God is Truth
J.I. Packer gives the following definition of truth in his book, "Knowing God."
"Truth in the Bible means stability, reliability, firmness, trustworthiness, the quality of a person who is entirely self-consistent, sincere, realistic, undeceived. God is such a person: truth in this sense, is his nature, and he has not got it in him to be anything else. That is why he cannot be other than true."
“Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.” Psalm 31:5
“That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes." Isaiah 65:16
“And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,” Exodus 34:6
“For thy mercy is great above the heavens: and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds.” Psalm 108:4
“For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds.” Psalm 57:10
“Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.” Psalm 119:160
“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” John 17:17
"And now, O Lord GOD, thou art that God, and thy words be true, and thou hast promised this goodness unto thy servant:” 2 Samuel 7:28
“In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;” Titus 1:2
“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” Numbers 23:19
“And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent.” 1 Samuel 15:29
“That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:” Hebrews 6:18
Brother Packer goes in to state:
"That is why his words are true. They are the index of reality: they show us things as they really are, and as they will be for us in the future according to wether we heed God’s word or not.
God is King; we his creatures, are his subjects. His word relates both to things around us and to us directly: God speaks both to determine our environment and to engage our minds and hearts.
Torah from God the King has a threefold character: some of it is Law (in the narrow sense of commands, or prohibitions, with sanctions attached); some of it is Promise (favorable or unfavorable, conditional or unconditional); and some of it is Testimony (information given by God about himself and people - their respective acts- purposes, natures and prospects).
1. God’s commands are true.
“Thou art near, O LORD; and all thy commandments are truth.”
Psalm 119:151
Why are they so described? First, because they have stability and permanence as setting forth what God wants to see in human lives in every age; second, because they tell us the unchanging truth about our own nature. For this part of the purpose of God’s law: it gives us a working definition of true humanity. It shows us what we are made to be, and teaches us how to be truly human, and warns us against moral self-destruction.
2. God’s promises are true, for God keeps them.
“Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)” Hebrews 10:23
“Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.” Psalm 36:5
“Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: thou hast established the earth, and it abideth.” Psalm 119:90
“They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:23
True Christians are people who acknowledge and live under the Word of God. They submit without reserve to the Word of God written in “ the Book of Truth” (Daniel 10:21), believing the teaching, trusting the promises, following the commands. Their eyes are upon the God of the Bible as their Father and the Christ of the Bible as their Savior."
May all who profess the name of Christ in word, shine forth the Truth revealed in the Scriptures before the watching (and perishing) world, to the glory of Christ Jesus our Lord.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Transcendence of God
God is exalted far above the created universe, so far above that human thought cannot imagine it. Only as God was pleased to reveal Himself to us in Scripture can we begin to glimpse His total "otherness".
Isaiah 40
1Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
2Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD's hand double for all her sins.
3The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
5And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
6The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
7The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.
8The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
9O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
10Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
11He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
12Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
13Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him?
14With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?
15Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.
16And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.
17All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
18To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?
19The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.
20He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.
21Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
23That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.
24Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.
25To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.
26Lift 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.
27Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
28Hast 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.
29He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
30Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
31But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Such is God’s power and majesty. Behold your God!
J.I. Packer writes in Knowing God:
1. “To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One”
(Isaiah 40:25). This question rebukes wrong thoughts about God. “Your thoughts are too human" said Luther to Erasmus. This is where most of us go astray. Our thoughts of God are not great enough; we fail to reckon with the reality of his limitless wisdom and power. Because we are ourselves are limited and weak, we imagine that at some points god is too, and find it hard to believe that he is not. We think of God as too much like what we are. Put this mistake right, says God; learn to acknowledge the full majesty of your incomparable God and Savior.
2. “Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?” (Isaiah 40:27). This question rebukes wrong thoughts about ourselves. God has not abandoned us any more than he abandoned Job. He never abandons any one in whom he has set his love; nor does Christ the Good Shepherd, ever lose track of his sheep. It is as false as it is irrelevant to accuse God of forgetting, or overlooking, or losing interest in, the state and needs of his own people. If you have been resigning yourself to the thought that God has left you high and dry, seek grace to be ashamed of yourself. Such unbelieving pessimism deeply dishonors our great God and Savior.
