Part One

John G. Reisinger

Introduction

Every historical age is labeled in retrospect with a predominant feature that is characteristic of that era. We are familiar with the labels 'stone age', the 'dark age', the 'ice age', the 'machine age', etc. I wonder what history will see as the predominant feature of our generation. I am sure it will have something to do with despair and hopelessness. The philosophy of twentieth-century atheistic existentialism, characterized by no hope, surely controls every aspect of our present society. Ann Landers is amazed that most parents say that they would not have their children if they had it to do over again. Nobody feels fulfilled today. Both men and women walk away from any and all responsibilities in order to 'find themselves'. Nothing shocks anyone any more, regardless of how bizarre it is. However, neither does anything inspire. Society is jaded in both directions. Someone has said, "Girls used to blush when they were ashamed, but now they are ashamed when they blush."

The ability to understand reality and build a meaningful life is like erecting a building. When constructing a physical building, you first need a good set of plans. You then begin to build by digging down in the earth and preparing a solid foundation. Next, you choose the right materials that will stand the stress of wear and weather, and then proceed to put up your building. The successful outcome of the entire project depends on the trustworthiness of the foundation. In order to build a meaningful and God-honoring life, one must follow the same procedure. The blueprint is the Word of God, the foundation is the theology presented in the Scriptures, and the materials are biblical faith and obedience.

This is what our Lord was teaching in Matthew 7:21-29:

Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. (NIV)

All men and women are building a house, or a life, in which they must finally spend eternity. Some people build their lives on the sand of the lies of men and others build on the rock of truth, the Bible. We call the foundations of life presuppositions. Everyone has basic presuppositions. They accept some things without question and proceed to base their lives on those 'facts'. When a person says, "Well, this is what I believe," he is giving you one or more of the presuppositions upon which he bases his life. If his life is based on anything other than a knowledge of, and commitment to, Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, then that person is building on sand. When such a person is confronted with the storms and difficulties of existence, his life often falls apart. When he faces God in the final day, everything, his whole life, will be washed away in judgment. Likewise, the man who builds on the rock is the person who builds on the truth of Scripture. The same storms of life beat upon him, but sovereign grace keeps him believing in the truth, and his house will stand for time and eternity.

Our lives operate on the same principles as a physical building; if the foundations or presuppositions upon which our lives are built are wrong, then everything built on those faulty presuppositions is also wrong. If we follow lies, no matter how sincere we may be, our house of sand will collapse when tested by God.

This principle can be illustrated by the following incident: My wife used to have a housecoat that had twenty-one buttons. One morning, before she had her coffee, she put the number-two button into the number-one hole. Scoundrel that I am, I watched her button the entire garment, knowing full well the ultimate outcome. When she was finished, she had a button left over and no hole in which to put it. The important question for our discussion is this: How many mistakes did my wife make in buttoning her housecoat? Most people would say, "She made one mistake at the very beginning." Actually, she made twenty-one mistakes. Every button without exception was in the wrong hole and had to be undone and fastened over again. In other words, because she started wrong, everything that followed was wrong.

The same thing is true of life. My wife sailed along with twenty buttons without a single problem; so, too, we may go through life thinking all is well because we have not encountered any major problems. However, if we started on the wrong foundation, when we come to the end and face God, we will discover that everything has been wrong. I remind you that this is exactly what Jesus was teaching in Matthew 7:24-28. We either build our lives on the rock of God's unchanging truth, or we build on the sand of man's changing folly. The storms of life and the final deluge of death will reveal the truth about our lives and their ultimate end. Unlike a simple clothing mistake, we do not get a second chance to undo and redo the buttons. We only get one opportunity to build one house in which to live eternally.

