Regret (μεταμέλομαι)
Regret is a word that comes from a combination of “to care about” and “after”. It is used to express being concerned about something after it has been done, which will result in a change of actions.
While Jesus was teaching in the Temple, the Chief priests and elders came to Him questioning by what authority He is teaching. He responded with a story concerning a man and two of his sons who he asked to go and work in the vineyard. The first one said, “No”, but afterwards regretted it and went (Matthew 21:29). He then rightly rebukes them for not believing the testimony of John the Baptist even though the tax collectors and prostitutes did (Matthew 21:32), for they did not regret rejecting John’s testimony even after seeing others accepting it.
After Christ was betrayed, Judas regretted what he had done when he saw that Jesus was condemned to death and returned the money he had made for betraying Christ to the Chief priest and elders (Matthew 27:3). His regret was not that they beat and imprisoned Him, but that He was condemned to death. This is what caused Judas’ to give care again about what he had done.
Paul expressed his regret for how the first letter to the Corinthians saint had to be written, although he did not regret what was written, only that it caused them grief. However, it was necessary for their benefit and to correct the wrongs they were involved in (2 Corinthians 7:8).
When it comes to the oath that God made with Christ to place Him as a priest according to the order of Melchizedek, He has no regret (Hebrews 7:21). God does not regret His oath with Christ. Therefore, we have a High Priest who can understand our struggles, for He faces the same temptations we suffer with, yet He was without sin and can therefore advocate for us to the Father and He will remain into the ages of the ages because God will not ever regret what He has done.
Regret means to give care about something after the fact. It is not directly an emotional focus, for it is a concerning within the mind about one’s actions. It is not the same as being remorseful, which focuses on the feeling of sorrow or guilt; rather, it is more along the line of reconsider.
Since salvation comes through the acts of our High Priest – His death (sacrifice), and resurrection, we can be assured that God will never regret our salvation, for He has promised He will never leave us nor forsake us, for He does not regret placing Christ as our High Priest. Therefore, let us put aside the failures of our past, even if they were just a few minutes ago, and get our mind set on the things above so that we line up our thinking with God and look to fulfill His desires over our own by using all that He has so graciously given to us in Christ.
It is God’s Desire that All Are Saved
This is proper and acceptable before the face of God, Who desires all men to be saved and come to a full experiential knowledge of the truth – 1 Timothy 2:3-4
God has not determined that some would perish, but rather is longsuffering towards all so that they can make room for a change of the mind (Repentance).
The Lord is not slow of promise as some regard slowness, but is longsuffering unto you, while not determining some to perish, but all to make room unto repentance. – 2 Peter 3:9.
However, this does not mean that humans can force God to save them by their works, for salvation is God’s choice, not by the desirous will of humans. He showed this through the selecting of Jacob over Esau before they were born. Rather than giving Esau the birthright to the promise given to Abraham, God chose Jacob before either one had done good or bad for the purpose of showing that it is not about what humans want, but God’s choice (Romans 9:11). This was done to prove a point, it is not the one who desires or the one who runs, but God who chooses to give mercy (Romans 9:16).
How God chooses to provide salvation is His choice, not ours. God states today that to be saved we are to take Him at His Word and believe that Christ died on behalf of our sins, was buried, and rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).
God did determine that certain things would happen. He chose that Christ would die and be raised from the dead (1 Peter 1:20). He chose that all who would be in Christ would have their bounds marked off as sons, they would mature (Ephesians 1:5). And when it became time, according to His purpose, He marked off those in the Church to be sons, just as He had promised before that He would do (Romans 8:28-30). But God did not pre-select who He would save, for He did not determine some to perish, but desires all to be saved.
This hits at the core of the false doctrine of predestination. The word “predestine” is not found in Scripture, only in translations and was used based upon a theological philosophy that states God select some to salvation before the foundations of the world. However, Scripture declares that God did not determine some to perish. This does not mean that God cannot use those who are perishing for His purpose, just as He used Pharaoh, but He is not the One who chose the path of destruction for them. Adam brought destruction and death upon all of us, Christ brings life and righteousness (Romans 5:12-21). Will we believe God, or seek to find our own way to salvation?
