The Godly Essence of Jesus Christ

RV196-01

The Sea of Glass

This sea of glass, we have pointed out, is symbolic of the brass laver of water which existed in Solomon's temple. This huge basin of water rested on the backs of 12 sculptured oxen. This was the place for ceremonial washings by the priests as they went from the altar of sacrifices to minister within the temple itself. It stood, therefore, at the entranceway to the holy place of the temple. The washing of hands and feet on the part of the priest symbolized that they were compatible with God in temporal fellowship before they entered the place of ministry. This is being in fellowship with God, comparable to the 1 John 1:9 principle that we have today of confession of known sins. They symbolically performed, with the washing of hands and feet, what we do when we confess our sins.

The heavenly sea of glass is reminiscent also of the Red Sea, where God parted the waters to save the Jews from Satan's agent Pharaoh. Therefore, we are told that these Saints are singing "The Song of Moses," which Moses saying on the shores of the Red Sea as he saw God's great miracle destroying the forces of Pharaoh. This heavenly choir is singing this song because it is appropriate for they, like the Jews at the Red Sea, have overcome Satan's agent in their day, the antichrist. And it is a fitting reminder of God's faithfulness to His promise to save those who trust Him.

The sea of glass is also reminiscent of the Noahic flood waters through which God's grace saved the believers who trusted Him, and at the same time, His wrath destroyed the unforgiven unbelievers. The water of ritual baptism is also a symbol of death to sinners and life to the believers who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. So, again, this is reminiscent of the Red Sea incident.

So, for this reason and these various associations, "The Song of Moses" is being sung. These singers also, however, sing another song called "The Song of the Lamb," in praise of the Lord Jesus Christ. In this song, we hear them proclaiming the works of Jesus Christ to be great and marvelous; that is, they are stupendous and awesome, because they are the work of God.

You should not miss the fact that the Word of God, here on this occasion, is stressing for us something very important about Jesus Christ. We are now in a cultural war in the United States. We are now in an election which has to do with this cultural war. The cultural war is over Jesus Christ. Only those who have insight into the Word of God, and know how to make connection with our times, have grasped that that's what this election is all about. It is a cultural war relative for the standards of a society; the authority for setting that standard; and, just who plays the dominant role – who is the preeminent one in American society. That issue is the issue of this election. It is a cultural war – whether the origins of this country, on the basis of Scripture, are to continue, or whether its direction is to be changed.

The issue at the heart of all this is: who is Jesus Christ? Is He what this country's citizens have believed for so long? Or have they just gone along with a religious bit of nonsense, and has the time come for us to cut ourselves free of that mistake? Was Jesus a good man and a fine rabbi? Yes; but, God – that's a little too much for some people.

Well, here, these saints stand before God, and they have given their lives because they stayed true to Jesus Christ. They have no hesitancy in calling Him Lord. To call Him Lord is to declare that He is deity. To call Him Lord is to indicate that, while He was human, He was also very God of very God. He was true deity.

1 Timothy 3:16 connects this humanity and deity, where Paul says, "And by common confession, great is the mystery of godliness. He who was revealed in the flesh (Jesus Christ) was vindicated in the Spirit (by the Holy Spirit), beheld by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, and taken up in glory, ascended into the presence of God the Father." If this God-man Jesus were a fraud, a mere human being who claimed deity and did not possess it, He would not have been called Lord by these martyrs, and He would not have ascended with glory into the Father's presence.

Furthermore, "The Song of the Lamb" continues: "Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God." Here Jesus Christ is identified with the Godhead. He is associated as a member of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is the statement which the writer of Matthew made in Matthew 28:19, when the great commission is declared: "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit." That is the name of the Godhead, and that includes Jesus Christ. Were He not God, He could not have been included in that trinitarian formula.

Philippians 2:6, we have pointed out to you, declares that Jesus Christ, in His inner essence, His true form, is deity. His essential and eternal being is that of deity. So, if Jesus Christ is not God, then the Bible is false, and there is no basis for salvation from hell. But that is not the case.

