| GOD: WHO HE IS,
AND WHAT HE IS
Section
4 - He is Creator of All
He is the Supreme Subjector and Placer
He
is Creator of All
God is LOVE (1Jn.4:8,16).
This love (Greek, agapê) is a complex emotion arousing appreciation
or delight in, and a desire for, the presence of its object, as well as
to please and promote its welfare. It is different from fondness (Greek,
phileö)
which is aroused by the qualities of its object. While fondness is based
on worthiness, love may go out to the utterly unworthy.
Love is unable to function
by itself - it needs something to love, and yearns for that object to respond
in kind. God’s love is absolute and requires a correspondingly whole-hearted
response from each and every one of its recipients. And, in His wisdom
and pre-determination, some of His creatures have already been privileged
to begin reciprocating His love.
1Jn.4:19
We are loving God, for He first loves us.
Love, then, is God’s motive
for whatever He does and for all His objectives, purposes, and strategies
- though, at times, this may not appear to be so to us.
Out of God’s love came forth
‘the Beginning of the creation of God’ (Rev.3:14 RSV), Who is ‘the
Son of His Love’ (Col.1:13), ‘the Logos’ (Jn.1:1-3,14) - Jesus
Christ, our Lord! Through THIS One came forth the rest of God’s
creation - the heavens and the earth (Gen.1:1), and ALL that is in the
heavens and on the earth (Jn.1:3; Col.1:15-17).
Followers of other religions
also claim to worship the God Who is ‘the Creator of the heavens and the
earth’. But only Scripture identifies the Creator as Yahweh
(Gen.2:4), and that He is the Elohim of the Hebrews (Ex.3:18), the
Elohim of Israel (Ex.5:1). Pharaoh of Egypt, then the most powerful
man on the earth, who was fully versed in the gods of his religion, was
unacquainted with Him, saying, 'Who is Yahweh…I do not know Yahweh!'
(Ex.5:2).
Eph.3:9
…concealed from the eons in God, Who creates all,
that now may be made known…
Ps.96:5
all the elohim of the peoples are useless idols,
As for Yahweh, He has made the heavens.
* KJV For all
the gods of the nations are idols: But the Lord made the heavens.
Isa.42:5 Thus
says the El, Yahweh Elohim, Creator of the heavens,
Who stretched them out,…
Isa.45:18 Yahweh,
Creator of the heavens; He is the Elohim,
and Former of the earth, and its Maker,
Gen.2:4 … Yahweh
Elohim made the earth and the heavens,
Gen.14:22 …Yahweh,
the
El Supreme, Owner of the heavens and the earth.
Act.17:24-28 Who makes
the world [
ton
kosmon ] and all that is in it,
He, the Lord inherent of heaven and earth,
The God-effacing theory of ‘evolution’
denies the act of creation. All living things are claimed to have come
into being by chance. Some sets of ‘fortunate circumstances’ are supposed
to have allowed life to spontaneously come to be. Man is supposed to have
evolved from simpler, lower forms of life, through monkeys and such. As
this theory evolves according to ‘the wisdom of the world’, where humans
were supposed to have first made their appearance in Africa, it is now
proposed that they evolved separately in various parts of the earth. (Perhaps
by similar fortunate circumstances in each case a female also evolved somewhere
close to a male to sexually match and to successfully mate?).
Scripture declares the creation
of humanity by God out of the soil of the earth! Adam was first created
- a complete human being. When it had become clear that there could
be found no complement for him from all the creatures around, he was made
to fall into a sleep. A particular part of him was then extracted (thus
rendering him incomplete) and out of this removed part the woman was built.
Therefore, Eve was built out of Adam! She was not created as a separate
being simultaneously with Adam. She was created into a living being
from
what had been taken out of Adam! She was the complement of Adam,
embodying the part Adam had become short of!
Isa.45:12
I, I made the earth, and I created humanity on it.
