Will Dobbie: Every Believer’s Biography

Will Dobbie is pastor of Emmanuel Church of Knoxville, Tennessee, and author of From Everlasting to Everlasting: Every Believer's Biography. The book is a 30-Day devotional, broken into five Acts, walking the reader through the theological aspects of salvation from eternity past to eternity future, with practical application in between.

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Outline of the Discussion

Will used the pandemic lockdowns as an opportunity to put the rich doctrinal truths of the Bible that he had been teaching as a pastor in London into book form. The book is a 30-day devotional, which explores the central truths of Biblical salvation and Christian life.
The book is broken down into five Acts.
The book is built upon the spine of the ordo solutus (logical order of salvation.) Classically, the ordo solutus is defined as: election, calling, regeneration, conversion, justification, reconciliation, sanctification, perseverance, and glorification.
As we bounce around a little within the book, we talk about Will's favorite part: the New Creation. He came up with the “Seven P's.” which begin with the supreme characteristic: the Presence of God. From that will bring (2) Perfect joy and beauty, (3) Physical bodies, (4) Personal relationships, (5) Privileged responsibilities, (6) Practical service, and (7) Perpetual time.
Day 26 is about death. Death is unnatural. Death is inevitable. Death is painful. Death is impotent to the believer.
On the atonement. Although the new creation will be perfect, Jesus will retain the scars from the cross on his hands. The atonement was penal (a penalty) and substitutionary (Jesus took the penalty in our place.) Atonement is sometimes described as at-one-ment, that it brings us to be at one with God.
The atonement has four core truths within it: propitiation, justification, redemption, and adoption.
Propitiation is God satisfying His wrath against us. An analogy is a lightning rod. Once God's wrath is released, it needs a place to go, and for us the Cross is that place.
Justification is God's declaring us righteous through Christ. It is a legal distinction.