Yes, above all else it is God's love for his people that actually saves us! His love moves him, compels him, causes him to save all those upon whom he has set his affections in eternity.
This morning, I spent some devotional time in Psalm 10. This psalm describes the wicked and their victims. The wicked are portrayed with the third person personal pronoun "he". "He boasts..." (v.3), "He says to himself..." (v.6), "He lies in wait...", etc. The third person possessive pronoun is also used to describe "his arrogance" (v.2), "in all his thoughts..." (v.4), "His ways are always..." (v. 5), "His mouth is full of curses...", etc.
Conversely, the victims of the wicked are portrayed as "the weak" (v.2), "who are caught in the schemes" of the wicked (v.2), as "enemies" of the wicked (v. 5), as being the "innocent" (v.8), as being the "helpless" (v.9) etc.
Then the Lord tuned a light bulb on in my mind. It occurred to me that there could be an even deeper spiritual meaning to this Psalm than I had heretofore ever realized. After all, all the "wicked" of this world are the seed of the Evil One -- the devil! So, ultimately all wicked humans are willingly doing the bidding of their spiritual father! And his will is that all God's people (his enemies) should be oppressed, abused, persecuted, murdered, afflicted, etc.
The "whole world" lies under the power of the evil one (1Jn 5:19), and he is leading the" whole world" astray (Rev 12:9) by blinding the minds of all unbelievers (2Cor 4:4). The "whole world", therefore, is as much under bondage today to Satan as the ancient Hebrews were to the devil's OT type (Pharaoh) in the Exodus. Neither group have "free" will! Neither had the power to extricate themselves from their horrendous situation. The problem in both cases was GOD-sized, not man-sized! Hence, in this New Covenant age God's chosen "firstborn" are also helpless (Rom 5:6) and in dire need of rescuing from the kingdom of darkness (Col 1:13).
Then these two verses in the Psalm struck a huge chord with me:
Ps 10:14-15
14 But you, O God, do see trouble and grief;
you consider it to take it in hand.
The victim commits himself to you;
you are the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break the arm of the wicked and evil man;
call him to account for his wickedness
that would not be found out.
NIV
It's noteworthy, I think, that scripture often talks about the "fatherless" but never to the "motherless". Could the "fatherless" in this passage also have deeper, spiritual meaning? Again, we know from scripture that the devil is the [spiritual] father of all his people (Gen 3:15; Jn 8:44). So, when the text says that God is "the helper of the fatherless", could these "fatherless" be the elect who were predestined in eternity to not have Satan as their spiritual father because, instead, they were predestined to become sons of Abraham by faith upon their new birth?
It's also interesting that the "victim" commits himself to God; and of course he does this by saving faith.
Just some food for thought... Satan plays a much, much larger part in God's redemptive plan of history than I think many in the Church today realize. He's the quintessential super villain in the plot -- a co-star even on the world stage in God's redemptive story that also has a huge sub-plot of Good vs. Evil. And once again, we can see this truth shine through in Natural Revelation since the Number One theme in books, movies and plays is good vs. evil. This is the most recurring theme in storytelling! Good guys, v.s bad guys. Heroes vs. villains, etc. And not only do we see this in the entertainment world, but on the world's political stage as well! On this stage we see the self-proclaimed wise, elite, good guys who know how to save the world vs. know-nothing, willfully ignorant rubes who are the bad guys always impeding the progress of the worldly wise.
This morning, I spent some devotional time in Psalm 10. This psalm describes the wicked and their victims. The wicked are portrayed with the third person personal pronoun "he". "He boasts..." (v.3), "He says to himself..." (v.6), "He lies in wait...", etc. The third person possessive pronoun is also used to describe "his arrogance" (v.2), "in all his thoughts..." (v.4), "His ways are always..." (v. 5), "His mouth is full of curses...", etc.
Conversely, the victims of the wicked are portrayed as "the weak" (v.2), "who are caught in the schemes" of the wicked (v.2), as "enemies" of the wicked (v. 5), as being the "innocent" (v.8), as being the "helpless" (v.9) etc.
Then the Lord tuned a light bulb on in my mind. It occurred to me that there could be an even deeper spiritual meaning to this Psalm than I had heretofore ever realized. After all, all the "wicked" of this world are the seed of the Evil One -- the devil! So, ultimately all wicked humans are willingly doing the bidding of their spiritual father! And his will is that all God's people (his enemies) should be oppressed, abused, persecuted, murdered, afflicted, etc.
The "whole world" lies under the power of the evil one (1Jn 5:19), and he is leading the" whole world" astray (Rev 12:9) by blinding the minds of all unbelievers (2Cor 4:4). The "whole world", therefore, is as much under bondage today to Satan as the ancient Hebrews were to the devil's OT type (Pharaoh) in the Exodus. Neither group have "free" will! Neither had the power to extricate themselves from their horrendous situation. The problem in both cases was GOD-sized, not man-sized! Hence, in this New Covenant age God's chosen "firstborn" are also helpless (Rom 5:6) and in dire need of rescuing from the kingdom of darkness (Col 1:13).
Then these two verses in the Psalm struck a huge chord with me:
Ps 10:14-15
14 But you, O God, do see trouble and grief;
you consider it to take it in hand.
The victim commits himself to you;
you are the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break the arm of the wicked and evil man;
call him to account for his wickedness
that would not be found out.
NIV
It's noteworthy, I think, that scripture often talks about the "fatherless" but never to the "motherless". Could the "fatherless" in this passage also have deeper, spiritual meaning? Again, we know from scripture that the devil is the [spiritual] father of all his people (Gen 3:15; Jn 8:44). So, when the text says that God is "the helper of the fatherless", could these "fatherless" be the elect who were predestined in eternity to not have Satan as their spiritual father because, instead, they were predestined to become sons of Abraham by faith upon their new birth?
It's also interesting that the "victim" commits himself to God; and of course he does this by saving faith.
Just some food for thought... Satan plays a much, much larger part in God's redemptive plan of history than I think many in the Church today realize. He's the quintessential super villain in the plot -- a co-star even on the world stage in God's redemptive story that also has a huge sub-plot of Good vs. Evil. And once again, we can see this truth shine through in Natural Revelation since the Number One theme in books, movies and plays is good vs. evil. This is the most recurring theme in storytelling! Good guys, v.s bad guys. Heroes vs. villains, etc. And not only do we see this in the entertainment world, but on the world's political stage as well! On this stage we see the self-proclaimed wise, elite, good guys who know how to save the world vs. know-nothing, willfully ignorant rubes who are the bad guys always impeding the progress of the worldly wise.
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