If everyone could turn to John 3:16-18, it says:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
I will stop reading there.
This is a very familiar verse, one of the most familiar verses in the Bible. If you are riding down the highway, you might see it off on a signpost somewhere. You will see bumper stickers: John 3:16.
It appears that it is very simple and very understandable; and yet, actually, we have learned that this is one of the most difficult verses in the Bible to understand. All kinds of people get it wrong. They fail to rightly understand what God is saying here. For instance, when it says, “God so loved the world,” people think that means He loves everybody, and that is why the tract “Does God Love You?” is given out, which has an extremely important title because people have this understanding in their minds and a lot of it is fostered by a verse like this that is just casually read on the surface:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son…
So all kinds of people think that God loves them when, actually, the Bible says that God does not love everybody. He does not love everybody. He hates the sinner, according to the Psalms.
“Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.” Jacob is a picture of the elect, those whom God chose to salvation from before the foundation of the world and actually bore their sins and died for them from before the foundation of the world, and Esau is a representative of all of the rest of the people of the world, which will be the vast majority, billions of people whom God does not love and who are under His wrath and will be destroyed. These will eternally perish.
So as we come to this verse, the child of God becomes aware that it is not as simple as it seems. It is not as easily understandable as many people would make it. We have to be careful in looking at this verse. God loves the elect people because those are the ones He died for.
Notice that it says:
…he gave his only begotten Son…
We have been learning about this recently through teaching on Family Radio. If we go to Revelation 13:8, it says in that verse:
And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life…
That is referring to the beast who is Satan who is ruling in the churches during the time of the Great Tribulation, and all of the individuals, all of the people on the earth will worship him, the beast, because their:
…names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Jesus is the Lamb. That is very clear. John the Baptist said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” There is no one else in view. Jesus is identified as the Lamb. All of the Old Testament sacrifices that were offered up, the animals, the lambs, they were also types and figures of Christ. They were pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So this verse is telling us that Jesus, who is the Lamb, was killed before the foundation of the world. He died in paying for His people’s sins, all those whose names were written in the Book of Life from before the foundation of the world. And yet, was He a lamb? Was He a Lamb at that point before the foundation of the world? He was not a lamb. It typifies Him, it pictures Him, but, in actuality, Christ was not a lamb. He was not a lamb in history either when John the Baptist said, “Behold the Lamb of God.” He never was a lamb, but God uses that language to describe the offering up of Himself for the sins of His people, and that is why God gives us this verse to let us know that the work of salvation was finished before the world began.
Now, Jesus died, but did He rise? Did He rise again? Was He resurrected from before the foundation of the world? The answer is, yes.
In Romans 1:3-4, it says:
Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:
Does everybody see that? Do you see what it said? The way God wrote the Bible, it is not easy sometimes to see the point that God is making because God wrote the Bible in order to hide truth. But it says here in Romans 1:4, speaking of Jesus:
…declared to be the Son of God with power…
Now, skip over the middle portion of the verse. Skip over that middle section:
…declared to be the Son of God with power…by the resurrection from the dead:
You see? That middle verse, that is important information. The middle words in this particular verse, that is the Word of God; but, also, it serves to cloudy the verse a little bit so it is not as easily understandable. Actually, it is saying that Jesus was declared to be the Son of God by or through or via the resurrection from the dead.
In other words, Christ was not the Son until He rose from the dead. That is when He became the Son. He was Eternal God. He has always been God. God has always been three Persons yet One. That is always the case. Christ has been from everlasting. He is the Almighty. But as far as this particular name, this particular title of the Son, He became the Son once He rose from the dead before the foundation of the world. That is when Jesus became the Son.
If we go to Revelation 1:5, it says:
And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead…
This is a different Greek word than John 3:16, where we read the “only begotten Son.” “Only begotten” is monogenes, and that is found nine times in the Bible. This is a different Greek word, “first begotten.” This is “first begotten of the dead.” Jesus was the first begotten Son of God from the dead. He was the first One to rise.