John 1:12 makes it very clear that He is our access, and our only access, into the presence of a holy God: "But as many as received Him (Christ), to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name." No human being can take another human being into heaven. If that's all that Jesus Christ was, He could not have been the one through whom authority for salvation could be given. That's only true because He is God.

Then the Saints, in singing "The Song of the Lamb" further confirm that they are talking about God Himself. They review the characteristics of Jesus Christ, and, lo and behold, what do we find but characteristics of the essence of God?

Jesus Christ is Omnipotent

This is the characteristic of God the Father in 2 Corinthians 6:18. And what is true of the Father is also true of the Son. 2 Corinthians 6:18 says, "'And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me,' says the Lord Almighty." It is characteristic of God to be almighty.

The omnipotence of God the Son is a clear teaching of the Word of God. This is clearly declared, for example, in Matthew 19:26: "And looking upon them, Jesus said to them, 'With men, this is impossible. But with God, all things are possible.'" This is a declaration that it is characteristic of deity to have no limitations upon what deity can do.

Luke 1:37 says, "For nothing will be impossible with God."

In Revelation 19:6, this is again reiterated: "And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, and as the sound of many waters, and as the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, 'Hallelujah, for the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.'"

Jesus Christ demonstrates the fact that He has omnipotence, and therefore that He is deity, by the fact that He maintains the creation that He brought into being. Colossians 1:15-17, in describing Christ, says, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation." The firstborn does not mean that He came into existence at a certain time. It is a term which was used in Scripture. The firstborn meant that He is the preeminent one. In a family, the firstborn son was the number one person who was the preeminent one who got all the family wealth, and who got all the family authority passed on to him. So, don't fall into the trap of the Jehovah's Witnesses, which have taken this verse and said, "You see, Jesus Christ was just one of the creatures that God created. He is the first one."

In fact, it says, "For by Him all things were created." Jesus Christ is the actual agent of creation: "Both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authorities." Those are angelic beings: "All things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things." There is the key of the fact that He is deity. He existed before there was anything else because He is God. If He were created, He would not have been the first. Before anything else was ever created, He was already there: "And in Him, all things hold together." And there is the point that His power is the power that keeps the atomic structure of creation from tearing itself apart, and flying off in all directions. He holds together the structure of creation.

The scientists tell us that they are still trying to figure out what makes one atom hang onto another; what makes one molecular structure stay together; and, what makes things hold together. They have never been able to figure out why these things don't just fly apart. Well, the Bible gives the answer. Jesus Christ holds them together.

Hebrews 1:3 also says, "And He (Christ) is the radiance of His glory (the glory of God), and the exact representation of His nature (because He is God), and upholds all things by the Word of His power." Jesus Christ upholds all things by the Word of His power.

Furthermore, the Word of God makes it clear to us that the power of Jesus Christ extends to the point where He can take the vilest of sinners, and make them fit to live in the presence of a holy God. Hebrews 7:25 tells us: "Hence also, He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since he always lives to make intercession for them." You draw near to God only through Jesus Christ.

So, immediately you have a great number of the human race wiped out. This is what people recoil from. This is what the liberal theologians despise – the concept that there are going to be more people in hell than in heaven. Here's what the Word of God says. You come to God through Jesus Christ. Most of the world today, in this cultural worldwide warfare, have rejected Jesus Christ. In the United States, we have come to where we have almost totally rejected Him. The cultural war is now heating up, and this election is going to determine whether those who stand for America, as we have known it, are going to continue into positions of authority or not, and whether our culture based upon biblical principles will continue, or whether we will degenerate now into the abyss of paganism, such as most of the world has gone to. No one draws near to God except through Jesus Christ.

Then, as 1 John tells us, once you've drawn near to him, He makes intercession for you. Every time we sin, and Satan accuses us before God the Father, Jesus Christ comes in and defends us with the wounds on His body and the payment He made for that sin upon the cross. That's why we continue to remain saved.

Furthermore, the power of Jesus Christ is certainly demonstrated in His ability to raise the dead. 1 Peter 1:5 says, "Who are protected by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time." He has the power to keep a believer saved right to the end. And He has power to raise that person from the dead.

Colossians 3:4 points this out: "When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory."

