709 East 57th Street; Loveland, CO 80538
Services: 9:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. June through August)
Pastor: Rev. Garry Eriks Phone: (970) 667-9481
Vol. 7, No. 16
Homepage on Internet: http://www.prca.org
Contents:
The Rapture
Vexing the Spirit (3)
How Should We Judge Arminians?
The word "rapture" is not in Scripture, but can be used without objection to describe the sudden, visible appearing of Christ in the heavens, and the catching up of His saints to be with Him at that time. Of this the Word of God speaks in I Thess. 4:15-17.
We reject as unbiblical, however, the teaching that this rapture is secret, that it takes place prior to the final great tribulation, so that God's people do not go through the tribulation, and that it comes 1000 years before the end of the world (i.e., that it is premillennial). These ideas have no support in I Thess. 4, nor in the rest of Scripture.
That this rapture is secret is very clearly not the teaching of I Thess. 4. The events described there are anything but secret! We read of a shout, of the voice of the archangel, and of the trump of God. It could safely be said, we believe, that this will be one of the noisiest and least secret events in all history.
Other passages which speak of the same event leave us with the same testimony. Matt. 24:30, 31, one of these passages, is describing the same event as I Thess. 4. Both mention angels, a trumpet, and the gathering of the elect to Christ. Matt. 24:30, 31 also tells us, however, that the tribes of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man - nothing at all secret about that.
I Cor. 15:51, 52, undoubtedly is describing the same thing as I Thess. 4:15-17, i.e., that there will be two groups of saints who will be raptured, those who have died, and those who have not. The latter are described in Corinthians as those who will not sleep, and in Thessalonians as those who are alive and remain to coming of Christ. I Cor. 15:51, 52 in describes the "rapture," shows that it is anything but secret.
These same passages make it crystal clear that this rapture takes place at the end of all things and after the final tribulation. Matt. 24:29 says, "Immediately after the tribulation of those days...." And, when we read of the tribes of the earth mourning, that mourning has reference to Christ's second coming for judgment at the end of the world, as is clear from a comparison with Rev. 1:7 and 6:12-17.
Matt. 24:37-41 and Luke 17:28-37 likewise describe this "rapture," but as something that takes place just before the last judgment. The taking and leaving of persons described in these passages is as in the days of Sodom, and as in the days of Noah, that is, those who are left, are left for judgment, judgment exactly like that of Sodom and Gomorrah (cf. also Jude 6, 7) and of the world in Noah's day (cf. also II Pet. 3:3-7).
Furthermore, I Thess. 4 speaks of the resurrection of our bodies, something which Scripture everywhere says shall take place at the last day (Jn. 6:39, 40, 44, 54; 11:24. Surely the last day is not followed by 365,000 other days. Not only that but Jn. 12:48 tells us that the last day is also the judgment day!
We look, therefore, not for a secret rapture 1000 years before the end and prior to the great tribulation, but for a public rapture of saints at the end of all things, the result of which shall be that we are ever in glory with the Lord (I Thess. 4:17. Rev. Ronald Hanko
"But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them." Isaiah 63:10.
The reader who sent in this passage from holy Scripture did not append a specific question, and so I decided to discuss two possible problems in the text. One I discussed two issues ago (the problem of whether to ascribe vexation to the Holy Spirit implies frustration of His work). I began a discussion of the other question in the last issue. In that article I talked about how God always dealt with the nation of Israel as a whole -- just as today He deals with His church as a whole. While elect and reprobate were always both present in Israel, sometimes the reprobate element and sometimes the elect remnant were in control of the nation. Sometimes God's wrath was upon the nation and sometimes His favor and goodness.
These latter truths are the puzzling aspects of the matter, and are implied in the passage we are discussing. In the context of Is. 63:10 God speaks of His favor upon His people. But in vs. 10 God turned away from His people and became their enemy because they rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit. How are we to explain all this in the light of God's grace which is always only towards His elect, and in the light of God's wrath and judgment against the wicked?
We shall consider, first of all, God's favor upon the nation in times when Israel was faithful. The context speaks of "all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses." This same context speaks of the fact that God called Israel "My people;" that He became their Saviour; that He was afflicted when they were afflicted; and that the angel of His presence saved them and redeemed them in love and pity, so that He carried them all the days of old.
Was this true of the reprobate who were always present in the nation? It is certainly true that the reprobate came out of Egypt under God's leadership and guidance; that they too saw and participated in the miracles; that they received the manna and water from the rock; and that they entered into Canaan along with the nation.
But Scripture is quite adamant about the fact that all these good things must never be construed in any way as indicative of God's love towards them, of His pity, mercy, grace, and desire to save them. Psalm 73 is decisive on that point, for Asaph, who was troubled because of the prosperity of the wicked (obviously within His own nation of Israel), learned in God's house that God was setting them on slippery places -- not in spite of their prosperity, but by means of their prosperity.
