Exposition by Max A Forsythe
Question 8:
Q: How doth God execute his decrees?
A: God executeth his decrees in the works of creation and providence.
A few years ago a white supremist group tried to persuade the readers of the Ohio State Lantern that the holocaust never happened. They brazenly charged that it was all a figment of bad press aimed at defaming the militant National Socialists of Germany. Please! Such tripe belongs on the very back page of the National Enquirer. I was surprised that any responsible publication would even publish such non-historical nonsense! Of course it was and the publication of such an outlandish paid advertisement was defended with the plea that everyone was entitled to their opinion! Even when it flies in the face of historic documentation?
The horrors of the holocaust happened within the realm of real space and time. I have seen documentaries which picture the whole gruesome scene. And if the normal publications are less trusted in our day, I have had access to independent verification of the events so tritely denied. In the late seventies I came across a roll of color film shot by an Urbana Doctor of his visit to Dauchau. I even copied a set of color slides from his rare film footage. Add to that the Polish lady who visited our history classes in the same time period and showed us the tattoo numbers on her skin. She had been at Auschwitz in her homeland and very few of our students were able to eat lunch after those vivid reports. The reality of space and time are hard to refute!
Even as it is becoming more difficult to maintain the integrity of historic events, it is ever more difficult to maintain the idea that the common atrocities of the holocaust were really down right wicked and evil. In an age when human life is snuffed out by the millions even before the wee ones are born, it is getting harder and harder to assert the once common moral view that events and actions can be measured by the standards of a just and holy God! So here we have three issues that are very closely related in the area of theology that we must consider today: the immutability of God in his essence and in his decrees regarding creation and providence.
Yes, that last sentence included a lot of big fifty cent concepts, that I must translate with nickel and dime words. Immutability simply means that the Creator God of all things does not change as creatures do from year to year or even moment to moment. One of the frustrating things about working in the public sector is how easily the managers, bureaucrats and officials are willing to change almost any rule, regulation or principle if it suits their purpose. In such organizations it is difficult to plan anything beyond today because there is no way of knowing what will be politically or financially correct even six weeks later. Even our courts are afflicted with this mentality that laws do not have a certain application to every group of people. Even for us as individuals, age, diet, temperament, metabolism and such can often transform our personality and make us appear less dependable.
The God of heaven is not like us, He is different from the members of His Creation. He is always from age to age the same, never changing as the author of Hebrews asserts: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever". Praise the Lord for His immutability, wouldn't it be profoundly difficult to deal with a god who was always changing? I would even wonder if such a caricature could be considered godly? That was always a problem that plagued the pagan religions because they were always having to figure out how to please an unpredictable potentate. The immutability of our primordial Creator has pleased very many pagan converts over the centuries because for the first time in their life they knew a God who changed not!
The other difficult word in that sentence a few minutes ago was decree. Just last week we learned that that word included the concepts of purpose and plan. This week we see the application of that purpose and plan to God's creation and providence. Of course, the worldly crowd will balk at even the suggestion that either of those two areas include God's initial and ongoing activity. So be it, the Sovereign Creator of all that exists does not need the permission of any creatures to rule wisely and well! However, for us within the faith there is to be found a wonderful comfort that just as the Scriptures assert that all things work together for the good of those love God. And where does the God of heaven accomplish everything for the good of His bride the Church and her many many members?
Why within the cosmic limits of space and time! Way back in the first chapter of Genesis the Creator God establishes the material universe which we know as space. He also day by day established the time frame of His universe. He then pronounced it all as being very good. And so we have continued down through the ages to this place and day. The material world is the space and time is the era which frames our work and witness for our Lord and our God.
Peter grasped this well in his first letter when he wrote to the elect, strangers in the world, who were scattered throughout Asia Minor. There the early Christians were, in the seven churches of Revelation and many more. Small congregations and large, each with its appointed place and time to do the Lord's work. This week we received a note from a Reformed pastor high up in an alpine valley of Switzerland. His Italian Reformed congregation was founded in 1650! Can you imagine a church that old. We look at our neighboring Jersey Reformed Presbyterian Church which dates back to 1821 and think that is old! By comparison we are a young church still in our first decade with much ahead of us, it is difficult for us to even think beyond our children's generation if even that far!
No matter if we are old or young as a Church, there is an ongoing witness that must be performed, we always have to remember that the church is always one generation away from extinction and we must at least teach our children the essential doctrines of the faith and hope for the leading of the Spirit in their lives and witness. Time for us is short, but by God's providence He always maintains a witness. Of course we may often wonder about the effectiveness of that witness in different times and places?
Yet, as reformers we must acknowledge that the Church is spiritually driven. Salvation often comes in the least expected places and as it pleases Him, he raises up diligent and devoted leaders whom He uses to set the world on fire once again. In the last few weeks Bob and I have been searching the world wide web for a small group of Reformed pastors to gather together in one web site to present a united daily witness to the Reformed particulars. So far we are in communication with a Korean, Australian, Swiss, Covenantor and Southern pastor about just such a possibility. We have discovered that God's elect are scattered very widely over the space of this small planet. In other places on the World Wide Web you can read Augustine, Calvin and Spurgeon as if they were alive and speaking to us today. From this perspective we understand that God's elect are scattered century by century over time as well.
All of this creation and providence has a purpose: that a people obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled by his blood might be raised up. For you who were chosen an predestined according to His plan do indeed serve His purpose. For that reason we gather week by week to join the heavenly chorus of saints and angels to praise the Creator God because this is what he wants us to do. "You are worthy, our Load and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."
Resources Used:
Green, James B. A Harmony of the Westminster Presbyterian Standards.
Hodge, A.A. The Confession of Faith.
(PCA) The Confession of Faith: The Shorter Catechism.
Watson, Thomas. A Body of Divinity, 10 Commandments & Lord's Prayer
Places Preached:
Christ Covenant REFORMED (Presbyterian Church in America)
Box 132049 -- Columbus, OH 43213-8049
WSC008 16 Jun 96
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