“Wondering” . . . Fascinated By God, and By His Truth

(Friends: during this series, the messages may frequently be longer than usual due to the subject matter.  Thanks for your patience, and I think you will find the considerations interesting, and hopefully, helpful in our walk with the Lord.  Glen)

 

Part 4 – “Something Wonderful”

   

     Relatively few people consciously think of themselves as gods, New Age Movement notwithstanding.  The deception nevertheless runs deep in humanity, as evidenced by the natural tendency of every son and daughter of Adam to constitute our own desires as the preeminent motivation of our hearts.

    “We all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind” (Ephesians 2:3)

     When we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, God begins a work of overcoming our fleshly tendency toward selfish devotion to ourselves.  More importantly, our Heavenly Father incessantly seeks to uproot the delusion of Divinity – “ye shall be as gods” – that produces our innate exaltation of ourselves.  We begin the discovery that God alone is God by receiving a gift for which we do nothing other than believe in our hearts and confess with our tongues that the Lord Jesus is risen from the dead (Romans 10:9-10).  The new birth results within us, resulting in the Spirit of God infusing our being with His light.  “The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord” (Proverbs 20:27). 

    This illumination bears increasing witness to the transcendence of God and the dependency of ourselves.  The Apostle Paul taught that we are both “strong in the Lord,” and “weak in Him” (Ephesians 6:10; II Corinthians 13:4).  This references the proper perspective of God and ourselves established by the Holy Spirit whereby He progressively redeems us from the original deception embraced by Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:5).  Again, we must know that God is God, and we are not.  Moreover, we must know this truth far more than in merely belief and principle.  We must increasingly discover it as the guiding light of our existence whereby we live “having no confidence in the flesh,” and “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Philippians 3:3; Hebrews 12:2).

    For those involved in this redeeming process of truth, the recognition that God will not and cannot tell us all about Himself shines within us as a vitally necessary illumination.  We understand why the Bible never answers the question, “What is God?”  Certainly, we can know much – “the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day” (Proverbs 4:18).  But we cannot know all – “the King of kings, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see” (I Timothy 5:15; 16).  Of course, such limitation will never satisfy those merely curious about God and Truth.  Those consecrated to the Lord Jesus, however, find sublime joy in the mystery of God no less than in His light.

    What is God?  The trusting heart smiles inwardly when it recalls that no answer will likely ever be forthcoming, or even possible.  Our Lord exists in a singular being inexplicable to created minds and sensibilities.  He is something wonderful, of that we can be sure.  By definition, therefore, the triune God fills with wonder all who look to Him in the realization that a long eternity will shine upon us and within us a Light more beautiful and brilliant than we can imagine.  However, that which remains unknown to us graces us with a beauty and brilliance just as sublime.  Thereby we know God as He is, and we know ourselves as we are.  This is Light, the Light of God that “shineth in darkness” (John 1:5).

“Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, Thou art very great; thou art clothed with honor and majesty, who coverest Thyself with light as with a garment.”

(Psalm 104:1-2)

Next Week: we address the next question in our series on Wonder.  “Who is God?”

“Wondering”... Fascinated By God, and By His Truth

(Friends: during this series, the messages may frequently be longer than usual due to the subject matter.  Thanks for your patience, and I think you will find the considerations interesting, and hopefully, helpful in our walk with the Lord.  Glen)

Part 3 – “First Light”

   We cannot presently define God.  We cannot know what He is.  I suspect this will always be the case as God forever remains God, and we forever remain ourselves. Certainly, our Lord has drawn breathtakingly near to those who trust in the Lord Jesus, but not so near that we become Him.  Nor does He become us.

     “O LORD God… there is none like Thee, neither is there any God beside Thee” (II Samuel 7:22).
     Early in its existence, the human race embraced the devilish lie that “ye shall be as gods”
(Genesis 3:5).  The deadly error infused our flesh with the same deception that long ago began with Lucifer.  We believe we can be more than God created us to be.

      “Thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north” (Isaiah 14:13-14).  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

     The darkness of Satan became humanity’s darkness when Adam and Eve believed his lie.  “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not” (II Corinthians 4:4).  Such deception manifests itself in innumerable expressions of error, with pride being perhaps our greatest delusion.  Again, the grave notion pervades our flesh that we can “be as gods,” leading us to believe we should be able to fulfill our own desires and control our destiny. We possess no capacity for Divinity, however, leading to blindness and frustration.  “If a man thinketh himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself” (Galatians 6:3).

    Unto such a race of the delusional, God provides the gift of a Bible that tells us countless wonders about Himself, ourselves, creation, and glories of time and eternity.  It does not include, however, a definition or explanation of its Author.  It does not tell us what He is because, by definition, the proud need to be humbled.  In this case, Scripture calls us to respond to One who will tell us much about Himself in order to draw us into His light.  He will not tell us all, however.  He will not tell us what He is.  