It is vital that we realize that all men, without exception, base their lives on certain notions they assume to be true. As I mentioned, we call those notions presuppositions. It means that the individual 'pre – supposes' some things as true and lives his life by faith in those presuppositions. For instance, the Christian believes, as a fact beyond doubt, that the Bible is the Word of God and is to be obeyed without question simply because it is God's Word. He performs certain actions and refrains from certain others, just because "the Bible says so." He literally bets both his life on earth as well as the eternal life to come on Jesus Christ the Lord. The non-Christian does not believe the Bible, nor does he really care what it commands. He may look to science, education, art, philosophy, even religion, but in the end, he himself is the final authority for all his beliefs and actions. He accepts as a fact the idea that he has a right to do whatever he wants; whenever, and however he pleases. Both the Christian and non-Christian live by faith in their presuppositions; however, those presuppositions are exactly opposite of each other.

Most people do not realize that all men without exception are deeply committed believers, and all men live their lives by an absolute faith in their beliefs. Every person in your hometown is a 'believer' and lives 'by faith' in his beliefs or presuppositions. Unhappily, most people believe lies and live their entire lives in rebellion against the revealed truth of God. Man's problem is not a lack of faith. He has plenty of faith, but it is misplaced; his faith is in himself instead of in God and his Word.

Examples of this awful fact are evident on every hand. The socialist programs of the Johnson administration that were to knit the classes together in a Great Society have not succeeded in bridging the gap between rich and poor, between privilege and privation. In 1965, eighty-nine measures which Lyndon Johnson's administration backed were passed. Among these were: Medicare; Aid to Education; creation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development; Regional Development, and a host of others. One economic consequence of this ever-expanding welfarism was that by the mid-seventies, devaluation of the dollar and inflation had caused an unnamed, but very real depression that lasted for almost a decade. The American people had been promised that government programs would prevent any more prolonged depressions after the great one that began in 1929. "The government programs and manipulation of the money supply did alter the character of the depression, but they did not prevent one from occurring." (Clarence B. Carson, The Welfare State 1929-1985, vol.5 of A Basic History of the United States [Wadley, Alabama: American Textbook Committee, 1986], 211. Dr. Spock and his 'baby bible' were supposed to produce a generation of well-adjusted children bubbling over with "self esteem." I may not be very good at analyzing and comparing things, but to me there does not seem to be much similarity between what Dr. Spock promised and the MTV crowd that his 'bible' produced. One of Dr. Spock's adamant rules was "no spanking," but twenty-five years later, with a generation of young people in open rebellion, Dr. Spock says, "Maybe they do need a few spankings."

This principle that shaky foundations produce faulty buildings can be seen in the results of fluctuating theories that rotate in our educational system. I have two nephews who were in school when the "New Math" and "New approach to English" took over. Today my nephews can neither do math nor speak correct English. The open-classroom structure of the early seventies was designed to create an atmosphere where learning was comfortable and natural. Instead, it produced students who did not practice even such basic concepts as taking turns, asking permission, and not interrupting. After enough evidence of these kinds of failures was produced, schools said, "We made a mistake" and went back to the old methods, but that hardly helps my nephews and countless others whose education was built on erroneous premises.

Let me repeat, we simply must see that all men live by presuppositions. All men are committed believers, but some men believe lies! Man's problem is not a lack of faith, but rather that he has too much faith! His problem is that his faith is in the wrong person and the wrong presuppositions. He builds on the sand of lies. We must begin with God and not with man. Our basic starting point must be a sovereign and wise Creator; not man's autonomy and ability to know what is best.

I. The Importance of Studying the Decrees of God.

I hope no one gets frightened when I use the word decrees. We are not talking about abstract philosophy, nor are we arguing about fine points in theology. We are talking about real, everyday life. We are talking about personal tragedies and human destiny. Our subject affects the lives of truck drivers, housewives, store clerks, sales persons, etc. The decrees of God concern your personal life.

We are raising questions that every person has thought about at one time or another. How would you explain the many terrible tragedies that Rose Kennedy suffered in her lifetime? Where was God when six million Jews were killed and a maniac ravaged and raped a whole continent? Did God know that the terrorists were going to fly two planes into the twin towers of the Trade Center on September 11? If so, why did he not stop them?

Years ago, I taught a Bible class, and God, in his providence, converted a woman in her early forties who attended. She grew in grace and witnessed of her faith in Christ. Within one year after being converted, she died of cancer. After the funeral her mother asked me, with tears in her eyes, "Mr. Reisinger, why did my daughter have to die? She was a wonderful mother and wife. Her husband and children needed her so badly." She was asking the proverbial $64,000 question. It is the question that every philosopher has asked since the dawn of time --"Is there rhyme and reason to the world and the events of life or is it all a cruel joke? Is there purpose to life or is it all without real meaning?" Is God in control or are we ultimately the victims of chance, chaos and confusion? If God is in total control of all things, did he not surely make a mistake this time? If God ordained this awful event how can I ever love and trust him again?

We are not talking about abstractions or fantasies. We are talking about the realities and tragedies that make up the real world. What does a pastor say when a tearful saint asks, "Why did God take my child"? How do we respond when the doctor says it is cancer and it is inoperable? Or when the company I have worked for thirty-five years goes bankrupt and I lose every penny of my pension? We could go on and on with examples in our own lives and the lives of godly Christians close to us. I repeat, when we discus the decrees of God, we are not talking about philosophy nor are we talking about something that is make-believe. We are talking about reality and human destiny.

The primary purpose of this article is not to promote a particular view of theology. It, of course, does that in the same sense that every religious book that was ever written lays out a theological belief. Primarily, though, we are seeking to understand the 'why' of real life situations. Many of us are aware of the personal tragedies that Rose Kennedy suffered. She had a daughter killed in a plane crash and a grandson killed in another plane crash, a son murdered while he was president of our country, another son murdered while seeking to be president, a son involved in a girl's death at Chappaquiddick, a grandson who lost his leg to cancer, another grandson convicted of murder, and the list goes on and on. Compare that to a woman who has seven children, twenty-three grandchildren, all of them healthy and all coming home for Thanksgiving Day dinner. How do you explain the difference?

We should add that the closer one gets to reality, the more tragic and ugly life becomes. That fact is true because all of life is upside down as a result of sin. Neither life nor man himself today is even close to what they were when God originally created them. Sin has distorted everything. Man is never more in the presence of reality than when he stands by the casket of a dead loved one. Man does all he can to not think about death, but it is the one inevitable reality that all men must face. Death is an appointment decreed by God that no man will ever avoid and for which he will not be even one second late. I do not the like the fact that life is tragic, but because of man's sin such is the reality.

II. The Basic Choices and Responses to Reality.

One response to this unpalatable fact is to not think about anything ugly like death. You maintain a 'positive attitude' and simply refuse to face reality. You put on a pair of rose-colored glasses that enables you to see only what you want to see. You turn real life into a world of make-believe that you yourself create. This method cannot possibly succeed in the long run, but still many people continue to try it. When anyone runs from reality, they need some diversion; booze, dope, unbridled sex, constant work, parties, or something else just to keep from jumping off the bridge. They might even adopt the "I love me and I feel good about myself" philosophy that is being peddled even by evangelical (?) religious hucksters. Call it what you want to, but the result is the same as sticking your head in the sand.

Another response to the ugliness of reality is to believe the world is controlled by blind fate. Life really has no rational explanation. "That's the way the cookie crumbles" is the response to "bad luck." You simply "grin and bear it" and hope, with no real basis, that things will get better. This is a hard stone to chew if it is your biopsy report that shows inoperable cancer.

A common response by many evangelical Christians is to blame all the bad things on the devil. We call this the 'Flip Wilson' response, "The devil made me do it." As we shall see in a moment, crediting God with all of the good things and blaming the devil for all the bad things is a heresy known as dualism.

