WHO SHUTS THE LAST DOOR?
Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy. Rev. 22:11, R.S.V.
For more than six thousand years God has done everything His creative mind and loving heart could do to get evildoers to stop doing evil, and the filthy to become pure. Then with equal energy He has worked with the righteous to help them remain in that vital relationship with Himself.
How strange it is, then, to hear Him speak the utterly final words in today's text. He declares that a solid wall exists between the evil and the holy, and that it shall not be crossed from either direction. Does this mean that God Himself has slammed the door on repentance or turned His back on free choice? Or has He run out of patience with the increasing wickedness of a sin-sick planet?
God spoke of a time when the people of this planet with have sorted themselves into two groups: "For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the people; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you" (Isa. 60:2, R.S.V.). In Bible symbolism, "light" represents truth about God and "darkness" stands for error or deception about Him. Into a world that presently lives in various shades of gray, God will send increasing beams of intense, winsome truth about Himself. And people must respond.
Those who choose to be enlightened by that truth will be marvelously changed by it! Their spiritual capacities will be enhanced, their characters more and more transformed into the likeness of the One they love to behold. They will become so resolutely settled in their unshakable loyalty to God that no deception of the enemy could turn them away. They will not change their minds.
Something equally powerful happens to the minds of those who turn their backs on truth. According to Paul (see Rom. 1:18-23), they become futile in their thinking and their minds become darkened. Claiming to be wise, they become utter fools until they cannot change their minds. At that time God will announce that the time for choosing is over, not because He has arbitrarily shut it down but because everyone will have made final choices. No one will be changing their mind! The righteous will not; the wicked cannot.
Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy. Rev. 22:11, R.S.V.
For more than six thousand years God has done everything His creative mind and loving heart could do to get evildoers to stop doing evil, and the filthy to become pure. Then with equal energy He has worked with the righteous to help them remain in that vital relationship with Himself.
How strange it is, then, to hear Him speak the utterly final words in today's text. He declares that a solid wall exists between the evil and the holy, and that it shall not be crossed from either direction. Does this mean that God Himself has slammed the door on repentance or turned His back on free choice? Or has He run out of patience with the increasing wickedness of a sin-sick planet?
God spoke of a time when the people of this planet with have sorted themselves into two groups: "For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the people; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you" (Isa. 60:2, R.S.V.). In Bible symbolism, "light" represents truth about God and "darkness" stands for error or deception about Him. Into a world that presently lives in various shades of gray, God will send increasing beams of intense, winsome truth about Himself. And people must respond.
Those who choose to be enlightened by that truth will be marvelously changed by it! Their spiritual capacities will be enhanced, their characters more and more transformed into the likeness of the One they love to behold. They will become so resolutely settled in their unshakable loyalty to God that no deception of the enemy could turn them away. They will not change their minds.
Something equally powerful happens to the minds of those who turn their backs on truth. According to Paul (see Rom. 1:18-23), they become futile in their thinking and their minds become darkened. Claiming to be wise, they become utter fools until they cannot change their minds. At that time God will announce that the time for choosing is over, not because He has arbitrarily shut it down but because everyone will have made final choices. No one will be changing their mind! The righteous will not; the wicked cannot.
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