3. “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). This question rebukes our slowness to believe in God’s majesty. God would shame us out of our unbelief. The rebuke is well deserved by many of us. How slow we are to believe in God as God, sovereign, all-seeing and almighty! How little we make of the majesty of our Lord and Savior Christ! The need for us to “wait upon the Lord” in meditation on his majesty, till we find our strength renewed through the writing of these things upon our hearts.
Forever God stands apart, in light unapproachable. Yet we console ourselves with the knowledge that it is God Himself who puts it in our hearts to seek Him and makes it possible in some measure to know Him, and He is pleased with even the feeblest effort to make Him known."
What are the consequences of a humanity that fails to recognize the transcendence of God? A.W. Tozer states:
"When men no longer fear God, they transgress His laws without hesitation. The fear of consequences is no deterrent when the fear of God is gone.
A vision of divine transcendence soon ends all controversy between man and his God. The fight goes out of the man and he is really with conquered Saul to ask meekly, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Conversely, the self-assurance of modern Christians, the basic levity present in so many of our religious gatherings, the shocking disrespect shown for the Person of God, are evidence enough of a deep blinded of heart. Many call themselves by the name of Christ, talk much about God, and pray to him sometimes, but evidently do not know who He is. “The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life,” but this healing fear is today hardly found among Christian men."
Isaiah 40
1Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
2Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD's hand double for all her sins.
3The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
5And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
6The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
7The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.
8The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
9O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
10Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
11He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
12Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
13Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him?
14With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?
15Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.
16And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.
17All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
18To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?
19The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.
20He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.
21Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
23That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.
24Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.
25To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.
26Lift 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.
27Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
28Hast 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.
29He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
30Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
31But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Such is God’s power and majesty. Behold your God!
J.I. Packer writes in Knowing God:
1. “To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One”
(Isaiah 40:25). This question rebukes wrong thoughts about God. “Your thoughts are too human" said Luther to Erasmus. This is where most of us go astray. Our thoughts of God are not great enough; we fail to reckon with the reality of his limitless wisdom and power. Because we are ourselves are limited and weak, we imagine that at some points god is too, and find it hard to believe that he is not. We think of God as too much like what we are. Put this mistake right, says God; learn to acknowledge the full majesty of your incomparable God and Savior.
2. “Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?” (Isaiah 40:27). This question rebukes wrong thoughts about ourselves. God has not abandoned us any more than he abandoned Job. He never abandons any one in whom he has set his love; nor does Christ the Good Shepherd, ever lose track of his sheep. It is as false as it is irrelevant to accuse God of forgetting, or overlooking, or losing interest in, the state and needs of his own people. If you have been resigning yourself to the thought that God has left you high and dry, seek grace to be ashamed of yourself. Such unbelieving pessimism deeply dishonors our great God and Savior.
3. “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). This question rebukes our slowness to believe in God’s majesty. God would shame us out of our unbelief. The rebuke is well deserved by many of us. How slow we are to believe in God as God, sovereign, all-seeing and almighty! How little we make of the majesty of our Lord and Savior Christ! The need for us to “wait upon the Lord” in meditation on his majesty, till we find our strength renewed through the writing of these things upon our hearts.
Forever God stands apart, in light unapproachable. Yet we console ourselves with the knowledge that it is God Himself who puts it in our hearts to seek Him and makes it possible in some measure to know Him, and He is pleased with even the feeblest effort to make Him known."
What are the consequences of a humanity that fails to recognize the transcendence of God? A.W. Tozer states:
"When men no longer fear God, they transgress His laws without hesitation. The fear of consequences is no deterrent when the fear of God is gone.
A vision of divine transcendence soon ends all controversy between man and his God. The fight goes out of the man and he is really with conquered Saul to ask meekly, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Conversely, the self-assurance of modern Christians, the basic levity present in so many of our religious gatherings, the shocking disrespect shown for the Person of God, are evidence enough of a deep blinded of heart. Many call themselves by the name of Christ, talk much about God, and pray to him sometimes, but evidently do not know who He is. “The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life,” but this healing fear is today hardly found among Christian men."
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
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
Monday, November 3, 2008
O God How Majestic Is Thy Name
Majesty of God
“The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved. Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting.” Psalm 93:1-2
“I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works.” Psalm 145:5
“For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” 2 Peter 1:16
The word majesty, when applied to God, is always a declaration of his greatness and an invitation to worship.
“Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of thy judgments." Psalm 48:11
“For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.” O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker." Psalm 95:3,6
The Christian’s instincts of trust and worship are stimulated very powerfully by knowledge of the greatness of God.
