"... when you were dead in your sins... God made you alive..."
- Colossians 2:13
"...present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life..."
- Romans 6:13

Who am I?

I am referred to as pastor, student, teacher, son, brother, and redeemed sinner. My name is Nathan... and this is my blog.

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11.15.2010

New Blog Address!

Hey everyone!

Just a quick update to let you know that Death to Life has moved to a new address!

You can find the updates (including one posted today) here:
http://nathanjohnsonsblog.wordpress.com/

So if you subscribe to the RSS feed or if you have the link saved somewhere, please update it as this blog will no longer be updated or managed.

Thanks for your patience, and definitely go check out the new site - now with 50% more awesome!

- nj
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11.09.2010

Big Questions, Round 2 (part three): Old Testament Faith in Christ

Questions
How were the people in the Old Testament made right with God?

Before I thought it was through faith in God in general, and perhaps sacrifices. Then I listened to Mark Driscoll preaching over Genesis. He said that all the Old Testament people who were faithful also believed in Jesus.

The only things I have found that seem to support the idea that the Old Testament patriarchs had faith in Christ is 1 Peter 1:10-12.  Also, I found several predictions and prophecies about Jesus, the Messiah. Maybe the Old Testament prophets knew Jesus would come, and it was their job to tell other people.

Also, Luke 24:25-26 says that the whole Bible is about Jesus. But, did the people in the Old Testament know that?

About Abraham: it is clear that he was made right with dad by faith… but faith in who/what?
-       Galatians 3:8 says that God told Abraham the gospel by telling him that the nations would be blessed through him.
- Did Abraham know this was because of his offspring (Jesus)?
- Romans 4 seems to suggest that Abraham's faith was in God and his promise. 
- John 8:56 says that Abraham rejoiced that he would see Jesus’ day.
Please let me know what you think and also if there are other helpful Scripture passages to read about this. 
Answers:
Thank you for your questions - you’re thinking and working through some really deep stuff, and I’m both excited and impressed by the way you’re looking to God to teach you what he has told his children.

To answer your question, our ancient ancestors were made right with God because of Jesus.  They knew him (not necessarily by name, but they knew him nonetheless) and had an assurance – though they didn’t see him - [see Hebrews 11] in who he was going to be.  So folks were made right with dad because of our big brother and what he did.  It’s that assurance of things unseen that let them be right with dad.

This topic is discussed in Romans 3:21-26 and Hebrews 11.  It says that Moses chose to trust Christ and endure the shame of being one of God’s people rather than be rich in his comfortable palace as an Egyptian (Hebrews 11:26).  But remember, Jesus (although he existed eternally past) hadn’t been born as a man yet.  So something else was going on.  Which leads me to Romans 3:21-26.  It says Jesus died so that he could save us from our sins and make us right with God, but also to prove that God was a just judge.  What I’m getting at is that Jesus died not only so we could know God, but also to show that God was a righteous God.  Because if what we know about God from Romans 3:25 is true, and if Jesus didn’t die, then God wouldn’t be just – he would allow sin and disobedience to go on without punishing them, which isn’t justice.  There are lots of other places where this concept is, but it’s mostly in Romans, especially chapter 5.  Look into Ephesians 2 also.

I think Driscoll is right – our Christian forefathers have always believed in Jesus.  If you look at Genesis 3:15 it’s the first time Jesus is mentioned (the seminary word for this is “proto-evangelion”).  It says that Eve would have ‘seed’ which is a reference to a single male child... But it’s weird because women don’t have seed – men do.  And this seed would grow up and kill the serpent (the devil) but it would hurt Jesus too (i.e. ‘bruise his heel’).  So when Jesus died, that was the bruising – it was a seeming victory for the serpent, but ultimately it killed him because Jesus crushed him in the same act.  The rest of the stories leading up to the New Testament and Jesus talk about him being a king, a servant, etc. - like in Isaiah 53 and 2 Samuel 7:12.  There are many stories about Jesus in all of those books, and it’s really cool to read about him.  Jesus even says so himself – John 5:39, and Luke 24:27 among others.

I believe Abraham did believe in God’s promise, which was Christ Jesus, the Messiah.  When you mentioned Galatians 3:8 you’re exactly right.  Those Old Testament prophets all speak of Jesus coming to earth – God in the flesh.  So you’re right on the mark there.
The biggest thing to keep in mind is that dad says (in Romans 3.21-26) that Jesus died for all of the sins that God had overlooked from previous generations.  He withheld his judgment because he knew Jesus was coming and would absorb that wrath and punishment.  So God knew that even though they weren’t punished for disobeying, the punishment would fall on the shoulders of Christ.