I, My hands stretched out
the heavens,
Gen.1:26 …saying is
the Elohim,
"Make will We humanity in
Our image, and according to Our likeness,
Gen.1:27 And
creating
is the Elohim humanity in His image.
In the image of the Elohim
He creates it. Male and female He creates them.
Gen.2:7
And forming is Yahweh Elohim the human of soil from the ground,
and He is blowing into his
nostrils the breath of the living,
and becoming is the
human a living soul.
Gen.5:1,2 …In the
day the Elohim created Adam,
in the likeness of the Elohim
He made him.
Male and female created
He them; and blessing them is He,
and calling their
name Adam in the day they are created.
Gen.2:21-23
And falling is a stupor on the human, caused by Yahweh Elohim,
and he is sleeping.
And taking is He one
of his angular organs and is closing the flesh under it. …
And Yahweh Elohim is
building the angular organ, which He takes from the human,
into a woman, and
bringing her is He to the human….
The Hebrew word ‘tsela’,
from which we have ‘angular organ’, is translated a human ‘rib’
in the KJV, NIV, and RSV only in this verse. Nowhere else in these versions
is this word translated ‘rib’. Most times it is rendered ‘chamber’
- see Ezek.40 where it refers to cubicles which are quarters for the officiating
priests in the Temple. (These are referred to in Jn.14:2 as abodes
in the CLNT, or rooms in the NIV and RSV, but should not
be rendered 'mansions' as in the KJV.) The three ribs in the mouth of the
bear of Dan.7:5 come from the Aramaic ‘ala’.
Anatomically, a man is not
short of a rib. Some chamber-like part or organ had been
taken out of him and around this the woman was built. The woman
is the complement of the man! Without the woman the man is incomplete.
For this reason 'a man shall cling to his wife, and they two become
one
flesh.'
He
is the Supreme Subjector and Placer
God, the Father, is supreme.
He is God in the absolute sense! He subjects all others to Himself
(as Eloah, the SUBJECTOR-TO,). He controls and directs all others
(as El, the SUBJECTOR), delegating them authority in His service
(making them Elohim, SUBJECTORS-TO), and placing everything according
to His own determination (as Theos, PLACEr).
He emphatically declares
that His will is supreme. So very many passages in Scripture speak in direct
opposition to the popular, nice-sounding, mind-appealing and ego-assuaging
doctrine of man’s free will - showing it to be just a figment of our sin-controlled
imagination!
This very persuasive doctrine
is a fallacy. Proponents claim that it is God’s most precious gift to mankind
(where can we find this in Scripture?). It is supposed to be the
essential element that separates man from the animals around him (really?).
It is a gift Christians are expected to assert and defend at all costs
(on such a gradation of quality, we wonder where God’s gift of His Son
stands)! We are taught that by our ‘free will’ we are able to decide, and
to carry out those decisions which will ultimately determine our destiny.
Orthodox theology insists
that we cannot be saved if we choose not to accept Jesus Christ
as our Personal Saviour. Scripture, on the other hand, asserts that our
salvation is entirely a gift of God out of
Christ's faith!
Only one of these positions can be right.
Scripture clearly says that
Man has a will which he must exercise towards decisions, and for
which decisions he will be held accountable. Man’s will, however,
is the resultant of the interaction of his humanity, his heredity, his
experiences, his environment, and his maturity, among other factors. Being
under these controls, his will is never ‘free’. What place can there
be for this seemingly euphoric and egocentric doctrine alongside the Scriptures
which declare:
Jn.3:27
A man can not get anything if it should not be given him out
of heaven.
Jn.6:44 No
one can come to Me
if ever the Father
Who sends Me should not be drawing him….
Jn.6:65
… no one can be coming to Me if it should not be given him of
the Father.
Mt.11:27 And
no one is recognizing the Son except the Father;
neither is anyone recognizing
the Father except the Son
and he to whom the Son
should be intending to unveil Him.
Jn.14:6 "I am
the
Way and the Truth and the Life.
No one is coming
to the Father except through Me.
