Yes we are taught that God loves us more than
we know. That means that God s grace... or His kindness and goodness
towards us is manifested on a daily basis by His covenant promises. He
told Israel after they had become a society of treachery that all they
needed to do was to ask and God would have provided. God did not even
say... "Pull up your boot straps. " Because we know that men in their
natural state do not think and desire covenant blessings that are out of
the good deeds of God. But we know that God described His remnant
people as His works of goodness in the world. It wasnt even their works
they performed but God owned them as His own works. This is why
those who know God will take up His name. So they say.. "We come in the
Name of the Lord." How can men have such confidence and not sound like
they are full of hot air? Because they understand that God does the
works in them. If Gods power is shown it must be through the visible
instruments as a definition of Gods using them for His glory. If God is
God of the causes He must be the same God of the means... and He must be
the same God of the ends. If God is that same God then this is all tied
to His covenant love. When He displays His goodness ...i mean not only
men but things also.....it is really His goodness through these
mysterious objects of corruption. This is radical if you ponder it.
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Forums / Theology Forum / Re: The vitality of the assurance of faith
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on: July 29, 2010, 11:04:04 AM
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Tom and KK,
Thanks for the kind words. I thought I might share this, my own experience of obtaining the assurance of salvation.
Back
in the mid-seventies, I had been saved about a year or so and was
struggling with the issure of assurance. Late one night I was studying
the third chapter of Romans and came to the following:
[Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith, apart from the deeds of the law.]
It
was one of those moments where the scriptures became more than words on
the page but the very God of heaven speaking to me personally. I
understood that God had declared me righteous, accepted me, not on the
basis of works but by grace through faith in His Son. That I was His
forever.
I can remember as clearly today as over thirty years ago, closing my Bible and saying a simple "Thank you Jesus".
From
that point on, until now, I can truthfully say I have never doubted my
salvation. Others experiences may be different, but that is mine.
Bill
Thanks
Bill... I was discussing this with Geno before he passed on. He
described himself to me as an unbeliever. Geno came to Christ much later
in life than you or i and he was a type A personality. He had no
feelings and was extremely determined to be successful even if he
destroyed everyone in his way. He was very intelligent. But having
practiced this kind of lifestyle for many yrs Geno had a very profound
change. He said that God did a work in him when he was saved ...taking
that type A personality and making him the most loving person. Geno told
me that from that time on he had no up and down experiences about the
love of God for him. In talking to him on the phone i was impressed
with his tone of peace and trust. He just came across as the most
concerned person and loving person who you just felt he understood. Even
tho he had some unorthodox beliefs ... i saw in him a deep
understanding of Gods love that was beyond my own experience. My own
experience was a slow and methodical growth in hearing and searching
for the love of God. I have always been an emotional person. I do not
remember the times that i did not have an assurance of my salvation. But
there was this experience i had ... i spent about 5 yrs on memorization
and meditation of the nt and decided one day to memorize in the Psalms.
So after going through the first 4 chapters... and seeing how the
Psalmist was crying out to God... i had a very deep experience. My
experience prior to this was that i had a sense of peace and joy in
these other NT texts but that day i broke down and was weeping. I soon
learned that we could go on in our experience into a more deeper
understanding of God. I saw that prayer was like being drawn into a this
experience in which there were things that were revealed to me in the
meditation and prayer that made me find this searching eyes and voice of
a deep and profound mysterious experience in these eternal paradigms.
On the one hand there is a confidence that scares me in returning to the
Psalms...because its a realm beyond space and time... and the state of
the future on this earth .... the potential for great suffering. And on
the other hand finding that it is higher than i can physically endure
and lower than what i can handle. But praying like this is dangerously
determined as a rode in which i might find personal suffering. He makes
me pray for big things and then puts me rite in the middle of the
disaster and then tells me its according to His plan and He will see me
through it.... geezzz... ok ... i learn to pray like this to get me into
tribulation.... God is a consuming fire.