Did you ever hear that question people ask, “Well, there were individuals raised to life in the Old Testament before Jesus ever entered into the world. How could He be the first begotten of the dead?” Well, He beat them from eternity past. He died from eternity past. From before the foundation of the world, Christ rose, before anyone in history was raised from the dead, and so He is the first begotten of the dead.
Or look at Colossians 1:15-18. This is referring to Jesus, and it says:
Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead…
Jesus had a beginning as the Son. That is why He is called the Son, because He has always been God. But as God, He died for the sins of His people and He rose as though He was born in a different kind of a way. He was never born as God. He has always been God, but He rose from the dead and now became the first begotten from the dead, the beginning, the beginning and all the rest will follow—all of God’s people will follow with their resurrection, those who are lifted out of the graves on the last day, on May 21st—and Jesus is that firstborn.
And, you know, there are a few verses that are kind of problematic, they are difficult, that people have been looking at them. I want to take a look at three verses that people have brought up and they have kind of said, “Well, how can this be? If Christ died from before the foundation of the world, what about this verse?” It is those kinds of verses and there are three of them.
The first one is in Romans 5:6-8, it says:
For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
And people say, “Now, you are talking about from before the foundation of the world. How could Christ die for sinners when we were not even born? The world was not even made. Nobody has committed any sin?” And, yet, they are not understanding that…let us think about it. Jesus died in 33 A.D. on the cross. All of the people from the Old Testament who were saved—Abraham, David, Solomon, Ezra, Nehemiah—all those people, they had lived and died and they went into Heaven; they were saved. Well, did Christ die for them while they were yet sinners? Their lives were over and done with.
Or what about us today? Jesus died in 33 A.D. and we are over 1900 years later. We are approaching 2,000 years, or getting near there, since Christ died, and how can it be said of us that He died while we were yet sinners? He died when we were not even born and we would not be born for many generations.
Well, you see, it is just saying that Christ died for the sins of His people; and then, in each generation, the blood of Christ will be applied to those individuals. There is no difference from saying Christ died from before the foundation of the world and we were all yet sinners or Christ died in 33 A.D. and all the future generations were yet sinners. There is absolutely no difference. So nobody can say that this verse is any kind of an obstacle to the idea of Jesus paying for the sins of His people from before the foundation of the world. It just…it really…it does not apply.
Alright, another verse is in 1st Peter—this is the second verse—1 Peter 2:24, again referring to Jesus:
Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
So Jesus bore our sins in His own body on the tree, and the tree is the cross. This verse is talking about payment for sin because He was bearing sin, like Isaiah 53 says, “All of our iniquity was laid on Him.” And so this verse has to be referring to Christ dying as the Lamb from before the foundation of the world, because that is when He bore sin and paid the penalty for sin.
Was He hung on a tree from before the foundation of the world? Was He a Lamb before the foundation of the world? No. He was not a Lamb and He was not literally hanging on a tree when God poured out His wrath upon Him and He died for His people’s sins.
But what does the cross identify with? What does the tree identify with? He was hung there naked. Everyone was mocking Him. Everyone was viewing Him. He was made an open shame, and that is the idea of the cross; that is what the cross means. Was Jesus made an open shame in paying for His people’s sins before the foundation of the world? Yes. Yes, because it is a shameful thing to be laden with the sins of His people and to have to suffer and die for those sins and pay the penalty for all of those sins. God definitely was exposing Him to great shame in His redemption for His people. And so, in that sense, He died on the tree. He died on the cross, we could say, just like He is a Lamb. He was not literally a lamb and He did not literally die on the cross, but He experienced exactly what that means.
So that is two of the verses. The third one is over in Hebrews, or back from Peter to Hebrews 9, and some people have been going to these verses.
You know, when this doctrine first came out, sometimes I struggle with doctrines. You know, sometimes I do not see it right away. I do not understand it. But for some reason, I saw this right away, and Revelation 13:8 is very clear. You cannot argue with the fact that God makes a statement: He was a Lamb; He died before the foundation of the world. Romans 1 is very clear that that is how He was declared to be the Son “through the resurrection from the dead” and He created the world as the Son of God. So He had to have risen before the world began, and yet there were some problem verses.
