It is a feature of God's dealings with men that He confirms the
degree of spiritual success or failure which we achieve or aim for
by our own freewill effort. Thus we read nine times that Pharaoh
hardened his own heart; but ten times that God hardened his heart.
Similarly, God adds iniquity unto the iniquity of those who wilfully
sin (Ps. 69:27; Rev. 22:18). Conversely God imputes righteousness,
adding His own righteous characteristics to us, in response to our
faith. This is the key idea of 'justification by faith', being counted
righteous although personally we are not. The briefest reading of
the Gospels will likewise reveal that people were both attracted
to and repulsed from Jesus at the same time. In keeping with this,
there is ample indication in Scripture of there being an upward
spiral in our spiritual development, epitomized by the principle,
" he that hath, to him shall be given" (Mt. 13:12). This
theme is repeated elsewhere:
- Dt. 4:2 tells us that the exact nature of God's requirements
and commandments is designed to enable His people to yield obedience:
" Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither
shall ye diminish ought from it, that (i.e. in order that) ye
may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command
you" . This would explain David's desire to have God's requirements
and commands revealed to him more fully. Contrary to thinking
'I can't keep the commandments I know, so don't reveal any more
to me', he actively sought to know God's expectations of him:
" I have sought Thy precepts...give me understanding, that
I may know Thy testimonies...I panted: for I longed for Thy commandments...hide
not Thy commandments from me...I shall not be ashamed when I have
respect unto all Thy commandments. I will praise Thee with uprightness
of heart when I shall have learned Thy righteous judgments"
(Ps. 119). Thus David sought to know more of God's requirements
because they are designed to help us be more obedient to all of
them in toto.
- This theme is often found in Ps. 119. David inclined his own
heart to be obedient to the word (:112), but God inclined his
heart that way in response (:36). David’s meditation on the law
gave him understanding (:99), but he was given understanding by
God (:34). He kept his feet in the way of God’s word (:101), but
God made him walk in that path (:35).
- Dt. 12:28 " Observe and hear all these words...that it
may go well with thee...when thou doest that which is good and
right" , as if to say 'When you are obedient, you will be
even more obedient'. " Ye shall therefore keep my statutes,
and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall even live in them"
(Lev. 18:5) seems to mean that if we seriously try to be obedient,
then obedience becomes a way of daily life, and the individual
acts of obedience are not so difficult. This was undoubtedly the
Lord's source of victory over the flesh. He lived a life that
was in harmony with an atmosphere of obedience.
- Rom. 6:19 speaks of how the ever increasing downward spiral
of obedience to sin is turned round at baptism, so that we begin
an upward spiral of obedience to righteousness. God does good
unto those that are good, but leads those who turn aside even
further astray (Ps. 125:4,5).
- " Let patience have her perfect work...let brotherly love
continue" sound as if we must allow the process of righteousness
inspired by spiritual acts of love and patience. We can obstruct
that process (James 1:4; Heb. 13:1). One aspect of spirituality
leads to another. Thus the Lord commends the one who is watching
for His coming, and then speaks of how those who are to be accepted
at His coming are those busy preparing spiritual food for their
brethren (Lk. 12:39,42). The implication is that he who is watching,
truly watching, for the return will be busy about the brotherhood’s
needs.
- Jn. 3:21: " He that doeth Truth (i.e. obeys the word,
Jn. 17:17) cometh to the light" (the word, Ps. 119:105).
Again, obedience to the word leads to more understanding of it.
- The book of Proverbs is a good example of spiritual knowledge
creating even more. The purpose of the Proverbs is to enable us
" to perceive the words of understanding" (1:2); the
words of the Proverbs make one more sensitive to other "
words of understanding" . The Proverbs themselves were given
in order that men might be able to " understand a (i.e. another)
proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their
dark sayings " (1:6). Therefore " A wise man will hear,
and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain
unto wise counsels" (1:5). " Righteousness keepeth him
that is (already) upright in the way" (Prov. 13:6). “Give
instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser…the words
of my mouth…are all plain to him that [already] understandeth”
(Prov. 9:9; 8:9). If, as suggested earlier, Proverbs is a commentary
on the Law, then we can see why the book opens by explaining that
its purpose is to allow greater perception of other parts of the
word. The very experience of wisdom and obedience creates a sweet
palate for it, as eating honey does (Prov. 24:13,14 LXX). The
man of knowledge “increaseth [Heb. ‘confirms / adds to’] strength”
(Prov. 24:5).
