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ISAIAH'S DOCTRINE OF PREDESTINATION
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| Is there an independent force in the universe which controls whatsoever comes to pass without God's approval? How did this independent force come into being? | If this force was created by God, then it must be doing what God intended it to do when He created it. If God did not create it, then we should find out Who did, for then we will have found the Creator we ought to be worshiping. |
Let's go back a few years before Isaiah's time and imagine this new god creating Assyria. Some who deny Isaiah's doctrine of predestination will affirm their god's "foreknowledge," i.e., that their god does not predestine things to happen, but nevertheless knows what will happen by virtue of his/her/its omniscience, or ability to see into the future. Since Assyria did in fact murder and destroy in Israel, what was it like when this new god — this god of the 20th century (which is so much better than Isaiah's God) — created the Assyrians? Let's listen to his/her/its thoughts as he/she/it undergoes "the creative process":
| Hmmm.... I think
I'll create some people to live in Assyria.
Uh oh, on second thought, I guess I better not. My foreknowledge is telling me that these Assyrians will conscript an Army that would destroy Israel. (I can just hear Isaiah now!) (Although, come to think of it, that might not be such a bad idea; I wasn't too pleased to learn by foreknowledge that My "chosen people" were going to rebel against Me and start worshiping that big dick-head "Baal."[1] But if I create a bunch of Assyrians knowing that they are going to murder those faithless Jews, people might accuse me of "predestination." Or even "anti-Semitism!" Whoa; can't have that.) What?! Oh NO!! I'm starting to create!
Not again!! Why does this happen to Me? I don't want to
create Assyrians which will kill and rape! But I foreknow that
that's what's going to happen! Oh no! Here it comes! [Ugh!] I
can't believe it: I'm creating AGAIN!!! god damn it! [2] |
[1]
"Baal was a phallic, pagan god.
[2] As a Calvinist, I've always been fascinated (and angered) by the use of this phrase by anti-predestinarian atheists. |
Needless to say, this is not the God of Isaiah. This is not the God of the Scriptures endorsed and defended by Jesus. The God of the Bible deliberately created Assyria, giving it its assignment. Just as God created Pharaoh (Romans 9:6-29).
We love it when Isaiah says God is going to bring peace. We love it when Isaiah says God is on our side and is working to guarantee that our ideals will triumph. And the more certain Isaiah sounds, the better we feel about it. One prophecy has moved many to direct action against deadly militarism:
Isaiah 2:1-5
The Word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
{2} And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
{3} And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
{4} And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
{5} O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.
This is Isaiah's confident declaration of the coming Prince of Peace (9:6), born of a virgin (7:14), Whose reign will extend across the globe (chapter 11). Confidence is the key word here: "It SHALL come to pass!"
But it isn't over until the Assyrian lady sings.
Isaiah 10:5-19
O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. {6} I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. {7} Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few. {8} For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings? {9} Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus? {10} As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria: {11} Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols? {12} Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. {13} For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man: {14} And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped. {15} Shall the ax boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood. {16} Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. {17} And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day; {18} And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standardbearer fainteth. {19} And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.
Just as surely as God will send His Messiah, Isaiah says He will also send a violent, rapacious army to destroy those who oppose the Prince of Peace.
We may not understand all of this. But the only alternative to the God of Isaiah is a god created in our own image. Such a god has no more of a connection with reality than the god of George Bush.
Let's not pick and choose in the Bible. Let's ask God for faith and wisdom to believe Jesus and the Prophets.
God Predestines Evil: Why Calvinists are Anarchists
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