(Continued: Chapter IV-Israel's Repudiation of the National Sin)

The Apostles Peter and John were going up to the Temple to pray. At the door of the Temple called Beautiful, a lame man was laid daily, who asked alms of those entering. Naturally, he asked Peter for assistance. In response Peter and John declared that they had no money—but that they had something which was better than money for him: "What I have, that give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." By the authority of the Lord Jesus, the Apostle Peter commanded the lame man to walk—telling him to do what he could not of himself do. But let us remember that God's commandings are His enablings. By faith the man leaped and began to walk around, being totally restored to normal condition.

This miracle of healing was manifest to all. Immediately, a great crowd assembled in Solomon's porch. Being amazed at the miracle, and not understanding the situation, the people seemed to think that Peter by his own power had restored the man. Peter disclaimed special godliness or power. Then he explained that God had honored His Servant Jesus, whose power had restored the lame man. Peter's use of the term "his Servant Jesus" is without a doubt an echo of the great servant passage of Isaiah 52:13-53:12. This truth becomes evident to the one who reads Isaiah 53:1-9 in the light of Acts 3:13-16.

In order that we might see most clearly God's eight-point program for Israel, Peter's sermon on this occasion must be analyzed,

13 The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Servant Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied before the face of Pilate, when he had determined to release him. 14 But ye denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted unto you, 15 and killed the Prince of life; whom God raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. 16 And by faith in his name hath his name made this man strong, whom ye behold and know: yea, the faith which is through him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. 17 And now, brethren, I know that in ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. 18 But the things which God foreshowed by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled. 19 Repent ye therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that so there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord; 20 and that he may send the Christ who hath been appointed for you, even Jesus: 21 whom the heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, whereof God spake by the mouth of His holy prophets that have been from of old. 22 Moses indeed said, A prophet shall the Lord God raise up unto you from among your brethren, like unto me. To him shall ye hearken in all things whatsoever he shall speak unto you. 23 And it shall be, that every soul that shall not hearken to that prophet, shall be utterly destroyed from among the people. 24 Yea and all the prophets from Samuel and them that followed after, as many as have spoken, they also told of these days. 25 Ye are the sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 26 Unto you first God, having raised up his Servant, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities. (Acts 3:13-26).

When I was a young boy, I lived with my parents in the country near the city limits of Nashville, Tennessee. In our community was a country store. In the winter, especially, the men of the countryside on Saturdays usually gathered at this store only to talk, to see, and to be seen. As a rule, there was a checker game in progress. Often one man would make a move, but the other one would wait as he thought of the various possibilities of each move that might be made. Finally, his opponent would say, "Its your move." His suggestion did not make the other man move. In my childish fancy and ignorance I wanted to move for the man. Each one had to confine himself to the rules of the game, exercising his own will as to various moves without coercion from the other.

Knowing all future events, without predetermining the free actions of men but overruling all events for the good of all concerned, God is, figuratively speaking, engaged in the great game of life with Israel, His Chosen People. Each makes his move or moves in his turn. There are eight points or moves in this great game. God made the first move by sending the promised Messiah on scheduled time and according to the Scriptures (see the four Records of the Gospel). Israel made the second move by rejecting Him and demanding His execution. Then God made the third move by raising Him from the dead and inviting Him to ascend into heaven and to sit at His right hand where He has been ever since and where He will remain until Israel, learning the real facts of the case, repudiates the national sin of rejecting Him and pleads for His return. Thus the first three moves of this eight-point program have already been made.

In Acts 3:19,20 the Apostle Peter calls upon Israel as a nation to repent and to turn again. "Repent ye therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that so there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord; 20 and that he may send the Christ who hath been appointed for you, even Jesus." Israel was commanded to make moves four and five—to repent and to turn again. Since the Jewish people as a group have never done either of these things, and since they were commanded to do them, they will yet do them, both in the letter and in the spirit of the command.