     We likely could not understand or survive a definition anyway.  “No man can see Me and live” (Exodus 30:20).  Even if we could, our Lord would likely withhold the information because we so desperately need to learn the foundational reality of our existence, namely, that God is God and there is no other (including and especially ourselves).  I believe this truth to be perhaps the first light that must shine forth into our hearts.  Indeed, the salvation in which we receive relationship with God apart from any work or effort on our part plainly reveals our complete helplessness to help ourselves.  How can we be gods when we cannot save ourselves from the pit of sin into which our original fathers fell (and in which we all freely and individually participate)?  We cannot, and freely given forgiveness and relationship with One whom we cannot define establishes us in the proper Creator/creation recognition of who God is, and who we are (and who we are not).

     What is God?  The fact that we cannot know, and that we know we cannot know should thrill our hearts with wonder.  There is and will always be something, Someone, greater than ourselves who beckons us to come and see some new facet of His ineffable glory.  Just as a child knows deeply within that his parents must be smarter, stronger and more capable than he is himself, so were our hearts made to find their joy in the God whose mystery fills our being with light every bit as much as His illumination.  Yes, the unanswerable question of “What is God?” provides the first light of who He is, and who we are.  There is no more blessed truth whereby our hearts discover peace both now and forevermore.

      In our next consideration, we will address the challenge of accepting God as God, and ourselves as His dependent creatures.

“Put them in fear, O LORD: that the nations may know themselves to be but men.”(Psalm 9:20)
“Thou art God alone.”(Psalm 86:10)
“The King of kings, and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen.”(I Timothy 6:16).

“Wondering” Fascinated By God, and By His Truth Part 2

(Friends: during this series, the messages may frequently be longer than usual due to the subject matter. Thanks for your patience, and I think you will find the considerations interesting, and hopefully, helpful in our walk with the Lord. Glen)

 “Biblical Confirmation of An Inexplicable God”

    We would suspect that a God beyond definition who nevertheless desires to reveal Himself would provide clues in His Word to guide our awareness of what we can know, and what we cannot know

    He does, telling us outright that some truths are available, while others are not.

     “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29).

     A vivid illustration of this truth presents itself on the first day of creation.  “Let there be light ” pronounces the Lord (Genesis 1:3).   “And there was light.”  Interestingly, however, God never defines light in Scripture any more than He defines Himself.  He describes many of its characteristics and properties, as well as the relationship of His creation to Light.  But never does He seek to provide in His Word a detailed definition of this firstfruits of His creative work.  The closest He comes exists in the Apostle John’s declaration, “God is light” (I John 1:5).  This does not help us, however, since we can define neither God nor light.

    This perfectly accords with the scientific view of light.  For centuries, physicists have studied light.  They have discovered many of its properties and characteristics, and have harnessed the knowledge to make light an invaluable tool in our lives, from bulbs to lasers.  However, as this is written, the scientific community admits, “We don’t know what light is.”  Despite the vast amount of study, research, and utilization of light, a simple definition of the reality, as with God, escapes human understanding.  Thus, the very first aspect of the Lord’s creative process – “Let there be light” – reflects the mystery of His own existence and being.  “The secret things belong to the Lord…”

     Another Scriptural illustration of a God beyond definition presents itself in the experience of Israel, His chosen earthly people.  After their deliverance from Egypt, the Lord provided sustenance for their long sojourn in the wilderness.

    “And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host. And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was” (Exodus 16:13-15).

    In the original Hebrew, the word manna means, “What is it?”  God’s people did not recognize the physical sustenance He provided.  They partook of the manna after learning it was God’s provision of food, but never does He explain to them that the small round wafer actually consisted of sustenance beyond earthly reality and description.  “Man did eat angels' food: He sent them meat to the full” (Psalm 78:25).  Israel survived by partaking of manna.  Never, however, did they know what it was.

     In similar manner, we “live and move and have our being” in God.  He gives to us “life and breath and all things.”  “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.”  “To live is Christ,” and our generous Lord opens His hand and “satisfieth the desire of every living thing.”   As in the experience of Israel, however, God is manna to us when it comes to definition.  “What is it?”  Or rather, “What is He?”  The Bible unapologetically leaves us in darkness regarding this question for which an answer may seem vital, but which actually requires no explanation by God.

    Tomorrow we will consider the reason God provides no definition of Himself to our hearts and minds.  The explanation concerns both our proper understanding of Him, and of ourselves. 

“The King of kings, and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen.”

(I Timothy 6:16).