Our Unchanging God

In our last study together on the doctrine of God, we looked at the existence and nature of God. In the existence of God we said that it is assumed in the Scriptures. William Evans, in his book Great Doctrines of the Bible, says, “It does not seem to have occurred to any of the writers of either the Old or the New Testaments to attempt to prove or to argue for the existence of God. Everywhere and at all times it is a fact taken for granted.” That fact is also seen in His creation. Psalm 19:1-2 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge.” Theologians often use theological terms that we’re unfamiliar with but none the less often state truths in a concise way. There are six arguments that theologians use to prove the existence of God. The first is the teleological argument which says design implies a designer. When you look at something that has been finished or perfected, we conclude its resulting design must have had a designer. The second argument was ontological, which comes from a Greek participle “to be.” This argument reasons that man’s ability to conceive of an absolutely perfect Being implies the reality and existence of that Being. The third was aesthetical. Because there is beauty and truth in the world, it is logical to assume that somewhere in the universe is a standard upon which beauty and truth are based. A fourth argument is volitional. Because man faces a myriad of choices and exercises volition, it is logical to assume that there must be an infinite will somewhere. The world exists as an expression of that will. The fifth argument is moral. This argument says that since we know there is a right and wrong this suggests the necessity of an absolute standard. And the sixth argument is cosmological. Cosmology is the argument of cause and effect. The world and the universe exist, and we conclude that someone made it. Think about it for a moment. The cause of limitless space must be infinite; the cause of endless time must be eternal; the cause of perceptual motion must be powerful; the cause of complexity must be omniscient; the cause of consciousness must be personal; the cause of feeling must be emotional; the cause of will must be volitional; the cause of ethical values must be moral; the cause of religious values must be spiritual; the cause of beauty must be aesthetical; the cause of righteousness must be holy; the cause of justice must be just; the cause of love must be loving; the cause of life must be living. Our world give evidence that there must be a God who is the cause of all those qualities.

We also looked at the nature of God. This is where we examined more closely what the Bible reveals about the Person of God. We said that there are two ways to look at this: according to man and according to the Bible. When you look at it according to man, you come up when man created God in his own image. But when you look at the Bible, you see something entirely different. The Bible reveals that God is a Person, who is described by personal titles, personal pronouns, and personal characteristics. It also reveals that God is a Spirit which refers to Him as being immaterial. Charles Hodge says “in revealing...that God is Spirit, the Bible reveals to us that no attribute of matter can be predicated of the divine essence” (Systematic Theology, 138-9).

We further said that God is One and Three. As One, He is the only God. There are no other gods besides Him. As three, He exists as three distinct persons and we saw those distinctions in the Old and New Testmament. Now let's consider the attributes of God.

When we refer to the attributes of God, we are referring to the “Virtues, excellencies, and perfections of God” (Tyndale Bible Dictionary). James P. Boyce, in his Abstract of Systematic Theology, says, “The attributes of God are those peculiarities which mark or define the mode of His existence, or which constitute His character. They are not separate nor separable from His essence or nature, and yet are not that essence, but simply have the ground or cause of their existence in it, and are at the same time the peculiarities which constitute the mode and character of His being” (65). In other words, they are the “Inherent characteristics of God revealed in Scripture and..are characteristics equally of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” (Tyndale Bible Dictionary). The one that we are considering is referred to as His immutability. A.W. Pink says of this attribute: “This is one of the Divine perfections which is not sufficiently pondered. It is one of the excellencies of the Creator which distinguishes Him from all His creatures. God is perpetually the same: subject to no change in His being, attributes, or determinations” (The Attributes of God). Malachi 3:6 says, “For I am the Lord, I do not change.”

The Trinity

God is one, yet exists as three distinct persons. That is revealed in the Bible from beginning to end.

The Old Testament Expresses the Plurality of the Godhead in its Opening Words

Genesis 1:1 - “In the beginning God." The Hebrew word translated “God” there is Elohim. The plural suffix, im, means it’s plural and presents a singular God who is expressed as a plurality. Genesis 1:26 also presents the plurality of the Godhead which it says, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.’” Genesis 3:22 also uses the plural in the Godhead when it says, “Then the Lord God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever.” When the Lord was about to destory the Tower of Babel, He said in Gen.11:7, “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.”