There are two words in the Greek language that are translated repent. One of them means to be sorry, to regret, and to have remorse of conscience. The other one means etymologically "with the mind or thinking." One abridged Greek lexicon gives the definition as follows: "To change the thoughts, purposes, and intentions of the heart or mind." This definition is concise and true to usage.

In fulfillment of the prophecies regarding the Messiah, Jesus came and literally fulfilled every prediction relating to His first coming. Not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God, most of the leaders of Israel rejected Him. "He came unto his own, and they that were his own received him not. 12 But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name" (John 1:11, 12). But in rejecting Jesus, the leaders in their blindness simply carried out what God had revealed they would do.

"And now, brethren, I know that in ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. 18 But the things which God foreshowed by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled" (Acts 3:17,18).

In the command that all Israel repent, God calls upon the nation to change their thoughts, plans, and purposes regarding Jesus of Nazareth. In issuing this command for the nation to repent regarding their action and their attitude toward Jesus, God said what he meant and meant what He said.

God is not a man, that he should lie,
Neither the son of man, that he should repent:
Hath he said, and will he not do it?
Or hath he spoken, and will he not make it good? (Num. 23:19).

The Lord, through Peter, not only called upon all Israel to repent of their actions and attitudes toward Jesus of Nazareth, but He also commanded them to "turn again ..." What is the significance of turn again? I shall answer this question by referring to my volume, The World's Greatest Library Graphically Illustrated, page 106. The King James Version of the Scriptures has "be converted." This translation is due to a misunderstanding of the Latin text. The original Greek word used by Peter literally means "turn to." It occurs in Acts 9:35; which reads as follows, "And all that dwelt at Lydda and in Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord." The context shows that Peter had cured a man who had kept his bed for eight years. This miracle caused the people to give heed to the message which was preached by Peter. They turned to the Lord as a result of the preaching, and of the miracle which confirmed the message. The word rendered "turned to" in this passage is the very one used by Peter in Acts 3:19. The same term occurs in 11:21, "And a great number that believed turned unto the Lord." Without doubt, in these two passages it can mean nothing except receiving the Lord Jesus Christ personally as Lord and Saviour. It also appears in Acts 14:15 and 15:19, being followed, however, by the word God; but the same general idea is dominant in both instances. Thus when Peter used it in the passage under consideration, he called upon those who had rejected Jesus to repent of that crime and to turn to Him from whom they had previously turned away. These facts show that Peter called upon Israel to repudiate the national sin and to accept Jesus Christ personally as Lord and Saviour. The language can mean nothing else.

Can the people of Israel, as a nation, repent of what their ancestors did to Jesus of Nazareth and accept Him as Lord and Messiah? A great section of the nation, the ultraorthodox wing, still largely accept the false teaching that the father of Jesus was a Roman soldier and his mother a Jewish prostitute. Moreover, according to floating traditions, Jesus went to Egypt and learned the art of black magic, returned to Israel, and attempted to lead the nation into demonic error. The leaders of the nation were therefore justified in having Him executed as a malefactor and as one who was attempting to lead the nation away from God.

Generally speaking, the reformed Jews acknowledge that Jesus was a good man and a great teacher. Denying the doctrine of the Trinity, they cannot believe that He was the God-man who left heaven and entered the world by miraculous conception and virgin birth. Though many of them deplore the fact that He was unrighteously executed as a malefactor, they accept Him simply as a great man and an idealistic peasant who tried to lift His nation to a higher plane; but, the odds being against Him, He failed.

So long then as the Jews hold such erroneous ideas regarding the Lord Jesus Christ, just that long will they reject Him and His claims of being the Son of God, the Saviour of the world and the Messiah of Israel. It is therefore psychologically impossible for them, believing as they do, to repent of having rejected Him and having demanded His execution. Believing that He was an impostor or that He was simply a good man, they cannot turn to Him for spiritual, eternal salvation.

