believing

A hard lesson

God sent the people of Israel into captivity to teach them a very hard lesson about his sovereignty over their lives. God had delivered the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob out of slavery in Egypt so that they could be his treasured possession (Deuteronomy 7:6). Moses explained to them, “It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of the peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 7:7-8). In spite of everything the LORD did for them, the Jews refused to give up their idolatry. God said, “Yet I persistently sent to you all my servants the prophets, saying, ‘Oh, do not do this abomination that I hate!’ But they did not listen or incline their ear, or turn from their evil and make no offerings to other gods. Therefore my wrath and my anger were poured out and kindled in the cities of Judah and in Jerusalem, and they became a waste and a desolation, as at this day” (Jeremiah 44:4-6).

While they were in exile in Babylon, the Jews were once again forced to choose between being obedient to God or following the idolatrous practices of their captors. Daniel and his companions, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego fought against the temptation to relinquish their right to serve the living and true God by refusing to adapt to the Babylonian culture (Daniel 1:8-16). When King Nebuchadnezzar exercised his authority by making everyone in his kingdom bow down to the huge golden image that he had made, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego paid no attention (Daniel 3:12). This act of rebellion enraged the king and resulted in a confrontation between the king and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Daniel 3:13-15 tells us that Nebuchadnezzar gave the men two choices, they could bow down and worship the image he had made or be cast into a burning fiery furnace. Nebuchadnezzar taunted the men by asking, “And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?”

Nebuchadnezzar had the furnace heated seven times more than it usually was (Daniel 3:19). Because of this, the men who were tasked with throwing Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the furnace were killed by the flame of the fire (Daniel 3:22). And yet, the fire had no power over the bodies of the three men (Daniel 3:27). After Nebuchadnezzar told Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to come out of the furnace, everyone saw that “the hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them” (Daniel 3:27).

Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged that there was no other god who was able to rescue the way God had rescued Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Daniel 3:29), but he was not willing to accept God’s sovereignty over everything, especially his kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar had a second dream which Daniel interpreted for him (Daniel 4:4-16). After informing Nebuchadnezzar that his mind was going to be changed from that of a man to the mind of a beast, Daniel concluded, “The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he wills and sets over it the lowliest of men” (Daniel 4:17).

A year later, Nebuchadnezzar was walking on the roof of his palace, thinking about his accomplishments, when his dream came true. Daniel 4:29-33 tells us:

At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, and the king answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” While the words were still in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.” Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers, and his nails were like birds’ claws.

After his sanity was restored, Nebuchadnezzar reflected on his experience and told Daniel, “At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’” (Daniel 4:34).

Nebuchadnezzar learned a hard lesson during the time that he lived among the beasts of the field and ate grass like an ox (Daniel 4:32). According to the Apostle James, Nebuchadnezzar’s religion was worthless because it was merely a form of self-deception that resulted in him becoming proud and defiant toward God (James 1:9-10, 26). On the other hand, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s faith was genuine and it resulted in everyone knowing that they were “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:3).

James encouraged believers to embrace the testing of their faith (James 1:2). James didn’t see trials as something to be avoided, but opportunities for growth. James said, “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12). “God may allow those who belong to him to be tested, but he will never place inducements before them to lead them into temptations greater than they can bear” (note on Genesis 22:1, 2).

Paul told believers in his letter to the Corinthians, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). When King Nebuchadnezzar commanded everyone in his kingdom to fall down and worship the golden image, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego could have done so to avoid being thrown into the fiery furnace and justified the fiery furnace as something that they were unable to endure, but they didn’t do that. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego instead chose to believe that God was able to and would deliver them from the fiery furnace because he did not want them to practice idolatry (Daniel 3:17).

James encouraged believers to be “doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22). The word of God is intended to change our behavior. It’s not enough for us to just agree with the Bible’s principles. We must put them into practice. James said, “For if anyone is a hearer only and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing” (James 1:23-25). James described the gospel as the law of liberty, something that gives us the freedom to do as we please. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego weren’t compelled to worship Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image. His threat of death meant nothing to them. These three men’s courage demonstrated to everyone around them their resolve to remain unstained from the world (Daniel 1:8; James 1:27) and contributed to Nebuchadnezzar’s change of heart toward God (Daniel 4:37).

A mystery revealed

God’s promise to give Abraham the land of Canaan forever (Genesis 13:15) implied that his ownership would extend beyond this temporal sphere. God did not explain to Abraham how his promise would be fulfilled, but we are told in Hebrews 11:19 that Abraham believed God was able to raise people from the dead, implying that life after death and eternal life were a part of God’s plan for the nation of Israel.

The fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham became clearer after the people of Israel began to occupy the land of Canaan. During the reign of King David, God said he would raise up one of David’s offspring, a physical heir to David’s throne who would establish the throne of his kingdom forever (2 Samuel 7:13). Second Samuel 7:8-16 “is both an explanation and a clarification of God’s promise to Abraham. It represents an unconditional promise to David that he would be the father of an everlasting kingdom (v. 16)” (note on 2 Samuel 7:4-16), but it does not specifically state how this was going to be accomplished.