Distinctions Between Members of the Trinity are Apparent in the Old Testament

Genesis 19:24 says, “Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens.” Charles Hodge says, “We . . . find throughout the Old Testament constant mention made of a person to whom, though distinct from Jehovah as a person, the titles, attributes, and works of Jehovah are nevertheless ascribed. This person is called the angel of God, the angel of Jehovah, Adonai, Jehovah, and Elohim. He claims divine authority, exercises divine prerogatives, and receives divine homage. . . .Besides this we have the express testimony of the inspired writers of the New Testament that the angel of the Lord, the manifested Jehovah who led the Israelites through the wilderness and who dwelt in the temple, was Christ; that is, the angel was the Word . . . who became flesh and fulfilled the work which it was predicted the Messiah should accomplish (Systematic Theology, p. 177). Numbers 6:22-26 says, “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 23 "Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, 'This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them: 24 "The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; 26 The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace." '

Distinctions Between Members of the Trinity are also Apparent in the New Testament

Notice several passages of Scripture that mark the distinctions: Matthew 3:16-17—As Jesus is being baptized by John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit descended on Him like a dove. The Father replied, “is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (v.17). We see the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit together in the same scene. John 14:16-17—Jesus said, “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever--17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 says, “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.” 2 Corinthians 13:14 says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.” 1 Peter 1:2 says, “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.”

Who Can Comprehend the Trinity? God is Three in One, and One in Three-An Eternal Mystery

J.I. Packer wrote: “Here we face the most dizzying and unfathomable truth of all, the truth of the Trinity. . . . What should we make of it? In itself, the divine tri-unity is a mystery, a transcendent fact which passes our understanding. . . .How the one eternal God is eternally both singular and plural, how Father, Son, and Spirit are personally distinct yet essentially one . . . is more than we can know, and any attempt to "explain" it-to dispel the mystery by reasoning, as distinct from confessing it from Scripture-is bound to falsify it. Here, as elsewhere, our God is too big for his creatures' little minds (I Want to Be a Christian [Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale, 1977], pp. 29-30). We cannot comprehend this Triune God, but we do know that He is a Father who loves us, a Son who died for us, and a Spirit who comforts us.

God is One

“Although the Bible teaches that there is only one God (Is 45:18, 21-22; Mk 12:32), heathen people in ancient times quickly developed a belief in large numbers of so-called gods (Jer 10:11) and goddesses. Eventually each nation created and worshiped its own deities, usually more than one. Many of these "foreign gods" (1 Sm 7:3) are named in the Bible, and in most cases we are told to what nation each belonged. The list from Mesopotamia, a center of idol worship, is the longest: Adrammelech and Anammelech (2 Kgs 17:31), Bel (also known as Marduk, Is 46:1; Jer 50:2; 51:44), Kaiwan (Am 5:26), Nebo or Nabu (Is 46:1), Nergal (2 Kgs 17:30), Nisroch (19:37; Is 37:38), Rephan (Acts 7:43), Sakkuth (Am 5:26), Succoth-benoth (2 Kgs 17:30), Tammuz (Ez 8:14), and Tartak (2 Kgs 17:31). The Syrians were devoted to Ashima (v 30) and Rimmon (5:18), who was also worshiped under the compound name Hadad-rimmon (Zec 12:11). Israel's eastern neighbors, Ammon and Moab, worshiped Milcom or Molech (1 Kgs 11:5-7, 33; 2 Kgs 23:13) and Chemosh, respectively, although the Moabites also worshiped a local manifestation of Baal (Nm 25:3-5). The Philistine gods were Dagon and Baal-zebub (2 Kgs 1:2-3, 6, 16), who is the equivalent of the NT Beelzebul (Mt 12:24; Lk 11:15). One Canaanite god, Baal, and two Canaanite goddesses, Asherah and Ashtoreth, are mentioned frequently in the OT; Ashtoreth was the same as the Mesopotamian Ishtar, also known as the "Queen of Heaven" (Jer 7:18; 44:17-19, 25). The gods of Egypt are represented by only two names in the Bible: Amon (Jer 46:25) and Apis (v 15). Nibhaz (2 Kgs 17:31) was probably an Elamite god. At least three Greco-Roman deities are mentioned in the NT: the Greek goddess Artemis (Acts 19:24-28, 34-35), known as Diana by the Romans, and the Greek gods Zeus and Hermes (Acts 14:12-13), known as Jupiter and Mercury, respectively, by the Romans.