But Peter, speaking by the Spirit of God, demands that the nation repent of rejecting Him and turn to Him, accepting Him as the Messiah of Israel. Since God does not force any man's will, He will wait until the nation has learned the truth and the facts concerning Jesus, and will of its own free choice and accord come in genuine repentance, repudiating the national sin and accepting Him as its long-expected Messiah and Saviour.

God has laid this solemn duty upon His people who see the truth to give it to the Jewish people, so that they can intelligently weigh the facts and accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Thus God's eight-point program for Israel is being held up by the Hebrews' not repenting and accepting Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Since the truth must be given to the people of Israel in order that they might make moves four and five, those who should give it to them are in reality holding up God's program.

When Israel repents and turns to the Messiah (Acts 3:19,20), God will make moves six and seven—by sending ''seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord: 20 and that he may send the Christ who hath been appointed for you, even Jesus ..." These "seasons of refreshing" are times of spiritual revival. The same thought is expressed by Zechariah in different words, "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication" (Zech. 12:10a). Thus a mighty spiritual awakening will sweep over the entire nation of Israel, drawing them back to God. The "seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord" will be brought to a close by the personal return of the Christ to the earth—this same Jesus whom they rejected at His first coming. Thus God the Father makes moves six and seven immediately after Israel makes moves four and five.

When the Lord Jesus returns to earth, He will make the eighth and last move of God's eight-point program with Israel—He will bring in "the times of restoration of all things, whereof God spake by the mouth of his holy prophets that have been from of old" (Acts 3:21). The times of restoration are the Kingdom Age, when the curse will be lifted from the creation, and the earth itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God (Rom. 8:18-25). All things will not be restored, but only those things which God mentions through the holy prophets. When the messages of the prophets are studied thoroughly and understood, one sees that the glorious Kingdom Age far surpasses Eden with all its glory.

Israel's failure to make moves four and five is indeed holding up God's program. Let us do all within our power, in love and sympathy, to show the truth of God's Word to His Chosen People.

IV. ISRAEL TRIED AND ACQUITTED

3 And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of Jehovah, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary. 2 And Jehovah said unto Satan, Jehovah rebuke thee, O Satan; yea, Jehovah that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? 3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the angel. 4 And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take the filthy garments from off him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with rich apparel. 5 And I said, Let them set a clean mitre upon his head. So they set a clean mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments; and the angel of Jehovah was standing by (Zech. 3:1-5).

Haggai and Zechariah aroused the captives, returned from Babylon, out of their lethargy and indifference to spiritual matters—by their dynamic preaching of the Word of God. Zechariah was granted seven visions, all of which deal with some phase of the future of Jerusalem and of the Jewish people. Although the message of each of these visions is of vital importance and demands careful and prayerful study, the fourth one is of paramount importance for a proper understanding of Israel's future in relation to the nations of the world.

Is the passage quoted above to be understood literally or symbolically? Let us bear in mind that every passage must be interpreted literally unless there are reasons for interpreting it otherwise. Joshua appears in this vision, not as an individual person, but as the high priest representing the Jewish nation. In the beginning of the vision the attendants remove the tattered garments of Joshua and clothe him in priestly attire with a clean mitre upon his head. The fact that the vision starts with Joshua as high priest and closes with him attired in rich and priestly apparel shows conclusively that the vision is not literal, but symbolic.

In support of this proposition is the further fact that in answering the charges brought by Satan against Joshua the high priest, Jehovah, the Judge, rebukes Satan, saying, "Jehovah rebuke thee, 0 Satan; yea, Jehovah that hath chosen Jerusalem." In answer to the accusations leveled by Satan against Joshua, the high priest, Jehovah refers to the fact that He has chosen Jerusalem and has plucked this people out of captivity and persecution. Thus, in answering Satan, Jehovah calls attention to the fact that He has chosen Jerusalem, the place where He would put His Name.

