"And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory." Isaiah 6:3
"I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King." Isaiah 43:15
As for our redeemer, the LORD of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah 47:4
"And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, LORD God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come." Revelation 4:8
"Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest." Revelation 15:4
A.W. Tozer states the following:
"Holy is the way God is. To be Holy He does not conform to a standard. He is that Standard.
God is holy with an absolute holiness that knows no degrees, and thus He cannot impart to His creatures. But there is a relative and contingent holiness which He shares with angels and seraphim in heaven and with redeemed men on earth as their preparation for heaven. This holiness God can and does impart to His children. He shares it with them by imputation and impartation, and because He has made it available to them through the blood of the Lamb, He requires it of them."
“Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:16
Why is it crucial for us to see God in His holiness? Tozer concludes;
"Until we have seen ourselves as God sees us, we are not likely to be much disturbed over conditions around us as long as they do not get so far out of hand as to threaten our comfortable way of life. We have come to live with unholiness and have come to look upon it as the natural and expected thing. We are not disappointed that we do not find all truth in our teachers, of faithfulness in our politicians or complete honesty in our merchants or truthfulness in our friends.
Only the Spirit of the Holy One can impart to the human spirit the knowledge of the holy. Yet as electric power flows only through a conductor, so the Spirit flows through truth, and must find some measure of truth in the mind before He can illuminate the heart. Faith wakes at the voice of truth but responds to no other sound.
“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
Romans 10:17
Theological knowledge is the medium through which the Spirit flows into the human heart, yet there must be humble penitence in the heart before truth can produce faith. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Truth. It is possible to have some truth in the mind without having the Spirit in the heart, but it is never possible to have the Spirit apart from Truth.
We must hide our unholiness in the wounds of Christ as Moses hid himself in the cleft of the rock while the glory of God passed by.
We must take refuge from God in God.
Above all we must believe that God sees us perfect in His Son while He disciplines and chastens and purges us that we may be partakers of His holiness.
By faith and obedience, by constant meditation on the holiness of God, by loving righteousness and hating iniquity, by a growing acquaintance with the Spirit of holiness, we can acclimate ourselves to the fellowship of the saints on earth and prepare ourselves for the eternal companionship of God and the saints above."
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Jealousy of God
The Scriptures tell us that God is a jealous God. but what does that mean? How can the finite creature comprehend the jealousy of an infinite God? To help us understand , brother J.I. Packer in his book Knowing God stated the folllowing:
"1. Biblical statements about God’s jealousy are anthropomorphisms. That is, they are descriptions of God in a language drawn from our life as humans. The Bible is full of anthropomorphisms - God’s arm, hands and finger, his hearing, seeing and smelling, his tenderness, anger, repentance, laughter, joy and so on. The reason why God uses these terms to speak to us about himself is that language drawn from our own personal life is the most accurate medium we have for communicating thoughts about him. He’s personal, so are we, in a way that nothing else in the physical creation is. Since we are more like God than is any other being known to us, it is more illuminating and less misleading for God to picture himself to us in human terms than any other.
We have to remember that man is not the measure of his Maker, and that when the language of human personal life is used of God, none of the limitations of human creature hood are thereby being implied - limited knowledge, or power, or foresight, or strength, or consistency, or anything of that kind. An we must remember that those elements in human qualities which show the corrupting effect of sin have no counterpart in God. Thus, for instance, his wrath is not the ignoble outburst that human anger so often is a sign of pride and weakness, but it is holiness reacting to evil in a way that is morally right and glorious. God’s jealousy is not a compound of frustration, envy and spite, as human jealousy so often is, but appears instead as a (literally) praiseworthy zeal to preserve something supremely precious.
2. There are two sorts of jealousy among humans, and only one of them is a vice. Vicious jealousy - is an infantile resentment springing from unfortified covetousness, which express itself in envy, malice, and meanness of action. It is terribly potent, for it feeds and is fed by pride, the taproot of our fallen nature. There is a mad obsessiveness about jealousy, if indulged, can tear an otherwise firm character to shreds.
