Tag Archives: Romans 11:32-36

Condemnation or Judgment? – Part 15

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Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was cast into the sea that caught all kinds of fish.  When it was full, they pulled it ashore, sat down, and put the good (καλὰ, a form of καλός) fish into containers and threw the bad (σαπρὰ, a form of σαπρός) away.  It will be this way at the end of the age.  Angels will come and separate the evil (πονηροὺς, a form of πονηρός) from the righteous (δικαίων, a form of δίκαιος) and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.[1]  This parable about the kingdom of heaven focused commentators’ attentions on the church as opposed to the world at large.

“In the visible church,” Matthew Henry (1662-1714) wrote, “there is a deal of trash and rubbish, dirt and weeds and vermin, as well as fish….Hypocrites and true Christians shall be parted.”[2]  John Gill (1697-1771) added, “as many as [the angels] find to have a good work of grace wrought and finished in their souls, they will gather into Christ’s barn, into the everlasting habitations, the mansions in Christ’s Father’s house, he is gone to prepare: but as for the bad, who shall appear to be destitute of the grace of God, and righteousness of Christ, notwithstanding their profession of religion, they shall be rejected, as good for nothing, and shall be cast into the lake which burns with fire and brimstone.”[3]

“Our Saviour never fails to keep before our minds the great truth that there is to be a day of judgment,” wrote Albert Barnes (1798-1870), “and that there will be a separation of the good and the evil.  He came to preach salvation; and it is a remarkable fact, also, that the most fearful accounts of hell and of the sufferings of the damned, in the Scriptures, are from his lips.  How does this agree with the representations of those who say that all will be saved?”[4]

On the meaning of σαπρὰ (a form of σαπρός) the Pulpit Commentary (1884) reads: [5]

Not to be pressed to mean “corrupt, dead fish, in a state of rottenness” (Goebel), for surely fishermen seldom get many of these, but simply the worthless, the unfit for use.  This would include the legally unclean.  Tristram writes,” The greater number of the species taken on the lake are rejected by the fishermen, and I have sat with them on the gunwale while they went through their net, and threw out into the sea those that were too small for the market or were considered unclean” (‘Nat. Hist. of Bible,’ p. 291, edit. 1889)

Watch out for false prophets, Jesus said, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves.  You will recognize them by their fruit (καρπῶν, a form of καρπός).[6]  I can be fairly specific here: Does the would-be prophet demonstrate love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control,[7] the fruit (καρπὸς) of the Spirit?  Or does the would-be prophet practice (πράσσοντες, a form of πράσσω) sexual immorality (πορνεία), impurity, depravity, idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions, envying, murder, drunkenness, carousing,[8] the works (ἔργα, a form of ἔργον) of the flesh?

Jesus continued, Grapes are not gathered from thorns or figs from thistles, are they?  In the same way, every good (ἀγαθὸν, a form of ἀγαθός) tree bears good (καλοὺς, another form of καλός) fruit, but the bad (σαπρὸν, another form of σαπρός) tree bears bad (πονηροὺς, a form of πονηρός) fruit.[9]  I think it worth mentioning that the word translated bears is ποιεῖ (a form of ποιέω) in both occurrences.  A good (ἀγαθὸν, a form of ἀγαθός) tree is not able to bear bad (πονηροὺς, a form of πονηρός) fruit, Jesus continued, nor a bad (σαπρὸν, another form of σαπρός) tree to bear good (καλοὺς, another form of καλός) fruit.[10]

Make a tree good (καλὸν, another form of καλός) and its fruit will be good (καλὸν, another form of καλός), Jesus said to religious people, or make a tree bad (σαπρὸν, another form of σαπρός) and its fruit will be bad (σαπρὸν, another form of σαπρός), for a tree is known by its fruit.[11]  I’ve written elsewhere how the religious mind reverses this teaching.  Every tree that does not bear good (καλὸν, another form of καλός) fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire, Jesus continued his warning about false prophets.  So then, you will recognize them by their fruit.[12]

This leads me inevitably to the old and new human (ἄνθρωπον, a form of ἄνθρωπος in Greek; I see no reason to specify gender).  You were taught with reference to your former way of life to lay aside the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires, to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and to put on (ἐνδύσασθαι, a form of ἐνδύω) the new man who has been created in God’s image – in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth.[13]  The word ἐνδύσασθαι means to sink into.  In movies the femme fatale slips into something more comfortable.  To put on the new human is considerably more macho.

