i. Indomitable Will
[06/20/19]
Once more we have a term that is straightforward enough as to its meaning: All-powerful. But, if we start to contemplate the significance of such power, we may find ourselves at a loss to give proper dimension to the subject. I suppose, as these omnis express matters of infinity, they must of necessity defy being given dimension. But this is God’s nature we are discussing when we come to the omnis, and God being an infinite being, it is reasonable to say that all of His essential characteristics are infinite, or omni. Here, we are concerned with power.
Power, as we well know from history and probably personal experience as well, is ever a concern for mankind. I should say it is an enticement, as well, and generally an enticement to sin. There is that well-worn adage, popularly attributed to Spiderman, that, ‘With great power comes great responsibility’. I think the more apt adage for our typical situation is found in discussions of politics. “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” So it is with man, and indeed we find more often than not that it is the corruption of the individual that has produced in him or her a lust for power. But it has ever been so. The tale of man’s corrupt love affair with power brings us all the way back to Eden, when Adam and Eve lusted after the power of God, having been encouraged in this lust by another being whose own hunger for the power of God has led to his downfall and condemnation. Even so, his lust for power leads him to assert his power, such as it is, over as many as he may.
But, whereas this adage about the corrupting influence of power assuredly applies to all mankind, we can say, indeed must say, that it ceases to apply when we turn to God and His power. Here, in fact, we find the sole example of absolute power. Can anything more terrible be imagined than an infinite being possessed of infinite power and subject to that same absolute certainty of corruption? We come near enough such a being in the person of the devil, but must needs remind ourselves that he is not infinite. He is certainly not all powerful, although his power far exceeds our own apart from God. He may be ever so much sharper than we, and far more aware of the levers of corruption in our own nature, but he is not all-knowing, and he is not everywhere present. God is.
God is, in point of fact, all powerful, but in His perfect being, that perfect power is able to reside in perfect holiness. Because God is also simultaneously all-good, His unopposable power is assuredly exercised for good purpose. If we suppose otherwise, it is primarily because our own definitions of good are as corrupt as our nature. What we deem good is most generally what is good for us, or convenient for our leisurely enjoyment, and has little enough to do with anything truly and morally good, or even truly beneficent.
[06/21/19]
I have had cause to consider Job already in the course of considering these omni-characteristics of God, and I return there now to hear from Job’s conclusion after having heard God out on His supremacy. Having been rather forcefully reminded of all that God knows and all that God does, as well as confronting his own limitations, Job offers this confession. “I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2). This is perhaps the earliest confession of such realization chronologically speaking. But, it’s hardly the sole recognition of God’s omnipotence as seen in His unopposable will. The prophets speak of it often.
Isaiah, for example, makes note of God’s power as he announces judgment determined against the world. This comes primarily as judgment against Babylon and Assyria, but it is made clear enough that they are not the only ones being addressed. The LORD of hosts declares, “I will rise up against them and will cut off from Babylon name and survivors, offspring and posterity. I will also make it a possession for the hedgehog, and swamps of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction. Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand, to break Assyria in My land, and I will trample him on My mountains. Then his yoke will be removed from them and his burden removed from their shoulder. This is the plan devised against the whole earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out against all the nations. For the LORD of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate? As for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?” (Is 14:22-27).
That’s quite a lot to chew on, but there are some simple points to hear. God first brings evidence that His plans had best be heeded. All that has been happening has been “just as I have intended, just as I have planned,” and as such, it will most assuredly stand. Now, the fact that Isaiah is given a prophecy to deliver to these foreign nations already informs us that events preceding this prophecy had involved the Babylonian and Assyrian empires causing great harm to the people of God. They no doubt saw in this proof that the God of Israel was no big deal. He would either be assimilated or destroyed, just as the people of Israel were being either assimilated or destroyed. But, God has news for them: It’s your actions (and your guilt), but it’s been My plan.
The judgment against them comes not because they have been thwarting His plan. Indeed, their actions, so far as they were concerned, had nothing at all to do with His plans. He was of no consequence to them, or so they believed. God is informing them just how wrong their opinions have been, and what will come of it. Babylon, for all its vaunted power, would become a wasteland. Assyria, for all its strength, would break itself on His mountains. God’s people would be freed of this burden.
Now, let’s be clear about this. This message has far more in view than the dynasties of human empire. It is thus that God speaks of this not merely as a corrective action against these two powers, but a plan devised against the whole earth. That seems rather severe, doesn’t it? But, that expansion gives us a hint that a bigger picture is in view. Even world conquest doesn’t really cover it. The action is not even really taken against mankind at all, but against powers and principalities, against the usurping ruler of this world, Satan, and his forces. It is his dark influence which moves the false religions practiced in Babylon, Assyria, and elsewhere. It is his dark influence that has caused sins to multiply among man. That is not to say that man is innocent of his own involvement, but it lays primary judgment upon primary cause, at least primary amongst secondary causes. God alone can be primary cause.
This is the yoke that will be broken, the burden to be removed. The defeat and destruction of Babylon and Assyria is not the endpoint, but really a type, a lesson of things to come. The things to come focus us on the advent and crucifixion of Christ Jesus, in Whose death and resurrection that yoke is once for all thrown off, and the burden permanently removed. “For the LORD of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it?” As concerns judgment, that is a fearsome point indeed, as is made clear in what follows. If He has stretched out His hand against you, who is going to turn it back? There is no one. There can be no one. God is not opposable, for His power is absolute and infinite.