And, you know, some people like to say, “Oh, you are too quick; you are too quick.” But sometimes, you know. You see the way the Scriptures are going and you know. This is the truth of the Word of God. I do not understand every single verse at the moment, but let us be patient and let us wait and these things will fall into place. And some people are very impatient and they run with a couple of verses, and by the time they are done running, they are pretty far away and then it is awfully hard to come back, because now, hey, you know, those individuals who brought these verses up, many of them have used this as an excuse and left the truth. They have left the true information from the Bible and have gone their own way. Now if you say to them, “Hey, I understand that verse now that you brought up a few months ago”….“Well, I do not want to hear it”…“Well, why not? Why not? It is how we study the Bible.”
We have to have patience in studying the Bible. The Bible says, “In your patience possess ye your souls,” and we cannot be quick and we cannot be flippant with the Scripture and immediately when a teaching comes out, just give this verse and that verse and say, “No way does it fit; I will see you later.” No. We wait. We wait and we keep studying.
Now, in Hebrews 9:24-25, it says:
For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others;
The day of atonement was annual. The High Priest had to go in and sprinkle the blood on the Mercy Seat, and that was a picture of Christ who would offer His life for His people.
And then it says in verse 26, Hebrews 9:26:
For then…
That is, if Jesus would have to offer Himself often.
For then must he often have suffered since…
That is the Greek word “from,” just like in other places, apo.
For then must he often have suffered since (or from) the foundation of the world…
Why go back to the foundation of the world? Because that is when He died. That is when He died. And if He were going to be like the earthly tabernacle in that example, He would have to continually keep suffering from that point when He died, into the future, up until the present time, and the idea is, of course He does not have to often offer Himself. He did it once. And here is the tricky part:
…but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
And that word “appeared” is the Greek word “manifested.” It is the word “manifested,” and to make manifest means something has been hidden and you are showing it. It is the word in John 7:4. This is Jesus’ brethren speaking to Jesus:
For there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, show thyself to the world.
“Show thyself” is “manifested.” Show it. Do not keep it hidden. Do not keep it in the dark.
I have another verse, a couple of verses in John 21, in the Gospel of John, John 21:1:
After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and on this wise showed he himself.
And verse 14. Now, keep in mind that Christ had just resurrected and so He was revealing, He was making manifest that He had truly resurrected and He was showing Himself. And also in verse 14, John 21:14:
This is now the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples, after that he was raised from the dead.
It was a proof. It was an evidence that He had risen from the dead. He was making Himself manifest that “Yes, it is true. I rose from the dead.”
Now, that is also the word in Hebrews 9:26:
For then must he often have suffered since (or from) the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared (or been made manifest) to put away sin…
Go over to 1 Peter 1:19-20:
But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world…
That is when He died.
…but was manifest in these last times for you,
So “once” refers to Christ being made manifest in Hebrews 9:26, but let us keep reading. Hebrews 9:27-28:
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many…
Whenever we read He is bearing sins, it was from before the foundation of the world.
So once He bore sins and once He made manifest, and God puts them together in the same couple of verses, and it is not easy to separate them to see, okay, on the one hand, He died before the world began. On the other hand, He entered into the human race one time to make things manifest.
Well, these are the three verses that people have been struggling with. And, really, when we take our time and we keep praying for understanding and we keep looking at them, they will harmonize and they will fit. They will fall into place if what we are understanding is correct.
Well, let us go back to John 3, and two times, in John 3:16 and John 3:18, we read that Jesus was the only begotten son, monogenes. Mono means “only.” Genes means “come into being” or “begat.” He was God’s only Son.
Now, this word, this Greek word monogenes is found nine times in the New Testament. Two here in John 3. Go over to John 1:14, where it says:
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
A third time referring to Jesus, and look at verse 18 of John 1. John 1:18:
No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
That is four out of the nine times, and go over to 1 John 4:9. It says:
In this was manifested…
And that is that word again.
…the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
And that is five out of the nine times. And those five are referring to Christ.
