DOCTRINE OF DIVINE ESSENCE (Part 1)

A. Definition. 1. Without essence a thing would not be what it is.

a. Essence is derived from the Attic Greek adjective OUSIA. The Doric Greek used a similar word ESSIA. The Latin word for essence, ESSE, came from the Doric Greek. OUSIA and ESSIA mean that which is one’s own, a substance that belongs to one person, substance, being, the inner nature, the qualities or attributes of a person, that which is one’s own.

b. Essence is defined as the basic constituent of a thing, the intrinsic nature of something. Essence is defined as that in being which underlies all outward manifestations and is both permanent and unchangeable; it is the existence or actual being. Essence implies both being and identity.

c. In our study, essence refers to the qualities or attributes of God, attributes which have always existed.

d. Essence is what remains stable in change. Therefore, without essence, a thing would not be what it actually is. Without God having essence, God would not be God.

e. The qualities and perfections which belong to God are classified as His attributes. The sum total of God’s attributes is His essence.

f. The attributes or essence of God belong to three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, who are one God in essence.

g. The believer is totally dependent upon divine revelation in the canon of Scripture to understand exactly what God is like, the nature and attributes of God, and what forms His divine substance or essence. The attributes of God are only understood by us as they are revealed in Scripture.

h. There are two concepts of God provided in the Scripture.

(1) Theism is the existence and character of God.

(2) Trinitarianism is the recognition of the teaching of the Scripture regarding the three-fold personality of God. God is one in essence but three in persons who have identical essence. (See the Doctrine of the Trinity.)

2. There is no subject more exalted to which the human mind can address itself than the contemplation and cognition of the person and character of God. It is not an inscrutable subject. All other branches and categories of theology are related to created and finite beings.

3. The essence of God is the study of His being and His attributes. At no point does the believer feel his limitations more than when confronted with the responsibility of accurately recognizing the essence of God. And yet His essence is revealed to be understood. Moses was commanded to remove his shoes because he stood on holy ground when confronted with the essence of God.

4. While God is one in essence, there are three coequal, coeternal, and coinfinite persons in the Godhead, all possessing identical essence, being, or substance.

a. However, this does not imply there are three gods or three modes of God. The word trinity is used to express three persons in one Godhead.

b. There is one divine nature or being which is tripersonal, making distinction between God the Father, Son, and Spirit. The three persons in the Godhead are joint partakers of the same nature and the same majesty of God.

c. Therefore, God is one in essence but three coequal, coeternal, and coinfinite persons in that one essence.

d. When divine essence is the subject, God is revealed and studied as one. When divine persons are the subject, God is revealed in three persons who are distinguished throughout Scripture.

e. In the unity of God, there is only one essence and one substance. In the persons of the Godhead, there are three: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The fact that God exists in three persons is documented in Isa 48:16; Jn 10:30 cf Ps 110:1; 2 Cor 13:14; 1 Pet 1:2. God is one in essence, not in persons.

B. The Anti-Theistic Theories.

1. Polytheism is the belief in the plurality of God like the Greek and Roman Pantheon.

2. Pantheism is the philosophy that God and the universe are one. This denies the transcendency of God, or that God has any existence outside the universe. Pantheism also denies the personality of God and contends that He exists in the sum total of all life; this is the way the Hindus regard Him.

3. Evolution believes that the cosmos has been developed from crude homogenous material to its present heterogenous state by means of resident forces. There are two kinds of evolution.

a. Theistic evolution is believed by many scientists who are Christians. It recognizes God as the creator of the original materials, but contends that evolution is the method by which all developed from its primitive state to the present completeness.

b. Atheistic evolution rejects the person of God and contends that matter is eternal and self-developing.

4. Materialism is that form of atheism which denies the existence of God and contends that matter is eternal and that life is a product of matter. This is the basis for all communist beliefs. This is the philosophy of communism.

a. Materialism contends that within material substance is the basis for and only explanation of all things.

b. Materialism is one type of monism, which is any system of thought which recognizes one substance only.

5. Idealism is another system of monism which recognizes one thing only, the human mind. Idealism is a system of thought which contends that the mind is the only entity. Hence, the universe is no more than an impression or an illusion of the mind. Your body isn’t really your body; you really are immaterial. Some idealists do believe in God, but they deny His creation of material things because they deny materialism.

6. Positivism is a system of thought which accepts nothing which cannot be accredited by human evidence. Hence, it disregards God and the soul.

7. Monotheism is the belief that there is only one person in the Godhead, in contrast to the existence of the Father, Son and Spirit. This is the view of Islam and all Muslims (the largest religion in the world today). This is also the belief of the Sikhs and of Judaism.

8. Deism says that God is personal, infinite, holy, and the creator of the universe. But it contends that God purposely abandoned His creation when He completed it with the intent that it would be self-sustaining and self-promoting by forces which are resident in it. Deism rejects the Scriptures or any suggestion that God is immanent and transcendent in the universe. Deism was subscribed to by such people as Thomas Paine, Hume, Gibbon, and Voltaire; this was very popular in the eighteenth century.

9. In contrast to all of these, we are classified philosophically as Biblical theists.

C. The Theistic Arguments for the Existence of God.

1. The religious argument says that God exists because men universally believe in Him and possess certain religious instincts.

a. The basis for all anti-theistic arguments is either one of two systems of reality—rationalism or empiricism.

(1) Under rationalism, reason alone is the source of knowledge and independent of experience. This is why men like Descartes and Spinoza rejected the theistic argument for the existence of God.

(a) Rationalism contends that reason is the superior authority in matters of opinion, belief, or conduct. All knowledge is expressed in self-evident propositions. It contends that human reason, unaided by divine revelation, is an adequate and sole guide to truth.

(b) The problem with rationalism is that it cannot break the barrier between human thinking and the reality and substance of God. One of the biggest problems people have philosophically is that they try to use rationalism as the absolute means for determining truth, and it won’t work. Only divine revelation in the Scripture will help.

(2) Under empiricism, all knowledge is derived from a sense or experience or experiment. It depends on the experience of or observation of something. Empiricism is the pursuit of knowledge by observation and experimentation. Empiricists include John Locke and David Hume.

b. The religious argument for the existence of God is related to God-consciousness and found in Rom 1. However, God-consciousness must be followed by the desire to know Him. That takes us out of the realm of rationalism or empiricism, because neither one is adequate to actually resolve the problem.

(1) Descartes in his great genius decided to develop a philosophy starting with God, which he called the absolute. He used rational arguments to try to discover what is beyond this, then beyond that, etc., seeking an absolute premise that was related to something outside of himself. He pushed his mind to the point where it stalled out, so that he had to come back to what exists. He started with himself and concluded, “I think; therefore I exist.” This was the best he could come up with under rationalism, and it became the basis for eighteenth century rationalism.

(2) By contrast, the Bible says “In the beginning which was not a beginning was the Word [EN ARCHE HO LOGOS],” which means there never was a time when God did not exist. Rationalism or empiricism is entirely the wrong approach to ever discover the essence of God.

(3) The only thing rationalism can legitimately do is bring you to a point of God-consciousness, in which you conclude there has to be a God. At that point, God is responsible to reveal Himself, which He has done in every generation.

2. The ontological argument contends that since the human mind possesses the idea of a perfect and absolute being, such a being must exist. That is as much as the human mind can do; it cannot determine any detail with regard to the substance or essence of God. But there must be such a thing as God, because the human mind keeps coming up with the idea of an absolute being as the source of everything around us. The existence of God is a necessary idea to the human mind. Beyond the sphere of intuition there is the infinite. Beyond the relative there is the absolute.

3. The moral argument is sometimes classified as the anthropological argument. It says that mankind possesses the faculty of conscience with an urge to choose right over wrong.

a. The structure of society and government is based on human recognition of virtue and truth. This phenomenon could not exist unless there was an absolute or supreme being whose existence and influence is always for good rather than evil.

b. A material and ungoverned universe can know nothing of moral values and distinctions. What is beyond people is something that is absolute and that is for good. c. Once again, the mind comes right up to the door of infinity and stops. The finite mind cannot use a finite system to comprehend infinity. 4. The teleological argument says that the universe is both telescopic and microscopic. Looking at the stars through a telescope causes you to realize there is no accident in the creation of the universe. Looking through a microscope reveals tremendous arrangement, adaptation, and purpose in biological life. All this denotes a designer.

a. Stones which accidentally fall from a hillside never form automatically into a symmetrical wall.

b. All the chemical components of the human body are in the world, but they never accidentally form man.

c. You cannot shuffle the twenty-six letters of the alphabet into a beautiful poem; there has to be a poet.

d. A study of any of the sciences causes you to appreciate the fact that there is a tremendous design in the universe.

