Tag: Travis Peterson

Isaiah 49:1

Listen to me, O coastlands,
and give attention, you peoples from afar.
The Lord called me from the womb,
from the body of my mother he named my name.

Isaiah 49:14-15

But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me;
my Lord has forgotten me.”
Can a woman forget her nursing child,
that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
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While reading this passage this morning, it struck me that Isaiah 49 is another chapter of scripture that gives us verses that evidence for us God’s view of children, even unborn children. In our Christian ethical debates regarding abortion, cloning, in vitro fertilization (IVF), embryonic stem cell research, and other such issues, it is wise for us to glean from the scripture any hints about how God describes human life in its formative moments.

What first caught my attention to apply this point in Isaiah 49 is what we read in verse 1. God describes Isaiah’s call in a very similar way to how he called Jeremiah. From the time when Isaiah was being formed in his mother’s womb, God had already called him to his particular life ministry. I often hear Jeremiah’s calling mentioned in this argument, but hear Isaiah’s much less often. Thus, this is a good verse to see to recognize that God consistently spoke to his prophets of setting them apart for ministry from the time when they were in their mother’s wombs. Clearly, God does not view developing human life in the womb as a simple mass of tissue, but rather as human beings with purpose and a role to play. God views children in the womb as people created in his image.

Then, in the same chapter, God uses one more image regarding children and their protection that I find interesting. While speaking to Israel about how the nation felt forsaken by God, God drew a very interesting picture. He asked the nation, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?” Clearly, God wants the people to respond with a resounding, “No, of course a woman would never forsake her nursing child. No way would a mother do that.” Of course, God follows this up by saying that even some women who have children do forsake them, but he is not like that.

While I recognize that neither of these passages are contextually about the sanctity of human life, both verses give us things to think about in the sanctity of human life discussion. Even as God tells Isaiah about the strength of his calling, God also lets us know that he sees babies in the womb as living people, created in his image and destined by him for a purpose. While God speaks to Israel about his faithfulness to the nation, he shows us that it is clearly neither right nor normal for a mother to forsake her child. He also uses the picture of a mother forsaking her child to demonstrate for us that, regardless of what evil humanity may do, God is not like that. God does not forsake his children. And thus, we can also see that, as believers, we must not ever side with any group or argument that would treat children in the womb as simple masses of tissue, or with any group that treats human life as something that mothers can or should forsake.

In each of the ethical debates that I mentioned above, the proponents of the practices very regularly fail to see human life in the womb as true life. These proponents, by missing that unborn children are really children, also lead people to forsake or even destroy these children. In abortion, this is clear, as unborn human children are put to death. In cloning, this is clear, because life is created and destroyed in a lab for the simple goal of scientific advance. In IVF, a very common practice is to create several living humans, while only implanting a few (a practice which leaves the remainder of fertilized eggs to either die or be left in a freezer in a lab somewhere). And, with embryonic stem cell research, scientists create and destroy living human beings for the sake of harvesting their cells for research and potential (maybe) future medical progress.

I am in no way calling Christians to go out and violently revolt against the scientists and the clinics. I am, however, wanting, as I read this text, to challenge believers to take this debate seriously. God is clear in his word that children in the womb are living people. God is clear that he is not the kind of person who would favor the forsaking or the destruction of such people. Therefore, as Christians, we must protect all human life in the womb, and oppose research and procedures that would potentially devalue or destroy such life.

Ezekiel 18: 20 – The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

Exodus 34:6-7 – 6The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
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Many people have mistakenly interpreted Old Testament passages such as Exodus 34:6-7 to mean that God unfairly punishes or chastens children for the sins of their fathers. However, in our reading in Ezekiel for this morning, there is no doubt that such an interpretation of the word of God is not valid. God makes it plain that, if anyone is punished by him, they are punished for their own sin. People do not suffer the judgment of God for the sins of others. People who suffer God’s wrath do so because of their own sin.

Regarding the Exodus passage, we simply need to understand that the visitation of a father’s sin on his children for the third or even fourth generation is a visitation of sin on the household of one person. People lived together in a particular family household for that many generations. The sin of any patriarch in those times, then, would most certainly have an impact on the family around him. Those sins will hurt the family. Those sins may even lead family members astray, as they approve or participate in the very same sins of the father. But there is no indication that God is bringing punishment upon the children of a sinner because of the sinner’s sin.