Atonement (כפר – koper)
The primary meaning of atonement is “to cover”. Under the Mosaic Law, those who sinned had to make a sacrifice that would atone (cover) for their sin, in addition to a yearly atonement made by the High priest (Exodus 30:10) concerning any sins done unaware, for ignorance of the law was not an excuse for violating it.
In a Psalm of David, he writes of the God Who listens to prayer, covering our transgressions. For transgressions of the law had to be dealt with or death would come upon the one breaking it.
“Words of perversity are against me. Our transgressions You cover.” – Psalm 65:3.
Within the tabernacle, in the inner most chamber, God had the place of atonement where the High Priest would go once a year to offer a sacrifice for the sins of Israel. It is often mis-translated as the mercy seat; however, no mercy was being expressed here, rather, it was the covering place (הַכַּפֹּֽרֶת – kap-po-ret) for sins (Leviticus 16:15).
In the New Testament, atonement is only found in translation, not the original. There is a big difference between the blood of Christ compared to what the blood of bulls and goats could accomplish, for they do not inherently have the ability to send away sin (Hebrews 10:4).
Under the New Covenant, made through the blood of Christ, our sins are sent away not covered up. The Greek language has a word that expresses the same concept of covering as the Hebrew word for atonement; however, it is never used concerning Christ’s cross work. James uses it concerning the one who turns a sinner from his error, coving a multitude of sins (James 5:20). Therefore, if Christ had made an atonement for sins, this could easily be conveyed in the New Testament.
Under the Old Testament, God was delaying dealing with sin until the appropriate time; therefore, a covering was needed for transgressions. Something that we cannot do today, now that we are under grace (Romans 4:15).
Whom God before set forth a propitiation through the faith by His blood unto a demonstration of His righteousness because of the deferral of punishment of the sins having previously happened – Romans 3:25
Christ, on the other hand, actually sent our sins away.
In Whom we have the full redemption, the sending away of sins – Colossians 1:14.
Through His death concerning our sins, He did not just cover them, but completely remove them. Even when we now sin, once we agree with God concerning our action being sin, He is faithful and just to send away that sin and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). We are under a covenant of Grace, and when we walk according to grace, we do not sin. However, when we fail and do not live out from faith, God still deals with us in a gracious manner for when we confess the sin, He is faithful to forgive it and cleans us from the unrighteousness that allowed the sin to be birthed. This means, we are now saints. Not sinners saved by grace, for we are washed of our sins. Therefore, since our sins have been sent away, let us walk in such a manner, living out the righteousness we now have in Christ.
After These Things (μετὰ ταῦτα)
“After these things” gives us an important anchor in Scripture concerning the timing of events. It is more important during prophecy, but also in other areas we are carried along within the timeline of events by the use of “after these things”.
The first “after these things” we find is with Jesus showing signs and gathering His disciples. After Jesus heals a paralyzed man He found Levi, a tax collector, and says to Him “Follow Me” (Luke 5:23). So we see Christ began showing signs to the Jews before gathering all His disciples.
Christ warning His disciples concerning the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. They are not to fear those who can kill the body but after these things has no authority, Luke 12:4.
While instructing the apostles, Jesus uses an example of a slave and a master. When the slave is finished with his work, he is not treated in a special way by the master who only after these things eats himself; rather, the slave has simply done what was required (Luke 17:8).
As the Passover was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem and seeing the money changers in the temple, drove them out. The Jews, seeing this, requested a sign from Jesus where He states tear down this temple and in three days I will raise it up. After these things Jesus and His disciples went into the land of Judea. John 3:22.
While in Cana of Galilee a royal official requested from Jesus to come and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Jesus stated to the official that his son lives, and the official believed Him. This was the second sign Jesus did in Judea and after these things He went to Jerusalem to the pool called Bethesda and healed an ill man there (John 5:1). After these things, healing this man, Jesus found him in the temple and warned him not to sin again of worse things would happen (John 5:14).
It was after Jesus had given a witness concerning Who He is, because they wanted to kill Him for healing on the Sabbath and making Himself equal with God, having crossed over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee that He feeds five thousand men who were listening to Him speak of the Kingdom of the Heavens, John 6:1.
After Jesus explains to the Jews that He is the bread of life, which they could not understand and many disciples left Him, while Jesus was walking in Galilee because they wanted to kill Him in Judea, His brothers try to goad Him into going to Judea because of the feast of Booths and show His works to His disciples, John 7:1.
While washing the disciples’ feet in the upper room Jesus tells Peter that what He is doing he is not going to understand, but will after these things, which is referring to His death for sin, burial, and resurrection, John 13:7.
After Jesus showed Himself to the disciples and even Thomas believed, He manifests Himself again to disciples Peter, Didymus, Nathanael and two others who had decided to go back to their fishing business an instructs Peter to feed His sheep, John 21:1.
In the first proclamation by Peter to the Jews after the resurrection of Christ, Peter reminds the Jews that God said they would be mistreated for four hundred years and after these things He would bring them out to serve Him, Acts 7:7.
Having come to Perga, Paul and his companions went to the synagogue where the leader asked Paul if he had any words of encouragement. Paul stands up and begins to go through the history of Israel and after the land had been distributed, He gave judges until Samuel the Prophet, Acts 13:20.
In response to Jews coming from Jerusalem teaching that you must be circumcised to be saved, Paul and his companions held a council with the apostles in Jerusalem to discuss this. After hearing of all the things God was doing among the Gentiles, James stood up and reminds them of what the Prophets said, that after these things Christ would return and setup the Tabernacle of David and the Gentiles who are called by His name would seek Him; therefore, circumcision should not be forced upon them, Acts 15:16.
After Paul had tried in Athens to use the philosophy of men to explain the resurrection and was mocked for it, he left Athens and went to Corinth. It is later in Corinth that we see the impact of this failure to Paul who stopped trying to use philosophy and just focused on the truth of Christ. Acts 17:34; 1 Corinthians 2:2.
While explaining the seven-day rest the Church saint has, Paul showed from the Old Testament that if the rest God was speaking of was given by Joshua, He would not have spoken of another rest after these things, Hebrews 4:7.
After prophesying concerning Christ, the Old Testament prophets sought to know what person and time the Spirit was referring to concerning the suffering and after these things glories of Christ, 1 Peter 1:11.
The remainder of the “after these things” occurrences are in the book of Revelation and give important anchors for events so we can understand when events are happening within the timing of the tribulation period.
We start out with John receiving a vision from Christ explaining what is going to happen and instructing him that after these things that he sees he is to write them down, Revelation 1:19.
After the time period of the Church on earth, for Christ had just revealed to John the seven periods of the Dispensation of Grace, John is pulled into heaven where he sees the Church glorified, Revelation 4:1. The use of “after these things” here gives us a time anchor that the Church is not ruling with Christ until the Dispensation of Grace is completed, at which time the Church is removed from the earth.
After the 144,000 Jews are selected to take the message of the Kingdom of the Heavens to the earth, we see the souls of the saints who were martyred by the religious system (Babylon the Great Harlot), Revelation 7:9.
After the first woe, in which demons are released from the abyss and torment the unsaved causing men to seek death but death flees them, the four angels bound in the great Euphrates are released, Revelation 9:12. This anchors their release late in the second half of the tribulation because they will gather the armies together for the great battle of Armageddon.
After seeing a sea of glass mixed with fire and those who were victorious over the beast and his image singing the song of Moses, John sees the seven angels with the seven strikes given bowls of wrath, Revelation 15:3. It is these seven strikes that will fill up the wrath of God, placing the timing of the events near the end of the tribulation.
After the seventh angel pours out his bowl upon the air, we see the destruction of Babylon the Harlot, Revelation 18:1. This is important to note because it places the destruction of Babylon at the end of the tribulation.
After the destruction of Babylon the Harlot, we see Heaven rejoice, Revelation 19:1, and the reign of Christ beginning.
At the end of the Tribulation period, Satan is going to be bound for a thousand years. After this time, he will be released for a season to finish the dispensations and bring and end to the wrath of God, Revelation 20:3.
“After these things”, is important to pay attention to because it helps put events in their proper order, such as Christ began preaching of the Kingdom of the Heavens, which is a specific gospel to the Jews and their Messiah, but after the signs and wonders that He did and their rejection, He began speaking of the Kingdom of God, which is related to salvation. It also helps in Revelation, which jumps around in time as the future of this world, the wicked, the unsaved, and the new world are explained and laid out so we can understand what is coming resulting in the reader being happy, not stressed and confused. For after these things righteousness will settle down and feel at ease, Satan will be judged and cast into a place where he will never deceive the nations again, the wicked will received just punishment for their works, and the righteous will live, for the one doing the will of God abides into the ages.
The Creation of the Universe
The first book of the Bible starts out with the story of creation of the heavens and the earth along with the earth’s renovation for humans. Unfortunately, due to some rather sloppy translations and the failure of new translations to correct the issue, we miss a lot of information that is expressed in the first few verses.
Genesis 1:1 – In a beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In this verse the change is minor, but has a significant impact on the events expressed. Rather than in “the” beginning, we find “a” beginning in the original Hebrew. This is important because it is not referring to the beginning of all creation, but specifically referring to a beginning when God created the universe and the earth. We find over in Job 38:7 that the angels (the sons of God) shouted for joy when the stars were created. They saw God create the heavens and the earth, therefore they had to have been created prior to the universe.
The next verse is also important to correctly translate from the original Hebrew to fully understand what is being conveyed. Genesis 1:2 – “And the earth was a wasteland and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God brooded over the face of the waters.” Starting with the word “was”, the Hebrew language expresses the action of the verb in primarily two ways. It is incomplete or complete action. Incomplete is closely akin to ongoing action in English, where complete is expressed by the English past tense. Why does that matter? Because if the earth is in a state of being formless and void as a part of its creation, “was” would need to express incomplete action. But it does not; rather, the action being articulated is completed. This means that the earth came to be in this state but prior was not in such a condition, for before this new form it would have had to of been in a state of order; otherwise, it could not become formless and void. It is important to pay attention to each word in Scripture and what is conveyed by it. There is a reason that God used a complete action here, and we should take the time to understand it. When we do, we have a much better understanding of God’s Word that resonates with us, because Scripture is active and sharper than a two-edge sword and truth matters.
As we move on in the verse, we need to understand the meaning of “formless” and “void” for it ends up they do not express an earth that is without form and in chaos, but a wasteland empty of any intelligent life. “Formless” means a wasteland or desert. It is only translated as “formless” when referring to the earth where all other occurrences are translated according to its true meaning, a wasteland; therefore, there is no justifiable reason to change the definition of the word when referring to the earth. “Void” expresses a place that is empty, has no intelligent life (spirit or human). It is used of a description of the land of Edom after judgment in Isaiah 34:11, where there are no humans in the land.
God did not create the earth as a wasteland that was uninhabited (Isaiah 45:18). We find out in Ezekiel 28:14 that it was originally inhabited by Lucifer, who we now know as Satan. He ruled over the universe from earth, which was a rock garden, until he sinned by trying to move his throne up to the third heaven where God resides. This is why we find the earth in a state of being a wasteland and empty in verse two. Genesis 1:1-2 are setting the stage for the renovation of the earth after judgment came upon it because of Lucifer’s actions; however, God did not create the earth to be uninhabited, so He is about to do something new. He is going to create a new creature, called Adam.
2 Corinthians Filling Up Holiness In Our Lives
Do not become unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what participation [is there] with righteousness and with lawlessness? And what fellowship [is there] with light facing darkness? And what agreement [is there] with Christ and facing Belial? Or what portion [is there] in faithfulness with unfaithfulness? And what putting together [is there] with the Holy of Holies of God with idols? For you are a Holy of Holies of a living God, just as the God said that I will dwell among them and I will walk and I will be their God and they will be My people. Wherefore, you come out, out from the midst of them and be separated, the Lord says. And do not touch from unclean and I will welcome you. And I will be to you for a Father and you will be to Me for sons and daughters, the almighty Lord says. Therefore having these promises, beloved, let us cleans ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, while filling up holiness in fear of God.