But there is another sort of jealousy: zeal to protect a love relationship or to avenge it when broken. Scripture consistently views God’s jealousy as being of this latter kind: that is, as an aspect of his covenant love for his own people. The Old Testament regards God’s covenant as his marriage with Israel, carrying with it a demand for unqualified love and loyalty. The worship of idols, and all compromising relations with non-Israelite idolaters, constituted disobedience and unfaithfulness, which God saw as spiritual adultery, provoking him to jealousy and vengeance. All the Mosaic references to God’s jealousy have to do with idol worship in one form or another; they all hark back to the second commandment, the same is true throughout Scripture.
“And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.” Joshua 24:19
“And Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done.” 1 Kings 14:22
“For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.” Psalm 78:58
“Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?”
1 Corinthians 10:22
“And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy.” Ezekiel 8:3
“38And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy.
42So will I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry.” Ezekiel 16:38, 42
“And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall deal furiously with thee: they shall take away thy nose and thine ears; and thy remnant shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons and thy daughters; and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire.” Ezekiel 23:25
From these passages we see plainly what God meant by telling Moses that his name was “Jealous.” He meant that he demands from those whom he has loved and redeemed utter and absolute loyalty, and he will vindicate his claim by stern action against them if they betray his love by unfaithfulness. Calvin hit the nail on the head when he explained the sanction of the second commandment as follows:
“The Lord very frequently addresses us in the character of a husband. As He performs all the offices of a true and faithful husband, so he requires love and chastity from us; that is, that we do not prostitute our souls to Satan…. As the purer and chaster a husband is, the more grievously he is offended when he see his wife inclining to a rival; so the Lord, who has betrothed us to Himself in truth, declares that He burns with the hottest jealousy whenever, neglecting the purity of His holy marriage, we defile ourselves with abominable lusts, and especially when the worship of His deity, which ought to have been most carefully kept unimpaired, is transferred to another, or adulterated with some superstition; since in this way we not only violate our plighted troth, but defile the nuptial couch, by giving access to adulterers.”
The goal of the covenant love of God is that he should have a people on earth as long as history lasts, and after that should have all his faithful ones of every age with him in glory. Covenant love is the heart of God’s plan for the world.
For God’s ultimate objective, as the Bible declares it, is threefold - to vindicate his rule and righteousness by showing his sovereignty in judgment upon sin; to ransom and redeem his chosen people; and to be loved and praised by them for his glorious acts of love and self-vindication. God seeks what we should seek - his glory, in and through men - and it is for the securing of this end, ultimately, that he is jealous. His jealousy, in all its manifestations, is precisely “the zeal of the Lord Almighty” for fulfilling his own purpose of justice and mercy.
“Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.” Isaiah 9:7
“For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.” Isaiah 37:32
“Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them.” Ezekiel 5:13
So God’s jealousy leads him, on the one hand, to judge and destroy the faithless among his people who fall into idolatry and sin,
“19And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.
20If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.” Joshua 24:19-20
“Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.” Zephaniah 1:18
And indeed to judge the enemies of righteousness and mercy everywhere
“God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.” Nahum 1:2
“5Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen, and against all Idumea, which have appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey.
6Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say unto the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because ye have borne the shame of the heathen:
7Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I have lifted up mine hand, Surely the heathen that are about you, they shall bear their shame.” Ezekiel 36:5-7
“Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.” Zephaniah 3:8
It also leads him, on the other hand, to restore his people after national judgment has chastened and humbled them.
“14So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.
15And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.
16Therefore thus saith the LORD; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the LORD of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.
17Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.” Zechariah 1:14-17
“Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury.” Zechariah 8:2
“Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people.” Joel 2:18
And what is it that motivates these actions?
Simply the fact that he is “jealous for his holy name” .
“Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;” Ezekiel 39:25
His name is his nature and character as Jehovah, the LORD, ruler of history, guardian of righteousness and savior of sinners - and God means his name to be known, honored and praised.
“I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.” Isaiah 42:8
“For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.” Isaiah 48:11
"1. Biblical statements about God’s jealousy are anthropomorphisms. That is, they are descriptions of God in a language drawn from our life as humans. The Bible is full of anthropomorphisms - God’s arm, hands and finger, his hearing, seeing and smelling, his tenderness, anger, repentance, laughter, joy and so on. The reason why God uses these terms to speak to us about himself is that language drawn from our own personal life is the most accurate medium we have for communicating thoughts about him. He’s personal, so are we, in a way that nothing else in the physical creation is. Since we are more like God than is any other being known to us, it is more illuminating and less misleading for God to picture himself to us in human terms than any other.