But, that same truth is our utmost assurance, for if He has planned our salvation, the same question applies: Who can frustrate it? For the moment, stick with the central events of Christ’s time here. It is quite clear that the enemies of God were doing all they could to prevent His plan from coming to fruition. That opposition to God’s plan, if we care to follow its thread, takes us right back to the serpent whispering in Eve’s ear. That opposition is at play in Joseph’s brothers as they plot his demise. That opposition is at play in the sons of Ammon, who sought to oppose Israel’s entry into their land, as well as Pharaoh in his attempts to cut off the nation in his midst. That plan continues to show itself in the opposition of the Pharisees and Sadducees, not to mention in Herod’s heinous slaughter of a generation in hopes of preventing this King from reaching adulthood.
No doubt, right up to Jesus on the cross, Satan thought he could stop God’s plan. For such an evil genius, he seems to have a few serious blind spots. How could this one who had been in heaven at the dawn of creation, who had known God rather fully, suppose it was in his power to thwart the Almighty? How could he have failed to recognize that all his machinations throughout recorded history did nothing to alter what was determined from before the outset? It’s got to be the greatest case of denial ever, that he would continue, even to this day, to act as if he could cause God’s plans to fail, when all he can do by his most powerful acts is cause God’s plans to unfold exactly as intended.
This same sort of scene comes about again later in the prophecies of Isaiah. “All the nations have gathered together in order that the peoples may be assembled. Who among them can declare this and proclaim to us the former things? Let them present their witness that they may be justified, or let them hear and say, ‘It is true’” (Isa 43:9). There is a judgment that encompasses all, and God alone stands as judge. Go ahead, present your evidence. Prove your innocence if you are able. Otherwise, confess, for you know the charges are true. “You are My witnesses, and My servants whom I have chosen, in order that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I AM. Before Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me. I, even I, am the LORD. There is no savior besides Me. It is I who have declared and saved and proclaimed, and there was no strange god among you. So you are My witnesses, and I am God” (Isa 43:10-12).
Now, some of what is said here might leave us thinking it is Israel, and perhaps Israel alone that God is addressing. After all, at this stage in the plan, they were certainly His chosen people, and set as His witnesses to an unbelieving world. Certainly, the statement, “there was no strange god among you,” would leave us thinking of Israel, and not of surrounding nations. Yet, can it really be said of Israel that there was no strange god among them? In the sense of God’s containing statement, that there are no other gods, yes. But, certainly Israel had suffered her idolatries, else the judgment sent in the form of Babylon would have been unnecessary. As for Babylon, it can as readily be said of them that such gods as they had worshiped were no gods at all. And here’s big news: What was intended for Israel is not so very different from the design for all mankind. We are all of us created with a purpose, and that universal purpose is to know God and be His witness.
Here is as near to universalism as I think safe to step. “You are My witness, and My servant whom I have chosen in order that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I AM.” That is, I think, a universal declaration, encompassing every human being who ever lived, for every human being who ever lived, lived as one created in the image of God. We are all of us image bearers, and as such worthy of dignity. Yet, we have not all known and believed. We have not all understood that God is I AM. The vast majority have done their utmost to suppress this clear truth and hide it away from their sight in favor of pursuing their sins. They have sought salvation by any other means, for to their thinking, the demands of this perfectly holy, all-knowing, all-powerful God are simply too great to be born.
But, even to these, even to the Babylonians sent to serve as corrective discipline to Israel, God says, “There is no savior besides Me.” Even to the most vehement atheist of our own day, God proclaims, “You are My witnesses, and I am God.” You, too, are invited to stand before the Judge and present your evidence of innocence if you can. You can’t, except the evidence you present is of His call, of Christ’s blood shed on your behalf, of faith implanted and growing, however fitful that growth may be.
Now hear. “Even from eternity I AM. There is none who can deliver out of My hand. I act and who can reverse it?” (Isa 43:13). We should, I suppose, set this in its context by noting what follows. “Thus says the LORD your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, ‘For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and will bring them all down as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, into the ships in which they rejoice’” (Isa 43:14). They may act of their own accord, but they act as God’s agents of discipline, and they will face His judgment every bit as much as those whom God calls His own.
Before I stop for the day, I want to observe something about this. Not too far back in this study, I had cause to consider that odd passage that Jesus quotes to the Pharisees, “I said, ‘you are gods.’” You may recall that in that setting it seems the idea of calling them gods, particularly in the passage from which Jesus drew the quote, was to note the authority delegated to them to render judgment, to act as judges on God’s behalf. Bear that in mind as you look back across this declaration of God’s unopposable will. “You are My witnesses, and I am God.” If it is His deity that is in view, this seems almost a pointless addition to the declaration. Yes, we’ve established that. But, I think what we are to hear in this is more along the lines of, “You are My witnesses, and I am Judge.” Indeed, in this court, I dare say He stands as Judge, Prosecutor and Defender at once.
This is both great comfort to those who are His own, and dire warning to those who would present their own defense. God has all the facts, and all the authority. He has the full force of His all-pervasive power to back His decisions. His decisions are perfectly just, and His determinations of guilt or innocence perfectly justified. He alone is Savior, for He alone can be appealed to as cause for reprieve, and that not because He has somehow caused us to be so innocent of all these charges, but because in Him, the full penalty for all these charges, which are undeniably true, has already been paid. It is not the sins that have been erased, but the penalty due the court of God for them. Rest assured that no attempt to justify your actions will get anywhere with Him, and in fact every such attempt but increases your guilt. “There is no savior besides Me. And I am God. I am Judge.”