The Bible clearly teaches that the gods of the nations have no objective reality (Jer 2:11), even though their worshipers sincerely believe that they actually exist (v 28). But the Lord proclaims that "they are no gods," (Jer 2:11; 16:20) or "gods that are not gods" (5:7, NIV). The NT further declares of idols that "an idol has no real existence" (1 Cor 8:4) and that "gods made with hands are not gods" (Acts 19:26). It is not surprising, then, that when the Israelites began to encounter other nations in significant ways-that is, as early as the time of the exodus-they were told repeatedly that the Lord is greater than all other gods (Ex 15:11; 18:11; Dt 10:17; 1 Chr 16:25; 2 Chr 2:5; Pss 86:8; 95:3; 96:4-5; 97:7-9; 135:5, 136:2; Dn 2:47; Zep 2:11).

Such so-called gods were not worthy of Israel's attention or veneration” (Tyndale Bible Dictionary) because there is only one God. And to believe that there were more than one God was blasphemy and idolatry against the One God.

Deut.6:4 says, “The LORD our God is one LORD.”
1 Cor.8:6 says, “There is only one God.”
1 Tim.2:5 says, “There is one God.”
Isa.44:6 says, “I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me.”
Ex.20:5 reveals that God is a jealous God which means He alone is to be worshiped.

“There can be but one infinite” (Elisha Coles, The Golden Treasury of Puritan Quotations). Because Israel lived in the midst of a polytheistic society, it was vital that they give their allegiance to the one true God. The same is true today. Where is your allegiance?

The Existence of God

The Bible does not seek to prove the existence of God, it assumes it. The Puritan John Preston said, “Now concerning God, two things are to be known: (1) that He is, (2) what He is” (The Golden Treasury of Puritan Quotations).

It is Assumed in the Scriptures

Genesis 1:1 begins like this: “In the beginning God.” Moses, who wrote the book of Genesis also wrote Psalm 90 and in verse 2 He elaborates on the phrase in Genesis 1:1 when he says, “Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” The apostle John makes an attempt at this in his gospel when speaking of God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He says in John 1:1-2 - “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” You must understand when you hear the words “beginning” in Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1-2, it is not saying that God has a beginning. In fact both of those verses say nothing about this. Genesis 1:1 takes us to the beginning of the creation of the heavens and the earth. John 1:1-2 takes us to the beginning but it’s not referring to the beginning of the Word to assume that He was created or had a beginning. No it is taking us into a realm where our understanding ceases to exist. The verse would be better read this way: “In the beginning, whenever there was a beginning, the Word! ”Psalm 90:2 states it appropriately: “Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.”

It is Revealed in the Creation

We read verses like Psalm 19:1 which says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.” Or Romans 1:19-20 which says, “Because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” God has always existed. The Bible does not set out to prove this, it assumes it directly or in creation. William Temple gives us this warning: “It is much worse to have a false idea of God than no idea at all” (Christianity Today, Vol.34, No.3, September 15, 1989).

It is Proven Theologically

Let me give you 6 arguments that theologians propose:

Teleological - This comes from the Greek word teleios which means, “perfection,” “result,” or “end.” When you look at something that has been finished or perfected, we conclude its resulting design must have had a designer. (eg. Watch) Design implies a designer.

Ontological - Ontos is a Greek participle from the verb translated “to be.” This argument reasons that man’s ability to conceive of an absolutely perfect Being implies the reality and existence of that Being.

Aesthetical - Because there is beauty and truth in the world, it is logical to assume that somewhere in the universe is a standard upon which beauty and truth are based.

Volitional - Because man faces a myriad of choices and exercises volition, it is logical to assume that there must be an infinite will somewhere. The world exists as an expression of that will.

Moral - That we know there is right and wrong suggests the necessity of an absolute standard.