We have to remember that man is not the measure of his Maker, and that when the language of human personal life is used of God, none of the limitations of human creature hood are thereby being implied - limited knowledge, or power, or foresight, or strength, or consistency, or anything of that kind. An we must remember that those elements in human qualities which show the corrupting effect of sin have no counterpart in God. Thus, for instance, his wrath is not the ignoble outburst that human anger so often is a sign of pride and weakness, but it is holiness reacting to evil in a way that is morally right and glorious. God’s jealousy is not a compound of frustration, envy and spite, as human jealousy so often is, but appears instead as a (literally) praiseworthy zeal to preserve something supremely precious.
2. There are two sorts of jealousy among humans, and only one of them is a vice. Vicious jealousy - is an infantile resentment springing from unfortified covetousness, which express itself in envy, malice, and meanness of action. It is terribly potent, for it feeds and is fed by pride, the taproot of our fallen nature. There is a mad obsessiveness about jealousy, if indulged, can tear an otherwise firm character to shreds.
But there is another sort of jealousy: zeal to protect a love relationship or to avenge it when broken. Scripture consistently views God’s jealousy as being of this latter kind: that is, as an aspect of his covenant love for his own people. The Old Testament regards God’s covenant as his marriage with Israel, carrying with it a demand for unqualified love and loyalty. The worship of idols, and all compromising relations with non-Israelite idolaters, constituted disobedience and unfaithfulness, which God saw as spiritual adultery, provoking him to jealousy and vengeance. All the Mosaic references to God’s jealousy have to do with idol worship in one form or another; they all hark back to the second commandment, the same is true throughout Scripture.
“And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.” Joshua 24:19
“And Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done.” 1 Kings 14:22
“For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.” Psalm 78:58
“Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?”
1 Corinthians 10:22
“And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy.” Ezekiel 8:3
“38And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy.
42So will I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry.” Ezekiel 16:38, 42
“And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall deal furiously with thee: they shall take away thy nose and thine ears; and thy remnant shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons and thy daughters; and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire.” Ezekiel 23:25
From these passages we see plainly what God meant by telling Moses that his name was “Jealous.” He meant that he demands from those whom he has loved and redeemed utter and absolute loyalty, and he will vindicate his claim by stern action against them if they betray his love by unfaithfulness. Calvin hit the nail on the head when he explained the sanction of the second commandment as follows:
“The Lord very frequently addresses us in the character of a husband. As He performs all the offices of a true and faithful husband, so he requires love and chastity from us; that is, that we do not prostitute our souls to Satan…. As the purer and chaster a husband is, the more grievously he is offended when he see his wife inclining to a rival; so the Lord, who has betrothed us to Himself in truth, declares that He burns with the hottest jealousy whenever, neglecting the purity of His holy marriage, we defile ourselves with abominable lusts, and especially when the worship of His deity, which ought to have been most carefully kept unimpaired, is transferred to another, or adulterated with some superstition; since in this way we not only violate our plighted troth, but defile the nuptial couch, by giving access to adulterers.”
The goal of the covenant love of God is that he should have a people on earth as long as history lasts, and after that should have all his faithful ones of every age with him in glory. Covenant love is the heart of God’s plan for the world.
For God’s ultimate objective, as the Bible declares it, is threefold - to vindicate his rule and righteousness by showing his sovereignty in judgment upon sin; to ransom and redeem his chosen people; and to be loved and praised by them for his glorious acts of love and self-vindication. God seeks what we should seek - his glory, in and through men - and it is for the securing of this end, ultimately, that he is jealous. His jealousy, in all its manifestations, is precisely “the zeal of the Lord Almighty” for fulfilling his own purpose of justice and mercy.
“Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.” Isaiah 9:7
“For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.” Isaiah 37:32
“Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them.” Ezekiel 5:13
So God’s jealousy leads him, on the one hand, to judge and destroy the faithless among his people who fall into idolatry and sin,
“19And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.