Psalms 139
“O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee. Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men. For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
After drawing our attention to the majesty of God, J.I. Packer concludes: "Living becomes an awesome business when you realize that you spend every moment of your life in the sight and company of an omniscient, omnipresent Creator. Nor is this all. The all seeing God is also God Almighty, the resources of whose power are already revealed to me by the amazing complexity of my own physical body, which He made for me. Here, then, is the first step in apprehending the greatness of God; to realize how unlimited are his wisdom, and his presence, and his power."
“The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved. Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting.” Psalm 93:1-2
“I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works.” Psalm 145:5
“For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” 2 Peter 1:16
The word majesty, when applied to God, is always a declaration of his greatness and an invitation to worship.
“Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of thy judgments." Psalm 48:11
“For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.” O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker." Psalm 95:3,6
The Christian’s instincts of trust and worship are stimulated very powerfully by knowledge of the greatness of God.
Psalms 139
“O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee. Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men. For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
After drawing our attention to the majesty of God, J.I. Packer concludes: "Living becomes an awesome business when you realize that you spend every moment of your life in the sight and company of an omniscient, omnipresent Creator. Nor is this all. The all seeing God is also God Almighty, the resources of whose power are already revealed to me by the amazing complexity of my own physical body, which He made for me. Here, then, is the first step in apprehending the greatness of God; to realize how unlimited are his wisdom, and his presence, and his power."
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
God - All-Powerful, All-Knowing
Omnipotence of God
Infinite in power, having all power.
Alexander Whyte in his "Exposition of the Shorter Catechism" comments as follows:
"God is often spoken of as the Almighty or the Omnipotent. The word Almighty conveys three ideas: that God is omnipotent, His dominion universal, and His essence infinite.
God’s power is limited only by the workings of His will. He doth not work all things that He might work.
God doth not show Himself omnipotent by doing all that He can do, but everything that He does do He shows an Almighty power in it."
Omniscience of God
"God possesses perfect knowledge and therefore has no need to learn. But it is more: it is to say that God has never learned and cannot learn.
God perfectly knows Himself and, being the source of and author of all things, it follows that He knows all that can be known. And this He knows instantly and with a fullness of perfection that includes every possible item of knowledge concerning everything that exists or could have existed anywhere in the universe at any time in the past or that may exist in the centuries or ages yet unborn.
God knows instantly and effortlessly all matter and all matters, all mind and every mind, all spirit and all spirits, all being and every being, all creature hood and all creatures, every plurality and all pluralities, all law and every law, all relations, all causes, all thoughts, all mysteries, all enigmas, all feeling, all desires, every unuttered secret, all thrones and dominions, all personalities, all things visible and invisible in heaven and in earth, motion, space, time, life, death, good, evil, heaven and hell.
God is everywhere here, close to everything, next to everyone.
God is immanent in His creation, that there is no place in heaven or earth or hell where men may hide from His presence.
God is present, near him, next to him, and this God sees him and knows him through and through. At this point faith begins, and while it may go on to include a thousand other wonderful truths these all refer back to the truth that God is, and God is here."
The above quote was taken from A.W. Tozer's excellent book "Knowledge of the Holy."
Herbert Stevenson, in "Titles of the Triune God" made the following observations regarding the Omniscience of God and what that means to us personally.
"God knows us altogether; nothing is hid from the Lord.
“O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.
Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off." Psalms 139:1-2
While this is a sobering realization, it is also wonderously reassuring to His true children - God being such an One as He is!
“Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;" Psalms 33:18
He knows too all the inequalities and vicissitudes of life, and will vindicate righteousness and judge iniquity.
“For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil." 1 Peter 3:12
“I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.” Psalm 32:8
Here, such an intimacy of relationship and constancy of fellowship with God is suggested, that the mere glance of His eye is enough to indicate the way in which He would have us to."
Infinite in power, having all power.
Alexander Whyte in his "Exposition of the Shorter Catechism" comments as follows:
"God is often spoken of as the Almighty or the Omnipotent. The word Almighty conveys three ideas: that God is omnipotent, His dominion universal, and His essence infinite.
God’s power is limited only by the workings of His will. He doth not work all things that He might work.
God doth not show Himself omnipotent by doing all that He can do, but everything that He does do He shows an Almighty power in it."