[06/22/19]
It is intriguing to me that so many of these passages asserting God’s unopposable will concern Babylon in some fashion. I suppose it makes rather a lot of sense, given that Babylon was, for a time, the embodiment of unopposable will. What the empire wanted, the empire took, and none could stay them, it seemed – until they came up against tiny Israel. And even there, in fairness, they had the appearance of having succeeded, and taken possession of that land. But, this, too, was no thwarting of God’s purposes, but rather a serving of God’s purposes. For one, it brought young Daniel into the courts of the king with the result that we receive from Daniel some of the clearest prophecies regarding the plans of God.
This also served the purpose of bringing Babylon’s ruler, Nebuchadnezzar, face to face with his limits. Here is one who would set himself as a god before his people, which seems to have been rather a common affliction of rulers in that age. Perhaps it still is for many. One of the early impacts of Daniel’s presence was that Nebuchadnezzar found his will quite thoroughly and successfully thwarted. He would make Babylonians of these captive Jews, but Daniel and his friends weren’t having it. The king was determined to punish them for their insolence in a fashion set to deter the others. He would toss them in his furnace and burn them alive. Let them defy him then! But, they did. They refused to burn like obedient victims. And then, it was time to speak Truth to this king, and let him know Who was really in charge.
He was forewarned that he would be brought down, and brought down hard. He would become little more than a beast in his own right, raving and wandering the fields of the land like a wild thing. For seven long years this was his lot, for what was foretold of him came to pass, being the unopposable determined will of God. Indeed, the word came to Nebuchadnezzar direct, in a dream, lest he find someone against whom to vent his wrath for speaking so boldly. Judgment was being announced. “Let his mind be changed from a man to that of a beast, and let seven periods pass” (Dan 4:16). The reason was announced. “That the living may know that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whom He wishes, and sets it over the lowliest of men” (Dan 4:17). What was the meaning of this dream? He sought wisdom from his many court counselors, and his many diviners; for Babylon was famous for its powers of prophecy as well as its military arts.
But, they had no answer, so he turned to this Daniel, whom he had named Belteshazzar. He knew this man was special, that he had upon him ‘a spirit of the holy gods’ (Dan 4:18). He had a clue, but as yet, not true understanding. Daniel was not keen to translate this vision, for he did indeed understand it, and he did indeed understand Nebuchadnezzar’s tendencies. He had good cause to fear the king, but he feared God a great deal more, knowing God was in fact the one with all the power. “This is a decree of the Most High” (Dan 4:24), dear king, and sadly, it applies to you. But, don’t be appalled. Rather repent. “Break away now from your sins by doing righteousness. Perhaps by so doing you can prolong your prosperity” (Dan 4:27). But, he did not. And so, we discover Who is in charge. “All this happened to Nebuchadnezzar the king” (Dan 4:28). But, even then, hope was not utterly lost to him, for he remained alive in spite of this lengthy humiliation, and that lengthy humiliation would seem to have served its purpose. He himself declares the result. “At the end of that period I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever” (Dan 4:34).
And here we come to the key understanding that accompanied his return to sanity. “For His is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation.” The king had discovered his limits, and that God, the Most High, had none. “And all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted nothing, but He does according to His will in the host of heaven and the inhabitants of earth; and no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, ‘What hast Thou done?’” (Dan 4:35). Now, that He accounts all mankind as nothing is not to say He does not value them, for He shows quite clearly that He values us far and away beyond any intrinsic value to be found within us. Rather, the point is simply that in spite of our excessive sense of power, whether we are considering individuals, captains of industry, rulers of nations and empires, or we are considering the nations themselves, or even the whole host of mankind taken as one, it matters not so far as God’s ability to pursue His course is concerned. His will is done.
When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, that idea informs the prayer. “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt 6:10). When we recite those words, we tend to pause for breath after the first part, and so, our mind tends to hear it as a primary clause: “Thy will be done.” Then, we hear the rest as something of a lengthy adjectival or adverbial phrase, suggesting how far and wide we would like to see His will done. But, that leaves us with the faulty impression that there was some possibility that His will might not be done. Hear it clearly. There is no such possibility. God’s will is done. The only question is the attitude of those through whom He acts.
The proper hearing of that prayer, I think, consists in recognizing that as concerns heaven, His will is most assuredly done, as we would well imagine, for every scene we have of heaven is filled with adoring hosts around His throne awaiting His command. And that is exactly how we ought to see it, for that is how it is. The angels in heaven are servants of the Most High, and they are good and faithful servants, who watch with utmost care for the least signal of His will, that they may move swiftly to comply to the full. And so, in that prayer, we ask not that God’s will might somehow manage to get done on earth as well, but rather that the hearts of all mankind might be so transformed that our own desire to serve His will might be as the angels: Immediate and in full. It is, in its own way, the cry of David’s prayer in the Psalms. “Change my heart, O God.” “Create in me a clean heart, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Ps 51:10). It is a recognition that we do not pursue His will as it is pursued in heaven, but rather tend to offer our excuses and seek delay. I’ll get to it tomorrow, Lord. Let me just finish this first. But, that’s not the way of obedience to God’s will, that’s the rebel heart still struggling at the yoke of righteousness.
