Aliens and Scripture -6

Aliens & Scripture – 6

Solo Scriptura

2 Timothy 3:16–17 (NIV84)

16All Scripture is God-breathed (inspired, nasb95) and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Thomas Scott (1747-1821): “The crucial word [inspiration] means literally ‘breathed into by God’—i.e. a Divine quality is present in Scripture, distinguishing it from all human utterance.”

1 Corinthians 4:6 (NIV84)

6Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not take pride in one man over against another.

Scripture does not tell us everything people may wish to know about extraterrestrial life. Therefore, we must distinguish between what people speculate and what God has revealed. We should neither affirm nor build doctrine upon claims that go beyond what is written.

2 Peter 1:19–21 (NIV84)

19And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

20Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation.

21For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

The Bible is not the product of human effort. The prophets, in fact, sometimes wrote what they could not fully understand, but were nonetheless faithful to write what God revealed to them.

Moved by the Holy Spirit. Grammatically, this means that the apostles and prophets were continually carried or borne along by the Spirit of, who is the divine author and originator, the producer of the Scriptures.

Colossians 2:18–19 (NIV84)

18Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions.

19He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.

The false teachers threatening the Colossians claimed to possess a secret wisdom and transcendent knowledge available only to the spiritual elite.

In sharp contrast, Paul declared that all the richness of truth necessary for salvation, sanctification, and glorification is found in Jesus Christ, who himself is God revealed.

Like virtually all cults and false religions, the Colossian false teachers based their teaching on visions and revelations they had supposedly received. Their claims were false, since Jesus Christ is God’s final and complete revelation to mankind.

Worship of angels. When it comes to an alleged encounter with an extraterrestrial being, that alleged encounter can become a form of worship when the demonic beings are not merely remembered but revered, trusted, and followed as spiritual authorities.

The issue is not how extraordinary the experience seemed, but whether the experience and its beings are given the trust, devotion, and authority that belong to God and His Word alone.

Hebrews 1:1–2 (NIV84)

1In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways,

2but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.

In the past, God spoke through the prophets, but now, God speaks through His Word. There is no new revelation. All the revelation that God wants us to have is contained within the pages of Scripture.

Creation Centered on

Earth and Humanity

Genesis 1:14–19 (NIV84)

14And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years,

15and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so.

16God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.

17God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth,

18to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.

19And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

The heavenly lights (the universe) were created for signs, seasons, days, years, and illumination upon the earth.

Isaiah 45:18 (NIV84)

18For this is what the Lord says— he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited— he says: “I am the Lord, and there is no other.

God specifically formed the earth to be inhabited.

Scripture presents the earth as the dwelling place God prepared for mankind. The heavens display His glory, mark the times and seasons, illuminate the earth, and demonstrate the immeasurable greatness of their Creator.

Jesus Became Man to Redeem Man

1 Timothy 2:5–6 (ESV)

5For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

6who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

This verse reinforces the fact that Jesus became flesh (man) to redeem man.

John 10:14–16 (NIV84)

14“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—

15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.

16I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.

The other sheep are Gentile believers (elect). They are not extraterrestrial beings.

Ephesians 1:3–6, 11–14 (NIV84)

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love

5he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—

6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

11In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,

12in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.

13And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,

14who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

Chose = ἐκλέγομαι eklegomai = to choose out as the recipients of special favor and privilege.

To select for one’s own reasons or purposes from a number of alternatives.

Pick out, choose out a person or thing (from a sizeable number).

God bestows his favour upon men and joins them to himself solely on the basis of his own free decision and his love which is not dependent on any temporal circumstances.

Predestined = προορίζω proorizō = to predetermine: to determine something ahead of time or before its occurrence.

To come to a decision beforehand; to decide beforehand, to determine ahead of time, to decide upon ahead of time.

Galatians 3:26–4:7 (NIV84)

1What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate.

2He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father.

3So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world.

4But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law,

5to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.

6Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”

7So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

Election is God's eternal purpose; adoption as sons is the point at which that purpose becomes a reality in the believer's life through faith and redemption. The child was always destined to be heir, but only maturity—brought about through Christ’s redemptive work—makes that inheritance operative.

God has made a choice, for election signifies selection and appointment. God has exercised His own sovereign will and singled out from the mass of His creatures those upon whom He determined to bestow His special favors. There cannot be an election without a singling out, and there cannot be a singling out without a passing by. The doctrine of election means that from all eternity God made a choice of those who were to be His special treasure, His dear children, the coheirs of Christ. The doctrine of election means that before His Son became incarnate God marked out the ones who should be saved by Him. The doctrine of election means that God has left nothing to chance: the accomplishment of His purpose, the success of Christ’s undertaking, the peopling of heaven, is not contingent upon the fickle caprice of the creature. God’s will, and not man’s will, fixes destiny.

John 1:14 (NIV84)

14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Became = γίνομαι ginomai = to enter or assume a certain state or condition.

Jesus became human in order to redeem human beings. As our kinsman-redeemer, He shared in our flesh and blood, bore our guilt, and offered Himself to God on our behalf.

But one final question remains: Could the Son of God assume another nature and die again for another race of beings somewhere else in the universe?

The Bible knows only three categories of intelligent beings.

God

Angels (holy and fallen)

Humans

Nothing in Scripture reveals that there is intelligent life on other planets. Scripture is silent on this issue. We are told there are demons, angels, seraphim, and cherubim, but there is no reference to other intelligent life.

Once for All!

Hebrews 9:24–28 (NIV84)

24For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence.

25Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own.

26Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.

27Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,

28so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

Once for all = ἅπαξ hapax = term pertaining to a single occurrence, once.

a single occurrence to the exclusion of any other similar occurrence.

In once for all, the word all means “once for all time,” not “every possible kind of creature.”

The English words, for all, do not appear in the Greek. The Greek simply says, once.

Christ’s death—his shedding of blood, and his appearance in heaven as Redeemer of his own—is a once-for-all event that changes everything.

Since Christ died to remove our sin, this need happen only once. His blood is sufficient to the task, so there is no need for a repetition. Not only does this need to happen only once, but it can happen only once.

Saint Augustine (paraphrased by Richard Phillips): Christ died to satisfy the justice of God, and now that justice is satisfied. He died to pay the debt, and that debt having been paid, God’s perfect justice can never come back for more.

The accounts are settled. It is finished. The debt is paid.

Israel’s high priest came into the sanctuary with sacrificial blood once per year, as a sign of the inadequacy of that animal blood.

But it is absurd to expect the same when the blood is that of the priceless Son of God, the true Lamb who exhausts and ends the sacrifices once for all.

The good news of the gospel is that you are not saved by your faith, but by Christ.

His death saves you, and that was once-for-all.

His entry into heaven to minister for you there saves you, upholds your weak and wavering faith, and that is once-for-all.

What is not once-for-all for you is once-for-all for him.

Where, then, is peace to be found, a peace that lasts, a peace that is once-for-all?

It is not in us, but in Christ.

Yes, we must receive him by faith, but it is not upon our faith that salvation relies, but upon him, of whom it can be said, “once-for-all.”

Hebrews 7:23 (NLT) 24–27 (NIV84)

23There were many priests under the old system, for death prevented them from remaining in office.

24but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood.

25Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

26Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.

27Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.

Once for all = ἐφάπαξ ephapax = taking place once and to the exclusion of any further occurrence, once for all, once and never again.

Hapax means “once”; ephapax emphasizes “once and never again.”

Also, the “all” in the English expression “once for all” should not be treated as though it were a separate Greek adjective meaning “all [people/beings].”

“Once for all time”

Hebrews 10:8–14 (NIV84)

8First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them” (although the law required them to be made).

9Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second.

10And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (ephapax).

11Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

12But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.

13Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool,

14because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

Once for all = ἐφάπαξ ephapax = happening on one occasion to the exclusion of all other occasions; once and never again.

Jason Lisle: Extraterrestrial life is an evolutionary concept; it does not comport with the biblical teachings of the uniqueness of the earth and the distinct spiritual position of human beings. Of all the worlds in the universe, it was the earth that God Himself visited, taking on the additional nature of a human being, dying on a cross, and rising from the dead in order to redeem all who would trust in Him. The biblical worldview sharply contrasts with the secular worldview when it comes to alien life.

Hebrews 10:19–23 (NIV84)

19Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,

20by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,

21and since we have a great priest over the house of God,

22let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

23Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

1 Peter 1:17–21 (NIV84)

17Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.

18For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers,

19but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

20He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.

21Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

Scripture reveals that Jesus became man to redeem mankind. He shared in our flesh and blood, became like His brothers, and offered His human body as the perfect sacrifice to God. That sacrifice was made once for all time. He obtained eternal redemption, rose triumphantly from the dead, and cannot die again.

Scripture therefore provides no basis for imagining that Christ would assume another nature and die again for extraterrestrial beings. His incarnation was human, His sacrifice was complete, and His redemptive work will never be repeated.