THE FAITHFULNESS OF AN UNCHANGING GOD

Num. 23:19

Morning Meditation 10/15/17

"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?"

The amazing thing about this wonderful verse came from the mouth of a false prophet by the name of Balaam. This false prophet made one of the most wonderful prophecies concerning the first coming of Christ. Numbers 24:14-17 says, "And now, behold, I go unto my people: come therefore, and I will advertise thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days. And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said: He hath said, which heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the most High, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open: I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth."

There is no other prophesy concerning the Star associated with the birth of Christ. It is the star the wise men followed to Bethlehem to the place where the Christ Child was. How do I explain God using a false prophet to make this grand revelation? The only answer I have for that is that God can take a crooked stick and hit a straight lick with it.

I want to share with you the following from this verse of Scripture:

FIRST OF ALL, I SEE IN THIS THE ESSENCE OF GOD DECLARED

Balaam said, "God is not a man." Jesus said in John 4:24, "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." Worshiping God in spirit is worshiping in spirit in contrast to in the flesh. The flesh makes idols and bows down before them. The flesh must see something or feel something. The flesh asks for signs.

Worshiping God in Spirit, means to worship a God out of sight. God says I'm there, but does not show Himself. But He is worshiped by believers who are willing to believe His word and worship Him knowing He is there to receive our worship. If someone were to say, "What are you worshiping? Your reply would be He is not a "what." He is God. While He is not a man, He is a person. Someone may ask, "How do you know He is there when you can't see Him. The answer to that is, "Because He said He would be there. He is there because I believe He is there."

The fact that God is Spirit does not make Him less God. The God who is Spirit existed before the world existed. In fact He has always existed. There came a time when the Spirit God created the world. Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." First of all, how do I know that He did it? By faith. I believe His Word.

The trustworthy infallible inerrant God said in Hebrews 11:3, "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." The word "faith" is the translation of pistis, from the Textus Receptus from which our KJV 1611 is translated. The word pistis is the "conviction of the truth of anything, belief; in the NT of a conviction or belief respecting man's relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervour born of faith and joined with it." The word "understand" is the translation of "noeo" and means, "to perceive with the mind, to understand, to have understanding." It means to have a firm conviction so that this is not a guess. A person who believes in the living God has no trouble believing something that God says He did. A believer does not require a sign. God saying it is all we need.

Now God tells us how He did it. Not in Genesis chapter 1 (which is the description of a recreation) but in Psalms 33:6 God says, "By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth." The word translated "word" is "dabar." This word means, "to speak, or command." God knew in His mind what He wanted and so He spoke a command and what He wanted done took place suddenly without a process.

Then again in Psalms 33:9, "For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast." The words, "For he spake" is in the perfect tense, i.e., a completed action. This means that God did not work in the original creation through an action that might be understood as "Christian evolution (There is no such thing as Christian evolution). Christian evolution is a term that accommodates itself to atheistic humanism." The Psalmist said, "For he spake, and it was done." This means when God spoke the word of creation it stood fast and nothing was left to do. It was completed suddenly. People who have a problem believing this are those who have created a god who is not powerful enough to do this. The words "he commanded, and it stoodfast. This speaks of a perfect creation. The original creation was not as it is seen today. The rebellion of Satan wrought havoc on God's creation. Jesus said to His disciples in Luke 10:18, "And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." Satan is a fallen angel and the demons are those angels who joined in the rebellion against God. (See Isa. 14:12-17; Ezek. 28:11-19).

John Gill's comments are: "God is not a man, that he should lie, &c.] Man is a creature consisting of a body of flesh and blood, and of a soul, a created and finite spirit; but God, though he has the parts of an human body ascribed to him in a figurative sense, yet is not to be conceived of in a corporeal manner; and though he is a Spirit, yet eternal, immense, and infinite; and much less is as a sinful man, who goes astray from the womb speaking lies; no, let God be true, and every man a liar: he is God, that cannot lie; his counsels of old are faithfulness and truth; his promises yea and amen in Christ; the Scriptures inspired by him are true, and the prophecies of them are punctually accomplished, particularly what he foretold of the people of Israel, and promised unto them; that they should be happy, and inherit the land of Canaan; that be would be true and faithful to them, and there could be no hope, by any means whatever, to make him false and unfaithful to his word: neither the son of man, that he should repent; repentance is found in men, who repent for what they have done, or change their minds, as to what they intended to do or set about; perceiving it to be wrong to do it, or that they are able to do it, some unforeseen thing turning up they were not aware of: but nothing of this kind belongs to God, or can befall him; he never changes his mind, alters his counsels, purposes, and decrees, and never varies in his affections to his people, nor makes void his choice of them, or covenant with them; and his calling of them by his grace, and his gifts of grace bestowed upon them, are without repentance: and particularly with respect to the people of Israel, there was no reason to hope or believe that God would change his purposes or promises respecting their outward happiness, and enjoyment of the land of Canaan; or that ever he would be prevailed upon to curse them, or admit them to be cursed, when he was determined, and had so peremptorily promised that he would bless them: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or "hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?" whether it be with regard to things temporal, spiritual, or eternal; for there is no variableness nor shadow of turning in his mind; he never forgets his word, he foresees all events, he is able to perform, and is true and faithful; and therefore whatever is gone out of his lips will never be altered, but will be most certainly fulfilled, Psa. 89:34; Isa. 14:24,27."

God in essence is holy and cannot sin. He is a being who is too high for us to understand. What we know about Him is found in His Word where He has taken the liberty to reveal Himself. The next thing I see in this text is,

THE ESSENCE OF GOD DECLARED

God is clearly not a man. Some think because He made man in the image of God that God is a man. That is absolutely not true. A man can't fill the universe. A man cannot be omnipresent. Jesus said in John 16:7-11, "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged."

The word something that exists, esp. a spiritual or immaterial entity. In essence, essentially; at bottom, often despite appearances: For all his bluster, he is in essence a shy person." -- Webster. The word does not only speak of His character but also of the very Being of God.. A man of character can sin or do wrong. But One who is sinless in His essence is not capable of sin: James 1:13-15, "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." The Bible is pretty self explanatory about the essence of God.

Why is this so important? Two reasons. First, if God is not perfectly holy, then heaven will not be perfectly holy. Our security and the eternal bliss that we are promised is not based on our ability to be that way, it is based upon God's quality of life becoming a grace gift to us so that it will be as impossible to sin as it is to God. Praise the Lord!!! Someone hold my mules!!! Next,

GOD'S FAITHFULNESS IS BASED ON HIS IMMUTABILITY

Hebrews 6:17-20 says, "Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: 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: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec."

When the immutable God makes a promise, you can count on it coming to pass.. There is nothing in the universe that can oppose God without self destruction. Next,

GOD'S FAITHFULNESS IS BASED ON HIS COVENANT

Let's look at our text again: "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?"

God does not break a covenant that He makes. Man constantly breaks his covenants. Americans make covenants and break them all the time. Men and women stand before God and repeat marriage vows. This is a covenant. The covenant of marriage says, "for better or worse" and "until death do us part." The most recent reports tell us that divorce among professing Christians is as high as it is among those who do not profess any religion. If that is not an indictment against Christianity I don't know what it is.

But that will never happen with God. When God makes a covenant with you through the crucifixion of Jesus Christ you can be sure that it will never be broken. God is faithful.. Hebrews 13:20 says, "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."

We have the faithfulness of the everlasting God to assure our hearts. There is nothing that should thrill the believer more than meditating upon God's covenants with us and His unqualified determination to fulfill them. May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.

In Christ

Bro. White