So, then, if you would pray the Lord’s prayer, pray that your heart might truly be changed, that your desire to act in ways pleasing to God might make you a man who will brook no delay in complying with His will when His will is made known, nor will your desire to act burst forth in unwarranted zeal such that you jump into actions that have not in fact been declared, but are the product of your own overheated imagination. Sometimes, “Thy will be done,” consists in holding fast and refusing to act when all our flesh is crying out that “Something must be done.” Yes, dear soul, something must be done, and that something is God’s will, and only God’s will.
ii. Indomitable Authority
[06/23/19]
God being all-powerful does not take the form of “might makes right.” He is mighty, it is true; mighty enough to set the stars and the planets in their myriad courses after having formed them; mighty enough to have caused all Creation to come into being by but a word. If indeed there was a big bang, it sounded rather like this: “Let there be.” And so, there was. But, God’s all-powerful being consists also in His sovereignty, that central theme of His being.
He is sovereign, which is to say that He exercises full, supreme, permanent authority. Earthly kings or queens might reign with such authority over a nation, and certainly dictators undertake to have such authority. All of these may be construed as having such authority permanently, but only with the clear limit that in their case, permanence ceases with the grave. God is eternal. Permanence for Him knows no end.
Now, sovereignty may be said to apply first and foremost to the sovereign. In this sense, it relays the recognition that the sovereign is free of outside influence or, as I have been saying in regard to God, He answers to no one. No other can make such claim. The most powerful of men, or of angels still has One to whom they answer. All these others who pose as gods yet must answer to the One who IS God. He reigns, then, first and foremost over Himself. Because He reigns over Himself, and no other can make that claim, He also reigns over all else. He is sovereign Lord of all.
Elizabeth is Queen – of England, or more properly of the British Commonwealth. But, you note she is not queen of all, but of that particular set of nations. It may seem she has been queen forever, and it certainly has been quite a long time, but it is not permanent. For one, we can point back to the time before she was queen, and rest assured, there shall certainly come a day when she is queen no more. But, God is Lord of all, King of kings.
Nowhere is this reality brought home with more force than in the closing scenes of the Revelation of John, this being the culmination of the whole ages-long work of redemption. And so, John says he heard a multitude, a sound like ‘the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty peals of thunder’. They said, “Hallelujah! For the LORD our God, the Almighty, reigns” (Rev 19:6). He is our LORD, our God. He is the Almighty, and none can thwart His purposes. And, He it is who reigns, and with the conclusion of the work, He reigns unopposed. The last enemy is defeated, and the kingdom of God is come in fullness. No more shall His citizens suffer the outrages of enemy deprivations. No more shall His people suffer the temptations of sin. He reigns in full.
But even at this late stage of the work, the victory has not yet been completely realized, and One rides forth, upon whose head are many diadems, one whose name is ‘The Word of God’. He leads the armies of heaven, for He is the Lord of Hosts whom we met in the Old Testament. He rides forth with His armies to smite the nations, for as is written on His thigh, He is, “King of kings, and Lord of lords” (Rev 19:16). He reigns. He always has, and always will. Now, as these things play out, He will no longer suffer those who claim to reign in His place. He has come again, as He said He would, and He shall reign forevermore, the King amongst His people.
Hear the exaltation of the Psalmist on this note. “From the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the LORD is to be praised” (Ps 113:3). Why is that, sir? “The LORD is high above all nations. His glory is above the heavens” (Ps 113:4). There is something in this that hints of commanded praise, isn’t there? He is the highest of beings, the chiefest of chiefs. He reigns over all nations and over all the heavens. There is nothing and there is no one which finds exclusion from the compass of His reign. There is no when that ranges free of His reign, for He reigns eternally. His authority, you see, is as utterly inescapable as it is utterly unopposable.
But, our psalmist is not done. “Who is like the LORD our God, Who is enthroned on high, Who humbles Himself to behold things in heaven and in the earth?” (Ps 113:5-6). Recall that He is more exalted, more glorious than the heavens. He is enthroned not in the heavens, but above them. They are the works of His hands, the creation of His word. For Him to consider them requires that He humble Himself, as it were, that He stoop down and lower Himself to their level, at least enough to take notice of them.
This is a shocking word to consider in the case of One so exalted: Shaphel. It is a humiliation for One so thoroughly glorious, so perfectly holy to sink down to the level of Creation. He must, as it were, reduce His power lest by coming down to look upon us He destroy us utterly. There is something in this of the image one typically has of the subject bowed low to the ground before his king, and I think that is entirely intentional.
It puts me in mind of a study from many years back (2004, now that I look), on the topic of grace. There, I learned of a particularly Old Testament conception of grace, to be found in the root of the term techinnah, chanan. This has the idea in it of stooping down in kindness to an inferior. As I observed then, the term finds its first use in that Jacob had children, and he recognized this about his children: God had graciously given them to him (Ge 33:5). He didn’t have to. Jacob could not make demands on God, that He might bless him with offspring, and certainly not with so many. Even as heir to the covenant made with Abraham, he had no place of power with which to deal with God. No. God, had stooped down in kindness to Jacob and granted him this new generation.
So it is with all the many ways in which God pours out His blessings on creation. That the waters flow and the sun shines; that seasons proceed in their courses, children continue to be born, and the living continue to breathe; all of this is to be laid at God graciously stooping down in kindness to us. We, however powerful we may be, remain utterly and infinitely inferior to Him. The stars in their courses remain utterly and infinitely inferior to Him. The cosmos taken as a whole remains infinitely inferior to Him. Yet, God inclines Himself to take an interest. He stoops down to get involved in this. He humiliates Himself that we might be lifted.
