“Jesus has two comings. The first one when he came as a suffering servant and the second one is when he will come to rule. Until his second coming, we are commanded to imitate him in his first coming.”

Under this view the rule of law would be unknown among men and there would be no American republic. Thank God that the colonial Christians had another view. Their view was that Jesus Christ had all authority in heaven and earth, and as the ruler of nations He had commanded His people to go forth and make disciples of ALL the NATIONS…

“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen [Matthew 28:18-20].

Jesus made this statement after the resurrection and before the ascension. What do we know of the ascension? He was taken up into heaven in a cloud and then what. What is He doing until His return?

Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” [Acts 1:9-11]

This language reminds us of the vision of the Ancient of Days given to the prophet Daniel. Note that ‘One like the Son of Man’ COMES to the Ancient of Days with the clouds of heaven…

“I was watching in the night visions,
And behold, One like the Son of Man,
Coming with the clouds of heaven!
He came to the Ancient of Days,
And they brought Him near before Him.
Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,
That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
Which shall not pass away,
And His kingdom the one
Which shall not be destroyed” [Daniel 7:13-14]

‘John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.

To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen’ [Revelation 1:4-6].

Now, the all important question that concerns us in the New Covenant: What scene is recorded for us in Revelation 5 and for what purpose?

Christian, will you read the passage and consider that John is describing the exaltation of our Lord Jesus Christ in heaven after His ascension, and he does this for our encouragement? This will change your view of Jesus Christ. His dominion is an everlasting dominion and His kingdom is the eternal kingdom. Consider that Revelation 5 is the fulfillment of Daniel 7.

Yes! We wait for the Day of Revelation when all men shall bow the knee and confess the Name, as it is written, ‘Christ must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet’ [1 Corinthians 15:25].

In Revelation 6:2 we see Him on the white horse going forth to conquer. He has been at the work now for 2 millennium. For David himself said by the Holy Spirit: ‘The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool”’ [Mark 12:36].

Re: http://townhall.com/columnists/BenShapiro/2009/04/15/whatever_happened_to_states’_rights

Mr. Shapiro, how can you advocate for state sovereignty and praise Abraham Lincoln at the same time? Do you know anything of men like Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson? Do you dismiss these men as racists because they owned slaves? Are you ashamed of what the Old Testament says of slavery? Is the modern practice of slavery to state welfare any less cruel than the OT laws governing the practice of bond servants? We could learn much toward the principles of general equity from a study of the Mosaic civil law dealing with the poor and the widow and the orphan.

To the men like Lee and Jackson and many more like them the issue of the war was one of state sovereignty, not slavery. When offered the command of the federal army, Lee issued his famous quote (that goes something like this), “How can I raise my sword against my native state of Virginia?” Lee’s quote says much about the real issues.

According to His promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Re: http://townhall.com/columnists/BenShapiro/2009/04/08/the_second_french_revolution

Where did the Founders get the idea of unalienable rights and that the purpose of the government is to secure these rights? The Jew and Catholic and Protestant can all agree with the Natural Law argument put forth in the Declaration of Independence. ‘The Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God’ are the source of these rights called unalienable; therefore since they do not originate from government, the proper role of government is to see itself as the insurer of these rights, not the giver.

The Law says to not murder, so state policy is to promote the preservation of life and not hinder citizens the means to preserve their own life.

The Law says to not steal, so again the state is to promote the sacredness of private property, including labor and conscience.

The Law says to not commit adultery, so again the state is to promote lawful marriage and the sanctity of the family. To say that same sex marriage is Constitutional is a complete perversion of its Natural Law foundations given in the Declaration.

Here is another quote from John Adams that implies there will be no third war of independence…

“The only foundation of a free constitution, is pure virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our people…they may change their rulers, and the forms of government, but they will not obtain a lasting liberty…A constitution of government once changed from freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever” [John Adams].

Now some may speak of the fatal periods in the history of nations, but the opinions of men are not our rule. We find one sure rule as it is written in the Word of God. There is a measure of iniquity which the Lord has allowed a nation, which when it is accomplished or filled up, His wrath must come to the ruin of that nation…

"The iniquity of the Amorites is not full." [Genesis 15:16]

And again,

"Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers’ guilt." [Mathew 23:32]

When Jesus speaks of the temple, He says, “Not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down” [Matthew 24:2]. Wrath came when the Jew’s measure was full.