Omniscience of God
"God possesses perfect knowledge and therefore has no need to learn. But it is more: it is to say that God has never learned and cannot learn.
God perfectly knows Himself and, being the source of and author of all things, it follows that He knows all that can be known. And this He knows instantly and with a fullness of perfection that includes every possible item of knowledge concerning everything that exists or could have existed anywhere in the universe at any time in the past or that may exist in the centuries or ages yet unborn.
God knows instantly and effortlessly all matter and all matters, all mind and every mind, all spirit and all spirits, all being and every being, all creature hood and all creatures, every plurality and all pluralities, all law and every law, all relations, all causes, all thoughts, all mysteries, all enigmas, all feeling, all desires, every unuttered secret, all thrones and dominions, all personalities, all things visible and invisible in heaven and in earth, motion, space, time, life, death, good, evil, heaven and hell.
God is everywhere here, close to everything, next to everyone.
God is immanent in His creation, that there is no place in heaven or earth or hell where men may hide from His presence.
God is present, near him, next to him, and this God sees him and knows him through and through. At this point faith begins, and while it may go on to include a thousand other wonderful truths these all refer back to the truth that God is, and God is here."
The above quote was taken from A.W. Tozer's excellent book "Knowledge of the Holy."
Herbert Stevenson, in "Titles of the Triune God" made the following observations regarding the Omniscience of God and what that means to us personally.
"God knows us altogether; nothing is hid from the Lord.
“O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.
Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off." Psalms 139:1-2
While this is a sobering realization, it is also wonderously reassuring to His true children - God being such an One as He is!
“Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;" Psalms 33:18
He knows too all the inequalities and vicissitudes of life, and will vindicate righteousness and judge iniquity.
“For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil." 1 Peter 3:12
“I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.” Psalm 32:8
Here, such an intimacy of relationship and constancy of fellowship with God is suggested, that the mere glance of His eye is enough to indicate the way in which He would have us to."
Monday, September 8, 2008
The Eternity anf Infinitude of God
Eternity of God
God is endless.
Absolute everlastingness.
His continuance is from everlasting to everlasting, and knows neither beginning nor end….
Out of this we gather that only God has true immortality or eternity.
A.W. Tozer writes in Knowledge of the Holy, that
"Time marks the beginning of created existence, and because God never began to exist it can have no application to Him. God lives in an everlasting now, He has no past and no future.
When time words occur in the Scriptures they refer to our time, not to His.
God dwells in eternity but time dwells in God.
That God appears at time’s beginning is not too difficult to comprehend, but that he appears at the beginning and end of time simultaneously is not so easy to grasp; yet it is true. For God everything that will happen has already happened. He sees the end and the beginning in one view.
Since God is eternal, He can be and continue forever to be the one safe home for His time-driven children."
God’s Infinitude
Limitless, He knows no bounds, He is measureless
Without limit or boundary.
We cannot cross a line and say,
“Wow here God is not; here is a limit which He has not passed, and cannot pass;”
“Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?
Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.” Jeremiah 23:23, 24
“O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.
Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell,
behold, thou art there.” Psalm 139:1, 5-8
This attribute rightly reflected on, will always awaken adoration and godly fear.
A. W. Tozer comments on the infinitude of God as follows,
"Because God’s nature is infinite, everything that flows out of it is infinite also.
God is without growth or addition or development. Nothing in God is less or more, or large or small. He is what He is in Himself. Without qualifying thought or word. He is simply God.
For God time does not pass, it remains; and those who are in Christ share with Him all the riches of limitless time and endless years. God never hurries. There are no deadlines against which He must work.
For those out of Christ, time is a devouring beast; before the sons of the new creation time crouches and purrs and licks their hands. The foe of the old human race becomes the friend of the new.
In God there is life enough for all and time enough to enjoy it."
This awesome and amazing God has chosen to reveal Himself to us, to you and me.
We could never have come to understand or even imagine the existence of such a glorious God on our own - being spiritually blind and dead in our sins we would have been forever lost and undone - yet the Most High God stooped down and made Himself known to us.
How can we spend the time He has given us seeking after everything but Him?
After receiving even the tiniest glimpse of who He is, how can we keep from longing to know, love and experience Him more?
Our hearts cannot contain such wondrous longings. How can we not, with our whole being, cry out in worship and adoration of our Great God?
God is endless.
Absolute everlastingness.
