Trinity – A Biblical Response Part I

This is Heart of the Matter, where Mormonism Meets Biblical Christianity, face to face. We praise the True and Living God for allowing us to participate in this ministry. May He be with you (and us) tonight.

I've got a lot to present, so I'm going to forego the announcements, insights, and ads (for right now) and get right into it. So with THAT… let's have a Prayer.

PRAYER PRAYER PRAYER

So, here we go – out of the closet for good. We have taken the time to rehearse Calvinism and Mormonism’s view of soteriology – or how (and the ways) men have suggested God has elected to save humankind from this sinful world. Many of you – unable to see a bigger picture being presented here (a picture that relates directly to the Mormon/Christian debate) have complained about this series. Some of you have written and said you won’t watch anymore. Others have even pulled their financial support. Whatever. Anyway, if you don’t have a clue how the LDS and the Calvinists suggest God redeems man, go back and watch our previous five or six shows. For the most part, the two doctrines of salvation are made fairly clear.

A Biblical Perspective on Salvation

Tonight I am going to propose an alternative to Calvinism, Mormonism, Arminianism, and Open Theism that is:

• Supported by a contextual view of the Word.
• Admits to a Sovereign God, an all-knowing God, an omnipotent God, and an omnipresent God.
• It also allows for His granting free will to all humankind.
• It agrees that God is Just, Merciful, and Loving in the highest sense of the Word.
• It admits that there is a literal hell.
• It acknowledges the biblical reality of a lake of fire for the unsaved, and…
• It assures and underscores the FACT that Jesus is the ONLY way.
• No other.

In the end, it is a viable response to the untenable notion that a truly loving God would create most people to burn in hell forever while, again, of HIS own “loving and good” free will and choice, choose a select few to spend eternity in splendorific joy. This ignored biblical approach does not deny justice in any way, shape or form. It does not negate the horrific realities of hell and or the lake of fire, nor does it take from the abundant blessings men and women receive for choosing, in this life, to follow Christ Jesus in faith.

Aligning with Scripture

What perspective am I talking about? The biblical fact that:

• “God’s will” will ALWAYS be accomplished.
• That His will – permissive and expressed – has (from the beginning) been that all humankind will be reconciled to Him by and through the finished work of His Son. And…
• That what we call “eternal punishment” (either in the depths of hell or the horrific Lake of Fire that awaits all who are not part of the First Resurrection) is NOT “punitive” but “purgative, restorative, and a process (that will occur over an undisclosed period of time) as a means to bring all men and women to ultimately, on bended knee, to confess with their mouth that “Jesus is Lord.”

Evaluating Salvation Doctrines

So let’s get working on this biblical perspective I lean toward and how it altogether stomps on both Mormon soteriology and the Five Summary Points of Hyper-Calvinism AND/OR Reformed Calvinism perpetuated today. So let me start (with you tonight) with what got me started on this line of thinking in the first place.

I think it is really important to know that prior to investigating the subject I too, readily believed, without exception, that hell and the Lake of Fire were final destinations for the unbeliever and I would NEVER have believed otherwise had I not been exposed to the information at just the right time in my life. God knows what He’s doing. I say this to make it known that the LDS view of salvation (with its universalist overtures and “hierarchy of Kingdoms”) has not influenced my thinking on the matter at all. What has mattered is scripture – plain and simple – interpreted fairly and in context of the whole. Even the distasteful tenets of Calvinism were not enough for me to alter my belief that punishment was forever for the majority of God’s…

The Significance of Biblical Passages on Submission to God

The way it was taught to me it seemed reasonable. So use scripture to challenge what I say over the next few weeks. It was only when I was willing to explore the light of it all that I then began to see.

So there we were, Sunday afternoon teaching the Bible verse by verse and we were in chapter one. In that chapter the writer, in an attempt to show that Jesus was “greater than angels," asked a question to the early Jewish converts to the faith.

“To which of the angels has God ever said– 'Sit thou at my right hand until I put thy enemies as a stool for thy feet'? Hebrews 1:13

The writer's point was God has never said any such thing to ANY angel and he actually borrows this passage from Psalm 90:1. Interestingly enough, when Jesus was on earth, He also applied this passage to Himself (in Matthew 22:43-44). Then, again, Peter applied it to Jesus too (in Acts 2:34-35).

Christ at the Right Hand

Obviously, the passage is significant. But it wasn’t the fact that it speaks of the fact that God has never said to any angel, “Sit thou at my right hand until I put thy enemies as a stool for thy feet.” It was the fact that the passage says that Christ will sit at the right hand of the Father UNTIL . . . He makes all His enemies his footstool. “Until I reduce all enemies entirely to a state of total subjection.”