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Forums / Theology Forum / Re: CHAPTER 1. - THE BENEFITS OF CHRIST MADE… JOHN CALVIN
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on: July 29, 2010, 08:26:06 AM
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1. All these things will be easily understood
after we have given a clearer definition of faith, so as to enable the
readers to apprehend its nature and power. Here it is of importance to
call to mind what was formerly taught, first, That since God by his Law
prescribes what we ought to do, failure in any one respect subjects us
to the dreadful judgment of eternal death, which it denounces. Secondly,
Because it is not only difficult, but altogether beyond our strength
and ability, to fulfill the demands of the Law, if we look only to
ourselves and consider what is due to our merits, no ground of hope
remains, but we lie forsaken of God under eternal death. Thirdly, That
there is only one method of deliverance which can rescue us from this
miserable calamity—viz. when Christ the Redeemer appears, by whose hand
our heavenly Father, out of his infinite goodness and mercy, has been
pleased to succor us, if we with true faith embrace this mercy, and with
firm hope rest in it. It is now proper to consider the nature of this
faith, by means of which, those who are adopted into the family of God
obtain possession of the heavenly kingdom. For the accomplishment of so
great an end, it is obvious that no mere opinion or persuasion is
adequate. And the greater care and diligence is necessary in discussing
the true nature of faith, from the pernicious delusions which many, in
the present day, labour under with regard to it. Great numbers, on
hearing the term, think that nothing more is meant than a certain common
assent to the Gospel History; nay, when the subject of faith is
discussed in the Schools, by simply representing God as its object, they
by empty speculation, as we have elsewhere said (Book 2, chap. 6, sec.
4), hurry wretched souls away from the right mark instead of directing
them to it. For seeing that God dwells in light that is inaccessible,
Christ must intervene. Hence he calls himself “the light of the world;”
and in another passage, “the way, the truth, and the life.” None cometh
to the Father (who is the fountain of life) except by him; for “no man
knoweth who the Father is but the Son, and he to whom the Son will
reveal him.” For this reason, Paul declares, “I count all things as loss
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” In the
twentieth chapter of the Acts, he states that he preached “faith towards
our Lord Jesus Christ;” and in another passage, he introduces Christ as
thus addressing him: “I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to
make thee a minister and a witness;” “delivering 470thee from the
people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,”—“that they
may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are
sanctified through faith which is in me.” Paul further declares, that in
the person of Christ the glory of God is visibly manifested to us, or,
which is the same thing, we have “the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”277277 1 Tim. 6:16; John
8:12; 14:6; Luke 10:22; 1 Cor. 2:2; Acts 20:21; 26:17, 18; 2 Cor. 4:6.
It is true, indeed, that faith has respect to God only; but to this we
should add, that it acknowledges Jesus Christ whom he has sent. God
would remain far off, concealed from us, were we not irradiated by the
brightness of Christ. All that the Father had, he deposited with his
only begotten Son, in order that he might manifest himself in him, and
thus by the communication of blessings express the true image of his
glory. Since, as has been said, we must be led by the Spirit, and thus
stimulated to seek Christ, so must we also remember that the invisible
Father is to be sought nowhere but in this image. For which reason
Augustine treating of the object of faith (De Civitate Dei, lib. 11, ch.
2), elegantly says, “The thing to be known is, whither we are to go,
and by what way;” and immediately after infers, that “the surest way to
avoid all errors is to know him who is both God and man. It is to God we
tend, and it is by man we go, and both of these are found only in
Christ.”278278 The French is“Car nous tendons a Dieu, et par
l’humanité de Jesus Christ, nous y sommes conduits;”—For we tend to God,
and by the humanity of Christ are conducted to him. Paul, when he
preaches faith towards God, surely does not intend to overthrow what he
so often inculcates—viz. that faith has all its stability in Christ.
Peter most appropriately connects both, saying, that by him “we believe
in God,” (1 Pet. 1:21).
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3186
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Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Christian Supernaturalism: Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield
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on: July 29, 2010, 07:58:39 AM
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Nor can he confine himself to the confession
of this one supernatural act. The Christian's God not only existed
before nature and is its Creator, but also exists above nature and is
its Governor and Lord. It is inconceivable that He should be active only
in that speck of being which He Himself has called into existence by an
act of His independent power. It exists in Him, not He in it; and just
because it is finite and He is infinite, the great sphere of His life
and activity lies above it and beyond. It is equally inconceivable that
His activities with reference to it, or even within it, should be
confined to the operation of the laws which He has ordained for the
regulation of its activities and not of His. What power has this little
speck of derived being to exclude the operation upon it and within it of
that almighty force to whose energy it owes both its existence and its
persistence in being? Have its forces acquired such strength as to
neutralize the power which called it into being? Or has it framed for
itself a crust so hard as to isolate it from the omnipotence which plays
about it and successfully to resist the power that made it, that it may
not crush it or pierce it at will through and through? Certainly he who
confesses the Christian's God has no ground for denying the
supernatural act.
