- May 28, 2018
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To me, everything I have found out about God seems very specific --even the things we want to consider as general, such as his attention to all things, his omnipresence, perhaps even his love, his choice of a whole nation (as opposed) to individuals within that nation (or so it may seem, at first), his application of individuals as members of the Body of Christ, or Bride of Christ-- all these in further study turn out to be VERY specific.
He has certain of us that he calls the Elect, upon whom he has placed unmerited favor, for his own purposes --this we know-- but we should know more than that, if we have the desire to understand more. He has told us that those he has chosen he will not lose. As I have studied I have become convinced, not just by plain logic but by many passages in Scripture (and by the whole of Scripture), that God has no backup plan, and that he has names written down in his Book, of the people that he will indeed bring to completion as members of his bride. (Yet, even then he has a name for each of us that is only between him and that individual.)
I was for a while a cabinet maker. My preferred wood for cabinet fronts was birch, or if the customer could afford it, something more beautiful, but always something that was not boring. I would try to find pieces that, whether gnarly or straight, with grain and color that would blend or match the pieces that they would meet, so that the whole job was pleasing to the eye, and congruous.
But suppose for a moment: If I was capable of growing my own trees and had the intimate knowledge of each molecule within them to design them --even damage them if it pleased me to do so-- in order to produce exactly each stick of wood I wanted, and could perfectly dress and finish them, and apply them to my masterpiece, and in this way to build my entire house, why would I not do so? And why would I not want to show off this beautiful place?
Even more to the point, if there was someone who was so beloved to me that I wanted her to live in my house with me, would I not be consumingly motivated to build it?
I have become convinced that the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21 is indeed not just dressed as a bride, but is The Bride of Christ --us, the Elect. The only thing that gives me pause about it is not that it doesn't fit our brains well, but that it isn't standard evangelical doctrine, and, well, also that it is something I came up with and so can't trust entirely. (I am pretty sure that anything we can conceive of concerning eternity and God is barely a bump on the log.) The place he is building is us, the Bride of Christ. (Again, I admit I could be wrong. But whatever the case is, the things that brought me to this conclusion remain true --that he is VERY specific in doing to us and in us as he pleases, for his own very good reasons.)
So here's where I'm going in this thread: Not only is it very satisfying to see that God is doing something very precise and perfect, and something beyond our understanding, and that he is doing it for his own sake, and that he is doing it for us, and in us, but that it is ONLY us he is doing this in --not saying he isn't specific concerning his use of every individual, even the lost-- that is to say, he has no replacements for any of those he has chosen. There is no pool of possibles that he chooses, from --no, he has made each of us for exactly what he has in mind for us.
AND HE WILL COMPLETE WHAT HE HAS BEGUN
He has certain of us that he calls the Elect, upon whom he has placed unmerited favor, for his own purposes --this we know-- but we should know more than that, if we have the desire to understand more. He has told us that those he has chosen he will not lose. As I have studied I have become convinced, not just by plain logic but by many passages in Scripture (and by the whole of Scripture), that God has no backup plan, and that he has names written down in his Book, of the people that he will indeed bring to completion as members of his bride. (Yet, even then he has a name for each of us that is only between him and that individual.)
I was for a while a cabinet maker. My preferred wood for cabinet fronts was birch, or if the customer could afford it, something more beautiful, but always something that was not boring. I would try to find pieces that, whether gnarly or straight, with grain and color that would blend or match the pieces that they would meet, so that the whole job was pleasing to the eye, and congruous.
But suppose for a moment: If I was capable of growing my own trees and had the intimate knowledge of each molecule within them to design them --even damage them if it pleased me to do so-- in order to produce exactly each stick of wood I wanted, and could perfectly dress and finish them, and apply them to my masterpiece, and in this way to build my entire house, why would I not do so? And why would I not want to show off this beautiful place?
Even more to the point, if there was someone who was so beloved to me that I wanted her to live in my house with me, would I not be consumingly motivated to build it?
I have become convinced that the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21 is indeed not just dressed as a bride, but is The Bride of Christ --us, the Elect. The only thing that gives me pause about it is not that it doesn't fit our brains well, but that it isn't standard evangelical doctrine, and, well, also that it is something I came up with and so can't trust entirely. (I am pretty sure that anything we can conceive of concerning eternity and God is barely a bump on the log.) The place he is building is us, the Bride of Christ. (Again, I admit I could be wrong. But whatever the case is, the things that brought me to this conclusion remain true --that he is VERY specific in doing to us and in us as he pleases, for his own very good reasons.)
So here's where I'm going in this thread: Not only is it very satisfying to see that God is doing something very precise and perfect, and something beyond our understanding, and that he is doing it for his own sake, and that he is doing it for us, and in us, but that it is ONLY us he is doing this in --not saying he isn't specific concerning his use of every individual, even the lost-- that is to say, he has no replacements for any of those he has chosen. There is no pool of possibles that he chooses, from --no, he has made each of us for exactly what he has in mind for us.
AND HE WILL COMPLETE WHAT HE HAS BEGUN