The Divine Perpetuity of Divine Providence: A Mere 11-Point Defense of the Foredetermined Christ-Appointed Approbation of the Slaughter of the Divine Lamb of God Through the God-Destined Cross of Jesus Christ and a Scriptural Examination of the Apostle Peter and Judas Iscariot Regarding the Providential Outcome of the Most Bitter Crucifixion of the Matchless Mediator Jesus Christ

 Dr.  MA Petillo

Dying with Jesus, by death reckoned mine;
Living with Jesus, a new life divine;
Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine,
Moment by moment, O Lord, I am thine.
Moment by moment, I'm kept in his love;
Moment by moment, I've life from above;
Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine,
Moment by moment, O Lord, I am thine.
Never a trial that he is not there,
Never a burden that he doth not bear,
Never a sorrow that he doth not share,
Moment by moment, I'm under his care.
Never a weakness that he doth not feel,
Never a sickness that he cannot heal;
Moment by moment, in woe or in weal,
Jesus my Saviour, abides with me still.  (TH, 708).

1.  The Cross of Jesus Christ was the predestinarian plan of God.

2.  Through the doctrine of high compatiblism, God caused, designed and brought forth every single detail of the appointed hour of Jesus Christ the only God-man.  That is, the appointed hour was the very Cross of Jesus Christ where He bore the sins of God's people in Christ alone.

3.  God is not at a distance, but He is meticulously involved in the providential display of His outward creation for mercy or for wrath.

4.  God used the free choice of wicked man without violating their fallen wills to bring about redemption through the secondary means of fallen humanity to bring about the predestinarian slaughter of the innocent Lamb of God at His bitter Cross at Calvary.

5.   God is the ultimate cause of the redemption of His people alone though He used wicked man to accomplish His prophetic and supernatural purposes in bringing out life for His people.

6.  God brought about the fall of humanity to ultimately glorify His eternal Son either for mercy or for wrath in the redemption of His people alone in Christ, because ALL THINGS work together for the good of His people according to those called according to His redemptive purpose in divine love.  If this is not true, something was out of His control.  Nothing is out of His control.

7.   Though the Father crushed His own Son for the redemption of God's people alone in Christ alone, He is not the Author of sin.  How?  God is not the Author of any sin, because He has the ultimate and sovereign right to do whatsoever He pleases except to have a motivation of sin in the cosmic darkness of second causes in fallen humanity and the evil one.

8.   It is possible for a holy God to forgo second causes and divinely intervene without fallen man and the prince of darkness, because He is wholly and perfectly sovereign.  Make no mistake: God needs no body to accomplish His purposes in the absolute sense.  That is, He alone decides without counsel from fallen man or Satan whether He will use them for second causes either for His glory unto mercy or unto wrath.

9.  Some think Judas brought about redemption.  No, no!  Has Satan and the Father agreed that the eternal Son be put to death?  We see it is the Father's will from OT prophecy that He designed the Cross of Jesus Christ before it all happened, but didn't Judas Iscariot in a sense "obey" God by betraying Jesus (because Judas seemed to bring about redemption in handing Him over)?  Satan was aware of God's plan since the Garden, but he used Judas to betray Jesus.  There is no where in the Bible where it says that betrayal is a NT command.  Judas committed the cosmic sin of Satan, but the Father used the sin of Judas to bring about redemption.  Wait a minute!  Isn't it condemned to do evil that good may come?  Indeed.  Judas brought about the betrayed of Jesus, but it was God that brought about spiritual goodness through Jesus Christ alone (Phil 3:9).  The sin lies with Judas because he sinned through doing evil that good may come.  That is, this is condemned in Romans chapter 3.  

10.  When Jesus permitted Judas to hand Him over was He partaking of his sin?  No, no!  Jesus alone is the God-man apart from sin!  That is, He sovereignly decided whatsoever He wanted with His creature (in this case Judas Iscariot).  We must remember Jesus is the Living Creator.  He decides everything because the Potter has right over the clay.  It means Jesus was not partaking of the sin of Judas, but He was obeying His Heavenly Father in turning Judas over to himself and Satan in the ultimate plan of God foretold in ancient times (see Gen 3:15).  Again He has the divine right to choose what to do with each of us.  No one receives injustice by God but through His Cross God's people alone in Christ alone receive mercy alone though He also uses corrective judgment for His people that stray in cosmic sin, but this corrective judgment adds nothing to His unified redemptive merits of Christ alone (Gal 2:16).  CH Spurgeon wrote,

"And as I looked upon that corpse [of Jesus], I heard a footstep, and wondered where it was. I listened, and I clearly perceived that the murderer was close at hand. It was dark, and I groped about to find him. I found that, somehow or other, wherever I put out my hand, I could not meet with him, for he was nearer to me than my hand would go. At last I put my hand upon my breast. “I have thee now,” said I; for lo! he was in my own heart! The murderer was hiding within my own bosom, dwelling in the recesses of my inmost soul. Ah! Then I wept indeed, that I, in the very presence of my murdered Master, should be harbouring the murderer, and I felt myself most guilty while I bowed over His corpse, and sang that plaintive hymn: “Twas you, my sins, my cruel sins, His chief tormentors were; each of my crimes became a nail, and unbelief the spear.” My sins were the scourges which lacerated those blessed shoulders, and crowned with thorns those bleeding brows. My sins cried, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” and laid the cross upon his gracious shoulders. His being led forth to die is sorrow enough for one eternity; but my having been His murderer is more, infinitely more grief, than one poor fountain of tears can express..."

11. What about Peter who became an incarnation of Satan in advising Christ not to go to His Cross?  The Apostle Peter rejected the plan of God that Jesus should die on His Cross.  In this case, Peter sinned against a holy God and His holy plan.  Satan had enticed him to bring about a plan after the interests of man.  The plan of God is not about the interests of man, but the interests of God.  Judas sinned in being a demi-god to take upon himself a divine prerogative in idolatry, but the Apostle Peter sinned in furthering the hidden plan of Satan to stop Jesus in redemption.  God brought this about for our learning and for the good of Peter.  He even works out the temptations of Satan for the good of His people.  How does He do this?  He alone knows the secrets where he is able to bring good out of evil without saying evil is good and good is evil.  Satan would say that evil is good, because it brought man a special knowledge.  The knowledge brought man to a place where he thinks of himself as a demi-god.  The plan of Satan is to rise above God in cosmic idolatry through rebellious sin.  That is, the father of lies loves sin more than the honor of Jesus Christ.   This is what happens to men when they go astray.

Jesus lives, and so shall I.
Death! thy sting is gone forever!
He who deigned for me to die,
Lives, the bands of death to sever.
He shall raise me from the dust:
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.
Jesus lives, and reigns supreme,
And, his kingdom still remaining,
I shall also be with him,
Ever living, ever reigning.
God has promised: be it must:
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.
Jesus lives, and by his grace,
Vict'ry o'er my passions giving,
I will cleanse my heart and ways,
Ever to his glory living.
Me he raises from the dust.
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.
Jesus lives, I know full well
Nought from him my heart can sever,
Life nor death nor powers of hell,
Joy nor grief, hence forth forever.
None of all his saints is lost;
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.
Jesus lives, and death is now
But my entrance into glory.
Courage, then, my soul, for thou
Hast a crown of life before thee;
Thou shalt find thy hopes were just;
Jesus is the Christian's Trust.  (TH, 596).