Rom.8:28-30
Now we are aware that God is working all together
for the good of those who
are loving God, who are called according to the purpose that,
whom He foreknew,
He
designates beforehand, also,
to be conformed to the image
of His Son, for Him to be Firstborn among many brethren.
Now whom He designates beforehand,
these He calls also,
and whom He calls, these
He
justifies also;
now whom He justifies, these
He
glorifies also.
2Tim.1:9 Who
saves us and calls us with a holy calling, not in accord with our
acts,
but in accord with His
own purpose and the grace which is given to us in Christ Jesus
before times eonian,
Tit.3:5 … not
for works which are wrought in righteousness which we do,
but according to His
mercy, He saves us,…
Eph.1:13,14 …on
hearing the word of truth, the evangel of your salvation…
on believing also,
you are sealed with the holy spirit of promise
(which is an earnest
of the enjoyment of our allotment,
to the deliverance of
that which has been procured) for the laud of His glory!
Eph.2:8-10 For
in grace, through faith, are you saved, and this is not out of you;
it is God's approach
present, not of works, lest anyone should be boasting.
For His achievement are
we, being created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God makes ready
beforehand, that we should be walking in them.
Phil.2:12,13
… with fear and trembling, be carrying your own salvation into effect,
for it is God Who is
operating in you
to will as well as to work
for the sake of His delight.
Conversion to becoming a follower
of Jesus was furthest from his mind when Paul journeyed towards Damascus
to carry out his works of righteousness in exterminating the believers
of this rabid heresy that was making inroads into Judaism (Act.26:9-12).
He had a fanatical zeal for God - but not according to a real knowledge
of the facts (cf.Rom.10:2,3). Yet he was fully converted at the time of
the vision without so much as a ‘by your leave’ or even a hint of invitation
(Act.9:1-9). He had been selected, long before he was born, to be
‘a choice instrument of Mine’, to bear God’s name before the nations
and kings, besides the sons of Israel (Act.9:13-16). Paul speaks of God’s
grace in this:
Gal.1:15,16
Now, when it delights God,
Who severs me from my
mother's womb and calls me through His grace,
to unveil His Son in me
that
I may be evangelizing Him among the nations,
An apostle of many years standing
by the time he wrote to the Romans, Paul speaks of his own experiences
which leave him convinced of his inadequacy to effectively carry out his
good intentions and resolutions. There seemed to be really no way out of,
no answer to, his predicament. Scripture records this dilemma and provides
the only solution.
Rom.7:15-24
For what I am effecting I know not,
for not what I will,
this I am putting into practice,
but what I am hating, this
I am doing.
Now if what I am not
willing, this I am doing, I am conceding that the law is ideal.
Yet now it is no longer
I who am effecting it, but Sin making its home in me.
For I am aware that good
is not making its home in me (that is, in my flesh),
for to will is lying
beside me, yet to be effecting the ideal is not.
For it is not the good that
I will that I am doing,
but the evil that I am
not willing, this I am putting into practice.
Now if what I am not willing,
this I am doing,
it is no longer I who am
effecting it, but Sin which is making its home in me.
Consequently, I am finding
the law that,
at my willing to be doing
the ideal, the evil is lying beside me.
For I am gratified with the
law of God as to the man within,
yet I am observing a different
law in my members, warring with the law of my mind,
and leading me into captivity
to the law of sin which is in my members.
A wretched man am I! What
will rescue me out of this body of death?
Grace!
The last word in the passage
above, Grace, is not found in almost all translations - but that
would leave Paul’s very important question unanswered! The usually accurate
and dependable editor, designated S2, of the Sinaiticus manuscript, includes
it. And, since it is Grace, and not Paul's own decisions and efforts, that
will rescue him, it makes sense that he gratefully and happily thanks God
in the subsequent verses.
Gal.5:17
For the flesh is lusting against the spirit, yet the spirit
against the flesh.
Now these are opposing
one another,
lest you should be doing
whatever
you
may want.