I am working class all the way, rarely wear a suit.  If I do, it is to fit in, to impress or to intimidate.  It is a put-on in every sense of the word.  “Fake it until you make it” works in those situations when “you can fool all of the people some of the time.”  It doesn’t work with the new human because no creature is hidden from God, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account.[14]  To put on the new human I must believe that God has prepared it beforehand, ready and able to respond as He would have me respond.

This new human is the one who has been fathered by God: We know that everyone fathered by God does not sin, but God protects the one he has fathered, and the evil one cannot touch him.[15]  Everyone who has been fathered by God does not practice sin, because God’s seed resides in him, and thus he is not able to sin, because he has been fathered by God.[16]  This new human is the one who is led by the Spirit: For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.[17]  The old human is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires.  It gets progressively worse, never better.

This was vividly portrayed for me—in me—the Saturday before Mother’s day.  I had a rare opportunity to be home.  My eighty-four-year-old mother asked me to finish trimming her bushes.  Now, of course, she had a particular way it needed to be done.  As I untangled the long extension cord that powered the trimmer I recalled that handling that cord caused her fall last summer.  She broke her hip and lay on the driveway for ten hours, parched and burnt in the sun and then shivering in the rain, until my sister found her.  But the whole time I trimmed those bushes the old human did nothing but bitch, moan and complain about her.

It didn’t affect my behavior.  (I trimmed her bushes to the best of my ability.  No, it wasn’t topiary by any stretch of the imagination.)  The old human didn’t affect my attitude toward her.  (I called and asked her to make sure.)  But I can hardly wait to be rid of the foul thing!  So when I hear—Angels will come and separate the evil from [ἐκ μέσου; literally “out from the midst of”] the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth—I wonder if that describes my release from this sin condemned in my flesh.  And I’m confounded that so many pastors thought instead of members of their congregations.  Why?

Do we differ in our understanding of the fruit of the Spirit?

“And here we may observe that as sin is called the work of the flesh,” Matthew Henry wrote, “because the flesh, or corrupt nature, is the principle that moves and excites men to it, so grace is said to be the fruit of the Spirit, because it wholly proceeds from the Spirit, as the fruit does from the root…”  John Gill was a bit more equivocal:  “Not of nature or man’s free will, as corrupted by sin, for no good fruit springs from thence; but either of the internal principle of grace, called the Spirit, Galatians 5:17 or rather of the Holy Spirit, as the Ethiopic version reads it; the graces of which are called ‘fruit’, and not ‘works’, as the actions of the flesh are; because they are owing to divine influence, efficacy, and bounty…”

Albert Barnes was explicit: “That which the Holy Spirit produces…Paul does not trace them to our own hearts, even when renewed.  He says that they are to be regarded as the proper result of the Spirit‘s operations on the soul.”  In the Pulpit Commentary the fruit of the Spirit was rationalized as “dispositions and states of mind,” and demeaned somewhat as “states of mind or habits of feeling [rather] than concrete actions,” but are still acknowledged as produced by the Holy Spirit: “[Paul] reckons up the dispositions and states of mind which it was the office of the Holy Spirit to produce in them.”

Do we differ in our understanding of the necessity and efficacy of God’s mercy?