Still other people believe that those people who suffer badly are all wicked sinners and God is punishing them for their sin. Scripture clearly contradicts this view and forbids us to think like that. Our Lord addressed this very attitude in Luke 13:4-5.

Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them— do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. (NIV)

The only viable answer left in the attempt to explain real life, including its tragedies, is to acknowledge God and his sovereign decrees.

III. The Bible Teaches that God Ordains All Things that Come to Pass.

That statement may disconcert you, but it is true. The major confessions of faith all agree with it:

1. God hath (Isa. 46:10; Eph. 1:11; Heb. 6:17; Rom. 9:15,18) decreed in himself, from all eternity, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably, all things whatsoever come to pass; yet so as thereby is God neither the author of sin (James 1:13; 1 John 1:5) nor hath fellowship with any therein; nor is violence offered to the will of the creature, nor yet is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather (Acts 4:27,28; John 19:11) established; in which appears his wisdom in disposing all things, and power and faithfulness (Num. 23:19; Eph. 1:3,4,5) in accomplishing his decree. (Philadelphia Confession of Faith, Chapter 3, Section 1)

The wording is almost identical in The Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 3, section 1, and in The Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689, chapter 3, section 1.

I admit that this view creates problems, but so does every other view. Often times we are confronted with a situation that has more than one option, none of which are satisfactory in our minds. As I mentioned earlier, I do not like the fact that I cannot paint life like a bowl of cherries, but reality demands that we face the hard facts, regardless of how much we may dislike them. Trying to understand and explain the ugliness of reality and reconcile it to our view of the love and grace of God poses difficulties for which we do not have complete and satisfactory answers.

Lastly, I often hear people say, when confronted with the sovereignty of God, "That is not my idea of God at all." Sadly, that statement is only too true of that person. It means that his ideas about God are just that, they are his ideas. This person did not get his ideas out of the Bible, but out of his own imagination and emotions.

After all the smoke clears, I think it is better to accept the statement of the Confession as that which accurately represents the teaching of Scripture on this subject, rather than to chase alternative theories. Even with all its difficulties, it is reasonable to throw yourself right into the teeth of God's absolute sovereignty and rest in confidence in his holiness and sovereignty, even when you cannot understand. The 'holy, holy, holy, sovereign Lord' is our heavenly Father.

Henry Ironside was a great preacher among the Plymouth Brethren. He was known for his ability to illustrate biblical truth. One of his favorite stories concerned a rug made out of a bearskin that included the bear's head and teeth. Dr. Ironside would cover himself in the bear rug, look out through the teeth, and chase his grandson saying, "I'm a big bad bear and I'm going to eat you." The child would run and scream. On one occasion, Dr. Ironside chased the boy into the corner of the bedroom where the boy had no way of escape. Ironside said, "Now I've got you. I am a big bad bear and I am going to eat you." The boy was screaming as loud as he could, as his grandpa got closer and closer. At the last moment the boy threw his arms around the bear's head and said, "You are not a big bad bear, you are my grandpa and you are not going to hurt me." That's the way to meet the subject of God's sovereign decrees in the time of tragedy. When the devil taunts you by questioning God's wisdom and love, throw yourself right into the teeth of God's absolute sovereignty and say, "This sovereign God is also my heavenly Father, and he has committed himself to bring good out of this awful situation." That is the safest and only biblical answer.

IV. The Place to Start.

One of the first verses I memorized after becoming a Christian was Deuteronomy 29:29. I have reminded myself of its truth many times.

The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. (KJV)

The decrees of God are the 'secret things' and they belong to God. The decrees of God, as the Confession states, include all things that will ever happen. There is no way that we can know what God has decreed unless he chooses to reveal it to us. God does not consult us about what he can or will decree to do or not to do. The decrees do indeed 'belong to God' and are therefore none of my business. It gives me great comfort to know that God has decreed all things. It is reassuring to know that not one single thing happens by chance or luck. However, those secret things are locked up in the secret counsel of God.