“Hmmmmm,” I wondered, “what then? What will Christ, who has been at the right hand, do then?” A footstool is what we put under our feet when we sit on a chair and so the phrase here pictures that the enemies of God will ultimately be placed in total submission to Him. Entirely subdued.

It was this simple question that led me to pursuing other passages and seeing them in new ways, passages like: Philippians 2:10 which says “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

At the exact time I was handed a book by a dear sister named Margo. Now understand, I am handed and mailed book after book and DVD after DVD to “consider” and enlighten my “darkened mind” – I have very little time to peruse many of them. But suddenly I was driven to consume this one. I was written by a man nearly twenty years ago who was a pastor. Through it, I was led to consider the meaning of other passages of scripture, including:

1 Corinthians 15 where Paul is talking about the resurrection. Listen to what he said:

23 “But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. 24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. 25 For he must reign, until he hath put all enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. (LISTEN) 28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.”

The Will of God

“That God may be ALL in ALL?” Hmmmm. Is this His will?

Listen to this biblical insight into the will of God in verses 26-28 . . . pay particular attention to the word “ALL.” Ready?

26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. (LISTEN) 28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.”

Now, as biblical Christians we know hell is a reality. Anyone who rejects the idea of hell is not speaking from biblical truth. Additionally, we also know the Lake of Fire is a reality. Those who deny it’s existence is not using the Bible as

The Sovereign Will of God

But we also know (from scripture) that, speaking of God, it says

“Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”
1st Timothy 2:4

We also know from scripture that Jesus “atoned for the sins of the whole world,” And we cannot deny that God has certainly elected some people and nations to be, do, and perform specific things. For example, we know (from scripture) that God elected the nation of Israel, as a people, to, as Romans 3 tells us, bring forth the Law, the oracles of God, and the Messiah? He even chose them to kill and reject Him, folks. And from this indisputable fact He is able to bring about His sovereign will, wasn’t He?

But when the Nation of Israel were (as it were) “in the game,” and were God’s chosen they really thought that they “were all that,” didn’t they? They were the chosen ones for quite a while right? And remember their reaction when the Gospel was offered to the Gentiles! For some it was beyond belief! “Impossible,” they thought, that God would actually seek to save and receive the “great unwashed,” right? But contrary to their ideas, the Lord did open the gates to all, didn’t He? And He has continued to choose and elect a royal generation, hasn’t He?

The Elect

True Believers. The Bride of Christ. True Sons and Daughters of God, saved by grace through faith, people willing to suffer for Him, right? And Christ has been gathering all who are His, like a groom gathers up His bride. And as believers we have seen first-hand how God has LIKEWISE elected us to do certain things, hasn’t he? To what end? To help bring about His will, right?

Have you ever asked yourselves – “is it possible, that just as the Jews thought that they were “all that” and no others were allowed, that we too, as the elect body of Christ, could be making the same mistake in thinking everything begins and ends with us?” Is it possible that those who go to the lake of fire, after being purged and then bowing and confessing, might also come forth and bring to fruition the stated will of God that all men might be saved?

Now, whatever brand of Calvinist a person might end up being all brands admit that God is Sovereign and that His sovereign will is accomplished. But not one of them believe God’s Sovereign will would be the ultimate reconciliation of all. That, that would just not be right! Right? To them, His will is that only some (really, only a few) are saved and then the rest get what they deserve by burning eternally in the fires of hell. Now, listen – I FULLY embrace the idea that God is wholly sovereign and that His will shall be done. Scripture supports this completely.

Scriptural Evidence of God's Sovereignty

Consider:
Psalms 115:3
“But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.”

Proverbs 19:21 which says
“There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand.”

Jesus said in Matthew 19:26
“with God all things are possible.”

Ephesians 1:11 (speaking of Jesus it says),
“In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.”

Revelation 4:11 says
“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

Daniel 4:35 adds
“And all the inhabitants of the earth [are] reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?”

Psalms 24:1
“The earth [is] the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.”

Listen to the extent Proverbs 16:4 takes this idea, saying:
“The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.”

And as an exclamation point to the whole matter listen to Isaiah 45:5-9
“I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
8 Drop down, ye heavens, from above,
9 […]”

The Sovereignty and Nature of God

and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it.

9 Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?

