All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast — all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world (Rev. 13:8, NIV).
Some translations read, All who dwell on the earth will worship him (the beast, the Antichrist), everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain (13:8, NAS).
The Greek syntax supports the traditional, Lamb slain from the creation of the world. However, even the alternate translation — whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world — supports the concept that the redeeming sacrifice of the Lamb of God was decreed from the counsels of eternity. There could have been no names written in the book of life if there had been no plan of redemption. There could be no eternal plan of redemption without an eternal Redeemer. Therefore, Jesus is the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.
This does not mean that Jesus was slain before the worlds were created but that it was understood in the mind of God that this atoning sacrifice would be necessary. God understood that if He created morally free creatures, we would eventually use our freedom to sin against Him. This would separate us from Him and we would then either perish in our sinful separation or require a Redeemer. The members of the Trinity agreed that Jesus would be that Redeemer.
This idea is expressed by the Apostle Peter, who reminds us that we were not redeemed with silver or gold but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world (I Peter 1:19,20).
How incredible, wonderful and amazing that God took human form to provide a redemption that was decreed before the universe was created. Equally incredible is that most of those who encountered Jesus, heard His teaching, saw His miracles and experienced His grace, did not recognize Him as the Messiah and instead, chose to reject Him. And so it continues today. Though God is not hiding the truth of His existence or His redeeming grace, most of humanity continues to reject Him.
How can this be? In order to understand humanity’s rejection of God’s offer of redeeming grace, we need to understand the impact of our fallenness. Separated from God by sin, humanity is by nature God-rejecting, in spite of the fact that God exists and is not hiding.
Yet for us there is only one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him (I Cor. 8:6)
In Him we live and move and exist (Acts 17:28).
For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together (Col. 1:16,17).
The universe was created by God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There is an alternative creation theory: nothing exploded into something and through chance mutation over time, became everything. That is supposed to be a scientific proposition for the existence of the universe but how stupidly unscientific — nothing cannot explode into something and become everything. The truth is that the universe was created by an unfathomably intelligent, powerful God and it is upheld by Him, moment by moment, atom by atom.
This God is not hiding.
1. Creator God is Self-Revealing
Because that which is known about God (that which is knowable about God ) is evident within them; for God made it evident to them (Rom. 1:19). God has built into every human being an internal witness of His existence. It is called moral discernment — an internal sense of what is right and wrong, just and unjust. This sense of moral discernment declares and reveals the existence of a morally just Creator. Even in the most depraved socieites and souls, this testimony exists, even if only dimly.
God has also revealed Himself through creation, For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse (Rom. 1:20). Creator God has also built into the universe an external witness of His existence. The grandness, complexity and beauty of the universe, in microcosm and macrocosm, reveal the existence of a Creator who possesses unimaginable intelligence and creative power. The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands (Psalm 19:1).
This internal and external witness is called general revelation: there is a Creator, God exists. General revelation is not saving revelation but anyone who accepts this knowledge of God’s existence and desires to know God in the fulness of His saving, redeeming grace, will be given the opportunity to believe in Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice. God Himself will provide this opportunity because this is His heart — to redeem, to save.
Through the prophet Jeremiah, the Lord said: You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart (Jere. 29:13). It is God who inspires our seeking, as we will see. The desire in the human heart to seek God is inspired by God’s seeking heart.
Through the prophet Ezekiel the Lord said, For thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will care for My sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day … I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken and strengthen the sick (34:11,12,16).
Jesus said, For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10). This was Jesus’ mission — to seek and to save that which is lost, to ransom that which is imprisoned, to make whole that which is broken. His ministry was a revelation of the redeeming grace of God in action.
We are exhorted, Draw near to God and He will draw near to you (James 4:8). We will see in this study that it is the Lord Himself who draws us to Himself, who enables us to seek Him, the seeking God. Why does the Lord do this? Because God is not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). This is the God who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth (I Tim. 2:4, NLT).
