"God, Large and Small"

Were it possible to think of God in terms of size, we would have to conclude that He is both infinitely large, and infinitesimally small.


The universe fits this description (although as a created thing, it is, by definition, finite). Journey out into the far reaches of space at the speed of light, and you will journey for literally billions of years without approaching the outer boundaries of creation. Conversely, a voyage into the atom and its untold myriad of particles, sub particles, and bewildering forces would involve no less time, and no less failure to enter into the essence of the small.


God made the universe in this breathtaking fashion in order to reveal Himself. "The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made" (Romans 1:20). He would be known as both large and small. That is, we must be awed by our Creator to the degree that conceptual thought and language are realized as inadequate in pondering and describing the wonder that is God. However, we must also be sure that the God of the heavens is known as the God of the heart. He is approachable, and is in fact nearer to us than we are to ourselves. "In Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28). God must be seen as both the Beyond of the measureless and the Baby of the manger.


In this light both blinding and illuminating, we realize the seeming impossibility of relating to God, and the seeming impossibility of not doing so. Indeed, how can the finite approach the Infinite? But then, how can we fail to see, know, and commune with the One who in every moment "giveth to all life and breath and all things?" (Acts 17:25). There are no answers to these questions. There is rather a Person in whom the measureless and the manger meet to form the most wonderful reality in God's eternity and in His creation. There is the Lord Jesus Christ.


"In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9).


In a Bible of mind and heart-boggling declarations, the Apostle Paul's statement that the All of God somehow finds residence in the limits of the "bodily" may be the most bewildering. Indeed, there is no one like the Lord Jesus. He is God, He is all God. But He is man, He is all man. He is the Uncreated, but He is also "the beginning of the creation of God" (Revelation 3:14). He is measureless in His being and personhood, but He is forever housed in the soul and body of a real humanity. He is "the Savior of all men," but He is also Judge who will one day say to unbelievers, "Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire" (I Timothy 4:6; Matthew 25:41). In His earthly life, the Apostle John rested his head upon the chest of the Lord Jesus. In the glory of Heaven, John "fell at His feet as dead" upon beholding the risen Christ (John 13:25; Revelation 1:17). As one writer of old described, our Lord is "the Beyond in the midst." In the Lord Jesus, the infinite and the infinitesimal of God unite to reveal both a glory and a humility that drive us to our faces even as they lift us to our feet.


God, large and small. We must know Him in both expressions of His being, nature, character and way. We must feel a great sense of futility when faced with the challenge of knowing a being so vast that "the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee" (II Chronicles 2:6). But we must also rejoice in a great assurance of faith that through Christ, the trusting heart can know God more intimately than anyone else. The Beyond is in the midst. The infinitely large and the infinitesimally small unite in the amazing person of the Lord Jesus. Perhaps more amazing, they unite in us as God, large and small, graces our hearts with the vivid scene of that which cannot be seen.


"Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth."

(John 9:41)

The Reality of the Soul

The naturalist declares that human consciousness evolved from mindless processes of physics, chemistry, biology and anthropology. He proposes that our capacity for self awareness, rational thought, the capacity for reason and the possibility of considering the fact of consciousness originated not in the mind of a knowing, thinking God, but rather in soulless matter and energy. The naturalist's view is that humanity's vast capacity for a conscious, knowing existence somehow sprang forth from conscious nothingness.


The average person finds this notion to be counterintuitive. The begetting of soul by the soulless seems impossible, and the strained science of the naturalist offers no viable explanation for what could only be termed "miraculous" if it actually happened. Such skepticism is the only reasonable course for anyone who realizes that consciousness does not actually exist according to the naturalist's perspective. Indeed, the average person's concept of knowing and self awareness involves the metaphysical interpretation that such inward experience of our being and personhood is real and something beyond physical process. This is not the case if heart and mind are merely the fortuitous and very temporary combination of atoms. The skepticism of the man on the street regarding "the science of consciousness" is therefore perfectly justifiable.


"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork" (Psalm 19:1).


"This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil" (John 3:19).


The truth of the matter is that the naturalist possesses a real soul, along with every human being. That soul does not reject reality because of intellect, but because of fear of the Soul of the supernatural. As Adam hid from God in the trees after he sinned, so does the naturalist hide in the forest of rejecting the One to whom he knows he is accountable. The issue is first and foremost heart rather than mind. The truth does not allow the naturalist to think, say and do the things he wants to do. In essence, it does not allow him to be the god he desires to be. It also allows him - for now - to ignore the Voice that calls to him deep in his consciousness, as it did to the first man: "Where art thou?" (Genesis 3:9).


The born again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ has a simple message for the naturalist: "Your heart is real. Your mind is real. And Somebody is bearing witness in the depths of your real soul to open your heart and mind to the truth." Much debate about science and pseudo-science may be somewhat helpful, and we need not fear discourse with the unbeliever. However, at the end of the day, the naturalist's problem is the same as that of every lost son and daughter of Adam. He is willfully hiding in the trees from that which he knows deep within to be the truth. He lusts to be his own god, and to fulfill his own desires rather than those of his Creator. He rejects the reality of his very being and personhood. But God does not. Nor must we as we pray and bear witness to the real and eternal souls He made, and that will exist forever in either the joyous glory of His presence, or the terrible hell of His wrath.


"The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good."

(Psalm 14:1)


"Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before Him."

(Ecclesiastes 3:14)

"From Now"

(Thanks to my dear brother and pastor friend Randy for the reference to "serving grace.")

 

    Born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ always begin from now in our relationship with God.

 

    "I am... the beginning" (Revelation 1:8).

 

     We cannot change our past.  We can repent concerning it, as the Holy Spirit convicts and corrects.  We will live with its consequences, for good and for ill.  And we will remember it both fondly and regretfully.  But we cannot change it. 

 

    Concerning the sins and errors of the past, this is a hard truth that would be unbearable were it not for the grace and mercy of the Lord Jesus, and were it not for His ongoing call that we come to Him in the present  moment.  He is our Beginning, and wherever we are along the path of righteousness, the Spirit of God beckons us to see this moment as both privilege and responsibility to come to the throne of grace for the purpose of living relationship with our Heavenly Father.

 

    "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price" (Isaiah 55:1).

 

     The prophet's promise that we may buy "without money and without price" speaks to the matter of God's Christ-paved path into the present hour of His presence.  By implication, if one has no money to buy and eat, one has acted irresponsibly in the past.  In the natural order of affairs, such a person should not eat (II Thessalonians 3:10).  Our Heavenly approach and access, however, makes a way for the irresponsible to come nevertheless.  Indeed, if we wait until we perceive ourselves worthy to approach our Father in Heaven, we shall wait a very long time.

 

    In Christ, new beginnings are perpetually generated by the grace of God.  We begin now, from wherever we may be, or not be.  As we do, that is, as we believe that we may come and as we actually do so, fresh discoveries of the power of our Lord's atoning sacrifice and glorious resurrection await us.  We shall find "serving grace" united with saving grace whereby we more consistently honor our Lord in thought, attitude, word, and deed.  We will know His wondrous love in continually greater measure, and we will return such love in holy response.  Let us begin with our blessed Lord, who is the Beginning.  The writer of Hebrews declares that the Lord Jesus is "now appearing in the presence of God for us" (Hebrews 9:24).  Let us therefore join Him in appearing in that same presence.  Yes, let us begin from now.

 

"Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy."

(I Peter 2:9-10)