Of course, this presentation would not be complete without citing Romans 9 where Paul says "Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?" From these passages (and many, many more) we KNOW God does "whatever He pleases" . . . "that His counsels will stand" . . . that . . . "that we are predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things after the counsel of His own will" . . . and "that He even created all things for His own pleasure ???"

The Question of Sovereignty

When we read in Proverbs that "He made all things for Himself, even the wicked," and in Isaiah it says "He created evil" and in Romans 9 it says "He has the power to create one vessel for honor and another for dishonor" (one for heaven and one for hell) what are we to think!!!??? For starters, we must agree that He is sovereign. Period. No question about it. But is He despotic or capricious in His sovereignty? Is it really His will that one, some, many, or MOST actually suffer eternally in flames and fire of hell, (or are annihilated)? Again, for some reason, Calvinists seem to think God is sovereign but He is a sovereign meenie. They will respond to comments like this by saying, "You are humanizing God! He is holy and has the right to burn everyone up forever and ever and ever."

The Nature of God's Love

To this, I would appeal to Jesus, who said, in a subtle comparison between God and man:

"What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" Matthew 7:9-11

What do we think when we read passages like James 1:3 (which says):
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man."

Does this not speak to free will of man? What do we say about 1st John 1:5 which says: "This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, "that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all."

What do we do with all the passages that describe God as loving (with the kind of love that NEVER fails), that depict Him as more merciful than a cold glass of water in a hot desert, more longsuffering than a thousand Jobs and more forgiving than any human parent. Ignore them? Go back with me – way back to before the world or the heavens were. To the "before all things," place scripture describes. To the place where all we can say is "God." Did God know all things about all things prior to creating them? Absolutely.

The Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent God

We have to agree that He is . . .

• Omniscient (all knowing).
• Omnipotent (all powerful).
• Omnipresent (everywhere present).

Being all of these, being all things, being the first and the last, knowing the beginning to the end, did this God WHOM JOHN DESCRIBES AS LOVE know all things about each and every one of us . . . PRIOR to creating us? (softly) He had to. Not only because scripture says He did but because if He didn’t He could be surprised (by our acts) and if surprised then not in control of them – which is counter to scripture.

This leaves us facing a tremendous biblical conundrum – one where the answers provided have plagued me since I could think. We are told He is light. We are told He is love. But we are also told He is in control and His will is done. But in order to make sense of eternal punishment, we have agreed to say insidious things like: "And it is His will that most human beings will burn forever in His absence." Finding such statements repulsive,

Exploring Different Theological Perspectives

and in an effort to try and get around them other men today have come along and made other propositions. One is called Open Theism which suggests that God “does not know everything” but He is “fully prepared” to response to whatever situation comes up. Intellectually, I supposed it is a reasonable response but the problem with it is it counters biblical representations of God so I reject Open Theism descriptions of God.

Then there is Calvin. His pinched nose system works but it certainly paints God as a fairly cold despot of sorts, doesn’t it? Then there are all the other non-biblical approaches that attempt to explain Him, including Mormonism which removes the biblical certainty of God’s sovereignty and places the outcome of all things in the power of Man himself. Now that’s bleak. How come none of these “isms” — Calvinism, Mormonism, Open Theism — never suggest that God is wholly Sovereign and He will bring about total reconciliation?

Biblical References on Sovereignty

Have they consider passages like: Isaiah 55:8-11 which says (to Man) “For my thoughts [are] not your thoughts, neither [are] your ways my ways, saith the LORD.” I mean, knowing God is love and good, how do they read Isaiah 46:9-11 where God says:

9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,
10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
11 Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.

As a God of love from eternity to eternity, what is His pleasure, His will, and His purpose?

Understanding God's Will and Purpose

What does Jeremiah 29:11 mean when God says “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” What does it mean in the face of all this information when we read in 2nd Peter 3:9 that “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” OR again, what does 1st Timothy 2:3-4 mean which says “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth?”

Somehow we have to come to terms with ALL of this information — not just some of it and we have to refuse to embrace and tout what generations of Men and Women have taught and believed if it cannot stand up to the entirety of holy writ.

So go with me (again) back to the beginning — prior to where God created the heavens and the earth and all that in them is. IF God knew He was going to create beings that would become kindling for hell, burning forever and ever and ever in real flames and created them anyway, calling it, His Good Pleasure, we have a serious problem with the other passages that call Him love, and good, and merciful, and Holy — though Calvinists would disagree. Calvinism has provided the world with a myopic and therefore limited view of God — emphasizing His sovereignty while either ignoring or redefining what love is.

