by Diana Howard

Created on: January 15, 2009   Last Updated: February 15, 2009

GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY AND HIS PROMISES

A question came up in a Bible study regarding the state of a particular man of Jewish descent. He had recently died, without affirming that Jesus Christ was Lord and Savior nor was he a practicing Jew, but that he was an exceptional man, kind and good hearted.. At least one person in the group was dogmatic regarding what Scripture says about salvation (John 3:3)"that you must be born again to see the kingdom of heaven, and that in Hebrews 9:28 it states "it is appointed once for man to die and then the judgement", so they questioned how any man might find Christ except during his life. That sparked a lively debate within the group and that is when I came into it.

This is about as complicated a situation as you will ever encounter regarding this question, and the leader of that group asked me to prepare something that addressed this issue, as he knew that I was familiar with the Old Testament and its prophecies, and because I had spent some time reading material that dealt with Messianic (converted) Jews and what they believe about their people. The text of these Scriptures was taken somewhat out of context. If you read Hebrews nine, Paul was using what seemed a physical fact to explain that Christ's sacrifice does not have to be done over and over for the remission of sins, because at His death, sin was judged once and for all. But what about John 3:3 pertaining to those not under the protection of Messiah. We will take try to understand this issue by a parable of sorts.

Let's take a modern day human example to help us see things from God's perspective. Everyone has heard about the Duggers, that lovely couple with eighteen children, who seem to have given organization and delegation a whole new meaning. Let's say that Mr and Mrs. Dugger write a new rule for their family and gather the children, so that they can hear and obey. The punishment for breaking said rule is a week's grounding. Let us suppose further that one of the middle children, a teenager, happened to be at work during the meeting, and didn't hear the rule. She comes home and within several days, she breaks the rule. Mrs Dugger, learning that her daughter had legitimately missed the meeting and was not being rebellious in the commission of her crime, has suspended the above punishment.

This scenario becomes important to us, because, Mrs Dugger is a human being, and not the Lord of the Universe. Yet, I doubt that there is anyone of us who would deny her the sovereignty

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