The Ezekiel passage also strikes a mortally wounding blow to the notion of generational evil spirits. God makes it plain that the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon themselves. He in no way indicates that the wickedness of the wicked opens the children up to some sort of hidden spiritual stronghold that has to be discovered and repudiated by subsequent generations. If your father was a sinner, God’s solution is for you to be righteous. If your father taught you sin, God’s solution is for you to repent of that sin, not to seek a spiritual deliverance from your father’s demons.

Today, find it a joy that God deals with you based on your own relationship with him. Rejoice that the sins of your father and your forefathers are not visited upon you in such a way that you are punished by God because of their actions. Rejoice that God will allow you the option of following him or turning to evil. Rejoice that God will allow you to repent of sin, even sin you were taught by your father, and that you can find life and forgiveness in Christ. Do not fear some deep and dark secret in your family’s past. Do not seek to find some spirit force that has clung to your family for generations. If you want freedom from sin, find it in the grace of God, in the Holy Spirit of God, in the word of God, in repentance from sin, and in the life-changing blood of Jesus Christ.

Dear Lord, I acknowledge today that I stand or fall based on my own relationship with you. I can neither be made right with you because of my father’s actions nor can I be separated from you based on my father’s actions. You will justly judge me based on my own relationship with you. I pray that you will help me to be freed of any evil habits I learned as a child. I pray that you will help me to carry on any good habits I learned from my father and others. However, I know that I am responsible for how I respond to all I have ever seen or heard my family do. In all things, let me be your child because of the grace purchased for me in Jesus Christ. Let me love and serve you. Forgive me my own sins, and help me not to walk in them any longer. And keep me from ever making any excuses for my behaviors based on anything being “passed down” to me. I am your child, O Lord, and I ask that you lead me as a faithful Father.

Isaiah 46:9-10

9 remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me,
10 declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose,’.

In some Christian circles, there is a debate raging over a topic which some call “Open Theism.” In simplest terms, Open Theism is the belief that God does not know the future completely. Open theists have chosen to believe that God would not or could not actually know the future decisions of his free creatures, because such knowledge would actually limit the freedom of those creatures. These generally liberal theologians developed such a view in order to explain the problem of evil in the world, somehow finding comfort in a belief that God does not stop evil because he does not know for sure what evil people will do.

Besides being a view that dishonors God, elevates man and his freedom to a far too high position, and lacks the capacity to offer the comfort it is supposed to offer, the teaching of Open Theism is simply unbiblical; and we see that in Isaiah 46. Look at how our God describes himself. In verse 9, he tells us that there is no one like him. There has never been anyone who has the kind of knowledge that he is about to claim. One reason that open theists may have trouble imagining that God knows the future could simply be that there is no one other than God who truly can know the future.

Then, in verse 10, God tells us that he declares the end from the beginning. From ancient times, God declared things that have not yet been accomplished, but which will be accomplished. Without question, God intends to communicate to us in these verses that he knows the future from beginning to end, and this knowledge is one of the things that sets him apart from all other beings.

Thinking for a moment about the fact that God’s knowledge sets him apart from all other beings, we should apply proper terminology to this thought. To be set apart from all others, to be stronger, higher, better, and more perfect than others is to be holy. God is the strongest of the strong and the wisest of the wise. He is the only one with knowledge like his. He is the only one who can declare the end from the beginning. He is the only one who is totally set apart from others in every way. He is holy. And, thus, to attack God’s foreknowledge is to attack God’s holiness. Such an attack is something no man ought try, because God jealously guards the glory of his name and the glory of his holiness.

Besides seeing the theological issues at stake with the false view of Open Theism, today, let us also see the glorious comfort available to us in a proper, biblical view of God’s perfect foreknowledge. Our God knows everything. He knows the end from the beginning. He knows exactly who you are, who you have been, and who you will become. He can map your life from this very moment through the end of eternity, because he knows everything, including your future free decisions. He knows even what eternity would look like if you chose differently. He knows it all. Because of that knowledge, he can easily work in your life and mine to accomplish the eternity that he intends to accomplish. He can work all things, even the ugly things of life, together for ultimate good, because he knows every step that will take place in the process. God’s knowledge is incredibly comforting, and is one of the reasons we worship God. His perfect knowledge is part of what makes him holy, and we ought find comfort, awe, and reason to worship in that great knowledge of God.

