THE GOD OF THE BIBLE
Gen. 1:1
Morning Meditation 7/18/17
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."
God is named in the first verse of the Bible. He is here identified as the Creator. The word God itself as is Elohim. The word Elohim is the word El put in the plural form and that is where we get "ohim" as an ending on the word "El." The plural in the Hebrew is three or more differing from the English in grammar. In English we have the singular and the plural. In the Hebrew we have the singular, duel, and the plural. There is no attempt to prove there is a God in this passage. It just tells us what God does. But the reason I am making at least a short comment on this is to show that in the very first verse of the Bible God revealed Himself in TRINITY, i.e., the three strong ones. God is One God and yet a Trinity from the very first verse in the Bible. There is no way to avoid this without putting aside all the rules of correct interpretation. There is not other God like Him. He is God and there is no other.
To avoid dealing with God as Creator, placing Him before all things is a mistake of immeasurable proportions. It is to insult Him and avoid crediting Him with the person He really is and to relegate Him to some sort of being that came on the scene and is the result of self creation and no more than the brain child of the philosopher who needs to create a god who is man's servant not man's God. This kind of philosophy tells God what He can and can't do ultimately in the judgment. Boy are those mindless birds in for a shock when they discover that the plowboy working out a living in the soil has more sense in his little finger then they do even though the degrees at the end of their names are long enough to spell Sacramento, California!!!
Sometimes the books are only a means to magnify the author and those who follow their pernicious knowledge and serve to make them hero's of the wisdom of this world but leave them lost without God and without hope. Lets look as some of the things the Bible says about God.
THE GOD OF ALL GRACE
1 Peter 5:10, "But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you."
John Gill comments on this phrase: "Who has riches of grace, an immense plenty of it in himself, has treasured up a fulness of grace in his Son; is the author of all the blessings of grace, of electing, adopting, justifying, pardoning, and regenerating grace; and is the giver of the several graces of the Spirit, as faith, hope, love, repentance, &c. and of all the supplies of grace; and by this character is God the Father described as the object of prayer, to encourage souls to come to the throne of his grace, and pray, and hope for, and expect a sufficiency of his grace in every time of need; as well as to show that the sufferings of the saints here are but for a while; that they are in love and kindness; and that they shall certainly enjoy the glory they are called unto . . ."
The words "The God of all grace" suggests that He is its author.. He is the beginner of grace, i.e., the one who thought it up. When man sinned in the Garden of Eden there is no one who knew better than Him that the depths to which we fell was out of the reach of anything short of mercy and grace. Man could desire restoration but he could never be restored by himself. He could try but his trials would fail. He could devise means hoping that the exercise of these means would restore him from his fallen state but they would not work. When man sinned the death that became his destiny was impossible to over come. It would take the same Creator who made him originally to come to where we are and take us to where He is. And God did just that. When God became a man in the incarnation, He came to where we are. When He died as a man on the cross, it was the exercise of grace providing payment for our sins which was something we could never do. When He rose again the third day, he over came death which involved the exercise of a power that was out of our reach. When He entered heaven in the resurrection, He entered in behalf of every sinner who would trust Him as Lord and Saviour. When we come to God and plead His mercy, He is able to give the sinner free salvation because He is the God of all grace. He has in Him the infinite power of forgiveness. He has the power to give the sinner back more in salvation than Adam lost in the fall. The reason I say that is because the New Man is never subjected to a trial like Adam was in the Garden. He is given forgiveness in Christ and Christ becomes the one in whom we receive free all that is required of the God who was sinned against in the Garden.
When one is saved by grace, it is to the glory of God. No one but God gets the glory from this salvation. 1 Peter 5:11 says, "To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." Next we see that He is,
THE GOD OF PEACE
Hebrews 13:20, "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,"
God is called here the God of peace. This means first of all that He is the author of peace. God is a peaceful person. He is not worried. He has never for a moment lost control of this universe. Satan did try to take over and was stopped in his attempt. His plan was foiled. He was stopped in his tracts. I don't know all that Satan had in mind, but I do know he planned a take over of the throne. What he didn't realize is that he was up against God Himself. I don't know if he thought he would come against Michael or one of the other angels. But his sin in the attempted takeover brought him face to face with God. So Satan was finished before he started. There is no way to win against God.
God is the God of peace. He is the one who not only has peace as an attribute of Himself, but He is the giver of peace to those who want it.
It is amazing how Satan can blind the human race. He is the author of all those things that take peace from man. He is able to cause discord between people and is behind all the wars that take place on this earth. He probably uses this discord as a tool to distract men and blind them to their need of God. He keeps man looking for the peace that is totally unobtainable apart from being restored to fellowship with God.
Paul says in Romans 5:1, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:" Man's peace with man is dependent upon his peace with God. And man can only have peace with God if he is willing to confess himself a sinner and trust God's answer for his sins to the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is man at peace with God. Adam lost that peace with God and no man has ever been able to regain that peace except Jesus Christ. So Jesus became a man and as a man made peace with God for those who are willing to repent of their sins and believe the gospel. Colossians 1:20 says, "And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven." The words "having made peace" translates "eirenopoieo" and means, "to make peace, establish harmony." The verb here is aorist tense which refers to a point of time in the past. That point of time is described in the verse as "through the blood of His cross." So the cross is the place where peace with God for the human race was accomplished. The word "reconciled" is also used in this verse and it is a word that describes the peace process. God was and is offended by the sin of the human race. Man is born into an adversarial relationship with God. So this was changed when the God-Man stepped between God and man and paid the penalty that is the root cause of the enmity.