Now nothing is further from the Christian's
thought than to doubt the reality and the efficiency of second causes.
Just because he believes that in creation God created a somewhat - real
substance endowed with real powers - he believes that these powers
really act and really produce their effects. He thinks of nothing so
little, to be sure, as to doubt the immanence of God in these second
causes. It is his joy to see the hand of God in all that occurs, and to
believe that it is not only by His preserving care, but in accordance
with His direction, that every derived cause acts and every effect is
produced. But least of all men has the Christian a desire to substitute
the immediate energy of God for His mediate activity in His ordinary
government of the universe which He has made. Just because he believes
that the universe was well made, he believes that the forces with which
it was endowed are competent for its ordinary government and he traces
in their action the divine purpose unrolling its faultless scroll. The
Christian man, then, is frankly ready to accredit to second causes all
that second causes are capable of producing. He is free to trace them in
all the products of time, and to lend his ear to the poets when they
tell him that
This solid earth whereon we tread,
In tracts of fluent heat began,
And grew to seeming random forms,
The seeming prey of cyclic storms,
Till at the last arose the man.
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3187
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Forums / Theology Forum / Re: CHAPTER 3. - REGENERATION BY FAITH. OF REPENTANCE: CALVIN
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on: July 29, 2010, 07:53:11 AM
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18. This much, however, I will add: when the
name repentance is applied to the external profession, it is used
improperly, and not 524in the genuine meaning as I have explained it.
For that is not so much a turning unto God as the confession of a fault
accompanied with deprecation of the sentence and punishment. Thus to
repent in sackcloth and ashes (Mt. 11:21; Luke 10:13), is just to
testify self dissatisfaction when God is angry with us for having
grievously offended him. It is, indeed, a kind of public confession by
which, condemning ourselves before angels and the world, we prevent the
judgment of God. For Paul, rebuking the sluggishness of those who
indulge in their sins, says, “If we would judge ourselves, we should not
be judged,” (1 Cor. 11:31). It is not always necessary, however, openly
to inform others, and make them the witnesses of our repentance; but to
confess privately to God is a part of true repentance which cannot be
omitted. Nothing were more incongruous than that God should pardon the
sins in which we are flattering ourselves, and hypocritically cloaking
that he may not bring them to light. We must not only confess the sins
which we daily commit, but more grievous lapses ought to carry us
farther, and bring to our remembrance things which seemed to have been
long ago buried. Of this David sets an example before us in his own
person (Ps. 51). Filled with shame for a recent crime he examines
himself, going back to the womb, and acknowledging that even then he was
corrupted and defiled. This he does not to extenuate his fault, as many
hide themselves in the crowd, and catch at impunity by involving others
along with them. Very differently does David, who ingenuously makes it
an aggravation of his sin, that being corrupted from his earliest
infancy he ceased not to add iniquity to iniquity. In another passage,
also, he takes a survey of his past life, and implores God to pardon the
errors of his youth (Ps. 25:7). And, indeed, we shall not prove that we
have thoroughly shaken off our stupor until, groaning under the burden,
and lamenting our sad condition, we seek relief from God. It is,
moreover to be observed, that the repentance which we are enjoined
assiduously to cultivate, differs from that which raises, as it were,
from death those who had fallen more shamefully, or given themselves up
to sin without restraint, or by some kind of open revolt, had thrown off
the authority of God. For Scripture, in exhorting to repentance, often
speaks of it as a passage from death unto life, and when relating that a
people had repented, means that they had abandoned idolatry, and other
forms of gross wickedness. For which reason Paul denounces woe to
sinners, “who have not repented of the uncleanness, and fornication, and
lasciviousness which they have committed,” (2 Cor. 12:21). This
distinction ought to be carefully observed, lest when we hear of a few
individuals having been summoned to repent we indulge in supine
security, as if we had nothing to do with the mortification of the
flesh; whereas, in consequence of the depraved desires which are always
enticing us, and the iniquities which are ever and anon springing from
them, it must engage our unremitting care. The special repentance
enjoined 525upon those whom the devil has entangled in deadly snares,
and withdrawn from the fear of God, does not abolish that ordinary
repentance which the corruption of nature obliges us to cultivate during
the whole course of our lives.