5. The cosmological argument says that the intuitive law of cause and effect demands the existence of God. In no sense can the universe be its own cause. a. Our Lord Jesus Christ is revealed to be the creator in Jn 1:3, Col 1:16, and Heb 1:10.

b. Gen 1:1, the Hebrew phrase BERESHITH BA ELOHIM, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” refers to Jesus Christ as the creator.

c. Furthermore, the universe has a preserver who is also the Lord Jesus Christ, Col 1:17; Heb 1:3.

6. All these theistic arguments show that the human mind intuitively concludes there is a God out there, but it can do nothing about it. The greatest of human minds cannot discover God through thinking; it has to come through revelation. God has to reveal Himself to us. Furthermore, God has to reveal Himself in a way that is understandable to both the simplest of minds and the most complex of minds. For the believer in Jesus Christ, regardless of his I.Q., the doctrine of the essence of God is understandable because it is a part of the Word of God. As a believer, you now have the equipment and spiritual I.Q. to comprehend these things.

D. Propositions about the Essence of God.

1. Definition of a Proposition.

a. A proposition is defined as anything stated for the purpose of discussion. In logic, a proposition is a statement that affirms or denies something so that it can be characterized as being either true or false. In mathematics, a proposition is defined as a formal statement of truth to be demonstrated, like in a theorem.

b. In this study, all these definitions apply with one addition— a proposition is a Bible doctrine, clarified through categorical analysis, brings us into an understanding of God.

2. There are six propositions about God for this study.

a. God exists. Obviously, this categorical study will have a great deal to say about God. Whether or not you think God exists is really not the issue for the moment.

(1) If you are logical and a good thinker, you would be incorrect to say, “I do not believe that God exists.” You could say, “On the basis of rationalism or empiricism, God does not exist.” But to say you do not believe that God exists is stupid and shows that you are not organized in your thinking because you have no criteria for your thinking. You should say, “On the basis of rationalism (or empiricism), I do not believe that God exists.”

(a) Ps 14:1, “The fool has said in his heart [stream of consciousness], `There is no God.’” This is repeated in Ps 53:1.

(b) Ps 53:2, “God has looked down from heaven on the human race to see if there is anyone who acts wisely, who seeks after God.” Seeking after God is the function of the unbeliever who is positive at God- consciousness and the function of the believer who is positive to the teaching of Bible doctrine.

© If you do not believe that God exists, at least express it with the right verb to show that you can think. To say you don’t believe God exists is to use the wrong verb; for faith in itself, by its very definition, is not qualified to say that. But if you say that on the basis of rationalism or empiricism, God does not exist, that is at least consistent. For neither rationalism nor empiricism can come to any understanding of God. If you do not believe God exists, at least be accurate and correct in your thinking.

(2) There are three basic systems of human perception.

(a) Rationalism is perception through reason, or accepting reason as the supreme authority in matters of opinion, belief, or conduct. Philosophically, rationalism contends that reason alone is the source of knowledge, and is independent of experience. This was the view of Descartes and Spinoza, who had a lot to do with the founding of modern rationalism, although it all originated with Plato and his teacher Socrates.

(b) Empiricism is the doctrine that all knowledge is derived from sense or experience. Hence, it relies on perception by experiment and observation. Philosophically, Locke and Hume are representative of this school of thought.

© Faith is a non-meritorious system of perception that depends on the object of faith for its merit. In salvation, the object is the Lord Jesus Christ—believe in Him and you will be saved. God or doctrine about God in the Bible is always the object of faith in Christianity.

(3) When faith is used as a system of perception, it is inevitable that the first proposition, God exists, becomes a reality. The perception and merit of faith is always found in its object.

(4) To say that “God exists” does not imply but rather states with absolute confidence that God exists infinitely and eternally.

(5) To say that God exists eternally is not a figment of one’s imagination, but the reality of a divine being in the status of eternal existence. Faith is a system of perception which makes it possible to come to an understanding of the absolute truth found in the word of God.

(6) If you reply, “Who is God?” or “What is God?", that is not difficult to answer, because God has revealed Himself to mankind. However, the system of perception for understanding this revelation is faith. Rationalism and empiricism cannot break into infinity.

(7) Therefore, if God has always existed and if He is going to reveal Himself to mankind, then He must reveal Himself in a way that makes sense.

b. God reveals Himself.

(1) If God exists eternally, unsustained by anyone or anything else, then we can assume that God had something to do with our existence. We are not rational creatures by accident.

(2) Furthermore, if God has something to do with our being here on planet earth, it is only on God’s part that He reveals Himself to us.

(3) If God has always existed and if God is going to reveal Himself to mankind, then He must reveal Himself in a way that makes sense, so that we can understand.

c. God makes sense.

(1) If you persist and persevere in learning the doctrines that pertain to God, you will learn and conclude that God does make sense.

(2) Furthermore, God makes organized sense because God is organized.

(3) God’s organized sense means that God has a plan for your life as an individual, and God’s plan is organized. This plan is divided into three parts.

(a) God has a plan for eternal salvation through personal faith in Jesus Christ.

(b) God has a plan for time. In this dispensation, He has a plan for the royal family of God, the unique protocol plan. A right thing done in a right way is right.

© God has a plan for the eternal state, beginning with physical death, continuing into resurrection, and extending into the eternal state.

d. God has a plan and a purpose for your life.

(1) God’s plan for you begins at the moment you believe in Jesus Christ, when He does forty things for you.

(2) God is perfect, and therefore His plan for you is perfect. This fact demands that we understand something about God; therefore, we study the doctrine of the essence of God.

(3) The essence of God reveals how God can provide a perfect plan for human beings that are imperfect.

e. I am a human being.

(1) If you can say you are a person and human being with a soul, then you can conclude that God has a plan for you.

(2) God had a purpose in your creation. God had a purpose in your birth. God’s plan begins with regeneration.

(3) The point is that you are alive on planet earth. If there is a God, if He has revealed Himself, if He makes sense, and if He has a perfect plan, then you owe God a hearing.

f. I owe God a hearing.

(1) Note the use of the word “hearing.” Nothing is required of you except an open mind, concentration, and listening. There are no gimmicks. Simply listen to the information given about God. All you have to do is concentrate on what is taught and blot out other distracting factors around you or in your own soul.

(2) In other words, you haven’t a thing in the world to give God but a hearing. You are not required to give money or to do something. You are only required to hear, which is a non-meritorious function. God has a great deal to give you.

3. Conclusion.

a. While the subject at hand is the essence of God, you should understand the purpose and objective of studying divine essence.

b. The first purpose is to make sure you have eternal salvation, an eternal relationship with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

c. The second purpose is designed for those who believe in Christ to understand the protocol plan of God under persistent post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation.

d. The third purpose is to understand the hereafter, the true meaning of death, life beyond the grave, and to lift the veil with regard to the eternal state so you can see how the soul functions after death.

4. Summary of the Six Propositions for Unbelievers.

a. God exists.

b. Because God exists, He has revealed Himself.

c. Because God has revealed Himself, God makes sense.

d. Since God makes sense, God has a plan for your life.

e. I am a human being, a member of the human race.

f. Therefore, I owe God a hearing.

5. There are seven propositions for the believer.

a. God exists eternally and unchanged.

b. God reveals Himself to mankind and specifically to the believer in Jesus Christ.

c. God’s revelation of Himself makes sense.

d. God has a plan for your life as a believer.

e. God’s plan for every member of the human race comes in three categories: salvation, living, and dying. Each category is based on His policy of grace. Grace is divided into three categories.

(1) Presalvation grace—common grace, the divine call, and efficacious grace.

(2) Salvation grace—the forty things God gives us at salvation.

(3) Postsalvation grace—"more” or “greater” grace.

f. The Christian is saved by grace, now he must live by grace after salvation.

g. Therefore, you owe the plan and grace of God a hearing.

E. The Attributes of God.

1. The essence of God equals His being or substance plus His attributes. Essence is the being which is attributed to God, since these characteristics are eternally inherent in Him. Essence means the combined attributes.

2. Since the grace of God and the work of God are manifestations of His essential attributes, it is important to understand the divine attributes, and to understand the thoughts and functions of God. You are designed as a royal priest to understand the thoughts and functions of God.

3. The difficulty in the study of divine essence is that it brings the finite human mind into constant contemplation and concentration on the infinite. But the Holy Spirit makes these things clear.

4. This study therefore includes who and what God is. This study is designed to include the attributes of God which are both inherent to His eternal glory and related to mankind.

5. Theology recognizes two categories of divine attributes.

a. The absolute attributes of God are inherent and intransitive. They are primary and incommunicable (they cannot be related to something we understand.) We do not come into contact with these. These attributes are most important in God’s relationship to God; they are not related to man.

b. The relative attributes of God are related to mankind. They are transitive (expressing an action which is carried from the subject to an object) and anthropopathic. Relative attributes are secondary and communicable (we can define and understand them). By anthropopathic is meant that God often reveals Himself in terms of man’s experience and activities. For example, anthropopathic terms used in the Bible to describe God include integrity, love, faithfulness, happiness, and grace. (See the doctrine of Anthropopathisms.)