Dear Lord, you are truly amazing and holy. There is no other like you. There is no person and no being of any sort who can declare the end from the beginning except for you. You are holy, totally set apart and superior to all others. I thank you that your knowledge is perfect. I thank you that you know what I will do today, and what I will choose in years to come. I pray that you will use that knowledge of the future to work all things together for good. I pray that you will use that knowledge to work my life into something that matters, a life that brings honor and glory to your name. Please use your great knowledge to order my steps in such a way that will bring maximum glory to your name.

Psalm 146:3-4

Put not your trust in princes,
in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
When his breath departs he returns to the earth;
on that very day his plans perish.
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Christians should let these verses remind us that our hope for our nation does not come in the political process. No matter how good is a candidate, he is not our hope. No man, no prince, no political figure, , no matter how good or how bad has ultimate control of the fate of a people.

Christians should take part in the political process in order to be wise and responsible citizens in their country. However, Christians ought never to think that the way to truly change a nation is through politics or campaigns. There is only one hope for our nation. That hope is that the hearts of people would be transformed by God as they place their faith in Jesus Christ. Our hope is that people would come under the lordship of Christ, and that they would begin to walk by God’s commands. That is our only hope for national change, and so evangelism ought to be the Christian strategy for national renewal. Yes, vote, and vote for candidates who support biblical principles. But do not think, even for a moment, that your candidate is the hope for the nation. The hope that we have is in Christ.

Lamentations 3:37-38

Who has spoken and it came to pass,
unless the Lord has commanded it?
Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that good and bad come?
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I simply want to point to the sovereignty of God that is displayed in these verses. Often times, when people find things hard to explain in life, they want to take away God’s sovereign hand. When tragedies strike, such as hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, or other such things, there is a school of thought that tries to remove from the event any notion of God being in control. There are plenty of well-meaning believers who will even say that God set events in motion years ago, but does not now control things.

But, if we believe the word of God to be true, then we also need to recognize that God’s sovereign hand is over all things. God is in control, even when things happen that are impossible for us to enjoy or understand. As Jeremiah tells us here, it is from the hand of God that both good and bad come.

Now, this does not make God evil simply because he does things that we can not explain. God has a plan that involves eternity. None of us can grasp how high is this plan. It is right, it is good, and it will be accomplished. And I do not pretend to understand all of the reasons why God allows certain things to happen and why God puts a stop to other things. I do not know why God allows some of us to have wonderful and easy lives while others suffer greatly. I do not know why God allows an earthquake to level one town and leave another unscathed. But I know this: God is good and God is in control. It would be a dishonor to God for me to ever pretend before any person in the world that God was not in control of all events, good and bad.

You and I may not be able to explain why things happen. We ought not even try. But we need to keep these verses in Lamentations available in our minds. Though things may not make sense to us, one explanation that God will not allow us is an explanation that says that he has no control over the bad things that happen in life. Such an explanation offers no comfort, as it depicts a weak little deity who can not stop bad things even though he might really like to . Such a picture is not the picture of the God of the Bible, and thus we may never use such an explanation to try to offer comfort. Instead, we must learn to find comfort in the fact that God is in control, he is good, and he has a purpose for all things. He will bring all events together for ultimate good(Romans 8:28). He is fully wise, and thus understands the reasons that he does things when we could never grasp such reasons. And, he has the full and eternal perspective on matters, a perspective that we will only truly see on the other side of this life.

Lamentations 3:21-23

But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
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To see the full significance of the verses above, we must be sure to keep them in their context. Jeremiah is writing his laments, his sorrowful weepings and outcries over the destruction of Jerusalem. The people of God in Jerusalem had sinned against God so much that they drew his wrath. God Finally allowed the army of the Babylonians to come into Jerusalem and destroy that sacred city along with the temple. And many of the people of God were killed or carried off to Babylon.

In the middle of this dark moment, when you might think that Jeremiah had lost all hope in God, we read the above three verses. They shine as a beacon against the darkest backdrop. Just as a candle appears brighter when the room is darker, so here Jeremiah’s words of hope shine even more brightly when we see how dark were his times.

Jeremiah remembers that God’s steadfast love never ceases. His mercies never end. Even when the city is being ransacked around him and the temple of God is being razed, Jeremiah remembers that God’s steadfast love, his covenant-making and promise-keeping love, never ceases. God does not fully turn away from his own. He always has even more mercy available for us as long as we live on this earth. God renews his mercies from day to day. God is fully faithful, always true to his promises. Jeremiah remembers all these truths, and he finds hope in the darkest of moments.