Things began to unravel for the nation of Israel when the northern kingdom was sent into exile because of idolatry. It says in 2 Kings 17:21-23, “When he had torn Israel from the house of David, they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. And Jeroboam drove Israel from following the LORD and made them commit great sin. The people of Israel walked in all the sins that Jeroboam did. They did not depart from them, until the LORD removed Isreal out of his sight, as he had spoken by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day.” The Assyrians resettled Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom, with “people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim” (2 Kings 17:24).

The prophet Jeremiah warned the people of the southern kingdom about the impending disaster for Jerusalem, but no one believed him. When Jeremiah announced, “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I am bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their neck, refusing to hear my words” (Jeremiah 19:15), it says in Jeremiah 20:1-6:

Now Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer, who was chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. Then Pashhur beat Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper Benjamin Gate of the house of the Lord. The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord does not call your name Pashhur, but Terror on Every Side. For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They shall fall by the sword of their enemies while you look on. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon. He shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall strike them down with the sword. Moreover, I will give all the wealth of the city, all its gains, all its prized belongings, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, who shall plunder them and seize them and carry them to Babylon. And you, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity. To Babylon you shall go, and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.”

Jerusalem was captured just as Jeremiah predicted (2 Kings 24:10-17). The king of Judah was taken prisoner, and it says in 2 Kings 24:14 that Nebuchadnezzar “carried away all Jerusalem and all the officials and all the mighty men of valor, 10,000 captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths. None remained except the poorest people of the land.”

Among the people that were taken captive were four youths: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; who were both of the royal family and of the nobility that were “of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans” (Daniel 1:3-4). “Scholars suggest three possible reasons for taking the youths of nobility and royal family into captivity: (1) to hold them as hostages, thereby ensuring the loyalty of their families; (2) to develop men who already had some education to serve in Nebuchadnezzar’s rapidly expanding bureaucracy; (3) and to indoctrinate them with Babylonian ideals in the hope of employing them as liaisons between Babylon and the province of Judea” (note on Daniel 1:4, 5).

Daniel 1:8 tells us that “Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank.” And it also says of Daniel and his companions in Daniel 1:20 that, “in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom.” God used this situation to reveal mysteries about his plan for the nation of Israel. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and threatened his magicians, enchanters, and sorcerers, “if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your house shall be laid in ruins” (Daniel 2:5), Daniel went to his companions Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah “and told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon” (Daniel 2:18).

Daniel believed that God could reveal King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream to him and also provide him with an interpretation of the dream. The fact that Daniel and his companions were in exile in Babylon didn’t seem to affect Daniel’s faith or his reliance upon God for deliverance from King Nebuchadnezzar’s threat of death. The Aramaic word that is translated seek conveys the idea of praying to God or seeking out a person, asking a person for something (A1156). Daniel’s reliance upon God was based on his belief that God was compassionate and still had affection for his chosen people.

It says in Daniel 2:19 that the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. In other words, Daniel received a direct revelation from God, similar to the one John received and recorded in his book of Revelation. The Aramaic word that is translated vision signifies a literal sense of sight, the observation of something with the eye. Daniel 2:31 suggests that Daniel saw the same thing in his vision of the night that Nebuchadnezzar did in his dream. When Daniel interpreted the dream, he told Nebuchadnezzar, “You saw…As you looked…” (Daniel 2:31-35).

The mystery that was revealed through Nebuchadnezzar’s dream had to do with four world empires that would lead to a kingdom being set up by God that would never be destroyed (Daniel 2:44). Daniel told King Nebuchadnezzar that his kingdom was the first of the four world empires and that the final kingdom would “break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever, just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure” (Daniel 2:44-45).

King Nebuchadnezzar’s reaction to the mystery being revealed to him showed that he recognized God was more powerful than the gods whom he worshiped in Babylon (note on Daniel 2:46, 47). Daniel 2:46-47 states, “Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and paid homage to Daniel, and commanded that an offering and incense be offered up to him. The king answered and said to Daniel, ‘Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.’” “The king bowed before Daniel in recognition that Daniel was the servant of the true God” (note on Daniel 2:46, 47). In spite of the king’s recognition that Daniel was a servant of the true God, Nebuchadnezzar was not yet willing to submit himself to God’s authority (Daniel 3).

God’s discipline

God sending the Israelites into captivity was an act of discipline that was intended to correct their problem of idolatry. The prophet Zechariah said, “’And on the day,’ says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, ‘I will erase idol worship throughout the land, so that even the names of the idols will be forgotten’” (Zechariah 13:2). The prophet Jeremiah recorded the details of the fall of Jerusalem, indicating that the city was completely destroyed (Jeremiah 39:8) and “Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, carried into exile to Babylon the rest of the people who were left in the city” (Jeremiah 39:9).