The 'revealed things' to which the text refers are God's Word, the Bible. The revealed things include the law and the gospel. The text says they are given to us and to our children so that we might know and do God's will. The decrees of God do not spell out our duty as children of God. The revealed will of God in Scripture does that. We are not responsible in any way to figure out the secret decrees of God. They are not given to us to rule our lives. We are responsible to understand and obey all that he has revealed in his Word, but not what he has secretly decreed. Arminians have a tendency to be unwilling to go as far as Scripture does on some subjects and Calvinists have a tendency to refuse to stop where God has stopped. The latter group tries to use human logic to unlock things that God has been pleased to simply not reveal.

The charts below give a few of the basic philosophic approaches to understanding reality. Christians should be aware of how these, and other, philosophies impact the society in which we must live.

Basic Approaches
Chart 1
THEISM	ATHEISM
A belief in a god (Monotheism) or gods (Polytheism)—A religious system with belief that there is 'outside' control.	No God, no 'supernatural'—A 'natural' explanation; science, evolution, humanism, fate (luck) or man, etc.

Chart 2
Deism	Pantheism	Dualism	Biblical Theism
God is impersonal—he is not active in human affairs—the 'big clock' idea.	God IS creation—he is part of everything and everything is part of him.	Two 'eternal', sovereign forces—good and evil, God and the devil in a cosmic war.	God of the Bible! Genesis 1:1 Romans 11:36 Creator, Sustainer—history is HIS-story.
Thomas Jefferson	Environmentalist	Charismatic	Reformed Theology

I am aware that the charts are a gross over-simplification. A philosophy major will be tempted to quit reading at this point. My defense is that I am not writing a book on philosophy. I am merely showing a few modern examples of how various philosophies impact our life and society. Deism, pantheism, and dualism are certainly three of the major philosophies that have shaped, and continue to shape, our culture.

Deism, which began to be expressed among a small group of English writers in the first half of the seventeenth century, purports to believe in God, but not the God who has revealed himself in the Bible. In general, deism refers to the concept that knowledge of God can be acquired solely through the use of reason, and denies the divine authority of the Bible. Its adherents use what Francis Schaefer calls "God words." The purpose in using a word like 'God' is not to convey a concrete piece of descriptive information, but to evoke a 'religious' feeling. The God of deism is an impersonal God. True, he created the world, but then turned it over to natural law. The universe is a like a big clock. God created it, wound it up, subjected it to natural laws, and then he went fishing. The universe is a 'closed system' and life is controlled by man's free will. Moral principles do not originate in revelation, but are inherent in the very structure of man's reason. Deism denies that there are real answers to specific prayers, the concept of the new birth, the idea that God could become flesh, etc. American deists include Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and William Penn.

Pantheism was coined as a term in the early eighteenth century. It refers to philosophical systems that tend to identify God with the world. Pantheistic thought deifies nature so that nature becomes God. It identifies God with his creation in such a way that everything without exception is part of God. God is not in any way separate from his creation. He is not a personal, unique, individual being who is the sovereign Creator. He is nature and nature is God. The deer and the tree, as well as you and I, are a part of God. If you shoot a deer then you have destroyed part of God. The extreme environmentalists of our generation are rabid pantheists. When they speak of "saving God's creation," they do not refer to the God of the Bible. He is not the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. These people and their cohorts write songs about nature being "My Fair Sister." Nature is neither my sister nor my mother and time is not my father. Speaking about Mother Nature and Father Time conveys very bad theology. We gladly admit that everything in nature was created by God and created for his glory. We also acknowledge that God is active in his creation today. However, we insist that God is distinct from and over and beyond his creation. God and his creation are not the same. In no sense whatever is creation necessary to God. It adds nothing at all to him as the all-sufficient God.