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11.08.2010

Big Questions, Round 2 (Part Two): God's Intervening Grace

Questions:
1) You said that the wicked are people who directly oppose God at every point of their lives and are hardened against him. Don't all people act like this unless dad intervenes?
2) Sometimes like in Romans 9 the Bible says that God hardens people's hearts. So is everyone who will never belong to dad "wicked,” or is it just certain people that the Bible  says God especially hates? (For example, false teachers and people who stir up dissension among Christians)

So are you saying that dad loves everyone, but chooses only to adopt some people?
Answers:
As far as your questions, I think you’re definitely thinking and praying hard through some really deep topics, and that’s awesome.  I think as far as the Romans 9 part, you’re right on – Romans 1 and 8 talk about the same topics.  I think God uses us like clay and uses us for his glory, whether we show his mercy or his justice.  To answer your first question, I do believe that people are bad until God steps in and changes their heart (see Ephesians 1-2).  That said, there are places where certain people will have a worse time than others – like people who lead children astray (Jesus speaks about this in Matthew 18:6), people who teach wrong things, etc. (see 2 Peter 2:1).

I definitely think that God has a love for everyone because they are part of what he made and they bear his image.  But when we (meaning humanity in the Garden of Eden) rebelled against God and rejected him we were broken, dead, and separated from him (Romans 5).  Then we were all rejected because of that rebellion and pride in exalting our own wants and reasoning above God’s revelation.  And then when God showed us his grace and mercy, he chose some to come back to him as an example of his grace in our lives.  That’s why we live everyday for him – because without him helping us on a constant basis, we wouldn’t be anything other than broken, sinful people without hope, rescue, or faith in anything.  And that’s also why every part of our lives that is great and glorious is a result of his grace, because it’s all due to him ultimately.  So when we see awesome successes, it’s all for him.  And when we mess things up, we can still thank him and rest in Christ because our failure doesn’t mean he doesn’t love us – quite the opposite... He loves us more and loves us in spite of ourselves because Christ Jesus stepped in on our behalf and took our punishment on when he went to the cross to bear our sins and give us his obedience and righteousness.


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11.06.2010

Big Questions, Round 2: God's Grace and Hate

Recently one of my friends who is doing mission work in a closed country sent me some really great questions and I gave it my best shot at answering them.  I thought it might be interesting and maybe beneficial to post them here to get some discussion going.  So over the next few days I’ll be posting a distillation of those conversations in a new series called “Big Questions, Round 2.” 

Please feel free to comment, submit questions of your own, and/or just entertain your curiosity.

Questions:
1) In the Bible, sometimes it says that God loves the world, but other times it says that he hates the wicked. Isn't everyone wicked? So does that mean that he hates everyone?

2) Also, why does God give so much common grace to the people he hates?

3) Ezekiel 33:11 says that God does not delight in the death of the wicked. And Genesis 6:5-8 says that he was grieved that he had made men. After it says this, then he destroyed nearly everyone. But, this seems to show that he didn't want to destroy them out of hate, but he did destroy them out of justice.

Answers:
1) The ‘world’ you’re referring to needs to be viewed in context in the book and passage it appears in.  It usually means a more global understanding of salvation given to God’s people – that is, Gentiles or people from every nation… folks he wouldn’t normally love.  The ‘wicked’ are people who directly oppose God, who sin without remorse at every point of their lives and who are hardened against him.  Since God is jealous for his own glory and his own fame, he hates those who don’t love him because they are worshiping idols or false gods.  Pretty much every time God says he hates someone it’s in connection with idols and misplaced love and affections that should go to him.  Ultimately God does love his creation because it reflects his glory.  But when, like in Romans 1, we see people worshiping the creation rather than the Creator to whom it all points, God’s wrath is poured out on those people – and rightfully so.

2) The reason God lets even the worst people have common grace is that he is a loving and merciful God who is showing his glory and mercy to the world.  But that doesn’t mean he won’t punish those who oppose him… he is just as well as merciful.  Read Exodus 34:5-9 where God reveals his own nature… it’s right after the Israelites built the golden calf and God forgives them for what they’ve done.  Then he makes another promise to them and reminds them of his love. But he also talks about his justice and exercising his right to judge.  Therefore, when we see people cursing God and not falling dead on the spot, that is an example of God’s immense grace and patience (see Romans 9:22-24).

3) As far as God not delighting in the death of the wicked, it does grieve him to punish those he desires love from, but his character is such that he will be himself rather than go back on who he is in order to gain their love.  He is ultimately about his glory and his purposes, which are hard for us to delve into because God has chosen to not reveal his purposes to us.  In addition to that, God does not need to justify himself – see Job 38-42 and Romans 9… they testify to God’s absolute sovereignty.

Also read Romans 3:21-26 where it talks about God’s mercy – he looked over (or postponed judgment of) the disobedience of his children early on because he had decided to punish Jesus for what they did.  Therefore when his Jesus was crucified on the cross, it established not only peace between elect sinners and God, but also established God as a just justifier… it upheld his character as well as made certain that we are his people and in his love.   Without Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, God would be unjust (because he would have let the patriarchs’ – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc. – disobedience be forgiven without punishment).  This is the main reason why the cross of Christ is such a big deal – it does secure our salvation and hope, but it also is an integral part of God’s very nature.
 
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