Hebrews 12:6 tells us that God “disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives. The writer went on to say, “It is for discipline that you have to endure” (Hebrews 12:7) and then, explained that God uses discipline to bring his children into submission so that he can bless them (Hebrews 12:9-10). Hebrews 12:11 states, “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

God’s discipline is about learning to do things his way, understanding the difference between what we want and what God wants to accomplish in our lives. God’s ultimate objective for mankind is holiness, which is a byproduct of having a relationship with Jesus Christ. The Greek word that is translated holiness in Hebrews 12:10, hagiotes (hag-ee-otˊ-ace) means “sanctity” and is used in Hebrews 12:10 to refer to “sanctity of living” (G41). Hagiotes is derived from the word hagios (hagˊ-ee-os) which is “spoken of those who are purified and sanctified by the influences of the Spirit, a saint” (G40).

Hagios is used throughout the New Testament of the Bible to refer to Christians (Acts 9:13, 14, 32, 41; 26:10; Romans 1:7; 8:27; 1 Thessalonians 3:13) and is “spoken of those who are to be in any way included in the Christian community (1 Corinthians 7:14)” (G40). The way that Christians become holy is through a process called sanctification. The term sanctification means “to make holy” (G38) and is first used in the Bible in the book of Exodus, where God told Moses to “sanctify to me all the firstborn…both of man and of beast, it is mine” (Exodus 13:2), so we see that something that is sanctified belongs to God. With regard to Christians, this is true, because they have been redeemed or purchased for God by the blood of Christ (Ephesians 1:7). The Greek word that is translated redeemed, exagorazo (ex-ag-or-adˊ-zo) means “to purchase out, to buy up from the possession or power of someone. In the New Testament, to redeem, to set free from service or bondage (Galatians 3:13; 4:5)” (G1805).

It says in Hebrews 12:8 that all have participated in God’s discipline, otherwise “you are illegitimate children and not sons.” Both Christians and the Israelites are considered to be God’s children (Romans 8:14, 19; 9:26; 2 Corinthians 6:18; Galatians 3:26: 4:6, 7; Hebrews 12:6; Revelation 21:7). The common bond between these two groups is having faith or believing in God. It says of the Old Testament saints in Hebrews 11:39-40, “And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.” Sanctification results in believers being made perfect in the sense that they have completed the process (G5048). The last step in the process of sanctification is glorification, which happens when we receive our resurrection body (1 Corinthains 15:50-57).

God’s discipline produces submission in us in that it causes us to trust in and rely on him more and more as we mature in our faith. The Greek word hupotasso (hoop-ot-asˊ-so) in the passive voice means “to be brought under the control of someone” and can also refer to “voluntary submission…we are encouraged in Hebrews 12:9 to submit ourselves to God’s control” (G5293). In this sense, yielding ourselves to the influence of the Holy Spirit is a form of voluntary submission. It says in Romans 6:12-14 that believers are not to let sin reign in their bodies, but to present themselves “to God as instruments for righteousness.”

God’s discipline can be painful because it sometimes involves physical suffering. Jesus endured a tortuous death and was abandoned by those whom he had trusted the most. It says because of Jesus’ suffering, in Hebrews 12:3-4, that we should, “consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” Resisting sin is a struggle for humans because our sin nature causes us to naturally rebel against God (Isaiah 53:6). It says in Romans 5:1-5, when we are justified by faith, “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

Jesus’ example of enduring the suffering of the cross should encourage believers because of the result that it produced. There is always a purpose behind God’s discipline. It is meant to train us, not to cause us to give up (Hebrews 12:11-17). It says in Hebrews 12:1-2, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Jesus endured the cross because he knew there was something afterward that would bring him great joy. He explained to his disciples shortly before his death that the reward for their obedience would be abundant joy. Jesus said, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:9-11).

Believing in God

Hebrews 11:1 tells us that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Regarding reliance upon Christ for salvation, faith gives us a firm foundation to rest our lives upon and the proof we need to consider the matter of eternal life settled once and for all. The faith of the patriarchs and pious men from the Old Testament is recorded in Hebrews 11 as a testimony to those who believed in God even before Christ was born. What we know from this record is that very few of the people who descended from Abraham believed in God. In fact, the nation of Israel as a whole was considered to be living in unbelief throughout most of the Old Testament (Romans 11:23).

God did many miracles when he brought the people of Israel out of Egypt to bolster their faith (Exodus 4:1-9), and yet, when they arrived at the Promised Land, they didn’t have enough faith to go into the land and take possession of it (Numbers 14:11). Even Moses and Aaron’s faith faltered and caused them to die in the wilderness (Numbers 20:10-12). Forty years later, as they prepared to enter the land of Canaan, Moses told the people, “At Taberah also, and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked the LORD to wrath. And when the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying ‘Go up and take possession of the land that I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God and did not believe him or obey his voice. You have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you” (Deuteronomy 9:22-24).

Rebellion against God causes unbelief (Numbers 20:24). The Greek word apistia (ap-is-teeˊ-ah) in a negative sense means disbelief or “unfaithfulness (disobedience)” (G570). A similar word, apistos (apˊ-is-tos) is “spoken of persons: withholding belief, incredulous, distrustful (Matthew 17:17; Mark 9:19; Luke 9:41; John 20:27; 2 Corinthians 4:4). By implication, heathen, pagan, i.e. those who have not believed on Christ (1 Corinthians 6:6; 7:12, 13, 14; 14:22)” (G571). Jesus referred to his disciples as faithless or unbelieving when they were unable to heal a boy possessed by a demon. Jesus asked them, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?” (Matthew 17:17).