Even for the efforts and achievements
of his career, Paul has this to say:
1Cor.15:10
Yet, in the grace of God I am what I am,
and His grace, which is
in me, did not come to be for naught,
but more exceedingly than
all of them toil I--yet not I,
but the grace of God
which
is with me.
So that there is no confusion
or ambiguity, Paul defines this grace as applied under the context of the
present administration through the evangel of the Uncircumcision.
Rom.11:6
Now if it is in grace, it is no longer out of works,
else the grace is coming
to be no longer grace.
Now, if it is out
of works, it is no longer grace,
else the work is no
longer work.
The origin of this insidious
doctrine of ‘free will’ is found in the very first book of the Bible. God
had instructed Adam very distinctly,
Gen.2:16,17 …"From
every tree of the garden, you are to eat, yea, eat.
Yet from the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, you are not to be eating from it,
for in the day you eat from
it, to die shall you be dying."
Then Satan, the ancient serpent
(Rev.12:9), came upon this innocent, naïve, couple who did not know
good and evil (they had not taken the fruit yet) and who had never before
heard a lie or been warned of a smooth-talking con-artist. Was God not
aware of, or did it slip His mind that, this master liar, this cunning
deceiver whom He had created, was lurking in the vicinity? Satan
insinuates that God was hiding something from them and that it was God
Who was not telling the truth - and they would not become dying
creatures, but would be as God themselves! The onus was on them to decide
what to do, to determine for themselves what their future would be!
Gen.3:1
And the serpent comes to be the craftiest of all field life
which was made by Yahweh
Elohim.
And saying is the serpent
to the woman,
"Indeed! Then the Elohim
says, 'Not eat shall you from any tree of the garden'?"
Gen.3:4,5
And saying is the serpent to the woman, "Not to die shall you be
dying,
for the Elohim knows
that, in the day you eat of it, unclosed shall be your eyes,
and you become as the
Elohim, knowing good and evil."
The appeal to her ego and to
her senses was too much for Eve to bear - so she made her 'decision'. She
ate the fruit, and so did Adam! They drew down on themselves the stipulated
penalty for their 'decision' and became dying creatures - just as
God had said they would become, and proved the Serpent to be the liar that
he is. Having taken of the fruit of the tree, their eyes were opened to
the knowledge of good and evil and they now knew their nakedness
and they now knew the first feelings of guilt. They decided
to cover themselves with fig leaves, but God showed them that that effort
was inadequate - something had to die to provide the necessary effective
covering.
Gen.3:6,7
And seeing is the woman that the tree is good for food,
and that it brings a
yearning to the eyes,
and is to be coveted as
the tree to make one intelligent.
And taking is she of its
fruit and is eating,
and she is giving, moreover,
to her husband with her, and they are eating.
And unclosing are
their eyes, they two, and knowing are they that they are naked.
And sewing are they fig
leaves and making for themselves girdle skirts.
Gen.3:21 …making
is Yahweh Elohim for Adam and for his wife tunics of skin,
and is clothing them.
When questioned about their
disobedience, Adam blamed it on Eve - which was true, for Adam’s choice
had been influenced by the woman. Eve blamed it on the serpent - which,
again, was true - for her choice had been manoeuvred by Satan. In neither
case had their wills been free!
Gen.3:11-13
And saying is He to him, "Did anyone tell you that you are naked?
From the tree of which alone
I instruct you to avoid eating, from it did you eat?"
And saying is the human,
"The woman whom You
gave, withal, she gave to me from the tree and I am eating."
And saying is Yahweh Elohim
to the woman, "What is this you do?"
And saying is the woman,
"The serpent lured me and I am eating."
The fact is that even Satan
had no choice in the matter - he was doing exactly what his character dictated
he would do!
1Jn.3:8
…from the beginning is the Adversary sinning.
Jn.8:44 …does not
stand in the truth, for truth is not in him.
Whenever he may be speaking
a lie, he is speaking of his own,
for he is a liar,
and the father of it.