6. This study is not exhaustive. It is not intended to make the usual theological distinctions between absolute and relative attributes. (See the doctrine of the Attributes of God for these distinctions.) The attributes of God will be described in this study in terms of divine revelation in Scripture and how they relate to you personally as a regenerate member of the royal family of God.

7. What makes this study somewhat difficult is the fact that God is composed of things immaterial. Jn 4:24, “God is a spirit; they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” Spirit and truth are both immaterial.

a. Therefore, we cannot understand God apart from the function of the human mind under the enabling power of the Holy Spirit in delving into what is immaterial and absolute.

b. Spirit does not have flesh and bones; Spirit is not material, Lk 24:39.

c. Jesus Christ in Hypostatic Union is the only visible manifestation of God, Jn 1:18, 6:46; 1 Tim 6:16; 1 Jn 4:12. When those who were alive during the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union saw Christ, they saw only His humanity; they didn’t see His deity. No one has seen deity because it is spiritual.

d. But the spiritual can be understood by absolute truth.

e. God is invisible, but God is also personal. Even though He is invisible, He is living, an active spirit, and eternal, infinite, and unchanging in existence.

f. Therefore, we say God is immanent and transcendent as a spiritual being.

8. In this study, we will note ten major divine attributes.

a. The sovereignty of God.

b. The integrity or holiness of God.

c. The love of God.

d. The life and personality of God.

e. The omnipresence of God.

f. The omniscience of God.

g. The omnipotence of God.

h. The faithfulness of God.

i. The happiness of God.

j. The grace of God.

F. The Sovereignty of God.

1. Definition of the Sovereignty of God.

a. The sovereignty of God is His eternal, infinite, unchangeable will expressed in the doctrine of divine decrees in eternity past. The doctrine of divine decrees is the eternal, unchanging thinking of God regarding you, and the infinite number of decisions God has made about you. All of God’s decisions were made in eternity past.

b. The sovereignty of God is His infinite, immutable, eternal, and perfect divine volition. His decisions are based on His thinking. God has never had to come up with a thought. There never was a thought or decision He didn’t have from eternity past. God has never made a bad decision.

c. God is eternal, Ps 93:2. God is infinite, Ps 8:1; Acts 5:39; Heb 6:13. God is self-determining, Job 9:12; Ps 115:3, 135:6; Prov 21:1; Dan 4:35. Therefore, God’s sovereignty is eternal, infinite, and self- determining.

d. The expression of divine volition or the sovereignty of God as found in Eph 1:5 results in a divine plan for the human race, i.e., for you personally, Heb 6:17. There never was or will be a person for whom God did not have a perfect plan in eternity past. God’s plan for our life is the only way of happiness, tranquility, and blessing. God’s plan always begins with salvation. No one is left out and no one is insignificant. Remember that God always thinks in terms of concentration and organization. He makes perfect decisions from an organized mind.

e. By divine decree, the sovereignty of God and the free will of man coexist in human history. Both are invisible, though we can see their results.

(1) In 2 Pet 3:9, God expresses His sovereignty in a marvelous way. “He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to a change of mind [about Jesus Christ].” God’s plan for all of us is to believe in Christ. The unbeliever who makes a lot of bad decisions often destroys their own stream of consciousness. When too many bad decisions are made by too many people in power, there are wars.

(2) Jn 7:17, “If any man is willing to do His will, he shall know of the doctrine.” Notice that before you learn, your volition must be involved. Some people will not learn because their volition is already negative. Negative volition to doctrine begins when a person believes that they will lose some of the wonderful things in their lifestyle, if they follow God’s plan for their life.

(3) Phil 2:13, “For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to do His good pleasure.” We will never have any happiness in life until we do His good pleasure. God’s good pleasure is found in the canon of the Scripture.

(4) These passages document the sovereignty of God, but you are involved because you can will to do His good pleasure, or you can will not to do so. Volition always comes first, because you must be motivated by your volition to learn Bible doctrine. In spite of all of our failures, as long as we are alive, God still has a plan for our life.

2. The sovereignty of God must be related to the personality of God.

a. The most basic parts of personality are self-consciousness and self-determination. One must first be aware that he exists, then he can make decisions in relationship to that awareness. Self-consciousness and volition are the key factors in your personality. This is how man was created in God’s own image.

b. God recognizes Himself as a person and as such, He functions with perfect integrity and perfect rationality. Personality should have integrity and rationality. Rationality means you think, and integrity means you apply what you think. Therefore, God is infinite personality. He is perfect and eternal virtue, which the Bible calls holiness.

c. God is infinite personality. God’s perfect integrity or holiness combines with His self-determination to reveal, to define, and to communicate His plan, His will, and His purpose for mankind, as well as His own divine essence.

3. The sovereignty of God must be related to His divine infinity.

a. By infinity is meant that God is without boundary or limitation. He unites in Himself those perfections which belong to His person and character.

b. This means that God cannot be complicated by ignorance or compromised by absurdities. Therefore, human beings cannot superimpose upon God their silliness and their arrogance.

(1) Since God is not irrational, He is not going to come up with an irrational plan.

(2) God is not silly; He is not going to come up with a silly plan.

(3) God is not ignorant; He is not going to tolerate stupidity from ignorance of doctrine. God dislikes ignorance, and there is no excuse for ignorance of doctrine.

c. The volition or sovereignty of God cannot be tempted in any way, cannot sin, and cannot tempt creatures to sin. Furthermore, God does not tempt anyone to human good. Human good plus ignorance produces human good or dead works. The sovereignty of God never makes a decision to condone sin, evil, human good, or ignorance of Bible doctrine.

d. Infinity characterizes all that God does: His sovereign will, the function of His love, His perfect integrity, His omniscience, and His omnipotence.

e. God’s eternal glory existed billions of years before creation. There never was a time when God’s perfect glory did not exist. God recognizes His own glory and claims it in the interest of absolute truth.

4. The Functions of Divine Sovereignty.

a. It was the sovereign will of God to reveal Himself to us through Bible doctrine.

b. It was the sovereign will of God to deal with us through a policy of grace, and to give us the most fantastic and unique plan ever given to believers in any dispensation, i.e., the protocol plan of God.

c. It was the sovereignty of God the Father that sent Jesus Christ to the Cross to provide our eternal salvation.

d. Divine motivation is the function of God’s sovereignty. God’s decisions are based upon perfect and eternal knowledge, as well as perfect and eternal motivation. God can only have perfect motivation.

e. God’s sovereignty always functions for His own glory.

f. The sovereignty of God always functions in total compatibility with all of His other divine attributes.

(1) God is self-existent, which means He is eternal. His perfect decisions from His sovereignty are compatible with His eternal and infinite self-existence.

(2) God is immutable and unchangeable. Therefore, He has never had to reverse a decision. God does not have to be flexible, for He is perfect. As perfect, infinite, and eternal God, He never has to withdraw a decision. His decisions were perfect billions of years ago and they remain perfect in time.

(3) God’s perfect policy of grace is based on infinite, eternal, and sovereign decisions. This policy was established in eternity past in the divine decree.

(4) God’s integrity is incorruptible. God’s decisions are perfect with regard to His integrity. God’s sense of humor is also perfect, and there must be some amusement in heaven concerning the things we fail to understand.

(5) God’s gracious love toward us is perfect, based on His integrity.

(6) Therefore, all these add up to the fact that God cannot make a bad decision even once. And from His sovereignty, God has made billions and billions of decisions.

g. The sovereignty of God provides every member of the royal family of God with his own portfolio of invisible assets. Every decision that God has made with regard to each one of us is one that spells out blessing; for this is backed by His wisdom rather than ours.

h. No greater expression of the sovereignty of God exists than the one found in Col 1:27, “To whom God willed to reveal to the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” That in itself was one of the greatest decisions of the sovereignty of God of all time. God made a decision to indwell us as the confidence of glory. To think that He actually found a way to communicate and reveal to us the riches of the unique factors of the Church Age.

(1) Our portfolio of invisible assets.

(2) Our escrow blessings for time and eternity.

(3) The fantastic availability of divine omnipotence.

(a) The omnipotence of God the Father related to that portfolio.

(b) The omnipotence of God the Son who both preserves the universe and perpetuates human history.

© The omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit who provides for us enabling power inside the divine dynasphere.

(4) Col 1:28 continues, “Whom [Jesus Christ] we proclaim [Bible teaching], constantly inculcating every person, even constantly teaching every person with all wisdom, in order that we may present every person mature in Christ.” The combination of verses 27-28 gives the pastor the responsibility of teaching who and what God is.

i. Out of the trillions of decisions ad infinitum, God has never made a bad decision. All divine decisions from the sovereignty of God are made from a position of eternal and infinite strength. All divine decisions are based on eternal wisdom and omniscience. Therefore, it is impossible for God to make a wrong decision.

j. When it comes time for us to die, the time, place, and manner of our dying are determined by decisions from the sovereignty and love of God. God in His sovereignty expresses supreme rulership, wisdom, and grace in His decisions that relate to us. God has never made a mistake or a bad decision with regard to our living, and He never makes a bad decision with regard to the time, the place, and the way in which we depart from this life.

k. The closer we come to lining up with His decisions in time, the greater becomes blessing in our life. When we fail to line up with the sovereign decisions of God, the greater becomes our self-induced misery and discipline.

