIV, ‘before the beginning of time’)

• “The study of physics tells us that matter and time and space must all occur together: if there is no matter, there can be no space or time either. Thus, before God created the universe, there was no “time,” at least not in the sense of a succession of moments one after another.”^[1]

• If time was not created and is therefore eternal in the sense that it never had a beginning then we run into the problem of what is called an ‘actual infinite’. “If God is temporal, then time is not created. If time is not created, then it extends infinitely far into the past. In that case, an infinity of days would have elapsed before God’s creation of the world. But if an infinity of days elapsed before creation, then creation never took place. But since creation did take place, God must not embody an actual infinite, and so He exists outside of time.”^[2]

The evidence seems to suggest that time was created by God and therefore God is timeless in Himself. But timelessness is not easy for us to understand because we have no such experience. “Our existence is marked off by days and weeks and months and years; not so the existence of God.  Our life is divided into past, present and future, but there is no such division in the life of God.  He is the eternal “I am.””^[3]

Charles Hodge speaks of the eternal present.  For God, all the past and all the future are always present. “He does not exist during one period of duration more than another.  With Him there is no distinction between the present, past and future; but all things are equally and always present to Him.  With Him duration is an eternal now.”^[4]

The timelessness of God is seen in the divine name.

Exodus 3:14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, `I AM has sent me to you.’”

This is especially clear with the way Jesus uses it in John 8:58.

John 8:58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

Leon Morris notes, “It should be observed that He says “I am,” not “I was.”  It is eternity of being and not simply being that has lasted through several centuries that the expression indicates.”^[5]

Distinct from time yet active in it

Just as God is separate from creation yet active and present within it, so He is separate from time but also active in it.  As Creator He is Lord of time and rules it according to His will.  This means that His actions in time are not forced, hurried or delayed, but happen as and when He has planned.

Galatians 4:4-5 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, in order that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

Galatians 4:4 speaks about God sending His Son at a particular predetermined point in time.  The timing of Jesus’ incarnation was planned and so God waited until the fullness of the time before He acted. When did God make His plan to send Jesus?

Ephesians 3:11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,

God’s actions are in time, but they are done in accordance with His eternal purpose. Theologians speak of God’s eternal purpose as His decree.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism defines the decrees of God as ‘his eternal purpose, according to the counsel of his will, whereby for his own glory, he has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.’

God, as separate from His creation in His being, is timeless. But God, as active in creation, is present with us in time. As timeless, He decrees all that takes place in time.  As present in time, He acts sovereignly and personally to bring His decree about.

God will do what He has promised, but He knows the best time to fulfill it.  Trust Him, even when He doesn’t act when you would like Him to.

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. God is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness…

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^[1] W. Grudem, Systematic theology, 169

[2] J. Frame, The Doctrine of God, 552

[3] L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology (London: The Banner of Truth, 1941) 60

[4] C. Hodge, Systematic Theology: Volume 1 (London: James Clark & Co., 1960) 385

[5] L. Morris,

The eternal God Part 1

2 Peter 3:1-10 This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.

Remembrance is such an important theme in the Bible. God’s people go astray when they forget.

We don’t live in a neutral world. The world about us is opposed to God, and therefore we as God’s people are always in danger. One danger is that of persecution. The other threat, which is no less dangerous, is that of destructive teaching. This is what Peter wants to warn us about here. Scoffers will come in the last days. The ‘last days’ is a term which speaks about the period of time between the ascension of Jesus and His second coming. In other words it is the time in which we live. Scoffers are in the world now. Know this and be ready so that you won’t be led astray. The way to prepare yourself for these scoffers is to have your mind stirred up to remember the predictions of the prophets and the commandment of God. In the context the predictions that are in view are those of a final judgment against all unrighteousness with the coming of Jesus. So what will the scoffers say?

They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”

In other words they will deny the return of Christ and the judgment that He brings. “There is no coming judgment. The world is just continuing on the same as it has been from the beginning and it will continue like that forever.” How does Peter respond?

For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

No, all things have not continued as they did from the beginning. The scoffers deliberately ignore the fact that God judged the world once before in the time of Noah, and He will do so again with the coming of Jesus. But Peter doesn’t leave it at that. The fact remains that days and months and years have passed since Jesus ascended to heaven. Almost two thousand years down the track we are still waiting! What has happened to the promise? Has God forgotten? Is He slow in fulfilling what He promises? Peter wants to help us with these questions.

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

The scoffers overlooked the fact about God’s judgment in the days of Noah and concluded error. We on the other hand must not overlook the fact about God’s relationship to time. With the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. “In God’s perspective, any extremely long period of time is as if it just happened.  And any very short period of time (such as one day) seems to God to last forever: it never ceases to be “present” in His consciousness.”^[1] God’s view of time is vastly different to ours. We must know this and remember it otherwise our faith will be more vulnerable to the attacks of the scoffers. Studying and thinking about God is not irrelevant to life or impractical. Theology is hugely practical. As the Psalmist says, “And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you (Psalm 9:10).” Peter says, we need to know about God’s relationship to time. It will help us to be patient and keep trusting in God. From the fact that God experiences time differently Peter draws the following conclusion.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

No, God is not slow to fulfill His promise, as some count slowness. We wrongly charge God with being slow when we demand He goes by our timetable.  God, in making promises, reserves the right to fulfill those promises in the manner and at the time He determines. The day of the Lord will come as promised. But He has a purpose to fulfill first. All His elect must reach repentance, and then the end will come. In the mean time we ought to be patient toward God, just as He is patient toward us.

The principle Peter teaches in verse 8 is not limited to the promise of Jesus’ second coming, but can be equally applied to all God’s promises. God’s eternality should help us wait patiently. Beloved, do not forget this one thing.

Consider the story of Abraham. Genesis 15:1-6 records God’s promise to Abraham that he will have a son. But in his impatience, Abraham sought to fulfill God’s promise through his own initiative and produced a son through Hagar, Sarah’s maidservant. Ishmael was born to Abraham when he was 86 years old. But when Abraham was 99 years old the Lord returned to him and renewed the promise of a son through Sarah. Sarah gave birth to a son a year later. God fulfilled His promise in His own time. Abraham viewed his life through his own perception of time and acted impatiently regarding God’s promise. Looking at his life through God’s perception of time would have helped him remain patient.

Peter considers it important for us to know at least a little about God’s relationship to time. Therefore it is worthwhile for us to consider what the Bible teaches. Christians call this attribute of God, His eternality.

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[1] W. Grudem, Systematic Theology, 170