Observe as well that He does this to Himself, of His own accord, with absolutely no outside coercive force requiring Him so to do. If He had wished to be the Watchmaker god proposed by the deists, He would have been fully within His rights to do so. He could have created and run, leaving His creation to work things out for itself. He did not. He Who reigns over all, and has the power and authority to command all things precisely as He pleases, commanded Himself, if you will, to remain intimately involved in the day to day of Creation. Angels marvel at this, as well they might. I should think they marveled already to consider that He gave them a thought. To see Him go lower still, to deal with the likes of us must be perplexing in the uttermost degree. And yet, they see that He does, and they see that in so doing, He in fact rescues and restores to true Life those who have been walking in the darkness of death all their days. Is it any wonder there is rejoicing in heaven over the salvation of one soul? It demonstrates once again the great power and authority of the One and only God of all Creation, Who reigns forevermore, and is pleased to bow down and rescue His little ones.
Hallelujah! For the LORD our God, the Almighty reigns! And He has made us His own.
iii. Impossible Does Not Apply
[06/24/19]
Considering the omnipotence of God, we must come to address the question of whether there is anything which is impossible to Him. The clear answer from Scripture is no. It is emphatically no, and nowhere is this more evident than when we consider the events that have brought about our salvation. One announcement of this answer came to Mary in the words of Gabriel as he announced to her that she would bear a child. Hearing this news, she quite reasonably had questions, primarily how it was that she would bear a child given that she was yet a virgin. By way of answering, Gabriel points her to her relative Elizabeth – apparently a much older relative. She, he observes, has been barren for many years, but is now six months pregnant. And with that, we arrive at this declaration. “For nothing will be impossible with God” (Lk 1:34-37). This marvelous message essentially informs us that the term simply does not apply in His case. The very idea of impossible loses all meaning where God is concerned.
Of course, such a strong assertion of unlimited possibility has led skeptics and philosophers to attempt to posit various foolishness in an attempt to prove the statement false. Can God, for instance, create a rock so large that even He cannot lift it. If He can create it, they reason, then there is in fact something He cannot do, for He cannot lift it. If He cannot create it, then there is still something He cannot do. The error lies in supposing that there is or could be such an object.
I must stress that the message is that there is nothing that is impossible with God, not that there is nothing that He will not do. The point is that, as we have seen repeatedly, there is nothing that God wills to be done that cannot, or indeed shall not be done. What God wills, He wills unopposably. None can gainsay His choice, and none can turn aside His actions. There are very clearly limits on what God will choose to do. He will not, cannot conceivably choose to act in such a way as would violate His essential being. He cannot be unjust. He cannot lie. He cannot act with capricious disregard for life. He cannot wink at sin.
Any such action would produce a logical fallacy, if you will, in the very core of His being, and this cannot transpire except that God ceases to be God. Is it any wonder that the skeptics try very hard to find just such a fallacy by which to destroy Him. But impossible simply does not apply. The fact that something is not impossible, of course, does not require that God would so act. To suppose so would be to once more render God subject to outside limits, answerable to something greater. He is not. The limits upon His operation, to the degree that they exist, are self-imposed matters of His indomitable will.
In a later period of ministry, Jesus found it necessary to make much the same statement to His disciples. He had been teaching, and in so doing had been coming up against the practices of the Pharisees, who were deemed the very paragons of righteousness in that era. How careful they were to observe all the minutia of their law! The problem was that it was their law, what I took to calling the Codex of the Achievable in past years. It was not God’s Law, even though the sect had started with the grand intentions of being fully compliant with God’s Law by setting their boundaries farther from the possibility of sin. In so doing, they had on the one hand utterly failed to comprehend the innate impossibility of compliance with God’s Law and the inherent need in man of some means of salvation from their just reward. They had become proud in their careful humility, boastful in their worship, and profoundly sinful in their pieties. Jesus pointed this out to them, which not surprisingly didn’t go over terribly well.
They had come with questions they thought sure would trip Jesus up, and give them some grounds for accusation against Him. As such, they sought His opinion on legal grounds for divorce, which in that culture were pretty close to no fault, at least from the man’s perspective. But, Jesus took them back to the Law, and further, to Eden. God clearly intended this to be an inviolable covenanted relationship, and it was only because of ‘your hardness of heart’ that Moses found it needful to grant exception. Jesus Himself, God Himself, allows one exception: Immorality, which is to say porneia. We tend to stop our thoughts at concept of adultery, or to take the King James language, fornication. But, a brief reflection on the Sermon on the Mount will remind us rather swiftly that the thought is as vile as the deed, and the sin was already committed when the eyes drifted and the imagination followed. Pornography, contrary to modern sensibilities, is no victimless crime, and certainly no harmless entertainment. It is grounds for divorce.
Now, if you want to get a sense of just how readily a man could divorce his wife in that era, simply consider the reaction of the disciples after hearing this lesson. If that’s how it is, they concluded, best not to marry after all! That, in turn, leads to a rather difficult statement on matters of celibacy, and in particular, that enforced celibacy of the eunuch. Some such, Jesus observes, made themselves so ‘for the sake of the kingdom of heaven’. It was self-imposed in hopes of remaining pure. Indeed, He may be said to advise such a course. “He who is able to accept this, let Him accept it” (Lk 19:3-12).
The discussion widens, and we encounter the young ruler who was so fully convinced of his piety. I’ve obeyed in full, Jesus! I did it! What else do I need to do? You can see in that question that even as he professed full compliance, conscience would not allow it. He knew something was lacking, but his heart wouldn’t let him see what that was. Jesus, merciful Jesus, saw to it that his eyes were opened. “If you wish to be complete, sell all you own and give to the poor so as to have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow Me” (Lk 19:21). We know not what happened to that young man in the long term, but in the short term he was crushed. He could not see his way to compliance now, for he had a great deal of property and could not imagine simply giving it all away.