Today, you might be in a dark time. You might be doing wonderfully well. In either place, remember that God’s mercies are new for this day. God, right now, is being freshly merciful to you. He is giving you life and breath, and such things are gifts that none of us deserve. He is withholding from you and me the judgment that we deserve. In both ways, he is merciful. His steadfast love toward you does not cease. He is fully faithful to keep all of his promises, even when life does not seem like that is possible. God’s love and mercy endures forever.

Now, let’s remember that God’s love and mercy endure for those who are his. For those who have turned away from God, rejecting his offer of grace in Jesus Christ, they have a limited time to receive God’s mercies. God is holding out for all people the opportunity to receive mercy in Jesus. For those who reject Christ to the bitter end of their lives and who die without him, there is no longer mercy from God for them. They find God’s judgment, his full measure of justice poured out upon them in an eternity of hell. So, if you do not know Jesus and you are reading this, do not apply the everlasting mercy of God to yourself just yet. Instead, you need to realize, if you do not know Jesus, that God is merciful to you today in that he is allowing you to live and is giving you the chance, right now, to come to Jesus, confess your sin, place your trust in Christ’s sacrifice, and receive forgiveness in Christ. God offers you the everlasting kind of mercy, but you have to willingly receive it. You must have God change your heart and help you to place your faith in Jesus. Then, and only then, will you have the everlasting and never ending mercy of God as your hope.

Dear Lord, I thank you for these words of Jeremiah. I thank you that they come in the middle of the darkest of times. That shows me that your love and mercy are still right there, even when my world feels like it is falling to pieces. Thank you that your faithfulness is great. Thank you that your mercy is never-ending. Thank you that your loving kindness lasts forever. Thank you that you give me hope. My hope is you. Whatever the trial, whatever the struggle, I know that you will be there and your mercies will be there.

Jeremiah 35: 13-14 – Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Go and say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, ‘Will you not receive instruction and listen to my words?’ declares the Lord. ‘The command that Jonadab the son of Rechab gave to his sons, to drink no wine, has been kept, and they drink none to this day, for they have obeyed their father’s command. I have spoken to you persistently, but you have not listened to me.’”
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Jeremiah 35 has an interesting narrative illustration that should challenge us all. God called Jeremiah to gather a clan of Israel called the Rechabites. This family had been commanded by their patriarch to never drink wine and to never live in houses. In Jeremiah 35, we read of how God called Jeremiah to bring in the Rechabites and to offer them wine. They refused the wine, remembering the command of their forefather that they had continually obeyed.

Now, before we loose focus in this passage, let me remind you that this passage is not about the rightness or wrongness of drinking wine. Rather, this passage is about obedience. The Rechabites had received a command from their father, and they obeyed that command. They obeyed, regardless of what social opinion may have been. They obeyed, regardless of how convenient it may have been to disobey.

After these men display their continued commitment to their father’s command, God reveals to us what this event is about. God says to all of Israel that the Rechabites have obeyed a simple command of their father, even though that command was neither overly good or overly bad. It was certainly not the command of God on their lives, yet they obeyed it. Yet, as a nation, Israel had refused to obey the commands of God, commands that they were required to obey under the terms of the covenant. The Rechabites served as an example. It was not that the people could not obey commands, they were simply people who chose not to obey the commands of God. The people were not opposed to all commands, just God’s commands.

In our lives, we can learn quite a bit from the Rechabites. How often do we find ourselves obeying simple rules that have no bearing on our future. Some of us obey family superstitions that have no impact on our worlds whatsoever. For example, my father still eats black-eyed peas and cooked cabbage every New Year’s day, because his family always said that you should eat black-eyed peas and cabbage every new years day for good luck and prosperity. He has no problem obeying that command of his forefathers, though it, as a command, has no spiritual use at all (and in fact is dishonoring to God because it is a superstitious belief in luck rather than in a sovereign God).

Now, ask yourself, just how many little rules and commands do you follow every day which have no real impact on your life or on your eternity? On the other hand, how often do you pretend that you have no ability to obey commands when it comes to the commands of God? We dishonor God greatly when we pretend that obedience to his commands is burdensome, when we so easily and so regularly hear and obey the far less important commands of others.