“It is not of him that willeth….Applying this general rule to the particular case that Paul has before him,” wrote Matthew Henry, “the reason why the unworthy, undeserving, ill-deserving Gentiles are called, and grafted into the church, while the greatest part of the Jews are left to perish in unbelief, is not because those Gentiles were better deserving or better disposed for such a favour, but because of God’s free grace that made that difference.  The Gentiles did neither will it, nor run for it, for they sat in darkness, Matthew 4:16.  In darkness, therefore not willing what they knew not sitting in darkness, a contented posture, therefore not running to meet it, but anticipated with these invaluable blessings of goodness.  Such is the method of God’s grace towards all that partake of it, for he is found of those that sought him not (Isaiah 65:1) in this preventing, effectual, distinguishing grace, he acts as a benefactor, whose grace is his own.  Our eye therefore must not be evil because his is good…”

John Gill wrote: “but of God that sheweth mercy; in a free sovereign way and manner, which he is not obliged to by anything the creature wills or works; he is at full liberty, notwithstanding whatever they will or do, to give his grace and mercy, when, where, and to whom he pleases; and therefore to give it to some, and deny it to others, can never be accounted an act of injustice, since he is not bound to give it to any.”

Albert Barnes wrote: “But of God that showeth mercy – Salvation in its beginning, its progress, and its close, is of him.  He has a right, therefore, to bestow it when and where he pleases.  All our mercies flow from his mere love and compassion, and not from our deserts.  The essential idea here is, that God is the original fountain of all the blessings of salvation.”  The Pulpit Commentary doesn’t comment on Romans 9:16 directly but reads: “The argument (thus introduced by γὰρ) requires two understood premisses—that God cannot possibly be unrighteous, and that what he himself said to Moses must be true.”

Do we differ on who may be shown mercy?

Matthew Henry didn’t comment directly on Romans 11:32: “He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.  Christ’s errand into the world was to turn away ungodliness, to turn away the guilt by the purchase of pardoning mercy, and to turn away the power by the pouring out of renewing grace, to save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21), to separate between us and our sins, that iniquity might not be our ruin, and that it might not be our ruler.  Especially to turn it away from Jacob, which is that for the sake of which he quotes the text, as a proof of the great kindness God intended for the seed of Jacob.”

So far so good.  Mr. Henry quoted Paul quoting Isaiah:

NET

 Parallel Greek

Septuagint
The Deliverer will come out of Zion; he will remove ungodliness from Jacob.

Romans 11:26b

 ἥξει ἐκ Σιὼν ὁ ρυόμενος,

ἀποστρέψει ἀσεβείας ἀπὸ Ἰακώβ.

Romans 11:26b

 καὶ  ἥξει ἕνεκεν Σιων ὁ ῥυόμενος καὶ ἀποστρέψει ἀσεβείας ἀπὸ Ιακωβ

Isaiah 59:20

Then Mr. Henry quoted the same verse in Isaiah from the Masoretic text: “In Isaiah it is, The Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto those that turn from transgression in Jacob, which shown who in Zion were to have a share in and to reap benefit by the deliverance promised, those and those only that leave their sins and turn to God to them Christ comes as a Redeemer, but as an avenger to those that persist in impenitence.”  Then he proposed an unbelievable solution: “Putting both these readings together, we learn that none have an interest in Christ but those that turn from their sins, nor can any turn from their sins but by the strength of the grace of Christ.”

In other words, no one can be saved since God will only show mercy to those who turn from their sins and none can turn from their sins apart from God’s mercy.  With a Gospel message like that we need not wonder at the “deal of trash and rubbish, dirt and weeds and vermin” in his church.  That’s not quite fair.  Mr. Henry didn’t specify whether the “deal of trash and rubbish, dirt and weeds and vermin” were members of his own congregation or another.  According to an online bio “he began his regular ministry as non-conformist pastor of a Presbyterian congregation…”  Perhaps he wrote thus of Anglicans or Catholics.  But I think I understand why he had no comment to make on Paul’s declaration: For God has consigned all people to disobedience so that he may show mercy to them all.[18]