5. The Sovereignty of God in the Christian’s Death. See the doctrine of Life and Death.

a. There are three categories of alternatives in life.

(1) The first alternative is to believe in Christ and receive eternal life or to not believe and receive eternal judgment.

(2) The second alternative is the option after salvation to execute the plan of God through perception, metabolization, and application of Bible doctrine and have meaningful life during the Church Age, or to be miserable in life and never understand life, never have happiness, but have self-induced misery from the arrogance and emotional complex of sins.

(3) The option to die well when God decides from His sovereignty, or to die under maximum discipline from the sin unto death.

b. After salvation, there are two stages to our life on earth: the living phase and the dying phase. In the living phase, the sovereignty of God and the free will of the believer coexist by divine decree for the purpose of resolving the angelic conflict. The dying phase is strictly a matter of the sovereignty of God. This concept is found in Phil 1:20-21, “On the basis of my confident expectation and hope, that I shall not be put to shame in anything, but with all boldness, Christ shall even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by my life or by my death. For me, living is Christ, and dying is profit.”

(1) The Living Phase.

(a) During the living phase (called the protocol plan of God), the believer has full use of his volition to exercise his options, which are available under God’s plan, will, and purpose for his life. The sovereignty of God provides everything necessary for the execution of His plan. Therefore, the sovereignty of God has provided for all believers equal privilege and equal opportunity for the execution of the protocol plan of God. There are no distinctions between race, sex, or social status with regard to the execution of God’s plan.

(b) Under election, equal privilege is our royal priesthood and equal opportunity is logistical grace to both spiritual winners and losers. Under predestination, equal privilege is our union with Christ and equal opportunity is entrance into the divine dynasphere—the filling of the Holy Spirit.

© In the living phase, the believer uses his volition toward Bible doctrine—the revelation of God. Positive volition means Bible doctrine becomes the number one priority in the life. Negative volition results in various tragedies in life. There is a conflict between positive and negative volition in every believer. Positive volition means the development of the spiritual skills: the filling of the Spirit, cognition of doctrine, and execution of the protocol plan. Negative volition means various categories of carnality, the development of Christian moral or immoral degeneracy, garbage in the subconscious, and scar tissue in his stream of consciousness.

(d) Living was Christ to Paul because he was a mature believer. He executed the protocol plan; there was no garbage in his subconscious; there was only metabolized doctrine circulating in his stream of consciousness; he had developed all of the problem solving devices. Living was Christ because, having executed the protocol plan of God, he had received the distribution of his escrow blessings for time. Living was Christ because, under the occupation with Christ principle, he had performed maximum divine good in his Christian service.

(2) The Dying Phase.

(a) For the believer in Christ, the final victory in this life is dying and death.

(b) Death is God’s victory because our death is God’s decision. Even if we take our own life, it is only by God’s permission. This is where human volition ends and divine volition continues. 1 Cor 15:55, 57; Job 1:21; Ps 116:15.

i. If living is occupation with Christ and dying is absence from the body and being face to face with Christ, then dying can only be much more profitable than life.

ii. In the living phase of the protocol plan of God, the emphasis is on the believer’s volition in response to Bible doctrine and life under the grace policy of God. In the dying phase of the protocol plan of God, the emphasis is on the function of the sovereignty and grace of God, because God decides the time, manner, and place of our death. Those who use the doctrinal rationales related to the faith-rest drill have no problem with death at all.

© The dying phase of the protocol plan of God emphasizes the fact that the believer has no control in three areas: the time, the manner, and the place of the believer’s death. These are the wise and sovereign decision of the volition of God. The physical death of the believer is the decision of the sovereignty of God based on God’s wisdom, God’s integrity, and God’s love for every believer in Christ. Because God is holy, He is absolutely fair regarding the time, the manner, and the place of our death. Because God is infinite and eternal, perfect in wisdom and love, perfect in integrity and sovereignty, He decides the time, the manner, and the place of our dying.

(d) Since our death is the decision of God, totally apart from our volition, the death of every believer, winner or loser, is God’s victory. While death is God’s victory, He gives to us that victory by deciding the time, manner, and place of our death.

(e) In all matters of life and death, God’s timing is perfect. Since God is perfect, His timing is perfect both in life and in death. Since the death of the believer is a wise and gracious decision of God, no one has the right to question God’s perfect wisdom in the matter. We who are left behind have no right to question the wisdom, the justice, the grace, or the perfect timing of God in the death of someone we love dearly. Ps 116:15, “Precious in the sight of the Lord Is the death of His saints.” Job 1:21, “And he said, `Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Rev 21:4, “And He shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any more death; there shall no longer be any more mourning, or crying, or pain; the old things have passed away.” Job 5:19-27, “In six disasters, He will deliver you; furthermore, in seven, no evil will touch you. In famine, He will preserve you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. You will be hidden you from the lash of the tongue, neither will you be afraid of death when it comes. You will laugh at death and famine, neither will you be afraid of violent death [wild beasts]. For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field; and the beasts of the field will be at peace with you. And you will know that your tent [interim body] is secure; for you will visit your home [heaven] and you will never forfeit your blessing. You will know also that your progeny will be many, and your descendants as the grass of the earth. You will come to the grave in full age, like a shock of corn in its season. Behold this, we have investigated it, thus it is; hear it, and know for yourself.”

(f) Because death is God’s victory, the grave has lost its sting—there is no appointment with judgment. 1 Pet 1:3-5; Jn 14:1-6; Rom 8:38-39; 2 Cor 5:8. God transfers victory over death by His decision to provide the time, the manner, and the place of our death.

(g) The death of a loved one does not stop history, therefore, life must go on for the living. We cannot resent others who seem to be having a good time while we are mourning for the loss of a loved one. Your comfort in time of sorrow must come from the doctrine in your own stream of consciousness. Your grief is a private matter between you and the Lord. You have no right to bitterness, anger, or abnormal grief. Bible doctrine gives you the power to rejoice over those loved ones who are in the presence of the Lord. Your loneliness, sorrow, grief, memories, and comfort because of their happiness in heaven belongs to you. In occupation with Christ, you remember the profit of death.

(h) The physical death of the believer is a matter of two problem solving devices: grace orientation and doctrinal orientation. God knew in eternity past exactly when you would be born and exactly when you should die. God does not stop a suicide because the free will of man and sovereignty of God coexist in human history. The death of every believer is always a matter of God’s grace. Since God has eternal, personal love for each of us, it is impossible for God to do anything incompatible with His perfect love for each one of us. Therefore, we have no right to question the wisdom or justice of God, when someone we love dies.

6. The Sovereignty of God and the Free Will of Angels and Mankind.

a. The sovereignty of God expresses the supreme rulership of God, the divine prerogative based on the perfection of His being.

b. All forms of existence are within the scope of His dominion.

c. This does not contradict the fact that God has chosen to provide both volition and freedom to at least two categories of rational and responsible creatures.

(1) The angelic creatures of prehistoric times.

(2) Mankind in human history.

d. The sovereignty of God and the free will of angels coexisted in the prehistoric times. The sovereignty of God and free will of man coexist in human history by divine decree.

e. The sovereignty of God has seen fit to create beings with the power of choice and free will. God rules over these creatures with power, justice, wisdom, and grace; and yet He has given to us the freedom to reject or accept His plan, to reject or accept salvation.

(1) Jesus Christ had to make a decision from His humanity to submit to the Cross and bear the judgment for the sins of the world. Then God the Father had to make a decision to impute the billions of sins to Christ on the Cross and judge them.

(2) Now we must make a decision regarding Christ and His work on the Cross. With positive volition, we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and have eternal salvation. With negative volition, we reject Jesus Christ as Savior and have eternal condemnation.

(a) Jn 3:18, “He who believes in Him is not judged, but he who does not believe is judged already because he has not believed in the name of the uniquely-born Son of God.”

(b) Jn 3:36, “He who believes on the Son has eternal life, but He who does not believe shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

(3) Therefore, we are free to make a decision for eternal salvation, pro or con. God does not coerce us (as per Calvinism). God provides information so we can make free will decisions, but He never coerces free will.

(4) Therefore, human creatures today have free will, just as angelic creatures in eternity past had the same free will. Some chose for Satan and some chose for God. Now mankind is created as a lower creation but with the same pattern of options in order to resolve the angelic conflict. So again, the principle is that the sovereignty of God and the free will of angels coexisted in eternity past by divine decree. The sovereignty of God and the free will of man coexist in human history by divine decree.

(5) According to 2 Pet 3:9, “He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to a change of attitude toward Jesus Christ.” So the fact that people reject Jesus Christ as Savior indicates the fact that volition is a valid factor in the Word of God.

