OBSERVATIONS ON SOME OF
THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD
...In the beginning
God...(Genesis 1.1)
The first words of the first book of the Bible, the book of
beginnings or origins, is our text above; and yet it does not tell us of
anything about the Creator, but simply affirms his existence. The book of Genesis states as fact the
presence and power of the only self-existent being in the universe. To the mind of the heaven born child of
grace, God has always been, and beyond that there is no question.
By faith we understand that the
worlds were framed by the word of God.
Thus it is by faith that we accept what the Bible states as factual
truth without reservation, that Jehovah is the supreme being in the universe,
who has always existed (Exodus 3.14), uncreated, and yet is the creator of all
things. In Exodus we first learn that
the personal name of God is Jehovah and that it seems to be synonymous with I
AM. Jesus tells the unbelieving
Pharisees in John 8.58 that “before Abraham was I am.” Notice that he said not “I was” but “I
am.” Here Jesus affirms himself as God
by making use of the name given to Moses so long ago to express the eternal
existence of Jehovah.
This doctrine is further
expressed in Psalm 90.2: “Before the
mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the
world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.” How beautiful and powerful this verse is to
those who are blessed from above to see and embrace the eternity of our God, to
be convinced from time to time, by the power of the Holy Spirit, that he has
always been and shall always be, and he that keepeth Israel never sleeps nor
slumbers.
What comfort this brings us in
the midst of the afflictions of life that, although everything seems to change
around us, The Ancient of Ages is unchangeable and stands as a Rock for his
people. Isaiah 45.5: “I am the Lord, and there is none else,
there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me.” The eternal, Immutable God, Almighty, all
wise, and complete in knowledge and understanding, whose presence fills heaven
and earth and all places seen and unseen, stands forever as the strength of his
chosen and foreknown people. There is
none other that we may look to for help in time of need or to sustain us
through all our trials.
John 8.28: “For as the Father hath life in himself; so
hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.” The eternal life that the children of God receive when they are
quickened comes directly from the Godhead.
The life that is in the Son is what is imparted to the children of grace
at the new birth. This life is what
sustains us and shall last even into eternity.
1 John 5.11 says, “And this is the record, that God hath given to us
eternal life, and this life is in his Son.”
The religious world speaks of falling
from grace, which term they use incorrectly. There can be no such thing when our very life is in Christ and
founded upon the eternal purpose of God himself. The purpose of God is as eternal and immutable as he is himself
and thus can never be frustrated nor defeated.
Colossians 3.4: “When Christ,
who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” This is the work of our eternal,
self-existent, unchangeable God and not our own. What peace we receive when this is revealed to our understanding
by the Spirit of Holiness.
Let us hear the completion of this
matter. Hebrews 1.10-12: “And thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid
the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thy hands: they
shall perish; but thou remainest; and they shall wax old as doth a garment; and
as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: But thou art
the same, and thy years shall not fail.”
Through the centuries, it has
been held as truth that the will of God is the first cause of all things which
come to pass. In this present modern
age, only the Old School Predestinarian Baptists uphold this doctrine in its
entirety.
This doctrine is termed the
Absolute Predestination of All Things.
This name is used to clarify beyond any shadow of a doubt that the
eternal will of God embraces totally,100%, unconditionally, every creature and
event that has existed or ever will exist.
It has been declared by the
soundest and most able of all the saints of God through all the ages of time,
that the will of God is the first and supreme cause of all causes. “Thou hast created all things, and for thy
pleasure they are and were created (Revelation 4.11).” “But our God is in the heavens: he hath done
whatsoever he hath pleased (Psalm 115.3).”
“He doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the
inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What
doest thou (Daniel 4.35)?” “Whatsoever
the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all
deep places (Psalm 135.6).” “Being
predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will (Ephesians 1.11).”
Thus it is proven, not only by the testimony of man, which must be
accepted with caution, but the witness of the Scripture of eternal truth.
Recently this writer received a
letter from a conditional (or “limited”) Primitive Baptist group and minister,
saying that they “did not favor nor fellowship this doctrine.” I find this to be very sad coming from a
group calling themselves Primitive Baptists.
This type of statement is currently very common coming from among the
moderate, progressive “Primitives” these days.
Unless the Lord intervenes, they will continue in error and darkness
that grows darker still as time goes by.
“Known unto God are all his works from the
beginning of the world (Acts 15.18).”