It says in Hebrews 11:6 that without faith it is impossible to please God, “for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” The Greek words that are translated rewards, misthapodotes (mis-thap—od-otˊ-ace) which means “a recompenser” (G3406) and ginomai (ghinˊ-om-ahee) which is spoken of persons being born or coming into existence (G1096) suggest that the reward for believing in God is being born again, regeneration. This is consistent with John’s statement in his first letter, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

Jesus explained recompense to a ruler of the Pharisees who invited him to dine at his house. Jesus said, “When you give a dinner or banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just” (Luke 14:12-14). The resurrection of the just is when believers will be raised to life again (G386). Jesus said of this resurrection, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him” (Luke 20:34-38). Jesus was speaking of living, “in the sense of to exist, in an absolute sense and without end, now and hereafter: to live forever” (G2198).

It says of the Old Testament believers in Hebrews 11:13-16, “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.” The purpose of believing in God is to achieve a better outcome from life than is possible from a material perspective. On the eve of his crucifixion, Jesus told his disciples about the heavenly city that God is preparing for his human sons and daughters. Jesus encouraged them to, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms, if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:1-3).

Believing in God is not something that comes natural to humans. It says in Ephesians 2:1-3 that we are dead in our trespasses and sins, “following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now are work in the sons of disobedience…and were by nature children of wrath” before coming to know Christ. Paul explained in his letter to the Ephesians that, “God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:4-9).

Although believing in God is not something we can do through our own efforts, it is something that God wants us to do. Therefore, it is an achievable task. Paul indicated in his letter to the Romans that the message of salvation is meant for everyone and “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). What is necessary for one’s faith to be ignited is hearing the gospel. Paul asked, “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord who has believed what he has heard from us? So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:14-17). The key to believing in God is obedience. You must obey the gospel, do what it tells you to, if you want to receive God’s free gift of salvation.

An indestructible life

Jesus knew beforehand what was going to happen to him after he was crucified and his dead body was placed inside a tomb to rot. The Jews didn’t believe that Jesus was their Messiah and wanted him to prove to them that God had sent him as he claimed. They asked Jesus, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” (John 2:18). A sign is something that designates or distinguishes someone, and in Jesus case is, “a sign by which the divine power in majesty is made known, a supernatural event or act, a token, wonder, or miracle by which the power and presence of God is manifested, either directly or through the agency of those whom He sends” (G4592). John 2:19-22 tells us that, “Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. The Jews then said, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.”

The Scripture that the disciples believed was Psalm 16:10, which states, “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.” The latter part of this verse was quoted by Paul when he was preaching the gospel at Antioch. Paul said:

“Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm,

‘You are my Son,
    today I have begotten you.’

And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way,

‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’

Therefore he says also in another psalm,

‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.’

For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption, but he whom God raised up did not see corruption. Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freedfrom everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the Prophets should come about:

‘Look, you scoffers,
    be astounded and perish;
for I am doing a work in your days,
    a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.’”

As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath. And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God. (Acts 13:26-43)

Paul identified an important distinction between Jesus and King David. Paul made it clear that after David died he “was laid with his fathers and saw corruption, but he whom God raised up did not see corruption” (Acts 13:36-37). The Greek word that is translated corruption, diaphthora (dee-af-thor-ahˊ) simply means decay (G1312). The fact that Jesus died and because of his resurrection, his body never had a chance to decay, was something that Paul wanted his listeners to understand.

Paul indicated that everyone who believes in Jesus is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses and then pointed his Jewish listeners to a prophecy in the book of Habakkuk that God used to answer Habbakuk’s complaint about the Jews’ corrupt lifestyle. God said, “Look among the nations and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told” (Habakkuk 1:5). Paul didn’t quote this Scripture verbatim. Instead, Paul adapted it to his audience, emphasizing the applicability of it to their situation. A scoffer is someone who is opposed to seeing things from God’s perspective, a person who spurns the truth of God’s word. Paul said the scoffer would be astounded and yet would perish, meaning the scoffer would understand the implications of Jesus’ resurrection and would choose to reject him and go to hell.

The unbelievable thing that God did in Habakkuk’s day was to have his people taken into captivity in Babylon. After that prophecy was fulfilled, Jeremiah wrote a letter to the exiles and told them, “For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:10-11). God brought the Jews back to their land and fulfilled his promise to give them a Messiah. Jesus’ resurrection three days after his crucifixion was evidence that God’s plan of salvation had accomplished what he intended it to. Hebrews 7:16-17 tells us that after his resurrection, Jesus became a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek, by the power of an indestructible life.

Paul described Jesus’ indestructible life as immortality. Paul said flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable (1 Corinthians 15:50), meaning that an indestructible life involves an unending existence and therefore it is not subject to decay (G861/862). Paul went on to say, “For this perishable body must put on the imperishable and this mortal body must put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:53), and then, he concluded, “When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? Oh death, where is your sting’” (1 Corinthians 15:54-55). Jesus’ miraculous victory over sin and death resulted not only in an indestructible life for him, but also for everyone who accepts him as their Savior. Paul concluded, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:56-57).