John 6:40 reiterates the resurrection power of Christ: "For this is the will of My Father: that everyone who holds the Son, and believes in Him, may have eternal life. And I Myself will raise him up on the last day." This too is part of the cultural war. Do people come back to life after they die? Is there a future beyond the grave? Or are we like pagans? They say, "No, there's only a spirit world out there, and eventually, as the Hindus teach, you go to a place called Nirvana, and you just disappear altogether, and lose total consciousness. You become just part of the great universal life force out there, from whence you came in the first place."

The happiest note about the omnipotence of Jesus Christ is that it is exercised constantly in behalf of believers. Philippians 4:13 makes that bold declaration. The apostle Paul knew what it was through to go through hard times. Paul said, "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." There's nothing in life that you cannot do, providing that God has called you to do it. Once you have that call, and once the mission is identified, there's nothing to keep you from carrying through. His strength is going to be there.

So, Jesus Christ, in "The Song of the Lamb," is, first of all, declared to be the almighty, meaning that he is omnipotent.

Jesus Christ is Righteous

It is very hard in this country to pretend that there is no higher authority. Our heritage of respect for the Bible precludes that. So, what happens? You attack the Bible. You say that the Bible is not clear. Most people who say that the Bible is not understandable will defend that by saying, "Look at all these competing religious systems, all of whom base their beliefs on the Bible." But they're not people who have read the Bible themselves. Anybody who reads the Bible in a literal manner finds that it's quite clear. It is not very confusing at all. The essentials of morality and of salvation are crystal clear.

So, the issue is, does an absolutely righteous God become the standard of what's right and wrong; or, is sinful man (no matter how noble he may be) the standard of what is right and wrong. When you cut man loose from the fact that he is made in the image of God, and thus he is unique in all the order of creation, and when you cut man loose from the fact that God is the supreme authority and man is in His image, you degenerate into what Phil Donahue used as the title of his book that he wrote justifying and defending evolution. He wrote a book that he wrote called The Naked Ape, and man becomes nothing but an ape once you detach from the image of God. And the way you detach him from the image of God is to detach yourself from the revelation of Scripture.

Yes, the Bible is very clear that God is absolute righteousness. And Jesus Christ, the Son of God, possesses absolute righteousness. That which is true of the Godhead is true of Him.

Notice what Psalm 145:17 has to say: "The Lord is righteous in all His ways." The issue of heaven or hell for your personal destiny is determined by the fact that God is absolute righteousness, and you too must possess absolute righteousness or you can't go to heaven.

So, the solution for that is in 2 Corinthians 5:21: "He (God the Father) made Him (God the Son), who knew no sin, to be seen on our behalf, that we might become the absolute righteousness of God in Him." How simple! How clear! Through Jesus Christ, as a gift of grace, God imputes His absolute righteousness to your credit, and now you are qualified to enter heaven.

It is impossible for God to do anything that is wrong. When the Lord Jesus Christ claimed to be God, His life externally confirmed the fact that He possessed absolute righteousness. In John 8:46, Jesus said, "Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me?" Jesus challenged the religious authorities who were claiming that He was not of God, and that He was a fraud. He said, "Which of you accuses me of sin? Show me where I have been guilty of sin." And they watched Him all day long, and they were careful to try to trap Him in sin. Then He said, "If you can't demonstrate that I am guilty of sin, how can you say that I do not speak the truth of God?"

1 John 2:1: "My little children, I'm writing these things to that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father: Jesus Christ, the righteous." Here's the verse that tells us that God the Son intercedes for us in prayer. And He also is our advocate, defending us whenever we sin, against the accusations of Satan. How can He do that? He can do that because He does not excuse our sin. He can do that because He is totally, absolutely righteous, because He has paid for our sins. If he ignored the sin, His own righteousness would be compromised.

All other humans except for the man Jesus Christ have mere relative righteousness. Some people are better than other people, but none are good enough to spend eternity in the presence of God. This is the sorry thing that people do – thinking that they're something because they compare themselves to one another.

