29 | December | 2013 | For What Saith the Scriptures?

WHAT WAS GOD DOING BEFORE CREATION? WAS HE NOT “BOReD” WITHOUT ANGELS, ANIMALS, AND HUMANS TO WATCH?

by Shawn Brasseaux

God has always existed, and He will always exist. Imagine that! Read it again. God has always existed, and He will always exist. We cannot begin to imagine such a concept, but we take it by faith because the Bible testifies this to be true.

Everyone knows Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Yet, the question often arises, “What was God doing before creation?” Was God bored without the angels and man? Besides God, nothing existed. No angels, no people, no animals, nothing. So, was God “bored?” No, He was not bored. Why? The doctrine of the Trinity answers this question. Although we cannot give a detailed answer, we can grasp a better understanding of what God was doing before creation.

God exists in three Persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—but He exists in one “Godhead” (see Acts 17:29 KJV, Romans 1:20 KJV, and Colossians 2:9 KJV). For instance, Jesus said in John 10:30: “I and my Father are one.” The Lord Jesus and God the Father are separate Persons, yet they are one God. Speaking of Jesus Christ, the Bible says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). There are many references in the Bible to the Godhead, but here are the three most obvious:

Matthew 28:19: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:”
2 Corinthians 13:14: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.”
1 John 5:7 KJV*: “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.” (*Unfortunately, 1 John 5:7 is omitted from many modern English Bibles.)

To get a brief glimpse of what God was doing before creation, we look at what the Lord Jesus Christ prayed to His Father in John chapter 17. Verse 5: “And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” What was before the creation of the world? The glory that God the Father and God the Son shared with each other! There was fellowship among the Persons of the Godhead: the Father and the Son shared glory. Let us continue reading in the Scriptures.

John 17:24 reads (Jesus still praying to His Father): “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.” What occurred between God the Father and God the Son before the foundation (or the creation) of the world? Love! The Father loved the Son, and the Son loved the Father. The Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Godhead, was there to witness the love between God the Father and God the Son!

Also, we can also add that before the events of Genesis 1:1, the triune God was “laying out blueprints” for the timeline of human history. For instance, Ephesians 1:4 reads: “According as he [God the Father] hath chosen us in him [Christ Jesus] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.” What was God doing before creation? He was choosing His servants, people who would serve Him—us, members of the Church Body of Christ—and He was planning our role in human history and His plan for the ages. (Please take note that He was not selecting us for salvation [as Calvinism teaches], He was selecting us for service. God was determining our role as members of the Church the Body of Christ.)

In the eons of eternity past, prior to creation, God was also setting the stage for His own death, as we see what Peter says to the Jews in Acts 2:23: “[Jesus Christ] Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.” The triune God already knew and planned Christ’s First Advent and His crucifixion from the foundation of the world! He already knew He would have to die for man that would come on the scene later.

While it is possible we have not answered the question to your satisfaction, this is all the information God has chosen to reveal to us in His Word. It is not important to know what God was doing in eternity past; otherwise God would have gone into great detail about it in His Word. Anything beyond what we have discussed here from the Scriptures would simply be speculation, with no supporting Scripture.

Also see:
» Is the Trinity/Godhead a Biblical doctrine?
» Why did God create us? (LINK TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE)
» Does God really exist? (LINK TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE)

WHAT IS THE REAL MEANING OF REVELATION 3:20?

by Shawn Brasseaux

Revelation 3:20 is often quoted during “Gospel invitations.” Lost people are told that Jesus is knocking on their heart’s door, and they are urged to open the door and let Him come into their hearts and save them. Is that really what Revelation 3:20 is teaching? We will let the Bible be our final authority in that regard, and not promote denominational doctrine as though it were true.

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). As always, we look at the context so that we can understand a verse, lest we make the verse say something that it does not say. We will read from Revelation 3:

“[14] And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; [15] I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. [16] So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. [17] Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: [18] I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. [19] As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. [20] Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. [21] To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. [22] He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”

Revelation 3:20 has a context, and that verse is written to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans, Jewish believers who will endure the future seven-year Tribulation (verse 14). These Laodiceans are “lukewarm,” “neither cold nor hot” (verse 15,16): they are materialistic and their works displease God (verses 17,18). They are “straddling the fence,” so to speak; therefore, the Lord through the Apostle John admonishes these them, “be zealous therefore, and repent [change your thinking!]” (verse 19).

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock” is best understood when compared to James 5:8,9 (also written to Jews during the Tribulation): “[8] Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. [9] Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.” In the context of Revelation 3:20, Jesus Christ’s Second Coming is near, and God is warning these believing Jews to “get their act together” so they can be ready to accept their Messiah-King, and so their deeds and hearts (attitudes) are acceptable to Him (Matthew 23:42-51; Luke 19:12-27; Revelation 22:11-12; et cetera).

Return to the context of Revelation 3:20: “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne” (verse 21). This refers to believing Jews entering their earthly kingdom (which Christ will establish at His Second Coming). How plain! Revelation 3:20 belongs to Israel, not us.

So, Revelation 3:20 has nothing to do with salvation from sins and hell. It has nothing to do with “Jesus knocking at the door of a lost person’s heart” or “asking Jesus into your heart.” Contrariwise, it actually entails judgment!

Dispensational Bible study helps us understand Revelation 3:20 is not even talking to or about us anyway. First, John is its author (Revelation 1:4). John is not writing to us in the Dispensation of Grace; he is an apostle of Israel, writing to Jews in their kingdom program (Galatians 2:9). We need to leave Revelation 3:20 where it is in the Bible, and not rip it out of its context so that it promotes our denominational doctrine.

Also see:
» Must I walk an aisle to show I am saved?
» Must I confess my sins?
» Must I audibly confess “Jesus is Lord” in order to be saved? (LINK TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE)

arC Ministries' Bible Questions Answered from the Dispensationally-Delivered Scriptures