When men sin proudly and incorrigibly and receive a consensus of approval, it is evidence that the cup of that nation’s sin is near full, and that wrath has come…

"They mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his Prophets; until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy" [2 Chronicles 36:16].

Peter tells us that ‘the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations’ in the midst of approaching judgment [2 Peter 2:9]. Trials and temptations are coming to the American Christians that have not been seen before in our experience.

On the first Passover in the day of wrath poured out on ancient Egypt, a great picture of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was recorded for our encouragement. All those who were marked by the lamb’s blood were hidden in safety on the day of the Lord’s judgment.

Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. Then follows her praise worthy attributes; not the least of which is the one that rings true to me, “The heart of her husband does safely trust in her” [Proverbs 31:11].

If we would counsel a young man on what to look for in a wife, then Proverbs 31 is prominent among the passages of Scripture that we would use. But what of young women? Is there a comparable passage for their counsel on what makes a virtuous man? Job 31 is such a passage. [Credits to David Dykstra, unpublished work]

Job 31 gives men a noble pattern of virtue that is worthy of imitation. If our conscience can bear witness, then we can rejoice in our conformity to Job’s integrity, as did he in the day of evil. If not, then we can repent and pray for mercy and believe the gospel anew.

Job not only acquits himself from those gross sins which lie open to the eye of the world, but also from the secret sins of the heart which only God can see. The reason for his resisting evil and pursuing a holy life was his fear of God; a sincere faith was what gave life to his pursuit of holiness.

This view from Job of the patriarchal age of so long ago concerning good and evil confirms our doctrine that men today are no different, but are plagued with the same temptations to sin. The same strength of integrity that Job found is available to men today.

The sins from which Job acquits himself are the following. We shall look at them with the help of Matthew Henry.

1. Wantonness and uncleanness of heart (v. 1-4).

2. Fraud and injustice in commerce (v. 4-8).

3. Adultery (v. 9–12).

4. Haughtiness and severity towards his servants (v. 13–15).

5. Unmercifulness to the poor, the widows, and the fatherless (v. 16–23).

6. Confidence in his worldly wealth (v. 24, 25).

7. Idolatry (v. 26–28).

8. Revenge (v. 29–31).

9. Neglect of poor strangers (v. 32).

10. Hypocrisy in concealing his own sins and cowardice in conniving at the sins of others (v. 33, 34).

At creation God wrote Moral Law, the Decalogue, in the hearts of Adam and Eve. All men as image bearers have this same law written in their hearts. This Moral Law was later written upon tablets of stone by God and delivered to Israel through Moses. This law remains in effect even after the Old Covenant was abolished. Christ upholds this law "as a rule of life" for His church.

Let’s look at the three texts in order, 4:2; 19:2; and 19:5.

[http://www.reformedreader.org/ccc/1689lbc/english/1689econtents.htm]

In chapter 4, Of Creation, the confession teaches that Adam and Eve had "the law of God written in their hearts." Here is the full text of paragraph 2 followed by Scripture references…

After God had made all other creatures, he created man, male and female, with reasonable and immortal souls, rendering them fit unto that life to God for which they were created; being made after the image of God, in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness; having the law of God written in their hearts, and power to fulfill it, and yet under a possibility of transgressing, being justify to the liberty of their own will, which was subject to change.

[Genesis 1:27; Genesis 2:7; Ecclesiastes 7:29; Genesis 1:26; Romans 2:14, 15; Genesis 3:6]

In chapter 19, Of the Law of God, the confession defines what is meant by "the law of God written in their hearts." The full text of paragraph 2 says…

The same law that was first written in the heart of man continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness after the fall, and was delivered by God upon Mount Sinai, in ten commandments, and written in two tables, the four first containing our duty towards God, and the other six, our duty to man.

[Romans 2:14, 15; Deuteronomy 10:4]

"The major assertion of paragraphs 1 and 2 is that the same law written in the heart of Adam was reiterated in the Ten Commandments." [Sam Waldron, A Modern Exposition of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith]

The final text in the confession is found in chapter 19:5. The text reads as follows…

The moral law [Decalogue] doth for ever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof, and that not only in regard of the matter contained in it, but also in respect of the authority of God the Creator, who gave it; neither doth Christ in the Gospel any way dissolve, but much strengthen this obligation.

