double double, toil & trouble: part 3 - chapter 12 - why god doubly predestines

7/31/2019 Double Double, Toil & Trouble: Part 3 - Chapter 12 - Why God Doubly Predestines

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Chapter ThirteenWhy God Doubly Predestines

Well, I think I’ve said enough on this subject to give you theimpression that I do believe double-predestination is a biblical doctrine

and that it is taught with extreme clarity in Romans 9, Proverbs 16, 1Peter 2 (but not in Jude 4). But I’ve based this not only on these textsbut also on the fact that this doctrine would have been nothing new forthe Jewish theologian and apostle Paul. I also think I’ve said enough togive me cause to run and hide out in a cave for a while! I know some of you are mad! I know you’re thinking, “My God isn’t like that! My Godwould never create someone for the express purpose of sending them tohell!” Well dear sister or brother, I would encourage you return with mehere to Romans 9 to read the rest of the text and inform yourself better.1

Verse 22 tells us very clearly not only that our God does this, butalso why He does this. There seem to be two reasons, inseparablyconnected and interrelated. First, verse 22 tells us that God predestinessome to eternal destruction in order “to demonstrate His wrath andmake His power known.” Second, verse 23 tells us that God does this“in order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vesselsof mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory .”

In verse 22, God creates some for destruction in order to make Hispower known and demonstrate His wrath. Again, Pharaoh was just sucha one. God Himself stated, “For this very purpose I raised you p, to

demonstrate my power in you, and that My Name might be proclaimedthroughout the whole earth” (v. 17). John Piper states,

“Moreover, in view of the parallels between Rom 9:22 and9:17, a most natural suggestion is that Pharaoh serves as anexample of a ‘vessel of wrath fitted for destruction.’ Andsince Paul’s inference from the Pharaoh story is that ‘Godhardens whom he wills’ (9:18), the most natural suggestionfrom the context is that ‘fitted for destruction’ (9:22) refersprecisely to this divine hardening.”2

1 “A dispassionate reading of Romans, chapters nine and eleven will result inthe assurance that, whatever men may believe or disbelieve regarding the matter, theWord of God is bold in declaring that some are appointed to blessing and othersexperience condemnation. Human limitations and perverse reasoning can hardlyrender true judgments on these issues.” Chafer, pp. 268-9.

22

Piper, John. The Justification of God: An Exegetical and Theological Study of Romans 9:1-23. 2nd Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1993. Page 212.



In verse 23, Paul tells us that an interrelated purpose of preparingsome persons to be vessels of wrath is that God makes His power knownto the vessels of mercy by showing them the infinite and eternal richesof His glory that belong to them simply because of His sheer mercy.Both 22 and 23 then prove that it is all about God from beginning to

end. From the beginning of mercy to eternity, and from the beginning of destruction to its end, God means to display His power, make His Namegreat, and demonstrate His glory among all the nations of the earth.And creating some persons on which to display His eternal wrath seemsa suitable option to the Potter who has the right to make such vesselsfrom the lump of sinful humanity which in its entirety deserves eternaldestruction anyway.

Now, although I am not a Presbyterian, I do believe theWestminster Confession of Faith is one of the greatest doctrinalstatements in church history. I’ve quoted it in the previous chapter.

And I believe that it states the reasoning behind all of this with greatclarity. Preserved for us today is the statement that,

“It pleased God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for themanifestation of His glory of His eternal power,wisdom, and goodness, in the beginning to create or makeof nothing the world, and all things therein, whether visibleor invisible…”3

“The same is affirmed to be the chief end of God in all Hispurposes and works of Providence and Redemption.”4

It should be no surprise to us that this theology (which,incidentally lies behind almost every other major doctrinal confessionsince that time) sounds so much like the Scriptures we have alreadydiscussed. The Bible is explicitly clear that God’s glory is thechief end of God in all His creation.5 There is simply no otherexplanation other than this. The reason God predestines some to gloryand others to condemnation is because He knows that in so doing Hewill thereby glorify Himself.

If ever there was a pastor and theologian who believed and taught

that God’s glory was at the heart of everything He does, it is JonathanEdwards. In one of his more famous sermons, “The End for Which GodCreated the World,” he preached, “The end of the creation is that the

3 See 4§ 1.44

See 3 § § 3, 5, 7; 5 § 1; 6 § 1; 33 § 2.55

See also Col. 1:16; Prov. 16:4; Rev. 4:11; Rom. 11:36.



creation might glorify [God].”6 John Piper has presented us with anotheredition of that sermon in his book God’s Passion for His Glory: Living theVision of Jonathan Edwards. In Piper’s book, he quotes Edwards aspreaching:

“God had respect to himself , as his last and highest end, inthis work; because he is worthy in himself to be so, beinginfinitely the greatest and best of all beings. All things else,with regard to worthiness, importance, and excellence, areperfectly as nothing in comparison of him…All that is everspoken of in Scripture as an ultimate end of God’s works isincluded in that one phrase, the glory of God.”7

This really rubs hard the version of Christianity with which mostare familiar today. It is my fear that in preaching and writing today, theglory of God has been preached as the sole goal of man, while somehow

maintaining a congruous interest in the exaltation of man. Man’s needsand feelings have seemingly partnered up with the proclamation of God’s glory. But it isn’t a partnership at all.