Today, make it a point to focus your life on obedience to the commands of God. His commands are not burdensome, but life-giving. If we can obey the rules in a sport or card game, the rules on the highway, or the rules at a shopping mall or theatre, we should be able to obey the commands of God. If we can keep family traditions that have no moral significance, we should be able to keep the charges handed down to us by God. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you have been given by God the ability to keep his commands. There is not a command that God has given you that you can not follow. So, make it your hopeful task, this day, to follow those commands. Do not honor God less than you honor your family traditions. Do not honor God less than you honor the Wal-Mart security guard. Honor God by obeying his commands first and foremost.

Dear Lord, I thank you for this challenging example. I pray that I will never be one who follows my traditions better than your commands. I acknowledge that, in Christ, you have given me the ability to follow your commands. You have given me all that I need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). Therefore, I will follow you. Help me to keep your command this day. Help me to serve you this day. Remind me that you have given me all that I need to follow you. Remind me that I have no excuse for failing to follow you. Please give me your aid in honoring you in all that I do this day.

Jeremiah 27:5 – It is I who by my great power and my outstretched arm have made the earth, with the men and animals that are on the earth, and I give it to whomever it seems right to me.
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With the recent election cycle behind us and the 2008 presidential election talk already swirling, it is important that we who are believers in Christ recognize just who is in control of this process. In Jeremiah 27, the Lord sent a message to several kings through the word of Jeremiah. He let the leaders of the nations know, in no uncertain terms, that he, the LORD, is the one who put them into power for his own purposes.

Now, let me honestly say that I was not totally pleased with the outcome of the November elections here in the US. It appears to me that our nation, as a whole, took a moral step backward as many of the elected candidates support abortion, embryonic stem cell research, and homosexual marriage (to name only a few issues). I certainly would prefer to see our nation’s leaders in opposition to these issues, as to allow such things is only to allow our nation to slide further and further down the slippery slope toward moral decay.

But I also recognize, given this verse in Jeremiah, that elections are not merely a reflection of the will of the people. Elections and the placement of people into positions of power are the result of God working out his will for his purposes. Thus, I can not say that this last round of November elections thwarted the will of God. They most certainly did not. God is still on his throne, and is still the one who raises up and takes down leaders based on his own plan.

So, what can we, as believers, learn from this? One thing that I believe that God wants us to get when we read Jeremiah 27:5 is that we must recognize that God is in control. Whether elections or even wars go the way we want them to, we dare not believe that God is somehow not on the throne. He has claimed to have control over who is in power, and we must trust that his will is accomplished. Thus, when he places people in power, we need to obey his command to pray for them, and to ask that God be merciful to our nation by leading us away from the actions and policies that will bring upon our nation God’s judgment.

Do not read this as a call to cease all Christian participation in the political process. To ignore your right and responsibility to vote would be for you to fail morally. However, we must realize that the way that Christ will be glorified in the US or in any other nation is not simply through the political process. Christ is honored when the people of God share the gospel with the lost. Christ is honored when the lost are saved, and the hearts of the nations change. Then the political process can work in a positive direction, leading the nation toward policies and actions that will honor the God whom the people serve.

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1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 – For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.
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There are few theological topics that are subject to more debate between well-meaning Christians than the topic of eschatology. While the biblical teaching is clear that one day, Jesus will return and gather God’s children—both living and dead—to himself, believers differ in their understanding of the order of future events. Entire churches have divided over such issues.

However, if we look at this passage from the word of God closely, we will recognize that the debate over the order of events can, if we are not careful, take us far away from the intended purpose of God’s revelation of his plan. In verse 18 of 2 Thessalonians 4, Paul calls the church to encourage one another with the words that he has just shared. Eschatology, the study of end things, is not given as a dividing issue. God has revealed to us the future in order that we might encourage one another. God wants eschatology to be something that, whether we understand the exact order of events or not, is an encouraging topic for believers to share. We ought to be able to look at the truths that are unquestionable, and we ought to let those truths give us courage, strength, and hope for the future.

So, how ought we to be encouraged? In this passage, we see a couple of things. We ought to be encouraged because, all the believers in Christ who have died will not remain in the grave. Paul makes it plain that our loved ones and the saints we never knew who have gone before us will be the first to rise from the grave and will meet Jesus in the air one day. The saints of the past who have suffered and died for the glory of Christ will rise from the dead and be united with their Lord in the air.

We can also find encouragement to know that we, as believers, will also join with those who one day are united with Jesus. Whether we are alive at this glorious day or we have already died ourselves, we will be caught up with Christ in the air. We will be changed. We will be transformed. And we will be with the Lord. No struggle, no pain, no torture from this life can keep that day from coming for all of us who know Jesus. And, we can be assured that nothing we have suffered in this life will come close to equaling the greatness of the joy that we will have on the day when we are caught up in the air to be together with Jesus.

