The primary purpose for the preaching
of the gospel is to declare the glory of the blessed God. The Lord would demonstrate His
glory in the revelation of His goodness, and the fashion which
He has chosen to demonstrate that glory is in the unfolding
of the redemption of that people which He has loved with an everlasting
love and chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the
world. These are those people whom He describes as His elect,
His bride, and those to whom He will show mercy. The whole
Bible, which is the written manifestation of the Word of God, has this
redemption as its theme from beginning to end. The primary
character and subject of this saga is the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the Redeemer, the One who is the very image of the
Eternal God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace. There is no prophecy which does
not have its fulfillment in the bringing in of this redemption
by Him. There is no exhortation given
in its pages which does not point to Christ's righteousness, nor
is there any law which is not completely obeyed by Him, who
did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth, when He walked
among men as the Savior of sinners and the substitute of the hopeless.
Every word which He spoke is true, and He is the possessor
and inheritor of every promise that has been made therein. He
is the sole designer of all events, and nothing occurs in all of
the creation which does not fulfill His purpose. He makes no apology
for this orchestration of all things, nor is He reluctant to
rightfully take all glory to Himself. Is it any wonder that
those creatures which surround His throne cease not day and
night to cry, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and
is and is to come? He is that one before whom the
heavens and the earth shall fall in worship, as we read in Revelation
15, 3 through 4. And they sing the song of Moses,
the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and
marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are
thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord,
and glorify thy name? For thou only art holy. For all
nations shall come and worship before thee, for thy judgments
are made manifest. So in order to make his glory
known, he has ordained that the everlasting gospel be preached
unto every creature which is upon the earth. The same word
which manifests the just condemnation of the enemies of God is also
that which is used to make manifest those who are the objects of
his sovereign mercy. The Lord makes a difference between
those who are his people and those who are not by giving his
elect spiritual life by the new birth and the indwelling of his
Spirit in them. Thus they are made new creatures. The naturally religious man concludes
that he is able to make himself acceptable to God by the activities
of his religion and his obedience to its precepts. While this sounds
reasonable to the flesh, it is the exact error that abides in
those whom the scripture describes as ignorant of God's righteousness
because they seek to establish their own. This has been evident
in men from the beginning as we see Adam and Eve covering
themselves with fig leaves and Cain bringing an offering to
God of his own labor. The Lord's people would continue
in this same line of thought were it not that His quickening
Spirit did reveal to them their utterly lost and hopeless estate
before God. The result of this quickening
is that they are made acutely aware of their spiritual poverty
in themselves and to fear the death which envelops them by
nature. Thus the preaching of the gospel
to those who are quickened by the Spirit is a sweet message
of comfort. and the declaration of the righteousness
of Christ is of great satisfaction to their weary souls. The dead
cannot know that they are dead, and thus have no compulsion to
call upon the name of the Lord. The living cry out, Lord, to
whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. Email us at 4the4 at windstream
dot net.