“Jews, though for the present unbelievers,” John Gill wrote, “yet it may be thought, that through the mercy the Gentiles had received, they would some time or other be provoked to seek for, and so obtain the same mercy, Romans 11:31, and the rather this may be given into and received, not only because they both have been in a state of unbelief, but the end and design of God in concluding them in it, were to have mercy on each of them, Romans 11:32…” I may be mistaken but I take Mr. Gill to mean that God will have mercy on some Jews and Gentiles (those who turn from their sins perhaps?).  Mr. Gill continued, “which dispensation of God both to one and to the other by turns, in different ways, was so amazing and unaccountable to the apostle, that he breaks out into admiration at the wisdom and knowledge of God…”

“Mercy is favor shown to the undeserving,” wrote Albert Barnes.  “It could not have been shown to the Jews and the Gentiles unless it was before proved that they were guilty.  For this purpose proof was furnished that they were all in unbelief….Thus, all people were on a level; and thus all might be admitted to heaven without any invidious distinctions, or any dealings that were not in accordance with mercy and love….It does not prove that all people will be saved; but that those who are saved shall be alike saved by the mercy of God; and that He intends to confer salvation on Jews and Gentiles on the same terms.”  I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.  So then, it does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on God who shows mercy. [19]

“Thus the latter expression [e.g., Romans 11:32] is not in itself adducible in support of the doctrine of universalism,” the Pulpit Commentary reads.  “Certainly the prospect of a universal triumph of the gospel before the end rises here before the apostle in prophetic vision; and it may be that it carries with it to his mind further glories of eternal salvation for all, casting their rays backward over all past ages, so as to inspire an unbounded hope.  Such a hope, which seems elsewhere intimated (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:24-29; Ephesians 1:9, Ephesians 1:10, Ephesians 1:20-23; Colossians 1:15-20) would justify the glowing rhapsody of admiration and thanksgiving that follows more fully than if we supposed the apostle to contemplate still the eternal perdition of the multitudes who in all the ages have not on earth found mercy.”

Here the Pulpit Commentary referred to Romans 11:32-36 (NET):

For God has consigned all people to disobedience so that he may show mercy to them all.  Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are his judgments and how fathomless his ways!  For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?  Or who has first given to God, that God needs to repay him?  For from him and through him and to him are all things.  To him be glory forever!  Amen.

I’ll pick this up again later.

[1] Matthew 13:47-50 (NET)

[2] Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary

[3] John Gill’s Exposition of the Whole Bible

[4] Albert Barnes Notes on the Bible

[5] Pulpit Commentary

[6] Matthew 7:15, 16a (NET)

[7] Galatians 5:22, 23a (NET)

[8] Galatians 5:19-21a (NET)

[9] Matthew 7:16b, 17(NET)

[10] Matthew 7:18 (NET)

[11] Matthew 12:33 (NET)

[12] Matthew 7:19, 20 (NET)

[13] Ephesians 4:22-24 (NET)

[14] Hebrews 4:13 (NET)

[15] 1 John 5:18 (NET) Table

[16] 1 John 3:9 (NET)

[17] Romans 8:14 (NET)

[18] Romans 11:32 (NET)

[19] Romans 9:15b, 16 (NET)

Condemnation or Judgment? – Part 5

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I want to continue considering the eternal gospel the angel flying directly overhead “evangelized” (εὐαγγελίσαι, a form of εὐαγγελίζω)[1] in its context.  It is one of three messages by three different angels: one “evangelized,” another declared (λέγων, a form of λέγω),[2] and another declared (λέγων, a form of λέγω) in a loud voice.

Three Angels
Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, and he had an eternal gospel (εὐαγγέλιον)[3] to proclaim (εὐαγγελίσαι, a form of εὐαγγελίζω) to those who live on the earth –  to every nation, tribe, language, and people.  He declared in a loud voice:

Revelation 14:6, 7a (NET)

 A second angel followed the first, declaring (λέγων, a form of λέγω):

Revelation 14:8a (NET)

 A third angel followed the first two, declaring (λέγων, a form of λέγω) in a loud voice:

Revelation 14:9a (NET)
“Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment (ἡ ὥρα τῆς κρίσεως αὐτοῦ) has arrived, and worship the one who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water!”

Revelation 14:7b (NET)

 “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great city!  She made all the nations drink of the wine of her immoral (πορνείας, a form of πορνεία)[4] passion.”