We also know that in order for Jesus to be the first begotten Son of God, He had to rise from the dead. And now we find that He is not only called the “first begotten” but the “only begotten.” There are four other places that “only begotten” is used, and I think we are going to be surprised at how God uses it.
In Luke 7 is one place. This will be the sixth out of the nine. In Luke 7, beginning in verse 11, Luke 7:11-12:
And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much people. Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her.
And the word “only” is the same Greek word. It should have been “only begotten.” Perhaps because it is a woman, they did not add the word “begotten,” but it is monogenes, just like the other places. It is the only begotten son of his mother.
Now, the interesting thing is that the son is dead. He is dead, and he is the only son, and let us keep reading in verse 13, Luke 7:13-15:
And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.
So we have the only son who is dead rise from the dead.
Turn to the next chapter in Luke 8. Luke 8 and beginning in verse 41. This is the seventh place out of the nine that we find monogenes. In Luke 8:41-42:
And, behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue: and he fell down at Jesus’ feet, and besought him that he would come into his house: For he had one only daughter…
And, again, “one only” is monogenes.
…one only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she lay a dying. But as he went the people thronged him.
And the father must have been frantic. He came to the Lord. His daughter is dying and he wants Christ to come back with him, hoping that Jesus will heal her, and there is a huge crowd thronging Christ. It is almost impossible to get by—if you have been to parades and you see all the people on the sidewalk, it is very difficult—and everyone was zeroing in on Jesus because He was the great Prophet. He was the One healing the blind and the deaf and the dumb. And there was the woman at this point who came and touched just the border of His garment because she had an issue of blood and it was staunched; it stopped once she touched Him. And then Jesus stops everything and says, “Who touched Me?” And the father is still there waiting, waiting, “Will you not come and heal my daughter?,” and it seems that Christ is so concerned with everything else but that, and I think that teaches us that if we are praying for people, if we are praying that God might have mercy, that Jesus might come and heal them of their sin-sick soul and give them a new heart, sometimes He delays. He delays. It is fully in His mind. He is going to go visit that young girl of twelve years old. He knows everything that is going to happen, but the father does not, Jairus, who was being humbled by Christ. He was a ruler of a synagogue, and in that day and time, for a rule of the synagogue to fall down on his knees in front of Jesus, when the Pharisees, the Scribes would hear about it, was no small thing, and so he is really being tested. But Christ makes His way through the crowd, heals the woman of her issue of blood and then we find in Luke 8:49:
While he yet spake, there cometh one from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, saying to him, Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the Master.
An only daughter, monogenes, is dead, just like the son in the previous chapter.
Well, it says in verse 50, Luke 8:50-56:
But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole. And when he came into the house, he suffered no man to go in, save Peter, and James, and John, and the father and the mother of the maiden. And all wept, and bewailed her: but he said, Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead. And he put them all out, and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise. And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat. And her parents were astonished: but he charged them that they should tell no man what was done.
Again…only daughter…she is dead…she rises. She rises from the dead, and is it not interesting that as soon as she rose from the dead that Jesus commanded, “Give her meat”? That is just like any child of God when they become saved. We are given the spiritual meat of the Word and Christ is the One who commands it, like He did with feeding the 4,000. He broke the bread, put it in the basket, and gave it to the disciples to distribute. God gives His people understanding and His people share the Gospel with others, but the source is God Himself.
So here is the seventh place, and, again, monogenes points to a son or a daughter who is dead and rises. Now turn to the next chapter in Luke, in Luke 9. It says in Luke 9:37-42:
And it came to pass, that on the next day, when they were come down from the hill, much people met him. And, behold, a man of the company cried out, saying, Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son: for he is mine only child.
Monogenes.
…he is mine only child. And, lo, a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out; and it teareth him that he foameth again, and bruising him hardly departeth from him. And I besought thy disciples to cast him out; and they could not. And Jesus answering said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you? Bring thy son hither. And as he was yet a coming, the devil threw him down, and tare him. And Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the child, and delivered him again to his father.