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3188
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Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Surrender\Obedience a requirement for salvation?
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on: July 28, 2010, 07:03:57 PM
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Free will or not. Charles Stanley has a good message on how God appeals to us Go to this URL and look up the short sermon on June 30,2010 http://www.intouch.org/broadcast/audio-archivesHe points out how God is appealing to us via this verse: Isaiah 1:18 18 "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. 19 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land; 20 but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword." For the mouth of the LORD has spoken. This
whole passage in Isaiah 1 is a plea to the Nation of Israel. They had
turned away from the Lord to Idols. That means they were sacrificing
their children on the altar of the Baals... and they were practicing
free will divination. hehe.... Everyone was doing rite in his own eyes. When
you see this kind of accusation against the covenant community... that
being the circumcised nation of Israel. This was extended to a political
and religious Theocracy. That is there was a connection to how the
society was functioning as relating to the state of the ot church. So
every time you see this National call ... it not necessarily dealing
with a people but the whole system of injustice as well. The ot
worship acknowledged that God was the supreme ruler of the universe and
all other rulers were subject to being disloyal. In other words rulers
are servants of God and the people. Because God declares that He alone
deserves the rite to adjudicate the moral equation of nations. His
worship is His call to the judge. His focus is to bring comfort to the
fatherless... the widows and the orphans. But the people who are usually
miss apply the statutes.. laws... decrees .. etc are the earthly
judges. Because they do not attend to the helpless. This is how God
sorta bangs the gavel down so that He alone can judge the judges. And
this lack in the agencies of men is a natural way that societies
proceed. God declares that just as judges die and are no more ... so the
justice in a nation also is corrupted. God says to leaders... you
speak... but its time for you to be silenced. Your days are numbered.
Repent and judge righteously. This passage is like the judge
adjudicating the trial. God is on the throne .. and His court erases
crimes. He is saying that if they turn as a nation back to the real
Judge then they will be able to plead their case as if there was no
crime that they committed. This is exactly why we are enabled to be
willing to obey. Because our sins have been cleansed. This Judge is
merciful to sinners... He invites sinners to be cleansed of sin and
adjudicate their case as if they were white as snow. There is a
throne in heaven. Nothing escapes the eyes of this Judge sitting on this
throne. When He speaks the whole nation rumbles.... shakes... like an
earth quake. When He judges all the nations of the earth are summoned to
His court. He declares that He will only allow the Calves of nations to
continue on. He will judge the revilers and the despots. Let
me get personal here. We have a rite as His children to appear before
the courts of heaven to plead our cause. This is called praying the
promises. But instead of this Judge adjudicating national issues ... we
come to our Father who is full of compassion... always faithful and
eternally loving to His children. The reason that our Father is a judge
is because we come to gain protection... we are like the lambs in the
fold of the great Shepherd. He leads us in the paths of peace. We are
pleased to laying down by the puddles of Bacca ... where we come and
plead as leaders of our own sphere of influence that God will intervene
and make our paths straight. Have you learned to plead the promises?
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3189
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Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Reformed Doctrine
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on: July 28, 2010, 05:52:46 PM
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Hmmmm....Step
1....are we really powerless without God, KK??? I really don't think
'you' believe that. I'll certainly admit it's ALL Him....can you really
say that??? In your view....God desparately "NEEDS" your help to
supply HIM the right to save you.
Basically they are
saying that in order for us to be healed in our relationships we must
give up our rites to self assertiveness (which is a law of non
contradiction... i call this trading..)and make a list of people we have
wronged and gain forgiveness in the process. I do not disagree with
this concept because Christ does tell us in the sermon on the mount to
make amends in a dispute. But these things are not fundamental in a
transaction of these spiritual properties. This is a way of wisdom that
is practiced in a church setting ... mainly.. for the purpose of healing
a dispute that would normally go to court or to a counselor situation. And
this is not fundamental to obtaining gospel grace. This is why it can
be dangerous. Because we are dealing with disputes and the law of
liberty. The law of liberty is basically saying that there is no law
that binds us to obtain forgiveness. We stand in the state of
forgiveness out of the free mercy of Christ and not by a law of
confession. The confession is our seeking God with a good motive. But we
have no power to obtain grace out of our own motive. That comes to us
in gospel freedom. We are only doing what is required of us. And not
perfectly...Because we no longer stand in the position of condemnation.