An additional fact is that in giving instructions to the court attendants to remove the tattered, filthy garments from Joshua, the Lord says, "Take the filthy garments from off him [Joshua]. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with rich apparel." The filthy garments, therefore, are symbolic of sin and iniquity. In view of these facts, it is clear that the vision is symbolic and must be thus interpreted.

Frequently, the imagery employed by the Biblical writers is borrowed from the local situation with which both speaker and audience are familiar. A knowledge of the imagery used aids very materially in the understanding of a given passage. Often the prophets created their own comparisons from material which was not present, but with which the audience was familiar. By a careful analysis of Zechariah 3:1-5, it is very clear that Zechariah borrowed the imagery of this passage from a court scene.

In this passage one sees the judge, the prosecuting attorney, the defendant, and the court attendants.

Expressed in modern philosophical phraseology, the word Jehovah means the uncaused cause of all things. In speaking of Jehovah, Moses declares: "Hear, 0 Israel, Jehovah our Gods is Jehovah a unity" (Deut. 6:4, literal translation).¹ Both Moses and the Prophets speak of three divine personalities in the Scriptures. These personalities are Jehovah the Father, Jehovah the Son, and Jehovah the Holy Spirit. Each of these is omnipotent (Ps. 62:11; Rev. 19:6), omniscient (Ps. 139; Heb. 4:13), and omnipresent (Ps. 139; Isa. 57:15). They are likewise coequal and coeternal.

Each is the very embodiment of goodness, holiness, love, righteousness, and justice. At the same time their holiness makes them hate sin and iniquity of every type:

6 And Jehovah passed by before him, and proclaimed, Jehovah, Jehovah, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth; 7 keeping lovingkindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation (Ex. 34:6,7).

Which of these divine personalities is Jehovah the Judge of this passage? Jehovah the Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity, came to earth, took upon Himself the form of man, giving His life a ransom for all (Isaiah, chapter 53). Because of these facts, Jehovah the Father has committed all judgment to Jehovah the Son "and he gave him authority to execute judgment, because he is a son of man" (John 5:27). When King David sinned by numbering the people, God through the Prophet Gad gave the king the choice of one of three strokes of judgment. Realizing that God is merciful and righteous, David chose to fall into the hands of the living God:

12 Go and speak unto David, Thus saith Jehovah, I offer thee three things: choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee. 13 So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thy foes while they pursue thee? or shall there be three days' pestilence in thy land? Now advise thee, and consider what answer I shall return to him that sent me. 14 And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of Jehovah; for his mercies are great; and let me not fall into the hand of man (II Sam. 24:12-14).

From this and other Scriptures one learns that Jehovah, the Judge of all the earth, does right (Gen. 18:25,26).

The first appearance of Satan in the Biblical account is found in Genesis, chapter 3. He appeared to Eve as a serpent. Satan, who is the adversary of God and of all that is good, assumes different forms; for, we are told, "... Satan fashioneth himself into an angel of light" (II Cor. 11:14). "And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years" (Rev. 20:1,2). Satan is a powerful foe, who uses every type of deception and lying possible. (See Job, chapters 1 and 2). The Lord Jesus says, "Why do ye not understand my speech? Even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do" (John 8:43,44). Satan also often blinds God's people and causes them to sin against God. He is the great accuser of the brethren in the presence of God (Rev. 12:10).

From what we see in the Scriptures, Satan has an inveterate, implacable hatred against Israel, God's Chosen People. He moved Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to order the destruction of every male infant of the Hebrews in an attempt to curtail the normal increase of the population. At different times one or more of the neighboring nations, in cold blood, launched wars of loot and pillage, leaving death and destruction in their path. In Bible times some of the great powers—Assyria, Babylon, and Rome—unleashed campaigns of ruthless extermination. In medieval and modern times Israel has been a football of the nations "kicked and cuffed about from pillar to post."

