Choosing Life or Death

Yes, but not the free will of the culture, which makes man lord of himself. The Bible teaches a real freedom, because God calls, argues and waits for an answer: "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:" (Deuteronomy 30:19); "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:15). That freedom, however, has two limits. The first is the fall: the human will is wounded by sin and does not turn back to God on its own (John 6:44). The second is the sovereignty of God, whose counsel shall stand (Isaiah 46:10). That is why the Assemblies of God teach that it is God's grace that comes first and enables man to respond, and that this grace can be refused: "Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye." (Acts 7:51). Salvation is by grace; condemnation is by rejection.

It is the grace that comes first. Before a person takes any step toward God, God is already at work: calling, convicting and making the response possible. Jesus said "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day." (John 6:44), and He also said "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." (John 12:32). Paul says that "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men," (Titus 2:11). This grace enables, but it does not drag: it can be resisted (Acts 7:51). That is why no one is saved by merit, the initiative was God's, and no one is lost for lack of an offer, the refusal was man's.

You do. Knowing is not causing. God knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10), but the fact that He knows what you will choose does not make the choice any less yours. He knows because you will choose; you do not choose because He knows. The proof is in the Bible itself: God laments man's refusal. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" (Matthew 23:37). "Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" (Ezekiel 33:11). If the human response were only the performance of a memorized script, that weeping would be theater. It is not.

No. In Deuteronomy 30, "life" is first of all fellowship with God within the covenant: "That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them." (Deuteronomy 30:20). The material blessings tied to the land belonged to Israel's national covenant, and they are not an individual contract for getting rich. In the New Testament, life is a Person: "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." (John 17:3). Jesus warned: "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33). Whoever has chosen life may go through sickness, grief and hardship; Lazarus was the one Jesus loved, and he fell sick (John 11:3). What the choice guarantees is that none of that separates us from the love of God: "Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:39).

Because Moses said that the word of God was not far off, neither in heaven nor beyond the sea, but very near: "But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it." (Deuteronomy 30:14). Paul reads that text in the light of Christ: no one needs to go up into heaven to bring Christ down, nor go down into the deep to bring Him up from the dead (Romans 10:6-7). Christ has already come down and has already risen. What remains is to believe and confess: "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." (Romans 10:9). Moses' "choose life" becomes, in Paul, the invitation of the Gospel.

You can. The word of Deuteronomy 30 is "today", and Hebrews repeats the same word for us: "While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation." (Hebrews 3:15). The prodigal son had spent everything and, when he came to himself, decided to get up and go to his father (Luke 15:17-18), and the father ran to meet him (Luke 15:20). Some consequences of past choices may remain, but the door of grace is open: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9). God does not wait for you to arrive ready; He waits for you to come.