Some of this reasons actually will sound a lot like universalism, but they are said more in hope, and hope in a God that doesn't fail.
1. Plato. I'm obsessed with him lately. He's a man who gets so close to the Gospel in his teachings but doesn't quite go there. If it were not for God's predestinating grace I would have no hope that this brilliant man who has been dead all these millennia is in heaven right now. Do I know for sure he's saved? No. All I know is that God knows all hearts and knows who he saved. My job is simply to teach him the Gospel.
2. Andrew my brother and Carl D. Smith Jr, my uncle. They are both grown men now. One is my autistic brother who is my sunshine and the other is my uncle in his 60s who has the mentality of a 10-year old. Neither may be able to knowingly profess faith in Jesus, and even so, they may not always understand holiness or a world outside themselves. Can they help it? I don't know. All I know is God put them in my life and that the only hope for their salvation is God's specific election.
3. I have this friend I grew up with who died last year. He went to church and professed faith, but he also lived in slavery to drugs and could never seem to come free of them. Where is he now? If I did not believe in God's predestinating grace that exclusively saves people, I would have no hope that he's in heaven. But I would also despair without that hope. Therefore, my hope is in his Defense Attorney who doesn't back down and never loses a case.
4. Pharaoh, Judas, and Esau. Romans 9 is clear that these guys had predestinations that weren't for their benefits. Verses 14-18 show that God has mercy on whom he has mercy. He's not obligated to give it. Verses 22-24 actually hurt to read. He made some vessels to show how worthless they are without him and how seriously he takes sin and his wrath.
5. If Christ's atonement was for all, there would be two conclusions. Everyone would be saved because he died for them all. Or people are in hell even though Christ paid their penalty and are experiencing divine double jeopardy. We know not all people will be saved. And we also know that God gave his wrath to Jesus to save the ones who are elect. They have to go free. Even if they are the dwarves in the Last Battle who still think they are in that smelly stable after Aslan has brought the new Narnia, they don't have to perish with Shift and all is friends. Granted, they won't see the glorious truth. Too afraid to be taken in that they won't be taken out. That's actually just as bad, but Aslan keeps them in their blissful ignorance.
6. All those children who die in infancy. Where are they? If I had no hope in God's exclusive saving grace, I would have no hope that they would be safe in the arms of Jesus now and that their deaths were not in vain. Each one of them would be born a sinner and useless apart from God's fiat given through Jesus. I'm so glad, he sees beyond that.
7. A stuttering stammering person like me who has no tact can still be used at a crisis pregnancy center or even at the Atlanta LifeWay and know that she usually has to go home apologizing to God but that he still takes his Word and uses it for his glory despite this broken drive-thru speaker named Meghan. Without his predestinating grace, I would only mess everything up and have to stay home.
No comments:
Post a Comment