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— When Was Revelation Written?
— Does God Know Who Will Turn to Him?
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Yes, Brother Camping. One question I'd like to ask, or two. The first one is, was Revelation written when the Bible was complete as we know it today?
HC: Was Revelation written (that is, the book of Revelation) when the Bible was complete as we know it today? Based on the testimony of the Bible itself, we can know absolutely that the book of Revelation was written as the last book of the Bible, and the last chapter of the Bible would be Chapter 22. It was the last written Word of God. If anything else was written after that, whatever the nature of it may have been, no matter how holy it would have appeared to be, it would have to immediately be discounted as the Word of God because it would be in violation of Revelation 22.
For example, there are theologians who speculate (and I underscore the word speculate) that maybe the Gospel of John was written after Revelation. Well, that's sheer nonsense. That cannot be. That is speculation that is based on no regard at all for the authority of the Word of God. There's no way that any of the books of the Bible could have been written after the Revelation. Had they been, they would never have appeared in the Bible.
CALLER: Any kind of a miracle now is just as impossible, according to the Bible?
HC: Any possibility of an articulated word of God outside of the Bible is impossible, because God says we're not to add to the words of this book. And we know that the miracles were done because God was given historical parables illustrating the nature of salvation. But the rule of salvation is that we walk by faith, not by sight. And when we study the Bible to look for any information at all that might relate to miracles, particularly near the end of time, in every case without exception we find that any language always relates to Satanic activity. And that is terribly ominous.
CALLER: You also made some statements about predestination. Does that mean that people that God didn't plan to save aren't going to be? Or does it mean that God knows who will turn to Him and who won't?
HC: That's a good question. Does God know who will turn to Him and who won't, and those who will turn to Him He predestinates to save? Or does God actually plan whom He is to save, whether they want to turn to Him or not?
Now there's a big school of thought of those who say that God knew who would turn to Him, and these are the ones that He predestinated. Now let's examine that idea for a moment. In Ephesians 2:1-3 God indicates that those—He's speaking there about those who did become saved, therefore they would have been those who were predestinated in some sense—now He describes them before they were saved. And let me read these three verses very carefully, because this tells us about our condition before we were saved:
"And you hath He quickened (that is, He made alive), who were dead in trespasses and sins." Dead! Now that's a pretty heavy word.
"Where in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." That is, it's talking here about according to Satan's activity.
"Among whom also we all had our conduct in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath even as others." Now this is describing people who eventually became saved.
Now how could these dead people, spiritually dead slaves of Satan, lusting after sin just like the rest of the world, why would they be inclined to accept the Gospel or to turn to the Lord Jesus Christ? They would have no more desire to do this than anybody else, because they're just as sinful as anyone else. They're just as dead as anyone else.
So the idea that God knew who would turn to Him is contrary to what the Bible allows. That's an impossibility. Secondly, if we would hold that idea, that God knew who would turn to Him, then we have a salvation that is based on works plus grace. In other words, I took the first step, I did a good work by turning to the Lord Jesus Christ. God recognized that, and then He applied His grace to my life and completed my salvation. And so we are partners in salvation, Christ did His work and I did my work. And that is flatly contradictory to the Gospel of grace. "By grace ye have been saved, not of works, lest any man should boast." The moment that we tie in even the least smidgen of our own merits or works into our salvation, then we have to stand before God by our works and we're going to end up in hell for sure. Either we're saved by God's grace or we're not saved.
And so on both of these counts that particular theological idea cannot pass Biblical validation. The fact is, when God predestinated me or anyone else who has become saved, He saw me as a dirty rotten sinner. He saw me as someone who was spiritually bankrupt. He saw me as someone who would never turn to Him. But God inclined my heart and God gave me spiritual eyes so I began to see the sinfulness of my life, so that I would respond to the Gospel. And this is the way He saves everybody that He plans to save.
CALLER: What about in Revelation where it says, "I stand at the door and knock. And if any man opens the door I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me."
HC: Ah, yes. Now the question is, doesn't Revelation 3:20 say something different, because it says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear My voice and open the door I will come in to him and will sup with him, and he with Me." Doesn't this teach conclusively that after all, it is up to mankind whether he wants to be saved or not, that Christ is simply standing at the door and knocking?
Well, the key phrase, the big phrase that is missed here is, "if any man hear My voice." Now look at verse 22: "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." Well now, here is Lazarus in the tomb, the brother of Mary and Martha. And Jesus is outside of the tomb, knocking on the door of that tomb: "Lazarus, come forth, Lazarus, come forth." Well, Lazarus is dead. He can't hear Jesus. He's dead. Jesus could call like this forever and Lazarus wouldn't come forth. But Lazarus did come forth. Why did he come forth? Because God gave him ears to hear and a will to respond. And Lazarus did come forth. And so when Jesus knocks at our heart's door, as the Gospel call goes forth, only those to whom He gives ears to hear will open the door, because they recognize this is a call that must be obeyed.
In other words, it isn't my will that finally made the difference. It is because God inclined my heart and qualified me so that I would be saved. Now you see, this strips me of all ego or all self-congratulation. There's no way that I can take the slightest glory or the slightest credit for my salvation. I can never think, "Oh my, am I not a wonderful person, because look at me. I chose for Christ, while all my neighbors just continue in unbelief." Nonsense...I can't take one ounce of credit. All I can say is, "Oh God, how is it possible that You saved me when by nature I'm just as guilty a sinner as anyone else? How can it be? And oh Lord, if you saved me all I want to do is live out my life in thankfulness to Thee for what you have done for me."
CALLER: But even if you didn't want to be saved, you would be, because that's what He wants.
HC: Even if I did not want to be saved, I still would be saved, is the next question. And you are absolutely correct. By nature I don't want to be saved. There is no human being that wants to be saved. The Bible says in Romans 3, "There is none that seeketh after God." We all love our sin too much. We all like the idea that we think we're king on the throne of our life. We actually aren't. We're actually slaves of Satan. But we've been deceived by him. And there isn't one of us that wants to be saved.
But God begins to deal with us. The Father begins to draw us. And we become increasingly uneasy because of our sins, and we become concerned about Judgment Day and hell. And we begin to seek for answers. And we don't find our rest until we find our rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, God gives us the "want to."
CALLER: Thank you, Brother.
HC: Thank you for calling.