Inspired by demonic powers, Hitler launched a campaign of butchery and slaughter, liquidating one-third of world-Jewry. According to Zechariah 13:8,9, two-thirds of the Jewish race will be liquidated in the Great Tribulation. In the light of all these facts, Satan is represented as the prosecuting attorney in Zechariah's vision, in the passage under consideration.

But Satan met one who was more than a match for him—the Lord Jesus Christ. (See Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-12). He suffered signal defeat at Calvary. He is doomed to suffer throughout all eternity, being cast into the lake of fire and brimstone (Rev. 20:10).

In this court scene Joshua, the defendant, represents Israel. One may be certain that Satan, in keeping with his character and activities, hurls every imaginable slanderous charge against Joshua—Israel.

In Zechariah 3:4 one reads that Jehovah spoke to those that stood before him. Who are these? In all probability they are angelic beings. Confirmation of this position may be seen by a glance at Daniel 7:9,10:

9 I beheld till thrones were placed, and one that was ancient of days did sit: his raiment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames, and the wheels thereof burning fire. 10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousands of thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.

This passage in Daniel is a court scene similar to the one under consideration. Here we see a host of angels, who minister as the Lord directs. "Bless Jehovah, ye his angels, That are mighty in strength, that fulfill his word, Hearkening unto the voice of his word" (Ps. 103:20).

C. The Trial

Zechariah does not give a full account of the trial, for it is underway when he begins relating what he sees in this vision. When he begins to give us this account of the proceedings, the prosecuting attorney, Satan, has finished his indictment, supporting his accusations, we may believe, with diabolical shrewdness and lies. One can, however, glean from the Judge's reprimand the character of Satan's speech: "And Jehovah said unto Satan, Jehovah rebuke thee, 0 Satan; yea, Jehovah that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?" (v. 2). When one is talking over the telephone, those sitting in the room with him can often judge, from what he says, some of the statements made by the person at the other end of the line. In other words, echoes of what the other person says are heard in the conversation, by those in the room. It is clear from verse 2 that the prosecuting attorney has made statements that are not true and has thrown out unjustifiable innuendos.

One of the echoes of Satan's speech in his indictment of Joshua is heard in these words: "Jehovah, rebuke thee, 0 Satan." Since Jehovah, the Judge, speaks only that which is true and right, He rebukes Satan for certain misrepresentations, misstatements, and lies. A second echo of Satan's speech is found in the words, "Jehovah that hath chosen Jerusalem." This statement is indeed revealing, for it shows that the essence of Satan's speech is an attack upon God's having chosen Jerusalem and the Hebrew people as the channel of world blessing. The third echo is the implication that God made a miserable failure in selecting the Hebrews as the channel of blessing for all mankind, since the Jews have tragically failed and fallen far short of being the "holy people unto Jehovah" (Deut. 7:6)—a diabolically scurrilous attack on God's wisdom and knowledge. The fourth echo is an implication that God made a mistake in His selection of the Jews as His Chosen People—the choice being a matter of God's sovereign grace. As to whether or not Satan, the prosecuting attorney, included other accusations, one cannot say. Speaking in human terms, one would say that the Judge became enraged at the lies and misrepresentations of facts by the prosecuting attorney.

When the prosecuting attorney finished his indictment and accusations, the Judge from the bench answers him : "And Jehovah said unto Satan, Jehovah rebuke thee, 0 Satan; yea, Jehovah that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?" (v. 2). This turn of affairs reminds me of what I saw and heard when I visited one of the king's courts in London in 1936. The suit being tried involved 135,000 pounds (a pound at that time was worth $5). A man was on the witness stand when I arrived. Then a woman was called. As she was testifying, the old judge seemed to be asleep, but he was anything but asleep. Suddenly he looked up at the witness and said to her, "Mrs. ..., you are lying to this court." Like the old London judge, Jehovah, the Judge of this court, before whom Israel is being tried, speaks directly to the prosecuting attorney with no uncertain sound. One may be confident that this omniscient, righteous Judge answers every charge that Satan has made and exposes the misrepresentations, and at the same time He states the facts as they were and are.

