Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Wisdom of God

God is wise in Himself.

But what is wisdom?

A.W. Tozer wrote in Knowledge of the Holy:

"Wisdom is pure, loving and good.

Wisdom is the ability to devise perfect ends and to achieve those ends by the most perfect means. It sees the end from the beginning, so there can be no need to guess or conjecture.

Wisdom sees everything in focus, each in proper relation to all, and is thus able to work toward predestined goals with flawless precision.

All God’s acts are done in perfect wisdom, first for His own glory, and then for the highest good of the greatest number for the longest time. And all His acts are as pure as they are wise, and as good as they are wise and pure. Not only could His acts not be done better: a better way to do them could not be imagined. "

In Knowing God, J. I. Packer added the following to our understanding of true wisdom:

"Wisdom is the power to see, and the inclination to chose, the best and highest goal, together with the sure means of attaining it.

Wisdom, as the old theologians used to say, is his essence, just as power, and truth, and goodness, are his essence - integral elements, that is, in his character.

Omniscience governing Omnipotence, infinite power ruled by infinite wisdom, is a basic biblical description of the divine character."

“With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding.” Job 12:13

“Behold, God is mighty, and despiseth not any: he is mighty in strength and wisdom.” Job 36:5

“Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.” Isaiah 40:26

“Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.” Isaiah 40:28

“Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his:” Daniel 2:20

“Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,” Romans 16:25

"Wisdom without power would be pathetic, a broken reed; power without wisdom would be merely frightening; but in God boundless wisdom and endless power are united, and this makes him utterly worthy of our fullest trust."

Packer continues,

"We cannot recognize God’s wisdom unless we know the end for which he is working. What is he after? What is his goal? What does he aim at? When he made us, his purpose was that we should love and honor him, praising him for the wonderfully ordered complexity and variety of his world, using it according to his will, and so enjoying both it and him. And though we have fallen, God has not abandoned his first purpose. Still he plans that a great host of humankind should come to love and honor him. His ultimate objective is to bring them to a state in which they please him entirely and praise him adequately, a state in which he is all in all to them, and he and they rejoice continually in the knowledge of each other’s love - people rejoicing in the saving love of God, set upon them from all eternity, and God rejoicing in the responsive love of a people, drawn out of them by grace through the gospel.

This will be God’s glory, and our glory too, in every sense which that weighty word can bear. But it will only be fully realized in the next world, in the context of a transformation of the whole created order. Meanwhile, however, God works steadily toward it. His immediate objectives are to draw individual men and women into a relationship of faith, hope, and love toward himself, delivering them from sin and showing forth in their lives the power of his grace; to defend his people against the forces of evil; and to spread throughout the world the gospel by means of which he saves.

In the fulfillment of each part of this purpose the Lord Jesus Christ is central, for God has set him forth both as Savior from sin, whom we must trust, and as Lord of the church, whom we must obey."

"To God, only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen" Romans 16:27