Balancing Sovereignty and Love

On the other hand, Arminianism (et.al, Mormonism), as a response to Calvinism, refutes God’s Sovereignty and places salvation in the hands of man who is responsible for freely choosing all things and then being responsible for keeping his salvation thereafter. Can God be just, merciful, loving and completely Sovereign?

HOW? By and through His foreknowledge. He controls by foreknowledge, not force. We get a picture of this in the story of Joseph when he was sold into Egypt by his brothers.

After going through all sorts of hell, he became a mighty prince overseeing the distribution of food. When the brothers who sold him into Egypt years early came to him in search of food, he revealed himself to them. Of course they felt horrible and frightened for having sold him into Egypt in the first place but Joseph said in Genesis 50:20:

“But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as this day, to save much people alive.”

Understanding God's Foreknowledge

God, in light of the free will choices He knew humans would take before creating them, still create them, knowing some would suffer due to the choices they would make? Additionally, how is He able to have His will done in the face of such free-will choices? Foreknowledge friends, foreknowledge. His omniscient foreknowledge existing in the glory of pure love, allows for human beings and angels and saints and demons to freely choose while at the same time giving Him total and ultimate control over all things in the end where He becomes “all in all.”

Remember what He said in Isaiah (42:9): “Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.” Consider Psalm 33:11: The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.

Scriptural References to Foreknowledge

Speaking to King Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel said: Daniel 2:28: But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days.

Speaking of the day when heaven and earth will pass away, Jesus said: Matthew 24:36: But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. That’s foreknowledge. In describing himself, Peter said that he was 1st Peter 1:2: “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.” Even when it came to the suffering and death of His own Son, we know it did NOT occur by the indiscriminate actions of the Jews, or the Romans, or even of Satan Himself, but by and through the foreknowledge of God.

Did God force Satan or the Jews or Romans to do what they did? Not in the least. They chose. But God, knowing all things, allowed them to do what they chose to do to bring about His sovereign will. In Acts 2:23 Peter is speaking to a group of Jews on the day of Pentecost and says to them: “Him (meaning Jesus) being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.”

When Jesus was taken by the Jews was there any surprise to God? Not at all. Again, listen to what Peter said: “Jesus was . . . delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God to them, where they took Him and with wicked hands crucified and slayed Him.”

Responsibility and Free Will

So, again, let’s go back. And ask yourselves, who is responsible for the mess we are in today? Let me give you three choices:
Ready?

Adam (man)
Satan, or
God?

Scripture says God. He has purposed it all, by and through His foreknowledge, to bring about His ultimate will – which is the total reconciliation of all humanity – at some point or another. There are no surprises to Him.

Did God know Adam and Eve would sin? Absolutely. No surprise. Did Satan thwart God’s plan? Not in the least. Did Adam and Eve have the freewill to choose evil? You bet. For this reason scripture says that Jesus was slain from BEFORE the foundations of the world. It was all known and taken care of from the beginning.

We KNOW from scripture that God is good, light, love. He desires a good and an expected end, not an evil one. We know that out of His good pleasure (and out of His loving good pleasure because God is LOVE) that He created all things, knowing before-hand how all things would freely live, and walk, and be – because He is a Good God and a Good God adores freedom.

So ask yourself, prior to creating “all things” and possessing a complete foreknowledge of “all the things that He was going to create,” would you say a loving, sovereign God would set out to ultimately redeem

A few? (Calvinism)
Some (Mormonism)
or ALL? (true Christianity)

In the weeks to come we will embark, now that the foundation is set, to explain what the Bible says about Him, His ways, and eternal punishment.

The Assurance of Jesus as the Only Way

• It assures and underscores the FACT that Jesus is the ONLY way.
• No other.

This approach does not

• deny justice in any way shape or form.
• It does not negate the horrific realities of hell and or the lake of fire, nor does it take from the abundant blessings of men and women receive for choosing, in this life, to follow Christ Jesus in faith.

God's Will and Reconciliation

The biblical fact that:

• “God’s will” will ALWAYS be accomplished.
• That His will – permissive and expressed – has (from the beginning) been that all human-kind will be reconciled to Him by and through the finished work of His Son. And…
• that what we call “eternal punishment” (either in the depths of hell or the horrific Lake of Fire and awaits all who are not part of the First Resurrection) is NOT “punitive” but “purgative, restorative, and a process (that will occur over an undisclosed period of time) as a means to bring all men and women to ultimately, on bended knee, to confess with their mouth that “Jesus is Lord.”

A Moment "From The Word"

Deuteronomy 13:1-5

1 If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,
2 And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;
3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
4 Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.
5 And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.