God chose Abraham and his seed to be the channel of world blessing (Gen. 12:1-3 and parallel passages). According to Deuteronomy 12:5-14, the Lord chose Jerusalem as the place where He would put His name. The Psalmist points to Jerusalem as the city of God: "His foundation is in the holy mountains. 2 Jehovah loveth the gates of Zion More than all the dwellings of Jacob. 3 Glorious things are spoken of thee, 0 city of God" (Ps. 87:1-3). Again, the Psalmist foretells that Jerusalem will be the joy of the whole earth: "Great is Jehovah, and greatly to be praised, In the city of our God, in his holy mountain. 2 Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, Is mount Zion on the sides of the north, The city of the great King. 3 God hath made himself known in her palaces for a refuge" (Ps. 48:1-3). Jeremiah the Prophet foretells Jehovah's throne located in Jerusalem of the Millennial Age: "At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of Jehovah, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart" (Jer. 3:17). Isaiah foresees Jerusalem as the place where all nations will go for worship in the Kingdom Age of the warless world. On this point, as on all others, Satan was absolutely wrong.

"Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the angel" (v. 3). As has already been shown, Joshua was clothed in filthy garments. This filthy apparel symbolizes the filth of sin and iniquity on the part of Joshua, the representative, of Israel, in this passage. Think of this spectacle: Joshua clothed with filthy garments standing in the presence of the holy God. But there is something that can wash away every stain of sin, for those who will come and reason with the Lord. For Isaiah, speaking by the Spirit of God, pleads with Israel: "Come now and let us reason together, saith Jehovah: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. 19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: 20 but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it" (Isa. 1:18-20).

"And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take the filthy garments from off him, And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with rich apparel" (v. 4). When Israel accepts the Lord's invitation to come and reason with Him, the holy God will remove the filthy rags of man's righteousness and sinful living:

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it?" (Jer. 17:9).

There is an antidote for sin and all uncleanness (read Isaiah 53:1-12).² When Israel, as we have already seen, accepts Jehovah's offers of mercy, the court attendants will remove the filthy garments of human depravity and wrong doing.

As Joshua, the high priest, appears in the court scene of this passage, all Israel appears before God—until the filthy garments are removed and all Israel comes under conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of His Word. Then God will order Israel to be attired in the rich garments of His holiness.

Thus, the holy nation of Israel will become the priestly nation, approaching God in behalf of all humanity.

"There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuels veins.
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains."

"... Apart from shedding of blood there is no remission" (Heb. 9:22)

God made man upright, but he has sought out many inventions (Eccl. 7:29). It is the will of God that not one person should perish, but that all should come to repentance—and be saved eternally (II Pet. 3:9). The Apostle Paul declares that God "would have all men to be saved, and come to a knowledge of the truth" (I Tim. 2:4). The Lord Jesus tasted death for every man (Heb 2:9). "For the eyes of Jehovah run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him ..." (II Chron. 16:9).

Man is a free moral agent. Though it is the will of God that all should be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth, the Lord will never force any man's will. He does, however, bring all possible influences to bear upon everyone, always stopping short of coercion.

Jehovah God is the creator of all things and is the sovereign of the universe.

10 Wherefore David blessed Jehovah before all the assembly; and David said, Blessed be thou, 0 Jehovah, the God of Israel our father, for ever and ever. 11 Thine, 0 Jehovah, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, 0 Jehovah, and thou art exalted as head above all (I Chron. 29:10, 11).



Footnotes:

¹ See The God of Israel, by David L. Cooper.

² See Isaiah, chapter 53, (author's translation) '" The Eternal God Revealing Himself to Suffering Israel and to Lost Humanity, Chapter XVIII, Pages 213, 214, by David L. Cooper.

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