Leviticus 4:13 If the whole
congregation of Israel sins unintentionally… and they
realize their guilt …
the
assembly shall offer a bull (v. 14)… and they shall be forgiven (v.
20).
4:22 When a
leader sins unintentionally… and realizes his guilt…he shall bring as his offering a goat (v.
23)… and he shall be forgiven (v. 26).
Did this forgiveness mean they were
saved eternally?
Hebrews
10:4 says, “it is impossible for the
blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” permanently.
These
animal sacrifices symbolized the payment for sin, but they did
not accomplish it permanently. Last year’s sacrifice did not cover the next
year’s sins. A permanent sacrifice was needed to deal permanently with sin.
People
Not Under Grace Are Still Under Law
…just like Israel was. Therefore,
there are two kinds of forgiveness: temporary and permanent, earthly and
heavenly.
Temporal Atonement
Deuteronomy 21:1 gives an example of finding a murdered man “lying in
the open country, and it is not known who killed him, [6] And all the
elders of that city nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the
valley, [7] and they shall testify,
‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it shed. [8] Accept atonement, O LORD, for your
people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and do not set the guilt of innocent
blood in the midst of your people Israel, so
that their blood guilt be atoned for’” (Deuteronomy 21:6-8 ESV).
This
atonement meant that their town would be spared of the Four Horsemen of God’s
wrath: war, famine, conquest, and plague.
How about when Nineveh repented?
“And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a
fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them… [10] When
God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the
disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it” (Jonah 3:5-10).
Did this forgiveness mean Nineveh was saved
permanently? The Medes did destroy Nineveh 100 years later. When they repented,
did they establish God’s law as the law of the land? Did they establish the
death penalty for idolatry and sorcery? Did they do away with statism?
Evidently their forgiveness was based on an earthly level. “… a broken and a contrite
heart, O God You will not despise” (Psalm 51:17). “Go and learn what this
means, I prefer mercy and not sacrifice.”
Ahab’s Limited Forgiveness
1 Kings 21:24-29 There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the
sight of the LORD like Ahab, whom Jezebel his wife incited… Elijah predicted
God’s curse on him. He said, “Anyone belonging to Ahab who dies in the city the
dogs shall eat, and anyone of his [family] who dies in the open country the
birds of the heavens shall eat” (1 Kings 21:24). …[27] And when Ahab heard
those words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his flesh and fasted and
lay in sackcloth and went about dejectedly. [28] And the word of the LORD
came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, [29] “Have you seen how Ahab has
humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not
bring the disaster in his days; but in his son's days I will bring the disaster
upon his house.”
This same type
of conversion happens today. The awakened sinner feels it and thinks he’s
saved. But it’s only temporary. God’s mercy can send a strong delusion.
How about Jehu?
God’s prophet
anointed him to wipe out the family of Ahab and all the Baal worshippers. Jehu
did it but failed to wipe out golden calf worship. God rewarded him anyway with
the promise that his dynasty would endure to the 4th generation. His
dynasty lasted longer than all the other dynasties of Israel. In this case we
see God rewarding an idol worshipper on one level and yet cursing him on
another level. This proves that not only are their two levels of forgiveness,
but also two levels of rewards. One level of blessing can deceive men into
thinking God approves of them on all levels.
Two Levels Of Atonement
1 John 2:2
Propitiation means atonement. It means “a sacrifice that
bears God’s wrath and turns it to favor.” Christ “is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours
only but also for the sins of the whole world.” The unbelieving world gets
temporary atonement only. There are two levels of grace.
Common Grace And Special Grace
The whole world receives common grace. One
level of forgiveness is by common grace and the other is by special grace.
Common grace is what God grants to mankind in common. He rains on the just and
the unjust. That’s common grace. Jesus said God is “kind to the ungrateful and
the evil” (Luke 6:35). But even among unbelievers there are various levels of
common grace. Outward Christians who are unsaved have more common grace than pagans.