Jesus observes this and declares, “It is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Lk 19:23-24). Again, the disciples are thrown, as this overturns yet another preconception of society. Riches are supposed to make it all easier, aren’t they? Otherwise, why pursue them, and why do the rich always seem so at ease in their wealth? That rich young man had seemed pious enough. He clearly had his sights on heaven even with all his wealth, so why was he rejected, and if he was rejected, they reasoned, who can be saved? If that’s not good enough, what possibly could be?
Well, here’s the answer, and it’s one we still in general find impossible to take today. “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Lk 19:25-26). Now, the primary reason I have come to this passage is for its message in regard to God. It is the same message given Mary, and for much the same reason. What is impossible for man is nothing to God. That Law that we find so daunting if we give it proper thought drives us to despair if we have any thought of achieving compliance in our own strength. For, as that rich young man had to conclude, no matter how hard we try, there’s always going to be that one bit we can’t do. For all that, there’s already those sins committed before we started trying to comply, and we can’t really do anything about that, either, other than apologize.
So, hear the fuller message in that conclusion Jesus offers. “With men this is impossible.” What is impossible, Jesus? The question was who could be saved. The answer, at least so far as human endeavor is concerned, is nobody. It’s impossible. It’s always been impossible. It always will be. Man in his own power is powerless. It was designed this way, but not as some cruel trick on humanity, and not as some cheap amusement for a malevolent deity. No, it was designed to bring us to this point, to the point of turning to the only One for whom this is not impossible, to God Himself. With men, it is impossible that we should save even ourselves, but with God all things are possible. If we will but get over ourselves and our insistence on how marvelously capable and wonderfully holy we are, this is news of exceedingly great joy. It is only while we are stuck in ourselves that we, like that rich young ruler, slink away in deepest grief, seeing only the impossibility and rejecting the offered solution. “Follow Me.”
Did that young man, then, reject the call? Did he somehow thwart God’s will that he might be saved? On the one hand, as I have already observed, we are not given the final answer of that man’s life, only the immediate response, and we cannot draw a conclusion based on such response, any more than we can determine our own eventual compliance by the emotional response to a particularly poignant moment. On the other hand, I must add to this that if God is indeed all-powerful, and His will unopposable, then that must include the response man gives to Him. If He calls and man rejects, then it can only be that this was the will and purpose of God in that situation. Mind you, we still don’t know the final outcome for that one, as we don’t know the final story of the rich young man. But, the same has to be said in regard to those who heed the call. They, too, answer in perfect accord with the indomitable will of God. There is therefore, as Paul observed, nothing in this which gives cause for boasting. All cause of boasting is removed, for even the faith by which you receive the Gospel to good effect is nothing you’ve done of your own motive power. “With men this is impossible.” No, it is God’s will and purpose that have saved you and nothing beyond.
iv. Powerful Salvation
[06/25/19]
If we have come to accept that this God is eternal and infinite in His being, has full and perfect knowledge of all things and all beings throughout time, and powerfully authoritative to the point of being unopposable as well as unanswerable; how then are we going to respond to such a One? Abject cowering comes to mind, for such awesome power and such full awareness of our sins must surely lead such a being to pursue a course of perfect Justice. And we would be quite correct in our assessment of His power and our position. He does in fact pursue a course of perfect Justice, for He can do no other. He is Justice. But, a response of abject cowering would fail to take into account that He is also Mercy, that He is also Love. It is a response which on the one hand sees only the negatives of a more powerful being existing and on the other, yet bridles at the thought. In truth, a response of abject cowering reveals us as rebels yet at heart, offended by discovering ourselves answerable to another, and fearful of what must result.
If, however, we have recognized that God is Love, and God is Mercy, we may perhaps have lost sight of the fact that God is Justice and God is Wrath. We may respond with an attitude not far removed from the puppy love of youth. We love Him, as we suppose love to be, but in our passionate joy over His chosen relationship with us, we lose sight, somehow of His majesty, His holiness. He becomes our buddy, our boon companion, and we erase from our thinking the reality that He is King of kings and Lord of lords. Oh, we’ll say the words, and even sing them with gusto, but they don’t register. He’s not our Ruler, He’s our pal, dare I say, our lover. And we simply can’t imagine ourselves being found wrong in any way in His sight. We are the apple of His eye, after all, His beloved bride. What fault could He possible find with us? How could He possible give thought to punishing us. But, this perspective reveals the same issue. We don’t want a King. We want a powerful friend to have our back, and wink at our sins. We don’t want somebody in charge. We want somebody to clean up after us.
The reality of God’s being requires us to find a place of balance, a place where we recognize our true estate and His true position, and yet recognize the beauty of His chosen course. This may begin to dawn on us as we consider how the omnipotence and omniscience of God are manifested in the reality of our salvation, if indeed we are accounted amongst the redeemed. Consider this God whose hand, having been put forth, cannot be turned, who speaks and it is, who declares the end from the beginning because the end is already quite certain before ever the beginning is begun.
“Trust in the LORD forever, for in GOD the LORD we have an everlasting Rock” (Isa 26:4). Trust in Yahweh, for in Yahh Yahweh is ha Tsur – as the KJV presents it, ‘strength is everlasting’. This is not, then, cause for fear and despair, though we are assuredly sinful beings before the eternal Rock, and must surely be crushed. For the unrepentant, this is perhaps the case, but we are (it is devoutly to be hoped) wiser than that. Behold, as Isaiah continues, “He has brought low those who dwell on high, the unassailable city. He lays it low. He lays it low to the ground, and casts it to the dust. The foot will trample it; the feet of the afflicted, the steps of the helpless” (Isa 26:5-6).