20If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.” Joshua 24:19-20
“Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.” Zephaniah 1:18
And indeed to judge the enemies of righteousness and mercy everywhere
“God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.” Nahum 1:2
“5Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen, and against all Idumea, which have appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey.
6Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say unto the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because ye have borne the shame of the heathen:
7Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I have lifted up mine hand, Surely the heathen that are about you, they shall bear their shame.” Ezekiel 36:5-7
“Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.” Zephaniah 3:8
It also leads him, on the other hand, to restore his people after national judgment has chastened and humbled them.
“14So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.
15And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.
16Therefore thus saith the LORD; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the LORD of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.
17Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.” Zechariah 1:14-17
“Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury.” Zechariah 8:2
“Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people.” Joel 2:18
And what is it that motivates these actions?
Simply the fact that he is “jealous for his holy name” .
“Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;” Ezekiel 39:25
His name is his nature and character as Jehovah, the LORD, ruler of history, guardian of righteousness and savior of sinners - and God means his name to be known, honored and praised.
“I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.” Isaiah 42:8
“For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.” Isaiah 48:11
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Wrath of God
The Bible labors the point that just as God is good to those who trust him, so he is terrible to those who do not. Consider the passage from Nahum 1:2-8,
“2God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.
3The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
4He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.
5The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.
6Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.
7The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.
8But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.”
The wrath of God, contrary to what many may think, is not only taught in the Old Testament. The Lord had quite a bit to say about it in the New Testament also.
Thessalonians 1:7-10
“7And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
8In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
9Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
10When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.”
Romans 1:18
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;”
Romans 2:5
“But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God."
Romans 5:9
“Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”
Romans 12:19
“Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”
Romans 13:4-5
“4For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a evenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
5Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.”
1 Thessalonians 1:10
“And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.”
Thessalonians 2:16
“Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.”
Thessalonians 5:9
“For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,”
Revelation 6:16-17
“And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”
Revelation 16:19
“And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.”
Luke 21:22-24
“22For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 23But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.
24And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”
J.I. Packer says the following quote in his excellent book, Knowing God:
"The unbeliever has preferred to be by himself, without God, defying God, having God against him, and he shall have his preference. Nobody stands under the wrath of God except those who have chosen to do so. The essence of God’s action in wrath is to give men what they choose, in all its implications: nothing more, and equally nothing less.
1. The meaning of God’s wrath. It is the active manifestating of his hatred of irreligion and moral evil.
“But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;" Romans 2:5
“Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” Romans 5:9
“Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.” Romans 4:15
“Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:” Romans 5:20
“7What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
8But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.
9For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
10And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
11For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
12Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
13Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.” Romans 7:7-13
“But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man)” Romans 3:5
“Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” Ephesians 2:3
2. The revelation of God’s wrath.
"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
28And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient
32Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.” Romans 1:18, 28, 32
“But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;” Romans 2:5
3. The deliverance from God’s wrath.
“What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
10As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
19Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” Romans 3:9-10, 19
“Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” Romans 5:9
Propitiation - a sacrifice that averts wrath through expiating sin and canceling guilt."
“2God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.
3The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
4He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.
5The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.
6Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.
7The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.
8But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.”
The wrath of God, contrary to what many may think, is not only taught in the Old Testament. The Lord had quite a bit to say about it in the New Testament also.
Thessalonians 1:7-10
“7And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
8In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
9Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
10When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.”
Romans 1:18
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;”
Romans 2:5
“But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God."
Romans 5:9
“Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”
Romans 12:19
“Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”
Romans 13:4-5
“4For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a evenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
5Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.”
1 Thessalonians 1:10
“And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.”
Thessalonians 2:16
“Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.”
Thessalonians 5:9
“For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,”
Revelation 6:16-17
“And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”
Revelation 16:19
“And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.”
Luke 21:22-24
“22For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 23But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.
24And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”
J.I. Packer says the following quote in his excellent book, Knowing God:
"The unbeliever has preferred to be by himself, without God, defying God, having God against him, and he shall have his preference. Nobody stands under the wrath of God except those who have chosen to do so. The essence of God’s action in wrath is to give men what they choose, in all its implications: nothing more, and equally nothing less.
