I could not read the fine print in my concordances to select scripture verses to quote to you; but, if you are reading your daily lessons, you will be familiar with the ones I refer to.
I want to talk about the greatness of God and about His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to talk about the fact God is the creator of all things, the author and sustainer of all life.
There is a creator!
When we think of God as the one who caused all things, from the insects that crawl in the dust to man, we find that such knowledge is too wonderful for us. We cannot attain unto it. But there has to be a real creator. We are real, and the things about us are real.
Some have proposed the idea of a great mysterious explosion and then, when things settled down, here we are, trees and birds and butterflies! How much sense does that make? One brother compared such an idea to an explosion in a printing shop and after everything settled down, there was Webster’ s Unabridged Dictionary. How little sense that makes!
How much more sense it makes to recognize there is wisdom behind all that is made. All the time we should stand in reverence with bowed heads before our Father who dwells in the heaven of heavens. We cannot understand all that God has done, but He has condescended to use language we can understand to give us some limited idea of His greatness, His care and His love for us.
Parent and child
He speaks of Himself as our Father and ourselves as His children. We know about a parent’s love for a child. That gives us some idea of God’s love and care for us.
The child does not know what is right or wrong, what is safe or dangerous. Many of their requests must be rejected — nearly all of them — and that is true of us.
Speaking of us as children brings to mind how quickly we grow and change. At my age, brethren and sisters, I see a frightening rapidity to our passage through life. We are here, and it slips up so gradually and so subtly that it is deceiving. We don’t notice the passing of a month or maybe even a year. Then the first thing we know, we are in a trap and there is no way out. As it has been said, “There is no discharge in that war.” In the end, we all must die.
Things we want
Let’s come back now to our wanting of certain things. We pray earnestly for some particular thing that we think is right and good, but it doesn’t happen. Then something happens that we don’t want. We can easily begin to think that God doesn’t hear our prayers.
In an exhortation some time ago, a brother made a remark that I remember, “Prayer is answered in one of three ways: a ‘yes’ a ‘no’ or a ‘wait awhile’.” Remember that!
Many of our requests are answered by a “no.” We walk by faith, not by sight. Such things are to test our faith. When we drift into the attitude God doesn’t hear or care, or doesn’t answer our prayers, our faith is at a low ebb.
Such an attitude of despair overcame even David. There was a time when he envied the prosperity of the wicked. He saw that everything was right for them and even for their children. At the same time, there were upright people in distress, adversity and with broken hearts. David said, in effect, “My faith was almost gone until I went into the house of the LORD, and saw their end” — the ultimate end.
Paul saw the same end when he said, “All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” These “all things” are what you and I are experiencing in our everyday lives now; some things are not good — we have a little pleasure, but a lot of trouble. In the end, however, they will all fit together like a jigsaw puzzle for our good.
Wait a while
It is true to say that most of God’s promises are, in the ultimate sense, still for the future. Jesus said, “The meek shall inherit the earth.” If you ask, “When shall the meek inherit the earth?” the answer is, “Not now, but when the wicked are cut off, then shalt thou see it.”
I read one time about a man who said he had lived long enough so that he could see why God had not answered “yes” to some of his prayers. He had learned enough about himself so that he saw that if his prayers had been answered by a “yes,” it would have been his spiritual undoing.
God is there
We read of God’s feet, His hands, His fingers, His eyes, His ears. All of these things tell us that He is in control. “He that planted the ear, shall He not hear? He that formed the eye, shall He not see?” He that formed the brain can He not think?
We know God’s eyes are not like ours. His eyes do not depend on light to see as ours do. “Light and dark are both alike to Him” is the way our hymn makes the point. He does not depend on sound waves to hear because He is the One who created the sound waves. Such a mystery! — this great God who has control of everything.
We learn that God dwells in unapproachable light; no man hath seen God at any time. Then we read that man did see God. But there is no contradiction. It is explained in Psalm 103. There are multitudes of angels who stand before God, beholding His face. They hearken to His voice, doing His commandments. When an angel is doing the work of God, he takes on the name of God. For example, it was an angel at the burning bush who said, “I am the God of thy Father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” It was such an awesome and sacred occasion that Moses had to remove his shoes in approaching the bush.
We then read that an angel delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt and led them through the wilderness. God warned them, “My name is in him, Beware!” To say, “My name is in him” means the angel took on the name of God to carry out the divine purpose.
God revealed in Christ
The greatest thing God has done for us was the manifestation of Himself in a human being like ourselves. We could then see, in a person similar to us, just what God’s character is like: His kindness, compassion, forgiveness, righteousness and impartiality. Jesus was born of a woman, just as you and I were. He was born of a virgin of the house of Israel. He bore our nature which possesses “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life,” that he might be tempted in all points like ourselves. But he did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. He showed in his life exactly what God would do under the same circumstances.
If we could overcome sin, brethren, Christ would not have been necessary. After overcoming the inclinations of his mortal nature, he went voluntarily to the death of the cross, taking the sin-cursed physical body to its appointed end. By so doing, he declared that God is righteous in all His ways.
The risen Lord
When Christ rose from the dead, he was made an immortal being. During his ministry, he said, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” He also said, “I and my Father are one” — not in person but in spiritual attributes. That is what he meant, because the disciples were asked to share that oneness “that they may be one in us.”
After Jesus was resurrected, he appeared to the disciples. It was the same body that had hung dead on the cross a short time before. It was the same individual, but now immortalized. His life was sustained by spirit instead of by the flow of blood. The New Testament says he was a “quickening spirit.” He ate and drank before his disciples; he asked them to handle him and see that it was “I myself.” They held him by the feet; it was really Jesus, and it was this same Jesus that they saw go into heaven.
The promise was made that he would come again with flesh, bones and scars. “They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son.”
God’s personal existence
Coming back to considering the Father, we believe that He has personal existence in the heavens — incomprehensible though that may be. Some claim that God is merely a great influence for good. That will not do at all. An influence, great or small, does not make commands. An influence does not answer questions. God does. David inquired about conducting a battle and God gave him detailed instructions. He was not to engage the enemy until he heard a sound in the top of the mulberry trees (2 Sam. 5:24).
We should always keep in mind, brethren and sisters, that the only solid information we have about the great God and our Lord Christ, and the plan of salvation is in the Bible. There we learn that God operates by providence in our lives. When it says, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee,” it means something more than, “I will never take the Bible away from you.” God is in control and all things that are now worrisome will work out for good.
In talking about the providence of God with one brother, he used an illustration that I thought explained it very well. He said, the providence of God is like the power steering on our cars. The power steering doesn’t turn your car, but it helps you when you want to turn. You learn to drive a car. You have the steering wheel in your hands all the time. It is free will, your free will. You approach a cross street. Whether you turn right or left depends on you; and then the power steering will help. We can make a comparison in the spiritual sense. To those who turn the wrong way God may send a strong delusion that they may believe a lie and be condemned. Those who remain on the straight and narrow way, He will never leave nor forsake.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One