[Romans 13:8-10; James 2:8, 10-12; James 2:10, 11; Matthew 5:17-19; Romans 3:31]

It is clear that the confession teaches that all men are obliged to obey the Ten Commandments. "The moral law doth for ever bind all …" The obligation for man to keep the Ten Commandments is based on God’s authority as Creator. He demonstrates this as Judge and Redeemer. All sin is dealt with either in everlasting punishment for the unrepentant or in a rich display of mercy in Christ for all who repent and believe the gospel.

Gentiles who know nothing of the Bible may by nature ‘show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them’ [Romans 2:14-15].

This law is what philosophers call the "natural law." It is man’s innate moral knowledge given to him as image bearers of his Creator. All men are held accountable to this law in that they are judged according to their judgment of other men. You say that it is not good to steal from you or to covet your wife, but if you do the same thing to me, then you condemn yourself when you practice what you condemn in others. [Romans 2:1-3]

All men know this law is good, but because of the Genesis 3 Fall into sin, they will naturally suppress its righteousness in order to justify their sin.

From the perspective of revealed truth in Jesus Christ, natural law has a limited but significant value. It connects Christianity to the moral order of nations and affirms Christ as the Ruler of nations. He rules by His Law and this is the same Law as written on the heart of every man. The Kingdom of God has come and those who enter in submit to His rule.

Because of sin and the need of regeneration there is limited expectation of natural law as a source of revelation. God does not save the world through natural law, nor does He reconcile the world through the pursuit of justice; but He does provide the knowledge of His eternal power and divinity through the law written on the heart.

Re: http://townhall.com/columnists/TonyBlankley/2009/04/01/liberty_and_tyranny_reviewed

Mr. Blankley might be accused of anti-Protestant bigotry. In a nation founded on religious liberty, fought for and won and implemented mostly by Reformed Christians, we accuse by association: Puritanism with theocracy and Protestantism with intolerance. The Protestantism practiced by the KKK and that may have influenced Hugo Black [Everson v. Board of Education] is not the Protestantism that sailed over on the Mayflower. Nor do we think that the Catholicism practiced in Europe in suppression of the Protestant Reformation is the Catholicism practiced in America today.

The Reformation benefited all men in that it gave us an open Bible and the revealed Law of God in the common tongues. This is the stable reference point and foundation for natural law of which Mr. Levin is pointing to as the moral order required for constitutional conservatism. He is trying to remind us of the importance of these things, and to his credit Mr. Levin was more careful not to misuse the term Protestantism for a perversion of Protestantism.

Re: http://townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/03/30/gospel_of_dependence_from_national_urban_league

If the gospel they are hearing is according to Jeremiah Wright and his ilk, then they are practicing what is being preached to them. Make no mistake this is ‘another gospel’ [Galatians 1] and is contributing to the problems of dependency and victim hood, rather than pointing men to the Redeemer of men.

What is the gospel? First of all the gospel is about freedom from a captivity of which slavery is but a type and shadow of the real bondage that holds all men to their sin. This is the deceitfulness of sin that makes men think they are free while slaves to unrighteousness. This kind of bondage has nothing to do with our circumstances, whether Jew or Gentile, free or slave, black or white, male or female. It is universal in scope and there is but one escape. That is why the gospel is good news.

When a man is liberated from this bondage by the power of God displayed in the gospel he would be independent of other men and free to follow Christ alone. His rights would be derived from the Law of God; his hope in the promises of God. He would know that the promises of autonomous men are not to be trusted because their reasonings are vain. He would obey the commands of Christ for this he knows is the Law of Liberty, that which is good and profitable for men.

Re:http://townhall.com/columnists/DickMorrisandEileenMcGann/2009/03/28/obama_soaks_the_rich_churches,_day_care,_homeless_shelters,_soup_kitchens

The Founders limited the powers of the state because federal control is never a good thing; it is always less effective than local control. But the modern liberals have breeched the Constitutional safeguards against federal tyranny. Confiscatory taxation is harmful to charitable giving and benevolence ministries will suffer. Proper oversight and accountability by the local church of their works of benevolence are lost to those without integrity.

The OT provision for the poor, the widow and the orphan was to let them glean the fields. The harvesters were to leave the corners untouched and leave what was left after one pass. This law of God given to Israel teaches all nations a principle of general equity: God is concerned with the poor and has made provision for them under His law. They are to work at gathering from the excess, not to be given handouts or government welfare. [Leviticus 19:9-10; Deuteronomy 24:19-22]

When church leaders claim that theology gets in the way of growth and insist that it does not matter what a particular church believes, they have become Finney’s successors. Outward and immediate growth is no sign that fruit is forth coming. Those who think otherwise set themselves in opposition to Christ’s teaching in the Sower Parable. Finney’s revivalism is the method of coercive pragmatism and meant to provoke a response. They are like the plant that withers and dies because it has no root or depth of soil.