Turning back

The Apostle Paul said at the end of his life that he had fought the good fight, he had finished his course (2 Timothy 4:7). Not all Christians make it to the end of their course. Jesus said in his explanation of the Parable of the Sower that when tribulation or persecution comes into a person’s life, some fall away (Matthew 13:21). The Israelites were notorious for wanting to turn back after they had been delivered from slavery in Egypt. Shortly before they crossed the Red Sea, it says in Exodus 14:10-12, “When Pharaoh drew near the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD. They said to Moses, ‘Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: “Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians”? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.’” When they reached the Promised Land, the people rebelled again. It says in Numbers 14:1-4:

Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

God responded to the Israelites lack of faith by making them wander in the wilderness for forty years. The LORD said the people had rejected the land that he wanted to give them and would therefore be punished for their sin (Numbers 14:32, 34). God said, “And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness” (Numbers 14:33). Later, the Israelites were sent into captivity for seventy years because they were not willing to repent and turn to God for forgiveness (Jeremiah 25:1-14).

Hebrews 6:4-6 focuses on the problem of turning back after a person has made a profession of faith. It states:

For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

“This much-debated passage likely discusses unbelievers who have ‘fallen away’ (v. 6) by consciously rejecting the spiritual enlightenment they have received (v. 4). They had experienced a taste of God’s goodness (v. 5) and may even have been part of the assembly. They had given intellectual assent to the truth of Christianity, but their apostasy demonstrated that their professed faith was not genuine. In turning away from the sacrifice of Christ, perhaps to return to the Judaism they previously espoused, they rejected the only means of salvation that God has provided. Their deliberate apostasy was so severe that they could not be ‘restored’ (anakainizein [344]) to repentance. Judas Iscariot is an example of one who, although outwardly associated with the things of the Lord, ultimately chose to turn away” (note on Hebrews 6:4-6).

Restoring someone to faith after they have turned back is impossible because unbelief is a conscious decision to reject the truth of God’s word. The person understands the gospel and knows that it is true, but doesn’t want to repent and seek God’s forgiveness. The person’s decision is made evident by their behavior such as when Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:14-16). Hebrews 6:7-8 explains, “For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.”

The Apostle James warned believers against hearing the word of God and not doing what it tells us to. James said, “But be doers if the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For is anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing” (James 1:22-25). Perseverance is the ability to stay near to God even when he is disciplining us or testing our faith. Jesus said that we must abide in him if we want to be able to produce fruit and receive God’s blessing. He stated, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples” (John 15:4-8).

Lights in the world

Jesus used the contradictory example of light and darkness to convey how God intended his Son coming into the world to affect people. After stating that God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16), Jesus went on to say, “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true, comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God” (John 3:19-21). Jesus later told his disciples, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

Paul explained what it means to have the light of life in his letter to the Philippians. Paul began by using Christ’s example of humility to illustrate what draws people to the light and said that believers are to be of the same mind, “being in full accord and of one mind” (Philippians 2:2). The Greek word sumpsuchos (soomˊ-psoo-khos), which is translated in full accord, is derived from the words sun (soon), “together” (G4862), and psushe (psoo-khayˊ), “soul” (G5590). Sumpsuchos means “of one mind, joined together, at peace or harmony. Found only in Philippians 2:2, where it is used to encourage believers to unity and love. In the context of Philippians 2, sumpsuchos seems to imply a harmony of feeling as well as thought” (G4861). Paul stated that believers are to:

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:3-8)

Paul said the mind believers are to have among themselves is one of humble obedience. Jesus “humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). Paul connected obedience with working out your own salvation, and said, “for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). Paul then stated that believers are to “do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:14-15).

The people of Israel were originally God’s lights in the world, but they did not carry out the task God had given them in the way that was expected (Isaiah 43:10-12; 44). Israel became a negative example because of their rejection of God and tendency toward idolatry (Jeremiah 3:6-10). Jonah, the Old Testament prophet who was sent to Niniveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire, with a message of repentance, chose to flee to Tarshish instead of obeying the command of the LORD (Jonah 1:3). In spite of Jonah’s disobedience, God’s plan was carried out. Jesus referred to Jonah as a sign and said, “The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here” (Matthew 12:41).

Jonah thought he could flee from the presence of the LORD (Jonah 1:3), but a hurricane that threatened to break up the ship he was traveling on made Jonah realize that nothing that happened to him was outside of God’s awareness. “Jonah intended to go as far as he could in the opposite direction from the place to which God had sent him. The phrase ‘rose to flee…from the presence of the LORD’ also refers to Jonah’s attempt to escape from the will of God. This does not mean that Jonah thought God could not find him in Tarshish; he may have felt that leaving the place where God had called him, God would no longer desire to have him go to Nineveh. It is often a misconception of God’s people that there are some places where God is more evident than others. They feel that if they go far enough away from these places of God’s ‘presence,’ he will no longer seek to use them” (note on Jonah 1:3). Jonah 1:5-14 states:

Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”

And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.

Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” Nevertheless, the men rowed hardto get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” (Jonah 1:5-14)

Jonah thought the purpose of the storm was to punish him for not doing what God wanted him to. Jonah instructed the sailors to throw him overboard because he would rather die than carry out the mission that God had given to him. Jonah’s resistance to doing God’s will resulted in the sailors believing in the LORD. The sailors’ prayer demonstrated the sincerity of their belief and their understanding of God’s sovereignty. “O LORD, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O LORD, have done as it pleased you” (Jonah 1:14).

Paul said that believers are to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, “for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13). God’s people are witnesses to him regardless of their desire to do so. God can work in and through believers to accomplish his will even through their disobedience, but what Paul was saying was that it is better for us to work out our own salvation or rather, to willingly offer ourselves up to be used by God no matter how undesirable the task is to us. Jesus asked the question, “’Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest, not is anything secret except to come to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.’ And he said to them, ‘Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away’” (Mark 4:21-25).

Paul indicated that the way believers shine as lights in the world is by holding fast to the word of life (Philippians 2:16). The word of life is described in Hebrews 4:12 as being sharper than any two-edged sword, something that is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Jonah’s word to the Ninevites was, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” In response to this message, it says in Jonah 3:5, “And the people of Nineveh believed God.” Jonah 3:6-9 goes on to say:

The word reachedthe king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”

The people of Nineveh, including the king, took God’s word seriously and repented of their sin with the hope that he might show them mercy. The book of Jonah “was written after Jonah returned from his mission and had time to reflect on its significance. Some have called the book of Jonah the ‘Acts of the Old Testament,’ because it graphically demonstrates that God is willing to have mercy on all who seek him in humility and sincerity. The repentance of the people of Nineveh postponed the destruction of their city for roughly 150 years (until 612 BC)” (Introduction to Jonah).

“Many critics dismiss the story of Jonah as a ‘myth’ or ‘fable’ because they reject the miraculous element of the great fish. This simply shows their inability to comprehend the supernatural nature of the God of the Bible. For one who can stay the sun or divide the Red Sea, controlling one fish is not a great problem. Jesus treated the book as a historical fact, comparing Jonah’s time in the belly of the fish to his own time in the tomb (Matthew 12:40). Moreover, he affirmed that the repentance of the Ninevites was genuine and contrasted their reaction to the indifference of the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 12:41; Luke 11:32)” (Introduction to Jonah).

The will of God

Paul thought it was important for the believers in Rome to know what God’s will was for their lives. Paul spent most of his letter explaining the gospel to the Romans and making it clear to them that receiving God’s gift of salvation was the first and most important step in the life of a Christian. Paul went on to explain how God’s plan of salvation was intended to make salvation available to everyone (Romans 10:5-21) and how Israel had been used to accomplish this goal (Romans 11:1-24) and would eventually be brought back into God’s family through faith in Christ rather than through the Law of Moses (Romans 11:25-36). Paul then talked about believers becoming a living sacrifice, the gifts of grace and the marks of a true Christian. Within this section of Paul’s letter was hidden a key biblical truth that could easily be overlooked if not for the fact that Paul emphasized this point so strongly, it was like a knockout punch that left the reader wondering, why didn’t I see that coming. Paul introduced his point with the statement, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1). Paul made note of the fact that spiritual worship involves a sacrifice, but instead of this sacrifice involving death, a living sacrifice had to be presented to God. Paul stated:

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)

Paul indicated that God’s will is revealed to believers by testing. The Greek word that is translated into the phrase by testing you may discern in Romans 12:2, dokimazo (dok-im-adˊ-zo) means “to make trial of, put to the proof, examine by any method (G1381). The New Living Translation version of Romans 12:2 says it this way: “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” According to this translation, the goal is to develop a new way of thinking and the way that believers get there is by learning to know God’s will. God uses testing to teach believers lessons about how he works. God said in Isaiah 55:8-9, “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts…And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts” (NLT).

The process that Paul associated with discerning the will of God is not identified in Romans 12:2, but in his first letter to the Thessalonians Paul said, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. (1 Thessalonians 4:3-6, NKJV). In this passage, Paul stated plainly that for a believer, the will of God is your sanctification. In other words, God’s will = sanctification. Sanctification is the process in which a believer is transformed by the renewing of their mind into the image of Christ. Paul gave us the details of this process in Ephesians 4:22-24 and Colossians 3:8-14. Paul indicated in Colossians 3:10 that the model used for the renewal of the believer’s mind is “the image of him that created him (KJV). It says in Genesis 1:27 that God created man in his own image, but when sin entered the world, that image was marred. Sanctification results in the restoration of the divine image. Paul said in Romans 8:29 that believers were predestined by God “to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

Paul described the will of God in Romans 12:2 as that which is “good, and acceptable and perfect.” Each of these words conveys a different aspect of God’s character that can identify someone as a Christian or more specifically, as a child of God. Good refers to someone or something that is profitable or useful (G18). When a rich young ruler asked Jesus, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16, NKJV), Jesus pointed him back to the source of goodness, God: “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God” (Matthew 19:17, NKJV) and then, Jesus added, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (Matthew 19:21). The Greek word teleios (telˊ-i-os), which is translated perfect, means “finished, that which has reached its end, term, limit; hence, complete, full, lacking nothing” and is used in a moral sense of persons (G5046). Something is acceptable when it pleases the person or satisfies the need for which it was intended. Paul said that believers are to be a living sacrifice, “holy and acceptable to God” (Romans 12:1).