Revelation 14:8b (NET)

 “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and takes the mark on his forehead or his hand, that person will also drink of the wine of God’s anger that has been mixed undiluted in the cup of his wrath, and he will be tortured with fire and sulfur in front of the holy angels and in front of the Lamb.  And the smoke from their torture will go up forever and ever, and those who worship the beast and his image will have no rest day or night, along with anyone who receives the mark of his name.”

Revelation 14:9b-11 (NET)
This requires the steadfast endurance of the saints – those who obey God’s commandments and hold to their faith in Jesus.

Revelation 14:12 (NET)

At first I included the final statement with the declaration of the third angel only.  Then I realized that the eternal gospel the first angel “evangelized” was not exactly “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ before you die or burn in hell for all eternity.”  Nor was it 1 Corinthians 15:1-8.  In fact, it didn’t mention Jesus at all.  It occurred to me that seeing and hearing an angel evangelize an eternal gospel like this might also require some steadfast endurance of those who hold to their faith in Jesus (Galatians 1:8 NET).

But even if we (or an angel from heaven) should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be condemned to hell (ἀνάθεμα)![5]

I assumed that the fall of Babylon might require the same endurance for reasons that were not yet clear.  And at present I don’t know whether—those who obey God’s commandments and hold to their faith in Jesus—define the word saints or qualify which saints are under consideration here.  I’ll consider the torture of those who worship the beast in its own essay.

I related the two judgments to the three angels like this:

Three Angels
Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead…

Revelation 14:6, 7 (NET)

 A second angel followed the first…

Revelation 14:8 (NET)

 A third angel followed the first two…

Revelation 14:9-11 (NET)
Then I looked, and a white cloud appeared, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man!  He had a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.

Revelation 14:14 (NET)

 Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.

Revelation 14:17 (NET)
Then another angel came out of the temple, shouting in a loud voice to the one seated on the cloud, “Use your sickle and start to reap, because the time to reap has come, since the earth’s harvest is ripe!”

Revelation 14:15 (NET)

 Another angel, who was in charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to the angel who had the sharp sickle, “Use your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes off the vine of the earth, because its grapes are now ripe.”

Revelation 14:18 (NET)
So the one seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.

Revelation 14:16 (NET)

 So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the grapes from the vineyard of the earth and tossed them into the great winepress of the wrath of God.  Then the winepress was stomped outside the city, and blood poured out of the winepress up to the height of horses’ bridles for a distance of almost two hundred miles.

Revelation 14:19, 20 (NET)

Despite everything I’ve been through I wanted to relate the outcome of the two judgments to the messages of the three angels like this:

Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, and he had an eternal gospel (εὐαγγέλιον) to proclaim (εὐαγγελίσαι, a form of εὐαγγελίζω) to those who live on the earth – to every nation, tribe, language, and people.  He declared in a loud voice: “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment (ἡ ὥρα τῆς κρίσεως αὐτοῦ) has arrived, and worship the one who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water!”

Revelation 14:6, 7 (NET)

 A second angel followed the first, declaring (λέγων, a form of λέγω): “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great city!  She made all the nations drink of the wine of her immoral (πορνείας, a form of πορνεία) passion.”

Revelation 14:8 (NET)

 

 A third angel followed the first two, declaring (λέγων, a form of λέγω) in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and takes the mark on his forehead or his hand, that person will also drink of the wine of God’s anger that has been mixed undiluted in the cup of his wrath, and he will be tortured with fire and sulfur in front of the holy angels and in front of the Lamb.  And the smoke from their torture will go up forever and ever, and those who worship the beast and his image will have no rest day or night, along with anyone who receives the mark of his name.”

Revelation 14:9-11 (NET)
They sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb: “Great and astounding are your deeds, Lord God, the All-Powerful!  Just and true are your ways, King over the nations!”

Revelation 15:3 (NET)

 …they blasphemed the name of God…and they would not repent and give him glory.

