Magyar Egyház, 1956 (35. évfolyam, 1-11. szám)
1956-10-01 / 10. szám
14 MAGYAR EGYHÁZ PREDESTINATION . . . Indeed it is true that our Lord Jesus Christ, through his sufferings and death, obtained the pardon and forgiveness for all the sins of all men, and his resurrection and ascension into heaven made the resurrection and eternal life of all men possible. The question, now, however is this: will all men, without exception, receive the forgiveness of God for their sins and go to heaven eventually? According to the Bible we have to answer this question with a “no”. My sins are forgiven for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and my eternal life in heaven is assured only if I believe in Him. “Every one who believes in Jesus receives the forgiveness of sins through his name.” Acts. 10:43, “Jesus said: I am the resurrection and the life he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” John 11:25. But what does it mean to believe in Jesus Christ? It means that I do not doubt that He is the Son of God and He suffered and died for my own sins, too, and He prepared a place for me in heaven. I put all my trust in Him, only in Him. I humbly admit that by my own “goodness” or by the help of any creature I never could go to heaven. Only for the sake of His Holy Son is God willing to forgive my sins and let me possess a blessed eternal life in heaven. True faith in Jesus Christ means also that “I take up my cross and follow him” in this earthly life. I recognize Him as my only Lord and his will as my only law, I obey him rather than anyone else in this world. This kind of faith in Jesus Christ is necessary in order to have my sins forgiven by God and to be able to go into heaven. Do all men believe in Jesus Christ this way? No. He has enemies, even today, who hate Him, condemn his teachings, curse him and do not believe that He is the eternal 8on of God. But on the other hand, there are his true believers who are willing even to shed their blood for their Lord. What causes this great difference in the feeling of men toward Jesus Christ? Jesus said: “you do not believe because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me and I give them eternal life and they never perish .. . My Father who has given them to me is greater than all.” John 10:26-30. The words of Jesus reveal to us the great secret that if we truly believe in Him it is because God elected or predestined us to be believers of Jesus Christ. “God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be blameless before Him. He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ.” Eph. 1:4,5. The doctrine of predestination, therefore, means that God loves me so much that He elected me, even before I was born, to believe in his Holy Son, to be his disciple and to be with Him in heaven after my earthly life. This knowledge makes me most humble and grateful to God because I know if He did not have pity on me I were lost forever. The Bible clearly teaches also that God did not elect or predestine everybody. According to his wisdom some men are left and by-passed by Him to receive the due punishment for their sins. Who are the elected ones or who are the rejected ones? In this respect our duty is to examine ourselves. “Examine yourselves, whether you be in faith, prove your own selves.” 2 Cor. 13:5. If you believe in Jesus Christ truly, you are elected... In our next article we will understand how God creates faith in our hearts. STEPHEN KOVÁCS. THE CHURCH’S MESSAGE TO ONE OF HER DAUGHTERS . . . Originally appeared (in Hungarian) in the “Magyar Egyház” August 1936, p. 6-7. My Dear Daughter, Your loved ones rest in our cemetery. I buried each one of them. But I, who am your spiritual Mother, i live. And though I live, in your soul, you buried me alive. How? So that in the time of your engagement, in the days of your happiness you forgot me and went far away to a strange city, to a Church that was alien to you and there you made the sacred vow. For me you had no thought. Why? Was I ever unkind to you? Did I hurt or harm you? You know that I loved you and thought of you as one who belongs to me. When you were a tiny child, by me did your parents and godparents present you to the Lord Jesus through Baptism. I taught you the secrets and the truth of our holy faith in my school. In my Church you promised at your confirmation to be faithful for ever. From my hands you first tasted the sweet sacrament, the body and blood of the Lord Jesus. Sunday by Sunday it was in my choir that you praised the Lord in the company of the faithful. Our bells were the ones that tolled when your loved ones were taken to our cemetery. Yet, you left without a word. It was no use, though many of your fellow Church members lovingly warned you, your minister went to see you. You went away without a serious thought about me. You became an alien for me for ever. You can never again take the sacrament of the body and blood of the Lord from my hands. You cannot be buried beside your loved ones to be with them until the morning of the resurrection. I said in the beginning of my letter that, in your soul, you buried me alive. But rather you buried yourself as far as the Hungarian Reformed Christian world is concerned. You followed your bridegroom who is from another faith, another world. Why? Were you ashamed to bring him here? Or were you ashamed of me your Church, or of your fellow Church members? Or were you afraid that your loyalty to your spiritual Mother would cost you the loss of your fiancé? Did you think that he, to whom you trusted your whole life, had so little love for you? My daughter you were mistaken. For your loyalty, he would have had appriciated you more, if he is that man whom you think he is. But you packed your weddingdress and left. At the place, where you might have been given the most precious blessings for your life, there you left only sad memories. I wish that you would not have reason to be sorry for your disloyalty. But this motherly heart of mine, though buried by you, yet with love is worried about you for you shall have reasons to repent. You have no one to blame, but your ownself. Perhaps you will remember me then, perhaps then you shall find me. By the goodness of my bridegroom, Christ who gave His own blood for me, I will be alive even then. And I will be still o Mother. The heartily repentant children I take back into my arms, but not those who rejoice in their sin! Even if my heart pines for them. If the Lord would, may He bless you! This I say to all those disloyal ones whom I taught and comforted and who in the most decisive moment of their lives unfaithfully turned away from me. The Free Magyar Reformed Church Perth Amboy. (Altough this article appeared 20 years ago, yet its message is timely even today. Editor.)