Jehovah knew from all eternity, not only what he would do, but what he
should will others to do and what events he should will to take place in
time. This foreknowledge of God is
absolutely unconditional and certain; consequently that which God knows shall
without a doubt come to pass.
Being unconditional, this knowledge (and
therefore the works of the Almighty) is not based on anything that God views as
future, but all things take place by his divine purpose and determination. In other words, God knows everything because
he has ordained everything.
For some this may be too harsh; however,
the truth is best expressed plainly so no doubts or misunderstandings may
enter. Many may quibble over
terminology, such as, “efficient decrees” or “permissive decrees,” or even the
dreaded “you’re making God the author of sin,” but when it’s all said and done,
nothing may be traced higher than the will of God as the origin of all
things.
A short time ago, following a war of words
between this writer and a
Conditionalist, an eleven-year-old boy expressed to his daddy, “How can God
know anything that he didn’t predestinate?
That’s pretty simple to me Dad.” “I thank thee O Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and
hast revealed them unto babes (Matthew 11.25-26).” Surely where proud ministers are blind the Lord has made little
children to see.
Much has been made in the area
of speculation and human reasoning, by men in the past and present, concerning
the decrees of Jehovah in eternity. It
is folly to attempt to enter into the counsels of eternity and to darken with
words the purposes of Jehovah, or to be wise above what is written. The Scriptures of eternal truth express all
that is sufficient for finite man to know concerning the triune God and his
works.
To vainly speculate beyond this
is not only foolish, but dangerous; and, more often than not, it is the source
of heresies and many false doctrines.
The revealed will of God, as providentially delivered to us through the
centuries down to this very hour, is the only certain rule of faith, practice,
and conduct that the subjects of grace, under the illumination of the Holy
Spirit, should ever require. To try to
proceed further than this is folly.
Finally, it must be stated that
the eternal, unchangeable will of God is servant to none. Far be it for lowly worms of the dust to
dictate to or question the righteous decrees of the great I AM.
His holy, omnipotent will is
the supreme rule of all things. He did
not will things because they were right, but they are right because he alone
wills them. A wise man of the past once
wrote, “God has no motive for what he does [other] than his own will; which
will is so far from being unrighteous, that it is justice itself.”
May the Spirit of God open to
the minds and hearts of his people these powerful truths, that they may be
comforted through all their trials and afflictions and that out of the depths
of the furnace, they may look to the three-in-one God for every supply.
I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye
sons of Jacob are not consumed (Malachi3.3).
God is immutable or unchanging;
if he were not he would not be God, but would be imperfect. As mentioned earlier Jehovah is the one
absolute, eternal, all-powerful, being in the universe. It should almost go without saying, that he
never has, nor ever will be any different than he always has been. The preceding text is one of many that the
scriptures of truth record concerning this fundamental truth.
Equally evident should be the
fact, that if God were to change, it must be a change either for better, or for
the worse. If for the better, it would
infer that there was something lacking in his perfection; if for the worse,
then the only conclusion would be that he is no longer as perfect as he once
had been. “...with whom there is no
variableness, neither shadow of turning...(James 1.17).” How comforting to the ones who have been
made to feel their inherent weakness and utter impotence before the Most High,
to realize that, their heavenly Father, and their blessed
Redeemer, has from everlasting set his affections upon them, to engage all his
mighty power to guide them through this present evil world, and to eventually
deliver them to glory. “Jesus Christ
the same yesterday, and today, and forever (Hebrews 13.8).”
It follows that, as God is eternal and
immutable, that his purposes as made by him are also immoveable and concrete.
“I the Lord have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I
will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent...(Ezekiel
24.14).” God has decreed in himself all
things that come to pass, without exception; reason as we may, the Bible agrees
with this statement of faith. The
mighty Jehovah’s decrees concerning creation, providence, and grace, shall all
be fulfilled by his own omnipotent, immutable hand. “But he is of one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he
doeth (Job 23.13).” None of man’s
works, either what might be called good, or evil, can alter the word that has
gone out of his mouth. He shall have
his way no matter what the sin darkened minds of puny men may believe, or
contrive. “If ye believe not, yet he
abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself (2 Timothy 2.13).” The determinate counsel embracing the
destiny of God’s elect likewise cannot be frustrated by anything or anyone,
“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love
of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8.38, 39).”