Revelation 16:9b (NET)
“Who will not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name, because you alone are holy?  All nations will come and worship before you for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

Revelation 15:4 (NET)

 …they blasphemed God because of the plague of hail, since it was so horrendous.

Revelation 16:21b (NET)

 They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their sufferings and because of their sores, but nevertheless they still refused to repent of their deeds.

Revelation 16:11 (NET)
Then I looked, and a white cloud appeared, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man!  He had a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.  Then another angel came out of the temple, shouting in a loud voice to the one seated on the cloud, “Use your sickle and start to reap, because the time to reap has come, since the earth’s harvest is ripe!”  So the one seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.

Revelation 14:14-16 (NET)

 Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.  Another angel, who was in charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to the angel who had the sharp sickle, “Use your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes off the vine of the earth, because its grapes are now ripe.”  So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the grapes from the vineyard of the earth and tossed them into the great winepress of the wrath of God.  Then the winepress was stomped outside the city, and blood poured out of the winepress up to the height of horses’ bridles for a distance of almost two hundred miles.

Revelation 14:17-20 (NET)
Then I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had conquered the beast and his image and the number of his name. They were standing by the sea of glass, holding harps given to them by God.

Revelation 15:2 (NET)

 Then I saw another great and astounding sign in heaven: seven angels who have seven final plagues (they are final because in them God’s anger is completed).

Revelation 15:1 (NET)

Judgment and condemnation would be easier for me to grasp if:

1) The first angel said, “Fear God and give him glory…and worship the one who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water!”
2) Then in response to that people said, “Great and astounding are your deeds, Lord God, the All-Powerful!  Just and true are your ways, King over the nations!  Who will not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name, because you alone are holy?  All nations will come and worship before you for your righteous acts have been revealed.”
3) Then in response to that one like a son of man…swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped; that is, those who feared God and gave Him glory.
4) Then those who feared God and gave Him glory were standing by the sea of glass, holding harps given to them by God.

Or conversely that:

1) Those who did not fear God but worshipped the beast and his image…
2) Were those who blasphemed the name of God, who would not repent and give Him glory…
3) And they were tossed…into the great winepress of the wrath of God…
4) To face the seven final plagues.

But that isn’t what’s revealed here, is it?  Those who sang the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb probably conquered the beast and his image and the number of his name[6] by refusing to worship him, his image or take the mark.  What looked to John like their “reaping” by one like a son of man, will probably look like mass executions to their contemporaries on earth.  Their “reaping” is immediately preceded by Revelation 14:13 (NET):

Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: ‘Blessed are the dead, those who die in the Lord from this moment on!’”  “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so they can rest from their hard work, because their deeds will follow them.”

It is after they find themselves standing by the sea of glass, holding harps given to them by God[7] that they give glory[8] to God—Great and astounding are your deeds, Lord God, the All-Powerful!  Just and true are your ways[9]—and can’t imagine how or why anyone would not fear Him—Who will not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name, because you alone are holy?[10]

Meanwhile, back on the earth, those who worshiped the beast, and were tossed…into the great winepress of the wrath of God,[11] when the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was permitted to scorch people with fire, and they were scorched by the terrible heat, yet (καὶ)[12] they blasphemed the name of God, who has ruling authority over these plagues, and they would not repent and give him glory.[13]  When the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast so that darkness covered his kingdom, and people began to bite their tongues because of their pain, they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their sufferings and because of their sores, but nevertheless[14] (καὶ) they still refused to repent of their deeds.[15]  And finally, when Babylon the great was remembered before God, and was given the cup filled with the wine made of God’s furious wrath,[16] gigantic hailstones, weighing about a hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people, but (καὶ) they blasphemed God because of the plague of hail, since it was so horrendous.[17]

The Greek word καὶ is usually translated and (see the KJV, NKJV, ASV, DNT, and YLT).  Three times the translators of the NET tried to create a contrast that may not be there in the text.  Without that contrast there is a very simple and obvious story here.  All deserved God’s wrath.  Those who received his mercy (albeit through refusing the mark of the beast and suffering execution) feared Him and glorified Him.  Those who received the wrath they deserved cursed Him and would not repent of their deeds.