His continuance is from everlasting to everlasting, and knows neither beginning nor end….
Out of this we gather that only God has true immortality or eternity.
A.W. Tozer writes in Knowledge of the Holy, that
"Time marks the beginning of created existence, and because God never began to exist it can have no application to Him. God lives in an everlasting now, He has no past and no future.
When time words occur in the Scriptures they refer to our time, not to His.
God dwells in eternity but time dwells in God.
That God appears at time’s beginning is not too difficult to comprehend, but that he appears at the beginning and end of time simultaneously is not so easy to grasp; yet it is true. For God everything that will happen has already happened. He sees the end and the beginning in one view.
Since God is eternal, He can be and continue forever to be the one safe home for His time-driven children."
God’s Infinitude
Limitless, He knows no bounds, He is measureless
Without limit or boundary.
We cannot cross a line and say,
“Wow here God is not; here is a limit which He has not passed, and cannot pass;”
“Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?
Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.” Jeremiah 23:23, 24
“O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.
Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell,
behold, thou art there.” Psalm 139:1, 5-8
This attribute rightly reflected on, will always awaken adoration and godly fear.
A. W. Tozer comments on the infinitude of God as follows,
"Because God’s nature is infinite, everything that flows out of it is infinite also.
God is without growth or addition or development. Nothing in God is less or more, or large or small. He is what He is in Himself. Without qualifying thought or word. He is simply God.
For God time does not pass, it remains; and those who are in Christ share with Him all the riches of limitless time and endless years. God never hurries. There are no deadlines against which He must work.
For those out of Christ, time is a devouring beast; before the sons of the new creation time crouches and purrs and licks their hands. The foe of the old human race becomes the friend of the new.
In God there is life enough for all and time enough to enjoy it."
This awesome and amazing God has chosen to reveal Himself to us, to you and me.
We could never have come to understand or even imagine the existence of such a glorious God on our own - being spiritually blind and dead in our sins we would have been forever lost and undone - yet the Most High God stooped down and made Himself known to us.
How can we spend the time He has given us seeking after everything but Him?
After receiving even the tiniest glimpse of who He is, how can we keep from longing to know, love and experience Him more?
Our hearts cannot contain such wondrous longings. How can we not, with our whole being, cry out in worship and adoration of our Great God?
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Self-Existence and Self-Sufficiency of God
Self-existence of God
God has no origin, He is an eternal Being.
“I AM THAT I AM” Exodus 3:14
God is the ever living One the fountain of all life. Stephen Charnock, in his work, “The Existence and Attributes of God” says the following:
“ God hath life in himself. (John 5:26)
He hath life by his essence.
He hath unlimited life.
He hath life in himself; all creatures have their life in him and from him.
He that hath life in himself doth necessarily exist, and could never be made to exist;
What doth necessarily exist, therefore, exists from eternity; what hath been of itself could never be produced in time, because it hath being from its essence, without influence of any efficient cause.
All life is seated in God, God is life; it is in him originally, radically, therefore eternally.
He that hath life in himself, and is from himself, cannot but be. He always was because he received his being from no other, and none can take away that being which was not given by another.
Since he hath life in himself, and that there was no cause for his existence, he can have no cause of his limitation, and can no more be determined to a time, than he can to a place.
What hath life in itself, hath life without bounds, and can never desert it, nor be deprived of it; so that he lives necessarily, and it is absolutely impossible that he should not live; whereas all other things “live, and move, and have their being in him” (Acts 27:28); and as they live by his will, so they can return to nothing at his word.”
Not only is God self-existent, but He is self-sufficient.
Self- Sufficiency of God
A. W. Tozer, writes in the "Knowledge of the Holy" the following concerning God's self-sufficiency and our responsibility as His creatures to understand who He has revealed Himself to be in Scripture:
"God is what He is in himself.
Whatever God is, and all that God is, He is in Himself. All life is in and from God. No creature has life in itself, all life is a gift from God.
God is the One who contains all, who gives all that is given, but who Himself can receive nothing that He has not first given.
God has a voluntary relation to everything He has made, but He has no necessary relation to anything outside of Himself. His interest in His creatures arises from His sovereign good pleasure, not from any need those creatures can supply nor from any completeness they can bring to Him who is complete in Himself.
To God alone nothing is necessary.