This is why Scripture finds the analogy of a field so appropriate (See Heb. 6:7, 8). A farmer irrigates his entire field so that the weeds are nourished by the water as well as the crop. But does he love the weeds and care for them? Of course not. He irrigates for the potatoes or wheat, and the growth of the weeds enables him to separate them from the crop when the harvest comes. Is the water a blessing to the weeds? Of course not. But they must grow until the harvest.
If we turn now to the elect in the nation, and in the church, then we must conclude, first of all, that the blessings of God upon the nation were blessings upon His people. They are the "crop" in the field of the nation. They are the sweet harvest at the end of the age. They are the ones for whose sake God sends blessings upon the nation as a whole.
But what about the judgments which also come upon the whole nation? There is no doubt about it that God's judgments come upon the elect and reprobate alike. After all, the whole nation went into captivity, just as the whole nation suffered when famine stalked the land. These judgments were certainly God's fury against the wicked and His wrath against the reprobate and carnal seed in the nation. And by means of these judgments, the wicked were destroyed.
But what about the righteous? They too come under these judgments. But because Christ would bear (and now has borne) the judgment of God against their sin, these very judgments are now chastisements (See Hebrews 12:5-13, and the many references to chastisement in Scripture). That is, these very judgments become the means whereby God corrects, instructs, purifies, and strengthens His people.
These chastisements can very well be because God is angry with His people. They too sin against Him. Even in Israel, sometimes the elect were worshipping idols along with the reprobate. But His anger toward His people is but for a moment. He will not always chide. He is merciful and gracious to them. He saves them -- even if that be through the way of suffering.
Zion is redeemed through judgment, Isaiah says in another place (1:27), and Peter speaks of the same truth when he writes in I Peter 4:17, 18: "For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin with us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely (i.e., with great difficulty) be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?"
But let it be remembered that good things and bad are blessings to God's people; and good things and bad are curses to the wicked. And this is why Isaiah 63:7, 10 reads as it does. Prof. H. Hanko
Do you wish to listen to audio sermons on the Internet? Check: www.HudsonvillePRC.org
How Should We Judge Arminians?
One of our readers has asked for clarification of a statement made in a previous issue. In the earlier issue, we answered the question, "Can Arminians be Saved?" and made statements to the effect that some who may very well be true Christians are inconsistent in the profession of salvation by grace, when they speak of choosing Christ and of free will (please refer to the earlier issue).
The question, therefore, is: "How can we tell that those who confess both grace and works are actually ascribing their salvation wholly to God's grace? We have to believe that they what they say is coming from their hearts and is what they actually believe, and until we to them and get clarification of what they actually do believe, could we not be in danger of affirming them in the lie? I know of 'solid' arminians that will say that it was God that saved them and they thank God for their salvation-but in actuality hate the God of Grace and His truth. Would not a true child of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit testifying with his spirit, make the believer uncomfortable in the teaching of the lie although he may not at that time understand why? It is the work of the Spirit of Christ that leads into all truth and will not leave the believer comfortable in the teachings of those who blaspheme God's grace and trample under foot the blood of the covenant."
Some comments:
(1) It is exactly our point that we can never tell finally whether a person's profession is honest or not, i.e., whether their confession of grace reflects what is in their heart. That is true of those whose doctrine is right as well as of those whose doctrine is wrong. What we are saying is that it is simply not our business to make such judgments. We can and must judge their words and condemn any talk of free will as a denial of the grace of God. The rest must be left to God. Not only is it not our business, it is of no profit to make such judgments.
(2) Insofar as we do have the calling to judge (and we do not deny this, as do many), it is our calling to make the most charitable judgment possible, and we do that in this case by judging them on the basis of their profession of grace. That we must do this is clear from II Thessalonians 3:14, 15: where the Word tells us to think even of those who have been excommunicated from the church (perhaps for Arminian teaching) as "brethren." Indeed, our calling is exactly defined there: "admonish him as a brother."
(3) The fact of the matter is that children of God, when backslidden, or when coming to the knowledge of the truth, can behave and speak worse than Arminians. Indeed, if only those were saved who make a completely sound profession of the doctrines of grace, there would be very few saved. I am certain that because of sin, there is no man living whose profession of grace is 100% sound. Even since becoming a minister, there are things I have learned and as result of learning them, have come to see that I said things that were contrary to the grace of God. Was I then unsaved? Note also Jesus' words to the travelers to Emmaus (Lk. 24:25-26). Were they therefore unsaved?
(4) The leading of the Spirit referred to in John 16:13 refers especially to the church. There is no specific assurance that we know of in Scripture that every believer, under the guidance of the spirit, will come to a mature and fully correct understanding of the truth. That would leave most Christians outside the kingdom. Rev. Ronald Hanko
Last modified: 02-May-2002