1. The meaning of God’s wrath. It is the active manifestating of his hatred of irreligion and moral evil.
“But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;" Romans 2:5
“Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” Romans 5:9
“Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.” Romans 4:15
“Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:” Romans 5:20
“7What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
8But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.
9For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
10And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
11For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
12Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
13Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.” Romans 7:7-13
“But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man)” Romans 3:5
“Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” Ephesians 2:3
2. The revelation of God’s wrath.
"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
28And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient
32Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.” Romans 1:18, 28, 32
“But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;” Romans 2:5
3. The deliverance from God’s wrath.
“What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
10As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
19Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” Romans 3:9-10, 19
“Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” Romans 5:9
Propitiation - a sacrifice that averts wrath through expiating sin and canceling guilt."
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Justice of God
Mankind today questions the justice of God. "How can God be "just" when there is so much evil in the world?" We can only ask this question because we do not understand who God is in His being and the great price He paid so that mercy could be given to those who were unjust. For if He were not in His being perfectly "Just" it would not have been necessary to go to the cross. Let's listen to the thoughts of J.I. Packer on the subject taken from "The Knowledge of God".
"The concept of God held by the psalmists and prophets of Israel was that of an all-powerful ruler, high and lifted up, reigning in equity.
Justice embodies the idea of moral equity. Judgment is the application of equity to moral situations and may be favorable or unfavorable according to whether the one under examination has been equitable or inequitable in heart and conduct.
Justice, when used of God, is a name we give to the way God is, nothing more; and when God acts justly He is not doing so to conform to an independent criterion, but simply acting like Himself in a given situation.
Everything in the universe is good to the degree it conforms to the nature of God and evil as it fails to do so.
God is his own self-existent principle of moral equity, and when he sentences evil men or rewards the righteous, he simply acts like himself from within, uninfluenced by anything that is not himself.
Redemptive theology teaches that mercy does not become effective toward man until justice has done its work. The just penalty for sin was exacted when Christ our Substitute died for us.
This message of justice discharged and mercy operative is more than a pleasant theological theory; it announces a fact made necessary by our deep human need. Because of our sin we are all under sentence of death, a judgment which resulted when justice confronted our moral situation. When the penitent sinner casts himself upon Christ for salvation, the moral situation is reversed. Justice confronts the changed moral situation and pronounces the believing man just."
God as Judge
This naturally leads us to consider the right or authority God has within Himself to administer His Justice, brother Packer continues as follows:
"The judge is a person with authority. As our maker, he owns us, and as our Owner, he has a right to dispose of us. He has, therefore, a right to make laws for us and to reward us according to whether or not we keep them. He is both Lawgiver and Judge.
The judge is a person identified with what is good and right. The Bible leaves us no doubt that God loves righteousness and hates iniquity, and that the ideal of a judge wholly identified with what is good and right is perfectly fulfilled in him.
The judge is a person of wisdom, to discern truth. God is omniscient and wise as the searcher of hearts and the finder of facts. He knows us, and judges us, as we really are. God knows. His judgment is according to truth- factual truth, as well as moral truth.
The judge is a person of power to execute sentence. God is his own executioner.
Retribution - the rendering to persons what they have deserved; this is the essence of a judges task. To reward good with good, and evil with evil, is natural to God."
So let us bow before our Maker, and give to Him the glory and honor due to His Almighty Name. May we continually sing His praise, not only for all that He has given to us in Christ, but for who He is in Himself. "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen."
"The concept of God held by the psalmists and prophets of Israel was that of an all-powerful ruler, high and lifted up, reigning in equity.
Justice embodies the idea of moral equity. Judgment is the application of equity to moral situations and may be favorable or unfavorable according to whether the one under examination has been equitable or inequitable in heart and conduct.
Justice, when used of God, is a name we give to the way God is, nothing more; and when God acts justly He is not doing so to conform to an independent criterion, but simply acting like Himself in a given situation.
Everything in the universe is good to the degree it conforms to the nature of God and evil as it fails to do so.
God is his own self-existent principle of moral equity, and when he sentences evil men or rewards the righteous, he simply acts like himself from within, uninfluenced by anything that is not himself.
Redemptive theology teaches that mercy does not become effective toward man until justice has done its work. The just penalty for sin was exacted when Christ our Substitute died for us.