It was God’s intention and design,
all along, for humanity to represent Him, in His image, to the rest of
His creatures and to be like Him, according to His likeness, and as one
of the Elohim, in knowing and differentiating good from evil. So Adam had
to eat of the fruit to initiate that phase of God’s plan! God had carried
out a successful operation through the various characters involved in the
situation.
Gen.1:26,27 And
saying is the Elohim,
"Make will We humanity in
Our image, and according to Our likeness,
and sway shall they over
the fish of the sea, and over the flyer of the heavens,
and over the beast, and
over all land life,
and over every moving animal
moving on the land."
And creating is the Elohim
humanity in His image.
In the image of the Elohim
He creates it….
Heb.2:6-8
"What is man, that Thou art mindful of him,
Or a son of mankind, that
Thou art visiting him?
Thou makest him some bit
inferior to messengers,
With glory and honor
Thou wreathest him,
And dost place him over
the works of Thy hands.
All dost Thou subject
underneath his feet."
For in the subjection of
all to him, He leaves nothing unsubject to him.
Gen.3:22
And saying is Yahweh Elohim,
"Behold! The human becomes
as
one of us, knowing good and evil….
Scripture is truth. It declares
God’s supremacy, in all aspects, over all creation. It is not that man
has raised himself to a level where he can be used of God - he has neither
the physical nor the spiritual capacity to achieve such status. God knows
His creation. He knows what man really is - for He made him that way!
Rom.11:33,34
…how inscrutable are His judgements, and untraceable His
ways!
Isa.55:8
"For not as My devices are your devices,
and not as your ways are My ways,"
* KJV my thoughts
are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,…
Isa.55:9 as
the heavens are loftier than the earth,
so are My ways loftier
than your ways, and My devices than your devices.
Eccl.3:14 I
know that whatever the One, Elohim, is doing, It shall be for the
eon;
Onto it there can
be nothing to add,
And from it there
can be nothing to subtract;
1Cor.1:20
Where is the wise? Where is the scribe?
Where is the discusser of
this eon?
Does not God make
stupid the wisdom of this world?
Jer.32:19
Great in counsel, mighty in act, …
Your eyes are open on all
the ways of the sons of Adam,
Eccl.3:11 He
has put obscurity in their heart
So that the man may not
find out His work,
Lk.16:15 God
knows your hearts,
for what is high among men
is an abomination in the sight of God.
Isa.40:15
All nations are as a drop from a bucket,
and as sky dust of
the scales are accounted...
Isa.40:22
Who is sitting over the circle of the earth,
and its dwellers are as
grasshoppers?
1Pet.1:24
All flesh is grass, its glory is as the flower of grass.
Withered is the grass, the
flower falls
Isa.40:6,7 All
flesh is grass, its glory as the blossom of the field.
Dry is the grass; decayed
the blossom,
Ps.103:15
As for mortal man, his days are like grass,
Like a blossom of the field,
so is he blossoming.
Ps.103:16 For
the wind, it passes over him, and he is no more,
And his place shall not
recognize him
Jas.4:14
what is your life?
For a vapor are you, …appearing
briefly and thereupon disappearing
God it is Who determines our
experiences of good and evil. He determines our birth, our family, our
race, our country of domicile, the government we are under, how we live
within our environments and relationships, and how and when we die!
Lam.3:38
Do not both the evil and the good come forth from the mouth
of the Supreme?
Rom.9:21 Or
has not the potter the right over the clay, out of the same kneading
to make one vessel, indeed,
for honor, yet one for dishonor?
Act.17:26 He
makes out of one every nation of mankind,
to be dwelling on all the
surface of the earth,
specifying the setting
of the seasons and the bounds of their dwelling,
Rom.13:1 there
is no authority except under God.
Now those which are, have
been set under God,
Dan.4:17 the
living shall know
that the Supreme is in authority
in the kingdom of mortals,
and to whom He is willing
is He giving it,
Dan.5:21 the
Supreme Eloah is in authority in the kingdom of mortals,
and whom He is willing is
He setting up over it.
