Revelation 11 - Free Will and Wise Choices
I’m increasingly certain that God created men and women in His image. We’re flawed and imperfect; we’re sinners. But we are precious to God. We are His prized possession, the apple of His eye. God loves you that much - more than we could hope or imagine. God has a great plan for you and wants to encourage you today to hear and follow Him.
God is so Sovereign that He gives you and me the ability to think, choose, and act. We know that, but shockingly some are silent when the devil claims otherwise. Because of God’s love for us, He created us with free will. You have a mind, a conscience, an eternal soul, and a will. Adam and Eve had free will - the ability to make moral choices. So do you and I. From creation, God is calling after all people to hear Him and enter into deep relationships with Him. He’s calling us today to come to Him. The Bible tells us that God brings salvation to all people (Titus 2:11). But with free will many will choose to reject Him and go their own way. Yet others, a vast crowd of others, will hear His voice and accept His offer of forgiveness and eternal life with God. They are born again, made alive in Christ.
We see God’s character in the Bible. He’s a good, loving Father. He’s righteous and patient. Yet He’s also fair and just. God knows not only what we do, but our motives, our innermost thoughts. It’s hard to fathom given that there are so many billions of people, but God loves all people (John 3). And it is to God that each one of us will be held accountable (Hebrews 4:13).
So yes, God is not capricious. To the contrary, He is the very author of due process - we are not convicted of any rebellion without good cause and good evidence. When I gave my life to Christ (I found a small Gideons Bible in my bed drawer and I read that all people were sinners) I had no trouble accepting the fact I was a sinner. I knew that all too well. The thing I found hard to believe and still do today is that God loves me. God's love is overwhelming.
The Father only gets angry for a reason. God is completely fair and just. “The Holy Spirit says, ‘Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled, when they tested me in the wilderness’” (Hebrews 3:7-8). God, who cannot lie as it is against His character, will also not go back on an oath. God made a solemn oath that Israel will never enter His place of rest (Hebrews 3:11, 19; and 4:5). It was because of Isreal’s unbelief that they were not able to enter God’s rest (Hebrews 3:19). We must keep that in mind as we read through the terrible wrath against Jerusalem and John’s vision of God’s terrible yet fair judgment against Israel.
God gifts humble evangelists today with the ability to tell people the truth about their sins and God’s righteous standards - the truth about a day of accountability and eternal judgment. The evangelists are God’s ambassadors who love people because they know God and know how much God loves people. The evangelists are imparted special giftings from God to creatively meet people where they are - just like Jesus did - and to tell people the truth about themselves and about Jesus. The evangelists share the good news that God deeply loves each person and wants each person to accept His free gift of eternal life through belief in Jesus Christ.
Only those who believe in Jesus the Son of God can enter God’s rest. This is the plan of salvation that God created when He made this world and everything in it. Rest in Jesus has been ready since Jesus created this world and gave men and women free will (Hebrews 4:3-14).
I’m a nobody, just a farm boy from Saskatchewan. I’m a sinner saved by Jesus’ loving and marvelous grace. I know that the devil wants to convince people that God doesn't love them. The devil takes great pains to puff people up with pride making them think they are elite and superior to the people God hates. Reject and resist the devil and his lies today. Do not harden your heart. God loves all people and desires that all people hear and accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Reject any theory scheme or theology that claims God does not give people the ability to respond to Him. God gives people free will and requires that we exercise it in discipline and obedience to Him.
Jesus warns us not to harden our hearts. The truth of God is that each of us may be deceived by sin and harden our hearts against God (Hebrews 3:13). God doesn’t waste time or ink - warnings are in the Bible for a reason. God says, “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” (Hebrews 4:11). By the grace of God let’s do our best today as God commands it!
Lord Jesus, please prepare our hearts and minds to understand Your will today and to grow in likeness to You. Please help us to learn from Scripture by the obedience of Your saints and the example of Your men like Elijah, Moses, and John the Baptist. And like John the Apostle help us to see clearly. Help us Holy Spirit, please expose our innermost thoughts and desires. May our will be Your will. Help us to see our blind spots and our unconfessed sin today - and to confess it straight away. Help us to warn each other to have self-control and to obey the Spirit of Christ in every situation and every conversation today. Help us to make sure that our own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning away from the living God.
Thank you, Lord Jesus. May we hear and obey You today. And may Your evangelists be encouraged by the power of Your blood today. Amen.
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