This message of justice discharged and mercy operative is more than a pleasant theological theory; it announces a fact made necessary by our deep human need. Because of our sin we are all under sentence of death, a judgment which resulted when justice confronted our moral situation. When the penitent sinner casts himself upon Christ for salvation, the moral situation is reversed. Justice confronts the changed moral situation and pronounces the believing man just."
God as Judge
This naturally leads us to consider the right or authority God has within Himself to administer His Justice, brother Packer continues as follows:
"The judge is a person with authority. As our maker, he owns us, and as our Owner, he has a right to dispose of us. He has, therefore, a right to make laws for us and to reward us according to whether or not we keep them. He is both Lawgiver and Judge.
The judge is a person identified with what is good and right. The Bible leaves us no doubt that God loves righteousness and hates iniquity, and that the ideal of a judge wholly identified with what is good and right is perfectly fulfilled in him.
The judge is a person of wisdom, to discern truth. God is omniscient and wise as the searcher of hearts and the finder of facts. He knows us, and judges us, as we really are. God knows. His judgment is according to truth- factual truth, as well as moral truth.
The judge is a person of power to execute sentence. God is his own executioner.
Retribution - the rendering to persons what they have deserved; this is the essence of a judges task. To reward good with good, and evil with evil, is natural to God."
So let us bow before our Maker, and give to Him the glory and honor due to His Almighty Name. May we continually sing His praise, not only for all that He has given to us in Christ, but for who He is in Himself. "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen."
Saturday, March 14, 2009
The Goodness and Severity of God
Before we look at the Goodness and Severity of God, let us briefly be reminded of the attribute of God's faithfulness.
"God, being who He is, cannot cease to be what He is, and being what He is, He cannot act out of character with Himself. He is at once faithful and immutable, so all His words and acts must be and must remain faithful. God is His own reason for all He does. He cannot be compelled from without, but ever speaks and acts from within Himself by His own sovereign will as it pleases Him.
There is no conflict among the divine attributes. God’s being is unity. He cannot divide Himself and act at a given time from one of His attributes while the rest remain inactive. Justice must be present in mercy, and love in judgment. And so with all the divine attributes."
A.W. Tozer goes on to give us a very timely warning:
"We can hold a correct view of truth only by daring to believe everything God has said about Himself. It is a grave responsibility that a man takes upon himself when he seeks to edit out of God’s self-revelation such features as he in his ignorance deem objectionable. Blindness in part must surely fall upon any of us presumptuous enough to attempt such a thing."
Goodness and Severity of God
What is the Goodness of God? Tozer explains, "The goodness of God is that which disposes Him to be kind, cordial, benevolent, and full of good will toward men. He is tenderhearted and of quick sympathy, and His unfailing attitude toward all moral beings is open, frank, and friendly. By His nature He is inclined to bestow blessedness and He takes holy pleasure in the happiness of His people.
The goodness of God is the drive behind all the blessings He daily bestows upon us. God created us because He felt good in His heart and He redeemed us for the same reason.
Divine goodness is self-caused, infinite, perfect, and eternal. The cause of His goodness is in Himself; the recipient of His goodness are all His beneficiaries without merit and without recompense."
Romans 11:22 asks us to consider this goodness of God in relation to His severity:
“Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.”
"And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation." Exodus 34:6-7
J.I. Packer, in his discussion on this subject in "Knowing God" says the following:
"Goodness - something admirable, attractive, praiseworthy, generosity
Severity - “cutting off” - God’s decisive withdrawal of his goodness from those who have spurned it."
"Behind every display of divine goodness stands a threat of severity in judgment if that goodness is scorned. If we do not let it draw us to God in gratitude and responsive love, we have only ourselves to blame when God turns against us. Those who decline to respond to God’s goodness by repentance, and faith, and trust, and submission to his will, cannot wonder or complain if sooner or later the tokens of his goodness are withdrawn, the opportunity of benefiting from them ends, and retribution supervenes. The Bible makes much of the patience and forbearance of God in postponing merited judgments in order to extend the day of grace and give more opportunity for repentance."
So, how can we profit from this understanding of God's goodness and severity?
