Thank you for this post. It is good to hear the reminder that too often we who study God's Word can slip into the sinful tendency to put God in our own boxes.
However, I think you've gone too far here. God cannot be contained in a doctrine, catechism, or creed - very true. Yet God has elected to communicate to us truths about himself through the teaching (the doctrine) of the Scriptures which I believe (and all the office bearers of the CRC are required to believe) are adequately summarized in our church's doctrinal standards.
We all want God to do something new, but the something new being spoken of in Revelation 21 refers quite clearly to the recreation of heaven and earth, the final defeat of death's hold over the human race, and the forgiveness of sins (obviously observed by the Apostle John's quotation of Isaiah 55 in verse 6). We can all pray, "Come, Lord Jesus!"
Likewise, the grave warning of Revelation 21:8 must be reflected on adequately. We are all guilty, on some level, of sins of cowardice, faithlessness, sexual immorality, and idolatry. What differentiates those who will inherit the promises of God and those who will suffer in the second death is this: "To the thirsty I will give from the springs of the water of life without payment” (Rev. 21:6, ESV). Here’s the thing, God grants forgiveness to those who are thirsty; to those who are repentant; to those who know they’re lost in a desert and are dying of thirst. Jesus told us to repent and believe. The way sinners come to be righteous before God is by trusting in Jesus Christ and leaving our lives of sin to trust and follow him. Anything else will not do.
That is the gospel. That is the message our denomination is tasked with heralding and our Synod is tasked with defending against those who would pervert grace into a license for sin. Sin kills every soul it enters from the wounded, the powerless, and the rejected to the healthy, the powerful, and the accepted. The only one who can change that is Christ, and the only way we know him is through this gospel. The gospel isn’t new, and neither is it old. It is universal; and we need it now as ever.
Posted in: Will God Do Something New?
Diane,
Thank you for this post. It is good to hear the reminder that too often we who study God's Word can slip into the sinful tendency to put God in our own boxes.
However, I think you've gone too far here. God cannot be contained in a doctrine, catechism, or creed - very true. Yet God has elected to communicate to us truths about himself through the teaching (the doctrine) of the Scriptures which I believe (and all the office bearers of the CRC are required to believe) are adequately summarized in our church's doctrinal standards.
We all want God to do something new, but the something new being spoken of in Revelation 21 refers quite clearly to the recreation of heaven and earth, the final defeat of death's hold over the human race, and the forgiveness of sins (obviously observed by the Apostle John's quotation of Isaiah 55 in verse 6). We can all pray, "Come, Lord Jesus!"
Likewise, the grave warning of Revelation 21:8 must be reflected on adequately. We are all guilty, on some level, of sins of cowardice, faithlessness, sexual immorality, and idolatry. What differentiates those who will inherit the promises of God and those who will suffer in the second death is this: "To the thirsty I will give from the springs of the water of life without payment” (Rev. 21:6, ESV). Here’s the thing, God grants forgiveness to those who are thirsty; to those who are repentant; to those who know they’re lost in a desert and are dying of thirst. Jesus told us to repent and believe. The way sinners come to be righteous before God is by trusting in Jesus Christ and leaving our lives of sin to trust and follow him. Anything else will not do.
That is the gospel. That is the message our denomination is tasked with heralding and our Synod is tasked with defending against those who would pervert grace into a license for sin. Sin kills every soul it enters from the wounded, the powerless, and the rejected to the healthy, the powerful, and the accepted. The only one who can change that is Christ, and the only way we know him is through this gospel. The gospel isn’t new, and neither is it old. It is universal; and we need it now as ever.
Grace and Peace,
Corey