Cosmological - Cosmology is the argument of cause and effect. The world and the universe exist, and we conclude that someone made it. That makes more sense than believing that everything came out of nothing—that at one point nothing equaled all things—which is essentially what the theory of evolution says.

As we carefully examine the world, we learn more about the One who made it. The cause of limitless space must be infinite. The cause of endless time must be eternal. The cause of perpetual motion must be powerful. The cause of complexity must be omniscient. The cause of consciousness must be personal. The cause of feeling must be emotional. The cause of will must be volitional. The cause of ethical values must be moral. The cause of religious values must be spiritual. The cause of beauty must be aesthetic. The cause of righteousness must be holy. The cause of justice must be just. The cause of love must be loving. The cause of life must be living

Our world gives evidence that there must be a God who is the cause of all those qualities, which are merely reflections of His character. And the Bible substantiates everyone.

John Owen on Knowing God

Holy

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Mat.5:8).

Holiness is a very important word in the Bible. For it speaks of the triune God. The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit are holy. The Israelites sang of God’s holiness when they were delivered from Pharaoh and his army at the Red Sea. They sang, “Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” (Ex.15:11). 1 Samuel 2:2 answers by saying, “There is none holy like the Lord, for there is none besides You, nor is there any rock like our God.” As we have studied on past occasions, we have come to understand that there is another word that speaks about God’s holiness and it’s the word, transcendent. The word “transcendence” means literally “to climb across.” It is defined as “exceeding usual limits.” To transcend is to rise above something, to go above and beyond a certain limit. When we speak of the transcendence of God we are talking about that sense in which God is above and beyond us. It tries to get at His supreme and absolute greatness. The word here is used to describe God’s relationship to the world. He is higher than the world. He has absolute power over the world. The world has no power over Him. Transcendence describes God in His consuming majesty, His exalted loftiness. It points to the infinite distance that separates Him from every creature. When the Bible calls God holy it means primarily that God is transcendentally separate.  He is so far above and beyond us that He seems almost totally foreign to us. To be holy is to be “other,” to be different in a special way. In the words of A.W. Tozer, “Holy is the way God is. To be holy He does not conform to a standard. He is that standard. He is absolutely holy with an infinite, incomprehensible fulness of purity that is incapable of being other than it is. Because He is holy, His attributes are holy; that is, whatever we think of as belonging to God must be thought of as holy.” Charles Spurgeon said, “...this is the crown of His honor and the honor of His crown. His power is not His choicest jewel, nor His sovereignty, but His holiness.” Because this is the case, holiness is important for us to understand if we’re going to understand God. Matthew 5:8 is essential for our walk with God because it focuses on the holiness that God requires.

The Good News

The Bible provides the answer to our dilemma in a Person. His name is Jesus Christ. Paul describes him in Ephesians 5:23 as the “Savior.” And according to 1 Timothy 1:15, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save [or rescue] sinners” from God’s judgment. How did He do that? He took in His body on the cross the consequences of our sin. By Him bearing our sin in His own body, He provided the justice that the Law demanded for our sin. The Law said the penalty for breaking God’s Law was death and Jesus took our penalty for us. In other words, instead of God punishing us for our sin, He punished Jesus. Paul describes it in 2 Corinthians 5:21 in this way when He says, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” In other words, God treated Jesus as if He sinned. Isaiah 53:4-6 says, “Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” When Paul says that God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us,” he tells why He did this—“That we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” To “become the righteousness of God in Him,” refers to salvation from your sin. It refers to deliverance from sin and judgment. How does one acquire the righteousness of God? Paul answers that question in Ephesians 2:8-9 when he says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” It is “by grace...through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” To receive this gift of grace the Bible says you must turn from your sin and surrender your life to Jesus Christ who alone can save and forgive you of your sin. Acts 17:30-31 says, “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, 31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” I would like to pause at this point and ask you to pray with me. Pray that God will open your eyes and heart to what I have just shared with you. To come to Christ is not easy. In fact it is the greatest commitment you will ever make.