“Then what advantage has the unsaved Christian? Or what is the value of
baptism? Much in every way. To begin with, unsaved Christians were entrusted
with the oracles of God. What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness
nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be true though every one
were a liar…” (Romans 3:1-4 ESV).
The Two Israels
When Moses led
Israel out of Egypt God said, “Israel is My son, My firstborn.” He was talking
about the nation as a whole. All of them were baptized in the sea and the cloud.
All ate of the same spiritual bread as a type of Communion. Yet God was not
pleased with most of them. Most of them were not true converts. On one level
they were all Israel as a whole, but on another “they are not all Israel that
are of Israel” (Rom 9:6). There are two Israels and by that I mean two kinds of
Christians; the outward and the inward; the visible and the invisible.
Therefore, there are two levels of forgiveness and two levels of grace.
Can A Person Be Enlightened While Not Saved?
Hebrews 6
“For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once
been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, [5] and
have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come,
[6] and then have fallen away,
to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the
Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt” (Hebrews 6:4-6
ESV).
Those who
believe one can lose his salvation and still be able to repent again, have to disagree
with this chapter. These verses prove that a person can share in the Holy
Spirit and still not be a genuine convert.
The Holy
Spirit came on King Saul and he was
changed into a different man and prophesied. But he was never a genuine
convert. He proved it when he had murder in his heart. 1 John 3:15 says, “you know
that no
murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”
Many of our
modern so-called converts are awakened only. They find joy in Bible study and
church activities, but are still not born again. Even though they preach, cast
out devils, and do many good works, the Lord will say on Judgment Day, “I never
knew you.”
Can One Be Blotted Out Of The Book Of
Life?
“And the
LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book” (Ex 32:33). True converts will never
be blotted out because true converts overcome sin. Jesus promised, “He who
overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life” (Rev 3:5).
I believe that when infants are baptized in the name of the Lord,
their names are written in God’s book and their sins are forgiven on a common
grace level. It does not mean they are born of the Spirit; they are born of
water only. Jesus said, “unless one is born of water and the
Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). If baptized infants
never get born of the Spirit, their names will be blotted out. On Judgment Day,
whosoever is not found written in the Book of Life shall be cast into the Lake
of Fire.
What
About Infant Baptism?
1
Corinthians 7 says both the children and the unbelieving husband of a Christian
woman are sanctified by her faith. That does not mean they are saved. It means
they are set apart on a certain level of common grace. So just as forgiveness
has two levels, so does sanctification.
Did
The Apostles Baptize Infants?
Irenaeus A.D. 130 “He
[Jesus] came to save all through himself; all, I say, who through him are
reborn in God: infants, and children, and youths, and old men.” Irenaeus was 37
years old when his pastor Polycarp was burned to death. Polycarp was born in 80
A.D. and was almost 20 when his pastor, the Apostle John died. This is pretty
strong evidence that the apostles practiced infant baptism.
Hippolytus A.D.
215 “Baptize
first the children, and if they can speak for themselves let them do so.
Otherwise, let their parents or other relatives speak for them” (The
Apostolic Tradition 21:16)
Origen A.D.
248 “The Church received
from the apostles the tradition of giving baptism even to infants. The
apostles, to whom were committed the secrets of the divine sacraments, knew
there are in everyone innate strains of [original] sin, which must be washed
away through water and the Spirit” (Commentaries on Romans 5:9).
Cyprian of Carthage A.D. 253 “As to what
pertains to the case of infants: You [Fidus] said that they ought not to be
baptized within the second or third day after their birth, that the old law of
circumcision must be taken into consideration, and that you did not think that
one should be baptized and sanctified within the eighth day after his birth. In
our council it seemed to us far otherwise. No one agreed to the course which
you thought should be taken. Rather, we all judge that the mercy and grace of
God ought to be denied to no man born” (Letters 64:2).
Conclusion
So, in conclusion it’s easy to see that
there are two levels of faith, two levels of forgiveness, two levels of
sanctification, two kinds of grace (common and special), two churches, the visible and the invisible.
As we can see, the visible church has
many faults, but Christ still calls it His church. Let’s make our calling and
election sure.