Jesus modeled for us what it means to do the will of God and told his disciples, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). Later Jesus told a parable about two sons to make it clear to his disciples and others what doing the will of God looked like. Jesus asked:

“What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.” (Matthew 21:28-32)

Jesus indicated that believing sometimes requires you to change your mind and linked this effort to doing the will of God. According to Paul, changing your mind involves a complete transformation, what he described as a renewing of the mind (Romans 12:2).

Renewing your mind so that you can discern the will of God is a lifelong process that brings you closer and closer to Christ. Moses is the only person in the Bible who had face to face communication with God before Jesus entered the world. It says in Exodus 33:11, “Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Because of the intimate communication between Moses and God, it says in Exodus 34:29 that the skin of his face shone. The people were afraid to come near Moses so, “he put a veil over his face” (Exodus 34:35). Paul explained in his second letter to the Corinthians that for those whose minds are hardened, “that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away” (2 Corinthians 3:14). Paul went on to explain that turning to the Lord results in the veil being removed. Paul said, “But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:16-18). The phrase turn to the Lord refers to conversion or what Jesus described as being born again (John 3:3). When this occurs, Paul said “the veil is removed” (2 Corinthians 3:16) and we are able to discern the will of God from that point forward.

Being able to discern the will of God does not guarantee that we will do it as was illustrated in Jesus’ parable of the two sons (Matthew 21:28-32). Jesus made a conscious decision to do his Father’s will rather than his own in the garden of Gethsemane. Jesus prayed, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). Jesus didn’t want to die on the cross, but in obedient submission to his Father, he did what was necessary to accomplish God’s will. Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:24-25). Giving up our will in order to do the will of God is comparable to losing our life because the will is what drives our daily actions. The Greek word that is translated deny, aparneomai (ap-ar-nehˊom-ahee) means “to disown and renounce self, to disregard all personal interests and enjoyments” (G533). After Jesus had discussed the concept of being united with Christ, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” (John 6:60). John went on to tell us, “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him” (John 6:66). Knowing that they had doubts about their commitment to follow him and to doing God’s will regardless of the personal sacrifice, John tells us, “Jesus said to the Twelve, ‘Do you want to go away as well?’” (John 6:67). Jesus’ direct question resulted in a declaration by Peter that “we have believed, and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68-69), and yet, when Jesus was arrested in the garden of Gethsemane, “then all of his disciples left him and fled” (Matthew 26:56).

Getting Saved

Paul identified the necessary steps and requirements for getting saved in Romans chapter 10. Talking about his message of salvation, Paul said, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4). By this, Paul meant that believing in Christ was the purpose of him preaching the gospel and the end result of an individual getting saved. Believing in Christ means that you trust in him as being able and willing to save you from the effects of sin and death. Paul stated, “But the righteousness based on faith says, ‘Do not say in your heart, “Who will ascend to heaven?”’ (that is to bring Christ down) ‘or “Who will descend into the abyss?”’ (that is to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ (that is the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved. Paul said that you must not only confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, but you must also believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead in order to be saved.

The two step process of confessing and believing in Christ is dependent upon faith. It says in Hebrews 11:1 that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Conviction means that there is sufficient proof to persuade you that something is the truth (G1650). At the end of his gospel, John stated that the purpose of his book was “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (John 20:31). John specifically referred to the many signs that Jesus did in the presence of his disciples as the basis for believing in Christ and getting saved.

Paul described the process of getting saved as calling on the name of the Lord. Paul said, “For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, ‘Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:10-13). The phrase calls on means “to invoke, pray to, worship” and is spoken of in this verse as communication with God (G1941).

Paul went on to explain that calling on the name of the Lord is dependent upon someone preaching the gospel. Paul asked:

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:14-17)

Paul argued that a person cannot get saved without having first heard the gospel. Paul said that faith comes from hearing the word of Christ. The Greek word that is translated word, rhema (hrayˊ-mah) means “an utterance (individual, collective or special); by implication a matter or topic (especially of narration, command or dispute)…Particularly a word as uttered by a living voice; a saying, speech or discourse” (G4487).