We showed a terrific film Sunday night. It was undoubtedly the best we've ever shown here. It was so well made, as this woman went through the streets, asking people how to get to heaven. Well, it was all there. They basically indicated that you make it on your own. Basically, as that one man said, "I'm a lot better than most people I know, so I should be able to make it." But Romans 3:10-12 gives us the picture that falsifies that: "As it is written." Now Paul begins quoting some Old Testament Scriptures which say, "There is none righteous, not even one." Nobody comes into the human race with absolute righteousness: "There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God." Worse, nobody comes into the human race realizing and understanding that they need absolute righteousness, so they don't even seek after God for it.

Verse 12: "All have sinned. All have turned aside. Together they have become useless. There is none who does good. There is not even one." There is none capable of divine good because there is none with absolute righteousness.

Human relative righteousness, therefore, is useless. Isaiah 64:6 calls it mere filthy rags" – that people offer to God.

Jesus Christ is Truthfulness

In John 3:33, we have this pointed out: "He who has received His witness has set his seal to this: that God is true." Anybody who listens to God should understand that God always speaks the truth. In fact, Titus 1:2 tells us that this is the only thing that God can do: "In the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago." God cannot lie.

For this reason, there was no problem for the writers of Scripture, who were acquainted with Jesus Christ, to declare the fact that He was absolute truth. We have this in Matthew 22:16: "And they sent their disciples to Him (that is, Jesus), along with the Herodians, saying, 'Teacher, we know that you are truthful, and teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no one, for You are not partial to any." Jesus Christ did not compromise His message so that it would be acceptable to those who were opponents of God. Those who didn't like him had to admit the fact that He was truthful.

1 John 5:9 says, "And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding in order that we might know Him who is true. And we are in Him who is true – in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life." It is the veracity of the Lord Jesus Christ, in fact, which is the basis of all Bible doctrine. That's why it is true.

Romans 3:4: "May it never be." Paul says, "Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written." God does not lie. What god declares to be a doctrinal principle is therefore true.

So, Jesus Christ is viewed as one who has omnipotence; one who has absolute righteousness; and, one who has total veracity.

Jesus Christ is Sovereign

Psalm 47:2 says, "For the Lord, Most High, is to be feared: a great king over all the earth." A king is one who is totally independent and sovereign in what he wants to do. People are not sovereign. There are some foolish Christians who sometimes think that they're sovereign, but, in time, God makes it clear to them, when He jerks their chain, that he is in charge, and that man is not independent of Him.

Psalm 115:3: "But our God is in the heavens. He does whatever He pleases." That is sovereignty.

2 Chronicles 20:6points out the fact that God is the absolute ruler of all the universe. That is certainly an expression of His sovereignty: "And he said, 'O Lord, the God of our fathers, are you not God in the heavens? And are you not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Your hand so that no one can stand against You.'" This is part of Jehoshaphat's prayer when he is in great distress. And very wisely, he begins his prayer by recognizing that God is sovereign.

As God, the Lord Jesus Christ, being deity, possesses complete freedom to act as He pleases. And in the Millennial Kingdom, 1 Timothy 6:15 tells us that Jesus Christ will be King of Kings. He will be sovereign of all sovereigns. So, indeed this is another characteristic of deity.

Jesus Christ is Feared

Solomon wasted his life, having started so well with divine viewpoint wisdom. When he came to the end of the book of Ecclesiastes, in which he expresses a lot of human viewpoint, in which he is mistaken, realizes the mistake he made. He comes to Ecclesiastes 12:13, and summarizes his whole mixed-up, wasted life by saying: "The conclusion, when all has been heard is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person." What great wisdom this was for a man who had gone into the apostasy that Solomon had fallen into: "Fear God and keep His commandments." Fear is directed to the name here of the Lord Jesus Christ in Revelation, and that means fear toward everything that Christ is as deity: "Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name?" The word "Lord" is again a reference to Jesus Christ.

Proverbs 1:7 tells us that fear of God is the first principle of true knowledge. Psalm 111:10 tells us that the fear of God is the foundation of all genuine wisdom. The fear of the Lord Jesus Christ will cause a person to obey the Bible as God's Word. The people of our nation do not fear Jesus Christ. Just listen to how they use His name in curse words very easily. They do not fear Him, and for that reason they do not obey Him as He speaks in the Word.

