Seen from Above

On the forum someone wrote, in response to my weblog of December 31:

“When I read this, it seems that you, biblically speaking, are completely right. Yet I ‘miss’ something in it, which is difficult to describe. How do you, for example, view man’s own responsibility, which is indeed ‘plainly emphasized’ in the Bible? How can God, for instance, present us with a choice, if He ultimately determines what man will choose?”

We can view human action from two very different standpoints. The first approach is from the human standpoint. God commands man to do something and man is expected to listen to that. When God said to Pharaoh: “Let My people go,” he knew what he had to do. When Pharaoh did not do this, God struck him with sanctions. All very straightforward and understandable.

We can also view the whole scene from above. That yields a totally different perspective. Then we establish that God, behind the scenes, determined the entire scenario, including the actions of the “opponents.” God intended to display His power, and for that purpose a compliant Pharaoh was of no use. So what did God do when Pharaoh threatened to give way under the pressure? God hardened (Hebrew: strengthened) Pharaoh’s heart, so that he continued to refuse to let the people of Israel go.

The first standpoint directs us to God’s will.
The second standpoint to God’s purpose (or intention).
The first was publicly known.
The second was secret and hidden.
In the first viewpoint God is one of the main actors.
In the second viewpoint God is the Scriptwriter and Director who assigns all the roles in the “play.”
The first is the drama from the stands.
The second is the same drama, but then from behind the scenes.

The question is not which viewpoint is Biblical – for they are both so. It is, however, the case that the second viewpoint (thus that from behind the scenes) is only intended for intimates. God’s secret purposes were of no concern at all to a disobedient Pharaoh. Apart from the fact that he would not have understood them anyway. And even the people of Israel were not aware of this. Only Moses, as a friend (Exodus 33:11), knew God’s secrets.

“He maketh known His WAYS to Moses,
To the sons of Israel His DADEN.” (YLT)
Psalm 103:7

Israel, together with the people of Egypt, was confronted with the manifest acts of God. No doubt about it. But Moses was one of the few who was allowed to see more. He received insight into the various routes God was taking. That goes much further. The great secret of God’s “hidden agenda,” as Paul unfolds this in Romans 9, is not intended for people who do not want to give glory to God. They consider themselves (and their choices) too important, and that blocks them from glorifying and thanking God as GOD. They shudder at the thought that God has all the strings in His hand, because then they have nothing left to boast in. Moreover, they cannot reconcile the presence of evil in the world with God’s love. It is sheer shortsightedness and unbelief, for we have the assurance that it only fits together at the end. Only when Joseph’s brothers were in Egypt and had learned their lessons, did they hear from their brother that it was not they but God who had sent him to Egypt.

“And God sendeth me before you to place for you a remnant in the earth, and to give life to you by a great escape; and now, ye — ye have not sent me hither, but God…” (YLT)
Genesis 45:7–8

The brothers had their responsibility. As long as they were not aware of this, the secret of God’s counsel was of no concern to them. But Joseph always knew, as a true lover of God, that God had already written the entire script beforehand. What an enormous privilege to know that, and in that knowledge also to be able to accept the evil from God’s hand (Job 2:10)!

God’s secret communion find
Souls where His fear resides.
The holy secret is to His friends,
Revealed according to His covenant of peace.

(Psalm 25:7 versified)

Delen: