Thank God For These Glorious Doctrines!
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church
Scripture calls us to “give thanks” (1 Thess 5:18). We are to praise and worship the Lord with thankful hearts (Ps 92.1). This Thanksgiving season, let us thank our God for some glorious theological doctrines. Of course there are so many majestic truths in Scripture that we can speak of, but I will limit this to only 6 glorious doctrines.
1. Predestination
Thank your God for predestining you. Consider that long before you were born and before He founded the world, God had predestined you for salvation (Rom 8.29). Amazingly, this selection of God, or this choosing of God, for particular people to be saved with a particular calling was all borne out of passionate love. We know this because God predestined His people in love to adoption as sons to Himself (Eph 1.5). Thank God that He knew you, predestined you, particularly chose you with a calling to be conformed to the image of the Son (Rom 8.29). In amazement and humility, give thanks to God for His most gracious act in predestining you to glory.
2. Justification
Thank your God for justifying you. All who are justified will “glory” in God (Isa 45.25). Consider that this exclusive and sovereign work of God alone was done “as a gift” for you (Rom 3.25). You did not deserve it, nor do you now deserve it because of your actions. You are simply justified by faith apart from any works of the Law (Rom 3.28). Give thanks that God is the sole accomplisher of your justification and that this divine and forensic act of God in heaven’s courtroom can never be overturned or abolished! You are justified all of grace and thus God has made you an heir of eternal life (Titus 3.7). Rejoice in this God-accomplished reality for you!
3. Expiation
Thank your God for the blessed doctrine of expiation. In this grand and soul-comforting truth of expiation, God blotted out and cancels out the certificate of debt that is charged against you (Col 2.14). In fact, this expiation is the truth that God took it out of the way, nailed it to the cross, and cleared away all the debt and consequences from you. Consider the blessed truth that you are cleansed from sin itself and the guilt and consequences of sin. The blood of Jesus Christ “cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1.7). Ponder this. Meditate on this. Rejoice in this supernatural act of God, through Christ, by the Spirit that you are clear, freed, and that God has removed your transgressions far from you (Ps 103.12).
4. Propitiation
Thank your God for propitiation. In this majestically divine and mysteriously biblical doctrine, God’s wrath is completely removed because of the work of Jesus Christ. It is not that God ignored your sin. The reality of Scripture teaches that God justly punished your sin and poured out His wrath on your Substitute, Jesus Christ. This is the turning away of God’s wrath and the joyful state of God’s favor. God loved you and sent His Son, Jesus Christ the Lord, to “be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4.10). This all happened through Christ’s blood when He died on the cross, drank the bitter cup of infinite wrath for your sin (Rom 3.25). And He is your merciful and faithful High Priest (Heb 2.17). Take a moment and thank God for this wonder!
5. Preservation
Thank God for the wondrous hope of preservation. All whom God saves will persevere till glory. But all God’s elect persevere because God preserves them. Let your heart take rich comfort in the tight grip that He has on you. Nothing can snatch you out of His hand (John 10.28, 30). He will perfect the good work that He began in you (Phil 1.6). He will make you stand blameless before Him on that Day (Jude 24-25). The Lord will keep your soul (Ps 121.7). Consider this objective hope, outside of you, not determined by your level of obedience or your performance in religion. God preserves all His elect. Rest in His grace. Thank Him for His tight hold of your soul.
6. Glorification
Thank God for glorification. It is true: all those whom God has foreknown, and predestined, and called, and justified have been glorified! Oh the wonder and security! God has chosen His people to obtain salvation and with it eternal glory (2 Tim 2.10). And even though your particular season may be one of suffering, remember that after you suffer for a little while, your God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ will most certainly “perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you” (1 Pet 5.10). Think of that future day when you live in that eternal city that “has the glory of God” (Rev 21.11). Your God is bringing many sons to glory (Heb 2.10). Give thanks for the sure hope, the unchanging glory that awaits you! Give thanks!