Deuteronomy 5:29 points out this principle when Moses (praying) says, "Oh that they (the people of Israel) had such a heart in them." Moses here is quoting God. God says, "O that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever. It is not only, when you obey God because you fear Him, that things will go well with you, but it goes well for your family.

A nation which does not fear the Lord Jesus Christ will inevitably disobey His commandments. The result will be disease, suffering, poverty, violence, and death. Deuteronomy 28 warned Israel that this would be their lot if they nationally did not fear (have a healthy respect) for God. The word "fear" means a reverential respect and awe for God. In Deuteronomy 28:58, Moses said, "If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law, which are written in this book, to fear this honored and awesome name, the Lord Your God, then the Lord will bring plagues upon you and your descendants, even severe and more lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses. And He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. Also, every sickness and every plague which is not written in the book of the Law, the Lord will bring on you until you are destroyed."

That's an amazing statement. God says, "I have given you certain dietary laws. I've given you certain sanitary laws. I've given these to you because, scientifically, you do not understand what you can surround yourself with that will bring you deadly diseases. But I will tell you this: that if you obey My words, and if you follow My principles, it will be to your physical well-being. And if you disobey the Word of God, you will bring physical illness upon yourself." I think that that principle still holds today. Those faithful to the Word of God find themselves encased in the hand of God in physical care. Those who are disobedient to the Word of God, and walk out of the inner circle of temporal fellowship, invite physical disaster upon themselves.

Psalm 147:11 says, "Those who fear the lord will bring themselves under special blessing."

Only men who fear the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and who have a great fearful concern (a respect) for who He is, and a fearful concern of suffering His judgments – only men who have that attitude should ever be elected to public office. Exodus 18:21 warned the Jews that they should never appoint people in places of civil authority who do not fear God: "Furthermore, you shall select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain, and you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens." There is a great deal that we learn in lessons from the Old Testament structure that is pertinent to all ages. Here's one of them. Exodus 18:21: Don't put people in authority over your lives, and don't let them get their hands on the levers of civil authority and power if they do not fear God. It is the fear of the Lord Jesus Christ that will cause civil rulers to be a blessing to their constituents because they know what their role is as rulers. They know what the role of government is by God's divine institution. Therefore, those who use the role of government as per God's purpose will be blessed. They will bless their constituents.

2 Samuel 23:3-4 teach us that concept: "The God of Israel said, 'The rock of Israel spoke to me. He who rules over men righteously (speaking of civil authorities operating on the principles of the Word of God), who rules in the fear of God'" – who doesn't spit in the face of God, and who doesn't thumb his nose in the face of God by saying the Bible is not understandable; it doesn't apply; nobody knows what it means; and, furthermore, God is not making it stick: "Is as the light of the morning when the sun rises." The political authority who rules in the fear of God is like: "The morning light when the sun rises – a morning without clouds, when the tender grass springs out of the earth through sunshine after rain." What a poetically beautiful description of a political leader who says, "I rule on the basis of the fear of God." And consequently, all who come under his authority rise up and call that man blessed, because he walks in the fear of God, and that means that he respects the Word of God.

For this reason, the Old Testament saints, as we in the New Testament, have been given a general principle of conduct that applies. Psalm 119:63 states for the Old Testament people: "I am a companion of all those who fear You, and of those who keep Your precepts." You should not be friends with people who do not fear God. For Christians of the church, that principle is brought over, and explicitly restated in James 4:4: "You adulteresses (spiritual adultery is in view here), do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." That's pretty strong stuff. Don't be close friends with people who do not fear God.

Jesus Christ is Holy

Only God is holy. This is a different kind of word for holy than we usually have in the Greek Bible. It's the Greek word "hosios," instead of "hagios," which is the normal word. This word refers to external conduct. Isn't that interesting? It is stressing your behavior. So, a homosexual is not holy just in what he does – externally. A murderer is not holy apart from what's inside of him. A thief is not holy apart from what's inside. A liar is not holy apart from what's inside of him. The external is what God condemns. And here it says, "God Himself, in what He does externally, is holy." Tell that to Donahue, who says, "How could God be loving, and let children be born blind or deformed? And what's he doing? He's accusing God of external acts that are not right. The Word of God says that Jesus Christ is consistent with His absolute holiness.