- Moses seemed to realize all this when he asked for a deeper
revelation of God: " If I have found grace in Thy sight,
show me now Thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace
in Thy sight" (Ex. 33:13). He already knew God, he already
had found grace before Him; but he asks to be taken up to a higher
level on the basis of what he has already been shown.
- “The Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward
another...to the end He may establish your hearts” (1 Thess. 3:12,13)
gives an insight into the upward spiral of development which the
Lord wishes us to partake in. It’s quite a theme in 1 Thessalonians:
“abound more and more…increase more and more” (4:1,10).
- Faith is perfected / matured by the process of works (James
2:22,23). The works, the upward spiral of a life lived on the
basis of faith, develop the initial belief in practice. Thus Abraham
believed God in Gen. 15, but the works of Gen. 22 [offering Isaac]
made that faith “perfect”.
- Jn. 8:47: " He that is of God (by being born of the word,
1 Pet. 1:23) heareth God's words" summarizes this theme.
In the same discourse the Lord reasoned " If ye continue
in my word...ye shall know the truth (the word- Jn. 17:17)"
(Jn. 8:31,32).
- Through his correct response to the early promises given him,
Abraham was imputed “the righteousness of faith”. But on account
of that faith inspired by the earlier promises, he was given
“the promies that he should be heir of the world” (Rom. 4:13).
That promise in turn inspired yet more faith. In this same context,
Paul had spoken of how the Gospel preached to Abraham in the promises
leads men “from faith to faith”, up the upward spiral (Rom. 1:17).
- Zech. 11:11 says that the righteous remnant who were already
responsive to the prophetic word spoken by Zechariah, would have
their strength and belief confirmed by Zechariah's prophecy of
the broken staff (Zech. 11:11 cp. Is. 14:32; Zeph. 3:12). The
Jews returned from Babylon to the land of their own volition;
but it was Yahweh who gathered them back (Ps. 147:2),
as if He called them almost of His volition rather than
theirs. They rebuilt Jerusalem; but actually, Yahweh did, through
His confirmation of all the freewill effort of men like Ezra and
Nehemiah (Ps. 147:2).
- David mentions God's giving of the Law to Israel as an assurance
of His forgiveness of them, a sign of His love to them despite
their sins (Ps. 103:7)- indicating that the more righteous we
are, i.e. obedient to the word, the more the word will be revealed
to us?
- Paul heard of the spiritual development of the Ephesians (1:15-19),
therefore he prayed that God would grant them more knowledge and
understanding (v.16,17). The dynamic in this Divine confirmation
of their freewill effort was God's Spirit power. Paul
repeats the prayer in Eph. 3:14-21: " ...be strengthened
with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that...(ye) may be
able to comprehend...to know...to be filled with all
the fullness of God" . It is thus by God's Spirit word acting
on our " inner man" that this greater comprehension
of our glorious calling is achieved. He tells them later to be
" renewed in the spirit of your mind" (Eph. 4:23), alluding
to the Ezekiel passages which speak not only of Israel making
themselves a new heart / spirit / mind, but of God giving
this to them (Ez. 18:11; 36:26), in confirmation of their efforts.
There are examples galore of God acting on the minds of men to
give them a certain attitude which they would not otherwise have
had (consider how He gave Saul another heart, or gave Israel favour
in the eyes of the Egyptians so that they lent to them, Ex. 12:36).
- " Every one that is of the truth (born of the word- Jn.
17:17; 1 Pet. 1:23) heareth My voice" (Jn. 18:37)- a response
to the word makes us all the more sensitive to the shepherd's
voice in future.
- " Then shall we know, if we follow on (an intense Hebrew
verb with the implication of hunting / persecuting) to know the
Lord...(because) He shall come (down) unto us as...the latter
and former rain unto the earth" (Hos. 6:3). Thus the Spirit/word
blessing (the rain) of knowing God would come on the people ("
the earth" ) if they zealously desired to know the Lord.
Similarly in Hos. 10:12: " Break up your fallow ground...seek
the Lord (then) He will come and rain (imputed) righteousness
upon you" . Note how the hard effort to desire the knowledge
of God is required first. The Lord's sower parable interprets
the breaking up of the ground as a preparation of our hearts by
our own freewill to respond correctly to the word.
- 2 Pet. 1:5-9 speaks of " knowledge, temperance...charity...if
these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall
neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ... and (can) see afar off" - i.e. the correct
application of knowledge in practical terms leads to being even
more fruitful and having even greater knowledge and spiritual
vision. The RV reads: “In your faith supply virtue, and in your
virtue knowledge”; and the Greek defintely means that we should
develop one virtue through the exercise of another. Strength leads
to strength.
