The
Professor's Theological Home Page
"...Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou
shalt be saved..." (Acts 16:31)
As saving grace places us in union with Christ,
logistical grace provides for us God’s support and sustenance while we are
alive on this earth. The basis for
logistical grace is God’s imputed righteousness in us and is seen in 2 Corinthians
9:8:
“And God is able to make all grace abound
toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to
every good work:”( KJV 2 Cor. 9:8)
This
verse reassures us that God provides everything so that every believer has an
equal privilege and equal opportunity to execute God’s plan in their life.
God’s logistical supports will involve several
things. First of all, the Lord has to
keep us alive while we are on this earth.
None of us can depart from this life apart from God’s will. By implication, Satan cannot remove us apart
from the Lord’s permission. As a result, if we are to continue to live on this
earth means that the Lord will provide all our temporal provisions, which include
food, shelter, and clothing. Of course,
the basis for food, shelter, and clothing would require that we have a source
of income which would necessitate employment.
Obviously, having a job would require having a means of transportation
to get back and forth from that job, all of which fall under God’s logistical
grace provision, which is further taught in Philippians 4:19:
“But
my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ
Jesus.” (KJV Phil. 4:19)
Notice
the verse tells us that God will supply all our needs and not necessarily all
our wants.
In
addition, God provides an environment where we can have the freedom to advance
to maturity. The environment God
provides would begin with the laws of His four divine establishments. God’s divine establishments include the
individual, marriage, the family and government, and are for both believers and
unbelievers alike.
Each
one of God’s establishments has a system of authority. The authority for each individual would be
their volition. Volition is the decision-maker
in the soul of every individual. Through
our volition or will we can decide to be negative or positive to anything in
life. Our volition is responsible for
all the choices that we make, regardless of whether they are good or bad. There have been many Christian martyrs
throughout the Church Age that have had to choose whether to deny Christ or be
killed. They each chose death rather
than to deny their Lord. These martyrs
did not say, “I did not have a choice.”
In
the institution of marriage the husband has the authority or is responsible for
the wife. In like manner, in the family,
the parents have the authority or responsibility for the children. In any
particular national entity, the government has the authority or responsibility
for the nation that it governs.
God
uses the laws of these four establishments to perpetuate the human race by
allowing for freedom, civilization, authority, evangelism and spiritual
growth. Thus, establishment laws are
extremely important. As a matter of
fact, they are as important to each one of us as is the law of gravity. If you can imagine not having the law of
gravity you would conclude that it would make for a very chaotic environment. In like manner, not having laws of divine
establishment would also make for chaos.
The
laws of God’s divine establishments define freedom in such terms as privacy,
property and authority. There is no
such thing as the enjoyment of life or freedom without any authority. A society without authority at any level
would make for a very chaotic society and we can see how rapidly
the chaos emerges as the rampant disregard for authority grows.
In
addition, for believers only, God also provides a collection of priceless
spiritual riches such as a portfolio of invisible assets. The assets that God has available are at the
disposal of both positive and negative believers alike.
We
have available to us such things as the ten-problem solving methods of the
spiritual life. In progressive order, these
methods begin with the confession technique of First John 1:9. Through confession we are moved to the stage
of being filled with Spirit, which is the basis for spirituality. Being in fellowship allows for the third
method to function, which is called the faith-rest drill. It is here that the Christian claims and
applies the promises of God to their experience. These first three methods are for spiritual
childhood. The fourth and fifth methods
are for spiritual adolescence and are utilized by being oriented to God’s grace
and His Word. The next stages are in the
realm of spiritual maturity, which would include having love for God the Father
and in turn impersonal love for all mankind.
Maximizing our love for God will result in us sharing His happiness,
having a personal destiny and complete occupation with Jesus Christ.
The
Christian also has available the privacy of his own royal priesthood. This means that every believer in Jesus
Christ is appointed a royal priest at the moment of salvation (1 Pet. 2:9). Our
priesthood means that we can now represent ourselves before God.