Were all human beings suddenly to become blind, still the sun would shine by day and the stars by night, for these owe nothing to the millions who benefit from their light. So, were every man on earth to become atheist, it could not affect God in anyway. He is what He is in Himself without regard to any other. To believe in Him adds nothing to His perfection; to doubt Him takes nothing away.
Almighty God, just because he is Almighty, needs no support. God is not greater for our being, nor would He be less if we did not exist. That we do exist is altogether of God’s free determination, not by our desert nor by divine necessity.
To be right we must think worthily of God. It is morally imperative that we purge from our minds all ignoble concepts of the Deity and let Him be the God in our minds that He is in His universe. The Christian religion has to do with God and man, but its focal point is God, not man. Man’s only claim to importance is that he was created in the divine image; in himself he is nothing.
That God exists for Himself and man for the glory of God is the emphatic teaching of the Bible."
If as brother Tozer says, "God exists for Himself and man for the glory of God is the emphatic teaching of the Bible." then why is this truth so little proclaimed from our pulpits today?
The gospel we hear today, in many ways, has ceased to be God-centered and has become man-centered.
Oh, that all the churchs who name Christ as Lord would recall the chief end of man, which is to glorify God (as God truly is) and enjoy Him forever.
God has no origin, He is an eternal Being.
“I AM THAT I AM” Exodus 3:14
God is the ever living One the fountain of all life. Stephen Charnock, in his work, “The Existence and Attributes of God” says the following:
“ God hath life in himself. (John 5:26)
He hath life by his essence.
He hath unlimited life.
He hath life in himself; all creatures have their life in him and from him.
He that hath life in himself doth necessarily exist, and could never be made to exist;
What doth necessarily exist, therefore, exists from eternity; what hath been of itself could never be produced in time, because it hath being from its essence, without influence of any efficient cause.
All life is seated in God, God is life; it is in him originally, radically, therefore eternally.
He that hath life in himself, and is from himself, cannot but be. He always was because he received his being from no other, and none can take away that being which was not given by another.
Since he hath life in himself, and that there was no cause for his existence, he can have no cause of his limitation, and can no more be determined to a time, than he can to a place.
What hath life in itself, hath life without bounds, and can never desert it, nor be deprived of it; so that he lives necessarily, and it is absolutely impossible that he should not live; whereas all other things “live, and move, and have their being in him” (Acts 27:28); and as they live by his will, so they can return to nothing at his word.”
Not only is God self-existent, but He is self-sufficient.
Self- Sufficiency of God
A. W. Tozer, writes in the "Knowledge of the Holy" the following concerning God's self-sufficiency and our responsibility as His creatures to understand who He has revealed Himself to be in Scripture:
"God is what He is in himself.
Whatever God is, and all that God is, He is in Himself. All life is in and from God. No creature has life in itself, all life is a gift from God.
God is the One who contains all, who gives all that is given, but who Himself can receive nothing that He has not first given.
God has a voluntary relation to everything He has made, but He has no necessary relation to anything outside of Himself. His interest in His creatures arises from His sovereign good pleasure, not from any need those creatures can supply nor from any completeness they can bring to Him who is complete in Himself.
To God alone nothing is necessary.
Were all human beings suddenly to become blind, still the sun would shine by day and the stars by night, for these owe nothing to the millions who benefit from their light. So, were every man on earth to become atheist, it could not affect God in anyway. He is what He is in Himself without regard to any other. To believe in Him adds nothing to His perfection; to doubt Him takes nothing away.
Almighty God, just because he is Almighty, needs no support. God is not greater for our being, nor would He be less if we did not exist. That we do exist is altogether of God’s free determination, not by our desert nor by divine necessity.
To be right we must think worthily of God. It is morally imperative that we purge from our minds all ignoble concepts of the Deity and let Him be the God in our minds that He is in His universe. The Christian religion has to do with God and man, but its focal point is God, not man. Man’s only claim to importance is that he was created in the divine image; in himself he is nothing.
That God exists for Himself and man for the glory of God is the emphatic teaching of the Bible."
If as brother Tozer says, "God exists for Himself and man for the glory of God is the emphatic teaching of the Bible." then why is this truth so little proclaimed from our pulpits today?
The gospel we hear today, in many ways, has ceased to be God-centered and has become man-centered.
Oh, that all the churchs who name Christ as Lord would recall the chief end of man, which is to glorify God (as God truly is) and enjoy Him forever.
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