* Lk.4:6 the
Adversary said to Him,
"To you shall I be giving
all this authority and the glory of them,
for it has been given
up to me, and to whomsoever I may will, I am giving it.
* 1Jn.5:19 …
the whole world is lying in the wicked one.
* Eph.2:2
the chief of the jurisdiction of the air,
the spirit now operating
in the sons of stubbornness
Rom.9:17 For
the scripture is saying to Pharaoh that
"For this selfsame thing
I rouse you up,
so that I should be displaying
in you My power, and
so that My name should be
published in the entire earth."
1Cor.12:18
Yet now God placed the members, each one of them, in the body
according as He wills.
Phil.1:16
having perceived that I am located for the defense of the evangel,
1Thes.3:3
No one is to be swayed by these afflictions,….that we are located
for this.
1Thes.5:9 God
did not appoint us to indignation,
but to the procuring of
salvation through our Lord
Mt.22:44 "Sit
at My right, Till I should be placing Thine enemies underneath Thy feet!
Jn.12:37 Yet,
after His having done so many signs in front of them,
they believed not in Him,
Jn.12:39,40
Therefore they could not believe, seeing that Isaiah said again
that He has blinded
their eyes and callouses their heart,
lest they may be perceiving
with their eyes,
and should be apprehending
with their heart,
and may be turning about,
and I shall be healing them.
Isa.6:9,10 "Go,
and say to this people:
`Hear you to hear, yet you
must not be understanding.
And see you to see, yet
you must not be knowing.
Stouten the heart of this
people,
and their ears make heavy,
and their eyes make squint.
Lest they are seeing with
their eyes, and with their ears are hearing,
and with their heart are
understanding, and, turning back, then healing is theirs."
Act.28:26,27 "In hearing,
you will be hearing, and may by no means be understanding,
And observing, you will
be observing, and may by no means be perceiving,"
For stoutened is the heart
of this people,
And with their ears heavily
they hear, And with their eyes they squint,
Lest at some time they may
be perceiving with their eyes,
And with their ears should
be hearing,
And with their heart may
be understanding,
And should be turning about,
And I shall be healing them.'
* 2Cor.4:4 the
god of this eon blinds the apprehensions of the unbelieving
so that the illumination
of the evangel of the glory of Christ … does not irradiate them.
* 1Jn.5:19
…the whole world is lying in the wicked one.
* Gal.1:4
Who gives Himself for our sins,
so that He might extricate
us out of the present wicked eon,
* Eph.5:16
reclaiming the era, for the days are wicked
* Eph.6:13 …take
up the panoply of God
that you may be enabled
to withstand in the wicked day,
Rom.11:8 God
gives them a spirit of stupor,
eyes not to be observing,
and ears not to be hearing,
Isa.29:9-12
Stupefy yourselves and be in a stupor, blind yourselves and be blind!
Be drunk, but not with wine;
stagger, but not with strong drink!
For the LORD has poured
out upon you a spirit of deep sleep,
and has closed your eyes,
the prophets, and covered your heads, the seers.
And the vision of all this
has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed.
When men give it to one
who can read, … he says, "I cannot, for it is sealed."
And when they give the book
to one who cannot read,… he says, "I cannot read."
Rom.11:25 callousness…
on Israel has come,
until the complement of
the nations may be entering.
2Thes.2:11 …God will
be sending them an operation of deception,
for them to believe the
falsehood,
1Cor.2:7 God's
wisdom in a secret, …
concealed, which God designates
before--before the eons,
1Cor.2:8
not one of the chief men of this eon knows,
for if they know, they would
not crucify the Lord
Rom.9:18,19
...whom He will, He is merciful, whom He will, He is hardening....
who has withstood His intention?
Rom.11: 32
For God locks up all together in stubbornness,
that He should be merciful
to all
1Cor.1:18-31
…I shall be destroying the wisdom of the wise,
and the understanding of
the intelligent shall I be repudiating….
Does not God make
stupid the wisdom of this world?…
Mt.11:25 Thou
hidest these things from the wise and intelligent
and Thou dost reveal them
to minors.