How do we apply this knowledge for God's glory and our edification?
Packer suggests the following:
"1. Appreciate the goodness of God. Don’t take anything for granted - learn to thank God for all. Do not slight the Bible, or the gospel of Jesus Christ, by an attitude of casualness toward either.
2. Appreciate the patience of God. Think how he has borne with you, and still bears with you, when so much in your life is unworthy of him and you have so richly deserved his rejection. Learn to marvel at his patience and seek grace to imitate it in your dealings with others, and try not to try his patience any more.
3. Appreciate the discipline of God. This kindly discipline, in which God’s severity touches us for a moment in the context of his goodness, is meant to keep us from having to bear the full brunt of that severity apart from that context. It is a discipline of love, and it must be received accordingly."
“And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:” Hebrews 12:5
“It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.”
Psalm 119:71
"God, being who He is, cannot cease to be what He is, and being what He is, He cannot act out of character with Himself. He is at once faithful and immutable, so all His words and acts must be and must remain faithful. God is His own reason for all He does. He cannot be compelled from without, but ever speaks and acts from within Himself by His own sovereign will as it pleases Him.
There is no conflict among the divine attributes. God’s being is unity. He cannot divide Himself and act at a given time from one of His attributes while the rest remain inactive. Justice must be present in mercy, and love in judgment. And so with all the divine attributes."
A.W. Tozer goes on to give us a very timely warning:
"We can hold a correct view of truth only by daring to believe everything God has said about Himself. It is a grave responsibility that a man takes upon himself when he seeks to edit out of God’s self-revelation such features as he in his ignorance deem objectionable. Blindness in part must surely fall upon any of us presumptuous enough to attempt such a thing."
Goodness and Severity of God
What is the Goodness of God? Tozer explains, "The goodness of God is that which disposes Him to be kind, cordial, benevolent, and full of good will toward men. He is tenderhearted and of quick sympathy, and His unfailing attitude toward all moral beings is open, frank, and friendly. By His nature He is inclined to bestow blessedness and He takes holy pleasure in the happiness of His people.
The goodness of God is the drive behind all the blessings He daily bestows upon us. God created us because He felt good in His heart and He redeemed us for the same reason.
Divine goodness is self-caused, infinite, perfect, and eternal. The cause of His goodness is in Himself; the recipient of His goodness are all His beneficiaries without merit and without recompense."
Romans 11:22 asks us to consider this goodness of God in relation to His severity:
“Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.”
"And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation." Exodus 34:6-7
J.I. Packer, in his discussion on this subject in "Knowing God" says the following:
"Goodness - something admirable, attractive, praiseworthy, generosity
Severity - “cutting off” - God’s decisive withdrawal of his goodness from those who have spurned it."
"Behind every display of divine goodness stands a threat of severity in judgment if that goodness is scorned. If we do not let it draw us to God in gratitude and responsive love, we have only ourselves to blame when God turns against us. Those who decline to respond to God’s goodness by repentance, and faith, and trust, and submission to his will, cannot wonder or complain if sooner or later the tokens of his goodness are withdrawn, the opportunity of benefiting from them ends, and retribution supervenes. The Bible makes much of the patience and forbearance of God in postponing merited judgments in order to extend the day of grace and give more opportunity for repentance."
So, how can we profit from this understanding of God's goodness and severity?
How do we apply this knowledge for God's glory and our edification?
Packer suggests the following:
"1. Appreciate the goodness of God. Don’t take anything for granted - learn to thank God for all. Do not slight the Bible, or the gospel of Jesus Christ, by an attitude of casualness toward either.
2. Appreciate the patience of God. Think how he has borne with you, and still bears with you, when so much in your life is unworthy of him and you have so richly deserved his rejection. Learn to marvel at his patience and seek grace to imitate it in your dealings with others, and try not to try his patience any more.
3. Appreciate the discipline of God. This kindly discipline, in which God’s severity touches us for a moment in the context of his goodness, is meant to keep us from having to bear the full brunt of that severity apart from that context. It is a discipline of love, and it must be received accordingly."
“And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:” Hebrews 12:5
“It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.”
Psalm 119:71
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Veracity of God
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.
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.
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."
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