Observe that Isaiah is not speaking to some immediate threat, but rather a somewhat general ode of reverence to God. Indeed, I have difficulty deciding how far back to range to set context for this, because the several chapters preceding all speak to the case. Let me offer a few samples. “The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant. Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left” (Isa 24:5-6). Isn’t this a happy picture? No, it isn’t happy, but it’s accurate, and to be clear, it encompasses the people of God every bit as much as the surrounding nations. But, see where his eyes are turned. “The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard, and totters like a shack, for its transgression is heavy upon it, and it will fall never to rise again. So it will happen in that day, that the LORD will punish the host of heaven, on high, and the kings of the earth, on earth” (Isa 24:19-20). This is not, then, some immediate threat from one of Israel’s traditional enemies that Isaiah has in view. This is not the impact of dwelling between empires at war. Well, it is, but it is the war between the God of heaven and all unrighteousness. And indeed, we are caught in the middle, aren’t we?
But, it is to the day of judgment that Isaiah looks, and hear the response. “O LORD! You are my God and I will exalt Thee. I will give thanks to Your name, for You have worked wonders, plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness” (Isa 25:1). There it is again, the perfect knowledge, perfect wisdom, and perfect, unopposable purpose of God. You have worked it. What results? Even “Cities of ruthless nations will revere Thee” (Isa 25:3b). No choice will be left them. “For You have been a defense for the helpless, a defense for the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat” (Isa 25:4a). Indeed, “He will swallow up death for all time, and the LORD GOD will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth. For the LORD has spoken” (Isa 25:8).
Do you see it? We are looking to the final day, and while we see the power of Judgment, we also discover the depths of Mercy. He will remove the reproach from His people. He will wipe away the tears from every face. Now, don’t try and stretch that out into some form of universalism, for the ‘all’ is immediately found to be a qualified all. It is His people from whom the tears are removed. For the city of man, as Augustine identified it, there remains a tearing down and casting to the dust. And so, we arrive at the verse which brought me to this passage. “Trust in the LORD forever, for in God the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock.” But it continues from there, addressing the ‘unassailable city’. It’s interesting. He has indicated that he reveals a song to be sung in Judah ‘in that day’. It begins with, “We have a strong city. He sets up the walls and ramparts for security” (Isa 26:1). But, having called God’s people to trust in the Rock, he announces that the ‘unassailable city’ will be cast to the dust.
I don’t wish to labor this matter more than it deserves, but the history of Israel, and particularly of Jerusalem teaches us much about our own tendencies, and it’s not a lesson we generally find desirable to hear. Jerusalem, of course, housed the temple of God, in its various constructions. As tends to happen, people, even devout people, began to trust in the visible place rather than the invisible Rock. They looked upon their city, as Isaiah observed, as an ‘unassailable city’, because God was in it. The record is pretty awful, really. Come the period of Jerusalem’s fall, and the people had become convinced they could get away with pretty much anything because the temple was there, and surely God would not allow that to fall. Ergo, whatever crimes they cared to commit, even if committed in the very heart of the temple, they supposed they must get away with. How utterly short-sighted, and even blind such reasoning is! And yet, it is exactly the sort of reasoning we demonstrate whenever we convince ourselves that we have sinned in secret and therefore got away with it. There is no secret place into which God does not see. There is no sin which He overlooks and leaves unpunished. There is only the question of repentance and a seeking of forgiveness in the one place it can be found, that same Everlasting Rock which brings down our ‘unassailable city’.
I will take it a step farther. There is another ‘unassailable city’ on high, as it were, in the stronghold of our great enemy, Satan. As far as our strength and strategy are concerned, it is utterly unassailable. He is a powerful being, particularly as compared to our effectively powerless condition. By rights, he might expect that we have been abandoned by God as a failed effort not worth bothering with further. By rights, as one who can see only Justice, because only Justice serves his unjust intentions, he argues for our destruction, demanding that God execute justice on all mankind for their sins. And, he makes sure our sins are many, that the justice may be more severe. He does so not out of any concern for justice whatsoever, but rather because in so doing he seeks to force God to destroy that which He loves. He seeks to harm God, and even overthrow Him. As if!
So, the devil sits on his stolen throne in his impregnable stronghold, and works his myriad machinations against the hated body of humanity, and even against angels on high where opportunity arises. But, hear it! “He has brought low those who dwell on high, the unassailable city!” Hear it again from the mouth of our Lord Jesus. “Upon this Rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it” (Mt 16:18). Indeed, it shall overpower not only the gates, but the unassailable city of God’s enemy and ours. I will build My church – MY Church – and through it overpower sin and Satan. “The last enemy that will be abolished is death” (1Co 15:26-27), that most formidable weapon of Satan’s, “For ‘HE has put all things in subjection under His feet.’”
[06/26/19]
“The eternal God is a dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. And He drove out the enemy from before you, and said, ‘Destroy!’” (Dt 33:27). So, Moses says, Israel dwells in security, and observes the situation. “Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD, Who is the shield of your help, and the sword of your majesty!” (Dt 33:29). What a declaration this is! Surely, it I God Who is worthy of all praise and honor, and to Him goes the glory. Yet, His people are truly blessed and have a majesty all their own – a majesty that is theirs solely because of Him, as the security in which they dwell is due solely to Him.