- The Hebrews failed to break into this upward spiral because
they were " dull of hearing" the word (Heb. 5:11). The
Greek word for " dull" implies 'lazy', and yet comes
from the same root as the Greek for 'bastard' ('nothros'
cp. 'nothos'). Thus because they were not being properly
born again by the word of the Gospel they were unable, in subsequent
spiritual life, to receive the real power of the word.
- In the final conflict between Israel and her enemies, God's
confirmation of men will be clearly seen. The Gentile nations
will be gathered to make the final invasion by the Lord's evil
spirits confirming their evil spirit, whilst the repentant remnant
of Israel will be confirmed in their regrets by having "
the spirit of grace and supplications" poured on them (Zech.
12:10), i.e. a desire and ability to powerfully supplicate the
Father for forgiveness. If men wish to turn from their sins, God
will turn them. Thus " the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and
unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob" (Is. 59:20)
is changed by the Spirit into: " There shall come out of
Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob"
(Rom. 11:26). Those who turn from sin are turned from sin by the
Lord. The blessing promised to Abraham was not only forgiveness
of sins, but that the Lord Jesus would turn away Abraham's
seed from their iniquities (Acts 3:26). Yet we only become Abraham's
seed by repentance and baptism. Our repentance and desire not
to sin is therefore confirmed after our baptism.
- The Lord commented on the various types who heard John's preaching.
Finally He addressed Himself to those few who had truly perceived
His message: " But what went ye out for to see?
A prophet? Yea, I say unto you...verily I say unto you..."
(Mt. 11:9,11); it was to those who perceived that John was speaking
God's words, who were impressed by that more than anything else,
to whom Christ gave a fuller exposition of John's purpose. Thus
He concluded: " If ye will receive it...he that hath ears
to hear, let him hear" (Mt. 11:14,15), stressing
the same principle that if any had that initial disposition
towards the real spirit of the word, then they should take careful
note of the additional help He was therefore offering them. It
would seem that the Lord taught the crowds with parables, and
then those who came to hear Him early in the morning, or in a
private house, or high in the mountains- these were the ones whom
He took further up the spiral of knowing Him.
- " Do not my words do good to him that (already)
walketh uprightly?" (Mic. 2:7). The power of the word will
only strengthen those who are already disposed to obey it. These
words of Mic. 2:7 are in response to the Jews' query: " Is
the Spirit of the Lord straitened?" . The answer was that
God will only use His Spirit/ word to do good to those who live
a word-guided life.
- If we stay as babes, taking only milk, we will be unable to
discern good and evil (Heb. 5). The idea is that as a baby will
put anything in its mouth, so does the immature convert. Those
who don’t mature on from the milk of the word run the risk of
poisoning their spirituality. The drive to maturity isn’t optional;
if we lack it, our spiritual health will suffer. And by contrast,
the more we grow, the more we will be able to discern what is
harmful and what is nutritious.
- When a [Jewish] man turns to the Lord Jesus, the veil of obedience
to the Law is taken away (2 Cor. 3:16 RVmg.). Yet the Law also
led men to Christ; and yet it also veils Him from them- depending
whether they read it as God intended.
- Israel would be provided with more cities of refuge if they
were obedient (Dt. 19:9); the way of escape from sin would become
easier.
- Visiting the fatherless and widows will result in the believer
keeping himself unspotted from the world (James 1:27 Gk.).
- The Lord
castigated the audiences of John the Baptist, that they did not
“repent, that ye might believe” (Mt. 21:32). Repentance would lead
to faith… and yet it is faith which leads to repentance. The two
things work together to form an upward spiral of growth.
- Paul asked Titus to visit the Corinthians. He himself "
of his own accord" decided to visit them. But God put the
idea in the heart of Titus (2 Cor. 8:6,16,17). The freewill desire
of Titus was confirmed by the hand of God operating on the heart
of Titus. It could be argued that it was God who put the idea
there in the first place, foreknowing that of Titus's " own
accord" he would wish to do this work.
- Rom. 6:19-23 makes the contrast between how serving sin leads
to ever increasing sin, whilst serving Christ results in ever
increasing righteousness. We are all too aware of the upward (downward!)
spiral of sin- we well know the feeling of losing our spiritual
grip for an hour, day or week, and sensing how sin is ever increasing
its hold over us. But by our union with Christ in baptism it is
quite possible, indeed intended, that we should get into an upward
spiral of obedience, in which one spiritual victory leads to another.