So we have that word used here, but we do not find that the child died and we do not find that he was risen, so it does not seem to fit the other previous uses of monogenes, and so we wonder if, maybe, as everybody can see the direction we are going in, that monogenes means a son who has died and who has risen, and here it does not seem to be the case.
Well, let us look at a parallel passage in Mark 9. Just to identify that it is the same man and son and the same situation, we read in Mark 9:18:
And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.
And that identifies with what we read in Luke, where the man there said he spoke with the disciples of Jesus but they could not cast him out. And then, a little further down, in verse 20, Mark 9:20-22:
And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.
What a troubled home! What a troubled home to have a son in the kind of condition to where you cannot even leave him alone for one minute. You cannot trust him. He might throw himself into the fireplace and so you do without fire as much as possible. But then he might go outside and throw himself into the creek or the lake. So you just have to be on guard and watch him because the demon or devil that is possessing him wants to destroy him at every possible occasion.
And so this father, his nerves were frayed. He had lived with this all of his life, and so he is going to Christ. He is going to the right Person and he is praying, “Have compassion on us. Please, help us.” And this is a beautiful passage to let us know that we can pray if we are not saved, not only for our self, but also for our own children, because this is the man who says, “I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” And so it is good news for us that we can go to Christ for our children as well.
So he is crying out “Help us,” and then in verse 23, Mark 9:23-24:
Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
He is saying, “I have come to the point in my mind where the best I can do is I believe, but I still know that there is unbelief.” We do not know the condition of our heart, so this is a great way to go to God, “I believe within my mind. I understand intellectually everything you are saying about the rapture of the believers on May 21st and the end of the world on October 21st and that the only way of salvation is through You. It is by Your faith, not mine, that I must become saved. I understand it. I agree with it. I accept it. I believe it. Help Thou mine unbelief. If there is anything in my heart, because our hearts are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, if there is anything deep-down within me that does not believe, help Thou.” And that is where God can help. That is what He knows. He knows everything that is going on within us in our hearts, and that is really a beautiful prayer that we can pray to God.
Mark 9:25:
When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.
And this is one of the verses that assures us that if anyone does become saved, they cannot have an evil spirit within them because Christ cast out any kind of evil spirit and it is not possible for anyone to be possessed who is a true child of God.
And then verse 26, Mark 9:26:
And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.
He was not dead, but God is saying that he is as one who is dead. Then He confirms it a second time, “Many said, ‘He is dead.’” He did not literally die, but he was foaming and gnashing. Then Christ cast out the spirit and then he lay still. He lay perfectly still and people thought, “Oh, he is dead,” but, actually, he was alive.
And then in verse 27, Mark 9:27:
But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.
You can see how God is painting that same picture. This is that son from Luke, monogenes. We do not have this information in Luke, but he was as dead and he arose.
That is the eighth place out of the nine. Five referred to Jesus Himself, the only begotten Son of God. Now we have found three cases in the Gospel of Luke: in chapter 7, chapter 8, and chapter 9. Three only children—two sons and a daughter—one son in chapter 7, a daughter in chapter 8, and a son here in chapter 9, all called monogenes, all either died or were as dead, and all rose, all rose.
There is one last place and that is in Hebrews 11:17. This is the ninth place out of nine:
By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son.
And that is monogenes. Here, though, we know historically that Abraham was told by God to sacrifice Isaac. Obediently, he saddled up, he took his son, and a couple of his servants and they went to Mount Moriah, and he took Isaac up to the Mount. Isaac asked a question, “Behold, the wood,” and so forth, “but where is the animal for sacrifice?” And then it turns out that Abraham had placed Isaac on the altar. He had lifted up the knife and he was ready to plunge it down into his own son.
