DR. YUVAL NOAH: Freewill Is Over
#freewill #free #will #schwab

DID THE WAR IN HEAVEN TAKE PLACE BEFORE OR AFTER THE TIME OF ADAM AND EVE?
Bible Study / Daily Devotional
Daily Devotions
Average reading time is about 5 and a half minutes

I believe that the Bible teaches this war began before our world was created. It doesn’t tell us exactly how long this went on. We do know from Scripture that the devil was once an undefiled angel named Lucifer. He rebelled against God and became the fallen angel now known as Satan, meaning “adversary.” In other words, the Lord did not make a devil.

But when did God cast Satan out of heaven? Did this war between good and evil start before or after Adam and Eve? The Bible tells us, “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning” (1 John 3:8).

Now God created the garden of Eden and, in the context of freewill, placed a test of Adam’s and Eve’s loyalty. He warned them about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So, obviously, somebody was going to be tempting them to turn away from the Lord right from the beginning. It certainly was not God tempting them. “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone” (James 1:13).

So in order for Satan to tempt Adam and Eve, he must have rebelled before the creation of our world. It might have even added to the devil’s jealous rebellion when God created our first parents, because angels cannot procreate. The devil does not have creative power, but Adam and Eve could create in their own image through the union of love. Because God made man in His own image and the devil hates God, it might have inspired Satan to especially focus his anger on the first couple.
KEY BIBLE TEXTS
And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Revelation 12:7-9

Psalm 119:97–112 (ESV)

MEM

97  Oh how I love your law!
It is my meditation all the day.
98  Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,
for it is ever with me.
99  I have more understanding than all my teachers,
for your testimonies are my meditation.
100  I understand more than the aged,
for I keep your precepts.
101  I hold back my feet from every evil way,
in order to keep your word.
102  I do not turn aside from your rules,
for you have taught me.
103  How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104  Through your precepts I get understanding;
therefore I hate every false way.

NUN

105  Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.
106  I have sworn an oath and confirmed it,
to keep your righteous rules.
107  I am severely afflicted;
give me life, O LORD, according to your word!
108  Accept my freewill offerings of praise, O LORD,
and teach me your rules.
109  I hold my life in my hand continually,
but I do not forget your law.
110  The wicked have laid a snare for me,
but I do not stray from your precepts.
111  Your testimonies are my heritage forever,
for they are the joy of my heart.
112  I incline my heart to perform your statutes
forever, to the end.

26 AUGUST (PREACHED 27 AUGUST 1868)

A cheerful giver beloved of God

‘God loveth a cheerful giver.’ 2 Corinthians 9:7
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: 1 Chronicles 29:6–18

What is meant by ‘a cheerful giver’? The rest of the verse tells us what is not meant and so helps us to see what is intended: ‘not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.’ Not grudgingly—not giving as though you wished you could avoid it, and therefore giving as little as possible, counting the pence and reckoning them to be as precious as drops of blood, but giving with an ease, a spontaneousness, a freeness, a pleasure; this is a cheerful giver. To be this one must give proportionately, for cheerful givers reckon how much they should give and how much as good stewards may be expected at their hands. He who has a large income gives grudgingly if he gives no more than one who has but a tenth as much. He who has few expenses and lives at a small cost cannot be said to give cheerfully, if he gives no more than another man who has a large family and large outgoings. He evidently gives grudgingly if he does not give in proportion.

Much has been said about giving the tenth of one’s income to the Lord. That seems to me to be a Christian duty which none should for a moment question. If it were a duty under the Jewish law, much more is it so now under the Christian dispensation. But it is a great mistake to suppose that the Jew only gave a tenth. He gave very much more than that. The tenth was the payment which he must make, but after that came all the freewill offerings and all the various gifts at different seasons of the year, so that, perhaps, he gave a third, certainly much nearer that than a tenth.

I do not, however, like to lay down any rules for God’s people, for the Lord’s New Testament is not a great book of rules; it is not a book of the letter, ‘for the letter killeth’, but it is the book of the Spirit, teaching us rather the soul of liberality than the body of it; instead of writing laws upon stones or paper, it writes laws upon the heart. Give, dear friends, as you have purposed in your heart, and give proportionately, as the Lord has prospered you.

FOR MEDITATION: As far as possible our giving to God should be private (Matthew 6:3–4), but nowadays when many give by cheque or banker’s order, a few may be in on the secret and see how much we give. But God alone measures how cheerfully we give in the light of his knowledge of how much we retain (Mark 12:41–44).


C. H. Spurgeon and Terence Peter Crosby, 365 Days with Spurgeon (Volume 3), (Leominster, UK: Day One Publications, 2005), 246.

I was looking for a meme on Binbg about Biden, this is what popped up,
rememberlessfool: No self, no freewill, permanent.