Jesus Christ is Justice

God's quality of justice demands that disobedience to His laws receive the penalty of death. That is pointed out in John 3:36 and Romans 6:23: "The wages of sin is death." It is because of the justice of God that death has to be imposed upon those who break the laws of God. God's perfect justice prevents Him from being a respecter of persons. Romans 2:11 says, "God is not one who shows partiality." The sacrifice on the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is that of the Lamb of God for the sins of the world. That enables God to forgive the moral guilt of mankind with perfect justice.

John 3:36 and Romans 8:1 tell us that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. How can that be? Because the penalty of death has been paid.

So, the justice of Jesus Christ is especially gratifying here to these martyrs who are singing this song, because they have been killed by the antichrist, and they know that he's going to get his just treatment.

So, the song goes on and says, "For You alone are holy. For all the nations will come to worship before You:" "All the nations (including every nation on the face of the earth) are going to come to worship You." And here we have another word in the Greek that's not the usual word for "come." The word "come" here is "heko." This word stresses the arrival. This word stresses not merely the fact of coming, but the end of the coming: "I am here." So, here we have stated that all the nations are going to be standing there in the presence of God. When is this to be? Obviously, this is the Millennial Kingdom.

This word is illustrated in John 8:42: "Jesus said to them, 'If God were your father, you would love Me, for I proceed forth (there's the normal word for 'come'), and have come (and there's the 'heko' word). I'm right here in your presence from God. I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me.'" So, Jesus Christ said, "I've come from God. And what's more, I'm right here. I'm standing in your presence. You're now eyeball-to-eyeball with Me." The nations of the world are going to be eyeball-to-eyeball with Jesus Christ when they stand in the Millennial Kingdom, and they face Him at the end of the tribulation. This is in the future, at that point in time. And when that happens, we're told that: "They will worship before You." That means that they will bow in subjection before deity, expressing devotion to God. All nations in the millennium will worship Jesus Christ as the world ruler, and they will do this "before." This is the Greek word "enopion," which means "in the very presence" of Jesus Christ: "For Your righteous acts."

This is another word that is different than the usual word for righteous. This is "dikaioma," and it stresses acts. Isn't this amazing? "You're in My very presence. You're going to look at Me. We're going to face each other – you have rejected Me. My acts are going to be righteous." What is He referring to? He's referring to what He's going to do to the antichrist, and what He's going to do to the people who have followed him, because God's absolute righteous acts (the fact that He does right) have been revealed. All the world has seen Jesus Christ in action, and they will see Him at His Second Coming. This is the great revelation at the end of the tribulation.

Today, the United States is in a preview of this condition. It is in the midst of a great cultural war. The issue is the basis for deciding right and wrong in a society: Is it the Bible; or, is it human reason? Are all standards of conduct equally valid and acceptable? Is God the supreme authority on righteousness; or, is the state, and the majority opinion of the old sin natures of its citizens the standard for what is right and wrong? Someone, remember, has to set the standards of right conduct in a society. The question is: who? And that's what this election is all about. Who will determine the standards of right conduct: right conduct in matters of morality; and, right conduct in the role of government, relative to the divine institution? Who will state it?

I wanted to read to an article by Cal Thomas of the Los Angeles Times. He is a syndicated writer and a superb Christian with a superb insight that has brought all this together. Our time has run out. I may get it to you later, or read it to you on another occasion. But Cal Thomas has brought it all together very effectively. His point is (he closes in his final paragraph): "Without inner control by the God one worships, or without the controlling power of the state conforming people to an objective and universal standard of goodness, human beings, like water, seek their lowest level."

People on their own get worse and worse and worse. There has to be a standard beyond which society says, "You will not cross this line, or you will pay a penalty if you do. Who is to determine where that standard of right and wrong is? Is it man; or, is it God? That is the issue. No matter what Governor Cuomo of New York says, who ridicules that there is a cultural war – he doesn't know how wrong he is. There is a war for the righteousness of this country, or for its total destruction. We shall see, within our lifetime, the evidence of this one way or another.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1992

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