The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)   Before Christ could become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep, He first had to become the spotless Lamb of God. Under the Old Covenant, a lamb without blemish had to be sacrificed during the Feast of Passover (Exodus 12:1–14). The Feast of Passover symbolized God’s sacrifice of His Son for the sin of the world, which is why John ref

If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming. (1 Corinthians 15:19-23)   In the passage above,

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, (Hebrews 12:22-23)   In the passage above, the apostle Paul identifies three categories of God’s creation that currently reside in heaven: the angels, the saints (the church), and the spirits of just men

His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother did not know it; (Luke 2:41-43)   We have noted that there is an age at which children reach a point where God deems them to have knowledge of good and evil and therefore holds them account

I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. (Romans 7:9-11)   In this section, we will discuss what happens to children when they die. In the previous section, we established that New Testament saints—being born again during their lifetime—go straight to heaven when they die. To answe

"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwellings; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. (John 14:1-3)   We have already seen that the saints in heaven are asleep. It is therefore self-evident that when new saints arrive there, the family members who pr

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:1-2)   Another important truth to consider is the perfect knowledge that the saints possess in heaven. To understand this concept, we mus

Colossians 1:13 “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.”   Once we are born-again we are no longer under the sway of the wicked one, and once again we can exercise our free will as God intended. In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul teaches us that we have been delivered from Satan’s kingdom, and that he no longer has any power over us. In fact the exact opposite occur

1 John 5:19 “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.”       When Adam rebelled against God by listening to the devil, he in effect changed allegiance and submitted himself to Satan as his new god, and so at that time Satan became the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4). When Satan tempted our Lord in the wilderness he stated that he had authority over all the kingdoms of the world. He then tempted our Lord by offering Him all

Luke 11:2 “So He said to them, "When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”   We have already looked at the above quoted passage of scripture when we discussed the difference between God’s perfect and His permissible will, and we saw that the Lord Jesus was teaching us in this passage that we were to pray that God’s perfect will would be done on the earth. And so this passage reveals to u

Ephesians 1:11 “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.”      We have seen thus far the clear biblical truth that God predestines our lives, and we have also seen the clear biblical truth that God has given mankind a free will. So how do we reconcile these two biblical truths that seemingly contradict each other, i.e. the will of God prevailing in the affairs of

Ephesians 1:11 “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.”     In a previous section we have seen the very clear biblical truth that God predestines the lives of His creations based on His foreknowledge of them. So does this mean that God predestines every aspect of our lives? The answer to that question is no, for in the above quoted passage of scripture the apostl

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”     There is one more aspect regarding the will of God that I must mention, which is God’s will regarding His saints. We have already seen that God has His perfect will and that He has His permissible will. We have also already established that based on God’s foreknowledge of His saints that He predestines them for salvation. But it d

Romans 8:29 “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”      We have seen thus far that God has His perfect will for mankind but that He also has His permissible will for man. We have also seen that God is all knowing and that because He is God His will prevails in His creation. So how does God’s will prevail among men, even though most men choose not to walk in God’s perfect will fo

Isaiah 46:9-10 “For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, (10) Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, 'My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure.”     In order for us to understand how God’s will interacts with the free will of man we need to have a clearer understanding of how God governs His creation, for if we do not rightly divide the word of truth in this area it can s

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, (5) casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”   The fourth part of man we will discuss is how our mind influences our will. In all instances, our spirit, our conscience and our body, through our minds influence the decisions we make, for each pa

Romans 2:14-15 “for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, (15) who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them.”   So what is the function of the will of man? Someone once said that our will is our “decider”, and that term is very descriptive of what our will is, for

1 Thessalonians 5:23 “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”   There are three major components to the make up of mankind, and the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul lists those three components for us in the above quoted passage of scripture, which is the spirit, the soul and the body. The body is the outward man while the spirit and the soul are th

Numbers 22:28-30 “Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?"  (29)  And Balaam said to the donkey, "Because you have abused me. I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you!"  (30)  So, the donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden, ever since I became yours, to this day? Was I ever disposed to do this to you?" And he said, "No.”    Th

Hebrews 1:7 “And of the angels He says: "Who makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flame of fire.”   Scripture reveals to us three classes of beings that God has created. He has created angelic beings. He has created the living creatures on the earth. And He has created man. Angels were the first of God’s creations, and part of their make up is a free will given to them by God. So why did God give His angels free will? God has done that so that they can, as an act of t

Romans 5:14 “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.”     Many teach the error that mankind fell when Adam sinned, and that God had to then come up with a plan to restore man to where he was before. And so in response to the fall of man God came up with the plan of salvation. But that is not the truth at all, for God never intended that mank

1 Timothy 2:3-4 “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, (4) who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”     We have seen that God’s will in the earth has two facets to it, i.e. His perfect will and His permissible will. The question is then asked as to whether the salvation of mankind falls within God’s perfect or His permissible will for men. And so in this section we will answer that question by looking at what scri

Luke 11:2 “So He said to them, "When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”   The context of the above quoted passage of scripture is that the Lord’s disciples had asked Him to teach them how to pray. And so in response to their request we have recorded in scripture the passage that is very often referred to as the Lord’s Prayer. In this prayer our Lord gave us some insight into the will o

Romans 12:2 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”   Although this series is about the will of man nevertheless we will see that man’s will is completely interlinked with the will of God. And so it is for that reason that it is impossible to understand how the will of man functions unless we have some insight into the will of God as well, which is w