Lord Jesus, open the eyes of the one reading this post that they will understand the truth presented here and turn from their sin and surrender their life to Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Bad News

In the fourth book in the New Testament, known as the Gospel of John, we hear about a religious leader who came to Jesus at night seeking to know more about Him and His message. But before he could even ask what was truly on his heart, Jesus answered Him by saying, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). In this one statement, Jesus gave Nicodemus the necessary condition for going to heaven. He said, “unless one is born again.” You cannot go to heaven when you die “unless” this occurs first. He stated it again in verse 5, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” To be born again, Jesus says, you have to be born “of water,” that is, you have to be spiritual cleansed of your sin, and you have to be born of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is saying there must be a spiritual renewal and cleansing in order to go to heaven. And for that to take place, Nicodemus needed to stop trusting in himself and his accomplishments to get him to heaven but in Christ who alone was to die in his place for His sin. Jesus tells Nicodemus in verses 14-15, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.” But, according to verse 19, man has two problems. First, he will not believe on his own. And second, verse 19 says, he loves “the darkness rather than the Light.” In other words, he loves his sin. So what can man do?

First, he needs to see he is a sinner who loves his sin.

Romans 3:10-18 says, “as it is written, "There is none  righteous , not even  one; 11 There is none  who understands , There is none  who seeks  for God; 12 All  have turned  aside , together  they have become  useless ; There is none  who does  good , There is not even  one." 13 "Their throat  is an open  grave , With their tongues  they keep deceiving ," "The poison  of asps  is under  their lips"; 14 "Whose  mouth  is full  of cursing  and bitterness"; 15 "Their feet  are swift  to shed  blood, 16 Destruction  and misery  are in their paths, 17 And the path  of peace  they have not known." 18 "There is no  fear  of God  before  their eyes.” Jesus said, “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed” (John 3:18-19). The history of sin takes us back to the first book of the Bible—Genesis. We are told in Genesis 2:16-17 that After God created the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, He “commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’” In chapter 3 of Genesis we read in verses 6-7: “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.” This is what the Bible calls sin or disobedience to God’s specific command. Romans 5:12 sums it up by saying, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” The consequences of what Adam and Eve did that day was passed to every person who would ever be born. But death itself was not the only thing passed to every person, also the sin nature. Every person would now have the knowledge of evil which would manifest in “evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, [and] blasphemies” (Mat.15:19).  And even the good that man could express would be considered as “filthy rags” in God’s sight.

In Exodus chapter 20, God gave His Law, the Ten Commandments, to man to follow. But because of man’s sin nature, he could not live up to what God commanded. For example, the Law says: (Ex.20:3-17):

• “You shall have no other gods before Me,” but man fashions a god after his own likeness.
  

• The Law says, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image,” but man bows down before everything his heart desires.
  

• The Law says, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain,” but man uses God’s name as a filthy four letter curse word.
  

• The Law said, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,” but man refuses to rest one day a week and worship God.

• The Law said, “Honor your father and mother,” and “He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.” But man says, “'Whoever says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God’– then he need not honor his father or mother.’Thus [he has] made the commandment of God of no effect by [his] tradition” (Mat.15:4-6).

• The Law said, “You shall not murder,” but Jesus said that “whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment” (Mat.5:22).

• The Law said, “You shall not commit adultery” but Jesus said “that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Mat.5:28).

• The Law said, “You shall not steal,” but man takes what is not his and uses it for his own purposes.

• The Law said, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” but man lies and slanders because his tongue is set on fire by hell itself.

• The Law said, “You shall not covet” but man lusts after what his neighbor possesses.

Because of man’s sin nature, he has broken every one of these commandments and is guilty of being an idolatrous, blasphemous, lying, thieving, adulterer at heart. And God says he will not be innocent on the day of judgment. Because Adam’s sin was passed to every person, they will be given the wages of their sin—death (Rom.6:23). And if the picture of the human dilemma was not bad enough, Paul said in Ephesians 2:1 that because of Adam’s sin everyone is therefore “dead in trespasses and sin.” Spiritual death not only speaks of our nature but also of our inability to do what is pleasing to God. It paints a helpless situation with no where to go, no where to hide, and no remedy. And if the Bible stopped right there none would have any hope. But praise God it doesn’t stop there. God has provided a Savior the Lord Jesus Christ! We will talk more about the Savior God sent in our next post.