The Living
Matthew 22:32
I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
In these days of man centered religion, it sometimes happens that our Lord Jesus will allow the adherents of freewillism to hear the true gospel preached. In such cases those who sit under the sound of the true gospel sometimes say “that is not my God” or they may say “that is not true”, or it may be said “I hate that preacher”. In the days of our Lord Jesus Christ the wrath of man was stirred when the sovereignty of God was declared (Luke 4:18-29), and it is the same today. Men by the nature of the flesh hate the doctrine of the sovereignty of God in salvation. And they despise the God who is sovereign in salvation and in reprobation. In this the saying of God is made manifest: He is not the God of the dead but of the living. The God of the Bible who is unknown to the majority of this generation of church going people, is the covenant God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel and He is the covenant God of all the children of the everlasting covenant of grace (Acts 3:25; Galatians 3:7). Those who know the covenant God of the Bible have eternal life through Jesus Christ, their covenant Head: as it is written: “ And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3) and again: “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life” (I John 5:20). The children of the covenant were chosen in Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4) in whom they were sanctified by God the Father in eternity past (Jude 1:1) and with whom the children of the covenant are in union from everlasting. They are one with Jesus Christ according to the purpose and grace of God, which was given them before the world was made, as it is written: “Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (II Timothy 1:8-9). Those who deny the Sovereign God, who elected His people in Christ Jesus, and who predestinated the elect to the adoption of Children (Ephesians 1:4-5), declare their spiritual state. They are they who are among the spiritual dead, not knowing the God of the Bible; who is the God of the Living.
The children of God are one with Jesus Christ according to the covenant of God, and all the regenerated children of God are marked by the faith of God’s elect (Titus 1:1). That faith having been put in them by God the Holy Ghost of whom it is said: “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. 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.” (Ezekiel 36:25-27). The promise according to the covenant is: (1.) I will sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean. The sprinkling of clean water is the “washing of water by the word” it is written : “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:25-27). The sprinkling of clean water is the providential operation of God wherein He causes the children of God to “pass under the rod” as it is written: “And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant” (Ezekiel 20:37). The rod, is the rod of His strength as in Psalm 110. “The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies” (Psalm 110:2), the rod of His strength is the gospel of Jesus Christ which is “the Power of God unto salvation” as it is written: “ For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:16-17).
In the time of love our Lord Jesus Christ speaks by His Spirit to the soul of one of His lost sheep through the instrumentality of one who He has sent to preach the gospel and when Christ Jesus speaks the word of life; His words are spirit and they are life (John 6:63; Philippians 2:16). Christ Jesus speaks life into His lifeless sheep, He commands life, and the sheep of His hand are made to live, as it is written: “ And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live” (Ezekiel 16:6; see John 5:21). The sprinkling of clean water is the preaching of the true gospel of Jesus Christ by one who God has sent to preach the gospel, and it is done in the power of the Holy Ghost. And to those to whom Christ Jesus speaks the “Spirit is life because of righteousness” (Romans 8:10) which was established by Jesus Christ and charged to the account of the elect sinner by God the Father. This righteousness justifies in the sight of God, and the justified sinner is clean from all his filthiness and from all his idols. His God is the God of the living, who has said: “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure” (Isaiah 46:10). Again the God of the living has said : “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities” (Isaiah 53:10-11). “He shall see His seed” that is, all those given Him of the Father in eternity past. All of them shall be quickened in the Lord’s time and none shall be missing. If any were to be missing the body of Christ would not be complete. Many deceived religionists have a Christ who may lose some of the sheep the Father gave Him. However, the Christ of the Living God will lose none of the flock which the Father committed to His trust in eternity past. “He shall prolong His days” that is Jesus Christ shall live forever, for He saith: “ I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death” (Revelation 1:18) and again Christ Jesus said this of His sheep “Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also” (John 14:19). “And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand” that is, the eternal purpose of God shall be brought to pass by the hand of Jesus of Nazareth the Christ of the living God. There can be no doubt that Christ Jesus has accomplished all the Father sent Him to do, because the Father has raised Him from the dead and has set Him at His own right hand and given Him all power in heaven and earth: as it is written: “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen” (Matthew 28:18-20).
The living are those who have been sprinkled with the water of the word by the Spirit of the Living God. God the Holy Ghost must sprinkle the water of the word, and He sprinkles the Children of the covenant, who are of God. Our Lord Jesus said “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:14-16). The Spirit and the word are promised in the covenant, as something the church of Living God shall enjoy to eternity, as it is promised: “As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever” (Isaiah 59:21). And in the New Testament: “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5).
While the God of the Bible is not the God of the dead, this does not mean that He does not exercise complete sovereignty over the dead. To be sure He does not stand in covenant relation to them, nor does He know them in covenant love and relationship. As the Lord Jesus told the false preachers He denied in the gospel of Matthew: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:21-23). The Lord Jesus did not hold these persons in covenant relationship. Although He has perfect knowledge of all things, these persons were not of His sheep (John 10:26). These false preachers are workers of iniquity and this truth was declared by our Lord Jesus. Although they seem to be very good men, the most up-right in the community, respected by everyone in town, these workers of iniquity are the murderers of the souls of men, preaching traditions handed down to them by other false preachers who deceived other generations. Our Lord Jesus will say to them “I never knew you”. These men are likened to the whited sepulchers by our Lord Jesus. With them He contended in His day and will judge them in another day.
AJ Ison
See the writer’s blog at www.hebrews915.blogspot.com hear the true gospel preached at www.13thstbaptist.org webcasting live at listed service times.
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