The Lord said through the prophet Ezekiel, ‘As I live!’ declares the Lord God, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live’ (Ezkl. 33:11). What motivates God is a gracious desire to reconcile us to Himself, to bring us back into relationship with Himself, not only so we would be saved from eternal destruction but so that we may enjoy Him forever.
2. Humanity is God-Rejecting
The problem is not that God is hiding but that humanity, in our fallenness, rejects God’s self-revelation. We suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18).
God is revealed in creation and conscience but fallen humanity suppresses this knowledge — denies it, opposes it, refuses to honor or give thanks to this God. Even when people stood face to face with Jesus, the Light of the world, heard His amazing wisdom and saw His miracles, many refused to recognize Him for who He is: He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him (John 1:10). Even some who saw Lazarus walk out of the tomb went away seeking to destroy Jesus (Jn. 11:45-53; see also Matt. 12:14-21).
Why? This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil (John 3:19). People reject Light because they love darkness.
The Apostle Paul reveals, For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened (Rom. 1:21)
Having rejected / suppressed the knowledge of God, humanity invented foolish ideas about God and about the world — placing mere opinions and theories above the revealed knowledge of God. Fallen humanity invents philosophies which deny God, invents false religions and gods of human imagination because humanity instinctively needs to to believe and worship something. It is an instinct in the heart of fallen humanity to raise some random golden beast to fill the great God’s glorious throne, as a poet said.
Because false gods are invented by people, they are a form of self-worship and because all idols and false religions are inspired by demons, they are infused with demonic power and deception. The result is the downward spiral, the de-evolution of human personality and society into darkness and death.
The result is the blinding of the human soul to the existence of this God who is the ground of all existence and the blinding of human perception to the presence of this God who is always and everywhere present. The Apostle Paul reminds us, And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2 Cor. 4:3,4)
The word world may be translated age — the god of this age. The word age speaks of the values, theories and customs, the philosophical / cultural / religious mindset that defines human society. Through this demonically constructed world system, Satan, the god of this age, indoctrinates, conforms, shapes souls and societies to reject God’s revelation of Himself through nature and conscience, to reject God’s saving revelation in Christ, and to invent false gods, false religions and false philosophies which lead to a further slide into darkness and death.
Satan has blinded the minds of the unbelieving — it is a blindness of the intellect, of moral reason, of the capacity to discern truth. It is a blindness reinforced by social custom, values, laws, systems of thought and education, the creative arts, false religion. Having rejected God’s Self-revelation, separated from God by sin and idolatry, humanity is dead in sin, blind to sin’s presence, undiscerning of God’s presence and unable and unwilling to do anything about it.
Satan blinds humanity but obviously not against our will. Jesus said to people who were standing in front of Him, But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe (John. 6:36). They had heard Christ’s teaching, had seen His miracles, yet they refused to believe. This is intentional unbelief in the face of God’s Self-revelation in Christ Jesus.
So it is today and in every generation. Humanity refuses the evidence of God’s existence and so men and women fall prey to the blinding seduction of false gods and lying philosophies. People are blind because they will not believe, they will not believe because they will not to believe — an act of the fallen human will. Having rejected the true and living God and having enthroned self will, having invented gods of our own imagination, we fall into darkness and depravity.
This will to reject God is present in every human being, it is pervasive — all the human race is infected. David the Psalmist said, Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me (Ps. 51:5). We are born with a predisposition to reject God — that’s our fallen human nature — we then choose to reject the evidence of God’s existence, choose to believe God-rejecting philosophies, choose to worship gods that are not gods and are conformed to the belief system of a God-rejecting age.
Nothing will change, no one will see until someone removes the veil from blinded eyes and transforms the fallen soul that wills to not see. But this is what God purposed before the universe existed — that the Lord of grace would be born into time as a grace-offering.
Though we are fallen from grace and
blind to grace, yet the God of grace has chosen
to reveal His grace, to offer grace
and to draw us to the Source of grace:
Jesus Christ, Lord of grace.
Study Questions:
1. When did God choose to reveal His grace to humanity?
2. What do we mean when we say that God is Self-revealing?
3. What do we mean when we say that humanity is God-rejecting?