Talk about something that is beyond reasonable, beyond our understanding. Who would have thought, looking at that, if people would have known what Abraham was going to do and he would have said, “God wants me to do this,” and it would have been true. It would have been a fact: “God wants me to take my son and sacrifice my son and kill my own son.” You can see how the world would view that. The world would say, “That is just crazy,” and yet God has His reasons and His purposes for His commands, and that is why He tells us, “Trust in the Lord. Trust in Jehovah with all of your heart and do not lean upon your own understanding,” because if you did, if you were Abraham, and you are a reasonable person, you would have thought, “No way am I doing that.” Or if you were the prophet Isaiah and God told you, “Go walk naked and barefoot for the next three years,” you would have said, “Absolutely not! How unreasonable a demand is that! That is crazy!” Yet Isaiah was obedient. He was obedient and he walked naked and barefoot for three years, we can read in Isaiah 20, and God only gave us a couple of verses about that, a couple of verses to describe what Isaiah had to go through for three whole years of embarrassment. Certainly, God is painting a picture about being a reproach and a shame to the world for His sake, as well as some other spiritual things in that chapter.
But the point is, sometimes when God tells us to do something, it does not always make sense to us. People say, “Oh, it does not make any sense that the Church Age is over. It does not make any sense, these doctrines that you are talking about.” If God says it, we are to obey it, and, actually, it makes abundant sense, according to His Word and according to His plan, and we are the ones who are ignorant. We are the ones who lack understanding as to what He is doing.
Well, we know that Abraham was ready to slay his son, and let us keep reading in Hebrews 11. It says in Hebrews 11:18-19:
Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.
So for all intents and purposes, Isaac died, in a figure, because Abraham was trusting God and he was going to bring the knife down, definitely. There was no doubt in his mind, but God stopped him and said, “Abraham, do not slay your son,” and then there was the animal caught in the thicket and God provided Himself a lamb. He is the Lamb that would die. He is only begotten Son. He is the monogenes, which really means when we look at all the places, as we just did in the Bible, that when God says of the Lord Jesus Christ as we read in John 3:16, in that very familiar verse:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son…
It means that He died and He rose to be the Son. He died and He rose. He was resurrected from before the foundation of the world and that is what the Bible teaches. That is what the Bible teaches.
I would encourage anybody who has written off these kinds of teachings and has said, “Well, I am not listening anymore,” really, I would encourage you to open your ears and humbly go to the Bible and go to God and say, “Lord, show me and teach me what You are saying in Your Word.”
Okay. We will stop here and have a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, we do thank You for Your grace and Your compassion and Your mercy and it is amazing, amazing, as we read the Gospel and we find Jesus going here and there healing the sick, giving legs to the lame, eyes to the blind. He healed many blind people. He gave ears to many deaf. He raised from the dead many people. And again and again, in every case, it is a picture of salvation. And, Father, if Christ were on Earth, if He were in the city, if He was in downtown Philadelphia, who would not, if they heard reports that He was performing great miracles of healing, try to get to Him to have their illness healed and their sickness healed so they could be recovered? And yet we would have to travel to get wherever He were. Of course, we know that is not possible, that You have given us Your Word. And, actually, You are more accessible now today than You ever were in history in 33 A.D. because we have access through the Son right into the throne of grace and we can go to You in a split second by closing our eyes and praying. We can cry out, “Oh, Father! Oh Thou Son of David, have mercy! Heal me that I might see and save me that I might live spiritually.” And that is true of any person in all the world. Anybody can go to You instantaneously in prayer and it is not a lesser way. It is a far greater way than if You were here in Person. So, Father, we do pray that You would help us not to be deceived by the deceitfulness of our minds and put off this going to You in prayer and crying out for Your salvation. We ask that You would help us to have a sound mind, that we might be of a right mind and sober thinking in taking our sins and taking our self to You. And, Father, we do pray that You would be with us the rest of this day as we have lunch and fellowship, that You would help us to praise You and to glorify You and to lift up Your Name on high. And we pray this in Christ’s Name. Amen.
Chris: Okay. If anyone has a question or a comment about what we just talked about or anything else you would like to discuss, you are welcome. Just raise your hand if you are on Paltalk and Bob can relay your question or comment. Yes, Fred.
1st Question: Hi Chris. Isaiah 59:16.
Chris: Isaiah 59:16 says:
And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.
1st Question (continued): And another verse. Isaiah 63:5.
Chris: Isaiah 63:5:
And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me.