Lk.10:21 Thou
dost conceal these things from the wise and intelligent
and … reveal them to minors.
1Cor.3:18-20 …for
the wisdom of this world is stupidity with God.
For it is written, "He is
clutching the wise in their craftiness." …
The Lord knows the reasonings
of the wise, that they are vain.
Mt.19:26 Jesus
said to them,
"With men this is impossible,
yet with God all is possible."
Mk.10:27 Jesus
is saying, "With men it is impossible, but not with God,
for all is possible with
God."
Lk.1:37 seeing
that it will not be impossible with God to fulfill His every declaration.
Gen.18:13,14 …shall
I bear when I am old?'
Is it a matter too marvelous
for Yahweh Elohim?
Jer.32:17 You
have made the heavens and the earth ….
there is nothing
too wonderful for You:
Jer.32:27 `Lo,
I [am] Yahweh, Elohim of all flesh: For Me is anything too wonderful?
Deut.32:39 See
now that I, I am He, and there is no other elohim besides Me.
I Myself put to death, and
I keep alive; I have transfixed, and I Myself shall heal,
and there is no one who
could reclaim from My hand!
Isa.46:9 ...
for I am the El, and there is no further Elohim, and the limit is as Me.
…
When GOD, in His love, wisdom
and power, decides on something; when He sets His objective and purpose
and intention; there is NOTHING in all of creation that can deter, forestall,
or prevent His successful and exact accomplishment of it!
Isa.46:10
… Saying, `All My counsel shall be confirmed, and all My desire
will I do.'
Isa.14:24 …"Should
it not, as I likened it, so come to be,
and as I counseled it, be
arising?
Isa.14:27
Yahweh…has counseled…who will annul it?
His hand outstretched, who
will reverse it?
Isa.43:13 …there
is no rescuing from My hand. I will contrive, and who will reverse it?
Num.23:19
El is not a man…Does He say it and then not do it?
Or speak, then not carry
it out?
Isa.46:11 ...Indeed,
I speak! Indeed, I will bring it about! I formed. Indeed, I will do it.
Isa.45:21 ...Who
announced this from aforetime? Hitherto, Who told it?
Not I, Yahweh?…
Isa.46:10 Telling
from the beginning, the hereafter,
from aforetime, what has
not yet been done
Ezek.36:36 I
Yahweh have built… I have planted … I Yahweh have spoken,
and I have done [it].
Act.3:18 …what God
announces before through the mouth of all the prophets…
He thus fulfills.
Act.4:27,28
to do whatever Thy hand and Thy counsel designates beforehand to
occur.
Job.42:2
I know that You can do all things, And no plan of Yours can be thwarted.
Eph.1:11
being designated beforehand according to the purpose
of the One Who is operating
all
in accord with the counsel of His will,...
Lam.3:37
Who is this who speaks and it comes about
if Yahweh does not
determine it?
Act.2:23 This
One, given up in the specific counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you…assassinate,
Mt.24:36
Now, concerning that day and hour no one is aware,
neither the messengers of
the heavens, nor the Son; except the Father only
Act.1:7 … "Not
yours is it to know times or eras
which the Father
placed in His own jurisdiction.
Isa.45:23 By
Myself I swear.
From My mouth fares forth
righteousness, and My word shall not be recalled.
For to Me shall bow every
knee, and every tongue shall acclaim to Elohim.
Rom.8:20 For
to vanity was the creation subjected,
not voluntarily, but because
of Him Who subjects it…
Gal.3:22 But
the scripture locks up all together under sin,
that the promise out of
Jesus Christ's faith may be given to those who are believing.
Rom.11:32 For
God
locks up all together in stubbornness,
that He should be merciful
to all.
Rom.9:15 "I
shall be merciful to whomever I may be merciful,
and I shall be pitying whomever
I may be pitying."
Rom.9:16 Consequently,
then, it is not of him who is willing, nor of him who is racing,
but of God, the Merciful.