(6) God rules over His creatures with power, justice, wisdom, and grace. This means everyone has a chance to be saved. There is no such thing as a person who has never heard; they get the opportunity at God-consciousness, Rom 1-2.

(7) The sovereignty of God has selected a short period of time in human history for the believer to exercise his free will in positive volition toward His plan, His purpose, and His will.

f. The sovereignty of God is seen in His role as judge of rational creatures, both angelic and mankind.

(1) God’s role as judge over mankind is found in Ps 50, in the five cycles of discipline, and in the Last Judgment.

(2) In the angelic realm, God judges Satan in Isa 14 and Ezek 28. In prehistoric times, God’s judgment separated elect from fallen angels. 7. Scriptural Documentation for the Sovereignty of God.

a. Ps 93:1, “The Lord reigns; He is clothed with majesty. The Lord has clothed Himself with power. In fact, the world is firmly established; it will not be moved.”

(1) Human history will continue to exist in spite of nuclear and sophisticated weapons, and in spite of the evil of man.

(2) The human race will not be destroyed until God sees fit to terminate human history, which occurs at the end of the Millennium.

b. Deut 10:17, “The Lord your God is the God of gods, the Lord of lords, the great and mighty, even the awesome God who does not show partiality, who does not take a bribe.”

(1) You cannot bribe God by your good deeds, by your sweet and loving life, or by altruism. God is not subject to bribery.

(2) To the contrary, we are the beneficiaries of His grace decisions and His grace policy. We benefit from Him; He does not benefit from us. Our life does not depend upon who and what we are, but upon who and what God is.

c. Job 36:5, “Behold, God is mighty but does not despise any. He is mighty in strength and understanding.” God’s power and understanding are equal in their eternity and in their infinity.

d. Eph 1:11, “In whom also we have received an allotment, having been predestined with reference to a predetermined plan from Him who works all things in conformity with His purpose and His will.” Since God is perfect, not only is His will and decisions perfect, but His motivation is also perfect.

e. Dan 4:17, 25b, “The Most High God is sovereign over the realm of mankind, and gives to anyone He wishes power.” He gives nations and the rise of nations to whom He wishes.

f. Dan 5:21, “The Most High God is sovereign over the realm of mankind, and He sets over it whomever He wishes.”

g. There is a time in the life of every believer when the function of his free will is shut down. This time is the beginning of the death of the believer. The sovereignty of God has chosen the time, the place, and the manner of the believer’s death. The sovereignty of God has also chosen what happens to the believer after his physical death—being absent from the body and face to face with the Lord. The sovereignty of God has chosen the time, the place, and the manner of the believer’s resurrection. The sovereignty of God has chosen the eternal state for the believer. Therefore, the believer has only a short time on this earth between the moment of salvation and the moment of death to glorify God by the proper use of human volition.

h. As a part of the angelic conflict, the sovereignty of God and the free will of man coexist in human history by divine decree. The sovereignty of God has selected a short period of time, called human history, for each believer to exercise his own free will in positive volition toward His will, plan, and purpose.

i. The will of God for mankind is divided into two general categories stated in 1 Jn 3:23, “This is His mandate that we believe in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ, and that we love one another just as He commanded us.” Mandates or commands are always an expression of divine sovereignty.

8. Principles related to the sovereignty of God.

a. The sovereign will of God is backed up by the omnipotence and omniscience of God. God has the wisdom and God has the power for the execution of His sovereignty. There never was a time in eternity past and never will be a time when God does not know every thought, motive, decision, and action of every rational creature, angelic or human. Therefore, God has complete and total knowledge, which makes His sovereignty and His decisions perfect, because He has all the facts. When God makes a decision, it is based on complete cognition of the issues.

b. God has the power to execute His will under all conditions. Not only does He have the omniscience to know what is a good decision, but He also has the omnipotence to back it up.

c. God’s sovereign will and power are not arbitrary, but are compatible with His other attributes. They are compatible with His justice, for God is fair. They are compatible with His love, His righteousness, and His wisdom.

d. Divine sovereignty and human responsibility are not contradictory in human history since God has decreed the function of the free will of man. God has decreed that during the course of human history, the sovereignty of God and the free will of man will coexist. This part of God’s plan is designed to resolve the angelic conflict, i.e., to demonstrate to Satan and all fallen angels that God’s judgment of them in prehistoric times was absolutely, completely, and totally fair.

e. When mankind fails to do the will of God, this is a contradiction, and there is the inevitable result, as noted in Jn 3:18 and 3:36. God uses human means to accomplish His will and purpose, yet such means never involves coercion. Coercion is the evil function of human beings who try to get their way in life. This is the demand syndrome.

f. The sovereignty of God does not minimize or compromise human responsibility in history. No one can exist independently of the sovereignty of God. He keeps you alive to reject or to accept His will. The attempt to live independently of God is the quintessence of arrogance and blasphemous insolence. The person who dies without reaching the point of accountability is automatically saved under the principle that the sovereignty of God and free will of man coexist. The sovereignty of God gave you the life that resides in your body at birth.

(1) Only a fool could say, “There is no God,” when God sustains the life of that fool. God sustains the breath and existence of the atheist, who uses the faithfulness of God to deny His existence.

(a) Ps 14:1, “The fool has said in his heart, `There is no God.’”

(b) Ps 53:1, “The fool has said in his heart, `There is no God.’”

(2) The sovereignty of God keeps both believer and unbeliever alive. There is no life apart from the sovereignty of God, and that applies to the entire human race, not only to believers in Jesus Christ.

9. Sovereignty and Man’s Objective in Life.

a. While the sovereignty of God and free will of man coexist in human history, the objective of the Christian way of life is for the believer’s volition to line up with the sovereign will of God as much as possible. This is only possible through cognition and inculcation of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age. Until we know a lot of doctrine, we do not even have a clue as to what the will, plan, and purpose of God for our life really is.

b. Originally, the mystery doctrine of the Church Age was written in the Greek language, which means that the sovereignty of God is expressed in the Greek imperative mood, the Greek hortatory subjunctive, the Greek imperative of prohibition, and in the Greek imperatival participle. There is no substitute for the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher understanding the original languages of Scripture. Many divine mandates are expressed in the word of God which relate to fulfilling the sovereign will of God.

c. Therefore, God has revealed His sovereign will to the believer so that the individual member of the royal family of God can actually execute that will, plan, and purpose of God for the Church Age.

d. The various functions of the faith-rest drill are definitely related to the believer’s volition being compatible with the sovereignty of God in phase two (from birth until death).

e. Contradictions between the believer’s volition and the sovereign will of God are caused by ignorance of Bible doctrine or willful rejection of divine mandates where cognition exists, therefore, the function of the sin nature, weakness of spiritual strength, malfunction of the problem solving devices of the protocol plan of God. The sin nature gains control any time there is adversity (outside pressures of life) converted into the inside pressure of stress in the soul. Only the problem solving devices prevent the conversion of adversity into stress.

f. There is no life or opportunity for the function of human free will apart from the sovereignty of God creating soul life and imputing it to each one of us at birth.

g. During the period of the operation of our free will, each one of us has the opportunity of making many decisions, the most important of which is to believe in Christ. After salvation, the believer has many opportunities to exercise his free will in the fulfillment of the protocol plan of God for the Church. This is related to inculcation and cognition of Bible doctrine. Eph 3:19-20, “And to come to know the love for Christ [occupation with Christ] which goes beyond gnosis [academic understanding], that you may be filled with all the fullness from God. Now to Him who is able to do infinitely more than all we could ask or dream on the basis of the power that works for us.”

(1) The life beyond gnosis is the function of positive volition toward doctrine, resulting in its metabolization so that it becomes a part of our life. You understand and believe Bible doctrine. That is where you understand love and the faith-rest drill comes into action. A part of learning love from doctrine is understanding the doctrinal rationales and putting the faith-rest drill into operation in your life.

(2) The fullness of God includes the true capacity and ability to love in all of its connotations.

(3) There is no spiritual connotation to dreams. There is nothing great in dreams. The life beyond dreams is the result of attaining spiritual maturity through consistent post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation. There is no spiritual benefit until you get beyond gnosis to spiritual understanding.

h. The sovereignty of God and the free will of the Church Age believer coexist during phase two of the protocol plan of God for the Church. The fact that the Church Age believer can reject or fail to execute God’s plan or even refuse to do the will of God is a very clear reason for the existence of homo sapiens in human history. The fall of Satan and his prehistoric revolt, followed by warfare in heaven and the eventual judgment of all fallen angels, is directly related to the creation of mankind and the beginning of human history. Satan was sentenced to the Lake of Fire, appealed the sentence, and the sentence was postponed for the insertion of human history, in which mankind was created to resolve the prehistoric angelic conflict.