Return to the first bit. He drove out the enemy. For Moses and Israel on the verge of entering the Promised Land, this message most directly speaks to the wilderness wanderings, where indeed, He drove the enemy out. But, the intent points us forward to their taking possession of the land. That the message is delivered in the past tense indicates how certain is their possession of that land. Looking at this gathering on the borders of the land, I don’t know that our first thought would be of a conquering army. I suspect it would have reminded us more of a desperate uprising, a rioting crowd. I cannot speak to how other armies of that period would have fought, but here was gathered all Israel as that people were numbered at the time, man, woman, and child; and they were gathered, having been traipsing through the wilderness for decades. No doubt they were fit, but I find it hard to imagine they had the appearance of a military machine. And yet, although they had yet to even get started on the task of conquest, Moses speaks of dwelling in security. They are nomads at this juncture! Where is that security? It is in one place, and one place only – the eternal God who is their dwelling place, wherever they might be.
And, He drove out the enemy. He had been the One doing so throughout the desert wanderings, as well as in the escape from Egypt. He hadn’t changed and He hadn’t stopped. He still hasn’t. He still looks at the greater enemy of His greater people, and He drives out the enemy, and says, “Destroy!” To be clear, I am using greater here in respect to number, not value. I suppose at some level we must accept that God values the Christian more than the non-Christian, but here we are comparing God’s people to God’s people, and within that comparison there can be no greater in value.
As concerns those whom God calls His own, Jew or Gentile it makes no difference, He is their dwelling place. Truly we are but pilgrims traveling this life, but it must be acknowledged that the stuff of this life leads us to forget that it is so. Of late, I have to confess, our little homestead here has been feeling rather like a down payment on heaven. The yard has become a field of clover and other small flowers amidst the grass, and is utterly lovely. Irises and lilies are abloom, and other flowers as well. Birds are guests at several feeders, rabbits munch contentedly in the yard, and chipmunks play neverending games of tag. Even the squirrels border on being welcome, so long as they stay off the feeders. Wildflowers are abloom off the dining room, presenting an ever-changing field of color that is new every morning. It’s wonderful, honestly, and every time we return from a walk and turn onto our walkway, joy swells within at the sights and the scents of this place.
For me, I have to confess, it’s an odd feeling to be so attached to a place. I was raised, in rather a nomadic existence myself, with Dad in the Navy. Three years was about the most one could expect to remain in any particular place, and I suppose I grew rather used to the idea that moving was normal. But, that’s changed, and much though I love it, I must note my concern. Am I still a sojourner, or have I become a citizen? Is this still but a vacation home, as it were, until such time as I am called to return home? I trust it is so, but not because of my feelings – rather because I know God, and He is faithful. He drove out the enemy. My soul is safe because of His power to save.
Consider: God raises the dead! As Paul asked Agrippa, and through him, those Jews who had leveled accusations against him, “Why is it considered incredible among you if God does raise the dead” (Ac 26:8)? Why does this the thought of Life cause such anger and violence? What is it with us? Honestly, for Israel to have rejected this should be utterly shocking, for they had seen the working of God’s power on their behalf as no other had seen. To them, the question had come, “Is anything too difficult for Me” (Jer 32:27)? Granted, the occasion for that question was an occasion of severe disciplinary action, an announcement that Babylon was going to be serving as His agents, and would take Israel into captivity for her unrepentant sinfulness. But, judgment came with a promise. “I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have driven them in My anger, in My wrath and My great indignation. And I will bring them back to this place and make them dwell safely. They shall be My people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good, and for their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good. I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me” (Jer 32:37-40).
Consider as well the image given Ezekiel of those dried out bones brought back to life by the power of God. That is our story, every last one of us who has come to be numbered amongst the elect of Christ. We were all of us born into sin, and sinners from birth. We were all of us confirmed members of the walking dead. But, something happened. “God raises the dead.” And He doesn’t wait for us to hit the grave. Yes, there is a resurrection that awaits in which the body shall indeed be not merely revived, but renewed and refit to suit eternity (1Co 15), but the work is already well underway, and the soul made truly alive in that moment when God breathes, and the Spirit enters, and the seed of faith is planted where He has assured its growth.
Oh, but I pray with Paul, “that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power towards us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come” (Eph 1:18-20). My, but that’s a long sentence, and full to overflowing!
Here is a full exposition of God’s omnipotence. He opens eyes. He opens hearts and minds to know real hope. His power is able to turn enemies into sons. His power is able to bring the walking dead into real and abiding life. He has conquered death. He has driven out even that dread enemy, destroyed it. Death could not hold Him, and because of His victory over death, it can no more hold us, for we are His, and to Him we must go. God has turned His indomitable will to our salvation. He has spoken with indomitable authority and declared that our end is to be forevermore in His presence. He has stretched out His hand to save, and who shall turn it away? Behold and recognize the greatness of His power toward us, an unopposable, unstoppable power bent upon bringing about our salvation despite every foe, despite our own foolish resistance gumming up the works. He is mighty to save; so mighty that salvation is certain, as indomitable as is His own power.
Oh, that our eyes may indeed be opened to this reality! Oh, that our hearts might receive and rest in the knowledge that He has done it! Oh, that we would not, foolish sinful beings that we are, fall into complacence at the knowledge of our secure future, but would instead seek with all that is in us to walk worthy of the great gift He has given us in calling us His own! Here is the full force of every omni of God turned toward our great good, fashioning the whole of creation and the whole of history to this one purpose of bringing His wayward children safely home to dwell secure with Him forever. And who shall say Him no? “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ro 8:38-39). God’s power has secured it. God’s power secures us. Rejoice in this. Rest secure in this. God is a dwelling place, and underneath, the everlasting arms.