Finally, notice that all, whether they were dead at one point or not, who know Christ and who are caught up in the air to meet him will be with Jesus forever. There is coming a day when we who follow Jesus will be united with him, and nothing will ever separate us from our Lord. He is going to be with us, and he will never leave us. Though in this life, many believers struggle for simply not being able to see and talk to Jesus in the way they can talk with other people, on that glorious day, we will see Jesus and we will be with him from that day forward through all eternity.

Today, take a moment to encourage another believer with the parts of eschatology we can all agree upon. Don’t argue about tribulation, millennium, and rapture timing. Instead, rejoice with them that God has promised us that we will all be caught up into the sky, transformed, and taken to be with Jesus forever. Glory in what an awesome moment that will be to meet the Lord in the air. Celebrate how wonderful it will be to be with Jesus forever, never to be separated from him, never to lose your closeness to him, never to feel lonely or left out again.

Dear Lord, I thank you for the encouraging word that you give us as you tell us of events to come. Jesus, I long for the day when you will draw us to yourself in the sky and keep us with yourself forever. I pray that I will honor you with my life until that time. I also ask that you will help me to encourage one person today with the thought of the glory of your return.

Revelation 20:11-15 – Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
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There are certain theological doctrines that are difficult to discern. For example, there are very strongly conservative biblical scholars who disagree on issues such as predestination or church government style. This is not to say that the answers to these questions are not in scripture, but they are not always the easiest to completely understand. However, when it comes to the issue of salvation, is it by grace or by our works, we see that there is simply no question.

Looking at Revelation 20:11-15, we see a picture of the great white throne judgment. The dead are lined up before Christ’s throne, and they are judged. In this judgment, there are two possible options as to how to be judged. One way to be judged is a book, and the other is a group of books. The single book is the “Lamb’s Book of Life,” and this book is the list of all who have been saved and forgiven by God’s grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. The other books are a recording of the lives and deeds of every person on earth.

If a person’s name is written in the book of life, there is no need to check the other books, because their eternity is set. They are forgiven and welcomed into God’s family. However, if a person’s name is not written in the book of life, they are then judged by their deeds. And notice that, in every situation with no exceptions, a person judged by his or her deeds is cast into the eternal lake of fire.

There are a few things that we should remember as we take a look at this final judgment. First among them is that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. No one’s deeds get them into heaven. On the contrary, all who are judged according to their deeds in this life go to hell. There is no exception. No person other than Christ himself—God in flesh—has ever lived a life of such perfection that they could go to heaven based on their deeds. , regardless of who you are and regardless of how good you have been, you do not want God judging your eternity based on your deeds; because God has already revealed what the result of such judgment would be: eternal hell in the lake of fire. Only those whose names are written in the book of life, the list of those forgiven by Christ, will be able to stand in God’s presence.

Another point worth thinking about from this is that, if this doctrine is as clear as we can see it is in the scriptures, why are we not telling it to more people? Today, many Christians fear speaking about hell. They fear being thought of as backward fire and brimstone preachers with no understanding of modern sensitivities. However, if we are people who believe the word of God, we must believe it all. And Revelation 20:11-15 is a significant passage for us to understand what hell is and how to avoid it. We need to tell people that hell is real, eternal, and something to be avoided. We need to tell them that they can not avoid hell through good deeds. They can only avoid hell when they turn to God in repentance and place their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. It is only when someone has come to Jesus in faith that they will have their name written in the book of life.

Dear Lord, I thank you for the clear picture of the white throne judgment that you have given us. You have revealed to us that you are gracious and you are just. You will allow people to be judged on their own merits if they so choose, but such judgment will always lead to their destruction; because all have sinned and fallen short of your glory and perfection. You also show that you have made a way for people to be forgiven, rescued by having their names in the book of life. Lord, I know that no one deserves your grace, least of all me. So I thank you that your grace is a free gift in Christ. I readily acknowledge that my deeds would earn me your eternal wrath. I thank you that Jesus died to pay the penalty for my sin so that I would not have to pay that eternal punishment. Now, I ask that you will help me to live as one forgiven. Help me to share with others the truth of the gospel, including the truth about hell. Help me to honor you by speaking truth to everyone you put before me.