“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar
people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him
who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous
light:”(KJV 1 Pet. 2:9)
Also
available to every believer is the completed Bible, the local Church and the
gift of Pastor/Teacher. All three of
these provisions are vital to our spiritual progression since in the completed
Bible is found God’s complete policy on all matters. The local Church is the place to learn God’s
policy and the Pastor/Teacher clarifies this policy.
In
addition, the Lord even provides the assignment of guardian angels in His
logistical grace to us. There are actually
three categories of guardian angels, which would include those assigned to
children, believers and client nations.
In
Hebrews 1:13-14 we see the angels that are guardians of Church Age
Believers. In Hebrews 1:14 these
guardian angels are called “ministering spirits sent forth to minister” to
those who are “heirs of
salvation.” In Acts
12:13-15, we know that the early Church understood and believed in the
concept of guardian angels being assigned to believers. The example in Acts has the Apostle Peter
miraculously escaping prison by the aid of an angel and afterwards knocking on
the door of John Mark’s mother’s house.
We are told that Rhoda ran to tell the others of Peter being at the
front door only to be told by them that she was “mad” and that it was “his
angel,” referring to Peter’s guardian angel.
“13) But to which of the
angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? 14) Are they not all
ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of
salvation?” (KJV Heb. 1:13-14)
“13) And as Peter
knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to hearken, named Rhoda. 14) And
when she knew Peter's voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in,
and told how Peter stood before the gate. 15) And they said unto her, Thou art
mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then said they, It is his
angel.” (KJV Acts 12:13-15)
Matthew
18:10 also lets us know that children have a guardian angel to protect them
during their childhood. There, the Lord
talked about the children and “their angels,” referring to their guardian
angels
“Take heed that ye
despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That
in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in
heaven.” (KJV Mt. 18:10)
Also,
in Daniel 10:13, 20 teaches us that there are angels that guard client
nations. Daniel 10:13 speaks of Michael
the Archangel, who is the angel responsible for defending all Jewish client
nations. Michael will be a busy angel
during the Tribulation period that is found in the book of Revelation (Rev.
12:7).
“But the prince of the
kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of
the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of
Persia.” (KJV Dan. 10:13)
“Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and
now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth,
lo, the prince of Grecia shall come.” (KJV Dan. 10:20)
“And there was war in
heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought
and his angels,” (KJV Rev. 12:7)
Therefore,
in logistical grace God sustains our life on this planet in spite of satanic
opposition, or opposition from others.
The Lord even sustains us in spite of our own tendencies for
self-destruction as we do have that propensity.
Yet, God keeps us alive in spite of ourselves and others. In First Peter 1:5 we see God’s logistical
grace when he tells us that we are “kept by God’s power.”
“Who are kept by the
power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (KJV 1 Pet. 1:5)
God
provides all these things in His logistical grace for us, regardless of our
spiritual status, whether a winner or a loser as pertaining to our spiritual
life. Logistical grace is spoken of by
the Lord in Matthew 6:25-34. It is in the Gospel of Matthew that the Lord
teaches not to worry about food and clothing, since our father in heaven feeds
the birds. Our Lord questions, are we
not more important?
“25) Therefore I say unto
you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink;
nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not
the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26) Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow
not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27) Which
of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28) And why take
ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the
field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29) And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these. 30) Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of
the field, which to day is, and tomorrow is cast into
the oven, shall he not much
more clothe you, O ye of little
faith? 31) Therefore take no thought, saying, What
shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32) (For after all
these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33) But seek
ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall
be added unto you. 34) Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow
shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” (KJV Mt.
6:25-34)
When
we worry, are fearful or have anxiety and apprehension, it simply means that we
have either rejected or we are ignorant of God’s logistical grace in our
lives. In spite of our disregard, the
Lord still continues to support us even when we worry.