Our needs and our feelings are actually met when God’s glorybecomes our sole focus in life. This is so because God’s glory is ourgreatest need and is the greatest feeling we are commanded toexperience (cf. 1 Cor. 10:31). Listen to another challenging statementthat John Piper has written regarding this tendency in Christianity today.

“Many people are willing to be God-centered as long as they

feel that God is man-centered. It is a subtle danger. Wemay think we are centering our lives on God, when we arereally making Him a means to self-esteem.”8

Because a man-centered vision of God-centeredness pervades ourchurches and homes today, understanding things like double-predestination becomes incredibly difficult. And it will always andforever be generally met with conflict, frustration and rejection whenone’s view of God is centered on man. But, when real, bible-saturated,Spirit-driven God-centeredness takes up residence, God’s glory as

66

Miscellany #3 in: Jonathan Edwards, The Miscellaneis, ed. by Thomas Schafer,The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 13 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994), p.199.77 “The End for Which God Created the World” in John Piper, God’s Passion for His Glory: Living the Vision of Jonathan Edwards (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1998),p. 140, 142.88

Brothers, We are Not Professionals (Nashville, TN: Broadman and HolmanPublishers, 2002), pp. 6-7.



revealed in Scripture and experienced in life will become the focus of every heart, home and local church.

Our man centered view of God shows itself quite well whenconsidering the relationship of God’s glory to those whom He has

predestined to be condemned. Those who struggle with this still have aman-centered view of God. They measure His actions by what they consider to be humane or fair. They argue vehemently that God is notglorified by predestining some persons for condemnation. But God isnot a man, and He will not be measured by His creation.

In response, just because we don’t seem to be able to come upwith a list of reasons as to how those who are predestined forcondemnation bring glory to God doesn’t mean it isn’t true. The factthat we don’t know how God glorifies Himself in the destruction of thenon-elect is not something that is easily grasped. The truths that fit into

this category don’t yield themselves to our minds as easily as othertruths.

I say all of this as a sort of preface to one of Edwards’ lesserknown sermons in which he does endeavor to bring such truths to light.He was always masterful in thinking along lines of thought that most of us could never reach. And because of that, he was able to communicatethose trains of thought to us. A simple reading of them will make usaverage pastors, theologians, and Christians feel really dumb!

Edwards argued in this sermon that God uses the wicked (or the

unfruitful, as he also calls them in this sermon) to glorify His justice andmajesty. I’m willing to bet that the points he makes below are not somuch difficult to understand as they are tough to swallow. Pray hard asyou read so that your heart would bend toward these truths.

“Unfruitful persons are of use in their destruction for theglory of God’s justice. The vindictive justice of God is aglorious attribute, as well as his mercy; and the glory of thisattribute appears in the everlasting destruction and ruin of the barren and unfruitful. The glory of divine justice in theperdition of ungodly men, appears wonderful and glorious in

the eyes of the saints and angels in heaven…

“Unfruitful persons in their destruction are of use for God toglorify his majesty upon them. The awful majesty of Godremarkably appears in those dreadful and amazingpunishments which he inflicts on those who rise up againsthim…God glorifies his own majesty in the destruction of wicked men; and herein he appears infinitely great, in that it



appears to be an infinitely dreadful thing to offend him.How awful doth the majesty of God appear in thedreadfulness of his anger! This we may learn to be the endof the damnation of the wicked, from Rom. ix.22.”9

I may not understand it, and I may not agree with it. But I, beinga human, may not talk back to God questioning with my finite ‘why’s’and ‘wherefore’s’. That is simply not allowable. Herein, then, is thebiblical truth, reasoning and motivation behind double-predestination –God’s glory. Go with me to the next chapter for a survey of this gloriousdoctrine.

99 “The Wicked Useful in their Destruction Only” in The Works of JonathanEdwards, Volume Two (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1992), p. 127. AS with anyquote that is especially hard to swallow, the reader is encouraged to go back and readthe sermon in its entirety. It can also be obtained online through Bible Bulletin Boardat the following link: www.biblebb.com/files/edwards/JE-destruction.html.

double double, toil & trouble: part 3 - chapter 12 - why god doubly predestines

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