God deals with us about our sin like a Father to His children...
warnings and example. In making this a law .. we are dealing with a
fundamental error of the gospel in my opinion.
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3191
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Forums / Theology Forum / Re: The vitality of the assurance of faith
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on: July 28, 2010, 01:46:30 AM
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Any
choice....from any man....is a potentially fallible choice. Anybody
want to debate that?? If a man can "er" in his decisions about
"anything"....He will "always...(apart from the work of God), stand in a
lack of "absolutes". I would argue....that since "your will" was the
premise of your "own" salvation.....ie the "start of it".....then 'you"
could just as easily be wrong about what you thought you chose. Sorry
MBG...I don't mean to interject, but a true believer's decisions rest
upon the grace of the Good work of God in his life.....not the merits of
his own error ridden heart and double minded sinful ways...(which
again, don't have to be as bad as they can be) but still "off" enough to
be misled. There is a way which seems right to a man, but in the end
leads to death. His ways....are not our ways....their "YahWehs". If
God has chosen me...and I really think he has....then "no man" can lose
what God has declared. If somebody "else" saved ya....and you just
liked the idea of being around a bunch of loving and giving Christian
people...and hope it all works out....then no matter "how much you
"will".....will change your "outcome" . It all really comes down to
God...but it takes someone who is completely honest with himself to
admit that.
Actually the bible talks about our identity in
Christ as essentially having a will in which our desires are in line
with His desires. Thats why we have a longing to get what we desire. It
is the classic argument that distinguishes the wheat from the chaff. The
desires of the wicked come to nothing. That means that their entire
lives are played before us like a ticker tape of one desire after the
other in this sequence of time. They are like chaff because their
desires have no weight to them so to speak. What i am alluding to is
that its not mainly a moral transaction but an identity paradigm . But
everything that we desire ... i mean.. if God wills it .... because we
are fallible ..... will come to pass in time. This is our encouragement
to find all of our confidence in Him since we get what we desire. It
could be something we want for ourselves. When we were regenerated God
placed His will in us. That means that we were given a spiritual set of
senses. We can now enjoy the light of the glory of Christ as we seek His
face by our new desires. Our desires are always growing in us as a way
to know that we are of great value. We know Him by our desires having
this yea and amen as we see them coming into reality in a future event. Because
we have the authority of Christ by our being represented in His
tribunal... we are like a heavenly lawyer going before the throne of God
.... who argues his case. This is why we learn to present our case
before men. This is a process of one who knows himself by knowing God.
As Calvin put it. It is just as important for us to know ourselves as it
is to know God. This is the goal.
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3193
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Forums / Theology Forum / Re: The vitality of the assurance of faith
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on: July 27, 2010, 02:46:16 PM
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How can any believer have assurance of salvation when it's been predetermined by God? How
sad if one repents and believes in Jesus' redemption on the cross and
His resurrection and yet God says "Sorry, I didn't pick you..."  As
i was thinking about STPs post about assurance and his personal
feelings about his own sin, i want to start this thread because i
believe that assurance of faith is absolutely essential to have a
healthy faith. If salvation is a change ... a total renovation of a
persons inner reality then for salvation to be measured by how personal
it is it must be defined by a healthy assurance. If salvation is a
transaction that comes through the will of God alone then God must be
able by His completion of salvation. To argue that God is sovereign and
then be unsure of personal salvation is to say that God is not really
sovereign. And if God is absolutely sovereign then that ability to
complete the work is measured by our lack of ability to hold onto our
personal salvation. This must be taught to us as a way of thinking. It
is not entirely comfortable about this because it seems that we are
taking Gods salvation of us for granted. What i am talking about is a
God centered view of this world. God coming down and saving man. God
preordains the means and the ends of the salvation of man. If God is
absolutely in control of all the events of this world then He is able to
accomplish this salvation in the Godhead alone. Because the world must
work according to His own pleasure. He cannot fail. So that when we
look at His promises about our salvation ...this is absolutely certain
that He will keep us to the end. Because this is taught to us in how our
own will is brought along in relation to His purposes. What kind of God
would work everything out according to His will and not work to subdue
our wills in order to accomplish His purposes? We are certain that God
teaches His own this kind of dependence as the evidence of their
salvation. This is why we reason that God alone should get the glory
for our lives. Because God has determined to covenant with His people
as a promise that He is a loving and faithful God. This relationship is
based upon Gods covenant promises. In this covenant God is fully able to
provide everything we need in order to prosper in our personal
salvation. He not only provides the strength..the assurance... the daily
needs but He predetermines our good works. This is why we look to God
alone for our honor. This is really about the way we think. We must
start out hearing God as that covenant keeping God. He is eternally
loving... faithful...kind... and full of compassion. He does not hold
our sins against us but He heals all of our diseases. He does not harbor
anger against us. He does not accuse us. But He always is faithful to
teach us as a Father is concerned for His own son. For He knows our
weakness... He knows that we are dust.