(1) Creature volition is the issue of human history. The angelic volition rejected God and followed Satan as in the case of the fallen angels. Therefore, in eternity past, the sovereignty of God and the free will of angels coexisted. Satan had free will and began a revolt against God. “I will be like the Most High God.”

(2) The volition of the elect angels was compatible with the sovereignty of God. The volition of the fallen angels contradicted the sovereignty of God.

(3) In the divine judgment against fallen angels, they were sentenced to the Lake of Fire at the end of the prehistoric angelic conflict. All angels had made a decision; there was a trial; and at the end of the trial, the decision rendered by God is found in Mt 25:41, “Depart you who have been cursed into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the Devil and his angels.” However, the sentence was not carried out at that time and will not be carried out until the end of human history, Rev 20:10.

(4) Mankind was created to resolve the angelic conflict because Satan appealed his sentence. Human history is the appeal trial of Satan and all fallen angels. The only thing mankind has in common with angels is volition. Just as angelic volition and the sovereignty of God coexisted in prehistoric times, so human volition and the sovereignty of God coexist in human history. The final condemnation of Satan and fallen angels results from the fact that human volition is compatible with the sovereignty of God.

(5) As members of the human race, we glorify God by making our volition compatible with the sovereignty of God. There are two ways in which this is accomplished: 1 Jn 3:23, “This is His commandment that we believe in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ, and that we love one another as He gave commandment.” God is glorified by faith in Jesus Christ and by use of the problem solving devices, as represented here by the use of impersonal love for all mankind.

i. Conclusion.

(1) Because of the prehistoric angelic conflict, the sovereignty of God and free will of man coexist in human history. Human history is merely an extension of the angelic conflict. This coexistence of divine sovereignty and human volition is the basis for the resolving of the prehistoric angelic conflict. We are here for a purpose related to thought. This is why mental attitude sins are the worst sins. The power and glorification of God is in thinking, not in service, works, or action.

(2) The implications of this doctrinal principle are extremely important. The implications are:

(a) Compliance with the sovereignty of God is the way in which mankind glorifies God. This means glorification of God by faith alone in Christ alone for eternal salvation and glorification of God by postsalvation epistemological rehabilitation.

(b) Contradiction or rejection of the will of God is how we fail. The human race fails at the point of rejection of Christ and the believer fails at the point of rejection of Bible doctrine.

(3) To understand the sovereignty of God and the free will of man it is necessary to master the doctrine of the angelic conflict.

G. The Integrity or Holiness of God.

1. God’s Integrity as part of His Essence.

a. God has absolute and eternal holiness, which we will classify as divine integrity or absolute virtue. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit have perfect, eternal, infinite, and coequal virtue or holiness. God’s virtue is not a relative factor, but absolute.

b. God’s integrity is maintained by His sovereign will. God has used His will to maintain perfect integrity. Therefore, God’s integrity is part of His unchangeable self. God has never used His volition to lose His integrity. His integrity is absolute, infinite, and eternal virtue.

c. God exists eternally, unsustained by Himself or any other source. God’s existence is unalterable. Furthermore, God is the cause of all existence outside of Himself.

d. Since God is infinite, eternal, and invisible, it is necessary for Him to reveal Himself to mankind, and this He has done through Bible doctrine. This response to this on the part of Isaiah was Isa 6:3, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of the armies; the fullness of the entire earth is His glory.” “Holy” is repeated three times, once for each person in the Trinity.

e. The modern word “integrity” is synonymous with holiness. Moses taught the integrity of God Ex 15:11; 19:10-16. When the noun holy or holiness is found in the Bible, it always refers to the integrity of God.

(1) While the Hebrew word ELOHIM is used for the essence of God in the Old Testament, the Hebrew sacred tetragrammaton JHWH is used for the individual persons in the Trinity.

(2) JHWH (Jehovah or Yahweh) means the self-sustaining one. It applies to each member of the Trinity, for each is coequal, coeternal, and self-sustaining.

2. There are three categories of divine integrity—justice, righteousness, and love. Divine integrity is composed of three separate and distinct assets, which are totally related, i.e., God’s justice, righteousness, and love.

a. Divine justice is mankind’s point of reference with God. Although it is true that God loves us, God’s love is not our point of reference. God can do nothing for mankind that would compromise any of His divine attributes. Therefore, many prayers are offered that are never answered because they make a demand upon God which would be totally incompatible with His divine essence.

b. Prior to the fall of mankind in the Garden, the love of God was the point of reference. Man and woman were the objects of God’s love. But this changed because of the original sin.

(1) There was no need for the function of divine justice prior to the fall of man, that is, not until the original sin of Adam and the woman.

(2) There was a warning to Adam and the woman from divine justice given in Gen 2:17, “The day you eat from this tree, dying thou shalt die.” The first Hebrew word “dying” refers to spiritual death; the second Hebrew word “die” refers to physical death. At the moment Adam and the woman committed their first sin, they died spiritually, moving them into a state of total depravity, total separation from God, and total helplessness to use any human work to enter into a relationship with God. In operation fig leaves, the man and woman tried to regain fellowship with God through their works and their adjustment to each other. This was the first manifestation of their spiritual death.

(3) In the garden, the man and woman in a state of innocence did not have to choose between good and evil. The warning to Adam from divine justice was the prohibition of eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

(4) The issue for mankind in the Garden was recognition and obedience of God’s authority or rejection of the same. Lack of authority orientation is still the number one problem in the world today. As long as man chose obedience, his point of reference with God was divine love. So the issue was obedience or disobedience to the divine prohibition with regard to one tree. The issue for mankind originally came from divine justice, but divine justice was not the point of reference until man entered into disobedience to the divine prohibition.

(5) The will of God for mankind when he was in a state of creative perfection was the issue of obedience or disobedience. The original sin was not a sin of immorality, but of disobedience to the stated will of God under conditions of perfect environment. Authority orientation was first rejected by the woman. Most authority is delegated by God to the male.

(6) But after the original sin, divine justice became the point of reference, and it continues to be until the end of human history at the end of the millennial reign of our Lord Jesus Christ. Once mankind sinned, then divine integrity became the point of reference; specifically, divine justice.

c. The integrity of God equals divine justice plus perfect divine righteousness.

3. Divine Justice.

a. God is fair. It is impossible for God to be unfair in the function of divine justice.

b. All three members of the Trinity sit in the supreme court of heaven, and therefore, the justice of all three persons is involved in one way or another. Divine justice administers the system of divine laws which are compatible with divine integrity and with divine sovereignty. Divine justice is the function of eternal God as the judge of mankind, rendering daily decisions in the court of heaven with regard to all members of the human race.

c. The decisions of the court of heaven are compatible with God’s perfect righteousness. God is wise, incorruptible, perfect, and a fair judge or mankind. He is the one judge who has never rendered a wrong decision. In all the trillions of decisions God has rendered, not one has ever been unfair or incorrect. It is impossible for perfect God to render a bad decision as judge. Therefore, God is the perfect judge, as illustrated by the judicial decisions in the divine decrees.

(1) Any time the law of volitional responsibility is operational in your life and you do not like what is happening to you, you just have to remember that God is fair. If you have made bad decisions from a position of weakness, then you are going to suffer the consequences. To react by bitterness, vindictiveness, implacability, hatred, pettiness, jealousy, or any other mental attitude sin is the worst thing that could happen to you.

(2) If you do not have a clear understanding of how God functions and operates, you are never going to have any true thanksgiving or even be grateful for anything that has happened to you. If you do not have the capacity for thanksgiving, you do not have the capacity to love anyone except yourself.

d. The justice of God administers the penalties and decisions which are demanded by His perfect righteousness. This is taught in many passages of the Word of God: Deut 32:4, 2 Chr 19:7; Job 37:23; Ps 19:9, 50:6, 58:11, 89:14; Isa 45:21; Jer 50:7; Rom 3:26; Heb 10:30-31, 12:23. The application—"`Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.” This also means “Retribution is Mine, I will repay.” If you want to have an unhappy life, all you have to do is to seek vengeance, or be vindictive and implacable and seek to hurt someone else, and you are the one who will be hurt. The justice of God does not need any help in dealing with the unfairnesses and injustices that come to us.

e. The justice of God is portrayed in a very dramatic way at the point of the Cross, where Christ was judged as a substitute for us. Our Lord never said anything about being judged unfairly for us.

(1) Jesus Christ as the lamb of God was qualified to go to the Cross because He remained absolutely perfect in His humanity, because His humanity remained inside the prototype divine dynasphere during His thirty-three years on the earth. Not once did He lose His impeccability is being made sin for us.

(2) Therefore, He was qualified to become the sacrificial lamb, as portrayed by the Old Testament sacrifices.

(3) While on the Cross, our Lord remained inside the prototype divine dynasphere. Even though the ridicule He received was intensified and Satanically inspired, not once did our Lord succumb to the greatest of temptations during His first three hours on the Cross.

(4) Then during the last three hours on the Cross, the justice of God called for the printout of all the personal sins ever committed in the human race. The omnipotence of God the Father imputed all those sins to Jesus Christ on the Cross.