- We bear spiritual fruit by God's word abiding in us. If this
happens, then God will purge (clean) us through His word so that
we will bear more fruit (Jn. 15:27; Eph. 5:26). Thus response
to God's word leads to that word being even more powerful to us.-
Paul taught Timothy that by nourishing others with good teaching,
he would himself be “nourished up in the words of faith” (1 Tim.
4:6). Caring for others on whatever level is what stimulates an
upward spiral in our personal spiritual growth.
- We either depart from the faith (1 Tim. 4:1; Heb. 3:12), or
we depart from iniquity (2 Tim. 2:19, 22; 1 Tim. 6:5). We’re always
moving in one direction or the other.
2 Pet. 1:5-9 speaks of " knowledge, temperance...charity...if
these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither
be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ...
and (can) see afar off" - i.e. the correct application of knowledge
in practical terms leads to being even more fruitful and having
even greater knowledge and spiritual vision. The RV reads: “In your
faith supply virtue, and in your virtue knowledge”; and the Greek
defintely means that we should develop one virtue through the exercise
of another. Strength leads to strength. “Faith is wrought by love”
(Gal. 5:6 RVmg.) in that the fruits of the Spirit reinforce each
other in an upward spiral. Following through Paul’s reasoning in
Rom. 15:9-13, he seems to be saying that “hope” (RV) leads to joyful
praising, which in turn leads to hope and trust. It’s an upward
spiral, a positive circle. And each of those fruits of the Spirit
become more gripping upon us the more we develop them. If we are
“rooted and grounded in love”, then we come to appreciate yet more
“the love of Christ” (Eph. 3:17,18). And indeed all spiritual endeavour
leads to the Lord inviting us deeper into that endeavour; thus it
was as Barnabus and Paul went about their ministering to
the Lord that they were invited to go on a missionary journey (Acts
13:2). Likewise it was as the Levites were in process of
collecting funds for repairing the temple, that they found the book
of the law- perhaps because they needed more space in which to store
the donations, and whilst making space they found the scroll (2
Chron. 34:14). In the process of being a deacon, faith is developed
(1 Tim. 3:13). The very process of service and obedience leads to
greater faith in practice. It was whilst Zacharias went
about his service to the Lord that we was given the news that he
would finally have a son (Lk. 1:8). And we all find this true. As
we enter more deeply and more passionately into the things of the
Lord, so He leads us further into new understandings and fresh areas
of endeavour. Faith without works is “barren” (James 2:20 RV)- the
implication being that if we do the works which our beliefs elicit
from us, yet more creative fruit is brought forth. And James goes
straight on to speak of Abraham offering Isaac (James 2:21)- as
if to say that Abraham and Sarah’s ‘barrenness’ was overcome by
their faith, and this led them to the ‘opportunity’ to show yet
more faith in being prepared to offer Isaac.
He who fears the Lord, “him shall he teach in the way that he [God]
shall choose” (Ps. 25:12). The Father opens up new ways of understanding
for us each, of His chosing and according to our individual needs,
in response to our living a God-fearing life. If our hearts are
knit together in brotherly love, the more we will understand- for
true understanding is, in the end, to fathom the depths of God’s
love (Col. 2:2).
Phil. 1:9,10 gives more insight into what exactly goes on in the
upward spiral. Our love abounds more and more through “discernment,
so that ye may prove the things that differ” (RVmg.). We grow by
being given different situations to respond to, in order to develop
our judgment- what Eph. 5:10 calls “proving what is acceptable unto
the Lord”. By reason of use our spiritual senses are exercised to
discern good and evil (Heb. 5:14). This is why, be it in church
or family or deeply personal life, our consciences are constantly
being probed and exercised by the situations which Providence leads
us into. And thus we grow in sensing more keenly right and wrong,
more victoriously overcoming all the temptations whose strength
lies in the fact that in the heat of the moment we waver as to what
is right and wrong… and the end result of this increased and heightened
discernment, Paul says, is a love which abounds “yet more and more”
(Phil. 1:9).
We’re familiar with the references to God hardening the heart
of Pharaoh (Ex. 14:8 etc.). However, the same Hebrew words occur
in a positive context- for God also hardens or strengthens the hearts
of the righteous (Ps. 27:14; Is. 35:4). Indeed, Is. 35:4 speaks
of how the righteous shouldn’t have a weak or [Heb.] ‘fluid’
heart, but rather a hardened one. Clearly enough, God solidifies
human attitudes, one way or the other. This is a sobering thought-
for He is prepared to confirm a person in their weak thinking. But
on the other hand, even the weakest basic intention towards righteousness
is solidified by Him too.
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