Jesus said many things to his disciples and the crowds that followed him, but not everything that came out of Jesus’ mouth was considered to be a rhema. “In the New Testament, rhema often takes on a particular meaning from its adjuncts or context: charge, accusation (Matthew 5:11; 18:16; 27:14; 2 Corinthians 13:1). Prediction, prophecy (2 Peter 3:2; Jude 17). Also, the saying of God (Revelation 17:17). Promise of God (Luke 2:29; Hebrews 6:5). Command (Luke 5:5; Hebrews 1:3; 11:3). Also Matthew 4:4: Luke 4:4, where rhema is used in metonymy for everything which God decrees. Teaching, precept, doctrine (Luke 3:2; John 3:37; 5:47; 6:63, 68; 8:47; 10:21; 12:47, 48; 14:10; 15:7; 17:8; Acts 5:20; 10:22, 37; Romans 10:17; Ephesians 5:26; 6:17; 1 Peter 1:25)” (G4487). One instance where Luke used rhema in connection with believing was Mary’s discovery of the empty tomb on Easter morning. Luke tells us:

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared.And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened. (Luke 24:1-12)

Luke made note of the fact that Mary and the other women remembered Jesus’ words, but then he said of the apostles, “these words (rhema) seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them” (Luke 24:11). When two men told Jesus about this on the road to Emmaus, Jesus said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” (Luke 24:25-26).

Jesus told a man named Zacchaeus that “the Son of Man came to seek and to save those who are lost” (Luke 19:10, NLT). Jesus explained what it meant to be lost using several parables, the most notable of which is the Parable of the Lost Son (Luke 15:11-31). At the end of this parable, the older son, who had remained faithful to his father, was angry because the lost son’s return was being celebrated by everyone in the household. Luke tells us, “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’ His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’” (Luke 15:28-31, NLT). The older son had done what his father expected him to, but his heart was filled with hatred toward his brother and contempt for his father. The younger son, on the other hand, recognized his deliberate rebellion against his father and returned to him with a humble attitude of submission (Luke 15:18-19).

The father of the lost son referred to his son as being dead and “now returned to life” after he had come back home to him. Getting saved means that we return to a former state of well-being. Jesus used the term born again to refer to the process of getting saved (John 3:3) or what is sometimes referred to as conversion. “The process called conversion or turning to God is in reality a re-turning or a turning back again to Him from whom sin has separated us, but whose we are by virtue of creation, preservation and redemption” (H7725). Paul concluded his discussion of getting saved with an example of the difference between those who get saved and those who don’t. Quoting from the prophet Isaiah, Paul stated on behalf of God, “’I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.’ But of Israel he says, ‘All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people’” (Romans 10:20-21). According to Paul, the only difference between those who get saved and those who don’t is a willingness to respond to our heavenly Father’s invitation to join the celebration.

Divine Selection

It says in Ephesians 1:4-5 that God chose who would become members of his family before the foundation of the world and that he predestined those individuals for adoption through his Son, Jesus Christ. “The verb ‘chose’ (v. 4) is the translation of the Greek work exelexatō (1586), meaning ‘chosen out of.’ In this context, it signifies that at one particular time in the past, God chose individuals for salvation (cf. Matt. 24:31; Luke 18:7; Rom. 8:33; 2 Tim. 2:10; James 2:5). ‘Predestined’ (v. 5) is the rendering of the verb proorisas (4309), ‘to determine beforehand’ (cf. Acts 4:28; Rom. 8:29; 9:11; 1 Pet. 1:2, 20). God selected certain individuals to be delivered from sin and death before he had even conceived the world that we live in. Paul explained the reasoning behind God’s divine selection in his letter to the Romans. Paul said of Isaac’s sons Jacob and Esau that though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, God chose Jacob, not because of works, “but because of him who calls” (Romans 9:11). The Greek word that is translated calls, kaleo (kal-ehˊ-o) has to do with extending an invitation or giving a verbal command. God’s sovereign choice is exercised when he calls someone into his family, but the individual’s free will must also be exercised by responding to God’s invitation. “The invitation to believe in Christ and be saved is extended to all (John 3:16-18, 36; 6:37; 10:9; Acts 10:43). Everyone who hears the gospel is responsible to either accept or reject Christ. If one perishes in his sin, he is condemned as a result of his own choice (John 3:18). God’s foreknowledge and predetermination of those who will respond to the gospel is therefore a matter of his ability to limit in advance the outcome of everything that takes place on earth.

Paul asked the question, “What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.’ So then he has mercy on whom he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills” (Romans 9:14-18). Paul pointed to God’s mercy as the driving force behind his divine selection. When God hardens someone’s heart, he is merely reenforcing that individual’s own moral choice. It says in 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

Paul argued that God’s sovereign choice did not override man’s culpability and then, went on to explain that God’s intervention was necessary for individuals to be saved. Paul stated:

You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?

The point that Paul wanted his readers to understand was that apart from God’s mercy, we would all be destined for hell. So that people would know it was not his desire for them to be eternally separated from him, God chose to save everyone who would receive his free gift of salvation by placing their trust in Jesus Christ.

Paul contrasted God’s decision to save both Jews and Gentiles with his decision to save only a remnant of the descendants of Abraham (Romans 9:25-29). Paul attributed this to Israel’s unbelief and emphasized the importance of receiving salvation by faith. Paul said, “What shall we say, then? That the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, ‘Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame” (Romans 9:30-33). Paul assured both Jews and Gentiles that anyone who would be willing to place their trust in Christ would not be put to shame, meaning that God would not choose to reject anyone who believed in Jesus. Jesus explained to Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:16-17).