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3194
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Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Hidden In God
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on: July 27, 2010, 11:53:35 AM
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I
love it that when He used Gideon and his 300 men, He had to whittle
down the size of the Israeli army first, so they could go against 100's
of thousands and win the battle. If there had been too many of them,
they would have thought they were the ones who had beaten the enemy in
their own strength.
By creating impossible odds, God showed His
power, as He has done many times in history. And, of course, He picked
the weakness of the criminals' death on the Cross to defeat all the
seeming power of satan.
"For the foolishness of God is wiser than
man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength."
1 Corinthians 1:25
"For the Message of the Cross is foolishness
to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the
power of God." 1 Corinthians 1:18
Actually.... did you
know that the reason that God made His armies a small fighting machine
is because He ordered a supernatural event in the battle itself? This ot
analogy is the NT eternal procession of saints who endure persecution
and fought in a supernatural realm of faith. And we are reminded that
there is a great army in heaven of the saints who are clothed in white
... praying how long oh Lord will you delay your great battle and bring
the enemies of God to be brought to eternal justice in the their own
blood? God actually fights these battles in His unseen supernatural
working power throughout all generations. This is why the saint
is encouraged to give God all of the glory. Because God trains the
saints to fight a good fight. God is directly involved in all human
opposition through the human agencies in displaying His supernatural
power through weak people. This is Gods supernatural power working
through us... we have a personal connection to the physical infusions of
spiritual power as it flows through our bodies and we gain physical
strength to go on. He trains us so that we can climb the mountains like a
deer. This power is mixed with a tendency to find a praise that floods
our souls so that we are as confident as a lion. What is the purpose of
having men who know God crawl around like worms in order to show God
working. Working in mens programs out of a sense of helplessness through
unbalanced doctrinal approaches. Who is going to accomplish this work
if God does it alone? There is no such thing as let go and let God! Our
history in this world is just like Christ coming into the world and He
healed the world of disease. He actually overcame all of the finite
obstacles according to His Fathers will so that He was nice in His
warnings to lesser foes. Christ did good to the world and He has an army
that throughout the history of the world that has done the only good
that has been produced in this world.More Christians work hospitals and
help the poor than any other identifiable group of people. It is the
Christians that developed the most free societies of this world.
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Forums / Theology Forum / Re: The vitality of the assurance of faith
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on: July 27, 2010, 11:12:46 AM
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The holiness of God is in the context of His
sovereign will to accomplish in us what He demands. Any time we see a
person worshiping God as holy there are some limits in this doctrine of
how we are encouraged to be holy. The availability of being holy is in
the grace of holiness that works in us in these eternal verities. God is
holy because His present working is unhindered.
This is why He is
majestically holy. His majesty is in this procession of His created
order in which He works to subdue every power of this earth so that He
is worshiped in His rite to be God. The earth is His footstool because
His holiness cannot be thwarted. He gives His law and He upholds it in
His elect. We observe His holiness according to His majestic power to
uphold His law. This is why His holiness is compared to the thunder in
the breakers of the sea. It is the power and sound of the great waves in
which the water comes crashing down and fills every space that it
floods. This is comparing that kind of power and influence to the
majesty of God and His working in and through us.
There is no
comparison in a human system that has a natural analogy to this kind of
power. Because there is no existence of God working His holiness, in a
detailed way ,outside of His covenant promises. Because God gives His
oracles to a special people in order to show His working power through
these vessels of clay.
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