Many have made the argument
that the Bible states in various places that God is said to repent, or perhaps,
to change his mind. However a correct understanding in the light of the
absolute sovereignty of the triune God, reveals that the result of an event
found on the pages of holy writ is always in accordance with the doctrine of
the immutability of Jehovah. Notice the
case of Jonah’s command to preach to the Ninevites: “...yet forty days, and
Nineveh shall be overthrown...(Jonah 2.4).”
Bidden to preach to this wicked city by the Lord because their sin had
come up before him, the result was that all of Nineveh repented, and they were
delivered of the Lord. Evidently, God
made use of the prophet Jonah to bring this people to a providential
deliverance (at least at this time) from the punishment for their
wickedness. This is a demonstration of
God’s providential workings, which in
times past has been called, by men much wiser than this writer, “secondary
causes,” designed and used by God, and not by man, to accomplish his purposes.
Another example from Scripture,
which is often used by the enemies of God’s sovereignty, is the case of
Hezekiah, “In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah
the son of Amoz, came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set
thine house in order; for thou shalt die and
not live (2 Kings 20.1).”
Providentially the king was
afflicted, and so he was brought by his illness, and the proclamation of the
prophet, to turn to the Lord in prayer.
The end result displays the eternal will of Jehovah that he live for fifteen
more years. That which comes to pass is
always the demonstration of God’s eternal purposes taking place in time, as he
constantly works out his decrees.
Thus, it
is the testimony of Scripture to the finite mind of man, that Jehovah is
absolute in all his perfections. His
eternal counsels never fail to bring about the fulfillment of his never
changing will. Even if his people
should doubt, it doesn’t affect the eternal purpose of their blessed Saviour,
who, having declared the end from the beginning, shall also do all his
pleasure.
...Alleluia; for the Lord God
omnipotent reigneth...(Revelation 19.6).
How alien and strange the
doctrine of omnipotence must seem to the religionists of this world. Those who trust in their much professed
free-will pay only lip service to this doctrine so vital to the faith of God’s
elect. Never having experienced the
evidence of the Lord’s almighty power working in their lives, to bless,
deliver, and preserve them; they may profess to know and understand it, but
they know not of what they speak. Only
the Holy Spirit’s operations in the daily lives of the saints can shed light
upon this wonderous attribute of the three-in-one God.
When, by grace, the Christian
is brought to an experimental knowledge of his total impotence before God, he
finds himself condemned by the righteous law of God and sees no hope but in God
his Saviour. The position in which he
finds himself, and the deliverance from it, both are from the Almighty. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom...(Psalm 111.10).” Fear toward
God is best described as a holy reverence for our heavenly Father, and this is
produced by an understanding of his supreme power. Likewise, this same knowledge, when revealed from heaven to the child of grace, imparts a
true sense of humility that no mere intellectual understanding can
achieve. Jehovah’s omnipotence then, is
the cause of every grace produced in the elect (see Galatians 5.22-23). Equally true is the fact that if he hides
his presence from his children, then the works of the flesh become evident and
active. Therefore, the saints can do
nothing apart from the sovereign will of Jehovah. “...for thou also hast wrought all our works in us (Isaiah
26.12).” Certainly, to the spiritually
alive child of God, this doctrine is of the utmost importance to the perception
of a thrice holy God.
The
result of this experimental knowledge, that the Lord is absolute in all his
perfections, is a genuine humility, a childlike trust in God in every circumstance. A total giving up of themselves, when this
knowledge is impressed upon them by the Spirit of Truth, brings the saints into
a state of blessed communion that no false work of the flesh can ever achieve. In seasons such as these, the children of
the covenant can truly be still and know that their God is sitting upon his
throne (see Psalm 46.10), and all things are under his sovereign
government. “Giving thanks always for
all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians
5.20);”
This doctrine of the eternal attributes of
Jehovah God is vital in a correct understanding of what the Bible teaches upon
the wonderful theme of salvation by sovereign, unconditional, free grace. It is only by the illumination of the Holy Spirit,
that the Christian can comprehend any of the perfections of the Godhead. This holy, revealing light must not only
shine upon the pages of holy writ, but it must come into the soul to give a
living knowledge that agrees with what scripture teaches on this important
subject. May God grant to his children,
access to his throne of grace, that his children may better understand these
deep things. Even so, as the Lord wills.
Please direct your comments to Mike
Krall.