Dualism, as I mentioned earlier, explains given situations in terms of two opposing factors or principles. Ethical or ethicoreligious dualism has its most clear-cut expression in the ancient Iranian religion of Zoroaster, but found a supporter in the third century in Mani, who fused Persian, Christian, and Buddhist elements into a major new faith. It is dualism as presented in the form of Mani's views that was fought vigorously by both the Roman emperors and by the Christian church, most notably by Augustine, who himself had at one time been a lower-class member of the Manichaean community. The current evangelical form of dualism views the world as being in a cosmic battle between good and evil, black and white, God and devil. The devil has stolen God's creation and Jesus, with the help of Christians, is trying to get it back. We are not sure who is going to win the war but we hope it is our side. We must give God all the help that we possibly can. In this system of thought, God is credited with all the good things that happen and the devil is responsible for all the bad things. As we pointed out in our booklet The Sovereignty of God in Providence, when the bad things become more numerous than the good things, we are tempted to wonder if we are fighting on the wrong side. The movie "Star Wars" depicted the philosophies of dualism, pantheism, and deism in the concept of a universal, but impersonal "Force," with its light side and dark side, each available and equally powerful to any who are gifted to use it.

The moment we acknowledge any form of theism—a belief in God or gods—and reject Atheism—no god—then we must answer the next, logical question. If there is 'government' or 'control' and not just luck or chance, where and what is the source of that outside control? There are only three basic answers if we think in the 'ultimate sense'.

1) Man himself: Man is the 'master of his fate'. His free will controls not only his own personal destiny but also the future itself.

2) The Devil: He has stolen God's creation (including man) and God is earnestly seeking to get it back.

3) God Almighty: He is in total control and is working out his own decrees in his own time (Romans 11:36).

As biblical theists, we can safely choose the third answer, and say, "What God sovereignly decrees in eternity, man will always, in time, freely choose with his own free will" (Matt. 27:15-26 cf. Acts 2:23 ). We have worked out the implications of this biblical principle in our booklet The Sovereignty of God in Providence1.

When biblical theism refers to God, it means the 'God of the Bible'. This God has revealed himself through special revelation, and can only be known personally through that revelation. The biblical revelation of God's character does not begin with John 3:16, but with the entire being of the God of John 3:16. That verse can only benefit you spiritually to the degree that you understand who this God is, what he is promising, and whether he is able to do what he promised. The God of the Bible is personal; he is Creator, Lawgiver, and Judge. Above all, he is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God's perspective on history is presented in Romans 11:36:

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. (NIV)

The first sentence of this verse uses three different prepositions. The purpose of a preposition is to express the relationship or function between two different things that occur in a sentence. The prepositions in Romans 11:36 instruct us of the relationship between everything that happens and God's sovereign purposes. The word from is the English translation of the Greek word ek. It is the word exit and means 'out of'. The Book of Exodus uses this word in the account of Israel 'coming out of' Egypt. Paul is saying that all things, without exception, grow 'out of' the decrees of God. The second preposition is the Greek word anti and means 'by means of,' or through. Paul intends for us to know that just as all things have their source in God, so all things are brought to pass through, or by means of, God's sovereign providence. The third preposition is the Greek word eis and means 'into'. Paul uses these words to communicate the truth that all things are planned by God, brought about in time by God, and ultimately bring God honor and glory. All things grow out of God's purpose, they all are brought to pass by his power, and they all move into God.

A person could believe that all of the above is true and hate the fact he cannot do anything to change it. He may admit, through gritted teeth, that that God is truly sovereign and does whatever he pleases. That is not the response produced in the apostle as he considers this truth. For Paul, these facts are the cause of worship. When he says "To him be glory forever," Paul is lost in wonder and praise to the God who has revealed himself in the Bible.

V. God's Relationship to His Creation—TRANSCENDENCE and IMMANENCE.

We must understand and hold tightly to both of these truths. To believe either one of these truths without also believing the other one is to wander into heresy and ultimately deny the God of the Bible. Let's define these great words:

Transcend: to rise above or beyond the limits or power of; to overpass; exceed...Theological: Of God, being prior to and exalted above the universe, and having being apart from it (Webster's dictionary).