Colossians 1:20, "And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven." This verse says, "by him to reconcile all things to himself." Jesus is the One who satisfied God for mans sins and makes a way from man side for man to enter the holiest with full assurance of faith and have the peace of knowing that he is accepted by God. We discover the extent of the reconciliation and our acceptance with God in,
Ephesians 1:6, "To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." It is "To the praise of the glory of his grace." There is no one to thank except God. He is the One who came up with the idea of grace and worked it out so that man could have God's complete approval. You will notice in this verse it is "wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." In Adam we are lost, in Christ we are saved. Jesus is our shelter from the storm. The way we get into Christ is by an act of creation. 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." The "new creature" is a word that refers to a new creation not just the renovation of the old. When God saves us He does is by creation. It is the New Birth. This gives us a new origin. Saved people are from another world. We received a new origin when we trusted Jesus as Lord and Saviour. God is the God of peace. Then next God is said to be,
THE GOD OF ALL COMFORT
2 Corinthians 1:3, "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;"
The word "comfort" translates "paraklesis" and means, "consolation, comfort, solace; that which affords comfort or refreshment." To say that the human race is disturbed and needs solace would be an understatement. Man is so messed up that in his best moments, he sounds like he is mentally disturbed. Man acts in violence toward others because he is very dissatisfied with himself. He is so troubled that he cannot see that the other man is not his problem but he himself. So when a sinful son of Adam gets in the place of power, he goes crazy and destroys his fellow man thinking he can do away with the problem by doing way with those who don't think like himself.
The fact is, he couldn't do away with the problem if he committed suicide. Because someone as wicked and ungodly as himself would step into his place and carry on with the destruction of those he feels is the problem. Only God can settle man's problems and bring reconciliation between man and God. This brings the Comforter to the life and suddenly he finds what he has been looking for i.e., Comfort.
God is "The God of all comfort." Any comfort that does not originate in God is phony and will not last. God is the God of ALL comfort. Do you need comfort? Then you must turn to God. There we can find comforting words and that is good. There are comforting acts what we can exercise toward those in need and that is good. But God is the God of all comfort and He gives that kind of comfort that will take us through the stormy seas of life. He will even walk by our side when we take that pilgrimage by the grave where we lay away our loved ones at least temporarily. He is there to give us that heavenly touch so that suddenly we realize that we have had the touch of another world and we are comforted with an unexplainable comfort beyond words to explain. Then there is,
THE GOD OF PATIENCE
Romans 15:5, "Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus:"
The words "Now the God of patience and consolation" comes in the closing remarks of Paul to the Church at Rome. I like the word "Now" because this brings what is said here in the present tense. It is not after while, or, some day. It is "Now." Paul is praying for these dear saints and what he is saying about God and praying to God is prefaced by the word "Now." There are things we need now. And one of the things Christians need now is "patience." The early church was in trouble with the world at the time of the writing of this epistle. Many were dying martyr deaths.
When we are persecuted and put under all kinds of pressure, how are we to react? We need to see that the God we serve is "Now the God of patience and consolation." Patience is holding steady without compromise under the threat of death. When this happens, our old sin nature has a survival trigger in it. This threat of death or imprisonment triggers a compromise mechanism that will cause us to do what is necessary to survive. However, God wants us to be faithful "unto death" and if we are we are promised "the crown of life." It takes a special enduement of power from on high to stand in moments like that. God is the God of patience.
Think of the patient suffering of God as He has dealt patiently with the human race as He has worked out His plan of redemption. Hebrews 9:26 says, "For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself."
The God of patience can give His child the patience he needs to stay faithful through all the trials and tribulations He has asked us to go. The next thing is that God is,
THE GOD OF HOPE
Romans 15:13, "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost."
The definition of hope is the joyful anticipation of a reality. It is not a week word like it would be if someone said, "I hope I am saved." That is not the use of the word hope as it is used in the Bible. Rom. 8:24-25, "For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." Hope in the believer is encouraged by God's promises. For instance Jesus said in John 14:1-3, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." Based on this promise by Jesus to His disciples, they began to live in the expectancy of something they had never seen. They believed what Jesus said and the New Jerusalem became to object of their expectance and the goal to which they moved. Titus 2:11-13, "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;" They no longer looked to this world as a place where the fulness of satisfaction would be reached. They like Abraham looked for a city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God. Not only is God a God of hope, He is,
THE GOD OF GLORY
Acts 7:2, "And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran,"
John Gill says, "he calls God 'the God of glory', because he is glorious in himself, in all his persons, perfections, and works, and is to be glorified by his people; and his glory is to be sought by all his creatures, and to be the end of all their actions; and the rather he makes use of this epithet of him, to remove the calumny against him, that he had spoke blasphemous things against God; and because God appeared in a glorious manner to Abraham, either in a vision, or by an angel, or in some glorious form, or another; and it is observable, that when the Jews speak of Abraham's deliverance out of the fiery furnace, for so they interpret Ur of the Chaldees, they give to God much such a title."
When I think of Glory, I think of the Shekinah or the effulgence in which God was clothed when seen by man and the clothing that was dangerous to approach so far as sinful man is concerned. God is holy and dwells in the light unapproachable. 1 Timothy 6:16 says, "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 honour and power everlasting. Amen."
This is a kind of a birds eye view of God. He as a holy God is protected by His own holiness. Jesus has made it possible for the God who is unapproachable to be approached on the basis of Grace. And the truth of the matter He wants us to live in His presence all the time. May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.
In Christ
Bro. White