1st Question (continued): I had been looking at these verses a little while ago and I was thinking about it. It is interesting, like back in Isaiah 59:16 where God says:
And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor…
Of course, then it goes on to say:
…therefore his arm brought salvation…
And then also back in Isaiah 63:5, where God says:
And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold…
And then again:
…therefore mine own arm brought salvation…
So why is it that He said that?
Chris: Are you suggesting that it is because it was before the foundation of the world?
1st Question (continued): Exactly, because of Revelation 13:8.
Chris: Well, that is true. That is when it happened, and there was “no man.”
1st Question (continued): The world was not created. God had not created man. This is what my thinking was. That is why He could make that statement, because God had not created the world.
Chris: Well, I think it is true when He says in Isaiah 59:16:
And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor…
…as far as mankind could not have interceded anyway because no one was qualified due to our sin. But since we now know that Christ was the Lamb slain before the world, before mankind, then this definitely seems to relate.
2nd Question: It seems to fall into place a little bit more, you know. Can we look at a few other verses? Shifting topics a little bit, 2 Samuel 22:45. (Yes, maybe we could all look at those verses together back in Isaiah 63.)
Chris: 2 Samuel 22:45 and Psalm 18:44.
Strangers shall submit themselves unto me: as soon as they hear, they shall be obedient unto me.
Psalm 18:44:
As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto me.
Psalm 18 is a recapitulation I think of what is being said in 2 Samuel.
2nd Question (continued): In our teachings, we often hear about how a child of God, by nature, will be obedient to the Word of God or submit, you know, and it is beautiful language here, like in Psalm 18:44 where God says:
As soon as they hear of me…
Well, what does that remind you of? Romans 10:17, right?
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Chris: Right. That is what we have to remember because all kinds of people hear the Gospel but they are not obedient when they just hear it with their physical ear. But when God saves an individual—and faith comes by hearing—and He gives them spiritual ears to hear, then there will be, necessarily, there will be obedience because God says in Ezekiel 34, or is it Ezekiel 36…
2nd Question (continued): Like Ezekiel 36:27?
And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes…
Chris: Is that where you are going to go next? Ezekiel 36:26-27 says:
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
Now, that is why 1 John 2:3 says:
And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
Because God has given us His spirit and there should be an ability, a strength to perform the doing of it and keeping His Law.
In other words, did you ever hear how Mr. Camping talked about being reenergized? When we are unsaved, we are cut off from the power source, and so we do not have the strength or courage, as it says in Joshua, to do the will of God. But once we become a true, born-again child of God, the energy is restored. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me, but my God shall supply all my need…I always mess them up. In Ephesians 3…not only do I always mess them up but then I forget where they are to correct it.
2nd Question (continued): I was also thinking of Philippians 1:6:
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
It is the same language.
Chris: That applies. Yes, there are so many verses in the Bible where God talks about giving His people strength and power, and that really is what…we are not going to have strength like Sampson to bring down a building, but we can have strength to live in a God-glorifying way today.
2nd Question (continued): Ephesians 6:10:
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Yes, it is God’s might. To serve the Lord, it will become automatic in our lives. That is the beautiful result of salvation. It will become automatic to serve Him now that we are ambassadors for Christ, you know, and so to submit and obey, I mean, that is something that is a joy of the just to do judgment, you know, and so it will be a joy to serve our Lord.
Chris: Okay. Thank you, Fred. (I am still looking.)
Yes, Lester.
3rd Question: I have a verse in Acts 13:33 regarding Romans 1.
Chris: We are going to have to back up a little bit. Acts 13:31-33:
And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people. And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.
That is a good verse, Lester, and we can understand Acts 13…we used to understand it in a different kind of way, but now we know that Jesus rose from before the foundation of the world and then He came and entered into the human race and suffered, without making payment for sin, and rose a second time. God rose Him up again. When it is referring to the 2nd Psalm, “this day have I begotten Thee,” that has to do with His resurrection from the dead before the foundation of the world.
3rd Question (continued): I also have another commentary from Hebrews 1:5.
Chris: Hebrews 1:5:
For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?
