Saturday, June 4, 2011

The Holiness of God as Our Assurance that Evil and Corruption Will Be Eradicated Soon

There may be others but I could only think of three reasons why political leaders fail to eradicate graft and corruption:

1. Lack of political Will
 

2. Limitation in power-- corruption is deeply embeded in the system that it takes absolute power to eradicate it.
 

3. The political leaders themselves are wicked-- Ironically, if you fill what is lacking in #2-- that is if you grant absolute power to a political leader to enable him to fight corruption, he might turn out to be the problem himself. Remember the maxim, "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

In God's kingdom, the three things mentioned above doesn't exist.

1st, God rules with perfect political will. He says "Surely, as I have planned, so will it be; As I have puposed, it will stand" (Isa. 14:24)

2nd, God is unlimited in power. It is written, "For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, who can turn it back?"

3rd, the maxim stated above doesn't apply to God. His absolute power will not corrupt him because God is light and in him there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). There will never be an iota of dirt in the character of God. He alone can combine absolute power with absolute holiness.

Since the three problems in human governments are absent in God's rule, evil and corruption will not exist in the King's abode.

1 Cor. 6:9-10 "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God."
 

"Woe is me! Will I be outside the gate?"

When I was a university student, there was a sign I see daily. It was posted at the gate: No ID, No Entry. What is required for us to enter God's abode is perfect righteousness. The heavenly policy is: No Perfect righteousness, No Entry

Revelation 21:27 "Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful..."

We also know that none among us possesses this requirement. Romans 3:10 "There is no one righteous, not even one"

Will we be then outside the gate?

The complete Revelation 21:27 reads "Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life."

Though many will not be able to enter in, the Lamb keeps a book of names-- names of those who will be richly welcomed in God's dwelling place. I list here three aspects of what the Lamb has secured when he was sacrificed at the cross:

1. By the Lamb's sacrifice, believers were made POSITIONALLY holy. That is they are not actually holy, but "God justifies the wicked" (Romans 4:5) as they receive by faith what Christ did for them at the cross. In theological jargon, this is JUSTIFICATION.

2. By the Lamb's sacrifice, believers are PROGRESSIVELY being made holy. Here we are "being transformed into his likeness" (2 Cor. 3:18). In theological jargon, this is SANCTIFICATION. Believers will be excited to enter heaven because they have experienced the joys of holy living here on earth.

3. By the Lamb's sacrifice, we will be made INSTANTLY holy. 1 John 3:2 says that when Christ appears the second time, we will be like him. Because God is holy, he will not leave those whom he loved in their sinful state. When time ends and eternity begins, there will not even be a hint of sin on the present bad boy Manny. In theological jargon, this is GLORIFICATION.

So we should be glad that this dreaded holiness of God is our assurance that our future dwelling place will be free from all evil and corruption-- including the evil and corruption presently in us.
 

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