(5) Then the justice of God the Father made the most difficult decision of all time—to judge every sin ever committed by all the members of the human race. For three hours He administered this decision to judge sins ad infinitum. So many sins that they numbered in the trillions. There never has been a sin committed in the history of the human race which was not judged on the Cross. That is why anyone who believes in Christ “shall never perish but have eternal life.”

(6) Because God’s perfect righteousness demands the judgment of sin, all the sins had to be judged on the Cross.

(7) The justice and righteousness of God were the point of contact with Jesus Christ in Hypostatic Union on the Cross. His humanity had to be judged for our sins. This was why He said, the night before His crucifixion, “This represents My body which is given for you; take and eat thereof.”

(8) Jesus Christ remained perfect in His humanity while He was being judged for our sins. 1 Pet 2:24, “He carried our sins in His own body on the Cross.”

(9) The love of God the Father for the world was expressed in the virgin birth. Jn 3:16, “For God loved the world so much that He gave His Son, the uniquely-born One.” God’s love for the world, while not our point of reference, was the point of motivation. God the Father was motivated to give life to Jesus Christ at the moment of His physical birth.

(10) Because all personal sins were saved into one prom chip in the divine decrees, reserved for their judgment on the Cross, God provided the Passover. The Passover taught that God “passed over” all the sins of the people in the ancient world, for they were not judged until the Cross.

(11) After the Cross, the Passover was replaced by the reality of the work of Christ on the Cross. Sins could no longer be passed over. During those last three hours when that prom chip was released or printed out, as it were, the righteousness of God demanded judgment from the justice of God.

f. Therefore, from the point when we are born into spiritual death, the justice of God is our point of reference, and it continues to be our point of reference after salvation.

g. There are two categories of the love of God toward us, determined by our status with the justice of God.

(1) From the time of our physical birth until we believe in Jesus Christ, we are the objects of God’s impersonal love. Impersonal love emphasizes the integrity of the subject and the unworthiness of the object. In spiritual death, we are in total depravity, total separation from God, and total helplessness to have any relationship with God. Rom 5:8, “God demonstrated His love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died as a substitute for us.”

(2) Once we personally believe in Jesus Christ, we become the objects of God’s personal love because of His imputed righteousness in us. Since personal love emphasizes the worthiness of the object, God’s personal love can only have as its object divine righteousness. However, the justice of God continues to be our point of reference. The justice of God is what keeps us alive in the devil’s world.

(3) However, God’s impersonal and personal love are only motivating factors in our relationship with Him. The justice of God is always our point of contact.

h. It is so important to understand that the justice of God is our point of contact. God is fair to the entire human race because He provided for the entire human race eternal salvation. Since God is fair, there never was and never will be a human being who didn’t have a chance to have eternal salvation. After salvation, God continues to be fair, for His justice continues to be our point of reference.

i. The decision from the justice of God to judge our sins on the Cross is the basis for our eternal salvation. This is well documented Scripturally: Rom 5:6; 2 Cor 5:14-15, 19; 1 Tim 2:6, 4:11; Tit 2:11; Heb 2:9; 2 Pet 2:1; 1 Jn 2:2. All our sins were judged on the Cross. Christ was judged for all sins committed in the history of the human race when He was hanging on the Cross. This was the agony of His last three hours on the Cross.

j. Other Functions of Divine Justice.

(1) The justice of God causes the rise and fall of nations.

(a) The justice of God administers the five cycles of discipline to client nations; i.e., to Israel in the Old Testament and to Gentile client nations during the times of the Gentiles which runs coterminously with the Church Age.

(b) No nation ever falls historically apart from the function of the justice of God. Every client nation to God in the past has risen to astounding greatness and then taken a terrible fall.

(2) The justice of God also administers many judgments.

(a) There are future judgments to come, such as the judgment of the baptism of fire at the end of the Tribulation.

(b) There are last judgments of fallen angels, the Great White Throne Judgment of all unbelievers.

© Divine justice also daily administers punitive discipline to carnal believers in time; i.e., warning discipline, intensive discipline, and dying discipline.

(3) So divine justice is the source of both blessing and cursing.

k. The Supreme Court of Heaven.

(1) The supreme court of heaven is open twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year; it is never closed. The supreme court of heaven is composed of three members: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

(2) The supreme court of heaven is the highest court in the universe and hears cases related to the following categories: evil in the world, sinfulness and injustice in human affairs, the rise and fall of nations, anti-semitism, conflicts among believers, satanic accusations against believers, and divine discipline of believers.

(3) The role of Jesus Christ as the supreme court judge.

(a) Scriptural documentation. Jn 5:22, “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given judgment to the Son.” Jn 5:27, “And He [God the Father] gave Him [God the Son] authority to execute judgment because He is the Son of Man.”

(b) Jesus Christ as the Son of Man emphasizes His hypostatic union, and the hypostatic union emphasizes our Lord being judged for our sins on the Cross. The judgment of our Lord on the Cross qualifies Him to be a supreme court judge on the one hand, and to represent us personally as our defense attorney on the other hand.

© He presides on the bench in historical judgments on the earth, such as, the rebound judgment which is self-judgment on the part of the believer-priest, the judgment of the believer’s works and Christian service after the Rapture, the judgment of the tribulational Jews at the Second Advent, the judgment of the tribulational Gentiles at the Second Advent, the judgment of all unbelievers of the human race at the end of the Millennium, and the judgment of Satan and all fallen angels at the end of the Millennium.

(d) The uniqueness of Jesus Christ as the supreme court judge has to do with the doctrine of the hypostatic union. Jesus Christ is unique because of His hypostatic union—the unity of His divine and human natures. In His glorified state, the resurrected humanity of Christ resides at the right hand of God the Father to perform certain functions: the function of a supreme court judge of heaven and the function of a high priest to the Church where He makes intersession for believers.

(e) Jesus Christ, as judge of the supreme court of heaven, is eternal God, perfectly qualified to function as a justice of the supreme court. His qualifications are related to divine essence, including His holiness or integrity which is composed of His righteousness and justice. Jesus Christ judges on the basis of His perfect divine essence on the one hand, and on the basis of His perfect resurrected humanity on the other hand. This means that the integrity and capability of our Lord to preside in the supreme court of heaven is one of eternal and infinite qualifications.

(f) Since the integrity of our Lord, in both His deity and humanity, is beyond reproach, and since the omniscience of the Lord knows every fact of every case, His legal decisions are made in perfect and eternal wisdom. He judges every case with perfect fairness, totally without prejudice or any form of partiality.

(4) Jesus Christ also functions as a defense attorney in the supreme court of heaven for the believer.

(a) The believer continues to sin after salvation, 1 Jn 1:8, 10.

(b) Satan uses his demon intelligence system to accumulate a sin file on every believer. Periodically, when your sin file is big enough, Satan accuses you before the supreme court of heaven. Job 1:6, 11; Zech 3:1-2, “Then he showed me Joshua the High Priest standing before the angel of the Lord [Jesus Christ] and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. And the Lord said to Satan, `The Lord [God the Father] rebuke you, Satan. Indeed, the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you. Is he [Joshua] not a burning stick, snatched from the fire?’”

© When Satan brings accusation against believers before the supreme court of heaven, our Lord functions as our defense attorney. 1 Jn 2:1-2, “My dear children, I keep writing you these things to you in order that you may not sin. However, if anyone sins, we keep on having a defense attorney before the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one; and He is a propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the entire world.”

(d) Our Lord’s defense of the believer before the supreme court of heaven is a fact. He was judged for those sins before Satan ever brought them before the supreme court. 2 Cor 5:21 is the basis for our Lord acting as our defense attorney.

(e) God the Father, presiding judge in these cases which Satan brings before the court, judged every sin on the Cross that Satan mentions.

(f) Under the law of double jeopardy, those sins were judged once and for all on the Cross and cannot be judged again by God the Father. Rom 6:10, “For the death that He [Jesus Christ] died, He died once and for all with reference to sin.”

(g) Therefore, every case of satanic accusation of a believer is thrown out of court as illustrated by Zech 3:1-2.

(h) However, the sins of the believer become a family matter for administration of divine parental discipline. Heb 12:6, “For whom the Lord loves, He disciplines. And He scourges with a whip every son whom He receives.”