There is another Greek word for “begotten” that is used several times in the New Testament, and that is that particular word, like in Revelation 1:5, where it says, “the first begotten of the dead,” or in Colossians, “the firstborn.” Well, I do not know exactly about Colossians, but this is not the same word that we were looking at that is a part of “only begotten” that we saw nine times.
3rd Question (continued): Does this word “begotten” mean that He is the only begotten Son?
Chris: No. That is what I am saying. “Only begotten,” those two English words together is monogenes. This word is another Greek word. It is a different word than was found in those nine places we looked.
Yes, Bob.
4th Question: Is there a link to 1 Chronicles 28:20 to now understand why Christ said, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” in the hours of darkness on the cross for the separation of the Godhead?
Chris: 1 Chronicles 28:20 says:
And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for JEHOVAH God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of JEHOAH.
Well, I do not know. I have never looked at this. We know that both David and Solomon could be types of Christ, and the “house of God” would be pointing to the spiritual body of believers that Jesus was over. He was finishing that house. So it could relate but I have not really checked it out.
Yes, Howard.
5th Question: In response to on the cross when He says, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” He was forsaken because He was bearing the sin. Now, this verse…
Chris: He was not bearing sin, because all of the sin was placed on Him from before the foundation of the world.
5th Question (continued): I understand that. I understand that, but this verse talks about, “He will not forsake Thee.”
Chris: In Chronicles 28:20?
5th Question (continued): Right.
Chris: Okay. Well, as far as the cross, and you know this is…
5th Question (continued): No. This goes to the question about before the foundations of the world, He paid for the sins. In this verse, the question as I understood it, was wondering whether it relates to 1 Chronicles 28:20 and that verse says:
…he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee…
So it would appear to me that this does not apply, this does not relate directly to the paying of the sins before the foundations of the world.
Chris: Well, that is why I said that I do not know, because I have not studied the verse. As far as 1 Chronicles 28:20, I have not even thought about that in relationship to this whole doctrine that we are learning about of Christ dying before the foundation of the world.
Now, we do know, and I want to repeat it because it is new and it is something that is not easy for us to get in our minds, that Jesus, when He was the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world, was bearing sin, like in Isaiah 53 where it says that our sins were laid on Him, that is referring to before the foundation of the world. Wherever we read that He is bearing sin and He is making payment for sin, that is before the foundation of the world because there is no double jeopardy. There is no need; there is no requirement in the Law of God for a second payment. That is why when Christ entered into the world, He was not paying for sin. He suffered, He died, He was resurrected, but none of it had to do with making payment. That is why Mr. Camping speaks of a tableau, and what we read in Hebrews, He was made manifest. He was revealing what He had already done. He was showing what He had already accomplished from before the foundation of the world.
Okay. Yes, William. Is there anybody on Paltalk, Bob, who has a question? Okay, William, you will be the last one.
6th Question: Okay. Thank you. I was wondering if you could reconcile these three points in reference to the 200 million. The people who would come from Abraham, they would number the sand of the sea, and the point about “no man could number” in Revelation 7. So can you bring that together with the 200 million? How does that all fit?
Chris: Well, yes, I know what you are referring to in Genesis. God told Abraham that his seed would be as the stars of heaven in one point or the sand of the sea, and it is an innumerable number, it appears. And in Revelation 7, it says, “a great multitude, which no man could number.” Now, I can explain that because we are living at a time when God is saving most of the people whom He intended to save, the vast majority. And when we read the whole history of the world in the Bible, we find that before the cross, very few were being saved. After the cross, some were being saved. But still, there did not seem to be that great number that we would think, and yet we do not know how many people were saved in the Old Testament and how many people were saved in the New Testament days. Was it 5 million? Was it 10 million total? Was it a million? We have no idea, which affects our knowledge of how many are being saved at this time of the Great Tribulation during this short season. If we knew that 5 million had been saved previously, we would say 195 million now, but we do not. We have no way of knowing how many were saved and then factoring in how many will be saved. So that is the answer to Revelation 7. As far as Genesis, at this point, I do not know.