Saturday, January 17, 2009.
A question to puzzle upon Part I
Thank God for the gathering today that i am so glad to see so many people!Thank you, Pei En, for your hard work as a group leader to organize.
Thank every brothers and sisters in our group to make an effort to come, although some cannot due to personal reasons.
I am reading an article on the wills of God by pastor John Piper. I have not completed but there are some points that i am puzzled. I hope that i can gain more understanding once i have finished reading it.
Are There Two Wills In God? - Divine election and God's desire for all to be saved.
The main argument is on the simultaneous existence of God's will for "all men to be saved" (1 Tim. 2:4) and His will to elect unconditionally those who will actually be saved (Matt 22:14; John 6:37, 44, 65; 8:47; 10:26-29; Rom 8:29-30; 9:6-23; 11:5-10; 1 Cor 1:26-30; Eph 1:4-5; 1 Thes 1:4; 2 Thes 2:13; Jam 2:5).
For these Scriptures affirms the will of God to save all, while also affirming the unconditional election of some, implies that there are at least "two wills" in God, or, better, two ways of willing. It implies that God decrees one state of affairs while also willing and teaching that a different state of affairs should come to pass.
Some illustrations of two wills of God:
A. The death of Christ
God plans for something to come to pass which necessarily involved great sin, while at the same time disapproving of the sin involved.
the betrayal of Jesus by Judas was a morally evil act inspored immediately bu Satan. (Luke 22:3)
"This Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God." Acts 2:23
B. The war against the Lamb
In Rev 17:16-17, the war against the Son of God reached its sinful climax at the cross comes to final consummation in a way that confirms what we have seen about the will of God. It also reveals John's understanding of God's active involvement in fulfilling prophecies whose fulfillment involve sins.
C. The hardening work of God
Most famous example will be the hardening of Pharaoh's heart. (Exo 4:21; 7:3, 13, 14, 21 22; 8:11, 15 19, 28, 32: 9:7, 12, 34, 35: 10:1, 20, 27,: 11:10; 13:15; 14:4, 8, 17)
God's command is his will that Pharaoh let the Israelites go. Nevertheless, from the start He also willed that Pharaoh not let the Israelites go.
Another is in Romans 11:7-9 that Paul speaks of Israel's failure to obtain what it sought. Their hearts were hardened, yet it allows the Gentiles, us, to go to God. He wills a condition which He commands people to strive against. Heb 3:8, 15; 4:7
D. God's right to restrain evil and His will not to
Prov 21:1, " The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He wishes."
A story of Abraham in Gen 20:6 also shows the point.
What is apparent here is that God has the right and the power to restrain the sins of secular rules. When he does, it is his will to do it. And when he does not, it is his will not to.
E. Does God delight in the punishment of the wicked?
In some sense God does not delight in the death of the wicked (Ezek 18) and in some sense he does (Deut 28:63; 2 Sam 2:25).
This is what i have read up to now. So far, i understand that God in one sense wills what he does not will in another sense.
I. Howard Marshall:"We must certainly distinguish between what God would like to see happen and what He actually does will to happen." Posted by CCH at 10:29 PM. 0 comments
``ABOUT US.
a group of fellow strugglers,grasping for His daily grace.
a group of fellow sojourners,
gazing towards the eternal home.
a group of fellowshippers,
learning how to love one another.
a group of fellow disciples,
seeking to show others the treasure that is Christ.
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgression -it's by grace you have been saved." Ephesians 2:4-5
``MEMBERS.
♪ Pei En (Group Leader)♪ Yan Heng
♪ Ailing
♪ Heng Wei
♪ Ying Qian
♪ Jonathan
♪ Jia Xin (Technical Support)
♪ Joanna
♪ Desmond
♪ Cheng Hung
``OTHERS.
★ Jun Jie★ Kai En
★ Mei Foong
★ Wai Yee
★ Wan Yee
★ Wei Hong
★ Wei En
★ Vinc
★ Xiao Ling
★ Zi Ling
``TALK.
``ARCHIVES.
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
July 2009
August 2009
October 2009
``MISC.
Please help us to publicize by pasting this code in your blog!(:
Layout & coding done by JIA XIN.