Immanent: Remaining or operating within the subject considered; indwelling; inherent; as, the belief that God is immanent in nature..." (Webster).

When we speak of the transcendence of God, we mean that he is "over, above, and beyond" everyone and everything. The universe is not at all essential to God's being. If God had never created the world, he would still have been just as much God as he is now. Creation is not essential to God, but God is essential for creation. The main point of this idea is to insist that God is totally distinct from his creation. He is over and beyond everything he ever created or will create. As Webster correctly says, "God has being apart from the universe he created."

When we speak of God being immanent, we mean that God has chosen to come into his creation. It is true that God is "immanent in nature," but the vital immanence of which the Scripture speaks is his choice to become man and partake of the very nature of his creation. God actually became a real, living part of the world that he created.

The Three Great "Omni's"

Theologians use three words to describe God's active day-to-day relationship to his universe. You and I as individuals are included in 'his universe'. The three words are omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient. They mean God is everywhere present, all-powerful, and all-knowing.

Part of the glory of the gospel is the truth that the transcendent God of creation has become personally immanent in the incarnation of Jesus Christ, God's Son and our Lord. Two key New Testament texts set forth this amazing truth:

"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us." (Matt. 1:23 NIV)

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14 NIV)

The incarnation fulfills the hope of the Old Testament believer. They understood both concepts of God's relationship to his creation, but never in the personal way that we do as we grasp the gospel and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The New Testament Scriptures reveal the relationship of the 'indwelling' of God by his Holy Spirit that certainly transcends anything experienced under the Old Covenant. This was made possible by the ascension of Christ to the throne of David, when he then sent the Holy Spirit as his vicar on the day of Pentecost.

Christ is the 'head of the church', and as such, is over and beyond us (Col. 1:18). However, he is also 'one with us' as our 'older brother' (Heb. 4:14-16); even though he is king of kings. We are 'in him' (2 Cor. 12:2) and he is 'in us' (Col. 2:9, 10; and Rev. 1:10-20).

VI. Definition of Decrees.

The Confessions define decrees this way: "God from all eternity did, by His most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely and unchangeable ordain whatsoever comes to pass..." (Westminster & Philadelphia Confessions, Chapter 3, Section 1). I'm sure I don't need to remind you that creeds and confessions are not inspired. Granted they are often treated that way, but that is a misuse of creeds. A creed does not prove a doctrine is true; it merely means that a certain group is accepting certain tenets as true. A 'confessional church' may use their creed with equal authority to Scripture, and in a confessional church you must believe what the creed states. A non-confessional church may have a creed or confession, but they do not bind your conscience to the confession in the same that a confessional church does. In such a church (non-confessional), the confession proves what the church has believed and confessed down through history.

A.H. Strong, a Baptist theologian, said, "By Decrees of God we mean:

A. That eternal plan

B. by which God has rendered certain

C. all events of the universe,

D. past, present, and future."

I personally give these home-made definitions:

A. DECREES: The plans or purposes of God. Those things that God had decided to do, allow to happen, accomplish: Some examples are: creation, Adam's fall, redemption by blood, the Flood, the Cross, etc… Decrees include everything that actually happens or comes to pass.

B. SOVEREIGNTY: This includes both God's right and also his almighty power to bring to pass everything that he has decreed. God can, and will, accomplish everything he purposes.

C. PROVIDENCE: This is God actually bringing to pass (in time) (history), by his sovereign power, all that he has decreed.

In our next issue we plan to continue this article by showing the extent of God's decrees. We will see that God's decrees extend to and include: (1) Every event of life—including the day of our death. (2) The smallest details, right down to the hairs of our heads. (3) The sinful acts of men. (4) 'Our' plans related to his decrees. (5) Accidents. (6) Luck.

Copyright 2004 John G. Reisinger