The Hidden Things Belong To Yahweh

Here is a truth every Christian should meditate on and remember whenever they find themselves so sure of a biblical teaching. There are things not meant for us to know - not that we cannot enjoy the musings, but we need to rightly understand that there are mechanisms in the world that are only known to Yahweh. Just like my daughters have no actual understanding of how they became my daughters, or how money shows up in our account every month, or how water comes to our house... These things are beyond their scope of existence to be honest, and there are analogous things that we fully-grown mature adults need to recognize are beyond us and are for the Lord, only.

This is not an excuse or encouragement though to never be sure of a conviction... there most certainly are "revealed things [that] belong to us to know". So the Christian needs to graciously approach the things we can't run away from, but also recognize that our understanding is, by nature of our existence, limited.

The truth a lot of us wrestle with, and probably not very well, is Soteriology - the theology of salvation. There are a number of things that go into the mechanism of receiving salvation from the Lord: a regenerated heart, faith in Jesus alone, confession, and the process of becomming more like Jesus (sanctification). However, the order by which these things happen has been a long-debated issue in the Church and has led to a lot of Christian-division.

I'm not going to claim to understnad the [orto salutis] but what I can do is recognize a reality in my life, perhaps even somewhat contradictory realties, and given that objective truth of those realities I'll have to eventually recognize that the intimate understanding and knowledge of the inner-workings of those realities is hidden from me.

It goes like this - no one can choose Yahweh on their own. We are born into death and decay:

So inconvenient truth number 1: you are dead, dead people can't make choices or do anything... but surely "dead in your tresspasses" and "fall short of the glory of God" are just indicators that we can't live a perfectly "good" life... no?

Well, it won't really matter and here's why:

So here's the thing - either Jesus is the son of God or he isn't... Simple binary truth. If he's not the son of God, then half of this blog is worthless and Paul's words that Christians should lbe pitied above all people would never be more true... But if Jesus is the son of God and his words are actual truth then you really need to wrestle with it, if only for a second... He's either a crazy liar, or literally God. This truth, or the option of which of these things are true, are 100% unavoidable for every person to deal with. Like, you have to make a choice - either accept what Jesus says, or don't.

But that actually brings up the tension - you can't accept it unless Yahweh gives you over to Jesus.

So... is the one born destined to not believe simply destined for hell? What kind of loving God is that?

The answer there is actually pretty simple - he's a loving father. I wrote a little bit about this via analogies to my own life as a parent in advent-2025---love. Essentially as a dad, I take my own kids home from the playground every day, not your kids. Likewise, God will redeem his own... It's literally a perfectly reasonable expectation of a dad.

Hidden vs. Revealed

What is for us and what is for God alone then (as we discuss Soteriology)? A lot. And in this case I'm not even sure where to draw the line but here is a simple list of truths that are true even though I couldn't explain with every nuance - how?

1. I hated God - every unregenerate person does, it is only natural to hate what you're opposed to. Being born into sin and death necessarily means you are are opposed to life and godliness.
2. I now love God - my personal story here is a picture of God's providence - see helkyo-what-is-it-for-god-to-draw-man-to-him
3. Yahweh desires for all people to be reconciled (1 Peter)
4. Not everyone believes in Jesus - which means there are people destined for hell

Here's what I think is hidden...

1. The reasons which God chooses some and not others - thank the Lord this is not for me to know
2. The mechanism by which my heart is able to make a free choice, out of my own agency, not to initially believe in Jesus, but every day to lay my life down before him (as I do or do not live faithfully to him)
3. What reality of "hell" there is to be predestined to... I cannot deny at all that not all people are chosen by God, not all people will enter the Celestial City... But what of the others? I genuinely do not know, but I have a lot of confidence that the fire and torture crowd are missing some stuff.

Fin

Praise the Lord that there are things beyond us to know... It is comforting to know that Jesus loves me, and I don't need to know much more beyond that. Just like one of my biggest desires is for my daughters to trust me because of my love for them, in the same way is how I find and am comforted by the Lord. If you're reading this and haven't heard him call your name, maybe sit and listen. When Jesus called Lazarus from the grave, he might've had the choice whether to walk out or not, but he didn't have the choice to not wake-up. If the Lord awakens your heart today, may you make the choice to walk out of the grave and into new life.