Rom.9:18 Consequently,
then, to whom He will, He is merciful,
yet whom He will,
He is hardening.
Rom.9:11,12
...not as yet being born, nor putting into practice anything good or bad,
that the purpose of God
may be remaining as a choice,
not out of acts, but of
Him Who is calling,
it was declared to
her that "The greater shall be slaving for the inferior,"
1Cor.1:27-29
but the stupidity of the world God chooses,
that He may be disgracing
the wise,
and the weakness of the
world God chooses, that He may be disgracing the strong,
and the ignoble and the
contemptible things of the world God chooses,
and that which is not, that
He may be discarding that which is,
so that no flesh at all
should be boasting in God's sight.
1Cor.15:27,28
For He subjects all under His feet.
Now whenever He may be saying
that all is subject,
it is evident that it is
outside of Him Who subjects all to Him.
Now, whenever all may be
subjected to Him,
then the Son Himself also
shall be subjected to Him Who subjects all to Him,
that God may be All in all.
And NO ONE can convince, cause,
or compel GOD to alter His plans! It is GOD Who knows best and what IS
best for ALL His creatures.
Isa.40:13
Who regulates the spirit of Yahweh,
and which man is informing
Him of His counsel?
Isa.40:14 Whom
does He consult?
And who is explaining things
to Him, and is teaching Him,…
Rom.11:34-36
For, who knew the mind of the Lord? or, who became His adviser
or, who gives to Him first,
and it will be repaid him?
seeing that out of Him and
through Him and for Him is all:
to Him be the glory for
the eons! Amen!
Rom.9:19-24
…"Why, then, is He still blaming? for who has withstood His intention…
Isa.45:9
Will anyone contend with his Former? The earthenware with the ceramists?…
1Cor.15:27,28
He (God) subjects all under His (Christ’s) feet…
that God may be All in all.
With such an array of Scriptural
declarations it would be sheer audacity, and evidence of plain imbecility,
for anyone to claim the right and privilege of a free will!
Faith in God and His declarations
is true ‘positive thinking’ and it is so unlike the modern indoctrination
that parades itself as progressive ‘knowledge’ and as ‘the secret to success’.
Be assured from Scripture that we are not captains of our own salvation.
Neither are we architects of our own destiny nor formers of our own future.
These are mere nice-sounding catch-phrases and media-hype to sell books
and courses on self-development based on the ‘wisdom of the world’ in its
definition of achievement! Who would not like to be an achiever? a winner?
a success? The onslaught against the truth is so very subtle but the result
is the same - it foists upon us a set of worldly principles and values
that are tantalising and hypnotic because of the apparent ‘success’ their
proponents enjoy. Such worldly propaganda has infiltrated our Christian
thinking to a large extent and has interfered with, and distracted us from,
our proper relationship with God.
1Jn.5:19
We are aware that we are of God,
and the whole world is lying
in the wicked one.
Jas.4:4 Are
you not aware that the friendship of this world is enmity with God?
Whosoever, then should intend
to be a friend of the world
is constituted an enemy
of God.
1Jn.2:16 for
everything that is in the world,
the desire of the flesh,
and the desire of the eyes,
and the ostentation of living,
is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Cor.7:31 …For
the fashion of this world is passing by.
1Jn.2:17 And
the world is passing by, and its desire,
yet he who is doing the
will of God is remaining for the eon.
It only has to take one microscopic
pathogenic virus to demonstrate our utter inability and inadequacy to will
to live a moment longer than God has already decided for us.
April 2001
Back to:
....Main
menu of articles
....Section
1 - Introduction
.....................God
is Spirit
.....................He
is Unknowable Apart From His Revelation
....Section
2 - God's
Titles and Offices
......................His
Name
....Section
3 - Yahweh:
Only He is God
......................He
is the Only SourceThe
Proceed to:
....Section
5 - Constant
and Reliable
......................The
God and Father
....Section
6 - The
God and Father of Believers
......................Conclusion
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