4. Divine Righteousness.

a. God possesses eternal, unchangeable, and perfect righteousness.

b. All justice is administered from the perfect righteousness of God. This is the subject of many passages in the Word of God: Lev 19:2; 1 Sam 2:2; Ps 22:3, 47:8, 119:9; Jn 17:11; Rev 3:7, 4:8, 6:10. Many passages tell us that behind God’s justice and judgments is the other half of divine holiness, which is God’s perfect and absolute righteousness.

c. God is absolute good. This is not goody-good, not legalistic good, not distorted good from the old sin nature, whereby man tries to impress God and people with how good he is. Absolute good is perfect righteousness, Ps 25:8, 34:8, 86:5, 119:68; Lk 18:19.

d. God is perfect, both in His person and in His character, Deut 32:4; Ps 7:9, 11:7, 97:6, 113:3, 119:137; Jer 23:6; Jn 17:25; Rom 1:17, 10:3; 1 Jn 2:29.

e. God is totally free from sin. God has never sinned. God cannot tempt or solicit to sin. God cannot in any way be involved in sin except to judge it. This is why Jesus Christ had to become perfect humanity to be judged for sin as our substitute. In His deity, He could have nothing to do with sin except to judge it.

f. God is perfect righteousness in attitudes and in actions.

g. As perfect and absolute righteousness, God rejects all relative standards of righteousness, and therefore, all human standards of righteousness, with the one exception of human compliability with the laws of divine establishment.

h. Isa 64:6 tells us exactly where human righteousness will get us with God. “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all of our righteousnesses are as filthy [menstrual] rags, and all of us wither like a leaf, and all of our sins like the wind take us away.”

(1) You cannot be consistent by sinning one moment and being good the next moment. This is a relative situation which is totally unacceptable to perfect divine justice.

(2) This is why it was important for our sins to be judged, and for our righteousness to be rejected for salvation.

i. Salvation cannot be attained through any system of human works or righteousness.

(1) Tit 3:5, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.”

(2) The works of keeping the Law will not save either, Gal 2:16.

j. The righteousness of God is available to anyone who believes in Christ. Rom 3:22, “Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe; for no distinction is made [between Jew and Gentile].” When either a Jew or Gentile believes in Jesus Christ, the righteousness of God is imputed to him.

k. God is perfect and cannot be anything less than perfection. Because of God’s holiness or integrity plus His immutability and eternity, it is impossible for God to be imperfect. Therefore, God always has perfect righteousness. God has always been perfect and there never will be a time when He is not perfect. God’s righteousness is never in conflict with God’s love or God’s grace policy.

l. Divine perfection includes every aspect of divine integrity in both His justice and His righteousness.

m. Divine justice can only bless perfect righteousness. We have the righteousness of God imputed at the moment we believe in Christ. Having the righteousness of God is one half of divine holiness. Our point of reference continues to be the justice of God. Divine justice blesses His own righteousness imputed to us at salvation. This is logistical grace blessing. The principle of logistical grace avoids compromise of the attributes of God, and is compatible with the integrity of God.

(1) The justice of God, one-half of divine holiness, sends to the indwelling righteousness of God (the other half of divine holiness) everything it takes to keep us alive plus blessing. This logistical grace is given to winners and losers alike.

(2) There is nothing you can do to be sustained or blessed by the grace of God. For the grace of God comes from divine justice and righteousness. God found a way to bless us as believers totally apart from any system of works, righteousness, or Christian service.

(3) Once we understand this part of the personality of God, we can adjust and get on a right basis with God in our modus operandi. Then we can function so that our Christian service will be a result of spiritual growth, never the means.

5. Divine justice and divine righteousness have inseparable functions.

a. God loves His own integrity as a part of His divine self- esteem. God loves His own righteousness and the identical righteousness of the other members of the Trinity. Each one of the persons in the Trinity has divine self-esteem.

(1) God never feels threatened by any creature, from Satan to the present time.

(2) In His grace, God has even provided a way for us to have spiritual self-esteem.

b. Therefore, what the righteousness of God rejects, the justice of God condemns. Our Judge never feels threatened. He has an absolute standard by which all judgment is made.

c. What the righteousness of God accepts, the justice of God blesses. This is the reason for logistical grace. We receive the righteousness of God at salvation, and from then on we receive logistical grace support blessing from God.

d. The justice of God administers what the righteousness of God demands. As the Romans said, “Justice is steady in its purpose.”

e. At the moment of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, the righteousness of God is imputed to each one of us. This means we can live with God forever because we are as good as God is, having His righteousness.

f. There are two post-salvation results of justification which are directly related to our possession of the righteousness of God.

(1) Logistical grace blessing.

(2) The impersonal love of God toward unbelievers is changed into personal love toward believers.

g. What makes the difference in both cases is the possession of God’s perfect righteousness.

6. Divine justice can only bless perfect righteousness.

a. The integrity of God, composed of divine justice and perfect righteousness, is not only the guardian of the divine attributes and the believer’s point of contact with God, but it is the basis of blessing each one of us. There never was a time when God did not have within Himself the mechanism for perfect blessing.

b. In the function of the divine policy of grace, no attribute of God can ever be compromised. For you to blessed because of anything you did would be a compromise of divine integrity. God has to find a way to bless us without compromising His attributes. Since we continue to possess an old sin nature, this requires the genius of God.

c. Perfect righteousness demands perfect righteousness for blessing. The fact that righteousness demands righteousness and justice demands justice is the modus operandi of divine integrity. The righteousness of God is the principle of divine integrity. The justice of God is the function of divine integrity. What the righteousness of God demands, the justice of God fulfills.

d. God cannot accept anything less than perfect righteousness and God cannot bless anything less than perfect righteousness. We possess that perfect righteousness as a double portion (the imputation of God the Father’s righteousness and sharing the righteousness of our Lord) at the very moment we believe in Jesus Christ.

e. Consequently, the justice of God is the source of all direct blessing from God to the believer, the source of logistical grace blessing, and the source of happiness. Divine justice is only free to provide blessing to believers, both winners or losers, where perfect divine righteousness resides.

f. Perfect divine righteousness resides in every believer from the moment of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Therefore, the believer is qualified to receive life support and fantastic temporal blessing under the principle of logistical grace. Matt 6:33 states this principle for the unbeliever. “First seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness [imputed], and all these things [logistical grace blessings] shall be provided for you.”

g. Divine integrity is not canceled because some members of the human race reject Christ as Savior. God’s integrity is not canceled because believers fail to execute the protocol plan. Lack of integrity or virtue in mankind never cancels the integrity of God. God never stoops to our old sin nature level in dealing with us.

h. The justice of God is the source of two things: judgment and condemnation on the one hand, and life support and blessing on the other hand.

i. The integrity of God is infinite, absolute, and eternal, a part of perfect divine essence. The integrity of God is not maintained in any way by the self-righteousness of mankind. Divine righteousness rejects man’s self-righteousness. God does not depend on us to glorify Himself, we depend on Him. God can get along without any of us.

j. Divine righteousness demands perfect righteousness. What the righteousness of God demands, the justice of God executes in both blessing and cursing. What the righteousness of God rejects, the justice of God judges. Cursing is a result of the absence of divine righteousness. Blessing is a result of the presence of divine righteousness. 7. The Integrity of God Related to Mankind.

a. There is nothing mankind can do to destroy or compromise the integrity of God.

b. The integrity of God stands eternally without help from mankind, including man’s self-righteousness, works, or any form of legalism.

c. Legalism does not promote the integrity of God; for legalism is the enemy of the integrity of God.

d. God has found a way to bless mankind without compromising His integrity, i.e., by imputing His righteousness at salvation. Neither man’s sinfulness nor self-righteousness can advance the glory of God.

e. Only divine integrity or holiness advances the glory of God.

f. Therefore, only God can glorify God. What God has provided in grace for us is the means by which we glorify Him.

g. Man glorifies God through cognition and utilization of grace provision from God. Such cognition comes from consistent post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation, i.e., perception, metabolization, and application of Bible doctrine.

8. Every attribute of God is compatible with the love of God and two attributes.

a. The first of these attributes is personal love among the members of the Trinity.

b. The second of these attributes is impersonal love toward all mankind in a state of sin. This means that some other attributes have to be added under the concept of impersonal love.

c. The problem of love motivation from God.

(1) Motivation can be described in terms of inducement, incentive, influence, something caused of. A person is moved to action by motive, inducement, and incentive.

(2) In the Scripture we do not have motivation in the sense of competition or trying to impress people with who and what you are.

(3) Motivation applies to knowledge and thinking. You are to be self-motivating as a Christian. You are to take the responsibility for your own decisions.

(4) Reciprocal love for God is motivated by the love of God as a part of the entire personality and character of God. Once we understand the love of God, then we can respond. That is the doctrine of reciprocal love for God. That is how we will be motivated by something far greater than anything else in life.

(5) God’s love is our point of reference and we respond to His love for us as a part of our motivation. That is why we have a double function with Bible doctrine advancing us to spiritual maturity and God’s love doing exactly the same thing. They have to advance together. One does not advance without the other. We will not continue to advance if we drop one or the other.

d. The perfect love of God is eternal virtue. That is our point of reference, and we are motivated in reciprocity to respond to this.

e. Our sinfulness does not change God’s love for us. He punishes us in love because He wants us to understand the importance of our relationship with Him and to bring us around to reality. We are not punished for the sins we commit, because Jesus Christ has already been punished for those sins on the Cross. So we are punished to alert us to the importance of the fact that God loves us and wants to give us greater things in time and eternity.

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