God’s judgment is not about my righteousness.  It does not reflect or demonstrate my righteousness, but his.  The key here is in the song of Moses and the Lamb: you alone are holy.[18]  Why do you call me good? Jesus answered a question with another.  No one is good except God alone.[19]  For a long time I’ve thought that Jesus was asserting his divinity here in a backhanded, double reverse sort of way.  Now it seems so clear that He was fully embracing his humanity, walking humbly, led by the Spirit, dependent on the Holy Spirit’s love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.[20]  No one is good except God alone, Jesus said.

We are told explicitly who will worship the beast (Revelation 13:7, 8 NET):

The beast was permitted to go to war against the saints and conquer them.  He was given ruling authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation, and all those who live on the earth will worship the beast, everyone whose name has not been written since the foundation of the world in the book of life belonging to the Lamb who was killed.

In other words, the judgment (and the condemnation, for that matter) was made even before they were born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s purpose in election would stand, not by works but by his calling).[21]  So John on Patmos had a vision confirming the most difficult words Paul wrote (Romans 9:14-18 NET):

What shall we say then?  Is there injustice with God?  Absolutely not!  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 does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on God who shows mercy.  For the scripture says to Pharaoh: “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may demonstrate my power in you, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.”  So then, God has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and he hardens whom he chooses to harden.

My religious mind screams, “That’s not fair!”  But Paul heard my religious mind, or maybe his own (Romans 9:19-21 NET):

You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault?  For who has ever resisted his will?”  But who indeed are you – a mere human being – to talk back to God?  Does what is molded say to the molder, “Why have you made me like this?”  Has the potter no right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special use and another for ordinary use?

And my religious mind says, “No!  Hell, no!”  But the new man following the Spirit, hears the Lord Jesus say, “deny [your]self, take up [your] cross, and follow me,”[22] and listens as He prays to our Father in heaven, “not my will but yours be done.”[23]  Let God be proven true, Paul wrote, and every human being shown up as a liar, just as it is written: “so that you [i.e., God, Paul quoted David at prayer here] will be justified in your words and will prevail when you are judged.”[24]  And as I fully embrace my humanity and truly believe that it does not depend on [my] desire or exertion, but on God who shows mercy, I can hear something else in a fresh and new way (Romans 11:32-36 NET):

For God has consigned all people to disobedience so that he may show mercy to them all.  Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are his judgments and how fathomless his ways!  For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?  Or who has first given to God, that God needs to repay him?  For from him and through him and to him are all things.  To him be glory forever!  Amen.

They sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb (Revelation 15:3, 4 NET):

“Great and astounding are your deeds, Lord God, the All-Powerful!  Just and true are your ways, King over the nations!  Who will not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name, because you alone are holy?  All nations will come and worship before you for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

Condemnation or Judgment? – Part 6

Back to Torture, Part 3

Back to Torture, Part 5

Back to Cult Prostitutes

[6] Revelation 15:2 (NET)

[7] Revelation 15:2 (NET)

[8] Revelation 14:7 (NET)

[9] Revelation 15:3 (NET)

[10] Revelation 15:4a (NET)

[11] Revelation 14:19 (NET)

[12] NET Note: “Here καί (kai) has been translated as ‘yet’ to indicate the contrast present in this context.”

[13] Revelation 16:8, 9 (NET)

[14] NET Note: “Grk ‘and they did not repent.’ Here καί (kai) has been translated as ‘but nevertheless’ to express the contrast here.”

[15] Revelation 16:10, 11 (NET)

[16] Revelation 16:19b (NET)

[17] Revelation 16:21 (NET)

[18] Revelation 15:4 (NET)

[19] Mark 10:18; Luke 18:19 (NET)

[20] Galatians 5:22, 23 (NET)

[21] Romans 9:11 (NET)

[22] Matthew 16:24 (NET)

[23] Luke 22:42b (NET)

[24] Romans 3:4 (NET)