In Finney’s theology, God is not sovereign, man is not a sinner by nature, the atonement is not a true payment for sin, justification by imputation is insulting to reason and morality, the new birth is simply the effect of successful techniques, and revival is a natural result of clever campaigns.

Finney’s message is a radical departure from the faith of the Reformers and Edwards, as is the basic orientation of the movements we see around us today that bear his imprint such as: revivalism that is known by its modern label of Church Growth Movement, or Pentecostal perfectionism and emotionalism, or the anti-intellectual, and anti-doctrinal tendencies of many American evangelicals and fundamentalists or the political ideal of "Christian America" that promoted the social crusades built on a naturalistic moralism and faith in humanity's potential of self-salvation.

Of one thing Finney was absolutely correct: The Gospel held by the Reformers and Edwards is "another gospel" and distinct from the one he proclaimed. The question for the churches is with which gospel will we side?

Jonathan Edwards is consistent with Augustine and the Protestant Reformers. Charles Finney is consistent with Pelagius and Jacobus Arminius.

This is what guides and governs the will, namely, what we consider to be our delight. Everything springs from delight. The dispute with Pelagius was that it is not in our power to determine what this delight will be. Augustine augues…

“Who has it in his power to have such a motive present to his mind that his will shall be influenced to believe? Who can welcome in his mind something which does not give him delight? But who has it in his power to ensure that something that will delight him will turn up? Or that he will take delight in what turns up? If those things delight us which serve our advancement towards God, that is due not to our own whim or industry or meritorious works, but in the inspiration of God and to the grace which he bestows.”

So saving grace for Augustine is God’s giving us a sovereign joy in God that triumphs over all other joys and therefore sways the will. The will is free to move toward whatever it delights in most fully, but it is not within the power of our will to determine what that joy will be.

Therefore, Augustine concludes, “A man’s free-will, indeed, avails for nothing except to sin, if he knows not the way of truth; and even after his duty and his proper aim shall begin to become known to him, unless he also take delight in and feel a love for it, he neither does his duty, nor sets about it, nor lives rightly. Now, in order that such a course may engage our affections, God’s ‘love is shed abroad in our hearts’ not through the free-will which arises from ourselves, but ‘through the Holy Ghost, which is given to us’ [Romans 5:5].”

[credits to John Piper: God's Passion for His Glory]

Edwards’ thesis of God’s sovereignty over the fallen human will is given in his work Freedom of the Will.

Here is Finney’s assessment of Edwards’ book: “Ridiculous! Edwards I revere; his blunders I deplore. I speak thus of this Treatise on the Will, because while it abounds with unwarrantable assumptions, distinctions without difference, and metaphysical subtleties, it has been adopted as the textbook of a multitude of what are called Calvinistic divines for scores of years.” [Finney’s Systematic Theology]

This is Edwards’ argument that the Arminian notion of the will’s ability to determine itself is not a prerequisite of moral accountability.

Later in John’s Gospel Jesus gives us commentary on this parable, “[Father] sanctify them by Your truth; Your word is Truth” [John 17:17]. The word is used of God to conform the believer more and more into the image of His Son. The word also reveals the unbelieving heart as one unwilling to obey; he is conformed to this world and not willing to be 'transformed by the renewing of the mind' [Romans 12].

The healthy church is characterized by the faithful exposition of the word of God and a Biblical doctrine of regeneration. Spiritual regeneration is a necessity for bearing the fruits of the Spirit, and since men are dead in sin this work is of God alone…

“You must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit” [John 3:7-8].

Thus in Isaiah 44:6: “Thus saith the Lord, the king of Israel, and his Redeemer the LORD of hosts, I am the first, I also am the last, and besides me there is no God.”

Chapter 48:12: “I am the first and I am the last.”

Revelation 1:8: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and was, and which is to come, the Almighty.”

Verse 11: “I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last.”

Verse 17: “I am the first and the last.”

As Romans 11:36: “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things.”

Colossians 1:16: “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him, and for him.”

Hebrews 2:10: “For it became him, by whom are all things, and for whom are all things.”